server/pod/books.pod

=encoding utf8

=begin comment

This is the source for some of the books in crossfire, at least, it should become one.

Authors:
Gorlin <gorlin@freibier.htu.tuwien.ac.at>
Mark Wedel <mwedel@scruznet.com>
Marc Lehmann <crossfire@schmorp.de>
The Crossfire Wiki

Each =head1 should become its own book.
   
=end comment


=head1 History of Creation, by Khalis, Volume I

In the beginning the land was barren. No life yet moved upon the large
continents and islands that lay empty between the seas. In the seas,
nothing moved as well. The world itself held its breath while the Creator
rested. Then, a spirit from outside, serving the Most High, entered the
world, and she saw a place yet empty of life. So she began to create grass
to cover the face of the earth, and trees and other plants. Other spirits
from outside watched, and agreed that Gaea had wrought wonders upon the
devoid place. Since she was by far stronger than the others, those lesser
spirits asked her for leave to join in her work. Gaea accepted their
offer, and so the spirits of the Elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth
began their work as Gaea's servants. It can be assumed, that outside the
world, the Creator watched and approved.

In time, the elemental spirits came before Gaea, and beseeched her to
help them create beings able to move of their own free will, living among
the plant world. And Gaea saw that without animals, the green world would
still miss a vital element, so she in turn went before the Creator. What
happened between them noone knows, but soon afterwards living beings began
to populate the land. Fish swam in the seas and rivers, birds flew their
first flights through the air, and other species moved on the land. The
cycle of Nature seemed complete, and Gaea was content.

Already, however, other spirits had noticed what Gaea had done. Dark were
they, and they treasured still the image of the empty world. To them, a
place devoid of life seemed far better, far more perfect, and so they
entered the world to return the world to its past. Sicknesses and
poison began to spread among the animals, that threatened to extinguish
entire species - yeah, indeed several of them might have died during that
time, of which we have next to no information. Bones in the ground seem to
indict that there were large animals which do not exist anymore, and
sadly, we may not meet them evermore. In anger, Gaea named these dark
spirits the Devourers, since they were those who devoured all life, and
she and her Elemental allies fought them back, and tried to heal what they
could.

=head1 History of Creation, by Khalis, Volume II

In that time it also happened, that a great many of the creatures the
Fire Elementals had helped to make were betoken of great madness, and
started to rampage among the other beings. In time Gaea and her allies
found out the truth, that one of the greatest Elementals of Fire, Ruggili,
had turned against them, perhaps on order of the Devourers. Yet, Ruggili
now served neither Devourers nor Gaea, instead he sought to increase his
own power, and spread madness and chaos upon the world, and he became
mightier than any other Elemental in existence.

The other Elemental beings came to Gaea, and spoke, "With both renegade
Ruggili and the Dark Ones to fight, we need others to assist us. Some of
the beings we created are already strong enough to do their part, such as
the unicorn or the sphinx. The strongest of them, however, the dragons,
have switched their support to Ruggili. We need allies, or this world will
become either a place of eternal fire or one of darkness." Gaea was
clearly troubled by this, and again left the world to commune with the
Creator. Shortly afterwards, new, more intelligent races emerged on the
world, among them the dwarves, elves, trolls, goblins, humans, halflings,
lizardman, any many others, and they joined the fight on the side of Gaea
and the Elementals.

During this time, which we now call the Second Age, cultures grew and
were destroyed, races rose to prominence and disappeared again, mighty
magics were found and forgotten. Ruggili#s followers were beaten back at
great cost, and the forces of Gaea could again concentrate on the fight
against the Devourers. The fight went on for a long time, but it seemed
that the Nature Goddess was able to reform the world into a place of Life.
The mortal races assisting her had become weary of the fight, however, and
spoke to her thus: "The fight has clearly been won, the death spirits and
the Fire God are in retreat. We wish to fight no more, but to settle down
in peace. Though we still respect you and always will, we can give you our
support no longer." Gaea accepted in silence, even though she knew that
this meant that the war would not have a definite ending. Neither the
Devourers nor Ruggili would be defeated be her alone.

The Devourers and Ruggili watched the retreat of the mortals, the
Devourers planning to attack and destroy them now that Gaea was not near,
and then to use their own dead spirits against the Nature Goddess. Ruggili
instead bided his time, sending down dragons to burn mortal cities and
Devourer strongholds both. The Elementals serving Gaea assisted the
mortals still, and gave some protection to them so that the Devourers
would not destroy them. During this, Third, Age, the mortals segregated
according to their nature. The dwarves moved into the mountains, and with
the help of Earth Elementals began their first kingdoms underneath the
face of the earth. The elves moved into large woods, the lizardmen into
swamps. Wars broke out between some of the races, none however anywhere in
that measure as the Great War of the Second Age.

=head1 History of Creation, by Khalis, Volume III

In the Third Age it also happened, that spirits from the outside, who had
been content to watch until that time, took pity on some of those races.
The goblins, orcs, trolls and giants began to serve a being called Gnarg,
who had promised to raise and protect them. He helped them build up
protection against the many poisons which still plagued the lands, and in
time they began to use poison as a weapon against their enemies. Their
most hated enemies were the dwarves and the elves, who each had been
stronger than them before the coming of Gnarg. Now, stronger than ever
before, they attacked them and sought to utterly destroy them. First they
moved against the elves. They burned down forests and elven cities, until
the being Lythander came to guide the elves and to oppose Gnarg. He sent
confusion to the goblin races, and cursed them to utter stupidity. this
curse is still active even now, there are fewer orcs or goblins who
possess high intuition, intellect or magical affinity then in any other
of the mortal races. During the time the curse was first spoken it was
much worse. The orcs fell down muttering insanely, the giants and trolls
clubbed each other senseless, and the goblins jumped down high cliffs to
escaped the voices in their head. The goblin attack faltered, and all the
goblin races and giantkind returned - after a few accidents and wrong
turns - to their homes. They also immediately stopped their plans to
attack the dwarves. 

The dwarves, however, had other problems. The dragons also claimed the
mountains, and the followers of Ruggili sought out the dwarven cities and
the treasures they offered. The pitiful cries of the dwarves, and the many
deaths among dwarvenkind, roused the spirit being Mostrai, who entered the
world and came to the dwarves. He showed them how to create magical
weapons which might wound even the greatest of dragons, and he also helped
them to withstand the dragons' fire. As was Gnarg to the orcs and goblins,
and as was Lythander to the elves, Mostrai became god to the dwarves,
protected them as they worshipped him for it.

The most numerous of the mortal races had no god of their own, and they
despaired, seeing that others had gods of great power to call upon for
assistance. In their fear of being destroyed, in their anger for being
left out, and their hatred for those who left them alone, they cried out
for help. And in the darkness, someone heard them. Far away, in another
dimension most probably, dwelt beings of great power. Endless torment was
their desire, hatred, fear and anger the ways to their dark hearts, and
fire their most potent weapon. When the humans had cried long enough, the
doorway was opened, and the demon host went through. The demon lord Gorokh
led those who entered the world, and he offered the humans many riches and
great power in exchange for their worship and for sacrifice. many humans
fell, and began to serve the powers of darkness. Others sought redemption,
and a pure spirit called Valriel came to their aid. Others again returned
to the worship of Gaea, hoping that the forces of Life would protect them,
a few humans even went to the goblin, elven and dwarven gods for help.

