Ancient Althen (Old Lore)

## History

### The Great Sundering

It was during the Great Sundering that the Malach forces where seperated from their godess during the battle of (...). As the Pratonians shattered the Anima armies, Magequeen Yasleid was the first to surrender her hope and flee from the battle. She opened a portal that should lead them to the most outer parts of Eoam, but the enemy presence disturbed her magical focus. As she and the majority of the Malach together with a few members of the other tribes entered the portal, its pathway was twisted and corrupted. Instead of leading them back to their homelands it disgorged them all over Chalderia.

### Dark Ages

Although the exact locations where the escapees spawned is unkown, the modern Althen believe that there where 3 main locations: *The Whitewood Forest*, the swamps of *Nathrond* and the *Vale of Kylaire*. While Yasleid and her chosen Malach scholars landed in the protected dales that should later be known as the Blessed Vale; the rest of their people where scattered in the wilderness. Neither did they have a leader nor a consistent membership. Although mostly consiting of Malachi, there where countless Mudai and Ascher among their ranks. This bred conflict and discord among their ranks and many of the powerhungry Magepriests of the fourth cult fought each other over the controll of the dispersing people.

Back in the Dark Ages, Chalderia was inhabited by a agressive breed of Ghuls that where known as *Caitrhag* or Whitepelts. These creatures where remnants of a ancient Servitorrace and roamed the lands in search of sentient life to feast upon. Unlike many modern Ghuls they where well organised and lead by a powerful *Ascendant* that gained eternal life through the consumption of his thousand young. This cursed king lead his kin from an ancient hold deep in the *Chalderic Girdle*. He was known as *Gyserion* and he descended from the mountains as soon as he heared the message of fresh prey spreading through the unprotected lands.

#### The First Ritual

While the rest of the human escapees fought the Ghuls and lifed a life in the dark, Yasleid and her people where protected by the high mountains the *Kylaire Vale* which no Ghul ever saw. She cared little for those she would leave behind and prepared another ritual that was supposed to lead her back to her godess. It took her almost ten years to find her in the mists of the Eather. After this was sucessful, Yasleid prepared a portal that should lead them to a unification with their distant kin that fled to Xyrilla.

Although all of her Magepriests supported her, she was unable to open a gateway that would lead them out of Chalderia. They soon realised that a greater power ruled the lands. Something had woven a magical web across the dimension that absorbed their magic and keept them hostage inside their new home. Yasleid believed this to be a sign of their lost creators that she needed to reunite all humans she brought here before she was able to leave.

#### The Second Ritual

In order to perform her second ritual, Yasleid gathered her forces and left their protected Vale to reunite all humans under her reign. It was a long and bloody campaign against the *Caitrhag* that infested every corner of Chalderia. During this war, both sides lost countless members and although they Ghuls benefit far more from the fresh corpses, the humans managed to drive them back. It was at the *Isle of Vianen* that Yasleid gathered all humans she had united. All those that wished to follow their Eternal gathered around the magical circle they build to create a new portal. The portal was unstable and weak, yet it acted as a beacon for her enemies.

From the brackish waters of the Heartsea, *Gyserion* and his maneaters emerged to attack the humans when they where most vunerable. The portal collapsed and in the darkness that followed, the *Caitrhag* slew every Magepriest they could find. As they engaged in a brutal feeding frenzy, the Ghulking leeped into the inner cirlce of the ritual and attacked Yasleid herself. It is said that the towering creature swallowed her whole before fleeing back into the night with his Unkin.

#### The Third Ritual

After the sun rose again above the isle, all Magepriests but one had died. This was *Gwylea*, daugther of Yasleids last hostess. While the majority of the united tribes fled the isle again she held the remnants a speech. *Gwylea* convinced them to retrieve Yasleids mask from the beastlords belly. To do so they would need to reach his hidden hold deep in the *Chalderic Girdle*.

It was a long and dangerous journey across the wild lands and the overgrown *Fangroot Forest*. It where bearly a thousand souls that followed *Gwylea* into the mountains heart and yet they managed to find the abandoned fortress in a frozen dale high. They where barely armed nor ready to face the strongest of the Ghulkings children. Yet the hatred for the murder of their Eternal burned bright enough to make it into *Gyserions* throneroom. Almost 100 of the Malachs most skilled warriors lost their lifes in the battle against the hulking monstrosity. After the last of his brothers had fallen, Valerin Silverblade engaged the Ghulking in combat against the orders of his mistress. Although he lost his arm, he managed to decapitate the beast with a final and desperate blow. Since this day, he and his children became the bodyguards of Chalderias rulers.

*Gwylea* did not hesitate to perform the ritual of reincarnation. Instead of a traditional Bornfond, she washed the mask in the Ghulkings blood as it was rich with the power of her murdered kin. Yasleid returned stronger then ever before, empowerd by *Gwylea* that became her new hostess aswell as the beasts blood.

After Yasleids return, she quickly gathered all people that followed her hostess in the high north. Not hesitating this time, she prepared a final ritual in the frozen halls. What they summoned was not a gateway however. From the shadows below their feat, the Spectres emerged; disguising themselfes as their fallen Magepriests. The Revenants spoke to them with their voices to tell them that escape from Chalderia was impossible. Instead, to lay the dead they had angered to rest, they should seek their peace with the land and build great works to honor their ancestors.

### The Chrylethian Era

It was during the centuries that followed that the people that the people of the north, lead by Yasleid and her mages, seperated themselfes from the wild people that abandoned *Gwylea* at the *Isle of Vianen*. Yasleids servants became known as the *Alorien,* the *servants of old*. The tribes of the south where given the name *Lothlien*, the *servants of the wild*.

As they began to build a new civilisation, the Alorien started to follow the will of the Spectres. They founded a great mortuary cult in the north known as the *Chryleth*. The Spectres used their shapeshifting servants to controll their new . With their help they slowly purged all Ghuls from Chalderia and worked faster toward their great goal. The people of the north where ruled by Yasleid and the *Gwyleans*, a bloodline of queens that offered their firstborn daughter as hostess when ever a full generation had passed.

While the Spectres did not trust the majority of humankind, the *Gwyleans* and Yasleid where inaugurated into the truth about the cult. Yet there was one secret that their masters keept for themselves. Deep in Chalderias belly they had build a *Catalyst*, a Godengine build to pull the entire dimension into Arafel and consume it. Their powers had already grown strong enough to weave a invisible mantle around Chalderias worldwalls, controlling its magic completely. To further empower their engine they convinced the Chryleathian people to carry their Bornwater into their depts. For that reason, every hostess was brought down to the *Catalyst* before performing the ritual of reincarnation.

### The Pratonian Invasion

It was during the end of the Pratonian Conquest that they found a way to breach the Garauth shield and invade Chalderia. Lead by the Eriadon, a large warfleet arrived at the Nathrin-delta. There they landed and attacked the scattered southern tribes that lived their uncivilised lifes in the wild. They where easily enslaved by their greyskinned masters. For the first passing years, the *Alorien*