First Scourge

The **First Scourge** began in **-395D** (800 AE) and lasted nearly two centuries, the longest Scourge in history. At the time it was thought to be, and referred to as, **The End of Days**, as entire generations lived and died warring with the fiendish hordes.

## Background

### Corruption of Vemon

*See also: Second Sin*

In **-395D** (800 AE), the Seven Apostles, each a High Priest to one of the Deceivers, opened a gate into the Golden City with blood magic and entered it physically. According to the Maudesian Ministry, the result was catastrophic; the City turned black, and the mages came back twisted and corrupted, devolving into monsters; the first fiends. The taint they carried infected others, turning them into fiends as well.

Either by chance, or design, the fiends located Vemon in his underground prison, and corrupted him, freeing and transforming the Deceiver into the first Archfiend. The fiends multiplied and, in **-380D** (815 AE), attacked the dwarven kingdoms *en masse*, concentrating at first on the Underways. Although there were early warnings of the advancing hordes, travelers who mysteriously disappeared, patrols of dwarven warriors gone missing while on duty, they were subtle at best, nothing to truly indicate what was to come.

### Scholarly views

The Maudesian Ministry teaches that the magisters were trying to usurp the Watcher's throne, and were cast out of the Golden City for their sinful pride. In their depravity, they sought the Deceivers, and, finding Vemon slumbering deep within the earth, began the Scourge. The dwarves, on the other hand, give little credit to Ministry beliefs, though they themselves have only theories about the origin of fiends. As far as the dwarves are concerned, the fiendish hordes first appeared underground, where they invaded the Underways, and began to attack the more remote eastern hewnholds. At first with small war bands, and later with a horde that overran the dwarven empire in just a few years.

## Dwarven Empire

The First Scourge was disastrous for everyone who lived during that time, but arguably none more so than the dwarves. Despite the advanced technology the dwarves brought to bear, the fiendish hordes tore through them, and brought the race to the near-brink of extinction. The more remote hewnholds, completely unprepared for the hordes that poured out of the darkness, were the first to fall in a matter of days. The fiends swiftly overran the sites of their early victories, and used them as staging grounds to push further into the dwarven empire, conquering entire kingdoms in the span of decades.

When the First Scourge began, the dwarven capital of Ondrathum was caught in the midst of a bitter inter-house war. The greatest members of the Warrior caste were either busy battling in its petty skirmishes, or had been injured in those fights. When news of the fiends horde arrived, every noble dwarven house wished to have their own hewnhold defended, leading to political chaos and a disorganized defense. The Assembly was so tied up with the infighting, that the fiends spread, unchecked, to the gates of Ondrathum.

Grynar of the Warrior caste, realizing that his entire race was facing certain doom, grudgingly took command of the armies, called upon the Smith caste to supply them with arms, enlisted the aid of the Mining caste to collapse overrun passages, and bypassed the Assembly and the nobles entirely. Eventually Grynar achieved victory but with the loss of countless hewnholds. In reward for his heroism, Grynar was made Exemplar by a near-unanimous vote of the Assembly.

### Introduction of Golems

In **-255D** (940 AE), the dwarven smith Beladin discovered a method to forge a construct of steel or stone with great strength and survivability. Those living engines, named golems, became one of the dwarves' most effective weapons against the fiendish hordes. For the first time since the start of the Scourge, the dwarves were able to reclaim hewnholds and sections of the Underways that had long been given up for lost. Golems became the backbone of the dwarven armies, and some were even exported to the Adamantium.

In **-248D** (947 AE), just when dwarves believed they were winning the battle against the fiends, Beladin vanished into the Underways, taking his followers, and the secret of the golems' construction with him. Many were accused of having a hand in his disappearance, but no culprit was found. Many expeditions were sent into the Underways to search for him, but all were pushed back by the fiendish hordes. After years of debate in the Assembly, Queen Nasmera sent the entire Legion of Steel, a force of 126 golems, into the Underways with the task of finding Beladin, but none of the golems ever returned. The Repository declared Beladin dead, dashing any hope of a swift victory over the fiendish hordes. Due to the incalculable loss of the Legion of Steel, Queen Nasmera was deposed, and all-golem regiments were forbidden in the Underways. The remaining golems in Ondrathum became coveted, and are only to be used in the most dire circumstances.

## The Adamantium

The fiends used the tunnels of the Underways to travel to all corners of the continent and they surfaced on the edges of the Adamantine Imperium in **-380D** (815 AE). The armies of the Adamantium attempted to face down the fiendish hordes, but they could not be everywhere at once. As the hordes continued to rise up from underground, the Adamantium was forced to turn its focus further and further inward, leaving its outlying territories to fend for themselves. The armies were called on to protect the City of Adamantium above all else.