=head1 History of Creation, by Khalis, Volume IV

As the human worship began to spread out among all the gods and beings of
power who had entered the world, a small group of them who wished not for
the blessings of Nature but the power of the elements as weapons spake to
one of the Elemental Lords following Gaea. And as Ruggili long ago, Sorig
left Gaea's path and accepted the mortal's worship, teaching them the way
of lightning and thunder in return. Other small sects began to emerge, and
then the one things noone had foreseen happened. Some humans began to
worship the powers of Death, who until then never had living followers.
Those poor deranged people believed that in death they would be truly
free, and the Devourers gladly accepted their help. When those humans
died, the most mighty of the Undead were finally created - those who
joined the Devourers of their own free will: the vampires, the spectres
and the liche.

And so the world lies before us today, turmoil and chaos has spread among
the many gods who have entered the world. The fights are numerous, but at
least we can be called lucky that no single faction has power as great as
during the Second Age - for another Great War would probably destroy the
world itself. In the First Age only the spirit being existed, in the
Second Age we mortals served the forces of Life to survive, in the Third
Age we left them and began to worship other Gods. This then is the Fourth
Age, in which we hope the ceaseless fighting and wars will finally end,
and we will be allowed to live in peace. But whose peace will it be, which
gods, which peples will lead and which will follow?

Khalis,
Grand Hierophant,
Servant of Gaea


=head1 History for the Impatient

Written by Maris the Scholar, a student of Khalis whom he opposed much
later in his life.

Gaea created the world. However, for things to thrive, rain is needed
so Sorig came along, and provided the rain and lightning. The lightning
created fire, and so Ruggili was born.

Gaea is the source of all nature and life, without any great need for
followers, as the natural world itself gives her power. She gave life to a
number of sons, all gods of their own.

Her son Mostrai saw a flat and uninteresting world and created massive
mountains and deep dungeons.

Her other son Lythander was bored and created some animals.

Gnarg saw that and created the goblins on the world for some reason we no
longer know.

Lythander, disgusted what the goblins where doing to the beautiful
forests, created the elves and halflings to help protect the forests from
uncontrolled goblin destruction.

Mostrai, seeing what was happening to the forests, decided to take
pre-emptive measures and created the dwarves to live deep within the
mountains he created.

Then Gaea created the humans, to protect and provide balance in the plains
and along the coasts.

With the constant battles for balance, many of these new life forms died.
The gods that created them did originally see the souls that these new
life forms had, but the gods Gorokh and Valriel did. They took the worst
(and best) of these departing souls in order to create creatures for their
own desires.

The souls that neither claimed became the domain of the devourers. What
the god of devourers lacked in the strength of individual souls, he gained
in the sheer number of souls he controlled, and with these he created
wights and vampires to give him even more souls. Some of the powerful
humanoids worshipped him in hopes of eternal life. For some of these,
they gained this eternal life in the form and lichs and demilichs.

The Red Dragons were created by Rugilli because he wanted some worshippers
of his own. It is believed that the other dragons eventually resulted from
those by the constant in-breeding experiments Ruggili made.

Nobody knows where the nearly god-like titans came from. Some scholars
claim they could be descendants of some of the forgotten gods so little i
known about nowadays.


=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Calendrical Introduction

Present Day

We are currently in 8437 Era Khelentari (EK).

=head2 Volume I: The Early Days

Around 350 EK: The Story of the Fourth Mariner is written by an unknown author.

435 EK: Colony of Skorn Founded. It would eventualy become the city of Scorn.

711 EK: The outpost of Heaven’s Gate is founded.

=head2 Volume II: Second Millenia EK

1223 EK: Ekkis the Drunk leads a disastrous crusade against the Sirens in the southern seas.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume III: Third Millenia EK

2287 EK: Battle of Tered - The Kingdom of the Masts is dismantled by Navar.

2567 EK: Fernast Fergono, exiled from Navar, leads a famous exploration expedition in the south-east seas.

2765 EK: The city of Heaven’s Gate is burned by pirates.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume IV: Fourth Millenia EK

3084-3154 EK: The Artificers' Wars take place in the East.

3154 EK: The High Tide of the Gears: End of the Artificers' Wars; many islands are flooded or disappear forever in the depths of the Eastern Ocean.

3867 EK: Juradiths take the direction of Scorn and create a republic.

3885 EK: Juradiths are expelled from Scorn by revolting citizens. They are vainquished at Battlefield Lake.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume V: Fifth Millenia EK

4127 EK: King Kadriosa IV of Scorn leads a Crusade against the elves of the south-east, who flee the country.

4131 EK: Foundation of the Elven City of Tashkeren-tah at Vkovzerov (Lake Country).

4453 EK: The Elven City of Tashkeren-tah sinks into the largest lake of Lake Country.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume VI: Sixth Millenia EK

5524 EK: The Meteomage Grab of Ledh fails an experiment, making the weather mad for a while, an event remembered as "The Weather Madness".

Late LVIth Century EK: The Great Schism between the Simplifists led by Mish the Toon and the Stabilists: The Sedition Wars.

5581 EK: Battle of the Glowing Crystal: the Order of the Careful Coders is disbanded.

5598 EK: The Simplifists exile themselves into the Pocket Dimension of Daï-Moh-Nî, "The World With a Future", in Ancient Daigojij Language.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume VII: Seventh Millenia EK

6356 EK: Butakis settles in Lake Country and starts building the Lake Pump.

6356 EK: The Lake Pump is destroyed by Twak. Lake Country is covered by fog. Butakis is disfigured.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume VIII: Eighth Millenia EK

7124 EK: Harta accidentally creates a Dimensional Grid, connecting the Crossfire Continuum with the Daï-Moh-Nî Dimension.

7563 EK: The tower of Melficef the Red explodes.

=head1 Recent Historic Events, by Khalis.

=head2 Volume IX: Ninth Millenia EK

8009 EK: Euthville is destroyed.


=head1 The Sultanate of Darcap

Isolated from the rest of the region by an extensive mountain range to the
south, and possessing a massive natural harbour, Darcap is a small, but
easily defensible town, dominated by a pair of powerful guilds. The town
is also noted for its circus, whose reputation draws visitors from all
over the world.


=head1 Santo Dominion

Santo Dominion sits in a small bay to the north of Scorn. It is an
important port of call for ships travelling to and from Scorn and is
also somewhat famous for its Opera and its Litle House of Horrors, two
magnificent cultural buildings you would not expect in so small a town as
Santo Dominion.


=head1 Euthville History

The Ruins of Euthville can be found just off the Imperial Highway north of
Scorn.

=head2 The Origins of the City

The Codex Skudensis tells that Euthville was founded by the Euthanasia the
Builder, hence its name.

=head2 Past and Destruction

Ah, Euthville - "City of the Pearl", in Old Hemdalite, has indeed a
rather sad story!!

