The Dark Millennium

The Dark Millennium refers to the period of time spanning from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Lost Years are specifically the last 300 years of the Dark Millennium. No living being can recall any information from the Lost Years. All written documents appear to have been erased leaving multitudes of empty scrolls and books. People woke from the Lost Years unsure of their own names or that of their spouses and children, personal feelings remained and they would recall the slightest of details down to favorite food and little habits but no recollection of how they met or where they live. The only records remaining are those written in stone, the largest example of these are the mosaics of the Stone Giants whom guard these reverently.

The start of the Dark Millennium traces back to the betrayal of Vythalyn. Vythalyn was one of the twin gods of the elves and they were the god of victory, pursuit, and ambition. The followers of Vythalyn were most often comprised of Underdark inhabitants who spent their lives hunting the fiendish incursions that plagued the Underdark. At the start of the 5th century, Vythalyn had gathered the largest military force the world had ever seen and their objective was to definitively end the Blood War raging between demons and devils by eliminating both. The night before the first march, Vythalyn had organized a feast for the gods to celebrate the departure. This feast was poisoned rendering all of the gods in what would be a everlasting sleep. Vipblumb was late to the feast and arrived to find the gods sleeping at the table and Vythalyn standing over their defenseless forms. Vipblumb prevailed upon Vythalyn to wake the gods believing it to be a joke whereupon Vythalyn struck Vipblumb down. Vythalyn left believing Vipblumb was dead with a poisoned slash from heart to leg. While this would give Vipblumb a permanent limp he recovered, waking after several days.

Upon waking, Vipblumb crawled to his fellow gods and woke them in turn with his healing tears. The gods then turned their attention to the world below their celestial palace. All followers of Vythalyn had descended into the Abyss through the Onyx Maw in the Insidious Depths. The Drow, the Duegar, the Deep Gnomes, and scores of members of all free peoples had been lead into damnation against their will by threat of force, subterfuge, or enchantment.

The gods deliberated on reprisal for this. Anvelga, the God Queen of Dwarves intended to chase Vythalyn through the locked Onyx Maw and rescue the people lost. Paragon, Law Keeper argued that as followers of Vythalyn their fealty to the god they revered entitled Vythalyn to make any demand seen necessary. Anvelga outraged by the suggestion that a god had no duty to their followers protested this. Qoravyn, Prince of Elves the elvish twin of Vythalyn refused to accept that they were betrayed and sided with Paragon in waiting to see if Vythalyn returned successfully. Qoravyn hesitantly assented that Anvelga may go into the Onyx Maw to aid Vythalyn in the campaign, but Paragon invoked that the Onyx Maw required unanimous divine approval to be opened and that Anvelga must wait. Kazuliva, Mindsmith and Queen God of Gnomes elected to review the arguments in the minutest detail whereupon Paragon produced a tome of infinitely expanding reasoning called the Endless Argument. Kazuliva, accepting of her duty studied the tome until the conclusion of the events later made the effort fruitless. Vonkeros, War Breather had intended on joining Vythalyn on her campaign to battle the Abyss and Nine Hells and thereupon resolved to follow Anvelga in her journey through the lower planes expecting ample opportunity for fighting. Vipblumb had passionately agreed that Anvelga's course to rescue the people was the correct one, but seeing his grievous injury and the toll it took on him Anvelga forbade his joining but accepted the aid of his Clerics, Bards, Monks, and Paladins with touched appreciation. Trachemys Goddess of Thieves and Wanderers upon waking listened to the deliberations in silence and left without giving any consensus.

Furious that Paragon had used law to subvert what Anvelga considered the greater good, Anvelga embarked with Vonkeros and the followers of Vipblumb to breach the Onyx Maw against divine collective agreement. Trying with all of their combined powers the Onyx Maw did not yield to their assault. It was then that Trachemys appeared brandishing a small pick reached into the smallest of openings and swung open the fiendish portal. Telling Anvelga that the means used to open the Onyx Maw rendered it from ever being closed again, Trachemys left Anvelga and Vonkeros to continue without her citing no interest in following Vythalyn after what Trachemys considered an admirably well executed deception.

