Lord of the End of Everything

LORD OF THE END OF EVERYTHING A historical treatise on <deity> the Pitiless One
Research of Meklan, born of Toril

(Handwritten notes near the name: Meklan of Toril? Meklan of Dierde? Me, of course Jacoby? Possible... Bargle of Mystara... Odd... Kolvar... died... reincarnated it seems... died again? Odd ...

<redacted> are a race of enigmatic spellcasters whose empire once spanned the multiverse. During the Time of Nodes, <redacted> colonies (called Nodes) consisted of huge five-sided pyramids of stone and steel connected through a complex matrix of magical portals.
Each node consisted of a main pyramid more than 5titi feet tall, atop which perched a great crystal lamp capable of illuminating the surrounding landscape with a pulsing azure light. Within each node was a breeding chamber, which contained the magic cylinders necessary for <redacted>s to reproduce, a mortuary, in which <redacted>s entered a stasis every six centuries in order to rejuvenate themselves, and a gigantic magical furnace, capable of creating epic magical effects on par with the powers of a deity. A ring of lesser pyramids surrounded most nodes, serving as living quarters for these enigmatic beings and libraries for their tablets inscribed with hieroglyphics.
Usually there was but one such node per world, from which the <redacted>s observed the myriad cultures that surrounded them. <redacted>s only occasionally subjugated more primitive creatures to carry out menial chores and hard labor. The few races they encountered that posed a threat to the <redacted>’s empire were given powerful magical items and artifacts, allowing those cultures to destroy themselves from within.

(Handwritten notes on the side: It is possible this existed on Dierde. The explosion could have destroyed most of it... and that would explain a lot...)

The <redacted> empire crumbled in an instant during an event known as the Disjunction, when they aPempted to elevate the entire race to the ranks of the divine. This failed ascension sparked a magical backlash that rippled through the multiverse, causing the gigantic magical furnace of each Node to explode and obliterated the pyramidal colonies and all their inhabitants within seconds. Only the few members of the race who were away from the Nodes survived, becoming the ancestors of all modern <redacted>s and beginning the age known to <redacted>s as the Scrabbling. In the Realms, there existed a <redacted> colony, known as Eril, in the northern reaches of Faerûn at the base of a cliff on the northwestern shores of the Narrow Sea (Modern: Ascore) with ready access to a nearby gem mine. From this redoubt, the spell weavers observed the empires of elves and dwarves, aPended by a tribe of primitive humans, who they bred, selecting for their potential mastery of the Art.

(Handwritten notes on the side: Research elsewhere shows the disjunction can be reversed with some gemstones they inscrinbed with the code of reversion... With the Tharizdun Gems it seems those gems can be in the realms contained and it is reasonable to assume that the unnamed deity may seek to collect these orbs... This deity has long kept their ambitions on this in the dark, but based on the VCN research I am certain that as V’s death is finally made public and all his contingency plans are shut down then the unnamed deity will surely try to collect the orbs and use them in some way for their reversion spell... I was able to trap this world where Venger was trying to break free... I think it brought forth an individual of no real concern, but I do believe he has an orb in his possession... I will have to hunt them down soon... The venger world is now trapped in the Macchina di Kadavus, had to... I think the unnamed diety saw what I was up to. I know the time lord has trapped the meklan of toril at the end of their time , but I have yet to find a way to that tower. I wonder if I

