| Continued
. . . (previous) -
by
Allan Maki, Turbine Entertainment Software
The Widening Gyre
-
from the
Zone
Harvestgain PY 12:
/
Earth: October 2001
The fires have been stoked across Dereth to ward off the coming of the
harvest season's chill. Brave souls press even further against the Virindi
tide in an effort to stave their advances and finally bring the cloaked
beings to heel. All the while the Children of Ispar once again are set for
revelry in this their time of harvest, celebrating the end of another year
here on Dereth.
In Zaikhal a defector from the renegade
Virindi band has come with a mission for those adventurers with steely
nerves who are willing to trust him. His tales lend credence to the
rumblings that the Virindi have begun to establish a New Singularity, here
on Dereth. He warns that if they are not successful that the renegades
will win and bring this Singularity here, washing away life as they have
come to know it. He provides them with a chisel and imparts knowledge of
the storage facilities that contain the renegade's materials. Armed with
this new understanding, warriors heed this latest call and strike deep in
the heart of the Virindi onslaught, hoping to make this the final blow.
The Isparians will prevail at all costs.
Alchemists, cooks, and mages, having
deciphered old riddles and found new delights, have opened their shops to
all and happily display the new wares that they have to offer. Alchemists
have enhanced their already potent tonics that restore Mana and close
grievous wounds. Cooks display and sell new candied items. Those with a
penchant for sweets have been made to smile once more. Mages have
fortified the stones that can be used to store Mana so that they break
less often and have also, with the help of tailors, rewoven the magical
aspect of apprentice's robes to be wholly beneficial to their wearer.
After seeing the success of the Zaikhal
Arcanum in forging houses befitting Dereth's defenders, Queen Strathelar
has commissioned a refurbishment of the pyreal to have a brighter appeal
to the masses. New shops selling furniture and other wares have opened,
their patrons stand ready to collect the new pyreal in exchange for the
goods and services.
In towns all across Dereth inhabitants
display festival masks in a show of strength in the face of adversity. The
Virindi war seems to be winding to an end and the Isparians are rejoicing.
Yet new portals have opened. Something
about these differs from the portals once forged through the magical might
of Asheron. These have a sense of being made by another, as a way to coax
the Isparians somewhere else. Who has forged them and for what purpose?
Continued . . . Dark Majesty
Portals open to the island of Marae Lassel, home to a peaceful tribe of
Tumeroks and to a dark secret Isparians thought they were free of long ago. by
Chris L'etoile, Turbine Entertainment Software
Dark Majesty
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from the
Zone
Harvestgain PY 12:
/
Earth: October 2001
A Brief History of Marae Lassel
Marae Lassel, or "Sheltering Isle," was the
name that the original denizens of Asheron's world gave the island. These
people, the Empyrean Yalain, maintained the island as a nature preserve and
religious retreat, and a Protector of Marae was appointed every decade to
preserve the island's habitat.
It's interesting to note that records
recovered from long undisturbed underground archives indicate that a scandal
erupted near the beginning of the reign of Emperor Caerlin I, prior to the
Empyrean Shadow War.
According to the records, a young priestess
named Adja testified that the Protector of Marae at the time was not doing
her job. In fact, the Protector was actively destroying the island's
habitat. At the conclusion of a long public trial, the Protector was
stripped of her position and noble title. Her name was expunged from all
official records of the Empire.
When the Olthoi invaded, they were able to
spread across the land quickly through a worldwide series of portals, called
the Empyrean portal network. To quell the lightning-fast spread of the
Olthoi, the Empyreans dismantled the Empyrean portal network and escaped to
a world in-between dimensions. One Empyrean, Asheron, remained behind to
discover a means to defeat the Olthoi.
As a result of the dismantling of the
Empyrean portal network, various outlying islands were cut off from Dereth,
including Marae Lassel.
Marae Lassel's "re-emergence" can be traced
to a person named Candeth Martine. History says that Candeth was a member of
the Dereth Exploration Society. The Society's leader, Mikael Alayne,
betrayed Candeth to the Virindi, a powerful and capricious race of
magic-users. The Virindi performed horrible experiments on Candeth, breaking
his mind and mutating his body.
Eventually, Candeth escaped. He has created a
portal from Dereth to Marae Lassel, where he intends to avenge the
transgressions against him by destroying the Virindi infrastructure located
on the island.
There are three human towns in Marae Lassel.
Humans are newcomers to Marae, and cluster along pacified coastal areas
suitable for relative new adventurers. Just watch out for the highwaymen
that have come from Bandit Castle and MacNiall's Freehold.
The monsters will get tougher as people
venture further north, and access to the central Marescent Plateau is
restricted by level. There are two Tumerok towns in these wilderness
areas. They're quite different from one another, for reasons that will be
revealed soon enough. One of the Tumerok towns is a virtual fortress built
up on the Plateau, and the other can be found hidden deep in the wetlands
along the west coast. Elements of Revenge
Fear of the return of the Empyreans consumes one woman, while another,
horribly modified by the Virindi, starts down a path to madness and revenge. Continued |