The Empire of Aenoch
The Empire of the Aenoch was founded by the Aenochians, and became the largest Empire ruled by men. At its height almost all of the CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION lay inside it's borders.
It's history is both great and terrible. It's deeds mighty, but surpassed by the tyranny and evil at its heart.
History
The AENOCH and the Ethrum, upon the death of MORDIUS, fled their northern homes and settled in theLANDS OF URSAL that lie between and around the three dwarven kingdoms of GRUNDLICHE-HOHLE, NORGORAD KAM, and ROHEISEN HOHLE. They had much concourse with the dwarves and, like the ENGALE, they learned from them. But unlike the Engale, these folk turned from the dwarves and set their fate in other stores. As is written, the Ethrum took up the worship of TEFNUT, but the Aenochians became a godless people.As is told, the Aenochians fell under the charms of NARRHEIT and his paramour. Already the greatest in numbers of all the tribes of men, Narrheit awoke in their leaders a great avarice, and filled them with a lust for knowledge and power. When the GOBLIN-DWARF WARS began they played one side against the other, but avoided coming to blows with either, all the while culling them of their secret knowledge. Their chieftains learned both the dwarven arts of metallurgy and the sorceries of the goblins, and they used these powers to their own ends.
Through these machinations, their power spread through the lands of AENOCH, and the Aenochians weathered the long wars with little loss. Though, they seeded a distrust in the dwarves that remained ever after.
In those days, the Aenochians laid the foundations of the first of their cities upon the confluence of the UDINILAY RIVER and the UPHRATES RIVER, in the land of Al-Liosh. There they thrived and grew, though they did suffer under the yoke of IMBRISIUS. When at last they overthrew her, the people of Aenoch began to spread out from those lands, pushing down the banks of the mighty river Udinilay to the sea. They spread north as well, to the RED RIVER and the FLINTLOCK RIVER. Many moved into the distant east and had traffic with other men that settled there in years past. In tribes and bands, the Aenochians spread out and settled the lands. They worked in stone and bronze and worshiped gods of many stripes.
The Aenochians grew in number and power, but to their kindred the Ethrum and Engale, they remained a backward people. For Aenoch’s brief concourse with the dwarves of Grundliche-Hohle, paled in comparison to the Ethrum; and the Engale were a great people for it.
During the fourth Goblin-Dwarf War the Aenochian joined the goblins and their arms were seen at the footsteps of Grundliche-Hohle. But it availed them little for, when the world was sundered by the sorcery of ONDLUCHE and the ALL FATHER driven whither he would, they fell back from the wars in dismay. For in those days, strange creatures came to Aihrde, creatures not of the natural order, not of the Language of Creation. They were beastly things, creatures with the heads of lions and bodies of dragons, flying horses, all manner of combinations that more resembled a mad sorcerer’s nightmares than the All Father’s creations. Some were mistaken for gods, and the Aenochians fled from them or worshiped them as their need dictated.
Here the Aenochians took a wholly different course than all the others peoples of the world. Their worship of gods extended only to their use of them. Idolatry became the order of the day, as men worshiped creatures of all shapes and sizes, and tribes came to call on beasts aS their patrons. They adorned their houses, armor, tools, and weapons with the emblems of their patrons. The first chariots came to the world, made by Aenochian smiths, and these bore their princes and lords in battle against all foes. Though in truth, they mostly contested with each other, over domains great and small.
During the STONE WARS, the people of Al-Liosh began to triumph over their neighbors and their domains spread down the long reaches of the river Udinilay. Towns fell to them, and the men of Al-Liosh forced tribute from the conquered. Over many years and the rule of many kings, the whole of the country, from the fertile lands bordering the river, to the sea, lay under their standards. Men called them the CHARIOT KINGS, and none could stop them.
When the dwarves fell, the men of Al-Liosh paid little heed, for those wars had grown distant and the dwarves and goblins were of no consequence. Only an echo of them lingered in the halls of the Chariot Kings, reminding the kings of the goblins and the sorcery they taught them, but this was of little consequence to the kings of Aenoch.
