fredag den 26. september 2014

History of Gemnos

As written by Antonii Kufku. All dates are approximations.

The Primal Era: 12.000-8.000 years before the Twins’ Arrival

-12.000 
At first, there was nothing but the Mists of Madness. Then came the Twins and created Gemnos. They pushed back the maddening mists and began creating and building a paradise, a place for us. But at first, the Mists were powerful. They warped every creature that the Twins created and placed on Gemnos.

The first of such creatures are today known as the aboleth. They still exist to this day, although they are fewer now and lurk in the darkest corners of the Underdark

It is unclear who or what the Aboleths ruled over back then, presumably it was whichever other creatures the Twins created that didn’t get warped. But we do know that the Aboleth ruled over a good chunk of Gemnos for about 2000 years. The Aboleth controlled a the area along the coastlines of Gemnos, from the area around the Federation of the Inner Sea, all the way down south, along the northern coast of Kounark and up along the eastern coastline of Torabor. 
-10.000 
Then from the Astral Sea surrounding Gemnos and Mists, ancient beings of immense power came and waged war on the Aboleth, driving them underground. Gemnos had a new ruling race, but they never had the time to settle in and built. They occupied aboleth strongholds and cities, but the Twins did not created Gemnos for them and had by now realized that Gemnos would only belong to their children if they helped things along. So they created monsters of destruction in order to deal with these ancient beings of power. The Tarrasque. The Kraken. The Hydra. All examples of the monsters that the Twins created to wage war.

The battle lasted for a thousand years, shaking Gemnos at its core. Lands were sunk, oceans rose, coastlines altered and even reality and the multiverse around Gemnos was warped and changed by this war. Heaven and Hell were created, along with the Elemental Chaos and the Pillars of Heaven.

-9.000 
After being beaten and expelled from Gemnos, the ancient beings split into several factions, and spread out over the new multiverse. Those that ended up in Hell became devils and demons, those that ended up in Heaven became angels, those that ended up in the Elemental Chaos became the Vaati, which later became the genie, and those that ended up in the Pillars of Heaven became Modrons.

With Gemnos secure, the Twins created the dragons and the couatls. The dragons to be their will and weapons, the couatls to be their messengers. And then they set the dragons upon the monsters they had created to get rid of the ancient beings. The Dragons, which were far more numerous than the couatls, were created down in the mountains of what is now Drakolyz, and spread out from there, although for unknown reasons, they mostly kept their lairs down south, near the southern mists. But they did go to war everywhere and won, destroying the mad creations of the Twins. 
The Lost Era: 8.000-4.000 years before the Twins’ Arrival 
-8.000
Giants are created in what is now Quel’Terath and the Iron Kingdoms. They were different from today, and only two races, regular giants and the fomorians. Soon the two radically different giants found themselves at odds with each other. At first, fomorians had the upper hand, pushing back their cousins. 
At the time, dinosaurs, big scaly, wingless dragons, roamed almost everywhere on Gemnos.

-7.500 
The first early and primitive versions of humans, dwarves, halflings and gnomes began to populate gemnos, although the dwarves, who were created in what is now the Iron Kingdoms, were quickly enslaved by the giants and the gnomes, which were created in some hills in what is now the Republic, were quickly enslaved by the dragons. Meanwhile, the early humans were created in what is now the Kingdom of Erathis and the halflings were created on the plains of what is now the Cursed Lands on Nimalar. Also around this time, another race was created, the gith. 
-7.000
The Empire of Vaati, which by now dominated the Elemental Chaos, spread to Gemnos, due to the assault of the Queen of Chaos and her demonic host. The war continued for a couple of hundred years on Gemnos, down in central and southern Torabor. Both hosts ended up leaving Gemnos to continue their fight elsewhere, although some believe they were forced away by the dragons. 
-6.500 
The first and only fomorian empire was founded and at it’s peak, it stretched from northern Ortygal and all the way down south to Varnor. 
-6.300 
Mind flayers in huge numbers came out of the mists in Nalimdor and spread out over most of Gemnos, covering a wide belt from west to east in central Gemnos. Just about everyone was enslaved, although a small part of the fomorian empire “survived” in what is now the Iron Kingdoms and Quel’Terath, which means the original dwarves weren’t enslaved either. 
-5.500 
Led by the gith, the humans and halflings rebelled. Helped by gridlocks, a new magical creature created for the purpose, and of course the dragons, the “good” races managed to topple the empire of the mindflayers and send them packing back into the Mists.

-5.300 
The Giants formed their own empire, which at it’s peak stretched from Quel’Terath and way down south. In the process, the giants destroyed what was left of the fomorian empire in and took overlordship of dwarves. The last fomorians fled to the Faerie. 
By now, most of the plains of Nimalar were populated by the tribal halflings who roamed the plains.

