Melhed/History/Age of Betrayal/Undead/Undead History

History

The records of humanity's past are scattered and few, legend replacing knowledge quickly. Enclosed here is the history of the undead as told by their libraries.

The winged beasts are rumoured to be descendants of the Great Dragon that the living and undead slew long ago...in fact, that Dragon's head is stuffed, and used as a foot rest for my master. Quite an interesting piece of furniture--and history.

We slew the Great Dragon together, long ago. That was the only human/undead campaign in our histories, thus far. We made a pact to never be a slave to anyone, and embraced our dependant futures. We would watch over the shadows, and humans would watch over the living...100 years passed, and we were forgotten...this is the problems with human's "secrecy" issues. Only the leaders knew, they died, and well..stuff got lost. ~General Sarge, Ancestor Legion

Long ago man and undead were under the Daimonic thumb, whom was being pressed by the Great Dragon.

Living and Undead banded together, and stormed his palace on this Island, at that time, both living and undead were powerful, and scared to take action. We were successful, and managed to slay most of them, the living agreed to stay in this world, and the undead chased them into the Netherworld, where we established our territory and slew many, many people.

At that time, the Living systematically sacrificed thousands of warriors to bolster our numbers, till we sent word that the mission was a success, and no more lives needed transferring.

For many Eons we guarded the gates here, and easily destroyed the many armies that challenged us...little did we know that the Daimons had rebuilt their empire in areas we had not bothered to explore. They blitzed our outermost portals, and so did the monsters...who had never challenged our authority, as we had an agreement of sorts...they were allowed to eat the weaklings, and we would not wipe them out...albeit dumb beasts, they are very powerful, so we lost many gates that led to this world.

We come seeking allies and to unite mankind, and we did well. We came to find the missing relics in which would have locked The One in an impenetrable barrier should humans fail...but since humanity allowed some of them to break without repair, and others simply were never given to us, such a barrier was not created. So we proceeded to try something else, a hard push to force them all out here, seal the gates, and fight them with everyone here on this Island, killing them all once and for all...but the plan was flawed. The Humans could not stop hordes of Daimons from their journey near Sint all the way to the opposite side, to our gates in the heart of Riombara...so with the entire army fighting in the North...with few commanders left in the Capital...we were destroyed, captured, tortured, killed...

Perhaps it was a mistake to of ever-trusted man, or perhaps it was better to of lived free, time will tell what will happen later. But the Daimon's control of the Abyss is absolute, why the Monsters preferred the Daimon leadership over our own is a mystery. However, the Monster nation will be destroyed, and the weakened undead will inevitably grow strong again...but the Daimons will remain on your lands until history repeats itself--assuming it will.

For now, all I can suggest is to kill us...kill all the undead leaders till there are none left but save a Summoner...

We tried to hold out in declaring war, but Daimonic control is absolute... ~Hierarch Summoner, Abyss Overlord

Piecing this information with our own records the following seems the most logical to the series of events. Factorium scholars point out that the use of Old Gods terminology may cause unease with scholars of other faiths, but the Guardians of the Flame hold that truly learned men and women know that the names mean little and will insert the names of their own faith as needed.

Long ago men were free, but as it explains in the Scrolls of Orbis* the Betrayers turned aside from the Highfather and sought to enslave humanity with promises of great pleasure and brutal punishment. Their servants were the daimons, a word that means in the old tongue, an intermediary between the gods and man, and they worked in the name of their masters to enslave and torment humanity.

However some of the Ancients refused to follow this darker road, the Old Gods would not turn from the Divine Plan and would not stand by while the Betrayers gobbled the souls of humanity up. One of them, the One, as the undead call them, and the Dark Mistress by us, granted a portion of their power on what would become the Summoner. Freed from the bonds of the daimons and their masters the dead sought aid from those humans still beyond the shackles of the Betrayers and thus started the first rebellion of humanity and the time of the Eight Champions. Together our two peoples defeated the daimons and slew the dragon-king, lord of the daimons, stealing the five artefacts of power, along with it’s head. A head that Marquis Rasputin has recently burned I might add. Using the artefacts the Summoner was able to fashion defences to defend against the daimons, shielding humans from their touch.

Sadly it was too late. The Betrayers managed to defeat the rebellious humans before the wards were complete and the undead could do nothing without exposing themselves. The Old Gods were defeated and exiled to Beluaterra to stop their meddling. Time wore on and the world forgot.

At this time the Chronicles of the Age* picks up the tale but the summary is that here on Beluaterra, the rebellion has started anew. In this land the Betrayers have little power, all human nations are rebelling against their rule without knowing and us on purpose. And so when the adventurers stole the artefacts from the Summoner the daimons were freed to return and seek their revenge on the dead and the humans that had so wronged them. The daimons seek to destroy the rebellion, reclaim their artefacts and possibly restore their king. The undead, work to rebuild the wards, and stop this.

Unfortunately the monsters are in the service of another power, one who is displeased with our inability to put aside our differences and work together. The Ice Queen tested us and found us lacking, our tendency to fight each other has made her decide that humanity's time in the light is at it's end. The Children seek the artefacts to ensure our destruction and then to bind the daimons.

• See Scroll of Orbis for an account of the formation of the world.
• See Chronicles of the Age for an account of human colonization of Beluaterra until the present.