Plergoth Press/Issue Eight
| http://wiki.battlemaster.org/images/Plergoth.png The Plergoth Press | ||
| Bring in Valhalla's head, get a lifetime subscription! | Editor: Mendrugo | Issue Eight, October |
We're Back!
October 18, 1007 | By: Mendrugo
After several months of silence (daimonfyre's quite literally hell on wooden printing presses), the Plergoth Press is back in publication. We'll be keeping you up to date on all the events affecting Plergoth and Beluaterra.
A Summary of the Daimon Wars
October 18, 1007 | By: Mendrugo
Months ago, agents of the Monster Swarm and the Necromancer's Servants began to appear in Beluaterra on cryptic quests to acquire mystical items related in some way to daimonic powers. We now know that these armies appeared in Beluaterra from the Monster Island and the Necromancer's Island via mystical portals.
These ever increasing numbers of Undead and Monster battle leaders made threats and promises to realms across Beluaterra, demanding the delivery of these mystical items and forcing governments into "join or die" alliances. Over the course of a month, most of the Beluaterran realms allied with the Necromancer's Servants, while Sint, Heen and Vlaanderen allied with the Monster Swarm. A precious few nations, such as Khthon, steered a neutral course.
The alliance-building phase was followed by large-scale warfare, as the Necromancer's Servants battled the Monster Swarm, and each side attacked the allies of their enemy. Avalon (an early ally of the Undead) was ravaged by Monster attacks, while Heen (a Monster Swarm ally) was devastated by an Undead invasion. Throughout the fighting, the Monsters and Undead exhorted their human allies to join the fighting against their human and inhuman enemies.
Then, at the peak of the fighting, a mysterious adventurer named Alfredo appeared from nowhere in Eg Tutnu, asking to speak to a priest. He was brought to the central Daishi temple in Creasur, and there was ministered to by priests of Daishi. He possessed a dagger imbued with Daimonic powers, and said he felt something evil growing within him. As the priests of Daishi were unable to do anything to help him, they released him. It appears that the evil growing within him was a portal to the Netherworld, and it is likely that he made it as far as Zisswii before being transformed into a gateway to Hell. Fortunately, the Daishi priests did not attempt to slay him in Creasur, as the portal would likely have formed there, instead.
We presume that several other adventurers had similar experiences across Beluaterra. Shortly after the disappearance of Alfredo, portals to the Netherworld opened in Zisswii and Jobo's Mouth, and hundreds of powerful daimons emerged and began to war upon the peoples of Beluaterra. Each of the inhuman factions told their allies a different story about the Daimons. The Undead stated that the daimons were the spawn of an ancient Dragon that had been defeated by the heroic Necromancer in the ancient past, and that the Undead were prepared to battle them again. The Monsters stated that the undead were escaped slaves of the daimons, and that the hellspawn had emerged to recapture their wayward servants.
Regardless of their reasons, the daimons began to cut swathes of destructon across the island, smashing all opposition. Even when strong human armies managed to defeat a Daimon horde, their leaders would be instantly resurrected and fresh hordes would emerge from the underworld. With more and more regions falling under the sway of the Netherworld, the Undead abruptly abandoned all their alliances and began attacking human settlements at the behest of their daimonic masters. The Monster Swarm had been telling the truth!
With the gates of the Netherworld now wide open, more oddities came to pass. A large group of so-called "lost souls" appeared briefly in Creasur and marched eastward, not having been seen since. Though clearly daimonic in nature, they appeared to be unaligned with the Netherworld forces ravaging Beluaterra.
Seemingly not content with having reclaimed their undead slaves, the daimons began carving out strongholds on the surface of Beluaterra. By force of arms, they wrested many lands from Sint, and then entered into an alliance with that dragon-worshipping land. Likewise, daimonlords were inducted into the government of the rebel-realm of Vlaanderen. (Throughout the early invasion, rebel leader Valhalla had attempted to beguile the Undead and Monsters into attacking Plergoth - but trying to co-opt the strength of the Daimons was a grave mistake...)
In a stunning development, the daimonlord Arcane has overthrown the human government of Valhalla, and created a theocracy with himself at its head. The former Plergothian people living in the breakaway land are now ruled by the daimons and dominated by the grip of evil. Human armies are weak and scattered, and even now a vast horde of daimons is advancing on Creasur.
Is this the end?