It was late in the year, before the snows fall, but long after the summer’s green had passed, that a call came to The Red God. From deep within, he heard it. Not since the goblin king of old had called on him had he heard a voice so strong and filled with need. Through a mist he saw the face of a man. Tall and narrow, old, with a wispy beard; his eyes were greedy, filled with a hunger for things he little understood, things he had only glanced upon. The Red God spoke to him, through the mist, in the guise of a demon. The man was amazed and sought to master ORNDUHL with incantations and words of power. Ornduhl played along, bending the mortal to his whim, until at last the man called him to come through the flame and mist and the Red God did as he was bid. With little understanding of the depth of the world he had opened, the sorcerer sought to master the Red God, not knowing what he had snared with his sorcery, and in his ignorance he bound himself to Ornduhl in ways that he never imagined. Ornduhl named himself NEHABAK, which in his tongue is the word for vengeance.
As Nehabak, he plundered the sorcerer’s mind. He learned of the people of Aenoch, of their birth upon the Sea of Erun, their long journey to the north. He learned of their despair at the fall of Mordius, and their long wandering in the wilderness. He found them then, snared to the machinations of the VAL EAHRAKUN, but of that he could not unravel the whole riddle, and it never occurred to him that Narrheit had already sewn seeds of discord in the Aenochians. Nehabak saw the power of them and knew that in them he had at last found the raw material for his vengeance.
Nehabak learned then of the people of Aenoch, how they called to him unknowingly with goblin sorcery. He took many disguises and traveled their many realms. He spent a great while amongst those people, first as a jackal, but later as a crocodile and also a bull, and this latter form was his favorite. He saw their power and their greed for life, and began to twist it. Most of all he coveted the sorcerers, gathering them together and teaching them knowledge beyond their wildest imaginings.
They lusted for the secrets the Red God told them, and waxed in their strength. They began to learn of the memories of the All Father, and sought to adopt immortality. As word spread, men flocked to the worship of Nehabak. In whatever guise they sought he appeared, and made it so that they believed that he was theirs, gained by them and their sorcery, to use for their own ends. Thus Nehabak/Ornduhl allowed them to believe until the time should come that he should reveal himself. He appeared in his true form only to the sorcerers, and he made them slaves of his desire, though they never understood this. Only the druids avoided his calls, those people who still placed their faith in Mordius, and these had discourse with the people of Ethrum. It is written, that those who cursed the Red God, were not wholly affected by the Judgment of Corthain that came in later years, though the truth of this few can attest.
THE RISE OF THE GOD EMPERORS
In the years that followed the Red God’s arrival in the lands of Aenoch, the power of the sorcerers rose above all others, even the lords of the Aenochians. They formed a cabal, and they adorned themselves in red cloaks. Men called them the RED MEN, and fear presaged their coming. Enamored of Nehabak, they ordered temples constructed to their bull-headed god. They forced others to worship him and those who balked were driven into exile or slain. The Red Men made sacrifices to him, for in blood they found him ever more prescient. The seed of Ornduhl’s power flowed through the Aenochian veins. In those days, the sons of BAETAN and Imbrisius still sat the throne of Al-Liosh, for they were divine and bore the blood of the Val Eahrakun, and they lived long lives. It came to pass that even as the Red Men rose to power, that QUEEN TENTOPT sat the throne. She saw her power waning in the face of the new god, for even her son, AA, had yielded and fallen under the Red God’s sway Queen Tentopt called upon Imbrisius, her ancestor, seeking her aid.
Imbrisius turned a deaf ear, however, for she did not care. But her consort, Narrheit, whom the Aenochians named Set, came to the queen’s summons. He laughed away her plight as he bedded her upon the floor before the throne of Al-Liosh. “There! I have given you aid against the Red God who you call Nehabak. Relish what I have given you, for few others have such a gift.” And he got her with child so that soon there-after she gave birth to a daughter.
Eventually, the sorcerers came to Tentopt and bid her yield to the power of Nehabak. And she bid them to summon their god, and if he would bed her daughter and give her a child that she would bow to him. They called Nehabak, and he came as a great bull and there mated with MERYET, daughter of the queen, for she was full grown and could rear a child. But Ornduhl was beguiled, for few held the power to unravel the deceits of Narrheit, and he got Meryet with not one child but many.
The girl gave birth to a host of abominations, and these were named the SONS OF SET, for they were born of the blood of man, but also the blood of Narrheit, Imbrisius, and Ornduhl. And these rose as an army to defend the queen, and the Bull left the halls for he was in doubt and saw the hand of Narrheit in the coupling.
