History of Ryllica

Before The First Calm

Before Creation existed as we know it today, the plane was awash in raw chaos. The
ingredients to create life and meaning were there, but could never take hold and grow in the
storm of raw elemental power. 4 P rimordial Lords, A
ban Saddit (Primordial Lord of Earth),
Ishaytish (Primordial Lord of Fire), Tehomian (Primordial Lord of Water), a nd A shqulalum
(Primordial Lord of the Air) waged constant and fruitless warfare against each other. These
endless battles raged all over the cosmos, creating infinite destruction.

Taming of the Elements (45,000 Years Ago)

In the other planes, beings of great power noticed the potential of the Plane of
Creation. These beings, later known as gods to the inhabitants of creation, realized it was a
place where life could grow and be guided without the need for their interference. where
experiments on the nature of the universe, of good and evil, and of law and chaos could be
staged. Life was the nature of Creation. It would spring up without the need of divine
intervention.
Their first experiment in doing this - the creation of the lower planes - was a
miserable failure, the results contaminated by one or more evil Gods tilting the odds in their
favor. Hell, Abyss, and all the planes in between could not be redeemed - but in Creation,
there was another chance.
So they went to war against the formidable Primordial Lords.. The Gods, good and
evil, lawful and chaotic, broke into 4 groups of to combat their elemental foes. Some of the
gods were slain on the field of battle, but over the course of 3,000 years of constant
combat, the Gods overcame the Primordials.
The immortal Primordials were banished to empty, outer planes and imprisoned
there, but the nature of their power permeated the very existence of those planes, creating
the 4 Elemental Planes - The Planes of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. Each Primordial is bound
to the plane by chains cast by the gods in a secret location on each plane.
For their part, it took the Gods 2,000 years to decide what to do with their newly
acquired laboratory. While they celebrated their victory, the elemental remnants formed the
stars, comets, and planets. While they bickered and fought, animals rapidly evolved. While
they very nearly came to world-shattering war with each other, the first instances of societies
hid in caves, quietly marking their progress on the walls with pigments.
The First Calm (1C, 30,000 Years Ago)
It was during this time that The First Races arose. Dwarves, gnomes, elves, dragons,
sahuagin, giants and others came into their forms in this age. As a whole they made a
plethora of discoveries - the wheel, simple physics, basic metallurgy, primeval forms of
magic, society culture. The Dwarves were easily the most advanced of the First Races, but
their advances could not protect them from enslavement by the more powerful Giants
(especially the fire giants).
Elvenkind clung to the trees and forests. The woods offered a degree of protection
against the Dragons and their cave dwelling Drow brethren.There they perfected their
understanding of magic and martial concepts. The elves kept to themselves to an almost
xenophobic degree, seeing danger in anyone not known to them.
The Gnomes scarcity and preference for burrows also made them difficult to
subjugate by larger, more aggressive races. Unlike the elves, who shunned any Dwarven
refugees for fear of attracting the wrath of the giants,, the gnomes took their distant cousins
in without question. These deeds by the gnomes in ancient times has made gnomish kind
most welcome in Dwarven Clanhouses today. Indeed many gnomes hold positions of power
in Dwarven lands.
Eventually, the Gods who tamed creation realized that their experiment was going
exactly how they wanted it to - without their involvement. But this had worrisome effects.
To the Gods of Good, the giants enslaving other races and the Dragons wonton destruction
and hoarding was a terrible sign. To the Gods of Evil, the resilience of the Dwarves and the
unfettered hospitality of the Gnomes meant good might be an innate quality in some.
So the Gods intervened, as gods are wont to do. They appeared before the mortal
races, sometimes together, sometimes alone, and illuminated the world beyond Creation to
them. The dark gods whispered paranoid secrets, quick paths to riches or power, and bitter
lies. The gods of virtue preached of the importance of honor, of community, and of freedom.
The First Races soon became worshipers of the gods, adhering to edicts and
philosophies put forth by these supreme beings. To some, the gods offered order and
protection in an untamed world. Others used the teachings of the gods as guidance. Still
some used the words of the gods as justification for what they had done all along.
Soon conflicts emerged. The evil gods and some neutrally aligned allies goaded their
followers to ever grander acts of depravity. The gods of good and their allies began to fight
back. What would come as a result was 1000 years of bloodshed and destruction as gods
personally led their armies of celestial and infernal creatures bolstering their faithful on the
worlds of Creation.
The Godwar (13,000 Years Ago)
It was a conflict that almost ripped Creation apart soon after it had started. In trying to
guide the races of the new world, the gods had created even deeper rifts between the mortal
races. The destruction was vast and earth shaking as the gods walked the earth to combat
each other. Alliances formed and (mostly among the evil gods) plots of betrayal were
hatched. The Great Temple of The Pantheon, a huge temple complex in the ancient (and
now lost, rumored to be sunken in the Great Lake of Orasuta) city of B astor w
as toppled
over, destroying much of what was at its height a city of nearly 100,000 souls. The island of
Ebonsand was ripped from the continent and set adrift. The mountain that now protects the
Rahdurn dwarves from much of the rest of the world was erected in a great cataclysm
between the goddess T hosira and her brother A
pivar.
Eventually the gods came to the only conclusion that many had known since the start
of all their conflicts. The 2 sides were destined to come to a draw, no matter how hard each
side fought. So it was concluded that the Gods would leave the realm of creation, and only
provide aid to their worshipers from afar. A great magic barrier erected by the goddess of
magic, M ana, was erected to keep any sufficiently divine power out (though many have in
the time since wished to circumvent this barrier.)
With the dust settled, it was time for the mortal races to rebuild.

