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For the attention of Rawleign Kippermist, Archmagi of Meridyl,
My names is Brother Mendosa, a humble monk from the Mountain of No Truth. I have been sent by the Senior Abbot of our monestary to deliver to you this series of papers. He urged me to come right away, as your belief something in the pages of time might reveal what the sands of the future may hold startled him.
What follows, is, as he has instructed me, my own shorthand, and short version, of
The History of Annwn.
In what we now call the Age before Ages, there was nothing save the void. Slowly, over countless Eons, the void became self aware, and in doing so, became lonely.
The void would fracture itself into 3 parts, never knowing the repercussions that act would have. We may never truly grasp all those...but we do know several.
The first, was a ripple, that created substance in the void. Where there had been nothing, there was now something.
The second, was that each of the three parts of the void, self aware, yet only part of the whole, took on a different aspect. Light, Dark, and the shades of Grey in between.
As time passed, each apsect began to exert more control of the something, and the stars were born. As the stars blazed forth, so were made the other celestial objects, including the world known as Kaelar.
The third, and final known effect of the fracture, was the arrival of the alien race known as the Dragon Gods. From far beyond the void, they came, bringing their great children with them, to populate Kaelar, and claim it as their own.
For what we assume to be a period of over twenty five thousand years, the reign of the Dragon Gods and their children went unchallenged. Until, Light, in all her splendor came to the continent of Kaelr, known as Annwn (Pronounced a like adam, noon.) . On Annwn, she saw the Dragon Gods, and their wanton abuse of what she had made. And in her righteous anger, she drew forth upon creation again, and in doing so, she named herself, Tellara. This would begin the 1st Age, called the Age of the Valinor.
Her brother, Dark, heard her name spoken in the cosmos, and knew in that moment, his name was Murnon. The shades of Grey came to them, and called himself the Grey Man. He told them the Dragon Gods did not belong, and they would need to be fought. Calling upon his might and wisdom, the Grey Man bade the two to wed, and together they sired a number of other, called the Valinor, or Old Gods.
The Valinor stormed Kaelar, and as they rode across the land, armies rose up behind them. Born from the rock of the mountains, were the Dwarves, solid and capable. From the Air itself sprang the Elves, graceful and ever flowing. From the fires of the earth came the Ogres, fierce and terrible. And rising from the unquenchable seas came Man, ever expanding, ever hungry to eat away at it's enemy.
As Murnon and Tellara led the Valinor, and the Valinor led the four Armies, against the Dragon Gods, and their fierce children, the Grey man began to work a mighty Doom upon the Dragon Gods.
The two great armies clashed, and fianlly, the Dragon Gods, what remained of their number, beat down the Valinor. All hope seemed lost, until the Grey Man, bearing a Blood Red sword strode forth upon the field of battle.
In a great feat, he took the weakened Dragon Gods, and imprisoned them within certain artifacts, to seal them away, and to loose their hold upon their children.
The First Dragon War came to a close.
Of the four races, the Ogres were nearly decimated, having been amonst the fiercest fighting. Their numbers would never recover. The Elves and the Dwarves both had remained strong in number, and laid claim to most of Annwn, leaving weakened Man alone in the south.
The 1st Age would last a total of twenty thousand years, marked by small, but consistant wars between the Orgres, Elves, and Dwarves. Man remained silent, licking it's wounds deep in the south.
Amonst these wars, the Ogres suffered the highest of caualties, eventually fading away their once great nation. The last great war of this age was between the Elves and the Dwarves, and resulted in the Dwarves retreating to their impenetrable mountain strongholds. The Elves became the dominant species of Annwn by the close of the 1st Age.
The 2nd Age, Called the Age of Man, began humbly, with the fall of the southern Kingdom of Man, called the Kingdom of Andios.
As the last true king of that nation died, leaving no direct heir, the five Dukes of the Kingdom fought each other, though it was the Duke Malshleth, wearing the Crown of Empires, an artifact with a Dragon God imprisoned within, that would emerge victorius.
Thus was born the 1st Dynasty of the Malshleth Empire. And it's purge of the other Duchies would send Man north, to escape war, and all the horrible things that would always travel with war.
Ironically, those of the race of Man, that would migrate north, would bring war to those who already lay claim upon those places of Annwn.