Civil war followed as the sorcerers of Nehabak fought the Sons of Set. In the year 10,376 as the dwarves reckon time, the Aenochians of both sides rose in great numbers, fielding armies of men and chariots. They fought in the open fields until at last the Sons were defeated, fleeing the fields to all the corners of the world, where ever after they caused chaos and discord. The sorcerers came to the throne of the queen and bid her yield to their power. But she refused. She cursed the gods and swore that her line was a line of men, born of the All Father of old, and not corrupted by the Val Eahrakun, but strengthened by it. They slew her then and fed her to the bull upon their altar. Meryet, her daughter, eluded them and fled into the east and was lost. But Aa they set upon the throne and he ruled as king.
Led by their sorcerers, with the Bull at their head, Aa gathered the might of his people and led them to war. He first consolidated his power over the river people, from its headwaters to the sea, and afterwards led his armies to the Red River Valley in the west. With chariots and sorcery he overwhelmed all who stood before him and soon brought all the scattered peoples of the Aenochians under his rule.
Once Aa conquered the Aenochians, he turned his attention to the east and conquered the HORSE TRIBES OF MADIRU. He styled himself as greater than a king, and the Bull crowned him GOD-EMPEROR OF AIHRDE and his power spread from the VORALBERG in the west to the DOHEN MOUNTAINS in the east; from the AMBER SEA in the south to the GRUNDLICHE MOUNTAINS in the north.
His sons and their sons followed in his stead, and their power grew and spread over men of many races. The SOUTHRON DESERT PEOPLE fell to them, as did the men who dwelt in the ancient forests of the MARL. Here they encountered orcs for the first time, as that people, born of the All Father’s death, were young and infesting the roots of those mountains. The CHANEL LAKES fell under their sway, even to the BANNING SEA. In the west they crossed the URSAL BRIDGE and scattered the dwarves and men of that country. They built a city there, AVIGNON, and from it they fanned out into the lands of the Ethrum and conquered that people. Though many of the Ethrum resisted them, retreating to the forests of the ETHVOLD and the protection of Tefnut and the OG AUST.
The god-emperors came to rule a vast and powerful empire. The god-emperors built towns on the rivers, and cities soon thereafter. They built roads between them, so that commerce flowed from the far west to the uttermost east. Their sailors plied the seas like no folk had since the fall of ALANTI. Their scholars tracked the stars and knew the heavens. They cataloged the gods of men and the histories of dwarves and the powers of the giants. They named giants, demons and devils and found the place of Aihrde in the cosmos.
Wealth poured into Al-Liosh from all corners of the world, and the Aenochians grew drunk upon their might. No people had ever subjected so many, nor controlled utterly so great a space of the world. They styled themselves gods over men, dwarf and goblin. All bowed to them, but for the GREAT SORCERERS, who, ever after, have plagued the rulers of man.
They cut down the trees of MORDIUS, burnt the temples of CORTHAIN, and drove out many of the lesser powers. They became ever more lustful of power and wasted men with tyranny. No lust of a god-emperor was ignored, and as time passed they became ever more perverted in their quests for power and knowledge. It became a saying amongst the Emperors, “for all that is or ever was, is mine.” And ever were these people the tools of NEHABAK, for he saw that with the fall of the dwarves and the power of men, he could rule in Aihrde as no other could.
For 500 years and more the god-emperors ruled from Al-Liosh. They were feared and worshiped, loved and loathed.
THE ROUSING OF THE DRAGON
During the reign of ANTEK IV the Aenochians unearthed the HALLS OF FRAFNOG and there hounded that most ancient of beasts. First of dragons, FRAFNOG could not remember the number of years that were his. He slept mostly in those days, scarred as he was from his war with Ornduhl upon the portico. He cared little for the world at large. But when the armed men came to his lair and pestered him, he slew them with a swipe of his huge claw.
But more came, and sorcerers with them. Mighty battles shook the earth as the God Emperor’s forces hounded the dragon in his lair. But they were lost to the dragon’s ire. One alone escaped the den of Frafnog, and after relating his tale, died in Antek’s feasting pits, for he was unforgiving of failure and loved to feast upon the flesh of men above all else. The god-emperor sent more sorcerers and warriors to the dragon’s lair, and in this he acted against Nehabak’s demands, for in truth the RED GOD feared rousing the dragon, for he came to know that this was indeed his old foe. Antek heeded him not and sent a great host of soldiery, led by the Red Men, to root out the beast.
First they built a great fortified encampment, and then set to widening the entry halls, for Frafnog kept the caverns narrow, so that he had to crawl and slither to get to the root of his mountain lair. With sorcery, the invaders opened the way and lumbered siege weapons into the dark; ballista, small catapults, wagons of pitch, and other sundry devices. The dragon’s breath burned the air as he growled in the dark, unwilling as yet to reveal himself.
