Rentar-Ihrno

Vahnatai Lord

 

The surface world is ruled by the Empire, and has been for longer than anyone could remember. From its birthplace on the continent of Aizo, it has spread to cover almost all of the world. Cities and fortresses covered the lands of Pralgad, Vantanas, and Valorim.

Two centuries ago, the wizards of the Empire discovered a new land. Not a new continent, no. That would have been found a long time ago. Instead, it was a massive weblike labyrinth of caves far beneath the surface. To explore this new land, the Empire sent down the Visitations.

The first of these visitations was called, logically enough, the First Visitation. It composed of a band of heroes and a large group of soldiers. They carried with them some of the most powerful artifacts ever created. And they failed. They were slaughtered - 'to a man and a woman'. Many of the items were lost.

After this failed expedition, the Empire decided to use these caverns as the dumping ground for petty criminals and undesirables. The fact that they sent people down instead of outright killing them was to their credit.

All of them were sent through a one-way teleporter, banished to the underworld, never to return.

At first, the Empire only sent down small groups at a time. It was during the reign of Emperor Hawthorne that people started pouring down into the caves. He wanted order above all. In doing so, he made a crucial mistake.

Hawthorne, with the archmage Garzahd, sent down several powerful mages who were at the losing end of a political struggle. Rone, Solberg, Patrick, Aimee, and Erika.

Erika Redmark was the most powerful of those sent down. She was also cursed. The Empire wizards set a powerful curse on her, that she may never live to see the sun. Thus, she had the most desire for revenge.

The exiled archmagi set work to improve the conditions of living. They were able to imprison the demon lord Grah-Hoth, ruler of the caverns. They created edible, slightly glowing mushrooms for food. They were able to teleport down some books - rare commodities in the caves. And they created a nation. They called it Exile, as a constant reminder that this was not their true home.

Erika was not content. She set work on plans to assassinated Hawthorne. And she succeeded.

By Erika's aid, a group of adventurers teleported up to the middle of Castle Hawthorne, and killed the emperor in his throne room.

The effects of this action were immediate. The portal into Exile was closed. Then, when the Empire saw that Exile was surviving despite the fact that no one entered, they invaded.

Soldiers and wizards teleported down to Exile, led by Garzahd. They quickly captured the Northern Waters and the Abyss. For a long time, the war was at a stalemate in the Front, while Empire raiders ravaged the towns.

During the War, the Empire found bizarre creatures, adept in magics involving crystals. These beings, the Vahnatai, were able to shape the spirits of the ancestors into crystal form. The Crystal Souls were the guardians and, to a degree, the gods of the Vahnatai. The Empire found this interesting, and stole three of them for experiments. The Vahnatai were shocked by the degree of this crime, but not knowing who committed them, they attacked Exile.

Some of the Vahnatai wanted a true explanation. Among them was Bon-Ihrno. He sent a message to those of Exile, bidding them to traverse the Black Waters to the Vahnatai Lands, and explain themselves.

The truth was revealed. The Exiles were able to take back the Crystal Souls and restore them to their home. The Vahnatai became allies in the War against the Empire. Their most powerful mage, Rentar-Ihrno, agreed to give help to the Exiles against the Empire.

Meanwhile, the wizards of Exile created a great teleporter, capable of sending one quickly to anywhere in Exile, if the right coordinates were known. One of the wizards, named Thompson, came upon the coordinates of a most important place: the fortress of the archmage Garzahd. With help from the Vahnatai, particularly that of Rentar-Ihrno, a group of Exiles were able to penetrate Garzahd's defenses and slay him.

The Empire was also working on a teleporter to send mass amounts of troops at a time to Exile. That device was also destroyed. The Empire's forces were greatly weakened. Finally, due to the difficulty of sending down troops and supplies, the Empire withdrew. Exile had won the War.

After the War, the Exiles were able to augment their teleporter to be able to send people directly up to the surface. They set up Upper Exile, a string of caverns just below the surface world. There was an exit from Upper Exile to the surface, to southwest Valorim. There in Upper Exile, they built Fort Emergence, to prepare for their return.

But when they sent groups up to examine the situation, they found what they least expected. Monsters, at the height of the Empire's power. The creatures destroyed towns and fortresses, and there seemed to be no end of them.

Magical slimes, giant cockroaches, troglodytes, giants, golems, and alien beasts, each one more deadly than the one before. It was with the help of Bon-Ihrno, among others, that these plagues were destroyed, one by one. Yet it was still not apparent who created these creatures.

Not apparent, until the source of the golems was found. They were created in a huge factory, controlled by machines, and commanded by the Mind Crystal. When the Mind Crystal was destroyed, the golems ceased to function. Shards of the Mind Crystal were taken for evidence. It was found that the shards were part of a Crystal Soul.

This proved that the Vahnatai were responsible for the plagues. It was confirmed again in the ruins of the Keep of Tinraya - and beyond.

With much difficulty, the Exiles found Bon-Ihrno. He told them of the revenge madness of the Vahnatai, and how they might be stopped. Bon-Ihrno was later assassinated by the Vahnatai, as a traitor to their cause.

With this, a group of Exiles infiltrated the fortress where all of the monsters originated from. With the knowledge from Bon-Ihrno, they were able to disrupt the operations. However, that was not enough. The controls of the fortress were still in the hands of Rentar-Ihrno.

Then came an unlikely turn of events. Erika teleported to the fortress, and engaged in a duel with Rentar. However, Rentar was prepared. The curse on Erika was activated. Erika was turned to ashes. This sacrifice gave enough time for the group of Exiles to reach the control pedestal, and destroy the fortress. Rentar teleported away to the Lower Caverns, vowing vengeance as he did so. But the monster plagues were gone. As a show of gratitude, the Empire gave Exile a piece of land for them to live on. It has come full circle: the Exiles have returned.