Anvelga and Vonkeros descended into the Abyss and made a war path to find Vythalyn and her legions. Trachemys had returned to the Celestial Palace and informed Qoravyn of what had transpired while Kazuliva remained reading. Qoravyn seeing that he had been betrayed by Vythalyn went through the Onyx Maw after Angelga and Vonkeros.

During the campaign into the Abyss, Anvelga and Vonkeros had met heavy fiendish resistance and the enigmatic everchanging landscape of the Abyss prevented their direct tracking of Vythalyn's Legions gaining and losing the trail repeatedly. Qoravyn, following behind, had abandoned his elvish finery and took to wielding an executioners sword and shovel while performing burial rights for all of Vythalyn's soldiers left behind carelessly and praying over Anvelga's buried fallen when he came across their graves slowing his pace but ensuring the divine rest of the fallen. This procession drained Qoravyn of all joy and steeled him into unbending dedication to those who die.

The miserable legions of Vythalyn were mired in constant battle with fiendish forces, realizing that they had been mislead and that Vythalyn's true ambition was to gain dominion over the lower planes. However, when smithing new weapons for their doomed quest they could hear Anvelga's war cries as she swore to save them. This gave the Duegar enough hope to survive and keep the spirits of their fellow captives up.

On the material plane, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, and worshippers of Vonkeros found themselves without any divine assistance and were subject to plague and disaster. For seven centuries Vipblumb and Trachemys oversaw the ruling of the world and society survived but did not advance only keeping enough hope to wait until Anvelga's return. At the dawn of the eighth century, Paragon had approached Vipblumb and indicated that his hope might be for lost and that Vipblumb could turn oversight of the mortal races over to him. Vipblumb believing it to prove a burden to Paragon sweetly denied him the rule of the mortal races. Paragon inwardly furious said he wished Vipblumb well and congratulated him on his eternal charge of caring for all. Vipblumb fell into deep despondency as he began to weep over all his failures and his inability to maintain the world as strongly as when the gods were in concert. This began the Lost Years, life on the material plane lost all joy as ignorance, apathy, and rage as the mortal races struggled in what seemed like endless strife. For three centuries this went on, until Trachemys growing tired of the tedium of suffering saw fit to steal a branch of Kazuliva's tree of knowledge while the Gnome Goddess kept reading the Endless Argument. With ease, Trachemys bypassed Kazuliva's arcane defenses and near impregnable magical fortress and fashioned a walking stick from a stolen branch. With casual grace, Trachemys slipped the walking stick into Viplblumb's hand and as he leaned on it the wisdom of ages flowed into him. Almost without effort he contacted Anvelga, gave her the location of Vythalyn.

Anvelga with the newfound knowledge made quick work of finding Vythalyn and a cataclysmic battle ensued. Empowered by her renewed determination, she broke through the legions in the midst of a battle with fiends slaying dark forces and sparing Vythalyn's soldiers then capturing Vythalyn after unleashing a barrage of furious attacks. Vythalyn was forced to submit. In the hours that followed Qoravyn arrived bowed to Anvelga, and took upon himself to declare Vythalyn a traitor to god and mortal alike holding trial for seven days. Kazuliva was summoned to act as judge. Paragon came to Vythalyn's defense explaining that while the means were cruel Vythalyn's aims of destroying the fiendish forces was pure. Vythalyn was found guilty of breaching the Divine Assembly's Oath Against Conscription but absolved of all other charges. Vythalyn's punishment was expulsion from the Divine Assembly and banishment from Woorfel until the completion of the crusade. All of the conscripted forces were freed, but a small fraction of Vythalyn's original forces chose to remain loyal to the crusade.

Upon reemerging Anvelga brought order to the free people's of Woorfel, instructing Vipblumb to ease the burden of their absence by releasing them of the haunted memories of three centuries leading up to the liberation now called the First Reclamation. The branch that Trachemys stole from the tree of knowledge wilted, and with that memories of the last 300 years from all who were present on the material plane were lost. Qoravyn took his place as God of the Grave as continued self punishment for his forestalling of Anvelga, renouncing all joy despite Anvelga protesting that it was not necessary.

Anvelga now is hailed as god of liberation on an eternal crusade to free all peoples from tyrannical gods. But some races remain bound to evil and dwarves under the guidance of the Queen God, lead in efforts to release their souls from torment and rehabilitate those who can be brought back into the light.