The Shattered Lands
The Shattered Lands
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Long ago, the realms known as the Shattered Lands were part of a vast and beautiful continent known as Antonica. Today, only the name survives, applied to the hills outside of Qeynos in sorrowful tribute to the land that once was and is no more.
The old continent of Antonica and the other mighty lands of the world called Norrath were home to bold adventurers, wise kings, greedy warlords, cunning thieves, scheming sorcerers, and monsters and spirits both fierce and mighty. Adventurers plumbed ancient dungeons and secret caverns, armies clashed, and great magics were unleashed. It was said that anyone bold enough to study the sword, master the secrets of the arcane, or serve truly the will of the gods could win untold power, fame, and fortune. If the alternative was an unpleasant death in the jaws of some horrific beast or demon, then so be it — this was a time of heroes, when legends walked the land.
But the pride of mortals grew too great, and in time they trespassed in the realms of the gods themselves. The cataclysms that followed smashed the lands into splinters, plunging Norrath into a time of death and destruction as had not been seen in eons.
But the gods had underestimated the strength and resilience of mortals, and in the wake of the great cataclysms, life once more returned — albeit hesitantly — to Norrath. The continent of Antonica was no more; now called the Shattered Lands, the many isles that once formed the great continent were now wild and untamed, and only a few civilized outposts remained scattered across them. Fortunately, the great human cities of Qeynos and Freeport had survived, and these became focal points for the rebirth of mortal civilization.
Here then is the tale of a world that once was, and of the world that is today. Shattered these lands may be, but the splinters of old Antonica are vibrant with new life, and the adventurers of old are returning. It is once more a time for heroes.
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Before the Cataclysm
Before time itself there existed only a force known as theNameless. This infinite, unimaginable power interacted withthe emptiness of the void, creating the worlds, the planes, andthe entire cosmos, in which whirled gleaming suns and worldswithout number. To help create order in this new creation,the Nameless created the four “eldest gods” — Xegony, Queenof the Air; Fennin Ro, Lord of Fire; Tarew Marr, Master ofWater; and Rathe, God of Earth. These four mighty beingsgave order and substance to the world, and themselves createdthe other gods to aid in overseeing the new worlds that theNameless had created.
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The Age of Scale
The first of the new divine beings created by the four eldest gods was also the first to notice Norrath. Veeshan, the Crystalline Dragon, ruler of the Plane of Sky, cast her shadow upon this young world, for it was rich and lush, perfect for her purposes. She struck the world with her talons and claimed the place she struck as her own. Her claws raked across what would eventually become known as Velious, forming the Cobalt Scar. There the Wurm queen deposited her brood upon the fledgling world, and dragon kind ruled the lands for an unknown length of time.
It is said that the mighty Age of Scale ended in blood as the great realm of the dragons tore itself apart. This fearsome conflict began when two dragons of different breeds mated and produced a monstrosity known as a prismatic dragon, a powerful being called Kerafyrm. Its birth had been prophesied as the “Awakening of the Sleeper,” and all later ages are dated from this fearsome event. A being of godlike power, Kerafyrm is said to have rivaled even Veeshan herself, and the war that resulted from his birth ended in the deaths of hundreds of true dragons. In the end, Kerafyrm could not be destroyed — only placed in a deep magical sleep and confined, guarded by eternal warders. For centuries, Kerafyrm remained the most powerful single being upon Norrath, with tales of his existence passing into the realm of myth and legend.
In the wake of this disaster, Veeshan decreed that dragons of different breeds could never mate, and that dragons could never slay other dragons. So it was that the Claws of Veeshan, the rulers of dragon kind, arose from the struggle with Kerafyrm. However, some dragons did not follow Veeshan’s will; these malcontents struck out on their own, forming a renegade faction known as the Ring of Scale under the leadership of the ancient dragon Jaled Dar, aided by several infamous wyrms including Trakanon, Phara Dar, Lord Nagafen, and Lady Vox.
