Legends of the Desert - The Father of Worms

On The Father of Worms

Ephrain of the Tomes, Salamonis 2256 AC

Olghoi-Kohorkhoi comes. Melora sends Him up from beneath Her dunes. The earth trembles in anticipation of His passing. The sands and the air become one, marking His coming. The Father of Worms comes. The devourer of armies, the shaker of walls, the doom of the works of men comes. He will eat you.

From The Songs of Hebet, an oral tradition amongst the desert peoples.

One of the most persistent legends of the desert is that of Olghoi-Kohorkhoi, the Father of Worms. He is said to have been created by Melora during the Dawn War as a response to the demonic Nephilim. Descriptions of him vary across different accounts, but all agree that he is an enormous worm with a chitinous shell and a circular maw filled with teeth longer than a man.

According the the stories of the desert peoples, Olghoi-Kohorkhoi sleeps beneath the sands, occasionally awakening when men become to arrogant, too assuming in their domination of nature. He is a counterpoint to them, devouring armies and smashing cities when civilizations try to tame Melora's wild desert. Some stories suggest that the Meloran priesthood has the ability to summon him to fight on their behalf in times of need.

I cannot say if the Father of Worms is real, or merely a myth. There, however many accounts across the ages, some from reliable sources, that describe him as if he is real. At the least, should you encounter a two-hundred foot long worm with a maw the size of a house whilst travelling the Desert of Skulls, you will know what to call it.

A Brief History of Carsepolis

Ephrain of the Tomes, Salamonis, 2448 AC

It is not clear precisely when the port city of Carsepolis was founded, but evidence suggests that there has been at least a settlement on the same site since prior to the fall of Arkhosia. A surviving fragment of the reports made by Arkhosian explorer Ahzad the Frequently Lost describe a small fishing town in a natural harbor on the desert coast that tallys with present-day Carsepolis.

“Some eighty flightes out of Arventus we came acrosse a small towne of men. The called themselves the Carseps and said that this was their home. It is a fine place indeed for a citye, with deepe waters surrounded by high cliffes to the north and south and shallowe beaches to the west. There is a high peninsula in the centre of the bay, connected to the shore by a small spit of lande. On the highest point of this they have built a temple, grande to them but of course smalle and crude by our standards, to the God of this place who is named by them Maradurk.

They are a rich people for the area. They have many metal swords and a number of fine boats which they use to fish and to hunt for the whale. Freshe waters flowing from the hills to the north, which they take as a blessing from Maradurk, allowe them to growe crops. They have cattle numbering fifty and an equal number of camels and sheepe.

They warned us not sail too far south, for if we did we could come to the broken landes of the Illiacs, which they say are haunted by the ape and the wraithe.”

An Arkhosian 'flight' is a measure approximate to the distance that a dragon could fly in a day (for a comprehensive, if rather dull, discussion see The Measure of a Dragonman: Weights, Volumes and Lengths in Ancient Arkhosia by Vallenger the Blue and Gray). If we take take Arventus to refer to what is now Arventine then this squarely places the settlement described by Ahzad in the location of Carsepolis. The description of the bay matches Carsepolis well. It is likely the fresh waters described refer to streams flowing from the vast freshwater lake underneath the high lands north of the city. It is of interest to note the similarity between the name of the City-God of the Carseps, Maradurk, and the ceremonial name Marduk that is taken by the Tyrant of the present-day city upon ascension to the throne. It seems reasonable to suggest that the latter is a corruption of the former, although it does not appear that the modern inhabitants of the city realise the origins of this name.

The rise of the city as a trading power came after the fall of Nerath, with the resulting vacuum creating many opportunities for the canny merchant. The first records of trade with the Empire of Everessemme are from some three-hundred years ago and this seems to be the point at which the city became rich and the merchant classes began to gain power. This money also allowed to the city to construct a powerful navy and impose some form of control on the pirate infested Illiac Archipelago, further filling their coffers as trade began to flood in from Heliopoli.

