The Lore of Eyal

[Erenion]

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING (yes, it's the spoiler forums, but still)

So, I decided to summarize the lore a bit and write a single post containing all the facts I could gather, and some personal opinions/ideas.
Notes are in chronological order.
If you have any feedback/things I missed/things you think I got wrong, please tell me.

Parts in italic are not proven by ingame lore and are my own take on what happened / are annotations. Take them with a grain of salt.

The Age of Haze
Sources: Sher'Tul murals, the notes from the Sher'Tul High Priest (EoR), the Mal'Rok tablets (Ashes), the Weissi psi-messages (EoR), "Memories of Artelia Firstborn"

In the beginning, the gods created the races. They were not always happy with their creations, but they took pride in them.
The gods also frequently fought one another, and there was a lot of loathing/hate between them.
They once attempted to work together after Quekorja asked the to, and made the Weissi, but this did not work out and every god loathed this creation.
The creation of the Weissi happened "long before" (Weissi message) the Sher'Tul were created.
They went so far as to basically use the Weissi as "testing dummies" for their other creations.
Important races that were created:
- the Mal'Rokka (Demons)
- the Sher'Tul
- the Weissi

The Weissi then discovered their curse, and began studying psychic prognostication. Upon seeing several events in the future, they sent a group of their people to "suppress" the Mal'Rokka. These people created powerful dust storms that ravaged Mal'Rok, leaving it nearly barren. Thus, they became known as the "Dust Mages".

The Sher'Tul were probably created around this time, since the Weissi say that it maybe was Amakthel who laid the curse onto them, "ensuring that his pet project would have no equals".

Then, a while later, they planted their seeds:
- the body, furthermore known as "yetis"
- the mind, which they gave to the Yeeks, who adapted it as "The Way"
- the knowledge, which they sent with "another group"

The Mal'Rokka were completely stunted in their growth, until Urh'Rok, the god that hat created them, awoke again, and destroyed the Dust Mages.
He then organized "tournaments" and other competitions to substantially accelerate the growth of the Mal'Rokka. A while later, he went to sleep again.

After planting their seeds, the entire race of the Weissi committed suicide.

The Godhunt

"Of pride we accepted no equals, and of greed we accepted no servitude" -fifth Sher'Tul mural in Yiilkgur

The Sher'Tul rose up against the gods, for diverse reasons. And so they crafted nine powerful weapons - the Godslayers - and began the war against the gods.
IMPORTANT: Not all Sher'Tul were in favour of this course of action, but almost none acted against it - yet.

Gerlyk (creator of the humans) and Ralkur were driven away or fled.

When the Sher'Tul came to Mal'Rok, they offered a "deal":
- surrender your sleeping god to us and be given our technology and power (and your god dies)
- or else, we will probably obliterate you (and your god still dies)

The Mal'Rokka decided they wanted neither option, and instead chose to seal away Urh'Rok, suspending him in stasis forever.
The Sher'Tul grudgingly accepted this, and fulfilled their part of the bargain.

Quekorja died somewhere during this time.

Finally, the Sher'Tul attacked Amakthel himself, their creator.
This was the part where many of the Sher'Tul that did not condone the Godhunt rose up, and fought the others.
However, the Godslayers prevailed, and in the end, Amakthel was defeated.
For some reason though, they could not kill him. So, they separated him into several pieces, and buried them.

This marked the end of the Godhunt.

After the Godhunt

After the Sher'Tul defeated Amakthel, Caldizar, the leader of the nine Godhunters, vanished.
It is implied that he had a "oh my god, what have we done" moment. He likely took a fortress and went off to who-knows-where.

Ralkur, who had been driven away by the Sher'tul Branzir, returned, since he had sworn vengeance on Branzir, and now saw his moment to strike.
He utterly obliterated Branzirs home, but Branzir himself was away at the time and thus survived. Branzir, upon seeing what happened, first sought the other godhunters, but they were only concerned with themselves.
So Branzir went alone, and began to chase down Ralkur. And Ralkur fled, until he was cornered in an old ruin. He burrowed away, creating new obstacles, but Branzir kept chasing him down. And so the Infinite Dungeon was created, and their chase still continues today.

The other Sher'Tul were divided by the Godhunters, since each of them sought to wield the most power. This eventually led to a civil war that obliterated (most of) the Sher'Tul. If there were any survivors, they left for unknown reasons.