​​The Elder Age
Veeshan would in time prove to be only the first deity to turn her attentions to the verdant world of Norrath. At some point, Brell Serilis, the Duke of the Below, took note of Veeshan’s handiwork and began his own machinations in the Plane of Underfoot. In secret, he crafted a gateway from his realm into an open chasm deep within the belly of Norrath. He then made many creatures and sent them through the mystical gateway into the twisting tunnels and passages of the deep underworld. The Duke of Below then sealed the entry to his plane within a labyrinthine chamber of living stone.
Once finished, Brell Serilis gathered the foremost of the other gods and showed them the world of Norrath and what Veeshan had already wrought there. With choice words befitting the King of Thieves, Brell proposed a pact among Tunare, Prexus, Rallos Zek, and himself that would allow them to discuss the fate of the world. They would divide the lands of this world among themselves, each creating races to watch over their chosen territories and to keep the Wurmqueen and her spawn in check. All agreed except Rallos Zek, the Warlord, who would declare no alliance with any of the other gods, for he could not bring himself to trust the others. Despite the Warlord’s defiant decision, however, he too would stake a claim upon Norrath.
Soon Brell created the dwarves, stout and strong, and placed them in the mountains and deep within their cavernous depths. On the world’s surface, among the beautiful and wild forests, Tunare made the elves as an embodiment of her eternal grace and beauty. In the water, Prexus made the kedge, aquatic beings of great mental prowess and stamina. Last but not least, Rallos Zek produced two races, the giants and the goblins.
As a whole, the elder races did just what the gods had planned: They fought the dragons and helped subdue the world, ending the rule of dragonkind. While the kedge, the elves, and the dwarves were allies in these early battles, the giants and the goblins fought only for themselves and their own glory. Still, the primary goal of opposing the dragons was met, regardless of the aloofness of the children of Rallos Zek.
Fortunately, internal conflict plagued the dragons as well, for the lovers Lord Nagafen and Lady Vox sought to breed and create another prismatic dragon, with whom they intended to overthrow Jaled Dar and take over the Ring of Scale. Their plans were discovered before they could come fully to fruition, though — Vox was forced to flee to the fastness of Everfrost, while Nagafen allowed himself to be captured and driven to the Lavastorm Mountains so that Vox could escape bearing the fruit of their union.
The other dragons soon discovered Vox’s hiding place as well, and Jaled Dar conjured mighty magics that transformed the separate refuges of both rebels into prisons, preventing them from ever seeing one another again. An elite group called the Drakota was formed, and these dragonkind were given the responsibility of watching over the two prisoners and preventing them from ever escaping.
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The Age of Monuments
Legend does not state whether Innoruuk knew of Norrath before the other gods made their pact. Regardless, the Prince of Hate burned with anger against the other gods who had not included him in their pact — but most especially he resented Tunare, whom he desired for himself, for not including him in her counsel. His anger drew him to take the elven king and queen from the Thex palace in the elven capital of Takish’Hiz. Then, deep in his Plane of Hate, Innoruuk tormented and twisted them in both mind and body for hundreds of years.
In time, the Thex monarchs were transformed into the first of the dark elves, followed shortly by numerous other powerful elves who had entered his plane to rescue their sovereigns; eventually, Innoruuk cast these Teir’Dal out from his plane and into the underworld of Norrath to multiply and to sow the seeds of his revenge on the other gods.
Also during this age, Brell sought for ways to further his influence in the new world that had begun to take shape. When Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane and the dreaded Cazic-Thule entered the world, Brell saw yet another opportunity for an alliance. Still distrustful, but having seen Brell’s various successes, Rallos Zek finally agreed to the new pact. The gods of this second divine pact once again created races to repre￾sent them on the new world.
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Brell now fashioned the gnomes, smaller cousins of the dwarves with a fascination for strange machines and exotic magics. Bristlebane made the halflings, those short, stubby, agile folk with their incurable tendency to meddle. He placed them carefully on a land away from the dragons and the giants. Cazic-Thule and Rallos Zek, perhaps in a competitive display of power, created two races each: Cazic-Thule, also known as the Faceless, created both the reptilian iksar and the brutish trolls in the swamps and jungles of Norrath. Rallos Zek, ever mindful of the possibility of conquest, made the ogres and the orcs to spread his values — by force if necessary.
