Historical Tidbit - Merdrae

No one really knows where the Merdrae came from but some scholars think they were actually originally aquatic creatures who then evolved in to amphibious humanoids due to the death and rebirth of Sernos. When Sernos died, magical energy was shut off to the world until Sernos was reborn, at which point magical energy flooded the world, burst crashing through mountain, burning whole planes and affecting all life on Edos.

They believe the merdrae were hit by great bursts of it and subsequently began evolving in to what they now know as Merdrae.

The Merdrae themselves do not care how they came to be, so any records of what may have happened thousands of years ago are simply non existant.

((Sorry for the short post today guys, I've got a lot on my plate at the moment.))

Battle at Horncliff

Rana charged ahead, leaping over corpses. A varonian emerged from the mist and smoke to strike at him with a curved sword but he parried the blow and swept the man's feet out from underneath him. Rana shifted his balance and kicked the man hard in the ribs with his spiked boot. The man let out a cry but was silenced by the spear now lodged in his throat.

A cries errupted from behind him as a volley of arrows shredded the men in the first few rows of his Legion who did not have their shields up. An arrow barely missed Rana so he hurled his spear in the direction of the arrows and strapped his buckler to his right wrist.

Unlike most Vak, Rana was left handed, which provided a nice bonus againstunprepared attackers. With a grunt he drew his scimitar and shouted to the other Legionaire of the 9th Legion.

"Cranus will have our heads if we don't take care of those archers. Flank left!" he cried, his voice barely audible over the roar of the battlefield. The other Legionaire, Drey, nodded in his usual solemn way and motioned for the group of now about thirty men to move left and around the nearby copse of trees. Rana made the hand motion for stealth and the standard bearers stuck their standards in to the ground. The rest of the men changed stance and some changed weapons. The legion spread out and began to move around the trees.

Varonian archers are a force to be reckoned with. Many times entire battles have been won without the enemy even seeing their foes, but if Rana was even worried, he did not show it. As the legion rounded the trees, they saw movement in the trees and bushes. It looked as if the entire forest was alive. Incoherent shapes moved about and loosed arrows.

"Varonian Camoflauge." Drey mouthed, gesturing to the odd shapes. Rana took a second look and could now make out the shapes of men obscured by twigs and whole plants attached to them. Had they not been moving, they would be completely invisible.

Without a thought, the Legion moved in. Cries and shouts began at the back of the Varonian, but by the time the ones in front could turn around, the Vak were already upon them. As Rana approached the other side of the trees, he was amazed to see that the Varonian were firing arrows in to the mist. They had not even been aiming when they had begun desemating the Vak army.

Just as Rana was looking at the wall of mist, figures began emerging. Hundreds upon hundreds of silent figures charged from the mist in all directions. They fell over the few Vak Rana could see on the other side of the mist and he imagined they were doing the same to the others. These figures were almost a liquid mass of men, crashing like waves over the lines of the Vak. The silence was broken by a single horn call and then the figures began crying, shouting with wild battle shouts. The sound was so savage, so horrific, Rana could barely keep standing.

Suddenly more figures came out of the mist, towards the 9th Legion. Rana tried to call for a retreat but the words were caught in his mouth as he was overwhelmed by the figures. In his last few moments, he whitnessed such savagery that he felt in his heart that these were not men. These were beasts.

Diary of Maren Onyis - Entry 1

Well Tenner convinced me to do this. Evidently that's what some folks do. They write a little journal and use it to reflect on their lives or something. Maybe this will turn in to an advice book for other thieves. I don't really care.

Anyway, I am Maren Onyis. I'm a thief. Now I'm all for the shadowy cloak and dagger style, but mine is a little different. I've been described as a spellthief. Basically, I use magic and the power of Sernos to help me do what I do.

I'm not sure why, but I've always had an affinity for magic. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not powerful wizard, I'm more of a thief than I am a magician, but I know a few handy little spells. Yeah... I'm not one for describing myself. It feels too egotistical. Did I spell that right? I think I did.

OK enough of that, I'm just gonna get down to the journal talk.

Today was kind of big. Oh, I should probably say I live in the city of Denebar in the Empire, for the time being. Right, well I've been checking out this nice little town house recently. It's not much but I need to keep low for a bit, I pulled a highscale job recently and someone might have seen me. I'm not sure. So yeah, this house, some ex-noble from Derlia or something moved in recently. Tenner saw and talked to one of the servants. Evidently there's a lot of swag in there.

I'd have hit the place by now but some House Denos technician has been coming in and out of there. I think he's setting up some kind of security. House Denos doesn't usually work this far north so, I hate to say it, but I'm inexperienced with them. I don't know what to expect. I should probably talk to Tenner. He might know. I think he's from the south.

Oh, Tenner. Yeah, he's a good friend of mine. Probably the only person I can call a friend. To be honest I don't know much about him. He's a dyari, that's hard to hide, and I know he's Trad Mak, but other than that, I only know about him presently, no idea about his past.

I think I might talk to Tenner tonight, see what he knows, but I think I'll just have to risk it and see what happens. I'm getting low on money and I'm going to need to start putting together some funding for the next big job.

See, I'm doing Tenner a favor. Trad Mak needs some box that he can't tell me what's inside it. Problem is, it's in the desk of the landlord of the Zaig Hotel in the foreign quarter. Damn thing is so magically warded you can't get in with a lockpick or a knife or anything. You can't get in without a 2 year advance reservation.

Now the real rub is I can't even steal anything else once I'm inside. I mean come on, I'm in the biggest and tightest cluster of wealthyfolk this side of the Eluvian Hills and I'm not allowed to touch anything. Tenner made such a big deal... ah well. He said Trad Mak would pay me well, but I can't imagine they'd pay me enough to make up the difference of what I could have walked away with.

Well um... this feels so awkward... I think... I'm saying goodbye to my journal. Yeah, I've got to go meet Tenner... bye?

Historical Tidbit - Library of Vae

In the year 2078, the Varonian created the Library of Vae, named for it's caretaker and steward, Vae d'Raithund. Vae himself was a very scholarly man, whose wisdom and knowledge seemed infinite. Some say he even unlocked the power of never ending life. A copy of every book and manuscript was put in the library and every year since then, any new writings are put there.

However, the Vak and many other see the Library has a great source of power. It's knowledge infinite, so there were many attempts to either steal from or destroy the library. Due to these attacks, the Varonian moved the library to an undisclosed location. There are reports that books are still collected once a year, but no one knows where they are brought. Some say Vae himself still runs the library.