The Age of Allure
Sources: Spellblaze Chronicles, Astelrids log, Hompalans logs, demon statues, Iron Throne logs

At this point, we have several important races in Maj'Eyal:

- the halflings, divided into two kingdoms: the Nargol and the Eldoral, who have enslaved the yeeks and are at mostly at war with the humans
- the humans, split up into several different kingdoms, at war with the Halflings
- the yeeks, enslaved by the halflings
- the Shaloren, Thaloren and Naloren, keeping their own affairs
- the dwarves, selling to both sides of the human-halfling conflict and making a fortune from it. Also, they were hunting hoarding dragons. To near extinction.
- the orcs. The orcs were once enslaved by the halflings but broke free and fled into the deep, dark caverns of Eyal. They now occasionally attack settlements, but pose no further threat, since they know nothing about magic and aren't that numerous yet.

Early on in the Age of Allure, the humans created the Highers by infusing people with raw magic. This subrace went on to become the "ruling class" of the human empires.

The first pieces of lore we have here all date around the war between Humans and Halflings (Only the Nargol halflings, if I understand correctly) from around year 45something to year 6550.

This war initially was relatively undecided. Then a human healer by the name of Astelrid began to work on methods to heal soldiers more quickly and efficiently. This gave the humans the edge in the conflict, and they began to push forward into halfling lands.

Some people were abhorred by these experiments and the growing brutality of the magic used in the war, and founded the Ziguranth.

At this point, the halflings sent an ultimatum - stop now, or a tragedy will occur that neither side wants.
The humans ignored the ultimatum and pushed onward. Suddenly, the battle turned into a massacre, as the halflings began to revive every single fallen soldier from both sides.
This battle led Astelrid to abandon her restraints and further improve her methods - not only would the soldiers be restored, but they would be improved. This ultimately led to the creation of the Ogres.

Later on, the Shaloren became involved in the war. This led to the dwarves investing into the Ziguranth, since they feared the destruction the Shaloren could cause with their magic.
Soon after, the war ended.

The second big chunk of lore, of course, is about the Spellblaze.
The Spellblaze

At around the year 7420 of Allure, the orcs rose up again. This time, they swept over most of Maj'Eyal, decimating armies and towns by sheer weight of numbers.
Every race reacted differently:
- the humans and halflings were busy being overrun
- the dwarves hid in their towns deep within the mountains
- the Thaloren hid within their forests
- the Naloren defended their coastal cities and their territory, mostly succesfully
- the Shaloren crapped their pants.

This led to the Shaloren creating a desperate plan to get rid of the orcish armies: They would use the power of the Sher'tul farportal network to destroy the orcs.
The halflings agreed. The Thaloren, after a huge amount of persuasion, agreed as well, but sent no help. The Naloren disagreed with the plan.
The human kingdom of the Kar'Krul sent a delegation, consisting mainly of three of their strongest mages: Thurthel, their leader, and his daughters Linaniil and Neira.
After a long amount of discussion, they gave the Shaloren their support.
In the year 7494, the plan was ready to be set into motion.

And then everything went down the drain.
What exactly happened is unclear.
The most common theory is that they succeed in tapping the farportal network, but created a "resonance" during the process. This resonance spread through the entire network and, well, destroyed it. This blast led to most of Eyal getting devastated.
Linannil and her father barely survived, her sister Neira was... not so lucky.

The destruction was, however, not limited to Eyal.
The Sher'Tul had set up farportals on other planets as well... including Mal'Rok.
The planet was completely torn apart by the blast, and most of the Mal'Rokka died instantly.
The explosion also shattered the cocoon of magic that kept Urh'Rok suspended in stasis.
He awakened again, and held the planet together... barely.
His creations, ashamed by what they had done, asked him what they could do to ease his suffering. His command was "End the Sher'Tul. End their creations. Never let anything be hurt by Eyal ever again."
The Mal'Rokka took this to heart, and began to change themselves, evolving into the specimens now known as "demons".


The Spellblaze marks the end of the Age of Allure.

The Age of Dusk
Sources: various journals, Spellblaze Chronicles, demon statues (Ashes)

The Spellhunt

After the Spellblaze, the common people took the "easiest" solution they had - blaming the mages.
They started hunting them, torturing and killing any they suspected of magical abilities. Of course, not only actual mages were killed/tortured - the mobs pretty much didn't care who the person they killed actually was.

These events also caused the resurgence of the Ziguranth, since the original order had nearly died out after the Allure Wars ended.

During the first day of the Spellhunt, Thurthel simply gave his ring - and with it, the official rulership over the kingdom - to a messenger with the order to find Linaniil or Neira, and hand it to them. He then stepped out into the angry mob, claiming (partial) responsibility for what had happened. He was killed nearly instantly.

The Shaloren were now leaderless, and so their general, Aranion Gawaeil assumed leadership over the Shaloren. He then, together with the remaining shaloren mages, created the spell known as the Shroud of Elvala, hiding the city from mundane eyes.

Meanwhile, Linaniil gathered what remaining mages she could find, and began to search for a place they could live in safety.
During this time, she stumbled upon an old piece of lore: the location of the dead goddess Quekorja.

