History of Tarkeld

History and world of Tarkeld

 

For at least 1400 years the lands of Tarkeld were inhabited by its peoples in relative harmony, that isn’t to say that there ever wasn’t war, just that what conflict there was mostly existed within the kingdoms or between city states…that all changed in the year 1421, for this was when war finally spilled from kingdom to kingdom…The War to End All Wars as it was known at the time began in the tiny province of Siasta a minor but rich human kingdom on the border of the dwarfs mountain hub of Rack Glotana a major kingdom in the Dwarfish underhalls. The cause…gold…now called the bane of man, it was discovered by a man hiking in the foothills of the Siasta bordering Rack Glotana, first found in great chunks lying on the ground miners soon flocked the region and great tunnels were dug beneath the foothills…eventually one of these mining tunnels broke through and into the mines of Rack Glotana. Conflict began between miners, humans and dwarfs claiming right over the gold…it was the hotheaded dwarfs who made the decisive strike, claiming that since this tunnel had been dug through to dwarf mines, all the gold dug out by the humans was theft. When their request for all gold to be returned was met with refusal they marshalled an army and attacked Siasta, people slain, crops burned, the kingdom laid to waste, with the capital Sogisond under siege King Tarquin the Proud called to the other human kingdoms for help, 2 kingdoms came to the aid of Siasta, and together they met the dwarf host on the plains beyond the city. The battle raged for 3 days and neither side could claim victory…but both called for aid…within days the dwarfs declared war not just on Siasta and her allies…but on the human race…The war of destruction began…

Slowly fighting spread across the continent, when the lands of the Syltare were used by both sides as a way to outflank each other thousands of the peace loving nation were caught in the manoeuvre and killed, this was how they entered the war.

 

The 14th of Gramwold 1423…

 

The battle of Valiusin…

 

10:23am…

The humans and the dwarfs began the engagement with dwarf shields holding off human arrows when a small force of Syltare flanked both sides, the organisation broke up and the bloodiest battle of the war began.

10:58am…

The sorcerer Namentus arrives at the scene on his personal mission to end the fighting once and for all.

11:02am…

Namentus begins to cast his great summoning spell…

11:03am…

The spell starts to show, red spiralling patterns erupt from the ground…

11:04am…

Much of the fighting subsides as the show starts properly…

11:05am…

The great demon prince Garator rises from the ground and stands held inside a prison by Namentus...

11:06am…

As the demon screams and tries to break free of his prison Namentus calls to his fellow peoples to end this war, or such spectacles as this great demon would be free into the world for the hate being caused by the incessant fighting, the door has briefly been opened by him to show how thin the worlds are because of the hatred and death and for the love of the lords all of races the fighting needed to cease to keep the world safe…

11:07…

A human shouts that this sorcerer is the cause of the summoned demon not the battle…

11:08…

Namentus is felled by an arrow from the Unknown Archer…

11:09…

Namentus dies and the prison fails…

11:10…

The demon Garator screams out across the battlefield free of prison and of hell, he tells them all that their time on this world is over and they have sealed their own fates…

11:11…

The first hellgate is unleashed…

 

For 3 years Garator the First demonprince summoned warriors to the world, and waged a war of annihilation on the races of the living though he reserved his worst punishments for those who proved the most resilient. He mutated several entire cities twisting the inhabitants and the armies against him into powerful demonic servants, known variously as “The Tainted Ones”. Through this the grand demon effectively founded 3 new races The Tairus, The Rosac and The Sirix, mortals with demonic powers bound to serve demonic lords…

With the war of devastation now spreading far and wide the old, wise and sophisticated Elves and the brutish powerful Rogarin joined the combat against the demonic hosts, though this did nothing to halt the slaughter of the innocents.

All mortal races finally stood together, united by the common cause, a new body was formed naming themselves the Army of Light they comprised members from all races, the strongest, the righteous, the most devious even all the best of every quality the world had to offer and behind this body of people the armies of the races united into a final stand.

The battle of Volksgard took place on a rainy Turemban afternoon and carried on into the night, the armies of the 5 races took on the demonic host, the battle was long, the struggle hard but at the last the demon Garator was felled by the blade of Sir Danistan Lonthir a human knight of the order.

The demonic forces began to fall back…steadily and at great cost the demonic threat was worn down of the course of the next 18 months…4 months later the cost of the fighting began to be known. Almost 1 third of the entire population of the world had been lost, thousands more were homeless, and thousands more would die before help could reach them…

The Army of Light began a new campaign…to rid the world of what remained of the demonic forces, The Jaegers or “Hunters” were their new arm, they struck out hunting down demonic strongholds or wandering bands of Tainted Ones…in time they would start to hunt down a new threat, demonic summoners, ordinary mortals who tried to summon demons for their own end, or to bound to their own service.

The Jaegers became the world police for demonic and nefarious dealings…

 

This year is the 200th anniversary of the opening of the first portal and the demonic taint of the lands are still sometimes seen, the twisted cities, places once home to proud peoples that were mutated by Garator stand silent and dead, in places the ground itself has been twisted and rocked into new forms beyond recognition. New species of dangerous wildlife have multiplied in the years since making the wilds a new and dangerous place to be. The Tainted Ones may still be out there, though the numbers have gone and they have become nothing but fleetingly seen but what is left is still hunted by the Jaegers.

And of the Jaegers themselves? Their numbers have decreased tenfold since their induction as their foes have decreased in number…but they are still the best fighters in the world and their members come from all races…They may be smaller in number and struggling against the odds in many cases as many now see them as a redundant relic of a former time…But who knows what’s still out there? And what is yet to come? Is the world as safe as it currently appears?...