The races of the north, battered and weary from twenty thousand years of warring upon each other were unprepared for the vast numbers Man had grown to, and like the sea they sprang from, Man washed upon the face of Annwn like a mighty wave, crushing all in their way.
To the south, the Malshleth Empire would grow, and stabalize, though only in name and borders.....as any number of Emperers rose and fell. Still, the bloodline continued. The Men that made their way north, lead by the Duke of Mornthay, and his descendants, would splinter, slowly settileng the mid lands of Annwn, some even braving the far north.
Around two thousand years ago, the last known descendant of the Mornthay line journeyed across the great sea, claiming he would return in Annwn's darkest hour.
Great cities rose along the Merendi coast, and cut off by the Dwarven mountains, the Man of the North would evolve slowly into a hardy people. Man had not been idle, in all his years in the south. along the southern coastline, he'd spread to other places of Kaelar, and had, again, evolved into a different breed of Man.
The 2nd Age, in it's entirety, would last just short of three thousand years, and much of this history is recorded with accurate dates to events.
The root of all the wars was among the Valinor. Tellara and Murnon, being radically different in nature, had opposing ideals. Each of their children borrowed varius aspects of their parents nature, and so fought for one side or the other.
Eventually, it was becoming obvious....the Balance of the world was gone...shattered by the War of the Gods, played out through their pawns on Annwn.
And so, the Grey Man returned. His Blood Red Sword, he buried deep into the earth, and he walked a time in silence, viewing the world and all it's disorder.
A small gathering of heroes, chosen to represent both sides and neither, slowly made their way into being. The descendant of Mornthay, Amergin the Bard. The High Priest of Murnon, Tursis the Black. The albino priest of Tellara, born in Dark rituals to Murnon, Serbitar the Shining. They were accompanied by others, and soon, all the nations of Annwn made their way into the fold of a group knon=wn as the Northern Knights.
When finally, the Grey Man revealed himself, and his plan to wipe away all that was, and restore the Balance in this way, the Northern Knights opposed him. In the final moments of that fight, Amergin, now wielding the BloodSword slew the Grey Man, and in doing so, assumed his role, as the Aspect of Balance. As the Grey Man died, so did Tellara and Murnon, replaced by their prelates, Serbitar and Tursis. Others of the Valinor fell that day, some replaced by the Northern Knights, others replaced by ambitious beings of great power. Thus were born the Matinor, or Younger Gods.
The 3rd Age then, or the Age of Might, as it has been named, overcame several momentus obstacles early on. The Matinor, aided by those Valinor that still remained, seemed to have restored the Balance. Alas, we know this was not to be.
The three mortal sons of Amergin, sired before his ascension, would each come into possession of the last remaining Artifacts housing the terrible Dragon Gods. Romulus, Paladin of Light, would bring forth the horrible Dragon Sword, against which no army could stand. Kitar, Khan of the Steppes, would wield the Crown of Empires, and the world would tremble at the sound of a million sets of hooves riding to war. And for to the south, Marik, the Black Sorcerer would wield the Orb of Might, and the very fabric of Magic would bend itself to his will.
Like great Gods themselves, each half brother lead the armies of Annwn to war.....a war that none could survive.
It was only through the intervention of the Valinor and Matinor that the plot of the Dragon Gods was foiled, the final battles, fought between Romulus and his father, would shatter the Dragon Sword, thus ending the last of the Dragon Gods lives, but also the fables Blood Sword would be broken, shards of it raining down all over Kaelar.
For fifty years, the world has licked it's wounds. It has breathed easy.
And yet, Marik's son, born of both the Mornthay and Malshleth lines, has met an untimely end, and the child of the son, ascending the throne, dreams of a united Annwn, a new Kingdom of Andios, under his banner.The tribes of the steppes whisper of the second coming of Kitar. The Elves have rebuilt their army, and their navy stands strong as ever. The Dwarves have hammered weapons of war in the silence of their mountains for fifty years. The great kingdom of the Northmen has been quite for far too long, and the Merendi Coast fears another Great Migration. Dark things, better left undisturbed deep below have begun to stir.
The Great Archmagi of Meridyl, and your predecessor, Elquestor, through his syght, told of the 4th, and final Age. The Age of Apocalypse. Many scholars of history and religion now feel, the Age of Might may well have ended with the shattering of the Blood Sword.....
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History Of Annwn, (Short Version)