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The Shissar Empire
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No one is sure who created the shissar, and for their part thesnake-folk have always rejected the notion that any race orbeing could be greater than they are themselves. In the middledays of the Age of Monuments, the shissar had somehowbecome the masters of a cruel empire. Many conquered raceswere deemed unworthy to serve even as slaves, and were wipedout utterly. One of few races that survived destruction was theiksar, whose reptilian nature apparently saved them from utterextinction. Of course, the alternative wasn’t much better —for centuries, the lizard-folk labored in servitude to the shissar,under the merciless rule of the immortal Ssraeshza, Emperorof the Shissar.
In time, shissar arrogance grew until at last they dared towholly and vocally reject the gods, claiming that they, ratherthan Cazic-Thule, had created the iksar as their servants.Enraged, the Faceless One unleashed a terrible vengeanceupon the snake-folk. A strange green mist began to spreadthroughout the empire, slaying the snake people but sparingother races altogether.
Desperate, the emperor and his advisors sought refuge intheir Grand Temple, eventually casting a mighty spell thatallowed them to escape from Norrath altogether. For severalages to come, the shissar would survive in secret on the Moonof Luclin, but eventually even that refuge was denied themwhen the last of the snake folk would perish in the Shattering.They exist today as only a fading memory used by iksarmothers to frighten unruly children into obedience.
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The Iksar Empire
The iksar thus survived the fall of the shissar, eventuallyfounding several powerful city-states on the perilous continent of Kunark. These city-states were eventually unitedunder the ruthless necromancer Venril Sathir, whose undeadlegions helped him carve out an empire that rivaled even thatof the vanquished shissar in sheer cruelty. The Empire ofSebilis conquered and brutally enslaved many races, as theshissar had done to the iksar, including even households ofgiants and the normally peaceful frogloks. Under Venril andhis son Rile, the iksar empire grew powerful, conqueringalmost all of the vast continent.
Soon, the iksar had become so powerful that they threatened all of Norrath. The iksar ruler Atrebe, son of Rile, usedfoul magics to interbreed dragons and iksar, creating thehybrid race called the sarnak. Appalled, the great dragonTrakanon urged Jaled Dar to go to war with the iksar, for themore conservative and traditional dragons of the Claws of Veeshan continued to remain neutral and refused to opposethe lizard-folk.
So war between the Empire of Sebilis and the Ring of Scalebegan. The emperor Rile perished when his fleet was de￾stroyed by the mighty dragon Trakanon and his allies, but theiksar fought on under the rule of Rile’s son Ganak. In the end,Jaled Dar, ruler of the Ring of Scale, was himself slain by Ganak, yet even this victory availed the iksar little and thewar dragged on.
When Ganak eventually perished in a reprisal from theRing of Scale, he was replaced by a council called the Emerald Circle. Soon, the Ring of Scale struck again under the leader￾ship of Trakanon, shattering the weakened and divided empire.Slaves across Kunark revolted, and soon the great state hadbeen utterly destroyed. Trakanon did not have much time torelish his victory, however, for he was exiled by the Claws ofVeeshan for his part in the unsanctioned war against the iksar.
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Zek's Children
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Following the flurry that was creation, the many races of Norrath, both old and young, began to develop their scattered cities and outposts into larger nations and empires. Some races also developed an eye toward expansion and conquest, but none so well as the ogres, whose great strength and mastery of magic allowed them, eventually, to control most of the continent of Tunaria.
In time, when they felt they had mastered virtually all of Norrath, the ogres sought new conquest. They eventually learned of other planes and mounted an invasion upon the very Plane of Earth, waging war on the denizens therein until turned back by the ancient god of power called the Rathe, whose rule there was absolute. Rallos Zek swelled with pride at his creations’ achievement, and when the ogres were finally turned back, the Warlord personally led a second assault into the Plane of Earth. The heavens themselves trembled, and the other gods allied against the Warlord and his creations, sending the defeated armies back into the world of Norrath —for if he had succeeded there, what could stop him from entering their own planes and enslaving their peoples?