The rise of the city was not uncontested. It's enforced pacification of the land trading routes angered many of the desert-dwellers and Arventine was most displeased at the emergence of a potential competitor. All of this came to a head in 2279 AC when Lotar of the Red Sands, a powerful invoker of Melora, managed to unite many of the desert tribes in a war against Carsepolis. The city folk were shocked by the size of his army and the speed at which it came out of the desert. Caught unprepared and with only crude fortifications to defend them, the bulk of the Carsepolite army was routed and soon most of the city was in flames, with only the Old Gates district, protecting the approach to the central penninsula standing. An earlier treaty with Arventine promised military aid in the event of an invasion, but relief never game. Arventine had decided to let its rival burn. Some even suggested that Lotar himself was an Arventinian stooge. The siege persisted for months – Lotar's army was unable to take the bridges to the Old City and although the Carsepolite army was unable to retake the city, their fleet ensured that the citizenry remained fed. Still, the morale of the Carsepolites was not steady – more soldiers flocked to Lotar's army with each passing month and it was clear that they could not hold out forever. The siege was finally ended in its ninth month in a desperate act by Massinissa, an Avenger of Erathis. In the dead of night Massinissa snuck ashore in a small boat and crept through the enemy lines to Lotar's tent, where he slew him in single combat, albeit at the cost of his own life.

With Lotar dead, his army crumbled. Most soldiers who not slain by the resurgent Carsepolites simply melted back into the desert. If the invasion had been planned by Arvenine, or if their denial of relief was simply a callous act of opportunity will never be known, but Arventine's desire to curtail Carsepolis was not fulfilled. Although much of the city was in ruins, its navy, both merchant and military remained intact. With the desert tribes now utterly broken the city's dominance of the land trading routes was completely uncontested. Trade began to flood in again and the city was rebuilt quickly, complete with high walls to thwart any future invaders. None have threatened it since.

ALLANSIA LORE: Legend of the Usurpers

LEGEND OF THE USURPERS

CREATION MYTH OF THE PYROMANCERS OF HELIOPOLAI

This creation myth is pieced together from the rather secretive religious practices of the many pyromancy sects of Heliopolai. It seems to be rather negative towards the gods, but this is explained by the usual hostility shown to divine matters by wizards and sorcerors. The legitimacy of this 'eternal flame' is questionable, but it can't be denied that the fire magicks of Heliopolai are a wonder to behold.

-Vallanger the Blue and Grey, Scholar of Salamonis.

Published the History Dept., Salamonis 2469 AC

In the beginning there was just flux and matter. Fire weaved with water, air blew through stone. There were creatures in this time, elementals which danced and played within the flux. However, there was one flame, one fire thaty burnt too hot and for too long, and became aware of itself. Within this eternal flame was birthed the very substance of permanence: time, entropy and thought. Some creatures came to the fire, small beings of no consequence within the great flux. They reached into it, and burnt themselves in its crucible. They emerged anew, aware of the permanence that only the fire knew. 

 

With such power, they called themselves gods and set about their great work. They forged seas, plains and mountains, permanent things and set them on an orb apart from the flux. They grew trees, creatures, set peoples of all creeds and types upon it. They ruled it as kings.

In time they grew greedy. They wanted more material for more creations, and waged war against the flux, which in turn raised powerful beings of its own. So began the First War, or as northerners say, the Dawn War. One god known as Um to Heliopolitans, Tharizdum to the North, Manimac to old elves and Glythagul to those of the Underdark, ventured to the edge of the flux, where dark things live, and stole a piece of their power. Attempting to make the gods stronger, Um flung the darkness into the eternal flame. But it was hubris, and the darkness consumed the eternal flame. The poison flowed from the flame into the flux, and created the Abyss. The joyful elementals began the horrific demons, and the Dawn War began anew. 

