Age of Lost Spirits - Karatta

Introduction

Karatta Human History Just after the Age of The Rending at the start of the Age of Lost Spirits

The world was indeed new. For decades, no one knew where they were in relation to where things used to be. The eye could find nothing familiar, nor could the ear hear anything of comfort. It was as if they had been picked up and placed on an entirely new planet. Now it is necessary to begin telling the history in two parts, as the world itself was effectively separated into two parts.

During this time, the races established where they were and where everyone else was. Some races were not seen or heard from for many years. The Rift was discovered and it was very clear life would never be the same. Humans gathered on the Karatta side of the Rift, but heard nothing from the Dwarves, Tree Elves or High Elves. Many years would pass before the Humans met the Gnomes and discovered they were not alone. Many more years would pass before the Stone Elves and the Under Dwarves emerged.

Both sides had come to determine that Xaltion had once again became angry and thrust his wrath upon the world. Why, no one knew. The new Sun now signified the time After Xaltion, or after Xaltion's Wrath.

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The entire band of humans wandered about for many years trying to find something recognizable. They searched in vain for the races of Dwarves and Elves, but found nothing. They found nothing familiar at any rate. What they did find was what seemed to be a completely new world. Traces of things remembered lingered but it was as though all of those things had changed into something new. Plants that were once thought to heal now killed. Leaves that were once green and lush were now dark gray and like rubber.

Animals that would once run from their sight now attacked humans without provocation. The water was tainted. The air was heavy, thick, and seemed to almost strangle the life out of everything. It was a hard life, and before they settled they had lost a good number of the original survivors. Finally, a man named Karatta, who had taken to leading the ragged procession, called a halt to their aimless wandering. He directed the people in building a camp and there they stayed. Eventually the ragged camp was named Karrattan after its founder, and likewise the land as a whole was called Karatta.

The Humans, after their long years of wandering, came to the conclusion that they were the only race left. They lived under this belief for nearly a century. An entire generation of humans came and went before they found out that they were not alone. A small expedition left the relative safety of Karrattan to explore the surrounding lands. To the south, a horrible and hostile desert was discovered. Out of a party of five who went to investigate it, only two came back. They reported that monstrous creatures wandered freely in the endless dunes of the desert, which the explorers named Rancorous Sands. They also reported there was nothing on the other side but a wretched and expansive swamp. They named the swamp Mecken's Swamp after one of the expedition's members who died there.

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Other small groups ventured in all directions. To the northeast of Karrattan was found a massive region of frozen land. Lacking the proper equipment for exploration in such conditions, they were unable to discover anything about this place. Before moving on, they dubbed it The Ice Plains of Farrana, a name that stuck over the years. The same party swung north and traveled for over a year through the dangerous tropical forest that covered most of this land, and eventually came across the only other intelligent life, the Gnomes. It was a very tense meeting at first, but eventually the curiosity of both the Gnomes and the Humans outweighed their hostility and they talked enough to learn that both had thought they were alone in this world. Each marked the other on their respective maps, and the parties returned home to report their discoveries. Unfortunately, many years of tense meetings and occasional skirmishes would blemish the next several hundred years between the Gnomes and Humans.

Another party left the confines of Karrattan and struck out to the west. Out of the six party members, only one returned, babbling of the end of the world and watching his party members disappear into the very air, never to return. Further investigation yielded what the scholars called 'The Rift'. From it, many horrible creatures came forth bent only on destruction and death. There seemed to be no end to the creatures, subsequently called ‘Rift Spawn’, it could put forth into the already struggling land of Karatta.

In these hardships, the lives the Elves, Dwarves and Humans once lived became bedtime stories for children. The reality of life was harsh, cruel, and left no room to wonder what life was like before the Rending? History was all but forgotten to the Humans, as the past no longer mattered when the future looked so bleak. People grew hardened over the years, and unbeknownst to them, the Rift itself influenced their violent and hate-driven ways. Even those who managed to resist and fight the influence of the Rift Energies usually succumbed to the hate placed in them by the evil doings of their fellow man.