As a final and fitting punishment, the Rathe scattered Rallos Zek’s children across the world. The ogres were slain by the thousands and their empire crumbled to ruin. The Rathe also cursed the giants and the ogres with dim-wittedness so that they could no longer grasp the magic that had brought them to such heights of glory and conquest. A few ogres, sheltered from the Rathe’s curse in a region known as the Islands of Mist, carried on unaffected by their cousins’ handicaps, but they were always few in number and their power never rivaled that of the old empire.
Cold and ice pummeled the once-lush homelands of the giants. Some say that the goblins were also cursed, and that their curse was so terrible and thorough that no one knows what it was to this day. Having thus crippled the children of Zek, the Rathe and his fellow elder gods then erected a barrier to the Planes of Power (those of Air, Water, Fire, and Earth) so that mortals and lesser gods could not access them again.
Though imprisoned within the Planes of Power he sought to conquer, Rallos Zek would wait, ever-watchful, plotting his revenge against the gods that imprisoned him.
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The War of the Broken Crown
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The last of the old races to suffer decline was that of theelves. The Elddar Forest at this time spread across the entiresoutheastern quarter of Tunaria. For reasons none has everbeen able to fathom, Solusek Ro, son of Fennin Ro and rulerof the Plane of Sun, raised up the Serpent Mountains, cuttingoff the ancient wood from the northern lands that provided itsrainfall and causing the heat of the sun to burn the landstherein. The rivers soon ran dry, and not even the mightyelven druids of Tunare could stop the destruction of theirforest as it wasted away into a vast desert wasteland. By thetime Rallos Zek’s armies had taken over the rest of Tunaria,the great city of Takish’Hiz, like the lands around it, hadbegun slowly but irrevocably to fall.
Meanwhile, the Thex monarchs, long ago corrupted byInnoruuk, by this time ruled a dark elven empire that claimed,through the authority of King Naythox and Queen CristianosThex, to rule over all elves. This empire was plagued from itsoutset by internal strife and political skullduggery. Still, theking and queen of the dark elves tried one last time to claimvested rulership over all elves, seeking thus to forcibly converttheir subjects to the worship of the Prince of Hate.
The far provinces of light elves rebelled, of course, led byyoung King Tearis Thex, son of the corrupted monarchs. Thisinternecine war raged for many long years, until at last thedark elf Xanit K’Ven, a follower of Rallos Zek who had foughtfor many years in the Rallosian armies, was declared Overlordof the dark elf armies and was given permission to invade andraze Takish’Hiz. The Elddar was no more, and those light elveswho remained fled Tunaria altogether, following QueenElizerain, who acted as regent for the young Tearis Thex,across the Ocean of Tears to found a new home on Faydwer.
Before the elves departed finally, however, a force of elitelight elf warriors and spellcasters fell upon the dark elf city ofCaerthiel — which had formerly been called Wielle andwould eventually be rebuilt and renamed Freeport — destroying it utterly.
​​​The Age of Blood
Perhaps drawn by the furor of the battle for the Planes ofPower and the resulting punishment of the Rathe, the twingods Erollisi and Mithaniel Marr came to Norrath. Asking nopermission and forming no pacts, the twins created the savagerace of humans in the frozen north of Tunaria, near one of thebands of giants. These barbarians were willing to fight withvirtually anything or anyone they encountered, includingeach other. Wherever they spread, they brought a willingnessto enter into conflict. Their conquests and the other fiercewars that raged in those days caused this era to be known as theAge of Blood.
The Fall of the Kedge
The enlightened aquatic race known as the kedge had longdwelt in peace beneath Norrath’s waves. Powerful and learned,the kedge were limited by their creator, Prexus, who decreedthat their numbers could never increase — they were effectively immortal, and a young kedge was born only once an oldkedge died of violence, disease, or some other unnatural cause.
Seeking to overcome his people’s “curse,” the kedge wizardPhinigel Autropos sought a way to allow his people to growand prosper as did the land-dwelling races. Phinigel led acrusade against the dwarves of Kaladim, seeking to steal theirknowledge and magic and turn it to his own uses. After slayingthe hero-king Dagnor Butcherblock, Phinigel carried off themonarch’s mighty hammer, and kept it in the sunken palaceknown as Kedge Keep.
