Here Inside the In� Nity of the Void, a Space Was Born Where Matter Could Exist
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1 EVERYTHING HAS A BEGINNING... Legends say that a long time ago, somewhere inside the in� nity of the Void, a space was born where matter could exist. Immediately the four elemental powers of Air, Water, Fire and Earth appeared in this space, � ghting each other for dominion. 2 3 en, after aeons of raging Chaos, the Ancients, travellers of the stars, came upon this plane. ey tamed the elements, stabilizing this corner of the Universe. When Order was � nally reached, a new planet had been created. And it received its name: Axeoth. 2 3 But as powerful as they were, the Ancients were facing an equally powerful threat. From the depths of the Void, the Creators and their legions of minions had begun to wage a war against the Ancients. Soon the two races were locked in con� ict, which took galactic proportions, with the supremacy over the Universe at stake. 4 5 No one knows which side ultimately won the Great War, but one thing is sure : the voice of the Ancients was never to be heard again on Axeoth. e Age of Wonders had ended, and the mortal races slowly forgot everything the Ancients had taught them. Of the Ancients and the Creators, all that was remembered were stories of heroes and demons. is was the age of sword and sorcery, of Might and Magic. 4 5 Empires rose and fell, civilizations shone and were shattered, heroes died and became legends. And � nally, twelve centuries after the Great Silence, the Portals of the Ancients opened once again. rough them, thousands of refugees arrived on Axeoth. eir homeworld, Enroth, had been destroyed in an apocalyptic event known as the Reckoning, and they were ready to � ght to earn a place in this world. 6 7 Fifteen years have passed since the day the Exiled came to Axeoth. e humans, dwarves and elves are rediscovering the legacy of the Ancients, and the Dark Age is � nally coming to an end. But there are still stories to be told. is is, after all, only another beginning. 6 7 HANNDL ’S BELDONIA GRASP CHEDIAN FRAMON RYSH QASSAR SEA OF HANNON VERHOFFIN RBOR AL C A ’ KORRESAN MENDOSSUS NYB SULDUSSAR TENDAR E TRIBAL LANDS SEA OF REAT RCAN ORILIOS SENJAK G A DARASHANN ULUDIN DEVONSHIRE LODWAR MERLION ALDAMAR BLACKSWORD SEA OF MERLION 8 9 THE LANDS OF THE NORTHERN WASTES AXEOTH NEKROSS Drawn at the request of her majesty Queen Emilia Nighthaven of Great Arcan GREAT ARCAN by Taddevan the scholar in the year 528 THE WHEEL (Axeoth Calendar) PALAEDRA THE PIRATE KINGDOM LODWAR THE GOLD SEA ARANORN 8 9 BOOK 1 Fires from the North 535 A.C. Rising from the ranks of the demonic invaders known as the Kreegans, Malustar has become the new Demon King. Once a minority in the kingdom of Nekross, the Kreegans are now ready to claim this land as their own... In the meantime, in the south, a quarrel between the kingdoms of Great Arcan and Palaedra threatens to involve the whole region into war... 10 11 10 11 Malustar 12 13 CHAPTER ONE - RISE OF A DEMON KING After years of scheming, Malustar, the new king of the Kreegan Hives, is � nally ready to claim the land of Nekross as his own. But there is still a long way before the demon army can besiege the capital city of Nekorrum. e Civil War has just started... DAY ONE (Transcription of a Memory Cube, part of Queen Iona Arran’s personal collection.) Suraze’s head rolled on the throne room � oor. e Kreegan leaders, shocked, were staring at me with a confused gaze. I raised my sword, still soaked by the duke’s blood. e blade had been broken long ago, but it was enough for any demon to recognize it. I could feel the fear of the vassals, the terror inspired by the red-glowing sword. One by one, they kneeled before me. e seven years of Suraze’s reign were over. I’m King Malustar, warrior of the Void and conqueror of worlds. When I arrived on this land, after centuries of drifting through the emptiness of space, I was relieved to � nd that some of my kind had survived the aftermath of the Great War. But I was quickly disappointed, as they had little in common with the � erce, merciless warriors of my 12 13 memories. I soon discovered they had been deeply aff ected by the destruction of a previous world, of which I brie� y visited the burning wastes. With constantly decreasing numbers, and no lord to guide them, they had lost their � ghting spirit. But before I could rally them under my � ag, someone else beat me to it. at was enough for me at the time - I still needed to learn as much as I could about what had happened during the last thousand of years - so I joined Suraze’s forces. We fought against the necromancer Gauldoth Half-Dead during a grueling civil war. But soon Suraze would commit a treason to his own race and ancestors. He off ered a TRUCE to Gauldoth, even recognized him as the KING, and for what? Land, wealth and the title of duke. at fat, cowardly little worm ! I would never forgive him for that, even now that justice has been done. DAY THREE ere is a lesson I learned from my past mistakes. During wartimes, an opportunity must never be wasted. So when I learned about what was going on with the necromancers, I decided to change my schedule. Apparently, some foreign spellcaster had come to Nekross and took control of part of the Half-Dead’s army. But rather than sending them against their former master, he disppeared with his newly acquired troops. at was almost too good to be true. Gauldoth had paid little interest in Kreegans internal aff airs lately, so he probably didn’t know his pawn Suraze wasn’t in command anymore. It was time to hit hard and fast. 14 15 CHAPTER TWO - WAITING FOR GAULDOTH e Kreegan off ensive against the undead cities has turned into a violent civil war. Malustar and his army are now aiming at the very heart of Nekross, the citadel of Chiaroscuro where Gauldoth has retreated. DAY ONE (Transcription of a Memory Cube, part of Queen Iona Arran’s personal collection.) After our initial strike against the necromancers’ cities, we were able to advance deep within Nekross’ homelands. Still, Gauldoth reacted faster that I thought he would. ere were still a few days of marching to get to the capital city of Nekorrum when we encountered his vanguard. It was a small force of skeletons, zombies and vampires. ey tried to ambush us, but fortunately I was expecting such a move - albeit not so early. It soon became evident they were in fact mere scouts, trying to assess our strengths and weaknesses. I knew Gauldoth wouldn’t take any risks. His citadel, the dark tower of Chiaroscuro, was located high in the mountains above the capital city of Nekorrum. If we had taken the chance of besieging the citadel, our losses would have been dreadful, but I knew there was a way to strike directly at its heart. Gauldoth used to keep magical ampli� ers in the two main necromancer guilds in the region, located in the cities of Nekorrum and Vitross. While Gauldoth was preparing for the upcoming siege, we would strike at those two guilds. With 14 15 the magical ampli� ers in our possession, I would use them to increase the powers of my own spellcasters, allowing them to open a dimensional door leading inside the walls of Chiaroscuro. at was something even a superior mind like Gauldoth’s wouldn’t expect. DAY THREE Red lights � icker madly, a siren rings and jolts are shaking the bridge as I run desperately towards the nearest escape pod. e escape bay is already on � re. I see dead or injured or dying people everywhere. e other commanding offi cers and myself are abandoning the crew and passengers to certain death. As my pod glides slowly in the � eld of stars, I can see the Hive-Ship becoming smaller and smaller, ripped apart by the deadly laser beams of the Ancients’ battlecruisers. e battle for the Arc is lost. I failed, and I’m watching the death of one billion of my own kind, when the Hive is � nally destroyed in a blinding, silent explosion. I woke up in my tent, covered with sweat. Always the same dream, over and over. Next to my couch, the broken sword’s reddish glow was pulsating slowly. In stasis in the escape pod, I drifted through space during a thousand years of inanimate slumber (hum vive alien). Finally, I was awakened by a signal emitted by another Kreegan hive. I set the course of the pod towards the planet from which the signal was emitted, but all I found was a burning wasteland. Some unspeakable cataclysm had destroyed all life on this world, all that was left were melted ruins and clouds of black ash. is is where I found it, in the very center of a crater of gigantic proportions: a broken sword, still radiating with tremendous power, the only thing in the area that hadn’t turned to dust. It was only later, after I followed the tracks of the survivors through one of the mysterious portals to this very world, that I learned its name: Armageddon’s Blade. 16 17 VICTORY We were victorious. I watched the yellow � ames engul� ng what had been Gauldoth Half-Dead’s citadel.