Legend and Histories of Kyme

The Ages of Kyme

As recorded and compiled by Iylvain Tromend, Blooded Sage of Arkyme.

The Age of Air also known as the Age of Beginnings is where Kyme was formed out of the Void and the gods battled with the Elder Ones and their progeny that poured over the universe, and finally forcing them into a place beyond. The Age of Water saw the return of voluminous alien races that the gods had thought banished, they flooded the surface of Kyme with horrors yet unseen. As the Age of Fire ascended the dragons left nothing unburnt, nearing godhood with unyielding fire that burned away the eldritch horrors of the past age, creating an empire of ash and greed. With the rise of the humanoid races the Age of the Earth began, defeating the dragons and their kind, but the bloodshed did not end until arcane forces drew the elemental power of Kyme and formed the Elemental Divide, thus bringing an uncertainty to the Ages of Kyme. There are many prophecies and portents throughout the land about the future of Kyme and what the next age might hold: the return of the Elder Ones from beyond, the rise of the plague of undeath that is known to stir beneath, The Ring becoming unbalanced and tear Kyme asunder, the avatars of the Path return to guide the humanoids to the next plane of existence. The quest of the Arkyme is to seek out these signs to what end they lead in order to guide Kyme into the next Age with readiness.

Lore in Kyme

Many disciplines of study are open to those that seek the knowledge and pursue the lore and mysteries of Kyme. The great cities of Kyme have vast repositories of books, manuscripts, papers, scrolls, relics, and the like that fill the museums and libraries of the Arkyme, Duemonte, Dymkrag, Malanh, and Synstasia. As well as the hidden knowledge of the races held in secret caches and ruins that fill the landscape.

The ruins of the Eldritch hold the greatest mystery and many view the knowledge gathered from these sites as vital to the future of Kyme. Their alien presence in Kyme though well known has yielded little in furthering the understanding of the Elder Ones or even the Eldritch race. The Unshattered Orrery has accomplished much in building a compendium of the terrains and peoples of Kyme, but much of Kyme remains uncharted or at best ill understood. Mysteries abound in the Elemental Divide as well as The Depths for much of the information of these was lost in the wars past.

Histories of Kyme

The recorded history of Kyme began in the Age of Fire where the Dragon Kings ruled and the Draconic race was legion across the world. For nearing 20,000 years histories were recorded in the Draconic script totaling the wealth and power of their empire up until being supplanted by the other races of Kyme some 1,500 years past. The War of Extinction between the humans and vampires began soon after, lasting over a 1,000 years until the Arkyme emerged with the Chattel to broker a peace. The peace has lasted for 300 years now, the deep divisions and wounds from this period of war are ever-present many of the races have survivors and veterans amongst them.

Forces of the War of Extinction

Northern Forces

The Hierocracy of Synstasia, a force of humanity allied across the northern Hemisphere under the power of the Pontiffs.

The Kingdoms of Dymkrag, the dwarven kingdoms ordered under the High Kings of clan Goldenhammer of Dymkrag in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Northern Lycan Pack, the Lycans of the North led by the leader known as the Dire King from his den in Fenthris.

Southern Forces

The Empire of Duemonte, a vampiric empire drawing humans across the Southern Hemisphere into slavery or undeath, led by The Unliving Emperor.

The Malanhi Empire, the cities of the dark elves within the Depths of the Southern Hemisphere, owing fealty to the Empresses of House Bathter.

The Taouls of Kor'ak, the city states of the last remaining territory of the Draconic, led by the clans of each ancestry.

The other races served in their capacities on each side of the War of Extinction, as the world was drawn into total war.

Periods of the War of Extinction

The Ashbreak - The Year 0-17 of the Age of Earth

A time of great atrocities and pillaging of dragon cities and holds, the first skirmishes between the once allied humanoid races.

The Holds - The Year 18-164 of the Age of Earth

Great expansions and the birth of the Duemonti Empire and the Hierocracy of Synstasia, these forces attempting to rally and grab the terrain once claimed by dragons.

