Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Chapter 2: Into the Forging Fires

The vocal histories of the Kensarthi and the Ajanti Freeholders of the eastern Meridian relate a tale of a time before the empires, a time when Freeholder, Solavar, and Mardish belonged to one race, one people. The tale speaks of this people, the S’ia, having such great power and magic that they had conquered all of Quelaezaun and bent even Nature Herself to their will. Their great cities were marvels of construction that defied Nature and Her laws by their very existence.

And no city was greater than their capital, Kal S’ia Nar, a vast place built in the midst of a lush valley of unparalleled beauty where now stands the eastern Meridian Sea. The rest of the sea, much lower in that time, lay behind a great range of barrier mountains to the northwest of the valley, the tallest of which would become the Kardell Clan Islands. At the height of their power, the S’ia buried their greatest rulers in those mountains, in tombs embued with great powers themselves, to protect the rulers as they traveled the Halls of Sanctuary to dwell forever with the First Dragon in the presence of the Maker.

The tale goes on to say that, after a time as rulers of all Quelaezaun, the S’ia began to be lifted up in their pride, thinking that with their great power, they were better than even the Seven Dragons. Yea, even greater than the Maker who gave them life! Could they not create? Did they not have the power to give life to inanimate objects with their magic? Were they not GODS themselves?? So, they became consumed with pride and strove to make their cities, especially their capital, as filled with power, beauty and majesty as the Halls of Sanctuary themselves.

The Maker had looked down upon this great pride, this lifting themselves up to be as the Dragons, who worked at His feet to create the world and all that was in it. Yea, theyy did even in their hearts say, they were as great as He!

This, of course, angered the Maker greatly as He did see that His creations now mocked Him in their pride. Though He was not capricious and subject to whim, He did strike in His anger, seeking to bring those that mocked Him down low, even to the very earth. For the Maker, Lord of All, would not be mocked!

In that moment, the Dragons did rise from their slumber and nature did rebel against those that sought to be her master. The seas overflowed their basins and with the might of the Oceans, the Maker struck at the very symbol of the S’ia’s pride: Kal S’ia Nar.

The S’ia had no inkling that the wrath of the Maker had fallen on them. Thus, many perished when the Meridian suddenly swelled, crossed the Barrier Mountains and filled the valley of Kal S’ia Nar in a surge of dark, cold water. And many more perished as the other seas continued to swell, swallowing up many a great S’ia city forever in their unforgiving depths. The rest of the S’ia were scattered to become the peoples they are now; the Freeholder Races, the Solavar and the Mardish. Thus did this tale speak of the creation of the eastern Meridian, with its strange currents and weather, from the pride of an ancient and forgotten people.

More recently, during the Sun Path War in fact, the Mardish managed to land a sizable force on the largest of the Kardell Islands, Kuosh. They had planned to use it as a forward base to strike at Solavar forces along the shores of the southern Meridian in a plan to retake cities lost to the great Solavar offense known as Dragon’s Fire.

First reports back from the advance force told of a strange city, a city of tombs, that they found at the heights of Kuosh’s stunted mountains. After that, the reports became increasingly strange and garbled, telling of finding great beasts, unknown nor recognized by all in the force, frozen solid in massive crystalline blocks at the heart of the city of tombs, along with many other bizarre sights.

The reports quickly degenerated after that, speaking of ghosts that would snatch away entire companies to their dooms or bodiless voices that would lead patrols over cliffs to fall to their deaths. The very last report received from the advance force, or its survivors, spoke of a ghostly army that had begun to attack them on the outskirts of the city, herding them towards the center. The garbled communiqué had plead for first reinforcements, then a way off the island as all of their ships had been sunk by saboteurs and their jump gates had ceased to function, their magic sapped by some unknown force. Shortly after the desperate plea for evacuation, the voice from the Mardish base on Kuosh had fallen silent, leaving the commanders of the Mardish military wondering what had befallen their crack troops in the mountains of Kuosh.

That had been the last the Mardish had heard from their advance force. Without the badly needed power they would have provided, the subsequent counter offensive in the southern Meridian failed horribly, effectively ending the Sun Path War and hopes for a Mardish victory among shouts of black magic use by the Solavar and the city of ghosts on Kuosh.

And since then, Solavar, Mardish and Freeholder alike, avoided landfall on the misty, shrouded islands as they loomed mysteriously out of the eastern Meridian, especially Kuosh, choosing to run the Kardell Straits in good weather, sailors on a sharp lookout as they passed through for ghosts.