Aufstrag
This area was initially known as Al-Liosh. This beautiful land of water and gardens that was at the heart of the The Empire of Aenoch became the capital of Unklar. He turned it from a place of beauty into Aufstrag or more literaly in the vulgate as Hell.
History
OF HELL AND IT’S MAKING
Thus Unklar, the Horned God, settled within the Halls of Austrag and fortified it anew, building ever greater bastions. He constructed an out-wall in front of the gate, and towers within. The gates he made of brass, forcing the dwarves of Grundliche-Hohle to construct it, though they cursed it without his knowing. These gates he named the AHARGON DEN, the Mouth of Darkness. He called to those who served him, and he gave them places in the halls of his power. The TVUNGEN who remained in Aihrde, great and small came first. Many others followed. Sorcerers, goblins, wicked-hearted men, orcs, hobgoblins, and other beasts beside. Some of these were mortal, others of the unnamed Val Eahrakun. All served the dark power that sat upon the thrown of Al-Liosh and the world.
As warning to all those who resisted him, Unklar took up the battered body of Jaren Falkenjagger. The monk still lived, though his aged body could not have lasted long in the dungeons of that place. Unklar gave of himself to the monk, breathing the breath of life into his lungs, so that Jaren became immortal. The Horned God crucified Jaren then, nailing his body above the gates of his citadel, the Ahargon Den. There he hung for a thousand years, the slow trickle of his blood spilling upon the ground. Many came to see him, reveling in his suffering, and his blood became a drug to evil lords who thirsted for such things. NULAK-KIZ-DIN himself took particular pleasure in tormenting Jaren, and he spent many years in the task. But too, it was a holy sufferance. It is told that one LEONIDAS, follower of the SCINTILLANT DAWN, came to Jaren and took up some of the blood in a cup and bore that cup into the world. Years passed, and Aufstrag became a cesspool of all things vile, a living thing, a hell. Tunnels, great and small, fanned out beneath the halls into the rock of the world. Towers and buttresses rose into the sky, and the fortress city climbed higher. Within the city itself the construction never ceased, as walls were torn down and new ones built, rooms filed in or hollowed out. Aufstrag’s bulk proved large enough that all those within could build and rebuild to their eye’s desire. And so they did. Eventually, twenty-one domains were established, and each of these comprised many levels of rooms and ramps, tunnels, halls, and stairs. They bore such names as the Bone Halls and the Horned God’s Acre, and they housed terrors; nightmares born of Unklar’s fell design or worse, those of their own ill intent. Aufstrag became the embodiment of evil in Aihrde, and all things that sought a place in his hierarchy dwelt there. As is known, the souls of the restless dead meander upon the ARC OF TIME. They pass from the world of the living to the ENDLESS POOLS, though some are waylaid, marked by their lives’ evil deeds to pass beneath the FURTHNOPT, the MAW OF HUADUN, and come even to the WRETCHED PLAINS. Unklar sought to change this, and set his will against that of the RED GOD. He sought to bend the Arc of Time to him and his domain, but that power was beyond him, for the ordering of the world had long been established, and the The Judgement of Corthain still bound that ordering. What Unklar could affect was a culling upon the Arc, and those minions he deemed worthy, whose evil stood forth in his darkness, he culled, and brought them to Aufstrag to suffer his will for eternity. There the evil dead gathered, to serve in torment for all time. Men called it Hell, and knew it as the equal of the Wretched Plains, and yet was unique in all the MAELSTROM for it existed within the world and without. Unklar’s power waxed great in the early days of his rule, and after the fall of Grundliche-Hohle