Oratory Library: Ezra

Ezra  tossed a log on the fire; sparks leaped into the dark sky, little, fiery, beings, then disappeared into the wind.  Ezra leaned back, putting his hand reassuringly on the worn hilt of his sword.  Elben, Ezra's employer and a magician, sat pouring over a cracked piece of parchment; Alnon, the guide to the area, sat with his bow at the ready, gazing into the blackness surrounding their sphere of warmth.
Ezra looked at his companions.  "So, Friends.  Where to next?"
Elben looked up from his scroll and Alnon switched his hawk-like gaze from the trees to Ezra.  Elben pulled a map from his pouch.  Ezra and Alnon scooted closer.
"We're here,"  the middle-aged wizard pointed to spot in the north of Silverthin Woods, "and I need to go to Heniva on Huron Mountain, here," Elben traced the route to Huron on the map.
"I'd say about five days, six max."  Ezra said, leaning over the map.
Elben shook his head.  "I must get to my employer sooner.  We'll go through here."  He touched a pass in between the Amaranthine Peaks.  Ezra looked closer at where the magician had indicated.
"The Pass of Kalorin!?  You must be joking!"  Ezra looked at his employer imploringly.
"No.  I am not joking.  We must to Heniva within three days."
"I wasn't paid to get killed in that godsforsaken pass."  Ezra scooched back onto his bedroll, sword lying next to him.
"At least I don't have to go through the Pass."  Alnon sighed gratefully.  Ezra continued grumbling as the three of them fell asleep.

Ezra, naked sword in hand, rode behind Alnon, who led them all through the forest, following some obscure game trail.  Ezra was looking at the trees, when he spotted something up head; reining in he raised his sword.
"What's that?  A skull?"  He said to his companions.
Alnon looked on at the cracked skull, a rusty pike spiked through it.
"Halfling skull.  Must be gorrlocs nearby."  Alnon took his bow off his back.  They all continued at a cautious pace.
The Amaranthines were near indeed by noon.  Ezra kept rubbing his hilt nervously, Alnon plucked on his bow string and Elben spoke incantations to himself.  They reached the Pass around one and a half hours after noon, a great crack nestled among the bases of the mountains.
"Good fortune to you both, but..."  Alnon turned to leave.
Ezra grabbed the back of the man's cloak.
"If I'm going into that accursed pass, then so are you."  The mercenary growled.
After some hours of slowly trudging through snow and over rocks, Elben stopped.
"Behold," he announced to his companions, "the Rock of Kalorin, the most magical site in the Empire."
Ezra and Alnon looked up; fifty feet above the rocky path was a small outcrop of rock jutting from the rough sides of the mountain; it glowed with an eerie blue light.  Four hundred and seventy-five years ago, Kalorin, Archmage to Asdoriin V, destroyed the invading Ullanis army, standing on that very rock.
As they stood admiring the Rock, orcs crept up behind them.

Poetic Edda.

A grand composition of the legends and poems of Ilendor.  Compiled and translated by Tyrl, an elven  bard from Turthulion.  The original Edda was taken by Tyrl in his travels, and was nearly lost when he died of an ax wound, but a young elf, Bastucon Maléon, who put it in the Royal Library of Illera.  Copies can be found in most major libraries.  The Edda contains poems mostly about Creation and the coming of races into the world, and the origins of the kingdoms and lands.

The Age of Muldorn and the rising of Ullanis.

When Muldorn, the immortal dunruvali, god of cold and undeath, was called down to earth by the Ullanis Empire, he broke the Pact and forsook his godly position in Adrenergard.  He came down and took on a fleshly mantle, and assumed the throne of Ullanis.  He made the small empire great; with him at the head of an army, they were unstoppable.  Until, after taking part of Felldar, he lead the Ullani army to the Belannor Empire, where, at the Battle of Edölas, Alderath the Ageless used the Shield of Boleras to defeat the fallen god and his army.  After that, the Ullani army retreated back to Ullanis, and stayed there for many years.  But slowly at first, Ullanis's borders expanded again, it became the biggest empire in the world.  The elves retreated back into their forests, the dwarves sealed their tunnels, gnomes surrounded their homes with illusions and locked their doors.  Yargal, orcs, and goblins roamed in the now empty lands, halflings fled from their rural, riverside villages, and went to the big, fortified human cities.  The undead of the Gray Plateau, or Krod, praised Muldorn, and joined under the Ullanis banner.  The human nations were left to ward of the Ullani expansion.  It was dark times, men had been forsaken by the elves and dwarves, and Ullanis was an unstoppable juggernaut, until an Oréalionder prince and his friends rose up and worked against Muldorn.      

Illithis, the kingdom of shadows.