The Red Men grew overly confident, pushing ever deeper and faster, until at last they came to the deeps of the lair and with spells widened the door to Frafnog’s lair. With them came elemental demons, wraiths of the WRETCHED PLAINS, and other sundry monsters, as well as men girded in iron and bearing weapons of magical design. Thus armed, they stormed the room.
Beyond the dark, lay the dragon, coiled upon himself, half in a subterranean lake, half upon the cold ground. The first through saw the beast’s eyes, glowing in the dark, its body, the lake and the darker cave around them. But that is all they ever saw.
Frafnog roused himself, springing forward faster than any ever dared suspect, to unleash a gout of flaming breath that washed over the men and their minions in a cataclysm of burning death. Spells, thrown up to ward the flame, disintegrated, and their casters were turned to shadows upon the walls and floors; armor melted away as warriors were burned to death; the elemental demons burned to a hot wind and blasted up the tunnel; and the wraiths ceased to be, blasted into nothingness so that even the ENDLESS POOLS were denied them. The sorcerers who remained tried to rally, but before their spells could slow the beast, he crawled into the widened tunnel and fell upon them with fang and talon and his horrid breath.
With ballista, magical arrows, pikes, awls, swords, and axes, the men held their ground, and died. Some few scored wounds, and one poisoned bolt struck Frafnog beneath his eye before he unleashed his breath for a third, and then a fourth time. When at last Frafnog cleared the tunnel and rose into the cool evening’s air his rage was beyond keeping. His eye grew dim as the poison clouded his vision, and the wounds of the Red God, never truly healed, ached. The first and greatest of the wounds, the one on his neck, opened up, and trickles of blood ran down the beast’s neck and chest. The men of the encampments fell beneath Frafnog, most dying, some fleeing into the wilds. None could stop the dragon. Frafnog did not pursue those hapless few that escaped. His rage was the fire of a god’s, and he turned north, intent upon vengeance against the god-emperors.
In towers of flame and fire, he fell upon the cities of the Aenochians, and in his anger he cared not whether they were good men or bad. The Red God, Nehabak, fled, as he had no desire as yet to reveal himself. Frafnog scorched the lands of the Red River first, and then turned west and crossed into the lands of the Ethrum. There, hunted all he saw, burning towns and villages, boats on the rivers, men in their fields. Dwarves, elves, whatever creatures came into his view, all perished. The dragon moved over the Inner Sea, turning north along the mountains and crossing the plains. The beast visited his rage upon the HORSE TRIBES OF MARIDU, and they fled from his wrath, or died on the steppes. He soared into the Channel Lakes to burn and scorch and leave his mark like none other. He passed down the Marl and brought a wave of destruction to the sea, scorching all that sailed its surface.
In the end Frafnog came to the lands of the Long River and Al-Liosh. Coming from the south, he set all to ruin along the Udunilay, burning any and all, plundering, devouring, and slaying all who challenged him. When Al-Liosh at last stood before him, with her long walls of white stone, towers, and temples, he hesitated. He flew slowly over the city looking upon the glory of its majesty. All there could see the weight of him and his size was beyond imagining; four hundred feet long, and half as wide, with wings that blotted out the sun. Frafnog, first born of INZAA, his eyes emblazoned with his mother’s ire.
When all had seen the dragon, and the stink of his fear soiled the hearts of men, Frafnog fell, plummeting like a mountain into the city. The buffet of his wings tore roofs from buildings, the tail slap brought towers to ruin, his roar broke the hearts of men and drove them mad, and his breath washed over them like the fires of damnation. The dragon raged in Al-Liosh for days, killing and burning. When the wages of his rage were at last paid, Al-Liosh lay in ruins, the Red Men fled to the north, their temples cast down. Frafnog called the god-emperor forth. And Antek IV came, for such was the power of the dragon that none could resist him, and with him came the remains of his court. Long the dragon looked upon the god-emperor. In his gaze, Antek suffered a fear few could bear, and only the blood of the VAL EAHRAKUN that flowed in his veins kept him sane. In the end Frafnog could look upon the man no more, and with a snap of his mighty tail he tore head from torso and ripped Antek IV in twain. The dragon devoured the god-emperor, grinding his bones to meal.