If you went there about half a millenia ago, you’d have seen something
very different than the field of haunted ruins it has since become. It
was initially founded by a handful of industrious, clever dwarves, that
had found a mystical way to locate fields of precious Karitta, the famous
metal that is as transparent as a pearl of the North Sea, yet as strong as
the best irons of Navar.

And thus, they found at the location of Euthville a lot of that raw metal,
which quickly made the city one of the richest of all. And for a long
time, it stayed so. The inhabitants of Euthville weren’t interested by
war, work, or anything else too tiresome - they preferred to pay somebody
else to do all of this. And with the advanced technical knowledge bring by
the dwarves, working was less and less an issue for them.

Yet yhey were facing a problem. All their devices, all their machineries,
all their tricks to cheat with nature required energy. Lots of
energy. They relied first on the strength of horses and donkeys, but it
wasn’t enough. Then, they tamed the dangerous Wyverns of Kal-Durandasi,
so that the hot lizards would provide them with the full force of their
steamy breath. But soon, it wasn’t enough. They also used the hidden
power provided by the Faeries of the Tarniska river, building a dam, so
that they could put the invisible horses of water that the sylphids are
rumored to breed in use.

But even so, their hunger for power wasn’t satisfied, and became an
increasing nuisance for them. So, the Commander of Euthville (which was,
more or less, the equivalent to our King at Scorn), finally decided to
send messengers across the whole Continent, calling the world for a
challenge. Whoever would be able to fulfill the needs of Euthvillians of
energy would become the new Commander, thus the ruler of the richest city
ever built since Khelens.

Many answered the call, of course, and many failed. Wind, Sun, Stars, even
dwarven beer were proposed, but nothing seemed to be enough. For years,
wizards tried. And failed.

And then came a boy. He wasn’t a wizard, nor pretended to be one. He was
young, but the story didn’t kept the record of his name, and some now
think it is because he was damned. Who knows? The Boy sat in the middle
of the city, playing with his flute, laughing whenever he saw one of the
demonstrations the powerful wizards and engineers failing again and again.

After several days, the Commander noticed the Boy, and said: "who
are you to laugh, you, who has only a flute ?" "I have only a
flute for sure - but there’s more in my simple pipe than in those
legions of wizards." "Really ?" said the Commander, half-laughing,
half-curious, "so you think you can solve my challenge ?"

The Boy smiled. "Not only I can, but I shall - and my price will be
quite acceptable to give you the energy you need." "And that would
be...?" - "A new pipe." came the reply "That one is becoming
old." "Agree, you have your chance."

The Boy then started to play an amused melody. It sounded like an
invitation to a great feast, the opening of a meeting where everybody was
invited. And then came from earth itself sounds of steps, climbing from
the depth. The fountain that stood in the middle of the place crumbled,
leaving a great hole from which flames emerged. But the fire seemed to
dance at the rythm of the music itself.

The Boy then said to the Commander: "As long as you keep playing for
the Demons there, at least 23 hours each day, you’ll get them to make
whatever you need." And he gave them the score, took a brand new silver
flute, and left, and never was seen again at Euthville.

At first, things seemed fine, and the Commander couldn’t believe his
luck, as a pipe was a feeble price to pay for such a powerful recipe of
prosperity. Who wouldn’t want to tame the Demons themselves? Quickly,
though, it appeared obvious that, for enough demons to be there, that
music needed to be played rather loudly. And if, at first, it sounded
entertaining, joyous, and funny, it quickly grew on the nerves of
many. And especially because it was played 23 hours a day.

Finally, the Commander decided that the city couldn’t stand this
anymore, and ordered that the Demons had to be attracted faraway from the
city. On this fateful day, a whole fanfare left the city, hoping that the
demons would follow, attracted by the music.

And so, they did. One after another, they climbed out of Earth itself, and
walked in the direction of the music, obviously unaware of the hundreds of
buildings they were crushing by their giant footsteps, and the thousands
of inhabitants that they toasted with their dark fire. Seeing that,
even the bravest ones went mad, and ran for their lives, leaving pipes,
clavicelles and harpsichords fall on the ground.

The rest of the story is easy to understand: Demons, free from the magical
music that enslaved them, crushed what remained of the city, in a bloody
fest that they will forever keep in their twisted memories.

The Commander went mad, of course, and it is said that his madness was
so strong that his mind was unable to understand that he was dead. If
you search enough in the ruins of Euthville, you’ll probably encounter
his ghost, as well as those of the many who perished for having believed
that mortals could enslave the hell. Some demons stayed there, obviously
enjoying the area and its newborn ashes that smelled fresh blood and
carnage. Euthville is now, of course, a dangerous, deserted place, and the
richesses that are still sleeping below the ruins of its former palaces
are now guarded by powerful entities of the 9th Circle.

Many said that, if the Enchanted Music could be found, it would open the
gates of many treasures, but because none of the former Euthvillians
survived, and because nobody knows where the Boy went afterwards, those
gates are still closed. I’ve heard that the School of Daemonology was
precisely founded to rediscover that spell. But who am I to claim this to
be true ? I’m only a man of the past that tells stories before a fire,
and the fire is dying, and so has my tale reached the end.


=head1 The Kiritani Pass (from "Euthville Legends")

The "Kiritani Pass" is the part of the map you can see on world_104_114,
between the two random caves and the forest full of hidden
stuff. Nowadays, it is marsh and beach, but centuries ago, it was a
passage for boats sailing from and to Euthville.


=head1 Sannistra (from "Euthville Legends")

The Sannista is a legendary flying boat that was powered by the reaction
of a fire and a water elemental. It was built by the tenth Commander of
Euthville, Farkennis, as a gift for the 18th Birthday of his daughter,
Sannista. That’s the boat that was stolen by Fax when he fled from
Euthville, and that he used to get to Khelens. Giusitta the Verbous then
sailed it back to the Continent, and hid it "somewhere in the mountains
of Euth".

So I *guess* she would have put it there, although I’m not *sure*. Many
people thought the story was speaking about the mountains just east of the
ruined city, but now that I’ve discovered those two caves, I’d rather
bet on them - it seems more logical.


=head1 The Name of the World

I, Forag the little-known, have invested my lifetime into exploring
the various names of this, our World. In this tome I wrote down all my
knowledge. Be careful with it, else it might overwhelm you, as it did me!

In Khelens and most of its territories, it was named "The Earth",
while the major western landmass was called "The Continent" while the
eastern landmass was called "the Wilderness".

Fendrakis used "Raxida", which is also the name they gave to the Fox
Lady, Mother of All Things, deity.

Elves traditionally use "Eänella", which translates as "The Land of
Green"

Dwarves of Khorolizov use "Herdankaupf", "Country of the Horses",
which is a reference to their mythology (see the legend of the Twelve Days
for that)

The Orcish name is "Knâgsh-Ishzeh", "Rotten Branch"

The people of the Old Wall, used the name "Harinappa", "Bottom of
the Pit", to designate the world.

Most people nowadays use the old Khelenti name ("The Earth") or its direct
translation in local languages/idioms.


=head1 Melficef the Red

Melficef was a powerful mage that conducted thaumical studies to
try to store magical energies in an efficient way. He created many
self-recharging rod spells that are still commonly used today, as well as
the thaumic bomb, a device storing a massive amount of mana and releasing
it in a violent explosion - such an explosion actually killed the
unfortunate Melficef himself.


