Praemal

Thousands of years ago, the world's greatest priest, Danar Rotinsin, decided to build a prison for all the evils in the world. He chose to build it beneath the land that would become the port city of Ptolus, and had nearly succeeded in his goal before he found a book known as the Book of Inverted Darkness. First it stole a glance from him, then a look, then an examination. The book corrupted Danar, who took the name Eslathagos Malkith. The earth itself forced the evils of his fortress away from its surface, creating a massive spire nearly 3,000 feet tall. He nearly conquered the world, only being stopped by a group of heroes bearing strange runes. They numbered nearly fifty before the fight, yet when Malkith fell, they were only three.   The world would survive drow assaults and wars of fire before Ghul the Half-God came. Claiming to be the child of Eslathagos Malkith, he swept across the world with a wave of orcs, undead, and horrid abominations. He captured many of the elves of the world and did horrific experiments on them, transforming them into darkened, pallid reflections of their former selves. After conquering half of the continent in under 40 years, he summoned forth a magical darkness colder than ice known as the Utterdark. 200 years passed, in an era known as the Long Dark Quiet. Barely any word passed in or out of the barrier created by the Utterdark. Finally, an elf wizard known as Khelaeson devised a way to destroy the Utterdark, and with an alliance of humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings known as the Pact of Allfather's Day, Ghul's armies were slowly pushed back. The seven mightiest warriors of each race pushed all the way to Ptolus and pursued him across the Jewels of Parnaith, slaying him upon the third. One of the survivors, Delian Von Tessel, would go on to unite the continent of Greater Palastan under the banner of the Lion-Guarded Throne.   Unbeknownst to almost everyone living on Praemal, the world was created as a prison for entities of living chaos known as the Galchutt. Those who enter the world cannot leave it, unless permitted by the mysterious deity known as Praemus. The capital of the Lion-Guarded Empire, Tarsis, was recently sacked by a massive barbarian horde, who did it just because they could. Chaos cults lurk in the shadows of Ptolus, seeking to bring about the end of days and free the Galchutt. Adventurers come from near and far to come to Ptolus, seeking riches beyond measure deep underground in the wreckage of ancient civilizations. What shall the heroes of this new age do?