The Uprising

The Official Tale

A long time ago, before The Uprising, Darkness ruled the world. Darkness, in the form of the Cursed Queen. Under her merciless regime, every living creature had to suffer, except maybe for the most wicked ones, who were thriving. Existence was pain, and the screams and cries for help eventually even reached The Eternal Halls . Finally, it reached the ears of the Great Mother. Deeply concerned, she left her realm to visit the plane of mortals - and what she saw was a plane of suffering, of hunger and sickness, of sadness and loss. This view broke the Great Mother's heart, who loved every living thing. She decided to take the throne from the Dark Queen. But she was of such pure and innocent nature, the very thought of secrecy and deception so alien to her, that the Queen of Darkness quickly caught wind of her plans.

Never before had anyone opposed her, her wrath and anger were immersurable. She sent out her evil servants to destroy the Eternal Halls once and for all. But little did she know of the magic and beauty of the Great Mother's sanctuary. This was a place where no evil could prevail. The devious servants were so touched that they broke away with the Dark Queen and swore allegiance to the Great Mother. From now on, they were called the Keepers, for it was their duty to preserve hope and beauty in the world. This was the first victory of the powers of good. But little did they know, this was only the start.

Buried deep beneath the Dark Queen's lair was a creature not even she could contain otherwise. It was her own son, the Prince of Destruction. And the time had come, where containment was no longer what she wanted. Eight days and eight nights she sang to him, sang of the Great Mother, the Eternal Halls, the hope that had formed in the world. And the Prince heard her, and he understood. He was the incarnation of evil, hope and beauty his bane. After eight days and eight nights, his hatred erupted.

First, he destroyed the Black Palace, with his mother barely escaping. Then, he began his slow march to the Eternal Halls. As they were the opposite of the Black Palace, he had to travel all of existence between. But he didn't mind. There was hope in the world. He was determined to end it once and for all. Without life, there could be no hope, he reasoned. And so, the Eradication started. Devastated by the hoards of inncocent victims that soon flooded the Eternal Halls, the Great Mother saw only one way to save the light in the world.

She sent out her new servants to protect whatever was left of mortal civilization, and went out to fight the Prince of Destruction himself. He was more powerful than anything she had ever encountered, but she was strong herself. Ironically, all the deaths the Price had caused had strenghtened the dominion of the Great Mother. After a long fight, she managed to set him asleep. This is the reason he is now known as the Sleeping One. But she could not rest. The Dark Queen was weakened, and she had to take the chance. And so, the Great Mother confronted the Dark Queen in a fair battle - and was vicorious. She took the throne, but she changed it into a throne of light instead of darkness.

But she had underestimated the now Fallen Queen. The Eternal Halls were left unguarded, and the Queen fled there, claiming the throne of death as her own. And there she still sits, waiting for a chance to strike back.

The Heathen's Version

In a different version of the story, the The Fallen Queen was not such a bad ruler, and the reasons for the war rather based in envy from the Empress and boredom from the Sleeping One. Somehow, the entire race of halflings was wiped out during this time, presumably at the hands of the Mountain Kingdom.

Role of the Mountain Kingdom

It also seems that the Mountain Kingdom, a nation of dwarves living in the large mountain range in what is now Irb, played a key role during this time. There is evidence that some entity called Krist provided a dwarven scientist with a lot of new ideas, leading to quick jumps in scientific progress.

Role of the Mountain King

Two other sources also claim that the Mountain King himself, Gimli Gimlison, played a key role in this war. An old document, supposedly written by a close friend of the Mountain King, accused him of working together with the Empress, but also stated that he changed his mind later, shortly before dying for the right cause - presumably fighting for the Fallen Queen. On the other hand, there is strong evidence the Mountain King somewhat survived until now by hiding in the Tomb of the Forgotten One, where the Tosscobbles found and recovered an almost dead dwarf. He had a written letter with him, identifying him as the Mountain King. There, he admits to working together with the Empress, serving as her champion. While he quickly started to regret this decision, fear kept him in line until the end. He takes full responsibility for the genocide on halflings happening under his rule. It is unclear how he ended up in the tomb.

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