Even as Frafnog roused himself to lay waste to the last of Al-Liosh, WENAFAR came to him. She interceded on behalf of man and begged him to stay his wrath. She bid him leave off his war and let history unfold. But Frafnog was not so easily dissuaded, even by one of the Val Eahrakun. Long they struggled, the effulgence of Wenafar set against the iron bones of Frafnog, until at last she convinced the drake to return to his lair deep in the earth.
Thus dragon fear was born and after that age all men came to loath them and fear them for Frafnog’s rage had burrowed a fear of dragons in the hearts of men, and ever after only the greatest of those folk could stand against their might, though they knew not why.
Thus ended the days of the god-emperors.
Through these machinations, their power spread through the lands of AENOCH, and the Aenochians weathered the long wars with little loss. Though, they seeded a distrust in the dwarves that remained ever after.
In those days, the Aenochians laid the foundations of the first of their cities upon the confluence of the UDINILAY RIVER and the UPHRATES RIVER, in the land of Al-Liosh. There they thrived and grew, though they did suffer under the yoke of IMBRISIUS. When at last they overthrew her, the people of Aenoch began to spread out from those lands, pushing down the banks of the mighty river Udinilay to the sea. They spread north as well, to the RED RIVER and the FLINTLOCK RIVER. Many moved into the distant east and had traffic with other men that settled there in years past. In tribes and bands, the Aenochians spread out and settled the lands. They worked in stone and bronze and worshiped gods of many stripes.
The Aenochians grew in number and power, but to their kindred the Ethrum and Engale, they remained a backward people. For Aenoch’s brief concourse with the dwarves of Grundliche-Hohle, paled in comparison to the Ethrum; and the Engale were a great people for it.
During the fourth Goblin-Dwarf War the Aenochian joined the goblins and their arms were seen at the footsteps of Grundliche-Hohle. But it availed them little for, when the world was sundered by the sorcery of ONDLUCHE and the ALL FATHER driven whither he would, they fell back from the wars in dismay. For in those days, strange creatures came to Aihrde, creatures not of the natural order, not of the Language of Creation. They were beastly things, creatures with the heads of lions and bodies of dragons, flying horses, all manner of combinations that more resembled a mad sorcerer’s nightmares than the All Father’s creations. Some were mistaken for gods, and the Aenochians fled from them or worshiped them as their need dictated.
Here the Aenochians took a wholly different course than all the others peoples of the world. Their worship of gods extended only to their use of them. Idolatry became the order of the day, as men worshiped creatures of all shapes and sizes, and tribes came to call on beasts aS their patrons. They adorned their houses, armor, tools, and weapons with the emblems of their patrons. The first chariots came to the world, made by Aenochian smiths, and these bore their princes and lords in battle against all foes. Though in truth, they mostly contested with each other, over domains great and small.
During the STONE WARS, the people of Al-Liosh began to triumph over their neighbors and their domains spread down the long reaches of the river Udinilay. Towns fell to them, and the men of Al-Liosh forced tribute from the conquered. Over many years and the rule of many kings, the whole of the country, from the fertile lands bordering the river, to the sea, lay under their standards. Men called them the CHARIOT KINGS, and none could stop them.
When the dwarves fell, the men of Al-Liosh paid little heed, for those wars had grown distant and the dwarves and goblins were of no consequence. Only an echo of them lingered in the halls of the Chariot Kings, reminding the kings of the goblins and the sorcery they taught them, but this was of little consequence to the kings of Aenoch.
It was late in the year, before the snows fall, but long after the summer’s green had passed, that a call came to The Red God. From deep within, he heard it. Not since the goblin king of old had called on him had he heard a voice so strong and filled with need. Through a mist he saw the face of a man. Tall and narrow, old, with a wispy beard; his eyes were greedy, filled with a hunger for things he little understood, things he had only glanced upon. The Red God spoke to him, through the mist, in the guise of a demon. The man was amazed and sought to master ORNDUHL with incantations and words of power. Ornduhl played along, bending the mortal to his whim, until at last the man called him to come through the flame and mist and the Red God did as he was bid. With little understanding of the depth of the world he had opened, the sorcerer sought to master the Red God, not knowing what he had snared with his sorcery, and in his ignorance he bound himself to Ornduhl in ways that he never imagined. Ornduhl named himself NEHABAK, which in his tongue is the word for vengeance.