 

Worlds and planes alike were ravaged, but the gods in the end where victorious, as the creatures of flux had no place within the permanence, and were banished. The gods dwelled in their world at peace. But the jealous minds of the gods soon turned on themselves, and they went to war with each other. The creatures of world, who had undertaken much sorrow on behalf of the gods, communed with deeper spirits that dwelled within rock and sea, and cast the gods into exile. 

 

But let it be known that fragments of the eternal flame still exist in the flux, despite the stupidity of the gods. It is the role of all Pyromancers to search and harness the power of this flame, to ignite it anew. The usurper gods be damned, all honour to the eternal flame.

ALLANSIA LORE: The Monomyth

  THE MONOMYTH

Note: This myth is one of the most enduring creation myths in Allansian history. It was pieced together from fragments found in Arkhosian ruins, and in turn it is believed this information was transcribed from oral traditions dating back to as yet unknown cultures. It is however one of several hundred creation myths recorded by this prestigous department.
It is also worth noting that in some of the more gnostic wizard towers of Xistomagistos there can be found shrines to "E'ell" and "Vanmut", which could well be remnants of an ancient form of creator worship.

-Vallanger the Blue and Grey, Scholar of Salamonis.

Published by the History Dept., Salamonis 2467 AC.

In the beginning there was the void, and within the void were two prime spirits; El and Vanu, each with distinct powers that began to grow within the infinite nothing of void. El would dance across the void, her divine imagination weaving shapes and matter that grew, collapsed and changed form. She was the mother of chaos, of change and mutability. She invented fire, cold and the very elemental substance of things. Vanu instead would brood and think on her own mind, dreaming up concepts and shaping the very core of thought. She was the mother of permanence, of progress and order. At first, the creations of El and Vanu did not meet, as the Void was a vast place. However, as El and Vanu's work continued, they began to meet and mingle. In one great moment, the matter of El and the thought of Vanu collided, and created worlds and permanent substance. Notions of time and linearity melted together with shifting forms, and created the passage of time, history and causality.

In this clash of power, the Prime Material Plane was created, and the many worlds that make it up, all characterised by both elemental matter, and linear time and causal laws. In this violent act, El and Vanu were destroyed. El was shattered into hundreds of entities, each as chaotic and furious as their mother. These powerful beings were too be known as the Primordial Gods, creatures of pure chaos and change. Vanu's myriad ideas all split away from each other, becoming individual personalities in themselves. These entities would be known as the Supernal Gods.

As the Primordials lashed in out in fury at what they considered to be the alien bondage of time, the supernals despised their directionless creativity and lack of rational intelligence. For an age both sides lived in tense peace, each nullifying the creative endeavours of the other. There was one Supernal who became frustrated by this, and his name is now lost. This God travelled to the edge of the void, far beyond the universe of El and Vanu, and reached into the what is known as the Far Realm, a space beyond spaces that troubled not any of creation is this age. With a fragment of this alien terror, he returned and plunged it deep into the Elemental Chaos, hoping to poison and destroy it. The plan did not work, and as a result of his folly, the God created the Abyss, and brought evil into the elementals. For his crimes he was cast into the Abyss and would be known forever as the Chained God. Primordials quickly succombed, and became what is known as the Demons. Some still live now; Demogorgon, Orcus, Lloth and the myriad Nephilim of legend amoung their number.

With evil thought in the minds of the Primordials, a war broke out, a cataclysmic conflict that is known as the Dawn War. Both Primordials and Supernals were slaughtered in vast numbers, but eventually the Supernals triumphed and cast the Primordials into bondage within the Elemental Chaos. The Supernal Gods now ruled uncontested over the Prime Material Plane, and shaped it in their image. The mirror planes of the Shadowfel and the Feywild were created to fuel their creation. Elves, Humans, giants and other creatures of the world were made, and governed. The Supernal Gods ruled over them as great lords. This began what is known as the Mythic Age.