As the fiends advanced on the surface, the land around was sucked of moisture, blackening the earth and turning plants to dust. The skies filled with rolling black clouds that blocked the sun. Disease and rot followed.

Not only had the Scourge ravaged the countryside, but Adamantine citizens had to face the fact that their own gods had turned against them. Gifts and prayers to the remaining Deceivers went unanswered, and many began to question their faith, some going as far as murdering priests and burning temples. The people of the far southern and western reaches of the Adamantium rose up in rebellion. The magisters summoned demons in response, leaving corpses to burn as examples to all who would dare revolt. Still, the Adamantium began to fall apart from within; angry and disillusioned citizens doing what centuries of opposing armies could not.

## The Grey Order

In **-305D** (890 AE), at the height of the Scourge, the Grey Order was born. The Rangers of the Grey were all seasoned veterans from battles against the fiends; humans, elves and dwarves who abandoned their allegiances, titles, and families, and dedicated themselves to end the Scourge at any cost. A fortress, Greyhold, was built at in Netheren, a region not as hard hit by the fiendish hordes but still strategically close to Adamantium.

The Grey Order began an aggressive campaign against the fiends, reclaiming lands that most had given up for lost. They built fortresses at strategic points, and grew in reputation as well as numbers, recruiting from all races and backgrounds.

### Siege of Wesslow

The Grey Order's first recorded battle was at the city of Wesslow, which was besieged by a horde. Accounts tell of the Rangers mounting the now-extinct wyverns, and swooping into the ranks of fiends, each facing ten or more enemies at a time. They also launched aerial attacks at the archfiend, using spears and spells. The battle was a major victory. It became the turning point of the First Scourge, giving the people of Morgaea some much needed hope.

## First Slaying of Vemon

The Rangers of the Grey were met with great success in their early years. A group of Nether soldiers even managed to slay Vemon while he was on the run from a Ranger offensive. The celebrations were cut short, however, when Vemon returned unharmed a few days later. This became a part of the course during the First Scourge; Vemon was slain multiple times, and he would always return. Some people saw it as proof of his divine power. Many dispaired. Even so, by way of some miracle, the Grey Order eventually discovered a way to kill Vemon for good.

## Battle of the Silent Steppes

In **-203D** (992 AE), the Grey Order formed a formidable force made up largely of Adamantine, Dwarven, Ghalleni and Lyriane soldiers. In a coordinated attack, they slew Vemon, and routed the fiendish forces at the Battle of the Silent Steppes. A third of all the human armies fell in the battle. While records do not say specifically who dealt the final blow, it is known that it was a Ranger of the Grey, who died of a fatal blow struck by Vemon.

Vemon did not return in the years that followed. Although the fiendish horde remained large in numbers, and the battles persisted, without the Archfiend to lead them, they became disorganized. They were ultimately forced underground by **-195D** (1000 AE). For the surface world, the Scourge was over.

## Aftermath

### Grey Order

The Grey Order used the victory to sign contracts with the nations of Morgaea, ensuring their rights and solidifying their authority. The Right of Conscription was also granted to the order in that period. The Rangers of the Grey swore to stand vigilant against future fiend attacks on the surface, should they return, and preached constantly about the possibility of another Scourge; most Morgaeans were reluctant to listen.

### Dwarven Kingdoms

Soon after the surface world claimed victory and the fiends were driven underground, they continued pushing the crumbling dwarven empire. Though the fiends coundn't coordinate their attacks well without an Archfiend to lead them, what they lacked in focus they made up in savagery and the weight of numbers. Those who survived did this only by close cooperation, and by sealing most of the Underways. Communication between the surviving dwarven kingdoms began to falter, and each kingdom elected its own king while maintaining allegiance to the High King of Ondrathum.

In **-40D** (1155 AE), High King Threestone of Ondrathum, with the consent of the Assembly and with great sorrow, ordered all Underways to the remaining dwarven kingdoms permanently sealed. Within a decade, word reached Ondrathum that Bhorndan and Dighagh had fallen, and because Nar-Lodahr lacked a direct access to the surface, and no word was ever received, the dwarves of Ondrathum eventually concluded that they were the last ones still standing, until Nar-Lodahr's rediscovery in the Ninth Age.

### Rise of Sibylla

The Adamantium was still loosely controlling most of the continent after the Scourge, but its army was scattered, and its morale dwindling. Shown to be severely weakened, the barbarian Sibylla, called for a Crusade against the heretical Adamantium in **-180D** (1015 AE).