As Nehabak, he plundered the sorcerer’s mind. He learned of the people of Aenoch, of their birth upon the Sea of Erun, their long journey to the north. He learned of their despair at the fall of Mordius, and their long wandering in the wilderness. He found them then, snared to the machinations of the VAL EAHRAKUN, but of that he could not unravel the whole riddle, and it never occurred to him that Narrheit had already sewn seeds of discord in the Aenochians. Nehabak saw the power of them and knew that in them he had at last found the raw material for his vengeance.
Nehabak learned then of the people of Aenoch, how they called to him unknowingly with goblin sorcery. He took many disguises and traveled their many realms. He spent a great while amongst those people, first as a jackal, but later as a crocodile and also a bull, and this latter form was his favorite. He saw their power and their greed for life, and began to twist it. Most of all he coveted the sorcerers, gathering them together and teaching them knowledge beyond their wildest imaginings.
They lusted for the secrets the Red God told them, and waxed in their strength. They began to learn of the memories of the All Father, and sought to adopt immortality. As word spread, men flocked to the worship of Nehabak. In whatever guise they sought he appeared, and made it so that they believed that he was theirs, gained by them and their sorcery, to use for their own ends. Thus Nehabak/Ornduhl allowed them to believe until the time should come that he should reveal himself. He appeared in his true form only to the sorcerers, and he made them slaves of his desire, though they never understood this. Only the druids avoided his calls, those people who still placed their faith in Mordius, and these had discourse with the people of Ethrum. It is written, that those who cursed the Red God, were not wholly affected by the Judgment of Corthain that came in later years, though the truth of this few can attest.
THE RISE OF THE GOD EMPERORS
In the years that followed the Red God’s arrival in the lands of Aenoch, the power of the sorcerers rose above all others, even the lords of the Aenochians. They formed a cabal, and they adorned themselves in red cloaks. Men called them the RED MEN, and fear presaged their coming. Enamored of Nehabak, they ordered temples constructed to their bull-headed god. They forced others to worship him and those who balked were driven into exile or slain. The Red Men made sacrifices to him, for in blood they found him ever more prescient. The seed of Ornduhl’s power flowed through the Aenochian veins. In those days, the sons of BAETAN and Imbrisius still sat the throne of Al-Liosh, for they were divine and bore the blood of the Val Eahrakun, and they lived long lives. It came to pass that even as the Red Men rose to power, that QUEEN TENTOPT sat the throne. She saw her power waning in the face of the new god, for even her son, AA, had yielded and fallen under the Red God’s sway Queen Tentopt called upon Imbrisius, her ancestor, seeking her aid.
Imbrisius turned a deaf ear, however, for she did not care. But her consort, Narrheit, whom the Aenochians named Set, came to the queen’s summons. He laughed away her plight as he bedded her upon the floor before the throne of Al-Liosh. “There! I have given you aid against the Red God who you call Nehabak. Relish what I have given you, for few others have such a gift.” And he got her with child so that soon there-after she gave birth to a daughter.
Eventually, the sorcerers came to Tentopt and bid her yield to the power of Nehabak. And she bid them to summon their god, and if he would bed her daughter and give her a child that she would bow to him. They called Nehabak, and he came as a great bull and there mated with MERYET, daughter of the queen, for she was full grown and could rear a child. But Ornduhl was beguiled, for few held the power to unravel the deceits of Narrheit, and he got Meryet with not one child but many.
The girl gave birth to a host of abominations, and these were named the SONS OF SET, for they were born of the blood of man, but also the blood of Narrheit, Imbrisius, and Ornduhl. And these rose as an army to defend the queen, and the Bull left the halls for he was in doubt and saw the hand of Narrheit in the coupling.
Civil war followed as the sorcerers of Nehabak fought the Sons of Set. In the year 10,376 as the dwarves reckon time, the Aenochians of both sides rose in great numbers, fielding armies of men and chariots. They fought in the open fields until at last the Sons were defeated, fleeing the fields to all the corners of the world, where ever after they caused chaos and discord. The sorcerers came to the throne of the queen and bid her yield to their power. But she refused. She cursed the gods and swore that her line was a line of men, born of the All Father of old, and not corrupted by the Val Eahrakun, but strengthened by it. They slew her then and fed her to the bull upon their altar. Meryet, her daughter, eluded them and fled into the east and was lost. But Aa they set upon the throne and he ruled as king.