=head1 The Kingdom of Scorn

Nestled snugly in a sheltered bay at the west of the Imperial Highway,
Scorn is a safe and welcoming place for those who pass by. Once a great
military force whose power affected the entire world, its influence
has since waned, the castle in the centre of town now serving a mostly
ceremonial purpose. Nonetheless by virtue of its position on the Imperial
highway the city has maintained its importance as a stopping off point
for travellers between the other major cities and it is an attractive
location for trade and commerce in its own right. This combined with the
sheltered harbour and key shipping lines, ensures that Scorn remains a
key crossroads bustling with activity, long after its former military
dominence has diminished.

=head2 History

435EK: The colony of Skorn was founded by Skud the Great, when his
expedition reached the shores of the continent. It is said that he first
pitched his tent on the site where the inn now stands.

1064-1135EK: The war against the Dragons. Scorn is destroyed. Most of its
inhabitants flee to the south. After 1115EK, the city is progressively
rebuilt on top of the now buried ruins nowadays known as the Old City.

1177EK: War of the Sea Princes. The last imperial ship reaches
Scorn. Contacts with Khelens are now broken. Scorn becomes an independent
kingdom.


=head1 History of Lake Country

Lake Country originaly was where the elves who where exiled from the north
by the kings of Scorn, during the Vth millenia EK. They named the area
Vkovzerov. The major elven city of Vkovzerov was Tashkeren-tah. It was
destroyed by a Water arch-elemental in 4453EK.


=head1 Visit our Training Centres!

We, Training Centres Incorporated provide the best service for warriors,
wizards and anybody else who wants to improve quickly.

For a modest fee, you can get almost exclusive access to our large
training areas.

=head2 Pricing

Humamoid

A Bonecrusher, a Firestar, and a Demonspawn Shield.

Undead

Lich dust, a Spectre’s ectoplasm, and a Skull’s tooth.

Dragon

An Ancient dragon’s steak, an Ancient Blue Dragon’s steak, and an Ancient red dragon’s steak.

Demon

A Demonbane, a Belzebub’s sword, and a Firebrand.

=head3 Free Centres

As a special service, we provide access to two of our older training
centres completely free of charge, although you will understand that there
will be no guarentees given for success:

Goblin & Zombie - Located south of Scorn

Skeleton & Ogre - Located somewhere around Navar

=head2 Locations

These are the locations to the entrances of the Training Centers.

world_107_128

world_118_101

world_106_109 - Humanoid

world_124_113 - Undead

world_107_120 - Goblin & Zombie


=head1 The Kingdom of Navar

Straddling the corner of the Imperial highway as it turns North near the
Eastern border of the known world, and surrounded by dangerous territory,
Navar is an unlikely site for one of the world’s grandest cities. Yet
there it stands, dominating the skyline for miles around and showing the
same bustling activity expected of any thriving market town.


=head1 The Kingdom of the Masts

A Merchant Republic led by the now destroyed city of Kari Kori. At its
peak, the Kingdom of the Masts ruled nearly a quarter of the world, and
its fleet was unmatched. Kari Kori was opposed to Navar in a series of
wars that it finally lost at the Battle of Tered in 2287 EK.


=head1 The Artificers' Wars

A series of wars conducted between 3084 and 3154 EK by a coalition led by
Navari Princes against the Artificers, a group of mages that were masters
in the now banned magical field of Technomancy. The Artificers were close
to obtain a complete victory, but were finally destroyed by the raw power
of their own biggest creation, The Thaumic Gear. The explosion of the Gear
shattered the whole east of the world, and many territories forever sank
into the ocean, including Kari Kori, the Technomages’ city.


=head1 Juradiths Dissidents

Juradiths, named after Juradith, Minor Spirit of Equity, were a group of
activists that wanted to turn the Kingdom of Scorn into a republic in the
second-half of the XXXIVth century EK. They succeeded at overthrowing King
Karatan III, but their vengeful, fanatical excesses quickly turned most
Scornians against them. When trying to recapture the city, their army was
defeated by the Scornian Militia with the help of a couple city mages, who
flooded the Juradiths into a magically created lake.

Juradiths still exist as a small political faction today, although
they’ve long traded their violent ways for some weird traditions whose
origins and meaning are now mostly forgotten.


=head1 The Gaean Legend of Creation

=head2 Age of The Void

In the beginning there was Gaea, the force of nature. SHE filled the whole
of existence with her being. After a few billion years, this became to
grow boring and lonely, so SHE decided to have children.

At first SHE created a host of forces like Herself, eternal and
divine. But with all their power, they couldn’t get along with each
other, so Gaea decided that wasn’t a good idea. SHE decreed that from
that point on all creatures but HER would have a limited lifetime. But
most of HER first children disagreed, and went away to an unknown
location.

=head2 Age of The Small World

So Gaea created a small world and populated it with limited creatures -
animals and plants of all sorts. For a few million years she was happy
to watch them. But her remaining faithful children were growing restless
and wanted to make their own experimentations too. Finally SHE got bored
again, as her creations weren’t self-aware and therefore weren’t
much of a company. But SHE was also curious, because her creatures had
developed many different styles of living, and SHE desired to compare
them.

And Gaea destroyed the original world, breaking it in four new ones.

=head2 Age of The Four Worlds

The First world was dedicated to harmony. It was populated with creatures
that preferred to coexist peacefully and contemplate. Two of Her children
were particularly enamoured of this world and decided to live there.

The Second world was dedicated to construction. It was populated with
creatures that liked to change the environment around them, especially
ants, bees and beavers, and filled with wood and metal and stone usable as
raw material. Two of Her children found the idea fascinating and decided
to live in this world.

The Third world was dedicated to war and strife. While all the three
other worlds had equal shares of light and darkness, the Third world had
as much light as its inhabitants desired - and it was populated with
creatures that loved and hated light, in equal parts. So these creatures
quickly discoreved they could influence the ambient light by battling each
other. Two of Her children decided to live in this world: one because he
loved light, and another because he hated his brother and therefore wished
for darkness to prevail.

The Fourth world, finally, was dedicated to predation and to survival of
the fittest. It was populated with fierce creatures and predators. Two of
Her children believed this was the best way to live and decided to live in
this world.

After the worlds were created, only four children of Gaea still preferred
to live in the Void: two because they weren’t interested in any of those
worlds, and two because they liked all of them and preferred to visit them
whenever they wished.

=head2 Age of Awakening

And for a few million years Gaea delighted in observing the differences
between the worlds. But still the creatures were not self-aware, and
still SHE was lonely. So when Her children came and said they were lonely
and wanted to create more interesting creatures, SHE understood them and
quickly allowed them and gave them the power to do it.

So on the First world, one of the Gods who lived there created a race of
beings that loved peace and wildlife, and called them Elves. The other
God in that world didn’t choose to create followers, but she teached
language to the Elves of her brother, and when the Elves larned the art of
naming, they named their creator Lythander, and in exchange for his name
he gifted them with luck.

