Orchan

A Brief History of Orchan

Roughly 30 or so years ago (there is some debate over when the exact timing of when the invasion actually began), a very peaceful and civilized nation was thrown into chaos.  Strange things had been rumored for years and stranger yet were some of the mysterious tales of people suddenly suffering incredible and often chaotic “incidents”.  

Magic, which once was a rare thing practiced only by elven magicians, dwarven runesmiths, and human priests and mentalists, suddenly changed.  Without warning this magic began to warp and rumors appeared that even the unskilled were experiencing throws of chaotic energy that just appeared as if out of the ether.  Those that studied the fields that were once remote from reality found that they could control this ether and even augment their arcane, runic, psionic, or religious powers with this chaotic form of energy.  And soon even those that did not study the field found that this source of energy was also affecting them.  It seemed that in any such endeavor that required practice, focus, and skill, the ether could be harnessed.  Some of the finest archers, warriors, and hunters found that by use of the ether they could augment their abilities.

The world had a scant few years of which to study this new form of energy before all hell broke loose, literally.  The gates of the underworld had either found a way to use this new form of magic, or perhaps their breaking through the binds that had kept them from our world had caused the chaotic magics in the first place.  Yet others rumor that the famed schools of Rothschurin had thrown the gates open with their experimentation into the new magics.  Whatever the cause, the gates were open, and the world was not ready for the resultant armies of the dark that vomited forth from the underworld.

What followed was a war that lasted nearly a decade and resulted in the destruction of the known world.  The elves, long practitioners of magic, used the new ether to take their cities into hiding.  It would take a true magical scholar to understand how it was accomplished but when it was clear that the battle was not going well for the mortals, they set their abilities to protecting what they had built.  Their cities were either hidden in such a way that no demon or mortal could find their way to their cities, or as some say, they moved their cities to another land entirely.  In their haste, they were not able to save all their brethren, some who were not fortunate enough to be within the cities when the ritual was completed were left stranded and abandoned.

The dwarves were among the first to encounter the demon hordes as their homes were deep within the mountains and closer to many gates of the underworld.  What at first appeared to be a combined and never before heard of assault by the goblins, deep elves, and gnomes, was discovered to be something more as the denizens made efforts to run past their dwarven enemies rather than fight them.  As the dwarves were realizing the intent of the creatures of the deep they saw the first of the invasion, The walkers, spawned, cursed ones and shadowmen flooded from the depths and overran the dwarven holds.  Those that survived fled to the cities of men, but originally their pleas fell upon deaf ears as the emporer made the assumption that it was the deep creatures that had over run them.

By the time that the races rallied to fight, the demons already had their foothold in the lands.  The legions of Sojnat warriors rallied by the emperor fought well and were often victorious but the hordes numbers were just too overwhelming.  As the demons burned and pillaged the human settlements the survivors fled to the corners of the realm, the elves with the protection of their forests were the last bastions left to the world and they made their plans to save their few cities.  The mortal world was ruined.

What is unknown is what followed next, some think that the elven magicians in moving the last of the people away from the land took the incentive for the demons to pillage the land.  Others think that they were looking for some artifact that was held by the dwarves, or some say the elves, and some the humans.  Yet others say that they found it and left.  The optimistic hold that when the elves took their cities away they somehow sealed the gates.  Whatever the case, the demon hordes left the daylight lands and went back into the mountains, at least most of them are thought to have returned to the underworld.  The land had been thoroughly pillaged and Rothschurin lay burned and ruined, as well as any other city that housed more than a hundred people.

Two decades have passed, and people have begun to gather again.  The demon presence is only a shadow of what it once was, but talk of shadows in the country still abound.  Enough time has passed that people once more have started to talk of courage and seeking that which was lost.  The major cities of the world, once bastions of peace, now hold treasures and lost knowledge.  Still dangerous places, bound to hold a few demons and other wild things, they now stir the hearts of those that have heard tales of the old times.  Rumors of the lost elven cities are still common stories talked about at meeting places and taverns, and now mortals have begun to build towns again, and perhaps one day, cities.  The lands are far from the civilized areas they once were but people have begun to travel once again.  And some wish to seek the truth to document what really happened.  Others seek the wealth that was not sacked by the invasion.  What caused the demons to attack?  Was the magic at the cause?  Was it an effect?  Were the demons seeking something or someone?  Where did they go?  What of the elves?  Are the demon gates closed?  What happened to the ether?  Many questions drive mortals and adventure awaits.