At the beginning of history the world was full of life, from plants to animals and more advanced life. The whole world was pleasant and peaceful and the world lived in balance.
In this world several races bloomed. First there were the Kraan, a quiet race who spread fast across all the world. They could live virtually anywhere and thrived in harmony with the world around them.
Secondly there were the Khemrir, masters of knowledge, always looking it to why things were and how they came to be. They lived in huge cities, scattered over the globe. Back then they were one people, not like the factional society they later adopted as a defence against a hostile world.
Thirdly there were the Darklings, little is know of them as they lived withdrawn from the rest of the world. They did not seem to travel or ever leave their lands. The did not deal with outsiders and none were permitted to enter their lands and live.
The world existed thus for many centuries. Peace reigned supreme and war was unheard of.
One dark day the world changed forever, never would there be peace between the races. This change would see the world left virtually barren of life and be the end of the Kraan. Although no-one realised at the time, the beginning of the end was the fall of Atlantis, an island city of the Khemrir. It seemed at the time to be a great disaster and nothing more, especially as it took place a century before further events, and now, only in hindsight does it appear that this event and later catastrophes may have been linked somehow. Exactly what caused the destruction of Atlantis no-one is sure but the island vanished beneath the waves so quickly that no-one managed to escape. Every one of the half million inhabitants were killed. Also, few of the ruins were ever found on the sea floor and certainly nothing has ever been recovered that provided clues as to what actually happened.
The most shocking event, the one which most believe really signifies the beginning of the end was the day knows as “the death of peace” One evening in late autumn, a Darkling army appeared at the gates of Kor-Avul-Thar, one of the Khemrir’s most beautiful cities. The army appeared as if from the shadows themselves and made no demands. As the moon rose it attacked in force. The city fell in a single night of fighting. With the first rays of the dawn light the being that later became known as the Darkling Lord raised his flag over the city.
The attack took the Khemrir totally by surprise. No-one had seen a Darkling in a thousand years let alone been attacked by them. But the Darklings did not stop there. Soon the city of Klatrmadon was also attacked. Despite having some warning the powers unleashed by the Darklings were as great as they were terrible and the city fell in short order. Again, every one of the beings that dwelt within the city were slaughtered. None were spared, not even the young. The bodies were burned in huge pyres outside the city. A message to everyone to stay away.
Next the Darklings turned on the Krann cities of Torrel and Siron. Again the terrible power of the Darklings shone through and both cities fell with ease. Once again, all were slaughtered.
By now the Khemrir and the Krann has arranged meetings to discuss what was happening. Both of them has been attacked and suffered terrible casualties. While they talked the Khemrir city of Zaranthus fell to the Darklings. It seemed to the Khemrir and the Krann that the Darklings were a unthinkable evil who had long been plotting to expand their lands. Their attacks fell in the most prosperous of regions and the land they now controlled was rich in minerals and farmland.
Almost as if to confirm the suspicions of the Khemrir and the Krann the attacks stopped. Instead of expansion the Darklings set about scouring their new lands of the living. It seemed that only Darklings would be allowed to live on Darkling land. Several times, negotiators were sent to talk to the Darklings but the evil and despicable beings killed them all.
If things were not bad enough for the Khemrir and the Krann, reports started coming in from the other side of the world of strange creatures of all different shapes and sizes. They had only been spotted at a distance and at this point none had come close to a settlement. Seeing this as nothing more than gossip and unimportant gossip considering the threat of the Darklings reports were dismissed. That was until reports started coming in of small farmsteads and villages being found destroyed. Nothing living remained in these placed and no building left standing. This got the attention of the Khemrir and Krann rulers.
At first they believed that it was the work of the Darklings. They had appeared out of nowhere before and surely they could do it again, but something did not ring true. The attacks were all in isolated settlements, far out in the wilderness. Not the sort of places the Darklings had been attacking. No towns or cities had been taken and even the Darklings had left building standing. Soon the answer came, someone escaped from one of these mysterious attacks and the world finally knew what had been causing them. The survivor spoke of great beasts and strange animals. Creatures that could crush a person or a building with a single blow. Creatures that could not be seen until they struck and when you did see them their featureless faces struck fear in to your soul.