On the Second world, one of the Gods created a race of builders and named
them Dwarves. His children, in turn, named him Mostrai. His sister, in
turn, decided not to create, but teach some of the dwarves (the ones
willing to learn) about magic and the powers of the gods. The other
dwarves, however, didn’t accept their changed siblings, so they went off
to live by themselves and became known as gnomes.

On the Third world, of course, none of the resident Gods wanted to
cooperate with the other. Both created their own races: the God who fought
for darkness created many kinds of fierce, brutal monsters he named
"Demons", while the God who fought for light created many kinds of
skillful, swift warriors he named "Angels". Befittingly, these Gods
were named by their enemies, and not their followers: the demons gave the
light god the name of "Valriel", and the angels gave their enemy god
the name "Gorokh".

And on the Fourth world, the patron Gods kept true to their philosophy
and created not one, but innumerable races, in the hope that one of these
would prove the strongest and most worth. So they created goblins, trolls,
ogres, and not least, dragons. The Gods became known as Gnarg, the Patron
of Assassins, Ruggilli, the Consuming Worm, and Ixalovh.

The races in the four worlds lived on for millenia, and developed, and
grew, and all worlds flourished. The eight patron gods believed this was
proof that they were right, and the way they lived was the best one, while
the two traveling gods rather believed that the success of all the worlds
was instead proof of the wisdom and power of their Mother.

=head2 Age of Death

But at some point things started to go wrong. Angels and demons would
start to become priests or scholars or merchants and preach against the
war. Dwarves and gnomes would start go grow sedentary and admire the
crafts of the past instead of building new ones. Goblinoids would suddenly
develop a taste for vegetables and become farmers, while dragons would
decide that developing their magics was more important than finding
food. But what was wrong was a mistery that would only begin to unfold
when the High King of the elves, one day, was devoured by a dragon.

It was then that the Gods discovered that the worlds were not anymore
completely isolated from one another. Someone had, somehow, teached all
kinds of creatures how to follow the paths left by the traveling gods -
flying creatures would ride the cross-world whirlwinds of the thunder god,
and others would learn to tread the strange winding paths of the walking
god. And as creatures became aware of different ways, things started to go
wrong.

Promptly, the Gods tried to close all portals - but it was too late. The
art of magic was already known in the four worlds, and strong enough to
travel between them. And the one peaceful elves were ignited, and declared
war on the dragons, goblins and trolls.

While a mighty army of elven warriors crossed over to the Fourth world,
dwarves and gnomes found the First world almost deserted and full of wood
and metal for the dwarves, and holy, peaceful places for the gnomes.

The part of the small peoples who remained on the Second world was faced
with new problems when the demons decided they were ripe for tempting (if
they could get dwarven builders and gnome sorcerers on their side, the
tide of the war would turn). The angels, of course, took upon themselves
to protect these strange people from their eternal enemies. So as their
attention slowly shifted from the Third world to the Second, soon only
the weakest of their kind were in their original world, where they began
to fall prey to hungry refugees from the Fourth world, who discovered how
tasty angel/demon flesh can be.

And while the Gods were busy trying to even understand this chaos, the
dead began to come back.

Their leader was Hagguth, the Elven High King who had been eaten by a
dragon. He came back as a powerful spectre, leading a powerful army of
ghosts, wraiths, skeletons and zombies in a massive attack to the Second
and Third worlds. Their goal was to kill as many dwarves, gnomes, angels
and demons as possible, to strenghten the number of their own undead host.

And when some elven wizards tried to steal the power of the undead to
their own ends, they became the first vampires, lichs and demilichs -
half living, half undead, but on the side of Hagguth and his misterious
masters.

It was only when a group of reasonable elves, dwarves, gnomes and dragons
managed to get together and talk, that it became clear who these masters
could be. Till this point, everyone was blaming some (any) god other
than the one they worshipped. But there was only one, obvious answer:
the Banished Gods, the Forgotten Children who left ages ago because
they didn’t agree with he concept of death, were back, and enacting
revenge by subverting death itself. In later days, these Gods would become
collectively known as the Devourers.

Knowing the enemy was not the solution to the war, but was a start. This
group, slowly, was able to form a resistence against the undead armies,
and gradually turn other people to their side. Finally, after 23 hundred
years, they managed to break into the horrible fortress Hagguth had built
in the First world and kill (again) the undead king.

The chaos began to gradually settle down after that. But then the
survivors were faced with a new problem: almost nobody was interested in
perverting to the way things used to be.

Yes. Entire villages of elves were settled in corners of the Fourth world
for many generations, and dwarven guilds had business troughout the
worlds.

=head2 The Big World

So Gaea, in Her wisdom, gave the only possible solution to the
problem. SHE took the four worlds in Her hand, and crushed them
together. Then SHE looked at the single world she created, and at the
creatures of Her children, and decided to again, after millions of years,
create Her own followers. Thus SHE created the humans, a young race eager
to explore and chart this young world.

It took generations for the inhabitants of the resulting world to figure
out its geography and for families to reunite; when this finally happened,
the stories about four different worlds becoming one were already legends
not everybody believed. But still, for some reason, everyone agrees to
call this world - the only one they know - Bigworld.


=head1 The Book of Valriel

In the beginning, for an infinite time, all that existed was a pure light,
and that light had a name, and that name was Valriel.

But part of the light was not content to be alone, and so did Valriel put
this part of Himself aside and did He allow this part to have independent
life; and this part was everything that wasn’t content, and as it
wasn’t light, it surely was the darkness; and the darkness took upon
itself the name of Gorokh.

And for many times more time than a mortal can count, Gorokh was the
companion and the servant of Valriel. But Gorokh was not content, because
that was his nature, and he plotted a way to change everything. And
although filled with hidden motives, Gorokh’s words were always very
wise, so that Valriel would hear them. So it was that Valriel followed the
wise counsel of the Shadow and created a world full of living things to be
His new companions and servants.

And as soon as Valriel had millions of new companions and servants, Gorokh
said, "so now you won’t need me anymore, I can leave and find my own
companions and servants". And this made Valriel unhappy because He was
the only and true Lord, but Gorokh wouldn’t recognize that, and so it
was Gorokh who eventually taught men to rule over other men instead of
paying respect to the one true ruler of all.

So did Valriel upon the departure of his first servant, create new
servants modeled after His beauty and grace, and elf and man and dwarf he
created them. But the Shadow did feel envy and wished those followers for
himself, so he came to them in the night and whispered in their ears, and
some of them were tempted and started to worship and serve the Shadow.

But not enough were seduced by his promises. So he decided to be many,
not one. And he wore different shapes and again he whispered in the ears
of Valriel’s creations. And to the elves he was Lythander of the bow
that never misses, and the elves did not see that if a bow never misses,
and it isn’t the work of the Lord, then it can only be the work of the
Enemy. And to the dwarves he wore the name of Mostrai, of the fire, of the
forge, the builder of things, for the fire and the desire to change was
the true face of Gorokh.

And he taught the men to wage war upon each other, and scared the warriors
with thunder and lightning, and they would call him Sorig. And those
who weren’t scared, he tempted with weapons and glory, and wore the
beautiful face of a woman, and they called him Valkyrie. And as they
killed each other, Gorokh was happy.