In -3939 DR, the Disjunction destroyed Faerûn’s <redacted> Node in a great conflagration, wiping out every <redacted> save one, a <redacted> named <deity> who was being birthed at the time. Although he possessed the entirety of his parent’s memories, <deity> found himself alone in this new world: all his fellow spell weavers were dead and the primitive humans they had long kept as servitors and bred for their potential in the Art had fled down the shores of the Narrow Sea. And yet, <deity> found within himself a spark of divinity, suggesting that at least in some way, the Ascension had succeeded.
As had been long planned by the <redacted> race, <deity> set himself on a course to rebuild the <redacted> empire by reassembling the Code of Reversion, psychometrically inscribed in precious gemstones by the <redacted>s before the Disjunction as a safety measure to allow them to repeat the experiment if something went wrong. The Code of Reversion was designed to allow a single <redacted> to cast a multi-part spell to reverse time in the entire multiverse to just before the Disjunction and then improve upon the experiment that aPempted the mass divine ascension of the race. Unfortunately, <deity> realized the devastation caused by the first attempt was so great that the gemstones in which the Code of Reversion was inscribed were scaPered across the multiverse in the conflagration.
Alone and bereft of allies, <deity> began his monumental task of restoring the Time of Nodes. Given the divine spark within him and the loss of the Code of Reversion, he decided to create a cult of worshipers and use them to create an army of undead. The undead —undying, able to operate in any environment without sustenance, and controllable—would then be able to scour the multiverse for the lost lore needed to reverse time. <deity> began by nurturing a cult of worshipers led by shamans among the descendants of the <redacted>s’ former human servitors, who dwelled in small fishing villages on the shore of the Narrow Sea. Many of these humans were receptive to venerating <deity> as the Lord of the End of Everything (a title that ironically referred to the Code of Reversion), given their long cultural heritage of serving <redacted> masters. As the cult’s worship nurtured <deity>’s divine spark, shamans of <deity> rose to power in each village thanks to their power over life and death and their mastery of necromancy. <deity> then began inciting (through telepathic whispers) the orc tribes of the region to aPack his followers. As he had planned, the human villages came together in mutual defense in -3859 DR against the orcs of the Horde Unending to form the Alliance of Seventon under the leadership of a shaman-king, Nether the Elder. As he grew in power, the shamanking renamed the fledgling kingdom “Netheril,” which meant “Nether’s Land.”
Once Netheril was established, <deity>’s shamans began to teach promising Netherese the Art of necromancy and turn their energy towards creating a vast army of undead. However, the machinations of the Lord of the End of Everything did not go unnoticed, and the history of Netheril began to evolve beyond <deity>’s control due to the influence of outside powers: the Fair Folk of Eaerlann and the lich- king of Oreme. Some of these Netherese had already been listening to the whispers from Tharizdun and for their power they were cursing the world of Toril in due time as it now would mean their world would become an orb of Tharizdun.

(Handwritten notes on the side: Dierde is an anomaly as it seems to exist in the wildspace/phlogiston/whatever where Toril once existed in the Material Plane. Through a convergence of events and energies it may be a unique position to rewrite reality itself. When that dying dragon god found this empty space it created something... however my research elsewhere shows that the temple of Tharizdun which was lost at the Great Awakening, the same events that brought Skola Vale to the Material Plane from the Feywild holds many keys... I know that idiot Satyr plans on trying to free his archfey and it will bring that temple forth again. I do believe that may trigger a slow process of bringing back AO, of bringing back those Tablets of Fate, but it may also bring Tharizdun closer to this realm, once again... so many questions...
It seems this version of us was mostly writing about how this redacted god was interacting with his world in their history, and he didn’t seem to add much about the Tharizdun whispers creating the orb of toril, but since these Netherese would be some of the early human settlers of Dierde it is still technically their history and it is in the same pocket of the Material Plane as Toril once sat, so this is still relevant to my studies. On a side note, my apprentice has been gone for some time since he was supposed to study that book from Fistandus. I will need to travel to that hideout soon, I think I can correct the ritual that went awry with the SW-species, and it might work with that doppelganger I captured... if only I can get the Order to stop messing with Outding.

