14
The Diamond Throne
citadel in the Elder Mountains, on the edge of the Southern Wastes. Once, near the beginning of time, they were three mortal humans who discovered a major power cyst (see page 24) so potent that they used its mystic energies to ascend to godhood (or virtually so). The story goes that they then traveled the various planes of the multiverse, exploring and learning even more about the truth of reality. Eventually, the trinity returned to the world of Serran, built their citadel, and shut themselves within it, only occasionally offering audience to outsiders. When the dramojh began their invasion of the east in Common Year 180, the Hanavere Trinity were alarmed. They took their time, however, marshaled their forces (they had an army of human followers as well as lammasu, centaurs, and giant eagles) and made careful plans. In Common Year 182 they met the advancing dramojh army in the Fields of Yallatonan. Although the trinity inflicted terrible losses upon the dramojh—more than anyone other than the giants, who would come a thousand years later—the malevolent conquerors used powerful artifacts found in their interplanar raids to bind and slay the godlings. Now known as the Dead Gods, the Hanavere Trinity lost most of their faithful servants and worshippers that day as well. Most people have forgotten them, other than the occasional attempt to use them as vague examples that “the gods are dead,” when bitterly rejecting religion. There are still those who worship the Dead Gods, however. The faithful travel hundreds of miles to risk the perils of entering the Citadel of the Dead Gods (as their fortress is now called) because they believe that, once in its highest tower, in the innermost sanctum, one can still commune with them and learn some of the secrets of the universe.
Xyphon Now banished from this plane, Xyphon once was a selfactualized god worshipped by the ancient verrik. Little more is known about him, but his symbol is that of an eye within an eye.
DIAMOND THRONE TIMELINE Giant Common Time Years c. –1875 c.–7085 Beginning of the world (according to the verrik) c.–1000 c.–6210 Beginning of the Vnaxian Empire c.–980 c.–6190 Beginning of the world (as described in the Denotholan) c.–330 c.–5540 Fall of the Vnaxian Empire 0 c.–5210 Beginning of the world (as described in the Giantish Histories) c. 100 c. –5110 Denothol reportedly returns from his travels with knowledge of the gods c. 200 c.–5010 The Dragon War begins c. 850 c.–4360 Rise of the first runechildren c. 1000 c.–4210 Demise of the dragons 5210 0 Queen Adrilashe of Sennes unites the tribes of Terrakal 5214 3 The first of many wars between Thartholan and Verdune begins 5221 10 The Dark Winter comes, bringing cold and ice to virtually the whole realm for almost a full year 5248 37 Sennes crumbles, and the nations of Terrakal fracture 5381 170 Invasion of the dramojh 5384 173 Verdune and Thartholan devastated 5391 180 The dramojh begin their war against the lands east of the Bitter Peaks 5393 182 The Battle of the Fields of Yallatonan, death of the Hanavere Trinity 6314 1103 Birth of the sibeccai 6439 1228 Giants land at Khorl 6618 1407 The Battle of the Serpent’s Heart, final defeat of the dramojh 6631 1420 Council of Magisters formed 6692 1451 Order of the Axe founded 6879 1668 Council of Magisters disbands 6968 1757 Today
The History Long before the coming of the giants, or the invasion of the dramojh, the human inhabitants of this land called it Terrakal in their own language, the basis of which today forms the common tongue. It was a peaceful land. Most humans eked out an existence as farmers alongside litorian hunters. The faen was a mysterious sylvan race that kept its distance, and the verrik lived far to the south, virtually unknown.
Timeline Two dating systems are still used today. Although most people use the system developed by the humans, known as Common Years, the giants retain their traditional, much older system of dating, which nongiants simply call “Giant Time.” It is worth noting that officially the verrik use neither system, and refer to past dates only in terms of today. (“One day 751 years ago…”).
Prehistory/Ancient History In the dim mists of time, some legends tell of a very different world, where gods played a much more direct role in the fates of mortals, and there was contact between the east and west. The western continent was known as the Land of the Dragons, while the continent to the east was the Land of the Giants. This is the time of myth—the time when the legendary Denothol supposedly traveled among the planes and worlds to learn more of the gods and of creation. This is when the acts of the gods created volcanoes and earthquakes, and when they taught mortals to use magic (although many say the dragons did that) and how to grow crops and build cities. Some of this might be true, but even akashics have difficulty delving back so far. In the Land of the Dragons—which would one day become Terrakal and eventually the Lands of the Diamond