At length, Phinigel hit upon what he believed was a way toovercome Prexus’ curse — he researched and then undertooka ritual in which he called up enormous magical energiesdesigned to free the souls of the kedge and allow new souls tobe created. The ritual went disastrously wrong, however, andthe kedge were wiped from the face of Norrath. The collectivemind, soul, and memories of the kedge were drawn intoPhinigel, driving him mad. For centuries, he dwelt alone inthe ruins of Kedge Keep, tormented by his failure, seeking futilely for a way to restore his people, slain by his own hand.
A handful of hybrid kedge, unaffected by the disaster,lingered on in the region known as the Islands of Mist, where it is believed that they continue to dwell today.
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The Swords of the Orcs
In the days following the elven exodus to Faydwer, theCrushbone orcs of that continent began to move out of theregion known as the Loping Plains in a great and seeminglyunstoppable horde, at last entering the forests of the Faydarkand assailing the wood elf kingdom of Kelethin. Hard-pressed,the wood elf ruler Carandril turned for aid to the high elves ofFelwithe. Under the leadership of the high elf hero Edril,cousin to King Tearis Thex himself, the high elves marchedinto battle, defeating the orcs in a surprise assault and drivingthe survivors deep into the shadowy forests of the Faydark.There, they remained for centuries, brooding and plottingvengeance against the elves.
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Edril and the Gnomes
Since the gnomes’ arrival on Norrath, they had lived bothamong the dwarves and in the wilds near the edge of the forestsnow occupied by the wood elves; while they were not disliked,they were regarded by most dwarves as second-class citizens orpoor country cousins. At last, the famed gnome Biddynappealed to the wood elf ruler Carandril to be granted anindependent kingdom of their own. Carandril agreed, givingthe gnomes a portion of the barren lands beyond the SteamfontMountains. A party of gnome explorers and surveyors imme￾diately set out to map the new region, now called Akanon(Elder Elvish for “gift”). Unfortunately, the land provedcursed, and only a single explorer returned with tales of afearsome plague dragon that had slaughtered his companions.
Once more the elf-lord Edril, Champion of Tunare, rose tothe occasion. Together with the brave Biddyn and a group ofhand-picked companions, Edril journeyed to Akanon, wherehe faced and slew the plague dragon in single combat. Forcenturies, the skull of the slain dragon stood above the gatesof the gnomish citadel of Fortress Mechanus. After the dragon’sdeath, Biddyn, Edril, and their companions fought tirelessly,ridding the place of the monsters that infested it, making theland safe for gnomish settlers. Soon, Akanon was a thrivingsettlement, the permanent home that the gnomes had so longdesired.
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War of the Seven Tribes
Long ago abandoned by Cazic-Thule in favor of his chosenpeople, the iksar, the trolls were forced to fight for survival inthe wilds of the Tunaria. After countless generations duringwhich they alternately gathered into something approximat￾ing a troll empire and then inevitably splintered apart, thetrolls regressed to brutal savagery for good and turned on eachother as never before. Their once-prosperous lands were tornby the civil conflict that came to be called the War of theSeven Tribes. This watershed event did not last long. In arelatively short time, only a single troll tribe remained, led bythe ancient, cunning troll warrior and visionary Nalikor, whoby strength, guile and outright treachery succeeded where allthe past attempts at troll empire had failed. Instead of allowingthe existence of squabbling tribes that would later fracture hisempire, Nalikor simply decimated all the other trolls.
After some years of gathering their strength, the trolls metthe ogres of Oggok in battle, and soon won their foes’ respect.Nalikor and the ogre rulers reached an accord, and Nalikorgave them his magical sword, which was kept for many yearsat the sacred spot known as Broken Skull Rock. With theogres’ help, the trolls founded the city of Grobb, where theybegan once again to grow in numbers and power.