Three Mal'Rokka had come to Eyal via farportal a long time ago: Shasshhiy'Kaish, Kyl'Frejan, and Walrog.
During the days of the Spellblaze, they hid, and now they emerged... in their usual disguise as human spellcasters. While Walrog went off to scout the seas, Shasshhiy'Kaish and her lover Kyl'Frejan were swarmed by a angry mob. They were captured and restrained, but didn't fight back yet... at least Shasshhiy'Kaish didn't, since she thought the Eyalites "were unaware of what they were doing". Then Kyl'Frejan was mortally wounded by the mob. At that moment, Shasshhiy'Kaish used a spell she had been taught a long time ago - one that transferred life essence from one being to another - to keep him alive. She drained the entire mob into him, but it wasn't enough. He was merely suspended "in limbo, [...] unable to act, but still alive". She then began plotting, gathering cultists and life essence, eventually transforming her lover into a demon seed, ready to be "planted" inside a living being and be reborn.

Fifteen years after the Spellblaze, Linaniil came to Aranion and asked for his help. She had discovered the exact location of Quekorjas body, and wanted to claim its power to protect her people. Aranion was to accompany her - and kill her, should the power corrupt her. She then absorbed (alomst all of) the power, and went on to establish the city of Angolwen.

Faced with the remains of the dead goddess, Aranion was struck by an idea - the gods were ageless. By absorbing their power Linaniil had become immune to the ravages of time as well... what would happen to the Shalore if they were to become timeless?
He gathered up as many remains as he could find, and began to study them. Three years later, the Shalore gained their immortality.


And thus, the Age of Dusk truly began. Plagues, necromancers and worse ravaged the lands, and civilization almost collapsed.

The mages of Angolwen began to act, curing as many plagues and helping as best as they could under their forced veil of secrecy. The dwarves found out about Angolwen, of course, and began secretly supplying them.

The Cataclysm
In the year 1567 of the Age of Pyre, the aftereffects of the Spellblaze struck. In what became known as the Cataclysm, the whole eastern part of Maj'Eyal simply sunk of into the sea and vanished, while massive earthquakes destroyed many rebuilding efforts of the past centuries.

The Naloren were almost entirely obliterated - almost all of their race and land had sunk, and the few that had remained were reported to have leapt of the cliffs into the ocean, joining their people.
They were assumed to be extinct. The truth was that they had, at first, been reduced to a few islands. Then, they found salvation - in the form of the Sher'Tul magics. They used the power of the Sher'Tul temple that once had formed the heart of their kingdom, and transformed into the beings now known as nagas.

After the Cataclysm, the human kingdoms sent a ship to find out what had happened to the Naloren. This ship was blown off course by a massive storm, and crashed on the continent of Var'Eyal. There, the survivors allied with native elves, and founded what became known as the Sunwall.

The orcs were heavily hit by the Spellblaze, and then again by the Cataclysm. But they were determined to endure, and they began to study the magic that had almost destroyed them.
And so, the orcs eventually discovered the secrets of magic.


The Age of Pyre
Sources: orcish writings, Toknors diaries

Garkul, the Devourer
During the end of the Age of Dusk, a young orc named Garkul was born. He soon grew into an incredibly strong warrior. After impressing one of the orcish mages (by defeating three of hist students with his right hand tied behind his back), said mage took to a meeting of the tribal councils.
After he was expelled from the council and his right eye was destroyed, he began plotting to take over the orcs. One year later, he appeared again at the council, and killed the orc that took his eye.
He then assumed leadership, and began to organize the orcs into "prides" - groups of orcs trained in one particular skillset, set to compete against each other.

With the orcs stronger than ever, Garkul began his attack on Barton, the largest Eldoral city in the region. The entire city was obliterated and every single halfling killed.
From every corpse in the city, the orcs constructed a pyre, and set it ablaze. This marked the beginning of the Age of Pyre.

Garkuls armies then began to conquer the entire region, taking cities and obliterating armies.
Soon after, the Eldoral kingdom crumbled.
This was merely the beginning, however - within a few years, the orcs under Garkul hat taken the entire northwest and centre of Maj'Eyal.
The Thaloren still held, but were pinned in.
The humans were mostly eradicated, with just a few kingdoms in the west and the south remaining.
The halflings didn't fare much better, with only the Nargol remaining.
The Shaloren were the ones that offered the most resistance, but even they were beaten back eventually.

During this time, the orcs discovered a farportal beneath the dwarven city of Reknor.
After careful study, they managed to activate it, and found the long lost east - the continent of Var'Eyal. Garkul immediately sent through many of the orcish youths, warriors and mages.
And there, they established the Prides.


But at this time the Nargol began creating their final plan - Atamathon.
They spent years toiling in secret, creating the largest and strongest golem ever made.

