Aegothiaryss is the proprietor and bartender of the
Wandering Tale.
Aegoth, as he is known by his patrons, has spent the latter half of his existence conversing with travelers and collecting the lore of the world. The inside of his tavern is welcoming and mysterious, and its magical nature reflects the timelessness of his journeys. He is boldly talkative, and loves a conversation more than anything else.
When rescuing the
Crypt Crew from their imprisonment in the
Demon Wastes, Aegothiaryss revealed his true form: that of an Ancient Brass Dragon. There, he battled his old rival, the Ancient Blue Dragon, Zerathuun.
Some of his brethren of
Zyddrydem would say he’s wasted his life in such a pursuit among the simple humanoids. Dragons are meant to be great and majestic, aren’t they? What worth could there possibly be mingling among such creatures your entire life?
Stories
Droaam
For the last millennium, children of the Five Nations have known the fate awaiting the naughty: they’ll be sent to the Barrens, where ogres will use them for footstools until the trolls eat them for dinner.
When Galifar was established, the province of Breland was granted dominion over all lands south of the Byeshk Mountains and west of the Seawall, extending to the waters of the Thunder Sea. This bold claim considerably extended the territory held by the preceding nation of Wroat—but it was nothing more than a claim. The Brelish people had no need of the lands to the west, nor did they want them. The Barrens—their name for everything west of the Graywall Mountains—were known to hold foul swamps and barren plains, an untamed region filled with all manner of deadly monsters. Explorers to Breland’s newly acquired territory soon confirmed these tales. The plains were filled with ogres and hungry gnolls. The mountains were home to harpies whose songs could lead the unwary into deep chasms, where trolls slept on piles of bones. The Barrens had nothing the Brelish believed worth fighting for, and so it was left alone. Occasionally, questing knights or bold templars would cross the Graywall to battle giants and slay ogres, but the region was largely ignored.
Over centuries, the Brelish slowly expanded west toward the Graywall. Castle Arakhain became a favored royal residence in the eighth century, bringing new prosperity to Ardev and Shavalant. However, the ensuing wave of western settlers was met by fierce raiders crossing the gap between the Graywall Mountains and Silver Lake. Bloodied settlers brought back tales of bellowing minotaurs, orcs, ogres, and goblins lurking in every shadow. An attack at Castle Arakhain led to the brief Westward War, the might of Galifar driving the raiders back across the Graywall and obliterating many of the marauding bands. The fortress Orcbone was established as the gate between the people of Breland and the monsters of the Barrens, and the king founded the Westwind Riders to patrol the border. The Riders held the line throughout the ninth century, and Brelish settlers even staked claims along the Graywall. This period peaked with the founding of the fortress-town of Stubborn in the foothills (now known as Stonejaw). Then the Last War changed everything.
It is true, then, that the forces of Droaam have attacked Sharn? Senseless, I say. The Daughters of Sora Kell were intelligent enough to rally and unite the most unlikely of populations the continent has ever seen. They’ve strategically claimed land piece by piece in southwestern Breland, careful not to overextend. But then why launch a siege against a city that will clearly not succeed? I think there must be a reason for this. Perhaps to send a message. Or to get the nation’s attention.
The Mourning
In mid-994, Cyre launched a deep-strike invasion of Karrnath aimed at the undead-producing crypts of Atur. Dodging around Deneith-protected Karrlakton, a large Cyran army conducted a furious assault that left the city in ruins. Unwilling to get bogged down once again in Karrnath, the invaders quickly reversed their march and returned home. With a hastily gathered and vengeful army of Karrns at their heels, the troops crossed over Scions Sound and pulled back toward Metrol. Significant Karrnathi forces gathered in pursuit, and a sizable conflict began developing in northern Cyre. This left few regular soldiers to protect Metrol, the Cauldron, and the lands to the south.
Meanwhile, the recent Thrane and Aundarian pact remained strong, and skirmishes along their mutual borders were nearly nonexistent. The two countries stepped up relations and plotted a joint invasion of Cyre. In a measure either of good faith or of brinkmanship, Aundair offered the leadership of Queen Aurala ir'Wynarn’s renowned warrior-daughter, Princess Relia, and Thrane countered with Bishop-Militant Gradon, a close ally and personal friend of High Cardinal Krozen. Marching south of the usual battlefields in western Cyre, the vanguard of the Aundairian–Thrane army quickly overwhelmed Kennrun and surged across northern Draguun. Advance forces reached the place now called the Field of Ruins. There, the invaders paused to await the bulk of their troops before shifting northeast to storm Making.
The next day, the main body of Thrane and Aundairian forces climbed up through the gullies and gorges to higher ground, and cut the Saerun Road some 200 miles southwest of Making. The invaders numbered over 30,000, including 2,000 Crown Knights and other heavy cavalry, 2,000 heavy pike, 4,000 regular foot, and 6,000 peasant levies on the Thrane side. The Aundarian army featured 5,000 Aundarian First Dragoons of Wroat, 1,500 heavy cavalry, 2,000 heavy foot (commanded by the renowned warforged Bastion), 3,000 Aundarian Rangers and other skirmishers, 2,500 archers, 2,000 Zil wands, and 3,000 Valenar cavalry. Through a series of quick hit-and-run maneuvers using the tireless warforged, the vastly outnumbered Cyran defenders gave the impression of being a much larger force. This illusion, and the command and control problems it caused between the invading allies, slowed the advance significantly. Given impossible orders to delay and yet preserve as much of their forces as possible, the Cyrans performed brilliantly.
