Kurafei (Old Lore)

## Introduction

The Kurafei is the infamous collection of all Aniter legends and tells the entire history of its people until the start of the *Bloodclad ages*. Although the stories within the book are closer to fiction then reality, they are the best source of the past events.

## The five books

The Kurafei is divided into five books, each written by a different author. Some stories repeat themselfes in different forms as every tribe and empire has its own version of it. Although the book represent a ongoing story, each of them starts with its own version of the fall of Mu Karath.

### The first book

Mu Karath was the place the Aniter arrived after the Great Sundering. The cities great temple was build on the rock Esharion first set his foot. Around it they build their first city as a praise to their lost gods, endless gardens rich with water and honey. The city became known as the City of Ten Thousand for it hosted that many and more people. During the ancient days, life was good as every man and women had enough to eat and drink. It was a paradise in the vast desert, a untainted jewel that shined bright in the twintailed light of wisdom and fufillment. The glory of Mu Karath passed hundread thousand years already and it was only the spring of the great city for it was said the withstand the time forever.

Unfortunatly, the peaceful days would not last forever, as it was promised.

Yet, Esharions spell was flawed as a tiny crack remained in Nu Kashats great walls, unseen by its guardians. It allowed the powers of destruction to slip in and walk the streets in the form of shades. Over the time *Kadai* birthed the creature known as *Shaitan*, herald of the God of Faces. This hungering shade took the shape of a mortal men as he scurried across Nu Kashats golden nights. Shaitan began to quench his thrist for life as he feasted upon the unwarry, sleeping in their beds. His corruption spread across the lowest ranks of the human population and turned more and more men into shades.

As *Shaitans* power grew, the crack in the cities western wall began to stretch further across the stone. The herald desired the cities complete destruction, but to do so, he needed to completly break Esharions seal. To do so, the shadow needed to change his form again. He silently killed Esharions firstborn, a warriorprince known as *Sakhme*. After his blood had been spilled, Shaitan took his face as a mask and when the morning dawned, he had taken the highborns place.

(...)

The First Storm, a motive central to the Aniter culture, heralded all suffering to come.

The version of the second book, reflecting the Haquid tribes view, the God of Faces manifested in the form of the cities decadent king Shaitan. He was opposed by Asif, the bad omen incarnate, as a messge from nature, cursing the decadent nobility of Mu Karath for their depravity. The prophet gave them three years to end their blasphemy and return to the forseen path. Shaitan ridiculed the prophet before casting him out of his temple.

In the following year, the sun shined bright, brighter then ever before, burning every cloud in the skies. The heat dried the outer fields, destroying the entire harvest. This left the poorer population without water and food. As they turned on their king, begging for food and water from their rich garden, he send them away and locked the doors to his temple.

When the next year came over Mu Karath, every plant in the high gardens turned brown and died. Their leaves turned to ash, their roots withered and their fruits rotted away. Flies swarmed across the gardens, filling the rivers of honey with maggots and the remaining foot with decay. The priests bowed before Shaitan, begging him to pray to the lost gods to save them, but he refused.

In the third and last year, Shaitan and his army, driven by sickness and hunger, left their cities and plundered the forest around the city. They killed every animal, cut down every tree and dried ever river. As his weaker people stood up against this felony, his soliders killed all that blocked their way to the city and impaled their bodies on pikes from the holy trees. As they placed the last corpse on the inner walls, the skies darkened and thunder roared across the city. Each of the defiled corpses slowly turned their face, staring at the high king. As the last of the cadaver opened his eyes, the doors opened and Asif, now revealed as god of faces, stepped before him. The hands of the prophed rose to the sky, unleashing the First Storm over Mu Karath.

The second book portrays it as a storm of Ash, raging across the city and grinding down every wall and tower. Thousands of humans choked to death, their throats clogged with black ash. Since this day, the Aniter evoke the rage of the mountains, cursing them with storms of ash and fire.