The River of Blood - The Year 165 of the Age of Earth

An escalation of troop swell was matched continually by the Vampire and Human forces until neither commander would falter and both forces were marched into the Norspyr River and met in the first battle of the War of Extinction.

The Broken Campaigns - The Year 166-298 of the Age of Earth

The Human and Vampire forces attempt to draw upon the other races to ally against the other, though not neutral they had yet grant forces and make enemies in this conflict, all the while reinforcing positions across Kyme.

Blood, Bone, Ore, and Stone - The Year 299-313 of the Age of Earth

A period of subterfuge, sabotage, plots, and assassinations. The Dwarves and Dark Elves pushed the conflict underground in attempts to strike at the heart of the enemy forces, while the Lycan and Draconic served as small strike forces. In the Gale of 313 a Vampiric assassin slew the Pontiffa Lucretia Vox in her bed while she slept leading to an open campaign to strike Duemonte.

The Rot War - The Year 314-401 of the Age of Earth

A push is made by the Human and Dwarven forces to land their fleets in the Rotmire. The Vampire forces thinking the terrain a great barrier to any force proved true and at great cost the force led by the Dwarven General Dromthul Brimstar met its end at the hands of guerilla forces in the swamp.

The Scorched Offensive - The Year 402-444 of the Age of Earth

Gathering strength during the Rot War these years were the closest the vampiric armies came to breaking Synstasia and one of the largest battles in the War. The vampires utilized some illusory barrier paired with drawing power from the Air Elemental Plane to continually blast the seas to obscure the force gathering in the months leading to the assault. The forces of Malanh had created a passage to the Windward Steppes and moved a force into the open to draw the main army away from Synstasia to the edge of the cliffs, opening the city to a direct attack by Duemonti forces. Advancing through the Aurous Plains, Synstasia readied its defenses led by Marshal Lowe Morstrath. In a tactical decision Morstrath weakened the positions of the south east wall of the city in order to draw the attack into the Aldrich Grove. The battle raged and as he had expected the wall was taken and broke, but fortified positions around the forest kept the Duemonti soldiers within the trees, which the Vampiric General Severn Tromend took as a gift, cover from the heavy weapons of the upper Tabula. The trap was then sprung on the mass of troops that had filed into the Grove, a massive arcane inferno instantly immolated anything within the forest, even melting the surrounding stone. This turned the tide of the battle and the Synstasia forces were able to stave off this grievous attack.

Ice and Shadow - 445-579 of the Age of Earth

The Dwarven arcanists of The Endacum drew on the power of the Elemental Plane of Water and the Rimehold to create a winter across Kyme and force the vampires back to their holds. All the while the dwarves dug in deeper and attempted to strike Malanh, though never reaching the dark elf capital they met in the Gaunt Vaults and in its narrow passages the dwarves slew the Empress Tililora Baathter. Though on the surface both the humans and vampires suffered alike under the conditions brought about by the dwarves.

The Famine/The Bloody Chain - 580-592 of the Age of Earth

A rebellion arose across the Duemonti Empire, the cattle, human slaves of the vampires began to strike out against their pale masters. The vampires lost many slaves and potential vampires in these few short years weakening the empire. All the while the Synstasia forces gathered to support the rebellions and to launch an assault on Duemonte itself.

