Irithyll the Shadow Realm
From the writings of Grimalgar, first scholar to Emperor Tiberius IV…
After the cataclysm that ruptured the world as we understood it; dubiously renamed to the Accord in order to preserve the benevolence of our deities mind you, began an occurrence of encounters of creatures unknown to the realm. These creatures were varied in form but few in number, but it was their nature that was most interesting. The creatures appear to be composed of shadow, having no true tangible form, and allegedly have the ability to manifest where ever they please. It was the appearance of these creatures, now called Shadow Fiends by the fine folk at the University, lead us to discover another plane of existence.
Irithyll, a bleak land of nightmares and darkness, was discovered by a contingent of researchers from Deverenia under the employ of the Third Lord Karnassus the Cunning. The tales that come out of that place leave little to the appetite, but for the sake of my liege’s research, I will record what I have learned.
The plane of Irithyll is a place where the sun hangs low in the sky, just over the horizon, and never moves. The shadows grow long, and the realm is cast in an odd juxtaposition of light and darkness. Remnants of great civilization lie shattered and destroyed, and in fact the immense level of destruction indicates that there may only be a few pockets of any sort of remaining cultural centres left, with testimony indicating that maybe a mere few thousand individuals still reside in these ruined kingdoms.
It is an interesting tale, or so I am told, that the great kingdoms of Irithyll once flourished as centers of culture, beauty, and innovation. How it was reduced to rubble is still debated, but a few of the accounts collected from inhabitants of the plane paint some interesting tales.
The speculation is that Irithyll is much like Terranoth, and is something of a sister-plane with a strong connection to our world that was once well-regulated and balanced. We are told that the changes in Irithyll were gradual, and subtle. A sort of ennui was the beginning, and the artistry and research of the world became more subdued and eventually stopped altogether. Progress stalled and things stopped… changing for lack of a better term. Day and Night blurred together and became a single event robbing people of a sense of time. After that a sense of prevalent sadness could be felt in the air and the water, in the earth and the animal life.
I am told the remaining individuals in Irithyll still are trying to answer this question, but the stories get much darker still. We are told that as time went on the people themselves began to question their existence as if hope, individuality, and a sense of purpose had been taken from them. It was here that the Curse of Shadow was born. People, animals, and even plants that had lost their purpose gradually began to simply waste away and fade out. Countless populations simply ceased to exist as time went on. However, the remaining inhabitants quickly learned that those that disappeared would reappear as something much, much worse.
This is the birth of the Shadow Fiends, they are the husks of people and creatures that no longer have a purpose, or perhaps even a soul, and they possess an insatiable hunger for those two things. These Shadow Fiends do not simply their victims, they drain them of their souls to feed the despair of their wretched existence. This explains the type of disappearances and attacks we are seeing in our own lands at the hands of these monsters.
It appears that the folk of Irithyll with help from old powers here on Terranoth, broke the connection between our two planes, leaving both isolated to which the ramifications are perhaps still wholly not understood. The greater question, though, is what has reopened this connection. Some suggest that it is related to the Accord, that rupturing the land and tearing away this plane has moved us back into contact with the plane that has fallen into shadow.
This is all I know at this time, my liege, but with further funding and time I imagine we could keep up the research efforts...
After the cataclysm that ruptured the world as we understood it; dubiously renamed to the Accord in order to preserve the benevolence of our deities mind you, began an occurrence of encounters of creatures unknown to the realm. These creatures were varied in form but few in number, but it was their nature that was most interesting. The creatures appear to be composed of shadow, having no true tangible form, and allegedly have the ability to manifest where ever they please. It was the appearance of these creatures, now called Shadow Fiends by the fine folk at the University, lead us to discover another plane of existence.
Irithyll, a bleak land of nightmares and darkness, was discovered by a contingent of researchers from Deverenia under the employ of the Third Lord Karnassus the Cunning. The tales that come out of that place leave little to the appetite, but for the sake of my liege’s research, I will record what I have learned.
The plane of Irithyll is a place where the sun hangs low in the sky, just over the horizon, and never moves. The shadows grow long, and the realm is cast in an odd juxtaposition of light and darkness. Remnants of great civilization lie shattered and destroyed, and in fact the immense level of destruction indicates that there may only be a few pockets of any sort of remaining cultural centres left, with testimony indicating that maybe a mere few thousand individuals still reside in these ruined kingdoms.
It is an interesting tale, or so I am told, that the great kingdoms of Irithyll once flourished as centers of culture, beauty, and innovation. How it was reduced to rubble is still debated, but a few of the accounts collected from inhabitants of the plane paint some interesting tales.
The speculation is that Irithyll is much like Terranoth, and is something of a sister-plane with a strong connection to our world that was once well-regulated and balanced. We are told that the changes in Irithyll were gradual, and subtle. A sort of ennui was the beginning, and the artistry and research of the world became more subdued and eventually stopped altogether. Progress stalled and things stopped… changing for lack of a better term. Day and Night blurred together and became a single event robbing people of a sense of time. After that a sense of prevalent sadness could be felt in the air and the water, in the earth and the animal life.
I am told the remaining individuals in Irithyll still are trying to answer this question, but the stories get much darker still. We are told that as time went on the people themselves began to question their existence as if hope, individuality, and a sense of purpose had been taken from them. It was here that the Curse of Shadow was born. People, animals, and even plants that had lost their purpose gradually began to simply waste away and fade out. Countless populations simply ceased to exist as time went on. However, the remaining inhabitants quickly learned that those that disappeared would reappear as something much, much worse.
This is the birth of the Shadow Fiends, they are the husks of people and creatures that no longer have a purpose, or perhaps even a soul, and they possess an insatiable hunger for those two things. These Shadow Fiends do not simply their victims, they drain them of their souls to feed the despair of their wretched existence. This explains the type of disappearances and attacks we are seeing in our own lands at the hands of these monsters.
It appears that the folk of Irithyll with help from old powers here on Terranoth, broke the connection between our two planes, leaving both isolated to which the ramifications are perhaps still wholly not understood. The greater question, though, is what has reopened this connection. Some suggest that it is related to the Accord, that rupturing the land and tearing away this plane has moved us back into contact with the plane that has fallen into shadow.
This is all I know at this time, my liege, but with further funding and time I imagine we could keep up the research efforts...
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