On the second day, Cyran reinforcements from the east made the battle more even. The Cyrans held the road north with an army numbering perhaps 5,000 light foot and archers, 9,000 heavy foot veterans (mostly warforged), 2,000 light cavalry, roughly 1,400 untested Jarp hussars and wands, and a detachment of 3,500 hardened Darguun mercenaries.
Although outnumbered, the Cyrans were defending familiar terrain. Late in the afternoon, their battle lines were holding, and the outcome of the struggle was still in doubt. Suddenly, the sky caught fire and deep fogs gathered. Generalship, morale, strategy, and tactics—all was useless that day. The conflagration that enveloped the field was so bright that it blinded soldiers at Angwar Keep—over the horizon and half a continent away. Both sides died equally on the Day of Mourning.
The devastation was not limited to the battlefield on the Saerun Road—what is now the Field of Ruins. The rolling hills to the east of the battlefield became a plateau of jagged glass. To the north, a chasm opened in the earth, glowing with a cold purple light. A choking fog erupted in cities across central Cyre, killing every living thing it touched as it expanded to define the current borders of the Mournland. Not all of Cyre’s holdings were swallowed in the dead-gray mist—parts of Valenar, Darguun, and the Talenta Plains were still under Cyran rule at the time—but Cyre as a nation ceased to exist.
Scant thousands of Cyrans living at the edges of the devastation managed to flee to safety, and Cyrans who were traveling or living abroad at the time were of course spared. Many of these survivors have flocked to eastern Breland in the years since the Mourning, gathering under the banner of Prince Oargev, the son of the late Queen Dannel. Oargev was serving as an ambassador to Breland on the Day of Mourning, and now plays the role of a king in exile.
As for the cause…ask 10 different people and you’ll get 10 different answers. It could very well be the largest cataclysm the world has ever seen, save for the primordial turnings of the early world of Eberron. I’ve heard travelers insist it was a magical catastrophe caused by failed defensive technology still in an experimental phase. Others will swear that it was the rare wrath of the Sovereign Host incarnate, disgusted at the century-long war that the mortals had become entwined in. Still others will say it was the wrongful destruction of the artifact of a long-dead warrior. Perhaps…it is best that its cause is not known. Knowledge is power, and power on that scale should be in the hands of no one.
Thunder Sea
The people of the Five Nations only think of the world in terms of the things they’ve seen, the lands they can visit. Forests and farmland, valleys and hills. But there’s another world a Brelish farmer can’t even imagine, a land of wonders a league below the water’s surface, lit by bioluminescence and cold fire. This is no empty wilderness. There are civilizations in the oceans, cultures older than even those of the giants of
Vrigan. Eberron is home to ten seas, as diverse as the continents of the world above. Each of the seas is home to powerful nations, deadly creatures, and hidden secrets. It is said that the Thunder Sea, the great barrier dividing Khorvaire, Haleth, and Vrigan, is the most diverse and dangerous of them all.
It takes its name from the unnatural storms that rage over some areas, never-ending tempests fueled by the elemental power of
Lamnia: The Twilight Forest. The storms of the Thunder Sea are legendary. Beyond wind and rain, tales speak of maelstroms that drag down even the largest vessels and masses of vegetation that rise from the water to entangle ships. All of these are very real threats, even more so because these dangers don’t obey simple laws of wind and water. The Thunder Sea is home to a wide range of manifest zones, but the most powerful and numerous are those tied to Lamannia. The endless fury of the First Storm lashes ships with lightning and storm winds, and great maelstroms can pull a ship down into the Endless Ocean. The vast masses of vegetation are tied to the Twilight Forest, fueling unnatural growth that can latch onto a vessel and trap it in the sargassum.
In the dawn of time, the Thunder Sea was the domain of the Lurker in Shadow. This titan embodies the fear of the unknown, of the evil that could be lurking just beyond sight, and the fear that our friends could be secretly scheming against us. The Lurker created the aboleths, who conquered and dominated creatures of the deep—giants, dragons, and sahuagin. The struggle against the titans played out beneath the water just as it did above. Dragons battled krakens and giants fought aboleths, while the sahuagin consumed the fallen on both sides. The wrath of the Lurker shattered the ocean floor. Dragons were impaled on spires of demonglass. But in time, the overlords were bound and the aboleths fled into the deepest abysses.
Demonglass is similar to obsidian, but virtually indestructible. These demonglass spires—commonly called “needle teeth”—can pierce the hull of a swiftly moving ship despite being just a few inches in width. The spires in this region were created by the Lurker in Shadow during the First War.
Today, the sahuagin of the Eternal Dominion are spread far and wide across the floor of the Thunder Sea. Their mightiest cities are built around—and into—massive slumbering creatures known as kar’lassa, “great dreamers.” The merfolk live in the upper waters above the sahuagin. Their permanent settlements are tied to manifest zones, and they perform rituals to contain the threat posed by these zones. The other major power in the Thunder Sea is the Valraean Protectorate, the domain of the sea elves. These elves laid claim to the waters around Haleth, conquering the local sahuagin and other species, and bending them to their will. The Dominion sahuagin despise the Valraean elves, but thus far, the power of the Undying Court has repelled every assault.
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