But the varied personalities of Vanu would not hold in peace. The Supernals went to war with each other. Corellon fought Gruumsh, blood was spilt in gallons between Kord and Bane, and Asmodeus turned on his master in a dark lust for power. However, a new power had grown amidst the Dawn War. The Prime Material Plane itself, watching the conflict between Primordial and Supernal for millenia, had grown a mind of its own. This consciousness would be known as the Primal Spirits. Angered by the violence the Gods brought upon the world, it cast them from its surface, exiling the Gods to the Astral Sea – the vast ocean made from the disparate body of Vanu. Forever more, the Supernal Gods could only watch and influence the Prime by proxy. The races of world gained free will, choosing their patrons from not just the Supernals who made them, but from the Elemental Chaos, the Far Realm and even the Abyss. Thus ended the Mythic Age, and began the many different ages of the Mortal Epoch.

ALLANSIA LORE: The Founding of Gallantria

THE ORIGINS OF Gallantria lie in the final days of the Empire of Nerath. During that time, in the year of 1983 A.C., Nerath was ruled by the young Julianos IV, a vain and foolish man, infamous for the volatile blend of his short temper and limited intelligence. Against the advise of his lords, he began a campaign of rapid expansion, pushing the empire deep into Turmish. So began a summer of defeat. With the Nerathi forces spread thin and unfit for the heat of the south, the Turmishmen massacred whole armies, but Emperor Julianos in his arrogance pushed on the attack. With the coffers drained back home in the heartlands of the empire, and many provinces rebelling with little resistance, the lords of Nerath grew impatient of the Emperor's folly. While most were content to grumble in their estates, there was one lord who decided to take action. Lord Farengar Gaunt, a great fighter and close friend to Julianos' father, marched on the capital. He amassed his most loyal knights, among which were four of his fellow conspirators: Morgana Huntsilver, Rhen Tavinter, Tristen Lachance and Castegen Lhal. With little resistance they pushed their way into the throneroom of Crownkeep, the ancient high seat of Nerathi royalty, where they encountered eight members of the royal family gathered aroud the throne.

It is unknown who fired the bolt into the infant prince's forehead, but ballads claim it was either Tristen Lachance or Morgana Huntsilver who pierced the lad to the back of the great throne. With that act of bloodshed all the hells broke loose, and before long all eight members of the royal house lay massacred on the stone floors, and Farengar Gaunt took his seat as the new ruler of Nerath. In the following days they built up an army to prepare for the coming civil war, but it was not to be. News soon came to the keep that Emperor Julianos had been killed by Turmish outriders, and province by province of the Nerathi empire began to fell. Farengar used his new army to hold back a myriad of invaders from the heartlands in a nine year war that came to be known as the War of the Bloodied King. With the empire collapsed into ruin, Farengar consolidated his power by giving each of his friends a corner of the heartlands each, naming them Dukes. With the very crown of Nerath liberated from the Crownkeep throneroom, he named himself king, officially announcing the destruction of Nerath and the birth of a new kingdom within the borders of the heartlands: a kingdom he named Gallantria.

For fourteen more years King Farengar ruled, until succombing to sickness in his seventy-third year of life. His son Orthan was crowned soon after, known by history as Orthan the Builder, due to his great work constructing the city of Royal Lendle around Crownkeep. He also raised much gold and funded the building of magnificant cities for his Dukes, and Brugge, Hustings, Suzail and Gilleon were built. He also built the watchtowers of Arn Ferrig and Mac Tyr to protect the borders. His last work, well into his halycon days, was the huge castle of Nilfheim in the northeast of the kingdom.

Nilfheim was a castle to match Crownkeep itself in grandeur. Orthan's son, King Parsifal, garrisoned many troops there in order to extend Gallantria deep into the Pagan Plains. But Parsifal was doomed to follow Emperor Julianos in his folly. The Gallantrian army met a huge orc force in the Dawnforge mountains, and was routed back to Nilfheim itself. Within a week of hard siege, the orcish horde has taken the castle. To this day no Gallantrian force has ever taken back Nilfhiem, and over the decades many fell powers have made it their lair. The castle now is a deadly dungeon, a grim reminder of the horrors that lie just over the Gallantrian border.