-4.500 
After years of friction, the dragons and the giants went to war. It was a brutal war, but even with their mighty shamans and the living weapons they created (behirs and rocs), the giants were no match to the fury of dragon armies. The giant empire was destroyed, their cities ruined, and most giants were killed or spread out in small enclaves. The dwarves were finally liberated and they made their home in the mountains that are now the Iron Kingdoms.

-4.400 
Around the same time, the elves were created in Quel'Terath

The Ancient Era: 4.000-0 years before the Twins’ Arrival 

-4.000
Almost 5000 years after they are first created, the dragons finally got around to form their empire. The empire covered all of Torabor, most of Kounark and southern Anglar. Their rule was more or less absolute. 
Also at the time, was the rise of the Yuan ti empires. One empire covers most of Nalimdor and the other is located in the southeastern corner of Nimalar. On Nalimdor, every human and gith was exterminated - more or less. A few gith made it out, and fled through an ancient Vaati portal, or so the story goes. 

-3.900 
By now, the elves of Quel’Terath had organized themselves and formed the Kingdom of Leaves, also aptly named the Empire of Elves.

-3.500 
The Kingdom of Leaves is shaken by civil war. Two brothers fight for control of the Kingdom and some are driven underground, later becoming what is now known as drow.

Meanwhile, the growing populations and the many wars had caused the dinosaurs to be extinct on both Torabor and Kounark. 

-3.000 
By now humans, halflings, goblinoids, gnomes and orcs are physically and mentally more or less as they are today. They also begin to appear in many corners of Gemnos, populating it.

-2.500 
After a revolution amongst their slaves, the Yuan-ti empire on Nalimdor fell. The one on Torabor soon followed and the snake-men reverted back to smaller scale dominions.

At this point, the dinosaurs were extinct on both Nimalar and Anglar as well.

-2.400 
The mightiest dragons of every color banded together in a desert in northern Torabor and created the dragonborn, a servitor race in their own image, or almost.

-2.200
The dwarves formed the Iron Kingdoms

-2.000 
The dragon empire crumbled under the weight of politics and deception

-1.500 
Down south in the western part of Kounark, the first human empire empire rose, built on the ruins of the dragon empire. Ruled by a master caste of warlocks, arcane tinkering was at a premium and many living weapons were created. Most notably the chimera, the gnoll, the ettin, the owlbear and the bulette. The warlocks were ambitions and stark raving mad, at least for the most part. They struck a deal with the Lords of Hell for even more power, and were transformed into tieflings. 
-1.000
The warlock empire imploded when a gigantic earthquake ripped it’s capital in pieces and plunged all of their most powerful and influential people into the sea.

Meanwhile on Nimalar, the humans had succeeded in nearly destroying all tribal halflings. Very few remained “free” and roaming, the rest assimilated into the culture and civilization of the humans.

-450 
The first half-elf was created.

The Twins reveal themselves to man. For unknown reasons, it is called their arrival as well. At this point in time, Nalimdor was all but empty of civilizations, except for numerous small human flesh-eating tribes. On the other hand, Nimalar had already formed many kingdoms and it's population was growing exponentially. Most of Torabor was small villages and semi-nomadic tribes, while Kounark was fairly advanced also, except for the area covered by the warlock empire, as it had been left in ruins. Anglar, which by far had been ravaged by war most times, was just developing villages, except for the Iron Kingdoms and the Empire of Leaves, that is.

onsdag den 17. september 2014

Session 39

Day 195 (1st cycle of autumn, 7th day)
The Sons left for Oakwood and the druid grove found mentioned in some texts. They arrived there a couple of hours later, and talked to a druid named Harold, who was somewhat hesitant in allowing them to pass through. But they managed to convince him that they could hold their own against monsters in the Feywild, even hags such as Agatha.

Once through the portal (which was a space between two menhirs, activated for a few seconds once a day by saying "Safe passage home" in elven), they ran into Zika, a dryad. After some back and forth, they agreed to plant some acorn in a circle in Oakwood for her, in exchange for information about someone who knew where to find Agatha. She did warn them against seeking out the hag, as she was "nasty business".

Once the deal concluded, they headed north and west along the river to find Barkskin. They were attacked by some animated trees and an owlbear, before they at evening found an abandoned crystal tower. Inside was spell-trapped, but Nevron managed to dispel quite a few, and they found some magical spells and potions.

Day 196 (1st cycle of autumn, 8th day)
The next day they continued, and after an episode with their makeshift raft that fell apart while traversing the river, they found Barkskin. Unsurprisingly, Barkskin turned out to be an old treant, and while he wanted nothing to do with their gold, he did want some help killing some phase spiders who had nested nearby in a valley he couldn't access due to his size. 

Once the spiders had been killed, the Sons were told how to find Agatha, and they continued north. 