Crusade of the Dawn/The Crimson Feast - 593-627 of the Age of Earth

Synstasia forces led by the Pontiff Scipio Astrocaius launched into a full scale assault against the Duemonti Empire. There was little resistance to be had as the forces moved through the Blastlands and into the edge of the Endless Canopy and the Barrens, where they were met by a constant harrying attack by the Dark Elves of the Ended Fields. Many skirmishes caused the Synstasia forces to press the attack and in turn sent a force of dwarves into the Ended Fields to destroy the source of the attacks. The main force pressed forward into the edges of the Shadowed Passes where they were met by the now rallied Duemonti forces behind the "Gore King" Lucien La Haine, who gained his epithet in crushing the rebellions throughout the domain. The siege on the Sanguinary Gate was swift but costly as the Pontiff's guard broke through and pressed further into the Valley of Pallor. The surge of Synstasia forces through the valley were met by battle that raged endlessly, thousands died for no more than a quarter mile. A surprise offensive by the dark elves broke the rear guard while the vampiric casters warded the terrain against any means of escape, knowing the scenario they faced the Pontiff led his forces into the slaughter, breaking upon the vampire troops. General Lucien La Haine met the Pontiff on the field and as the final battle drew to its height Scipio Astrocaius was slain by the axe of the "Gore King," and with this ended the crusade.

Turn of Whispers - 628-731 of the Age of Earth

A period of war without battles, most forces spent in the last campaign and defenses, both sides holding for the next turn that never came. Over 100 years passed without any direct conflict between the factions, leading to the guileless brother of the Pontiff Oplen Urbanus to venture on an diplomatic mission to the Southern Lycan Pack that had remained mostly neutral in the conflict. Meeting with the Drie Pact to secure their influence in negotiations with the Dire King Devdan Virr. Upon venturing just outside of Zudishu the entourage came upon a lone vampire, a struggle ensued and both the vampire and the Pontiff's brother were slain. Once word reached both Duemonte and Synstasia there began a renewed fervor for total war.

The Grave Tide - 731-808 of the Age of Earth

War gripped the whole of Kyme, unleashing an unprecedented slaughter, where populations began to break under the bloodshed. Once neutral populations were drawn into the conflict, willing and unwilling, to bring to bear the desire for the utter destruction of its enemies. Corpses grew beyond counting, above and below the bodies of the fallen were left to whatever take them. This carnage drew malevolent forces and the dead and living began to disappear and being unaccounted for in the final years of this period, rumors abound as to what took place and in response all withdrew their forces to again focus on securing their population against this unknown threat.

The Seeds of Extinction - 809-831 of the Age of Earth

Duemonte in its attempt to recover began delving with Malanh in the Buried Kingdom for secrets or the power to destroy the Synstasia forces. In service to her emperor Mortasia Tromend led an expedition into the Obsidian Abyss, all perished save Tromend, returning with an artifact of the Outer Realms that would come to be the power the Unliving Emperor sought. With the population of Synstasia still reeling from devastation of the Grave Tide they chose to expand underground and attempt to establish a position to strike Duemonte settling a fortress city within The Depths, Troika. During this same period a Celehim acolyte of Litencia, Ala Valkeer began developing a sigil weapon, a weapon that could finally end the conflict. The holy city of Ayharna had been continually exchanged between the vampiric and human forces, but seeing a chance to test the weapon Ala Valkeer set the trap as the last of the forces withdrew, quickly followed by the Duemonti troops filing into the city. That night she unleashed the weapon on a then unimaginable scale, snuffing out all form of life within the city, and turning the once holy city into a blighted ruin, a vessel of death's power. After seeing what she had done she could not continue, inscribing sigils on her body she walked into the dead city and turned herself to stone.

The Reaving - 832-972 of the Age of Earth

Knowing the power of sigil weapon the Synod worked quickly to develop its destructive potential. The Unliving Emperor called for a the completion of a ritual of terrible power. The Unliving Sect using the darkest of magics led a reave against a single population of humans. The vampires descended on Syrna on the edge of the Unwavering Shore and seized the whole of the population for a ritual. Thousands were filed into the Sepulcher and no one has yet to know what transpired inside those walls, save only that none of those beings were again seen living or dead.