ALLANSIA LORE: The Triad Religion of the Ash-Tieflings

While most Tieflings found their homes in the cities of the Fallen Stars or in the transient cities in the southern deserts of Evaressemme after the great cataclysm that brought down the mighty empire of Bel Terath, there are some who remained loyal to their dead empire, and made their home in the wastelands of Kakhabad. Existing in small tribes deep within the deathly landscape, they call themselves 'Ash-Tieflings', and are arguably considered to be the toughest people in all of Allansia. 

Kakhabad is notorious in modern day Allansia not for its disastrous history, but for its extreme hostility. Once a traveler passes beyond the eastern gate of Khare (now a ruined city infested with demons since the infamous 'Eclipse') he must traverse hundreds of miles of ash covered flat-lands, even before he encounters the haunted valleys of inner Kakhabad, or the volcanic horrors of the Ximon mountains. All a traveler will encounter will be vile and ancient monsters, foul undead and devilish remnants of the Cataclysm. However, he may be lucky enough (or unlucky) to encounter a tribe of Ash-Tieflings. If not shot with a well aimed hunter's arrow, or skewered on the end of a tribesman's spear, a traveler will be able to explore the leather tents and ashbricked huts of the numerous tribes of Kakhabad.

The tribes vary in size and hostility, but all are united under two common beliefs. The first is a rabid (and slightly odd for scattered, anarchic tribesmen) patriotism for the lost empire of Bel Terath. They all believe themselves to be the children of the greatest civilisation that Allansia has known, and one day it will emerge anew from the blasted landscapes of Kakhabad. The second belief is their religion. Shying away from the loose pantheon-ism of the rest of Allansia, the Ash-Tieflings have their own cosmology that revolves around the harsh conditions of Kakhabad itself. 

The religion itself is known as the House of the Ash Triad, and rejects the legitimacy of all gods apart from three, albeit a heretical and twisted versions. At the foot of the Ash Triad are the 'godwives', or the 'two mothers of the grey land'. These gods are Sehanine and Melora. Sehanine is known as the 'wife of the night', and held in high regard, as the sun is seldom seen in Kakhabad, and its twisted vegetation is nourished only by moonlight. It is under Sehanine that the Ash-Tieflings commit their schemes and murders, praying to her to bring down vengeance and bloody death upon their rival tribes. Melora is known as 'she that stalks the wastes', and represents the inherent danger of the Kakhabadi wilderness. She is prayed to by huntsmen, and petitioned by her priests to keep the more dangerous denizens of the land away from the tribe. She is also called upon to fight the 'Great Enemy', a shadowy antagonist who is known to the rest of Allansia as Asmodeus. 

At the head of the Triad is 'the all-encompassing father', a figure that is considered omnipotent by the Ash-Tieflings. Most would know this figure to be the greatest sorceror in all of Allansia: the Black Mage of Mampang. While existing as the highest god in the religion, he is feared and placated with sacrifice and bloodshed. Even his priests are feared, and often live outside of the tribes, only turning up to enact the twisted and cruel whims of their master. At a young age they are identified by the tribes as being especially sociopathic, and sent on a pilgrimage to Mampang itself, the feared tower of the Black Mage. If they are not killed on the journey, they are taken into the tower and subjected to unknown rituals. Then they return to the tribes, and instruct them on the wishes and demands that issue forth from Mampang. It is also common to see these priests travelling with the infamous Red Men, the mercenary killers loyal to the Black Mage. 

The Ash-Tieflings may be savage, violent and worshippers of possibly the darkest force in Allansia, but it is folly to judge them as evil. As one of their proverbs goes, 'a paladin walks a mile in the ash, a mile more and he eats the flesh of his children. Ash shapes a man in its image, greenwalker.'