The aspects had begun to show themselves and collect worshipers almost immediately after the rending. The people of Karatta were suspicious of any god, as they felt Xaltion had betrayed them and left them once again in his unpredictable wrath. It took time, but eventually people realized that they couldn't make it alone in the world, and began to call out to the respective aspects. Life went on. Karrattan was fortified with walls to protect against the creatures of the land and Rift Spawn. Life was hard and unkind. The people grew bitter and more hateful as time passed and took its toll on their hearts and bodies.

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In the year 473 A.X., exactly three hundred seventy three years after the Gnomes were discovered, another discovery was made. This one shook the very fibers of the Human's world and it seemed as though the fairytales that had been passed down from generation to generation had come to life. A small patrol came across a party of three Dwarves. Although the Dwarves seemed to recognize the Humans, Humans almost could not believe what they saw as so much of the history and facts of old had been forgotten and lost over the centuries. The Dwarves, however, remembered it all.

The Dwarves were not the same either. They had spent the last 473 years completely underground trying to find a way out. They had found themselves deep below the mountain they originally inhabited before the rending. This range was known to have an inactive volcano in it, which prevented the Dwarves from digging up and out. Instead they had to dig all the way under Rancorous Sands, which brought them to the mountain range of Veronai's Whip. This whole process, combined with the effects of the Rift, had forever changed the Dwarves. No longer were they the 'Mountain Dwarves' of the tales of old, but a dark, sinister, violent race of malicious beings bent on destruction. They were now referred to as 'Under Dwarves'. Not only had they changed in personality, but their bodies had changed as well. The lack of ANY exposure to daylight had caused their skin to become pale and nearly transparent and their eyes were generally milky or foggy.

Following the abrupt meeting, a very brief period of getting to know one another again commenced. The Humans listened in rapt awe and attention as the Dwarves reminded them of their long lost past. The Dwarves, in their turn, listened with great interest about the Gnomes, what had gone on in the surface world, and the absence of the Elves. For all their talks and meetings, the peace did not last long. There were many skirmishes and small battles as the Humans did not approve of the Dwarves coming off Veronai's Whip, and the Dwarves felt that the Humans were ungrateful and selfish. The Gnomes stayed primarily in their own lands in the northwest, only involving themselves if anyone came on "their" land. For nearly three decades the two races fought until one day their attentions were turned to a new comer.

In the year 492 AX, the Elves returned. They were not, however, the High Elves remembered by the Dwarves. They, too, had changed. Even more unique and strange were the effects of the new life on them. The High Elves, much like the Dwarves, had been trapped underground when their city slid into a huge crack in the earth during an earthquake. Having lost a large number of their citizens, the elves nearly perished. With the determination and wisdom born of living a nearly immortal life, the Elves were able to make their way to the surface. They too had to burrow under Rancorous Sands and eventually emerged in the same mountain range as the Dwarves.

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They too remembered the Humans, the Dwarves and the way life used to be. They remembered, but they didn't care. There was no time of peace with the Elves. Once contact was made with the Dwarves, all out war commenced over the right to own the mountain. Humans too received the raw end of the wrath of the Elves. No longer were they scholars and astrologers. No longer were they the graceful, mystical beings of long ago. Their skin had changed to look like the stones from which they had crawled. Their eyes glowed with the colors of precious gems and their hearts had turned to stone. They emerged as uncaring, brutal, and bloodthirsty as the Under Dwarves, if not more so. They earned their new name, Stone Elves. And thus the war of the races began. It drew in even the Gnomes who tried so hard to stay out of these conflicts. It was difficult to ignore the Dwarves and Elves when they appeared outside the gates of their town.

The only thing that kept the skirmishes and small battles from escalating into an all out war was the fact that none of the races had an abundance of people to throw at one another. Their various fights for survival had diminished all their numbers. This, however, did not stop bloodshed as no one felt any mercy or compassion for others. This went on until something happened that forever changed life again for the races of Karatta. In the year 627 AX, a new person appeared. His name was Dekatar, and with his appearance a New Age began to cast its shadow on the entire world.

