History of Ralios
As told in the East Wilds
²In the terror and confusion of the Great Darkness, a group of Vingkotlings became separated from their kin and their gods. Harried by the Predark, they were pushed away from their old lands and found themselves in Ralios. At that time only the Elder Races lived there, mostly elves. Having lost contact with the gods of the Storm, the people turned to local deities for protection. These were gods of nature, many of them animal gods, and the people who worshipped them eventually began to identify themselves with these animals and even to consider themselves beasts in human form. Later, a cult sprang up among the horse clan, propitiating the dead sun and hoping to bring it back to life with their offerings.
When the Dawn came, the sun-worshippers believed they had succeeded, and that their prayers had led to the sungodıs resurrection. This was of course a false belief, but the rise of Ehilm into the sky once more increased the power of his worshippers in any case. For a time, the horse peopleıs fortunes shone with the sun and they became the dominant force in Ralios, feared by all others. Then missionaries from the World Council appeared, telling the true stories of I Fought We Won and the Lightbringerıs Quest. They also revealed the true ancestry of the Ralians and offered a chance to convert back to the ways of their ancestors. Most clans seized this opportunity eagerly, but the horse tribe wanted none of it. They had gained much from their sun-worship and feared losing their status if they abandoned these ways. More fools them. This arrogance and greed would cause their downfall. A few other minor groups of beast-worshippers also clung to what they knew, afraid to embrace change. This was good, because it meant that the cowardly elements were purged from our Storm people. The period which followed was one of peace and plenty for all under the benign guidance of the Council. But all good things come to an end.
To the far west lived a people who worshipped no true gods. They paid lip service to an empty shell of a god, one of their own making, but like this construct they too had no souls. Thus they were easy targets for the infiltration of evil. A demon of darkness named Arkat took the form of a warrior among these westerners and raised a huge army to war upon the Council. As he advanced into Ralios, he swiftly conquered the western and northern regions. The orlanthi living there either died in battle or turned coat to join Arkatıs unholy crusade. Only the eastern ralians and the Galanini the horse people were steadfast in their resistance. But the Galanini stubbornly refused to retreat from their hard-to-defend lowland territories, and suffered terrible losses. Their power was crushed once and for all, the sorry remnants of their tribe now eking out a pitiful nomadic existance. The highlands of the east were much better fighting ground for the Storm people the westerners didnıt know how to fight in country like that. Still, they pushed on through sheer force of numbers until they stood before Kartolin Pass. But no further! Our ancestors held the pass against everything Arkat could throw at them. Eventually he gave up trying. Leaving his army to continue the siege, Arkat sought a different way to accomplish his aims. At first returning to the Underworld whence he came, he reappeared in the far east, in Dragon Pass. There he revealed his true affiliations, taking the shape of a troll and raising another army from the men of Darkness. With these new forces under his command he finally acheived his goal and crushed the Council that had brough unity to all peoples for so long. Returning to Ralios, he founded the oppressive Dark Empire. Under his rule all the lands around Felster Lake were filled with people following western ways, either converts or immigrants. The Lanksti and Otkori were still orlanthi in name, but they worshipped the dark gods of Arkat as well. We of the eastern hills refused to indulge in such blasphemy, and were punished for it. The trolls of Halikiv, formerly no more than a nuisance, were granted overlordship of our lands and taxed us to within an inch of our lives.
We suffered mightily under Arkatıs evil empire, but like all empires it could not last. Some time after Arkat himself had died, the people of the west the first he had deceived and betrayed decided to avenge themselves against his ancestors. They swept into Ralios with fire and sword, and the Dark Empire crumbled. If they had remained unchecked, they would of course just have replaced it with something equally bad. But Aringor Darstalsson reenacted the Lightbringer Quest of Orlanth, and from the land of the dead he brought back Narnarra, a daughter of Vingkot. She revealed the secrets of High Kingship, bestowing it upon Aringorıs bloodline, the Voshfrei. This magic allowed the tribes of Delela to unite for the first time since the days of the Council, and so they could resist the foreign invaders. Only the Naskori tribe refused to join, and look what happened to them.
Around this same time, another hero arose named Ingolf. He came to be known as Dragonfriend, for he showed that it was possible to deal peaceably with the dragonewts of Ormsland and even to use some of their strange magic without offending Orlanth. With his new allies and powers he struck mighty blows against the trollish hordes, driving them back into their holes in Halikiv. It would be a long time before they dared show themselves again. But when Ingolf had left this world an anti-hero appeared among the Lanksti. He was called Alakoring Dragonbreaker and was a deadly foe of all dragonkind. Like all black-hearted Vesmonstrans he pined for the days of Arkat and was a friend of the Darkness. To preserve the trolls from our righteous wrath he heroquested to break the newly forged friendship between Orlanth and the draconic kind. He slew many dragons and finally flew over the Rockwoods to the east, to the home of all dragons. There he must have finally succeeded, though he was never heard from again, for the dragon powers were lost to us.
That loss eventually led to the trolls regaining their strength. After several generations they started causing trouble once more. They became such a thorn in our side that we found some common ground even with the westerners of Safelster. A pact was made between their King Jorst and our High King Retter of Delela. Jorst stopped troll reinforcements and trade from their strongholds in the west, while Retter went to work on Halikiv. He subverted their trollkin into rebellion, slew their ancient leaders who had been alive since the Dawn, smashed their holy idols and performed other great deeds. After he had broken the back of troll power in Ralios, the treacherous Safelstran scum obviously thought he had outlived his usefulness, for the cowards had him assassinated. But we still worship him as the great hero he was, and he provides us with his special magics in case the brood of Darkness act up again.
Now we have lived well for some generations, so I guess it is time for new troubles to make themselves known. Apparently there are prophets in Safelster saying that Arkat will return. If he does, we must be ready to stop him! There are rumors of strange trade caravans coming through Kartolin Pass, and they claim they are not of Chaos. If they speak truth, it might mean the lands on the other side have been cleansed. But if they lie, they are spies for an invasion of chaotic monsters! The trolls have been quiet for a long time, and there has even been some peaceful trading with them. But you never know with the darkspawn, we must watch them carefully...²
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