Led by their sorcerers, with the Bull at their head, Aa gathered the might of his people and led them to war. He first consolidated his power over the river people, from its headwaters to the sea, and afterwards led his armies to the Red River Valley in the west. With chariots and sorcery he overwhelmed all who stood before him and soon brought all the scattered peoples of the Aenochians under his rule.
Once Aa conquered the Aenochians, he turned his attention to the east and conquered the HORSE TRIBES OF MADIRU. He styled himself as greater than a king, and the Bull crowned him GOD-EMPEROR OF AIHRDE and his power spread from the VORALBERG in the west to the DOHEN MOUNTAINS in the east; from the AMBER SEA in the south to the GRUNDLICHE MOUNTAINS in the north.
His sons and their sons followed in his stead, and their power grew and spread over men of many races. The SOUTHRON DESERT PEOPLE fell to them, as did the men who dwelt in the ancient forests of the MARL. Here they encountered orcs for the first time, as that people, born of the All Father’s death, were young and infesting the roots of those mountains. The CHANEL LAKES fell under their sway, even to the BANNING SEA. In the west they crossed the URSAL BRIDGE and scattered the dwarves and men of that country. They built a city there, AVIGNON, and from it they fanned out into the lands of the Ethrum and conquered that people. Though many of the Ethrum resisted them, retreating to the forests of the ETHVOLD and the protection of Tefnut and the OG AUST.
The god-emperors came to rule a vast and powerful empire. The god-emperors built towns on the rivers, and cities soon thereafter. They built roads between them, so that commerce flowed from the far west to the uttermost east. Their sailors plied the seas like no folk had since the fall of ALANTI. Their scholars tracked the stars and knew the heavens. They cataloged the gods of men and the histories of dwarves and the powers of the giants. They named giants, demons and devils and found the place of Aihrde in the cosmos.
Wealth poured into Al-Liosh from all corners of the world, and the Aenochians grew drunk upon their might. No people had ever subjected so many, nor controlled utterly so great a space of the world. They styled themselves gods over men, dwarf and goblin. All bowed to them, but for the GREAT SORCERERS, who, ever after, have plagued the rulers of man.
They cut down the trees of MORDIUS, burnt the temples of CORTHAIN, and drove out many of the lesser powers. They became ever more lustful of power and wasted men with tyranny. No lust of a god-emperor was ignored, and as time passed they became ever more perverted in their quests for power and knowledge. It became a saying amongst the Emperors, “for all that is or ever was, is mine.” And ever were these people the tools of NEHABAK, for he saw that with the fall of the dwarves and the power of men, he could rule in Aihrde as no other could.
For 500 years and more the god-emperors ruled from Al-Liosh. They were feared and worshiped, loved and loathed.
THE ROUSING OF THE DRAGON
During the reign of ANTEK IV the Aenochians unearthed the HALLS OF FRAFNOG and there hounded that most ancient of beasts. First of dragons, FRAFNOG could not remember the number of years that were his. He slept mostly in those days, scarred as he was from his war with Ornduhl upon the portico. He cared little for the world at large. But when the armed men came to his lair and pestered him, he slew them with a swipe of his huge claw.
But more came, and sorcerers with them. Mighty battles shook the earth as the God Emperor’s forces hounded the dragon in his lair. But they were lost to the dragon’s ire. One alone escaped the den of Frafnog, and after relating his tale, died in Antek’s feasting pits, for he was unforgiving of failure and loved to feast upon the flesh of men above all else. The god-emperor sent more sorcerers and warriors to the dragon’s lair, and in this he acted against Nehabak’s demands, for in truth the RED GOD feared rousing the dragon, for he came to know that this was indeed his old foe. Antek heeded him not and sent a great host of soldiery, led by the Red Men, to root out the beast.
First they built a great fortified encampment, and then set to widening the entry halls, for Frafnog kept the caverns narrow, so that he had to crawl and slither to get to the root of his mountain lair. With sorcery, the invaders opened the way and lumbered siege weapons into the dark; ballista, small catapults, wagons of pitch, and other sundry devices. The dragon’s breath burned the air as he growled in the dark, unwilling as yet to reveal himself.
The Red Men grew overly confident, pushing ever deeper and faster, until at last they came to the deeps of the lair and with spells widened the door to Frafnog’s lair. With them came elemental demons, wraiths of the WRETCHED PLAINS, and other sundry monsters, as well as men girded in iron and bearing weapons of magical design. Thus armed, they stormed the room.
Beyond the dark, lay the dragon, coiled upon himself, half in a subterranean lake, half upon the cold ground. The first through saw the beast’s eyes, glowing in the dark, its body, the lake and the darker cave around them. But that is all they ever saw.