The news sent the races in to a panic. They were stuck between the animalistic evil of these new creatures who seemed to attack for food or pleasure, which they were not sure. And the terrible evil that was the Darklings. After much discussion and with no signs of new attacks from the Darklings the races decided to concentrate on the new creatures. If they were few in number then perhaps they could be dealt with quickly, then the Darkling problem could be resolved.
A force was sent to locate and destroy these creatures. It was the largest force ever known. The Khemrir and the Krann believed that the overwhelming force should destroy all trace of these creatures and could then be turned on the Darklings.
No-one knows what the combined force found but everyone knows the aftermath. The largest army every formed was completely annihilated. No-one survived. A scouting party was sent after the army when it failed to report in. When they returned they described a landscape filled with the dead. Beings ripped apart or slashed to ribbons. The ground could not be seen for the blood and bodies.
This meant that these creatures must number far more than anyone ever imagined. And what’s more, where did they all come from. Creatures of such horrendous power do not just appear overnight, especially not in such numbers. The first theory was they were creatures created by the Darklings. This theory was later disproved as I shall tell.
The races trembled. All they could do was wait and see what would happen next. They did their best to fortify towns and villages, to draw population in to cities where they could be better protected. But it all proved to be for naught. These strange creatures infiltrated these supposed safe havens although how is still unknown and turned them in to charnel houses. The bigger, more powerful creatures started to roam in groups across the land. Any town or village they came across was levelled. Even cities were no match for their raw physical power
Cities became isolated, no-one could travel between them because to do so invited attack from one or more of these horrendous creatures.
It was during this time that the Krann became no more. It seems these horrific creatures took a liking to them and attacked them at every opportunity. Few remains were ever found of such attack so what purpose they held, no one is sure. Some Krann villages and towns bought themselves safety by making deals with the creatures but they quickly became twisted and corrupt, an evil parody of what they once were, made this way by the influence of the creatures. It was around this time that these creatures, despite being of a multitude of forms and types became known and the T’cra, a word meaning hell in Krann.
After decades of living in fear only two of the Khemrir cities still stood. Things looked bleak to the Khemrir. It was in this time they discovered and first used the magic from the earth and they split in to their three factions. The magic provided the first real success at fighting off these T’cra, it seemed the earth itself has taken a dislike to them and the Khemrir were at last able to catch their breaths.
Then, these creatures came face to face with the Darklings and the Khemrir were forgotten about. At first the Darklings fell back under the assault of the T’cra but in an inspired move they managed to wipe out thousands by laying a trap for them. The terrible power of the Darklings proving to be a match for the horrible power of the T’cra, evil vs. evil.
This move seemed to greatly upset the T’cra and all their efforts were directed against the Darklings. But the Darklings simply vanished only to re-appear in the area in which the T’cra first appeared. They took advantage of the confusion they created amongst the T’cra and spread out across the land as if looking for something. What they sought, no-one knows but soon the T’cra were pressing their attack against them once again.
There in the land that gave birth to the T’cra the Darklings formed up and a battle was fought unlike any before or since. The Darkling warriors, supposed to be impervious to damage fought the walking power houses of the T’cra. The Darkling mages, supposed to be invulnerable to magic and tireless in power did battle with the strange powers of the T’cra mages. Amidst the chaos of battle the Darkling Lord strode, slaying foes with his blade and blasting them with his magic.
The battle raged constantly for 30 days and 30 nights, after this time it be came apparent to the Darkling Lord that there were simply too many foes to slay and his own troops had fallen to less than a tenth of what he started with. He then began a ritual with the assistance of his mages to banish the T’cra from the world. Protected by the warriors the mages performed a mighty spell. It took a day and a night to complete but when it was done the T’cra were no more.
It seems that the Darkling Lords spell had a second effect, perhaps one he did not anticipate. For not only did it remove the great evil from the world that was the T’cra, it also removed the Darklings as well. After the spell was cast the battlefield was empty. In the years that followed the home lands of the Darklings were explored, none remained and nearly nothing was left of theirs to show they ever existed.
The spell banished the T’cra to a prison of the Darkling Lords creation. The gateway to which still stands in the far north, it was the only thing left standing at the completion of the Darkling Lords spell. Across the world a handful of the T’cra survived, somehow missed by the great spell. They were hunted and sealed away in places such as the one where you found this tome. Places to serve as a reminder to those who come as to what happens if the Dark gate in the north is ever opened and what would be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world.