Dekatar appeared as a very tall, very good-looking human male. He came into the town of Karrattan and took an immediate hold over the population. Something about him captured them, entranced them. They hung on every word he spoke and followed every suggestion he made. They did not question where he came from or who he was. They listened in rapt attention to every tale he told and as they listened, the hate inside them grew and twisted their vengeful hearts even more.

High councils from the Gnomes, Dwarves, and Elves all came to Karrattan at the call of Dekatar. They too seemed to fall under the strange and irresistible charm of this unusual man. Dekatar spent the next few years forming a truce and a tentative peace between the races. Instead of turning their anger, hate and hostility toward the land on the other side of the Rift, Dekatar told the people of Karatta that their ancestors did indeed survive, and knew that they all were trapped in this horrible land. He told the people of Karatta that their ancestors had simply left them here, abandoned them because they were unwilling to risk the dangers of a rescue. He told them the Rift was created to make sure that none of the horrors the Karratans had to suffer through daily could make it into that beautiful and fertile land. He also said the Rift was to act as a barrier to keep out both them and the corrupting energies that seemed to leak from this land. Every last breathing person in Karatta believed every word he said.

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They seethed at the thought of their respective peoples leaving them there to rot and be eaten and maimed by the horrible creatures this land bred. They thought of their struggle to produce food from poisoned soil, of having to quench their thirst on rancid water. They thought of watching their children die before their first birthday as their bodies revolted at trying to adapt to the harsh air and environment. Only the strongest survived in Karatta. Only the strongest and the most hateful could withstand the energies of the Rift. Dekatar watched his seeds of hate and vengeance growing inside the people. In the year 639 AX, twelve years after his appearance, the races made a truce and began to prepare to take what was owed them. They prepared to take the lands on the other side of the Rift.

Under Dekatar's guidance, the people began to train. Through him, they learned of Necromancy, a long lost magical art that gave them great power of the cycle of life and death. Over the course of three decades all the races sent their most magically inclined to Dekatar to learn the skill. Dekatar was a master, making every spell seem effortless. Though apparently human, it was suspiciously noted that Dekatar never aged. It was whispered that Dekatar was a Deity come to them in mortal form to lead them to victory and out of their suffering. It was whispered that Dekatar was the product of a coupling between a Deity and a mortal. Many things were rumored and talked about in dark shadows of the night, but no one really cared. They only cared that Dekatar would deliver them. Dekatar would see to it that what they rightfully deserved would be theirs. Dekatar was their savior. Dekatar became the closest thing to a king Karatta had ever known. He had united the races. He had revealed their past and their destiny.

Dekatar explained that the Rift responded to astrological events. Once every one hundred years, a portal through the Rift would open in the very center and core, which was located in the Rancorous Sands. Though the races had all been preparing, as the time fast approached that Dekatar said the Rift would open and they could pass through, their numbers were still woefully small. When the people expressed their concern, Dekatar only smiled and told them to have faith. They did. And in the year 675 AX, Dekatar led nearly the entire population of Karatta into the Rancorous Sands to the place the Rift would open.

The stars did shift, and the Rift did open as Dekatar had said it would. They all watched in a mix of awe and horror, as it seemed the very air split apart and gave way to a view of a perfect land, beautiful, green, lush, fertile, and safe. Dekatar seized the powers that rippled from the Rift and locked it open. The people had never seen such power displayed by anyone. They knew Dekatar must be a god at that point and many fell on their knees at the sight of his power. Dekatar, however, was not done. Once finished locking the Rift Portal open, he called forth an army of vicious and powerful creatures the like of which none had ever before seen.

These would come to be called the Chaos Legions, the Horde, and the Demons of the Rift. Dekatar would come to call them Goblins, Orcs and Ogres. He sent them through the portal into the land, the races of Karatta close on their heels. And Dekatar stood, laughing. It was a mad and echoing laughter that carried on the wind and chilled the spine of even the vilest of Karatta's abominations. He laughed as he watched his army spread into the placid land. He laughed as he gave birth to the new Age, his age. This was The Age of Chaos.