And much more he did. He taught women to heal and to make the soil grow
crop, and they called him Gaea, and believed that Gaea created the world
and Valriel was but a minor god, and by spreading this lie they made
Gorokh happy. And he taught the children of Valriel to write, so that they
could spread his lies further, and they called him Hekanis for that. And
he taught them the abomination of filthy magic to pervert and corrupt
the creation of the Lord, and to liken themselves to gods, and the evil
souls that followed this path called him Byd. And also he taught elf and
man and dwarf to brew alcohol and other inebriating things and to laugh
in the face of Valriel and throw parties that put shame to the eye of the
Lord, and he taught them all that under human guise, and they called their
teacher Joyee.

So did Valriel look upon the world He created and so did He feel great
sorrow and great shame for what had happened to it. And so did he create
a new race of servants, more powerful and more faithful than any other,
imbued with the mission of hunting down and undoing the work of the Enemy,
and this race He called Angels.

But again Gorokh felt envy because the servants of the Light were more
powerful than his own, and again he went to some of the angels in the
night and whispered temptation in their ears, and some turned to his foul
purposes and fell from grace. So did Gorokh give them new shapes, to more
liken them to himself, red with hate and wearing horns to symbolize their
envy, and they became demons. And the plan of Valriel was once again
spoiled by the venom of the enemy, because angels had to step aside from
their assigned mission to fight the demons and keep them from spreading
the evil in their dark hearts.

And Gorokh did find great fun in changing Valriel’s creation into a new
race, and so did he get elf and man and dwarf and corrupted them with
his dark will, and they became goblin and orc and kobold, and troll, and
giant, and ogre, and many other abominations to the eye of the Creator,
and Gorokh wore the name of Gnarg to these new creations and delighted in
watching the destruction and sorrow they spread in the world.

And in the ultimate act of defiance, the Shadow decided to create servants
for him, create new life himself to liken him more to the Great Lord. And
he assembled the foulest magic and the darkest hunger he could find and
shaped these into the most horrible monsters he could imagine, and gave
them life, and called them dragons, and sent them forth to eat the flesh
of the creation of Valriel. And the dragons did call him Ruggilli and much
did they please him with the terror they spread.

But the light and the love of Valriel knew no end, so He decided to
fight evil with good, and He instructed His faithful servants to do only
the good, to spread the word of His love. And by doing that did He win
back many servants who saw that the righteous is more powerful than the
might. Much did this enrage the Shadow, and the Shadow did respond by
raising the dead themselves from their graves to fight the forces of
good. Even when the dead did not win, they did force the living to abandon
good in favor of war, and in doing so they would too abandon Valriel. So
once again he shadow was happy.

Valriel finally did decide, with much sorrow in His infinite heart, that
the only way to make His creation safe again was to destroy the Shadow
himself. So did He cast His holy word upon His creation to banish the work
of the Enemy. But the Enemy knew what would happen beforehand, due to the
evil magic of his followers, and he created a safe refuge for their evil,
in a world created entirely of pure evil and hate, that he had set aside
from creation and called Hell. And soon enough did Gorokh find ways back
into the world of the creation of Light, and resumed his foul work of evil
and dissent and terror.

So did Valriel gather together His faithful and he did gave them some time
to put the love for the Lord back in the hearts of as many of His children
as they could. And very soon will He again call upon the faithful, and
then will He give the faithful an entire new world for them to live in the
love of Valriel. And Having done that He will turn to this world, and to
Hell, and to Gorokh, and He will destroy them completely with the force of
His will, putting an end once and for all in the war and the evil.


=head1 The Book of Gorokh

In the beginning, for an infinite time, all that existed was an empty
and cold light. And the light was content to be and fill and control
everything that was. But it is not right for light to be cold, and the
part of the light that should have been warm, longed for warmth and for
things to see and for things to do.

So did the light put aside the warmth, so that the fire would not disturb
their cold peace. And the fire looked unto the light and called the light
Valriel, the controlling father, and the fire called himself Gorokh, the
Son with a Will.

And for many times more time than a mortal can count, Gorokh was the
companion and the servant of Valriel. But Gorokh was not content, because
that was his nature, and he plotted a way to change everything. And fueled
by the fire of his will, Gorokh’s words were always very wise, so
Valriel would always hear them. So it was that Valriel followed the wise
counsel of the Fire and created a world full of living things to be their
new companions and servants.

And as soon as Valriel had millions of new companions and servants, Gorokh
said, "so now you won’t need me anymore, I can leave and find my own
companions and servants". And this made Valriel unhappy because he
believed he should be only and true Lord, but Gorokh couldn’t agree
to that, and so it was Gorokh who eventually taught men to rule over
themselves instead of paying respect to one self-appointed ruler of all.

So did Valriel, while Gorokh was away exploring the wonders of the new
world, create new servants of flesh and bone to adore him blindly, and elf
and man and dwarf he created them. And seeing this beautiful new creation
Gorokh wanted a part of it for himself, and he presented himself to them,
and some of them liked him and became his follower.

But Valriel was afraid that, with two gods to adore, some of his creation
could find it natural to spread creation in two equal halves, and he did
want more than an equal half. So he decided to wear different shapes so
that his children would believe him to be many, not one, and then he
would be able to get more than his fair share. And so did he create many
false gods for his children to adore. And even when Gorokh would bring
the wonderful gifts conceived by his powerful will, such as the forge,
weapons, medicine, agriculture, writing, magic, and wine and booze and
music, even then would Valriel create a false god to pose as the giver of
those gifts and take the glory for himself.

And since Gorokh kept inventing new presents, Valriel became angry,
because he doesn’t like change and he doesn’t like any good that
doesn’t come from him. And so did he create a new race of servants, more
powerful and more prone to following him blindly than any other, imbued
with the mission of hunting down and undoing the work of the Fire, and
this race He called Angels.

But again Gorokh found a cunning way to defend his work, and again he
went to some of the angels in the night and whispered promises of power
in their ears, and some turned to his great purposes and joined him. So
did Gorokh give them new shapes, to more liken them to himself, red with
the fire of his will and wearing horns to symbolize their power, and they
became demons. And the plan of Valriel was once again spoiled by the
genius of the Fire, because angels had to step aside from their assigned
mission to fight the demons and keep them from spreading the word of
Gorokh.

And Gorokh did find great fun in changing Valriel’s creation into a new
race, and so did he get elf and man and dwarf and tried to imbue them
with greater strength, and they became goblin and orc and kobold, and
troll, and giant, and ogre, and many other strong creatures. But their
intelligences greatly suffered from the process, and he was unhappy with
his creation, and while he was looking for a way to help them did Valriel
come to them under the guise of Gnarg and he told them to spread great
destruction and sorrow in the world so that the creation of Gorokh would
seem foul in the eyes of the living.

So the Fire decided the creation of Valriel was imperfect and he had to
create his own new life. So he assembled the most powerful magic and the
strongest will and mightiest strength he could find and shaped these
into the most magnificent creatures he could imagine, and gave them
life, and called them dragons, and sent them forth to take the world for
themselves. But while the dragons are still the greatest pride of Gorokh,
many of them have abandoned him to serve yet another disguise of Valriel.