And when it was finished, they lured Garkuls army near the place where Atamathon lay hidden, buried underground. And as the army charged, the golem unburied itself, and began to cause devastation amongst the orcish ranks.

Garkul saw it, and knew he had to act, or he would lose the bulk of his army. And so, he took a warg, and charged the golem. He jumped onto its head and shattered one of his eyes.
After losing his axe to the golems counterattack, he headbutted the golem until its head cracked and it fell down, incapacitated.
Yes, this dude headbanged a fourty-feet marble statue to death. Don't look at me, I didn't write the lore.
However, Garkul was mortally wounded during the fight with Atamathon. And even though the orcs won this battle, they began to lose the war.

The Allied Kingdoms
In the year 710, one of the last human kingdoms was almost completely overrun by the orcs. The remainder of the people fled to some old Mardrop ruins (one of the human kingdoms during the Age of Allure). There, at the place they took to calling "Last Hope", they fortified themselves and decided to make their stand.

Before they were overrun, the halflings under Mirvenia came to aid them, and so, the Allied Kingdoms were founded.

This was the final turning point of the war, as now, the dwarves and elves joined together with the Allied Kingdoms, and began to systematically rout the orcs.
The orcs retreated to Var'Eyal, but they had lost almost all of their women and youths at this point.

This point in time, the year 714 of Pyre, marked the end of the Age of Pyre, and the beginning of the Age of Ascendancy.

[Velorien]

This is great work - thank you!

You might also want to mention the origins of the Ziguranth - IIRC they were refugees from the Conclave experiments that created the Higher race?

[Number43]

A few objections to your telling:

Gerlyk probably didn't wander away, but was killed with the rest of the Gods. Any indication to the contrary was merely human myths told by people who didn't know the truth. Remember that halfling scholar lore that says that human myths are widely variant with each other and unreliable? And in the fortress it tells you that the Shertul killed all but one of the gods of Eyal?

Second, remember what you learn from the final boss of Embers? After the killing of Amakthel, the loyalists went to war against the faction that killed him, but lost, with only the final boss of Embers surviving from his side as he went into hiding. More of the other side must have survived, but they apparently left Eyal for unknown reasons to an unknown destination (you know about the farportal event where you find another fortress with a living Shertul?

Also, Thurthel and his daughters weren't a delegation from "the Humans", but merely represented one of the many human kingdoms. Your earlier description of the wars between humans and halflings also makes them sound more unified than they were (in addition there were two separate kingdoms of halflings).

[Cathbald]

Great job! Thanks for that

A few objections to your telling:

Gerlyk probably didn't wander away, but was killed with the rest of the Gods.

Gerlyk is alive, he is the one Elandar and Argoniel are trying to summon back.

[Erenion]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Sorry I didn't write the second part yesterday, was a bit tired.

Concerning the other Sher'Tul, yep, that event is mentioned. That's Caldizar. And seeing his reaction when you suddenly appear in his fortress is pretty neat, especially if you are wielding his old weapon.
Yes, he wielded the Staff of Absorption. He was the leader of the Godhunters, after all.

As Cathbald already said, Gerlyk is definitely alive (he's even coded into the game as an enemy...) and Ralkur is (probably) still alive, seeing as Branzir is seemingly still chasing him.

Otherwise, I'll be updating the post (and posting the Ages of Dusk and Pyre) soon.

EDIT: Main post updated, Age of Dusk added.
EDIT #2: Pyre added as well.

[ster]

ok, but what about the deep and rich lore for the breeding pits

[Davion Fuxa]

Looking good, only one more part really for you to write - and that is mostly about the present.

[Number43]

Great job! Thanks for that

A few objections to your telling:

Gerlyk probably didn't wander away, but was killed with the rest of the Gods.

Gerlyk is alive, he is the one Elandar and Argoniel are trying to summon back.

Um, the name Gerlyk isn't said when you meet them, they only say they are trying to return the one who created the world. The creator of humans isn't the god who created the world, especially since the sorcerers are shaloren, not humans.

[Davion Fuxa]

Elandar is Shaloran but Argoniel isn't. Argoniel is Human.

[HousePet]

Legends are old and rebuilt from scraps.
The Sorcerers have put pieces back together, but they might not have come to the right conclusions.

[Erenion]

Looking good, only one more part really for you to write - and that is mostly about the present.

Well, there's post-AoA lore as well, and I plan to cover that too.

[posetcay]

Thanks for wrapping up the lore in one place, since its extremely hard to bring together pieces of lore perfectly in this game it is natural for there to be holes. But it looks like you did your best and the result looks pretty good to me!

[Toskin]

Are you planning to include Forbidden Cults lore and events caused by player in Age of Ascendancy/Embers of Rage campaigns?

[Erenion]

When I get back to writing this, sure.