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The Lost Age
In what some call the last act of divine intervention, severaltribes of barbarians were molded by Erollisi Marr into a newrace that was more thoughtful and kind than their forebears.(That goddess herself, once revered as a warrior deity, hadtaken on the new aspects of love and partnership.) At thistime, the race of humans as they are known today at long lasttook their place in Norrath amid the elder races.
More quickly than anyone would have thought possible,the fast-breeding and quick-learning humans spread throughout Norrath and created the Combine Empire. Eventually,though, as quickly as it had arisen, their mighty empire fell totreachery when the evil General Seru betrayed his emperor ina bid to seize the throne for himself. Those still loyal to theCombine Empire escaped from Norrath, founding the city ofKatta Castellum on the Moon of Luclin, but Seru and hisminions were quick to follow, building their own city, SanctusSeru.
After Seru departed Norrath, the Combine Empire wastruly dead, and to this day almost no known records of the firstand last human empire exist, though its relics and ruins arefound scattered throughout the world.
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The Age of Enlightenment
Though their empire lay behind them, the humans still possessed great power and resilience. They founded two great cities on Tunaria, Freeport and Qeynos, and renamed the continent “Antonica” after one of their leaders, Antonius Bayle II, the Great Defender. As humans from other continents streamed to the newly established human twin capitals, they brought magic and new learning back from their many homes.
The knowledge and stories of faraway lands and magics inspired a malcontented minority of humans. Wanting this magical knowledge for themselves and forswearing the war like ways of their predecessors, these humans followed their leader, Erud, across the sea on a pilgrimage to found an enlightened society. Landing on what they named Odus, they succeeded in developing their own society based on magic and knowledge.
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The Age of Turmoil
The followers of Erud, who had by now dubbed themselves the Erudites, focused their society on the ways of the spellcasting arts, particularly the arcane. However, the quest for power of one Erudite, a young genius and radical called Miragul, led him to rediscover the dark path of necromancy, which had long been known to the dark elves and had been dabbled in by humans of the Combine Empire. Miragul led more of his kin to this dark art, but those who studied necromancy were eventually found out and branded heretics by the High Council of the city of Erudin.
A civil war erupted between Miragul’s faction and those “morally advanced” teachers and rulers who opposed his studies. Practitioners of the magical arts on both sides were slain in droves. Then, in one final, cataclysmic battle, the combatants unleashed great mystical energies that somehow translocated the entire kerran city of Shar Vahl off of Norrath, leaving only a huge crater that descended into the depths of Odus. The heretics retreated into this chasm — known as the Hole — and built the city of Paineel within its depths.
However, after a relatively short time, the hordes of the Underfoot (earth elementals and other servants of Brell) emerged from below, destroying Paineel and driving the heretics out of the depths. Paineel was painstakingly rebuilt, though closer to the surface, and the heretics plotted to retake the depths and both to recover their own lost lore and to wrest the secrets of the Underfoot from Brell and his minions.
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The Portals of Luclin
Torn from Norrath by the terrible magics of the Erudite War, the kerran city of Shar Vahl plunged through space, eventually coming to rest on the Moon of Luclin. There, under the rulership of King Vah Kerrath, the kerra founded a new civilization, and renamed themselves the Vah Shir in honor of their ruler and his clan. There, the cat-folk grew numerous and prosperous, eventually making friendly contact with the Combine Loyalists who had fled Norrath. Soon, however, the Vah Shir somehow awakened a terrible evil, for from beneath the surface of the moon came a race of evil, diminutive humanoids known as grimlings. War between the two races raged for centuries until the Shattering finally destroyed the moon entirely.
Before that tragedy occurred, though, a strange thing happened — the Moon of Luclin wandered close to the world of Norrath, and the strange structures long known as “wizards’ spires” became active, flickering and pulsing with untold power. Soon, the legendary Erudite wizard Al’Kabor discovered that the spires could be used as gateways to the Moon of
Luclin, and for the next few decades trade and travel between that distant, mysterious world and Norrath became almost commonplace. The goddess Luclin, a jealous and secretive deity, watched the influx of strangers with growing concern, but chose to lurk in the shadows and to watch.
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