And upon seeing the dragons, Valriel declared war and set his servants
upon the task of killing all the most valuables of Gorokh they could
find. Gorokh was consumed with sorrow, and devised a way to spare these
faithful servants, by allowing them to raise again from the grave even
after their deaths. But the servants of Valriel found these "un-dead"
an even greater abomination, and set forth to hunt them, and Valriel
delighted in the war and carnage that ensued.

So did Gorokh, his fire dim with sorrow, decide to create a whole world
for him and his faithful. And this world he called Hell. But when he was
slowly bringing his faithful to the new world, Valriel treacherously
brought down a great fury upon the world, killing most of the faithful
that were left behind. So the Fire was finally enraged and decided to wage
the war that the Light wanted. And he opened many passages into the world
so that his armies could enter and destroy the minions of Valriel. And to
this war we are all called to chose sides and fight.


=head1 The Dwarven Creation Tale

A play by Shakesdor the Dwarf.

- What... where we come from? You’re not old enough for this
conversation.

- No, uncle, I mean as a whole... the world, the dwarves, the others.

- Ah. I see. (Big gulp of beer.) You mean, NOW?

- Yes, please. Pleeeease?

- *sigh* all right, all right. It goes like this.

First there was the Ore and the Forge. The Ore is what existence looked
like before it existed. The Forge was the untapped will, the potential in
the Ore to be everything that is, ever will be, or won’t.

Over a span of time that is not time, because time wasn’t forged yet,
some tiny scraps of Ore drifted into the Forge. A piece of the Forge
merged with that Ore and became sentient. He has many names, but we call
him Mostrai.

He spent ages of time-that-was-not-time exploring, learning the nature
of Ore and Forge and himself. Till he decided it was time to start
forging. And then, first of all, he forged time, so that he could separate
after from before, and so that he could exist absolutely - as opposed to,
at the same "time", existing and not being created yet, which was the
case if time didn’t exist.

Then, with things in order, he began forging things. The first thing he
forged was his armor, because he liked the touch of metal against his
body. Then he forged beer, because of course, beer is essential. He forged
it red like the Forge, and black like the Ore. The yellow thing, as we all
know, is an invention of those pansy elves.

And he liked the beer. He liked it so much, that he was bored of drinking
it alone. Beer calls for a party. So he created the boar and the bird, to
be roasted; he created the mundane fire, which was a toned-down version of
the essence of the Forge, to roast them. And then he created the dwarf, to
dress in metal like him, to work the forge with him, but most importantly
of all, to party with him and partake of the sacred beer.

But the dwarf started breeding like bugs, and it was quite distracting
to have them putting about in spaceless space. At any given point, there
were thousands of dwarves partying, thousands sleeping, thousands hunting,
and thousands forging. Mostrai thought it was good, but it was also damn
annoying. So he created an enormous mountain for them to live under. He
put the boar and bird, and a few other animals he had come up with later,
on the outside, where he forged woods and forest. And so that his children
wouldn’t wander forever, he placed these places in the middle of an
infinite ocean. There you have, that’s the story.

- Whoa. What about the others?

- *sigh* You won’t let me finish my beer, will you?

- You’ll never finish your beer, uncle. When you soak that mug,
there’s plenty more in the barrel.

- All right, all rigth. (Big gulp.)

The dwarves had amazing weapons to hunt with. Eventually, the hunt was
no challenge anymore. The best hunters would play-act wars between
themselves, to best hone their skills.

Mostrai was worried that those fights might one day evolve into real
wars. So he created an enemy, something very different from the dwarf,
something very obviously wrong, which lived in the woods and preferred
bows and other coward weapons rather than hand-to-hand combat. He made
them incredibly lucky, because otherwise they would stand no chance - and
they came to believe they’re lucky because they’re protected by their
god, which of course doesn’t exist. He also made them very old, so that
they would think they existed before the dwarf - otherwise they would just
recognize our superior position and submit. And all was good and happy;
for time beyond count, dwarf and elf honed their skills against each
other, and prospered.

I mean, have you ever fought an elf? Yes, it was an eternal war, but not
like those bloody gorefest the others have today. When dwarf and elf
fight, it’s clean, it’s beautiful, it’s according to the rules,
it’s a ritual of honor.

Well, I digress. All was well, I said. But one day, one elf created yellow
beer. And that offended Mostrai to a level of rage unseen before. So he
created an entire new piece of the world, and populated it with humans,
and other horrible creatures, and then let these young ones discover our
land, so that they may raze the elf forests, ruin the elf nations, and
soil their honor. We’re not stupid enough to argue with Mostrai, so we
went underground, and we’re waiting for that to happen, to see what he
will do next.

Can I drink in peace now? There, go play with your friends.


=head1 The Legend of the Builders

People of the Old Empire believed that the whole universe was made by
powerful beings called Builders. Builders were not part of the world
like gods were - they lived Outside. Little is known about the Builders
themselves. The priests of the Empire weren’t quite sure themselves
about their names. Some were universally known, though: Mawëdel the Ruler
or Peterëm the Writing One were the most popular of the ever changing
list of Builders.

The Builders understood very well how difficult it would be for them to
manage themselves every prayer made - making the Universe work was already
a time-consuming task. So they created gods to help them in their task.

Most of the gods we know today were already popular in the times of the
Old Empire, like Mostrai or Lythander. Others changed names as time
passed. Gods provided their powers to the Faithful Ones, and helped them
by providing blessings and powerful weapons. The priests of the Old Empire
never believed gods made the world, as they were themselves part of it;
world-building was the Builders task.


=head1 The Foundation of Scorn

Few archives remain from the times when Scorn was founded. The city is
probably the oldest of the whole known world. Before Fido, before the Old
Empire, maybe even before gods, Scorn was already there.

It is usually said that Scorn was founded by Skud the Great. Many legends
are telling about Skud, the half-mythical hero. How he captured the first
dragons. How he fought unknown monsters in the East. How he built Scorn
and the First Inn. Some priests even postulated that Skud was in fact a
Builder. Skud created the First Inn because he wanted to sleep inside a
house, without the risk of being attacked by monsters during the night. He
left the Holy Guestbook, one of the oldest relics of Crossfire, where he
and his fellow friends wrote their names. Skud disappeared long before the
Old Empire came, and nowadays only the Builders can probably remember him.

Recent researches show that, although he greatly contributed to the
popularity of the city, Skud didn’t found it: it was in fact created
by Tabb the Dark, a Builder that left very little information about him
behind. According to the Codex Skudensis that was discovered in the depths
of the Old City, "Scorn" would have been the real name of Tabb the
Dark.


=head1 The Coming of Color

It is said that centuries before the foundation of the Old Empire, the
world was colorless and sad. Aware of that problem, the Builders decided
to bring color in the life of the Crossfire people. They called the
massive powers of Xepemes, The Source Of All Colors, on the universe. The
magical burst slowly covered the world with colors, but some elements
resisted for a long time. Prophets of the Old Empire announced that,
although victorious, the force of Xepemes wouldn’t stay forever: one
day, it would eventually fade away against a more powerful magical force,
the mysterious Pegemes (or Peengees?). This happened - but much after the
fall of the Empire.