The emergence of a human culture skilled in the Art and focused on the necromantic arts just beyond the borders of Eaerlann became a growing concern for Durnal Corym Skyflower and the Caerilcarn. On the durnal’s orders, Eaerlanni diviners began to discretely observe the Netherese in -3845 DR. By -383ti DR, a>er extensive debate amongst the Caerilcarn, Corym decided to the best course of action to counter the cult of <deity> was to provide the Netherese with an alternative approach to the study of magic, so he directed the wizards of Glaurachyndaar to begin tutoring promising Netherese students in the Art. With new avenues to the study of magic now open to the Netherese, the cult of <deity> began to recede in influence, with necromancy reduced to being one of nine strands of a larger spellcasting tradition.
After decades of growing interference in his plans by the Fair Folk, the incipient god of the dead turned his aPention to eliminating the Fair Folk as a threat to his machinations. Using the same tactics he had employed to bring Netheril together in the first place, <deity> incited the Skullsworn orc horde to sweep down out of the Spine of the World to overrun Illefarn and Eaerlann in -3,655 DR. However, this manipulation backfired a>er the Fair Folk worked in conjunction with the humans of Netheril to turn back the threat, further cementing their alliance.
Frustrated, <deity> turned to the traditional tactics of his race and aPempted to lure the Eaerlanni elves into destruction by tempting them with powerful new magic. In -3654 DR, a>er bypassing the wards of the arakhor (Modern: Grandfather Tree) that guarded the mist-shrouded halls of the Ba’etith, <deity> stole the Golden Skins of the World Serpent (Modern: Nether Scrolls) and hid them amidst the ruins of Aryvandaar (specifically the fourth Dlardrageth Armory, a>er creating a weakness in the wards cloaking the fourth Dlardrageth Armory through the Border Ethereal). <deity>’s intent was to sow the seeds of Eaerlann’s destruction by deceiving those who sought to reclaim the ancient magics of the Vyshaantar Empire into discovering these legendary artifacts and the secrets they held within them, leaving him free to manipulate the Netherese as he pleased.
However, this too caused more problems for the Lord of the End of Everything than planned. <deity>’s theft did not go unnoticed by Issarnathass, the sarrukh lich-king taking his turn on the throne of Isstosseffifil within the Crypts of Oreme, who was alerted by ancient warding magics he had laid millennia before within the Hall of Mists. A>er observing the manipulations of the Netherese by both <deity> and the elves of Eaerlann as well as the potential held by the Netherese for mastery of the Art, Issarnathass decided to manipulate the humans to his own purposes, distinct from that of <deity> or the Fair Folk.
In the guise of a human archwizard named Arthindol, Issarnathass revealed himself to the Netherese and began instructing them in a new spellcasting tradition. The Netherese called Arthindol “the Terraseer” for his power to see events all over the world. Through his tutelage, the sarrukh lich-king sought to differentiate Netherese study of the Art from that of the Fair Folk, in hopes of learning new things from a different magical tradition that might be shaped later into weapons against the phaerimm.
Meanwhile, <deity> began to whisper to the elven wizards of Glaurachyndaar, tempting them with hints of powerful magic lost with the fall of Aryvandaar. Such efforts bore liPle immediate fruit among the Fair Folk, for the lessons of the Vyshaantar Empire still remained strong in the Eaerlanni tradition of magic. However, they did catch the interest of a Netherese apprentice studying in the City of Scrolls, Nargault ”Finder” Etharr, who began secretly exploring the ruins of Aryvandaar on his own. Nargault’s efforts in turn aPracted the interest of Issarnathass, who, in the guise of the mysterious Terraseer, gave him a serpentskin tome to aid in his explorations.
In -3533 DR, with the aid of secrets gleaned from the tome, Nargault finally managed to reach the fourth Dlardrageth Armory and recover what would come to be known as the Nether Scrolls, thus sowing the seeds of Netheril’s eventual destruction, as the Lord of the End of Everything had once intended for the Fair Folk of Eaerlann. With his original plan to recover the Code of Reversion in ruins, <deity> turned away from direct manipulation of the Netherese and embraced his divinity as their Lord of the Dead, while allowing the Terraseer to manipulate the evolution of the Art of the Netherese, largely unchallenged by the Lord of the End of Everything.
While <deity> did not abandon his efforts to recover the Code of Reversion, such efforts moved beyond the ken of mortals and took centuries to unfold. However, the seeds <deity> had sown as a spell weaver, coupled with the separate machinations of the Fair Folk and Issarnathass, led the Netherese to amazing heights of magic. Even the legendary mythallar of the Netherese owe their inspiration to the gigantic magical furnaces of <redacted> Nodes.
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Type

Study, Historical

Session Reports

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