Illithis is a human kingdom, close to Than; they were both once provinces of the Thirvilis Empire.  Illithis is an empire who's aristocracy are shades, spellcasters who have fused themselves with black magic.  Illithis is a rigid police state, with a multitude of strict laws.  If someone breaks one of these laws, they are dragged away to one of the many dungeons, where your thrown into a little hole and forgotten.  Illithisians look much like Thans; tall, slender, narrow features, dark hair, and fair skin.  The shade emperors rule from the city Ceve, which is shrouded in an eternal twilight.  Order is kept in Illithis cities by the Ceve Skirmishers, a special order of city guards who fight with daggers and lurk in alleyways and on rooftops.  After the fall of the Thirvilis Empire, Illithis, Than, and Ullanis, all former provinces, remained and became sovereign kingdoms.  The first Illithis king, Sorlos 1, turned Ceve, an old military base town, into the grand capital city.  He also turned himself into a shade, which started the tradition.  Though it was Sorlos's grandson, Sorlos 3, that made all his nobles turn into shades as well.  Ceve is located in the foothills of the Frelor Mountains, the Frelors divide Illithis from the Gray Wastes.

Duôr Bright-helm

A man from Dul-Ünin of the Elder Age, Duôr was born in the city Lorn, center of Dul-Ünin, the northern region of Naren Vale.  Duôr was the son of Luôr, lord of Lorn and king of Dul-Ünin, Duôr was also the brother of Nuôr and Yllesa.  Duôr was tall, and strong, with blue eyes and and sandy brown hair, like most people of Dul-Ünin, while his older brother was shorter and stocky, like his father's people, the Northern Wilders.  When he was sixteen, Nuôr was killed by orcs at the Sirdua River, the border between the Vale and the Davanian Wastes, but before Duôr could avenge his brother's death, his father sent him away to war against the men from Rith.  There Duôr proved his prowess in combat by defeating the Rith in battle.  After that, Duôr traveled around, far from his home; he went to Turthulion, Mount Thärheim, Arkicum, and the Numinean Wilds.  After his travels, Duôr came home and became lord of the Dul-Ünin after his father's death at the Sixth Battle of Naren Vale.  He married Korinë from the city Kel, she was the daughter of Hadrac, the lord of the city.  He had children and lived as lord in Lorn for many years, but then Nulcarn the Blighted, the Fallen One, raised another great host after his defeat at the Sixth Battle of the Vale, led by his servant, Tyris the Black.  The Telnar allied with the elves and marched against Nulcarn's invasion.  Duôr led his army from Dul-Ünin to Baragrond, the dread fortress of Nulcarn.  There, at the foot of the Iron Citadel, the Alliance fought the Battle of Sorrow, where 70,000 men alone died; Duôr, during the battle, killed Guargamauth, Lord of Bogloths, who had killed his father and he maimed Tyris by cutting of his right arm and gouging out his left eye.  The Scourge marched to Lorn, where the remnants of the Alliance army were forced to protect the city and the Vale from the Underborn army.  During the Siege of Lorn, Duôr killed the four monstrous bogloth guards of Nulcarn and wounded the Fallen God himself.  Duôr was then brutally slain by the bleeding god, though the forces of Lorn drove away the scattering Underborn horde while Nulcarn fled.  Duôr had a grand funeral, all of Dul-Ünin attended along with tmen from around the Vale, elves from Lorthori and the dwarves of Thärheim.  He had three sons; Hurmbar, Nuôr, and Donan.  Donan's great-grandson Kollanus was adopted by Ascerean VIII, had a son of his own, Kallen, Magus Imperator after the short reign of his father.  Kallen defeated Nulcarn, bringing peace to Mundus and the Theden Empire.

The Languages of Ilendor

Common: the language of men and halflings.  Script: Khazadi.
 Futhral: spoken by the Six Kingdoms and Dail
 Degïo dialects: spoken by the Wilders
 Eastern Arnasan: spoken by Aranns
 Yaruthanaic: spoken by the Telnar and the Adram
 Arnasan: spoken by the Thedes and Black Lortheans
Ílfeyan: the language of Elves.  Script: Aluion
 Plain Ílfeyan: spoken by Alarish and Sea Elves, and Dail
 Pure Ílfeyan: spoken by High and Grey Elves
 Casirílfeyan: spoken by Dark Elves.  Script: Ulyre Aluion
Funräg: the language of dwarves.  Script: Funrä
Uragalic: the language of the Underborn, Giants, and Beastmen.  Script: Thudr
Dahk'uum: the language of dragons.  Script: Dahk'uum
 New Dahk'uum: spoken by modern dragons
 Old Dahk'uum: spoken by dragons during the Elder Age
Vareda: the language of the Varafell.  Script: Varedic

