Present Day

Five years have passed since the grim events of the Claiming robbed western Immoren of so much. The work of rebuilding continues, and many towns and cities are ruined or untenanted, as both the natural world and unnatural beasts slowly reclaim what was once humanity’s domain. Although the Nonokrion Order was defeated, the threat it posed did not end. The infernals have agents throughout all the nations of western Immoren, and the work of tracking down and rooting out those who have not already been revealed, as well as those who escaped, remains. Nor were the infernals themselves wholly destroyed. The Nonokrion Order suffered the loss of some of its greatest leaders, but none can say how many more of these terrifying beings wait outside the edges of reality, clawing and scratching to get in.

Today, the Morrowan Order of Illumination leads the efforts to track down infernal agents, aided by Thamarite advocates and Menite knights—three faiths, formerly bitter enemies, working side by side. Such arrangements would have been unthinkable in ages past, but they are a necessity today even if they are not always comfortable. The change is not lost on a populace that has become keenly aware of the great dangers that lurk beyond their ken.

Shortly after the Claiming, the Sancteum of the Church of Morrow passed a proclamation of religious acceptance that urged the various faiths of western Immoren to put aside their differences and work together for the betterment of all. Such cooperation may be grudging—or even volatile—at times, but it extends beyond the merely religious. Increasing numbers of trollkin, Iosans, Rhulfolk, ogrun, and others have found new homes among the devastated peoples of the Iron Kingdoms. As the remnants of formerly fringe groups have been welcomed into the mainstream with relatively open arms, the incredible scientific breakthroughs of the remaining Cyrissists—coupled with the unbridled intellectual curiosity of the Thamarites and the already considerable advances made by Cygnaran, Ordic, and Llaelese arcanists, engineers, and alchemists—have led to a technological renaissance for many nations left ravaged by the Claiming. The fruits of this cooperation have accelerated the process of rebuilding across much of western Immoren.

Not all nations are enjoying such prosperity, however. The Protectorate of Menoth is little more than a broken husk, having been shattered by infighting and splintered as the idealist Sovereign Tristan Durant led thousands to escape the continent. Many of Durant’s pilgrims fled Caen at Henge Hold, and those who could not pass through the gateway before its destruction followed their reluctant leader across the Meredius to the distant continent of Zu. A skeleton clergy still holds services in many of the Protectorate’s formerly grand cathedrals, but fewer and fewer of the faithful hear their words. And with every year that passes, more of the Protectorate’s settlements become ghost towns—sometimes literally, for there are many things that still haunt this wartorn continent. The Claiming, like the Wicked Harvest before it, cost countless lives and brought new horrors into the world, not all of which were banished with the defeat of the infernals at Henge Hold. The unquiet dead cling to places where such terrible events took place, and strange creatures both old and new stir in the ruins where civilization once held sway.

In Khador, a nation hollowed out by a significant infernal presence within the imperial court itself, a period of great decline and civil unrest followed the Claiming. Today, however, the empire is once more rebuilding, and although the past five years have been peaceful beyond its borders, the leaders of other nations worry that Khador is once again casting covetous eyes upon its neighbors.

Even Cryx has been quiet since the defeat of the infernals. The soldiers of the Nightmare Empire fought alongside their living counterparts in the great final battle at Henge Hold, but few in western Immoren believe that much has changed where Toruk’s legions are concerned. The Dragonfather and his forces simply lick their wounds and wait.

More troubling are the stories—or the lack of them—coming from the nation of Ios. All that is known for certain is that the Iosans, with the help of the skorne, won a decisive victory against the infernals and then turned upon their skorne allies. Although the Iosans now control territory deep in the Bloodstone Marches that once belonged to the skorne, no one knows what has become of the nation’s people. That some new cataclysm gripped Ios in the wake of the Claiming is undeniable, but since then, no word has come from beyond the nation’s darkened borders. Many Iosan refugees dwelling outside Ios have gone back home in search of loved ones or relatives, but none have returned. What waits inside those gloomy woods is a mystery—one that bodes ominously for the people who share its borders.