Frafnog roused himself, springing forward faster than any ever dared suspect, to unleash a gout of flaming breath that washed over the men and their minions in a cataclysm of burning death. Spells, thrown up to ward the flame, disintegrated, and their casters were turned to shadows upon the walls and floors; armor melted away as warriors were burned to death; the elemental demons burned to a hot wind and blasted up the tunnel; and the wraiths ceased to be, blasted into nothingness so that even the ENDLESS POOLS were denied them. The sorcerers who remained tried to rally, but before their spells could slow the beast, he crawled into the widened tunnel and fell upon them with fang and talon and his horrid breath.
With ballista, magical arrows, pikes, awls, swords, and axes, the men held their ground, and died. Some few scored wounds, and one poisoned bolt struck Frafnog beneath his eye before he unleashed his breath for a third, and then a fourth time. When at last Frafnog cleared the tunnel and rose into the cool evening’s air his rage was beyond keeping. His eye grew dim as the poison clouded his vision, and the wounds of the Red God, never truly healed, ached. The first and greatest of the wounds, the one on his neck, opened up, and trickles of blood ran down the beast’s neck and chest. The men of the encampments fell beneath Frafnog, most dying, some fleeing into the wilds. None could stop the dragon. Frafnog did not pursue those hapless few that escaped. His rage was the fire of a god’s, and he turned north, intent upon vengeance against the god-emperors.
In towers of flame and fire, he fell upon the cities of the Aenochians, and in his anger he cared not whether they were good men or bad. The Red God, Nehabak, fled, as he had no desire as yet to reveal himself. Frafnog scorched the lands of the Red River first, and then turned west and crossed into the lands of the Ethrum. There, hunted all he saw, burning towns and villages, boats on the rivers, men in their fields. Dwarves, elves, whatever creatures came into his view, all perished. The dragon moved over the Inner Sea, turning north along the mountains and crossing the plains. The beast visited his rage upon the HORSE TRIBES OF MARIDU, and they fled from his wrath, or died on the steppes. He soared into the Channel Lakes to burn and scorch and leave his mark like none other. He passed down the Marl and brought a wave of destruction to the sea, scorching all that sailed its surface.
In the end Frafnog came to the lands of the Long River and Al-Liosh. Coming from the south, he set all to ruin along the Udunilay, burning any and all, plundering, devouring, and slaying all who challenged him. When Al-Liosh at last stood before him, with her long walls of white stone, towers, and temples, he hesitated. He flew slowly over the city looking upon the glory of its majesty. All there could see the weight of him and his size was beyond imagining; four hundred feet long, and half as wide, with wings that blotted out the sun. Frafnog, first born of INZAA, his eyes emblazoned with his mother’s ire.
When all had seen the dragon, and the stink of his fear soiled the hearts of men, Frafnog fell, plummeting like a mountain into the city. The buffet of his wings tore roofs from buildings, the tail slap brought towers to ruin, his roar broke the hearts of men and drove them mad, and his breath washed over them like the fires of damnation. The dragon raged in Al-Liosh for days, killing and burning. When the wages of his rage were at last paid, Al-Liosh lay in ruins, the Red Men fled to the north, their temples cast down. Frafnog called the god-emperor forth. And Antek IV came, for such was the power of the dragon that none could resist him, and with him came the remains of his court. Long the dragon looked upon the god-emperor. In his gaze, Antek suffered a fear few could bear, and only the blood of the VAL EAHRAKUN that flowed in his veins kept him sane. In the end Frafnog could look upon the man no more, and with a snap of his mighty tail he tore head from torso and ripped Antek IV in twain. The dragon devoured the god-emperor, grinding his bones to meal.
Even as Frafnog roused himself to lay waste to the last of Al-Liosh, WENAFAR came to him. She interceded on behalf of man and begged him to stay his wrath. She bid him leave off his war and let history unfold. But Frafnog was not so easily dissuaded, even by one of the Val Eahrakun. Long they struggled, the effulgence of Wenafar set against the iron bones of Frafnog, until at last she convinced the drake to return to his lair deep in the earth.
Thus dragon fear was born and after that age all men came to loath them and fear them for Frafnog’s rage had burrowed a fear of dragons in the hearts of men, and ever after only the greatest of those folk could stand against their might, though they knew not why.
Thus ended the days of the god-emperors.
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