characters and lands
Vaelor
A grizzled warrior forced by destiny to lead his people against an insurmountable darkness. His heart is heavy with the weight of souls he must command to their potential end.
The Black Army
A legion of shadows bred from malice and hate. They march across the foundations of humanity, leaving only burning embers and silenced voices in their wake.
Vale of Darkness
Once green and verdant, the Elarion Veil, now turned to darkness by the hand of evil. A twisted land of ash and shadow.
The Radiance
Guardian of the Light. She whispers to the winds, and in sacred places, seeking a way to reclaim the light before man is lost forever.
elarion veil
The crown jewel of the kingdoms of men. A place of beauty and abundance where man and fey creature once lived in harmony.
Elderguard Keep
The final fortress of the Aethonar bloodline. Carved from the living heart of the mountains, its stone walls will become humanity's final stand.
Malakar
The Lord of Shadows' primary executioner, Malakar is a soul bound to eternal malice. Its blade carves the path for the Black Army, crushing everything that stands in its way.
The BLack Gates
The Gateway to The Hollow. Home to the Lord of Shadows and the birth of the Black Army. No living creature may tread here.
Shrine of Echoes
A sacred cave high in the mountains where legends say the voice of The Radiance can still to be heard.
Chronicles of the Saga
Step into the echoes of THE SAGA OF FABLES, where symphonic thunder heralds the dawn of an ancient myth.
0 ERA
The BEFORE
In the before time… before men, animals, or creatures walked or slithered upon the earth. There was only light… and dark. The light chasing away the dark. The dark giving meaning to the light. For ages beyond reckoning, the two forces moved against one another in perfect balance. Until… the gods awoke. Not from sleep… but from will. They spoke. Light and dark colliding. A new world was born, and with it, life… But in that violent collision, a wound remained. A void in the core of the earth. And in that wound, something ancient, something dark… waited.
1422 AE
Vale of Darkness
Ages passed, and mortal kingdoms flourished. The greatest among them was a land of unsurpassing beauty, where elves and fawns played in enchanted forests, and man walked the deep fields where crystal streams trickled and flowed. The Elarion Vale, cradle of the first kingdoms of men. Surrounded by the majestic Elderguard Mountains, it was a place where man and creature could believe the gods still walked unseen among them. Indeed, the Legends tell of a beneveolent power called The Radiance, that guided man's first steps and flowed through all things.
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In time however, love became replaced by greed, and the poison of man's selfishness seeped into the earth, corrupting the land, bleeding it’s way into The Hollow - that remnant of the original collision - where an ancient force, fed upon the poisoned earth for millennia, began to stir. At first the signs were subtle. Crops failed. Animals were born twisted. Travelers vanished upon the old roads.
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Then the tremors came. Great earthquakes that cracked the earth and broke the tops of the mountains, molten lava spewing forth like the hatred that spawned it.
From the depths, a Black Gate was uncovered - a doorway to The Hollow. Out of these unholy gates, emerged the Nameless One... ​Death accompanied every step, the land withering and dying beneath its tread. Shadows fled to it, for darkness calls to darkness. Some called it the Hollow King. Others called it simply the Lord of Shadows.
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There were many in those first years, whether fey creature or mortal man, whose grasping ambition made them vulnerable to the same twisted fate as the blighted land upon which they now lived. Having lost all power of agency, they became Daemon’s. Servants of the Lord of Shadows. Some crawled and shuffled upon the earth, while others took to the sky on cursed wings, ever hunting the innocent in the endless night.
The survivors fled north, carrying only their courage, fragments of prophecy, and fading memories of the world before darkness.
1843 AE
Black Army
And still the evil grew... for deep in The Hollow, channeled by dark powers and fed upon the corrupted soil of man's malice, an unholy army was bred. As the gates to hell yawned wide, the army of darkness marched forth, the old prophecies returning with them: “When the mountain breathes again, the army without mercy shall rise.” The earth trembled at their approach, and outriders spread word of a great Black Army that shook the earth and left nothing but death and destruction in their wake. The stench of terror filled the land, and hope withered and died along with the cities and forests, where only ash remained.​
PRESENT
The reluctant king
As the Black Army advances across the world, humanity’s final refuge becomes the Elderguard Keep, an ancient fortress in the northern mountain kingdom of Aethonar, built by the descendants of those who escaped the fallen Vale generations before. In this kingdom lives an old warrior named Vaelor. Second son of the king, and a direct descendent of Aethenor. The crown falls to him when his older brother is killed in battle—placing the burden of kingship on a man more suited to wandering battlefields than sitting a throne.
After his older brother was slain, though the people looked to him, he rejected the Crown and spent his days hunting and fighting, ignoring the old prophecy: “When night devours the world, the unwilling king shall stand before the gate.”
Until he could ignore it no longer... For on the eve of the battle for the fate of men, the Black Army on their doorstep, Vaelor is led to an ancient place where it is said The Radiance still speaks to those who will listen.
The night is dark. Cold. A freezing drizzle drenches everything in misery. Alone, the old, grizzled warrior makes his way to a cave high in the hills, his steps slow, shoulders bowed, and heart heavy. As he reaches this holy place, he slumps to his knees, gnarled hands gripping the familiar pommel of his sword. As he lifts his eyes to the heavens, he pleads for the strength and courage to bear the burden of leading his people into a battle that will most likely mean their death.