he set himself the task of reshaping the world. Foremost, he gathered together those of the orders of Val Eahrakun and VAL AUSTLICH whom he had not slain and bound them to himself. Of these he made seven his CAPTAIN KINGS, and granted them dominion over wide regions of the world, though he kept the LANDS OF URSAL as his private domain. The Captain Kings ruled in his name and they were called by men the LORD OF SORROW, MONGORTH, AMMON, CRUXEL, NAELEK, HEXIN-TUL, and GORAGON. They were greater DEVILS and marshaled battles of tvengun and hosts of men. In time they proved to be an unruly lot and rose in rebellion against their master, and fought one another for greater control and power. The Lord of Sorrow was chief amongst these Captain Kings and commanded Unklar’s hosts in battle, often against the other Captain Kings. The Captain Kings set forth to rule in the dark one’s stead and they largely ordered the world as he willed it. These Captain Kings sought to control the Val Eahrakun and Val Austlich that remained in Aihrde. These they made to serve the darkness or else imprisoned or, where they could, slay them. Though many fled into the wilderness, many more fell into darkness. The Lord of Sorrow moved into the west and there built a mighty structure that housed all his filth, and it became a den of iniquity so foul that men called him Lord of Flies. He ruled there as a beast, eating the living from the spit and torturing the few who defied him. In after ages he rose against his master many times, but was never removed from his seat of power, for his rule pleased the Horned God more than any other. The other Captain Kings built their houses as best suited their desires, but they were spread across the world, far removed from Aufstrag and the power of their god. Men worshiped them or fought them as suited their own design. Unklar did not restrict himself to the divine ordering of things. He set about creating a true Empire of men. He ordered roads built between the larger cities and fortresses, building castles along the way to better house his troops and imprison his enemies. He awarded loyal men with lands and serfs, and these appointed assessors to gage the wealth of the land, and marshaled legions of troops to guard it. Taxes, duties, and tithes filled the coffers of Unklar’s minions, who performed the role of lord or lady. The new masters controlled the more mundane affairs of the world, paying the dark god in sacrifices of blood and treasure. At last, Unklar took rest and pondered the world, and his ownership of it. He thought upon the countless ages spent in the VOID. Ever as powerful as the early gods Corthain, MORDIUS, and ORNDUHL; Unklar knew his substance. He knew of himself as a memory, a passing emotion of the All Father’s, and therefore, unbound by the LANGUAGE OF CREATION, nor restricted in his doings by the substance of the Void. He saw the work of the All Father, and thought to himself that creation had gone astray. The Horned God thought too that he would repair the damage done by folly and neglect, for ever did he see himself as the better part of the All Father. With this in mind he set to refashioning the whole of the World of Aihrde.
Thus Unklar, the Horned God, settled within the Halls of Austrag and fortified it anew, building ever greater bastions. He constructed an out-wall in front of the gate, and towers within. The gates he made of brass, forcing the dwarves of Grundliche-Hohle to construct it, though they cursed it without his knowing. These gates he named the AHARGON DEN, the Mouth of Darkness. He called to those who served him, and he gave them places in the halls of his power. The TVUNGEN who remained in Aihrde, great and small came first. Many others followed. Sorcerers, goblins, wicked-hearted men, orcs, hobgoblins, and other beasts beside. Some of these were mortal, others of the unnamed Val Eahrakun. All served the dark power that sat upon the thrown of Al-Liosh and the world.