The Second Calm (2C, 9,000 Years Ago)

Due to divine meddling, more races came on the scene. The gnolls, goblins, and
various other evil or bestial creatures were created to fuel the dark gods armies. Meanwhile,
merfolk, some good fey, and other more good races were created to bolster the armies of
good. These wildly different forms converged and diverged to create the myriad humanoid
forms we see today, with humans, halflings, and orcs appearing near the end of the Second
Calm.
During the Second Calm, the great empires/kingdoms of D Suun (in present day
ArDukhesh, ruled by an iron fisted dynasty of Efreeti conquerors from the elemental plane
of fire), Gulduggyet (the origins of current Goblin controlled Dhurn), and the far reaching
cosmopolitan empire known as Yiskaria (which was at one point an elven democracy that
became a human empire and the cradle of human expansionism that would later become
manifest in The Yistar Empire).
It was a time of political and military consolidation, The races aligned with the gods of
good tended to fare better because of a history of working together. The races whose
allegiances were to evil gods became insular and defensive, and their leaders generally
paranoid of the next uprising.
Because of this, those early empires were able to create wide territories. Yiskaria
because of shrewd political maneuvers among the races of the good gods. Gulduggyet,
despite being made up of the goblinoid races, clung to a rigid societal structure that provided
a good groundwork for expansions into untamed lands north and eastward and eventually
significant gains into the orc-holds that would become K arnruul some 8,000 years later.
ArDukkhesh was ruled by supernaturally powerful Efreet from beyond the veil of planes.
Part of their essence was shared with the P rimordial Lord Ishaytish, and was evidence that
though they were chained and imprisoned, the power of such beings could not be ignored
for long.

The Primordial Uprising (6,000 Years Ago)

