The Forgotten War

"The Forgotten War"

by Ramanayan in the Dark Ages

I always did enjoy reading about the past of Temuair. I enjoyed the distant past the most, long before the first aisling or even many of the Gods showed up. One day, I believe the spring of Deoch 16, I was in the Library at Loures reading over the well known timeline of Temuair\'s history.

After reading it over I noted something odd. In Danann 1985 the first mortals slipped into Chadul\'s realm and Sgrios appeared. It was not until Danaan 2230 that another major event happened -the first rogues appeared and Temuair was balkanized. How very odd Sgrios and Chadul did not supposedly act again until Danaan 2435 when the League of Darkness was formed. What were the two of them doing for nearly half a millennium?

This are the results of my preliminary research into this time period:

The year was Danaan 2123 in Finach (modern Mileth) and the god Sgrios had been in existence for about 140 years. Young by god standards; nonetheless his cult had grown, though to most he was seen as merely a servant of Chadul. Sgrios did not like being perceived as playing second fiddle to Chadul. Walking through his castle he though how he could prove himself as his own man in the eyes of Temuair\'s inhabitants. Sgrios had studied the history of past cults and seen how followers were attracted along with fame and glory obtained. He had some followers, that was a fact, but he was not content.

As he read the decayed tomes after tome, one name stood out to him: Kadath. An interesting time. Before he and his fellow Earth-Sea gods had arrived on the scene, supposedly other gods existed in the era before Kadath destroyed everyone who knew it. Hmm - in fact, wasn\'t his very castle build on what once was the ruins of an ancient Cyclopean temple? Sgrios pondered these things.

Using his powers Sgrios donned a disguise in the appearance of a recently executed murderer. He traveled to the underworld to find those who knew of these old god of the era before Kadath. After what seemed like an eternity of searching the underworld Sgrios came across a group of souls driven mad by Kadath. But their madness did not reflect worshippers of the current Earth-Sea gods. But beyond these souls he found something even better... just what he needed to separate himself from Chadul. Getting it out would be the tricky part. In the meantime however...

And so it began in Finach during a worship to Chadul a fissure opened in the ground and quickly expanded. Many feared - correctly - it was a passage to the underworld. Then those mad souls, worshippers of an ancient god, came forth - somehow revived by Sgrios himself. With this the Chadul followers joined with those of the old gods and attacked nearby followers of Danaan in Finach.

It didn\'t take long for Chadul hear of the situation and send for Sgrios. He and Sgrios spoke of what had happened. Intrigued that Sgrios had brought these old god worshippers, and many forgotten powers along with them into play, he decided the time was ripe to up the pressure on Danaan and her followers.

After word had spread of the incident in Finach, skirmishes began flaring up between Chadul and Danaan followers across Temuair - with the old god followers Sgrios had found leading the way. King Ramus of Loures, seeing an opportunity to gain extra lands for his kingdom, attacked Finach while it was still dealing with the violence between it\'s Chadul and Danaan sects. Following this a cabal of Danaan backed wizards attempted to size power in Rucesion from the Chadul aligned government in the absence of Loures attention.

Not willing to let one of his major cities shift sides, Chadul ordered a full-scale attack on Danaan targets across Temuair. Hundreds of nightguants and other creatures of the Dubhaim attacked. The Great Priests and Wizards of Danaan hurled massive spells at Chadul\'s armies. The skies over Temuair were filled with darting lightning bolts, hail, massive rainstorms, and terrible creatures destroying one another.

By the Winter of Danaan 2123 the armies of Loures had Finach under siege. After putting down the attempted take over of Rucesion, Chadul\'s armies were gaining more and more victories.

While this all occurred Sgrios was quite busy. A war across all of Temuair was not what he wanted - especially if, once again, Chadul was the master in control.

With Finach just about on the verge of surrender, Sgrios knew he would have to act soon. Swallowing his pride he approached Deoch. Falling for Sgrios\'s guise of helping the war effort - Deoch agreed to aid Sgrios in his most ambitious project to date: raising the dead god of the worshippers that Sgrios had brought back from the underworld. To ensure the rather complex summoning ritual the two Gods developed would not be interrupted, it would be conducted in the center of Chadul\'s main Dubhaimaid army - now camped along with Ramus\'s forces around Finach.

Sgrios informed Chadul of the plans. Chadul, seeing an excellent chance to demonstrate both powers over life and death - invited King Ramus and many high ranking Loures officials and field commanders to witness the summoning ceremony along side his own most trusted mortal followers. Chadul stood next to Deoch and Sgrios as the three watched the ceremony while rendered invisible from mortal eyes.

The ceremony proceeded as planned. Chadul\'s most able priests and wizards performed the summoning ritual that Sgrios and Deoch had laid out. Slowly the old dead god - a Cyclops - materialized in front of an altar to Chadul - and then promptly fell to the ground lifeless. Again all part of the plan. First they needed to restore his body and then his mind. Chadul\'s highest ranked priest then began casting a spell on the cyclops god. Slowly it began to stir and stand.

Chadul grinned. Now all that that remained was for the Cyclops to kneel before the altar and submit to Chadul. His mind had only been restored to suit Chadul\'s plans.

Slowly the cyclops made it\'s way in front of the altar. It\'s skin began turning a solid red and sweat began to pour down from all parts of it\'s hideous body. Chadul\'s face betrayed a sense of concern for a moment, until the Cyclops kneeled down. The high priest then beckoned the Cyclops: "Arise and serve our..."

That was all he got out. The next moment the old dead Cyclopean god, restored by Sgrios and Deoch, exploded into a massive fireball, which could be seen as far away as Undine and Pravat. In less then a second King Ramus and his entourage were incinerated, along with Chadul\'s high priest and countless dozens of his most able mortal followers.

It also knocked out the invisibility screen shielding the three gods. While Deoch\'s fire form blended right into the burning camp, the decaying avatar of Sgrios and Chadul\'s guise as a human priest in a blue cowl appeared in stark contrast to the destroyed surroundings.

"So this is your doing?" Chadul said. Sgrios gave Chadul a respectful bow with his ghastly skull, and then proceeded to telekinetically hurl Chadul full force into a still standing watchtower which prompted collapsed, buying the lord of chaos. Chadul quickly pulled himself out of the rubble and turned his full fury on Sgrios - sending a massive wave of dark energy that blasted Sgrios\'s decaying body into a thousand pieces. It didn\'t take long however for the pieces to reform back into the same decaying Sgrios.

Deoch meanwhile moved himself as a flame next Chadul and said "He is already dead. You cannot kill him."

Chadul, knowing Deoch was correct, in one final bit of rage hurled another dark wave at Sgrios and broke him apart yet again before storming off.

As Sgrios reformed again Deoch said to him: "You could have had anything you wanted. But you did this. What are you now?"

Sgrios smiled, a sight few have ever witnessed before or since, and replied merely: "I am Sgrios."

And so ended Danann 2123. With both the political and military leadership of Loures dead, the siege of Finach was quickly abandoned and the new King of Loures was eager to made peace while he consolidated his rule at home. Chadul\'s forces, with so many of their highest practitioners dead, retreated back to their temples and other traditional places of power. As for Chadul himself, he vowed never again to use other gods or supernatural entities again in his quest to control Temuair and defeat Danaan.