As warning to all those who resisted him, Unklar took up the battered body of Jaren Falkenjagger. The monk still lived, though his aged body could not have lasted long in the dungeons of that place. Unklar gave of himself to the monk, breathing the breath of life into his lungs, so that Jaren became immortal. The Horned God crucified Jaren then, nailing his body above the gates of his citadel, the Ahargon Den. There he hung for a thousand years, the slow trickle of his blood spilling upon the ground. Many came to see him, reveling in his suffering, and his blood became a drug to evil lords who thirsted for such things. NULAK-KIZ-DIN himself took particular pleasure in tormenting Jaren, and he spent many years in the task. But too, it was a holy sufferance. It is told that one LEONIDAS, follower of the SCINTILLANT DAWN, came to Jaren and took up some of the blood in a cup and bore that cup into the world. Years passed, and Aufstrag became a cesspool of all things vile, a living thing, a hell. Tunnels, great and small, fanned out beneath the halls into the rock of the world. Towers and buttresses rose into the sky, and the fortress city climbed higher. Within the city itself the construction never ceased, as walls were torn down and new ones built, rooms filed in or hollowed out. Aufstrag’s bulk proved large enough that all those within could build and rebuild to their eye’s desire. And so they did. Eventually, twenty-one domains were established, and each of these comprised many levels of rooms and ramps, tunnels, halls, and stairs. They bore such names as the Bone Halls and the Horned God’s Acre, and they housed terrors; nightmares born of Unklar’s fell design or worse, those of their own ill intent. Aufstrag became the embodiment of evil in Aihrde, and all things that sought a place in his hierarchy dwelt there. As is known, the souls of the restless dead meander upon the ARC OF TIME. They pass from the world of the living to the ENDLESS POOLS, though some are waylaid, marked by their lives’ evil deeds to pass beneath the FURTHNOPT, the MAW OF HUADUN, and come even to the WRETCHED PLAINS. Unklar sought to change this, and set his will against that of the RED GOD. He sought to bend the Arc of Time to him and his domain, but that power was beyond him, for the ordering of the world had long been established, and the The Judgement of Corthain still bound that ordering. What Unklar could affect was a culling upon the Arc, and those minions he deemed worthy, whose evil stood forth in his darkness, he culled, and brought them to Aufstrag to suffer his will for eternity. There the evil dead gathered, to serve in torment for all time. Men called it Hell, and knew it as the equal of the Wretched Plains, and yet was unique in all the MAELSTROM for it existed within the world and without. Unklar’s power waxed great in the early days of his rule, and after the fall of Grundliche-Hohle he set himself the task of reshaping the world. Foremost, he gathered together those of the orders of Val Eahrakun and VAL AUSTLICH whom he had not slain and bound them to himself. Of these he made seven his CAPTAIN KINGS, and granted them dominion over wide regions of the world, though he kept the LANDS OF URSAL as his private domain. The Captain Kings ruled in his name and they were called by men the LORD OF SORROW, MONGORTH, AMMON, CRUXEL, NAELEK, HEXIN-TUL, and GORAGON. They were greater DEVILS and marshaled battles of tvengun and hosts of men. In time they proved to be an unruly lot and rose in rebellion against their master, and fought one another for greater control and power. The Lord of Sorrow was chief amongst these Captain Kings and commanded Unklar’s hosts in battle, often against the other Captain Kings. The Captain Kings set forth to rule in the dark one’s stead and they largely ordered the world as he willed it. These Captain Kings sought to control the Val Eahrakun and Val Austlich that remained in Aihrde. These they made to serve the darkness or else imprisoned or, where they could, slay them. Though many fled into the wilderness, many more fell into darkness. The Lord of Sorrow moved into the west and there built a mighty structure that housed all his filth, and it became a den of iniquity so foul that men called him Lord of Flies. He ruled there as a beast, eating the living from the spit and torturing the few who defied him. In after ages he rose against his master many times, but was never removed from his seat of power, for his rule pleased the Horned God more than any other. The other Captain Kings built their houses as best suited their desires, but they were spread across the world, far removed from Aufstrag and the power of their god. Men worshiped them or fought them as suited their own design. Unklar did not restrict himself to the divine ordering of things. He set about creating a true Empire of men. He ordered roads built between the larger cities and fortresses, building castles along the way to better house his troops and imprison his enemies. He awarded loyal men with lands and serfs, and these appointed assessors to gage the wealth of the land, and marshaled legions of troops to guard it. Taxes, duties, and tithes filled the coffers of Unklar’s minions, who performed the role of lord or lady. The new masters controlled the more mundane affairs of the world, paying the dark god in sacrifices of blood and treasure. At last, Unklar took rest and pondered the world, and his ownership of it. He thought upon the countless ages spent in the VOID. Ever as powerful as the early gods Corthain, MORDIUS, and ORNDUHL; Unklar knew his substance. He knew of himself as a memory, a passing emotion of the All Father’s, and therefore, unbound by the LANGUAGE OF CREATION, nor restricted in his doings by the substance of the Void. He saw the work of the All Father, and thought to himself that creation had gone astray. The Horned God thought too that he would repair the damage done by folly and neglect, for ever did he see himself as the better part of the All Father. With this in mind he set to refashioning the whole of the World of Aihrde.
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