Soon, other elemental creatures besides the dreaded Efreet came in from their
elemental homeplanes. Most were ultimately neutrally aligned - merely exploring this new
world, searching out trade routes and increasing their understanding of the universe. Indeed
some mortal races left Ryllica to explore the elemental planes themselves. Gates between
the realms popped up in extreme environments - Deep sea gorges, Underground chasms,
volcanoes, and wind swept mountain peaks. Anywhere an elemental type was strongly
manifest, a portal to an elemental plane could be found.
Malevolent forces were also coming through the gates. Every elemental outsider,
even the most noble, was created with at least a small influence from the Primordial Lords.
And some sprung into existence knowing their heritage, and wished to serve their powerful
progenitors. Suddenly they came in droves (some even working across elemental divisions)
to conquer and subjugate. But their ultimate goal was the key to their overlords prisons.
The S taff of Clavis, the symbol of the slain god C lavis, the deity of doors, prisons, and
retribution had created the bindings that would imprison each of the Primordial Gods. He
died in the attempt of binding A ban Saddit, but the other gods were successful where he
failed. Clavis was interred in an unused lower plane that eventually would take on his evil
nature and become Poenon, The Endless Prison. However, the staff remained on the
material plane. Not trusting any one god with the key to the Primordials prisons, and before
the Godwar that would cast them out of the plane, the gods created Alcazrum, a massively
fortified fortress and placed T he Staff of Clavis inside. The gods hid A lcazrum somewhere on
Ryllica where it went undiscovered for thousands of years.
However, the strong magic and unyielding relentlessness of the elemental invaders
began to uncover clues of where the fabled fortress lay. While they searched, the mortal
races regrouped and began to make small victories against the Elemental Hordes. The mortal
races realized the stakes and that divine help was impossible because of M anas barrier. With
no gods to turn to but for the divine spells of their clerics, the mortal races prepared for a
final conflict with the Elemental Invaders.
It became evident that the fortress wasnt on Ryllica at all, but one of Ryllicas two
moons - Therrabon. A gate to Therrabon, however, did exist on Ryllica, and in the frozen
Desh Wastes a final conflict between the mortal races and elementals was waged. The
mortal races managed to destroy the gate before the forces of the Primordials reached it,
and was able to route the elementals, banishing most back to their elemental homeplanes.

The Third Calm (3C, 4,000 Years Ago)

What came after was many years of rebuilding. Gone were the expansive,
continent-spanning Empires. Gone was D Suun, the empire ruled by the elemental Efreet.
Gone was the human/elf/gnome/dwarf coalition that had become known as Yiskaria.
Gulduggyet still existed, but in name only as the dynastic bloodline had been ended during
the Primordial Uprising. Though known as a calm the early part of this era was marked with
warfare as several different power groups across the world fought for territory and resources.
on the western continent of F radrem, t he breaks were bloody but short. From
Yiskaria came the Yistar E
mpire (Yistar being the human pronunciation of the much older
word). The dwarves and humans to the northeast of Yistar felt no cultural tie to the new
Empire and broke away, forming the Duocratic Monarchy of Arkakrot ( Forever to be ruled
by one dwarf and one human). In a civil war with their former Yiskarian a llies, the dwarves of
the western plains formed the Steel Kritarch of Rahdurn, and made significant inroads to
what would later become known as the lawless jungle lands of M ulDris. And the Elves of the
Hith Peninsula, a lways considering themselves at least slightly above their human and
dwarven counterparts, broke away to create The Hithraldar Kingdom, which also made gains
(to an arguably more successful degree) in M ulDris
On the eastern continent of Nhastor, the genesis of nation states were almost all as
the result of deep seated conflicts between races. To the far north, a collection of mages
forged the isolated Yur Mal Magocracy. in the steppes between The Bleaks and T he Desh
Wastes. They saw it as their job to monitor the last bastions of elemental power in the
region, and was keenly interested in the latent energies left there since The Uprising. They
created The Order of Mana to establish uniform rules for the practice of magic. The Orc
Warlords of Karnruul were finally able to cast off the rule of their former goblin masters and
formed a kind of savage confederacy. T he Dragon Council of Vadakast was created in the
vacuum of Dhurns weakness. The Human dynasty of U rmatha carved out a large portion of
what was once Dhurn, c reating a refuge for races who traced their origin to the followers of
the gods of good. A rDukhesh, once just a region of various nomadic tribes, used the
infrastructure of the former DSuun empire to create a new Human Khanate and a rigid caste
system.

Rise of the Hellish Hordes (1,000 Years Ago)

