EDRulebook: 3 How It Came To Pass

THE RETURN

Throal begins the first, tentative return to the outside world just prior to the cessation of the ball’s drop. Throal scholars and magicians believe that the strength of the world’s magical aura may have dropped enough that most of the more powerful Horrors have already begun to flee. They doubt the accuracy of the Theran calculations of the Scourge’s length, believing the Therans to have erred conservatively so that they might enter the new world first, and dominate it.

In 1409 TH the first scouting party sent outside Throal is destroyed within hours. Each year after that Throal sends out another scouting party, none of whom at first return. In 1412 TH the scouting party led by the female troll Vaare Longfang returns alive and intact. She reports that the Horrors are still present, but they are fewer and less active. Throal’s leaders decide to launch a greater expedition to learn the extent of the Horrors’ ravaging. They outfit a troll airship, give it magical protection and an elite crew, and offer Vaare Longfang command.

THE EARTHDAWN

In 1416 TH, just after the world’s aura has apparently stabilized, the expedition sets sail in the refitted airship, christened the Earthdawn. Its mission lasts almost a year. The battle-scarred Earthdawn returns to Throal with an exhausted but exhilarated crew. Vaare has charted most of Barsaive and found it predominately free of the Horrors. Those that remain have retreated into pockets of higher magic where they find it easier to exist. Few live in the open. A jubilant Throal prepares to emerge into the world.

[Earthdawn] In 1418 TH, Vaare again takes command of the Earthdawn, to begin contacting the nations of Barsaive and inform them that the worst is over. The mission proceeds slowly, for the people of the kaers and citadels assume the troll and her crew are some trick of the Horrors. After one year, only two kaers of twenty-one visited have opened their doors. King Varulus alters Vaare’s mission, and orders her to take the Earthdawn to the largest kingdoms first.

The ship sails for Landis, but never arrives. Horrors attack and take control of the vessel, and the crew disappears. The haunted hulk of the Earthdawn sails through parts of Barsaive, but usually vanishes from sight shortly after being spotted.

THROAL OPENS

Despite this loss, King Valurus III orders the doors of Throal opened in the summer of 1420 TH. Patrols and magical surveillance remain high, to guard against unknown Horrors. No one leaves Throal for nearly sixteen months. Valurus then issues a proclamation granting land to those who farm, mine, forest, or otherwise make productive use of it. A trickle of brave souls turns into a flood of opportunists. Despite setbacks and encounters with some remaining Horrors, the resettlement of the Throal Mountains begins.

Over the next few years, merchants organize expeditions to reestablish trade routes with nearby communities. They find some kaers whose people refuse to open their doors; at those places they leave a small tent camp to wait patiently for the kaer to open. The traders find other kaers and citadels whose defenses have been breached; they mark these as dangerous and to be avoided. Many others open their doors; the merchants give them copies of the Council Compact and ask them to join the new world Throal envisions. As the merchants make more and more contacts, they expand their efforts deeper into Barsaive and into the areas held exclusively by humans, trolls, t’skrang, orks, and other races.

They move quickly, for they know that the Therans will return to Barsaive as soon as they can.

CONFLICT OF DESTINIES

Thera herself does not move as quickly as feared. Little word comes to Barsaive concerning the condition of the island or its immediate resources, but Thera’s unexpected absence leads many to believe that Thera did not escape the Scourge as unbruised as her leaders had hoped. The first Theran vessels do not arrive in Barsaive until 1449 TH, fifty years after Thera is believed to have opened herself to the new world.

The Theran emissaries meet with little welcome. The time of the Scourge and the few years immediately after have given the people of Barsaive the opportunity to live free of the Theran yoke, and they like the taste of freedom. The Theran emissaries, unprepared for anything but respect and cooperation, threaten Barsaive with violence. In answer, local Barsaivians burn the three Theran vedettes anchored at Sky Point and put their crews to the sword.

Theran First Governor Nikodus names Fallan Pavelis as the new Overlord of Barsaive. He orders Pavelis to reestablish Theran supremacy in Barsaive, for the Therans believe that the land is still their province.

