The Age of Breaking

The reign of Graeltor was not long. Shortly after his coronation, a delegation of religious leaders in Courghais approached him about the threat rising in the wastes north of Bard’s Gate where the temple-city of Orcus known as Tsar was threatening trade between Foere and the Isthmus. Though the temple-city had been there for many years, Graeltor declared his own Great Crusade to destroy the city, which he dubbed the Army of Light. The siege of Tsar lasted for over a year and claimed tens of thousands on both sides.
Then in distant Libynos, swarms of invading Mguru tribesmen emerged from the Malagro Jungle and overran Tircople and the Sacred Table, reducing it to a burning waste. News of this atrocity shocked the Army of Light and shook its morale. Yet shortly thereafter, the forces of Tsar suddenly retreated from the field and led the vengeful Army of Light on a long chase down the Gulf of Akados coast. The army of Tsar was driven into the Forest of Hope, and the Army of Light followed. Both disappeared under the forest canopy, and no sign of either has been seen since.
The shock of the loss of so much of the realm’s nobility and greatest warriors shook Foere to its core. Uprisings started to occur across the kingdom, with few knights or noblemen to put them down. Three years later, the broken Graeltor died in his bed, passing the crown to his largely unknown and untested grandson Oedwin. Shortly thereafter, Ramthion Island declared its independence from Foere, beginning what is known as the Foerdewaith Wars of Succession. Two years after that, Grand Admiral of Pontus Tinigal withdrew from Foere and declared himself Emperor of the Oceans Blue, and established the Kingdom of Oceanus on Pontos Island. Efforts by the Foerdewaith to recover these lost provinces failed, and in short order other Foere lands followed suit, including Burgundy, Suilley, the Vast, North Heath and, in a devastating blow, Reme.
During the three centuries since, the power of Foere has continued to decline, and many areas on its periphery have fallen increasingly into chaos and disorder. Where once the legions of empire kept the peace, now bandits and monsters roam, and good folk bar their doors and keep fires burning through the perilous night.
Just three years ago in 3514 I.R., an event occurred that shook the kingdoms of Akados as a Huun army of the apparently immortal King of Kings Ossimandius appeared on the northern border of the Desolation of Tsar, past the ruins of Oxibbul. Never before had a Huun army set foot on the shores of Akados. It advanced southward until it reached the Lyre Valley, where it found its way blocked by Bard’s Gate and so laid siege to the city. King Ovar the Magnificent, the overking of Courghais, hastily called for a new Great Crusade against the age-old enemy and rallied the nobles and men-at-arms of Foere and its former provinces to the defense of Bard's Gate. But first he unleashed a fleet of ships against the sambuks of Ossimandius’ navy in the Gulf of Akados. A combined Foerdewaith and Heldring armada delivered a crushing defeat to the Huun ships and forced them into a retreat back up to the coasts of the Sea of Spices.
With their supply lines disrupted by the loss of its naval support, the besieging Huun forces withdrew from the walls of Bard’s Gate and retreated back across the Desolation with the crusader army in pursuit. The last reports from the front were of the crusading army pursuing the Huun into the wastes of the Irkainian Desert to draw them into battle, but nothing further has been heard for two years. With no word from the king of Foere nor any of the lesser rulers who marched with him, the Lost Lands are once again on the verge of turmoil as the rule of law is stretched by the absence of so many lords and men-at-arms. And rumors that King Ovar has returned to his Throne Tower of the citadel Caene, arriving alone at night astride his trained black dragon, has only further sparked talk of rebellion and betrayal. The Lost Lands are in need of heroes now more than ever.