The Turnings - 972-1001 of the Age of Earth

Both sides of the conflict began getting more desperate in their tactics with forces being sent on hopeless missions, the only hope to kill at least one more enemy. Duemonte in its efforts during this time focused on an individual named Malak Dester, a great mind within Synstasia, he defected and was turned into a vampire by the Unliving Emperor himself. Dester left behind his apprentice Ekko Phydel who quickly became the focus of many rumors, but in his brilliance was brought swiftly into the inner circle of Synstasia's war efforts, though Phydel had his own agenda. He learned of the sigils being placed in secret throughout the Shadowed Passes, a plan to use what had come to be called the End Sigil a weapon to annihilate everything and everyone within its lay lines. Dester, embracing his undeath, launched headlong into his promised work, reviewing and cataloging all the possible secrets of the Duemonti Empire, coming across a long neglected artifact that had been given as a gift at the Sanguine Jubilee past by the daughter of a now dead general, Mortasia Tromend. Dester within a week weaponized the artifact and began testing it in small strikes in the Aurous Plains, the first of the Plague Water was being unleashed onto Kyme.

The End - 1002-1014 of the Age of Earth

With times growing dire for all of Kyme, the sands of time trickling towards utter extinction. A vampiric Soulweaver known as Vellumtine Gascogne who had throughout the conflict been in council with the Unliving Emperor, seeing the fall of the dragons and the conflict over their dominion, through all the bloodshed she saw what Dester brought to Duemonte and Kyme. She moved to seek the council of the Drie Pact and reach across Kyme to gather power against the endless war. The Ga Shaman Resh'ta knowing that failing to set aside the past, endangers the whole of Kyme, he then traveled to Kepthearth to meet with his friend the dwarven prince Thund Sunderwill. Sunderwill had traveled far and wide across Kyme in gathering knowledge for his own means and knew of Dester's apprentice Ekko Phydel, certain he could confirm what had been told by Vellumtine Gascogne. These individuals began working in secret in finding a way to end the War of Extinction. Neither Synstasia nor Duemonte delayed in their march towards destroying the other, but these individuals now calling themselves the Arkyme at great risk made their move to push back the sands of time that were running low. Ekko Phydel strived to sabotage the End Sigil, using the knowledge he gained as part of the war councils, went from site to site of sigils in place and altered them as wards against the Plague Water relying on Vellumtine to carry through on her mission. Vellumtine knowing of the plan for the Plague Water which the Unliving Emperor intended to unleash into the Rotmire to spread across all of Kyme, ending the conflict with the humans drinking in their death. Using Dester's hubris Vellumtine was able to withdraw the artifact out of the vault of the Wyrd College and took it to the edge of the city and sacrificed her hand in relinquishing it to the water surrounding the city, the now altered End Sigil acted as wards that spent the power of the artifact, containing its destructive power, but not before the entirety of the lake was plagued. Vellumtine fled, never to return to Duemonte. Their plan a success, but only so long as the ward held, and they were able to continue their work in secrecy.

Total secrecy was not enough to hide them from a being who called themselves "The Unfollowed," their inky-golden eyes revealing a supreme and otherworldly nature. With their new ally they worked swiftly to construct something that could alleviate what lie at the heart of the conflict, the bloody requisite of the vampires. Using the combined intellect and power of this group, the Arkyme succeeded in their task, but not without sacrifice, the Magister Ekko Phydel and "The Unfollowed" were consumed in the spell, but with its completion the Chattel were created. A ceaseless source of blood for the Vampires. Delivering these being to the edges of Duemonte asking for any human slaves be freed, the Arkyme, whose ranks has swelled with spell casters from all across Kyme, began a campaign for peace. Peace would be hard fought, but a continual surge of those who wished to end the conflict allowed for the Arkyme to assert control over the terrain in an attempt to draw the power of the Inner Planes further into the Prime, creating "The Ring," an Elemental Divide. Resigned to this new order, all the races of Kyme dare not attempt to subvert this new arcane power rising in the world. Next was the Raising of Arkyme from the Earth Elemental Divide, what would be a neutral arcane city poised above the Divide and to serve as a reminder of the power of the unity of the races against fear and hate. Thus ended the War of Extinction in the 1014 year of the Age of Earth.