Day 197 (1st cycle of autumn, 9th day)
As they awoke and the magical shelter faded, they were attacked by three trolls. They quickly dispatched them and moved on. Soon enough, they ran into a huge dinosaur and a big snake, but Nevron polymorphed it into a tortoise and they moved on, putting some distance between themselves and the fearsome monster.

At night, as they were about to stop for a break, they met with Gandolfo the Magnificent, a traveling gnome bard. Suspicious at first, the Sons eventually warmed a bit up to them, and they got talking. They learned about a magical fair nearby, that Agatha was a powerful spellcaster, that her hut was magical and much bigger inside than outside and that she had a minotaur pet guardian named Moo, who had a big axe.

onsdag den 10. september 2014

Session 38

Day 185 (3rd cycle of summer, 34th day)
The Sons spend a couple of days researching Garos (one of which Nevron spent temporarily insane), but could find nothing about him. Apparently, Saint Michael's right hand was an angel named Ulmator and it had been so for at least 1000 years. After the research and some dancing around the pot, the Sons finally decided to try to break the crystal coffin, which was no longer protected against divine magic.

Arath started to hit it with his hammer, which he had infused with divine magic. Soon the crystal coffin cracked, and Garos emerged. He seemingly completely ignored the Sons, picked up an iron rod on the floor and infused it with magical runes only to drop it on the floor and vanish.

Day 186 (3rd cycle of summer, 35th day)
Nevron researches the rod and figures out that if they strike it on a hard surface and says his name, they either summon him or his consciousness. 

The Sons decide to take a trip back to the mine where they released the demon, to question the worshippers of Mask that were trying to keep the demon entrapped, maybe they know more.

During their research, they also learn that Natalia Blackhorn is the only mortal who knows of the reason why Ter-Zoth wanted Garos specifically.

Day 190 (1st cycle of autumn, 2nd day)
The Sons arrive at the mine and find it as they left it. They pick up the bodies and return home.

Day 194 (1st cycle of autumn, 6th day)
The Sons arrive back at Ironville, only to find the gates closed and black flags running the towers. There is a plague in town.

Talking to Morninglord Henry, they learn that only the kids are so far affected. It started 5 days ago.

The Sons track down patient zero, a boy named Jacob, the son of the miller. After some more investigating, they find out that he must have been affected by the plague at the South Marked, where he went to watch some street artists. There, an old woman gave away candy to all the kids, and apparently showed them a black box full of stars. Or something. 

The Sons deduce that the box must hold the curse/plague, which explains why it can not be cured. Destroying the box is the only way to save the children. Further research reveals that the old woman looks suspiciously like the figurine they found when they killed the Death Knight. Said figurine was placed in Oakwood, so they research famous hags or witches in Oakwood. Only the name Agatha turns up, but she does not live in Oakwood. Instead she lives in the Feywild connected to Oakwood. The Sons also find a story about a druid grove not far away, where the druids once helped some adventurers cross over. They decide to go there to find Agatha and the black box.

At some point during their research they are also reminded of the fact that Eletha Moonray, the spiritual leader of all elves live in Oakwood, that she doesn't like Xuk and Natalia Blackhorn and sits upon a crystal throne in a crystal tower.. Now, where did the crystal for the angel-trap come from again?

torsdag den 4. september 2014

Session 37

Day 182 (3rd cycle of summer, 31st day)
After their weird experience with the time-space continuum, the Sons continued to explore the underground city. Using his newfound mystical abilities to communicate with nature, Urnyx viewed the city through the eyes of a bat, and found out that there was a large flying creature down here. The Sons assumed a dragon. Urnyx also saw a belltower and something that must have been the palace, once upon a time.

Moving through the city, the Sons ran into several roaming packs of undeads, but managed to avoid them every time. While crossing the bridge spanning a chasm dividing the city in two parts, the Sons got ambushed by a beholder. The Sons quickly found themselves under a magical barrage of death, disintegration and petrification rays. Nevron was caught in the anti-magic ray and since the beholder was flying, Urnyx and Arath had to jump up extremely high in order to just hit it once in a while. The battle was short and furious, but in the end, the Sons vanquished the foul beast, although it was very touch and go all along.

After the battle, the Sons decided they were in no shape to continue exploring a city filled with undead, and returned to the church to stay until the next day.

Day 183 (3rd cycle of summer, 32nd day)
After resting yet again, the Sons went back to the other part of the city, still wary of the supposed dragon. They explored the bell-tower and the "palace" but found nothing of interest. The Urnyx used his powers to commune with the land itself, and found that in the chasm, there was something otherworldly, a rift or a presence from another plane.

Down into the chasm they went, and found the lair of the beholder, cloaked in mists that reminded Nevron of reports he had read about the Mists of Madness surrounding Gemnos. 

Luckily, the mists here were not dangerous, and they could easily acquire the treasure that the Beholder had amassed, or at least some of it.

The Sons then flew back up to Ironville, where they identified their newfound loot and checked the crystal coffin, indeed, it had only 31 sigils now.