Alderath the Ageless

Alderath was born in Iisadium, Arnas, the heart of the Theden Empire in the middle of the Sacred Age.  He was born to a small family; his father, Laurion Flasca, was an architect and his mother, Asceda Flasca, was a scribe.  She taught him her trade and he became her helper.  The First Purple Order of Magi at Amoniroth, the ancient order of mages that was tasked to find and train magic-users in the youth of Theden, came one day and informed them that Alderath was a magician, like his grandfather.  This immediately elevated his family, the Flascas, to a more exalted level of society.  Alderath was taken at the age of seven to train and live at the imperial mages' academy in Amoniroth.  He lived in the dazzling capital of Theden for ten years during the reign of Magus Imperatora Ascerea, advancing particularly in the arts of lumomancy, pyromancy, and warding.  When he turned seventeen and left the Purple Academy, Alderath stayed in Amoniroth, working first for an alchemist and then the imperial infrastructure system.  His skill and his renown grew slowly as a talented mage, and he even caught the eye of the Eight Magisters after his clever use of light manipulation won the Empire the Battle of Hedring's Dike.  Alderath had to leave the political stage when his parents died of plague and he had to care for his young sister.  A year and a half later he married her off to a Magistrate and then returned to the capital.  When Userius' master, one of the Eight, Ascdra the Hunched-back died, he chose Alderath, who was only twenty-one, as his apprentice.  He had just learned to master his ring of power, which all Magisters—master or apprentice—wore, when Muldorn, God of Vanity, broke free from his prison and raised the Second Scourge, sweeping forth from the Red Mountains; right in the center of Arnas.  Three of the Eight were killed trying to quell the Scourge in the first few weeks and thousands fled the ancient Theden cities of Arnas for the better protected cities of Naren.  The elves united with Theden to drive the Scourge back, containing the thousands of orcs and gorrlocs in Arnas.  Then, while purging the port city of Tema, a barronaug burst from under the city and wiped out the legion of soldiers.  Alderath, still an apprentice to Userius, went with another apprentice, Kalorin of Esgilith—who lost his master in the first week of the Scourge; together killed the barronaug.  The Scourge was being pushed back when Muldorn himself led the horde and slaughtered three armies sent to stop him.  Again, Alderath went to face the fallen god; but this time he had with him an unknown artifact that he kept secret.  Legend says that he had found the artifact in the ruins of an ancient Naren city-state.  Alderath with an army of Guardians and Theden legionnaires met Muldorn at the Fields of Farithas, just south of Naren Vale.  The apprentice Magister unveiled the item he had found in the ruins: the Shield of Boleras.  The radiance of the Sun-god's shield burned Muldorn and sent the dark god fleeing back to the Red Mountains.  Fifteen days later, Legionnaire Vessarian Cairrus imprisoned Muldorn and ended the Second Scourge.  Alderath and Kalorin became Magisters and lived through the Sacred Age, taking on and training apprentices.  But Alderath, called the Ageless, could sense that Theden was waning and with the advent of the Third Scourge, his doubts became realities.  The escape of Duman and the coming of a Third Scourge to Mundus, with Underborn pouring out from the ancient Mountains of Dusk and along the Theden-Thray border caused disaster in both empires.  Alderath and Kalorin fought to preserve Theden, but the God of Silence ravaged all the lands of men.  Dorlúin promised to help, but they mobilized slowly and did not rush to help men fight the Scourge.  The Thedes and Thrayans united and the dwarves sent an army to help, a battle was staged at the old city of Manauris.  An Archon, the Thede Titus Nescus of Orthulium and his lover the high elf Silerré journeyed to Mustpavadas where Duman was dwelling, engaged the dark god using the Horn of Findelas, imprisoning him deep within the mountain.  The orcs were defeated at Manauris and fled down into the Deep.  Theden was crippled by this Scourge and the Magus Age began soon after with the defeat of fellow Magister Iscadethus defeated by the eastern sorcerer Theporos at Lothferen.  The Empire was split; with the heartland of Theden becoming the Kingdom of Lortheas, the five provinces of Nariath received sovereignty, and the eastern provinces became the Arannis Empire.  The Fourth Scourge came and went in the east and then the Fifth Scourge arrived, Alderath and Kalorin were the last two ancient Magisters still alive to fight their third Scourge.  The traditions of Theden were broken.  Urydrell, the God of Rage, destroyed Lortheas and sank Amarilius' island, that held Lortheoren on it, under Lake Naren.  Alderath, escaping the destruction and slaughter, fled to Narenior and disappeared from the world.  Kalorin the Wise, Alderath's friend and fellow Magister, fled to his home city of Esgilith in Arannis, where he became Asdoriin II's Archmage.  Kalorin sacrificed himself as he destroyed an invading horde of Dumunites in the Amaranthine Mountains several decades later.  Whether Alderath died or not is unknown, but many rumors and countless legends have grown around him.