And So It Came To Pass

[Aegohl]

An extract from the text "And So It Came To Pass: A Written History of Illarion in the Seventh Age by Aegohl Windrider"

"...The slaughter at Fort Caelum could be said to be the big turning point during the events in the last days of Seventh Age, as far as it concerns the lives of mortals and elves alike. Surely the days of ambiguity were gone, the Albarian soldiers dead along with their Baron and their ships lit aflame or sunk in the harbor. Hanseus, the good brother, now rested in a grave there within the walls of the partially ruined fort. Only the demonic forces were left as the sole army contesting the unholy breastplate.

Meanwhile, in the mainland, the remaining properties of Baron Gastarl were divied up in whatever manner is custom in the Albarian Region, and the few remaining loyal to him wandered away quite purposefully, never to be heard of again. And so it was that the secrets the Baron kept also found their way into the mainstream, and, most importantly, into the hands of the high priests of the temples.

To say the very least, the public was shocked, and while matters of greatest importance to our tale were concentrated on the fledgling Isle of Hope, matters in Albar were at hand that would surely change the culture forevor. Surely it can be said that the anger and shock over a noble being involved with matters infernal off on an exotic isle was exactly what caused the Inquisition that was to come in the Eighth Age.

Word would also spread to Lor Angur, where the great sorcerers had already expected something was afoot for some time. However, it was quite easy to overlook the small island of Gobaith even as Lor Angur had made contact with the island in the past through their magic academy, which ushered a new era of magick on the island not long before. However, rumors of the goings on on the island would not be enough, as violence sparked anew with their Albarian neighbors, who had convinced themselves that Lor Angur is yet another source of deviltry.

Meanwhile in Salkameria, an outbreak of rioting and political unrest had broken out in most of the larger cities, it is said, that was related to a young upstart noble of the Rothman clan, who were famous for their trouble making elsewhere.

And as it always was, the Plainfolk and the Seafolk continued on existing as they had always, surviving and thriving from day to day, blissfully unaware of the goings on elsewhere. The immortal elves lived high in their towers and deep in their secluded forests where something so small as the end of the world would never bother them. The dwarves were much too busy with their work, and the halflings were much too busy trying to keep from being busy, and the orcs and goblins spent as much energy on war as the fae spent on songs and games.

And so it seems that the Isle of Hope was left without hope of any outside help while they faced what certainly could have been the end of the world. Dark days began after the slaughter at Caelum, and the folk of Trollsbane, the first and largest city of the Isle, now awoke to the sounds of a skeletal army digging in the depths of the underground, searching for yet more pieces of the breastplate..."