While the world rebuilt itself after the near resurrection of the Primordials, the ages
old war between devil and demon waged below in the Lower Planes. The chaotic, rampaging
demons lashed out at their sly but brutal cousins - the devils. The war started for reasons
lost to time, but continued because of each sides need for what had become a dependency
for them - mortal souls.
The demons and devils existed long before the creation of Ryllica, but with the
creation of the mortal races, a new resource was discovered in the animating force that
resided in each individual. Demons and devils could use these souls to become stronger
much faster than their usual growth rate. Indeed as many consumed souls, their forms
changed to larger and more terrifying visages. Demons became Demon Princes, using their
considerable power to bully lesser demons and press them into service. The strongest Devils
formed the Cabal Sinister, and begrudgingly worked together to stymie the demonic
onslaughts.
Each side new that more souls could be harvested directly on Ryllica, but their access
to the mortal realm was limited at best. They could corrupt individuals and spread chaos or
hate indirectly, but they couldnt interfere directly without a device or portal that connected
the planes.
But one human wizard known as Vandaster (later Vandaster the Corrupted), w as
intimately familiar with the inner workings of both demon and devil. Vandaster was an
undisputed master of conjuration, and had successfully cast the first spell that allowed an
individual to cross into other planes - P
laneshift, as it came to be known. But the spell had
limits - namely getting back to the Plane of Creation. Manas Barrier worked exceedingly well
at disrupting any conjuration magic - making the journey back became increasingly difficult
the more powerful the caster was.
Vandaster saw a means to increase his own power by playing the Demons against the
Devils by offering each a means to access the Plane of Creation. Naturally an intellect like
Vandasters knew the destruction this would cause. The millions of lives lost, not to mention
all the souls he would damn. But Vandaster cared not for this. The power he was about to
gain would more than make him equal to a Demon Prince of member of The Cabal Sinister.
And so Vandasters drive for power begat the G ate spell. A stable rip between planes.
The first, the Abyssgate was created deep in the jungles of untamed Rumindi a nd connected
The Plane of Creation to The Pit. T
here, demonkind began pouring in, destroying everything
in their wake in a savage bloodthirst. The Hellgate, made to connect to Neferion w ith The
Plane of Creation, was created in the first capitol in Arkakrot. The Devils wasted no time in
corrupting Tolind, Bearer of the Iron Crown, dwarven counterpart to U lstrid, Bearer of the
Silver Crown and co-ruler of Arkakrot. For many years strife and war permeated Ryllica, with
each infernal army unaware the other was on the plane, giving Vandaster, with newly
acquired Power, time to contemplate his next move.
Demonkind and Devilkin would surely want vengeance for his treachery, and as
powerful as he now was, there was no way he could take on both hordes at once. So, with his
newfound magical might, Vandaster created his own dimension that would come to be
known poetically as Beyond Reach Its rumored that he still remains there, contemplating
the infinite mysteries of the arcane.
Meanwhile, on Ryllica, the bloodwar between demons and devils raged on. Entire
mortal nations were pressed into service. The global population was cut by a third. 2
Metropolis-level cities were left ghost towns, Branderbrog in R ahdurn and C
uldach in what
would become The Gralnede Clanholds. The tiny nation of A nivor was getting its feet on the
ground in the western end of the heavily forested Kabilar Valley, but was wiped out - leaving
numerous ruins and rumors of a missing treasury house and impressive armory.
In the midst of all this chaos and despair, a cry out for heroes arose. A band of
erstwhile unknown adventurers began to make impressive, if relatively small, victories
against the demons rampaging across Nhastor. Able Dunwright, a human fighter and tactical
expert from Yistars northern provinces - Roame (pronounced RO-mee) Mulgrad, dwarven
priestess to Ulistra (goddess of healing) from Arkakrot - Ennivar Marshfoot, the unassuming
halfling ranger/rogue from Urmatha - W elam Urmire, the partys elven mage and founder
from Yur Mal - and Violet Formalius, h uman bard and historian from P hyson City, Yistar
Empire.
They sought a means to banish the outsiders destroying Ryllica and harvesting souls,
becoming ever more powerful. In their adventures they heard of an ancient artifact called
The Drakresti Solution, a scroll on which death magic of an unheard of scale was said to be
scribed. During the Godwar, Drakresti the Pale Mistress, g oddess of death put a portion of
her being into the scroll making a kind of doomsday device that she could resort to if things
went awry for her. W elam had heard whispers of such a scroll during his time at The Order
of Mana, and convinced his fellow adventurers to seek it out in the rumored necropolis
known as Pallidkeep hidden in the Lizardfolk lands south of D hurn.
Pallidkeep was a final resting place of many of D rakrestis generals and lieutenants
during the Godwar and hidden deep in the cursed C aves of Venom a holy site for the evil
worshipers of H esk, Drakrestis sometime paramour, sometime archrival.
The descent into Pallidkeep was perilous, but the adventurers returned to the surface
with the scroll, though not without casualty. V iolet Formalius died at the hands of T he Wight
King, Osthor. Her soul was made too weak by Osthors withering touch to be brought back to
life with mortal magic. Violet was buried in a tomb-cave consecrated by R oame Mulgrad. To
this day, it is an almost mythical site for adventurers, and many make pilgrimages there to
remember her exploits.
Casting the spell from the scroll was a risky endeavour. The Spell had no filter. Casting
it could eradicate most of the life on Ryllica. Welam would have to alter a diety-level spell -
something outside his ability to do so.
But not outside of Vandasters. The hermit wizard had been gone for 35 years, but his
betrayal was fresh in the minds of those who knew of it, and W elam, one of Vandasters
students at the Order of Mana, knew all too well. So Welam reached out across the endless
cosmos trying to find how to contact his old master. After months of searching, he found a
small rift somewhere on Nhastor (the precise location is lost to time and rumor).
The remaining adventurers stepped into Beyond Reach a nd found a realm of
impossibly vibrant colors, sensuous fragrances, impossibly delectable flavors, and
unmitigated debauchery. They confronted Vandaster in his incredible palace, and told him of
the coming eradication of Ryllicas mortal races if he continued to do nothing to fix the
problem he created. Vandaster was more than a little impressed that his student found The
Drakresti Solution, as Vandaster never saw great potential in the elf, and was more intrigued
by the idea of casting the spell than saving the Ryllican populace.
But, no matter his reasons, Vandaster agreed to cast alter the spell and cast it. It took
the corrupt wizard 5 months to make the needed alterations. By this time, no nation on
Ryllica was unaffected by the raging war between demon/devil/and the ramshackle mortal
resistances hopelessly outmatched. Entire populations were turned into soul farms used to
empower their abyssal overlords.
Vandaster, for his part, couldnt care less, but the idea of going to the devil stronghold
of Brimstone Hold a nd slaying every last devil there on top of him swindling their powerful
lords out of incredible power tantalized him. At the stinking gates of the citadel, he raised
aloft the scroll, read the incantation, and...