Pavelis chooses the strong hand over the soft voice. Theran vedettes conduct slaving runs over isolated villages. Shipborne troops attack coastal cities and seize "forgotten tribute." Ork mercenaries in Theran pay conduct bandit raids against kingdoms that resist Thera. Human tribal leaders are assassinated and replaced with more amenable rulers.

Besieged, the people of Barsaive turn to Throal for help. The dwarven kingdom has all but promised rebellion with the Council Compact; surely the dwarfs will counter the Therans and end the Empire’s domination.

In Throal, though all believe that the Therans must be stopped, the dwarfs realize bitterly how little they can do on their own. Throal has not the strength to defeat a combined force of Theran air and ground forces, nor does any other single power in Barsaive. Together, though, the combined will and might of all the peoples of Barsaive may prevail.

King Varulus III sends messengers and emissaries to the rulers of Barsaive. Together, his message says, Barsaive must either stand free or else fall into oppression and slavery. Though his words stir the hearts of many, the sight of Theran airships attacking and raiding at will stills their actions.

An act by the Therans themselves finally turns the tide. The First Governor has learned of the Council Compact, receiving a copy from Pavelis. Enraged by its contents, Nikodus sends a damning message to his Overlord of Barsaive. The message tells Pavelis that the dwarven logic of commerce and ownership outlined in the Compact makes it clear that every man, woman, and child in Barsaive owes their survival from the Horrors to Thera and the First Governor personally. This blood debt makes all the people of Barsaive the personal slaves of the First Governor, and his to do with as he wishes. He instructs Pavelis to begin the systematic destruction of all Barsaive cities not vital to elemental trade or gathering. The first target will be Throal.

As the First Governor shifts troops to Barsaive and Pavelis gathers them into the largest Theran armada ever assembled, Barsaive loyalists within the Overlord’s palace in Sky Point obtain a copy of the message. They duplicate it and distribute it across Barsaive. The message raises anger strong enough to banish fear; the peoples of Barsaive no longer question that they must and will fight.

His army assembled, Pavelis moves on Throal. Though the dwarven kingdom is unprepared to fight the kind of war Thera brings to them, the rest of Barsaive is not. Goaded by such heroes as the human J’role and the t’skrang Westhrall, Barsaive comes to the aid of Throal. Sky Raiders duplicate their ancestors’ successes of the Orichalcum Wars and attack Theran ships. T’skrang riverboats run blockades and intercept supplies. Ork cavalry and elven bowmen assault supply convoys and base camps, and then vanish into the night. Windling thieves infiltrate Theran command ships and camps and learn valuable information, leaving behind nasty magical surprises.

Harassed and battered continuously from all sides, Pavelis takes a desperate gamble to settle the issue before Nikodus’ patience runs out. He masses his forces for a frontal assault on Throal, but the hit-and-run fighters of Barsaive cut down half the armada and destroy its supplies. Facing disaster, the armada breaks and the Therans withdraw to Sky Point.

THE NEW WORLD

The world after the Scourge is truly new, in ways the sages and scholars did not conceive. Our world’s magical aura does not diminish as all our learning tells us it should, but remains strong. We see this as proof of our survival; the world goes on holding a steady course into the future.

The realms of Throal and Thera struggle to survive. In the south of Barsaive the crystal raiders build airships for future raids on the lowlands. Ork scorchers roam the land mounted on their fierce chargers, finding danger and adventure where they can. The elves of Blood Wood have survived the Horrors in their own way, a dark way that has riven the community of elves. Windlings thrive in the places where nature borders civilization. T’skrang live along the great Serpent River, trading, pirating, and engaging in occasional raids. Obsidimen roam Barsaive, durable, earth-bound beings in demand anywhere that war or danger threaten.

And danger lies just off the trade roads, along with the lure of the treasure amassed and hidden away by now-forgotten people. The Horrors have receded, but they still hold fast in the darker parts of the world. Some wait within conquered citadels, curled upon the sprawling wealth of the vanquished. Others roam the world, their magic weakened but still powerful enough to wreak havoc in their paths.

In this fifteen hundred and sixth year since the founding of Throal, the world looks vastly different from the one those founders saw when they looked south across the plain. Only the brave dare explore this world. Only the heroes can carve the future from ruins of the past.