...nothing.

Vandaster was befuddled. The spell should have worked. The gates shouldnt have
opened. A horde of angry devils certainly shouldnt be rushing out to kill him. Panic overtook
Vandaster and he abandoned Welam and his party to their fate, dropping the The Drakresti
Solution in his haste. Able formed a front, Roame began casting divine protection spells, and
Ennivar began sniping incoming devils from behind Able. It gave Welam precious seconds to
pick up the scroll and try where is old master failed.
A few seconds later, the sky darkened, and a thousand impossibly long ghostly arms
reached down from the skies into the hearts of the demonic hordes. seconds later the arms
separated the souls from the flesh of the outsiders and they fell dead where they stood, to
return forever to their respective planes (though many seem to think some fiends or half
fiends remain).
Ryllica was shattered more than it had ever been. But, slowly, the mortal races again
do as they always have done and rebuilt.

The Fourth Calm (4C, 500 Years Ago)

200 Years later, Ryllica had entered The Fourth Calm. Y istar was a shadow of its
former self with the northern provinces officially broken off to form the city-states of T he
Granlede C
lanholds. Kabilar Valley remains empty, though Vadakast has begun exploring it.
The Lizardfolk tribes south of Dhurn formed a united front in a rebellion against their
hobgoblin overlords, evicting goblin-kind from the Hazwa Peninsula. The Elves of the Hith
broke into two nations, Eastern Hith a nd Hithraldar. The Magocracy of Y
ur Mal never quite
recovered from the pillaging of the demons, retreating to the capital of Rune City and leaving
the outlying towns to mostly govern themselves.
Arkakrots dual crown system was effectively dead as the royal bloodline that wore
The Iron Crown was ended during the war (though rumors exist that an heir still lives.)
Hithraldar and R
ahdurns e
xpansion into MulDris was halted, leaving the southern coast a
haven for smugglers, pirates, and other criminal activity.