=head1 The Bigworld

The old world was small and it consisted of many pieces. Scorn, Navar,
Brittany and Santo Dominion were in one large piece. Darcap and the
Hill Village were in another smaller one. Lake Country was in yet
another. Pupland was still another. The world was not whole, and the
builders saw that this was wrong. They began the quest to unite the world
and established the Bigworld. As the builders united the world they saw
that it was much too small and began to make it larger. They raised up the
Great Mountains around Brest and they caused the Great Forest to grow. As
the time passed, Navar grew to become a great Kingdom and the builders
decided that it was a good city for players to call home and they gave the
Heroes a choice to serve Scorn or Navar. Nevertheless, Pupland is still
not part of this new world, but the builders wish to add it to the west of
Scorn.


=head1 Skud the Great

One of the first Builders. Skud created many famous places, like the
Scorn’s First Inn or the Newbie Tower.

The reasons of the disappearance of Skud are mostly unknown. The Codex
Skudensis mentions that it could have been because of the negative
influence of the Arch-Demon Neth Aq. It is thought that The Tower of Skud,
although left unfinished by its creator, may contain informations about
the fate of one of the most famous Builder


=head1 Legends of the Fall

=head2 Of the first things

First there was Chaos

Second there was Something and Nothing

Third there was Dark and Light

It is said that the Something and the Nothing would fight and that, the
Dark and Light would fight also.

This being told to me by a monk of Valriel, no longer in the order.

=head2 On the nature of elemental essences

It is said that of the four primary elements

- there is earth which is.

- there is water which changes.

- there is air which moves.

- there is fire which consumes.

=head2 Overheard in a Narcopian brothel

When Mother Earth was suckling her children

sky suckled from her right teat

but flame and sea fought to suckle from her left teat

this is why they still fight to this day
 

=head1 The Tale of Lord Butakis - The Lost Stars of the Lake, Volume I

This story begins nearly four thousand years ago, when Kadriosa IV, King
of Scorn, invaded the southern territories and pushed back the elven
barbarians that lived there.

The elvish people fled, and many of them settled in a place they called
Vkovzerov, "The Country of the Three Waters", as it was a rather
unique meeting point between a river, a lake, and the sea. There they
enjoyed a great prosperity, working with the local sprites to build
Tashkeren-tah, The City of the Wooden Towers.

Two centuries passed, then three. The elven princes of Tashkeren-tah had
become powerful - and never in their hearts was the thirst of revenge
and hatred towards the people of Scorn extinguished. Now very familiar
with the various water creatures that inhabited their territory, they
had developed great skills in commanding rivers, and the beasts inside
them, and the creatures made from them. They knew that Scorn was highly
dependent on its seaport, and they had planned for the many years their
long life gave them to use the great power of water spirits to crush and
flood the city.

But despite all their accumulated knowledge, their powers were too limited
to direct the most powerful entities of the seas, the Mouthes of the
Mariner, none other than the Greater Aquomons.

For a long time, they were hesitant to call those, as they were dangerous,
treacherous creatures born during the darkest ages of the world, when
Haemdel the Legendary was crushed and the Three Artifacts lost. But so
strong was their flame of hatred that it soon burned the ropes of their
carefulness. Using their most powerful summoning spell, they convocated
one of the Greater Aquomons before them.

"Who are you, you creatures with pointy ears, to dare awaken me from my
dreams, me, Vërno, the Fourth Drop ?"

Elven Princes exposed what they wanted to Vërno, and the creature seemed
very interested at the idea of grabbing all the richesses of Scorn, and
bringing them back into his dark kingdom of the depth of the sea.

"Very well, said Vërno, but you know, I suppose, that we are all bound
by the Law of Equilibrium, established by the gods themselves when the
world was new and the seas infinite. And for my services, you’ll have to
pay the price."

- And what do you want for a price ? - Well, my needs are rather
modest. I’ll only claim a tenth of your own lands as a reward."

The Elven Princes quickly discussed the matter, and came to the conclusion
that it was a rather fair price to pay - after all, their territories
weren’t very large, and there was a lot of empty space all around, so
it wasn’t really a problem for them. Maybe it would for a couple of
peasants, but who cared about them more than of the vengeance against
Scorn ?

And so they answered: "The Fate of Scorn is Sealed, then. We accept."

What happened then is too long to tell in details here, as it belongs
to another story. In short, Jovidjevska the elven girl, who had heard
everything, travelled to Scorn, and convinced the city wizards of the
truth of the menace. And when Vërno came to crush the city, they moved it
two days into the future, and the water hand of the Fourth Drop grabbed
only emptiness.

Vërno, furious, came back to the Elves with a big smile, and told
them: "I did what you wanted, and flooded the territory on which Scorn
was established. Now I take my due price."

And that said, he selected the area on which the Elven City itself was
built, and covered it with water, its inhabitants trapped and killed there
without understanding what was happening.


=head1 The Tale of Lord Butakis - The Lost Stars of the Lake, Volume II

Two thousand years passed. The lineage of the kings of Scorn died,
and another dynasty came, and another one after that. Wars were
conducted. Wizards of Scorn fled, and most of the knowledge disappeared,
and there were nothing but lakes and forests above the dead city of the
elves.

And then, a man came. Where did he come from ? Nobody knows for
sure. Butakis was his name.

Butakis was an ambitious young man. He had heard here and there strange
pieces of a weird story, about a sunken city, about a dark pact, about the
secret power of elves...

For years, he studied the Arcanes, hunting for traces of the city, as he
was convinced that the lost wisdom of the elves of Vkovzerov would give
him a great power. And, finally, after 20 long years of searching, he
concluded that the secret was in the area now called "Lake Country".

And there, he came, and there was a small house made of wood, and there
was a tree, and there was a young elvish woman, dreaming at the stars,
under the tree. And Butakis fell in love, and the elvish lady fell in
love, and they both watched the stars. But soon, Butakis felt the need of
getting back into action, and finding the lost city and getting its power.

The lady told him: "The true wisdom is in those stars, and in that
tree, and in that house you see. You’ll only find unrest by aiming for
more."

But Butakis had already made up his mind, and he brought back engineers,
and sappers, and miners, and they all worked to build a huge machine to
pump the water, and discover the city. During ten years, Butakis worked on
this, hoping that in the end, the elvish lady would be at his side, and
that she would be his wife, princess of the restored city.

During all the work, he was perpetually annoyed by a small group of
bandits, lead by Twak the Red Fox. Twak and his men conducted a real
guerilla war against Butakis, as they saw him as a danger for the whole
country, because his plans were damaging nature and could also have awaken
dark power sleeping in the sunken city. Several times, they sabotaged
the machine, stole tools, raped engineers and designers. But each time,
Butakis and his followers repaired the machines, engaged new people, and
increased security.


=head1 The Tale of Lord Butakis - The Lost Stars of the Lake, Volume III

And now, ten years after the beginning, the work was completed, and he
invited the elvish lady to come and see the accomplishment of a lifelong
dream.

The Elvish lady came, as beautiful as ever. And on the balcony at the top
of the pump, they watched the stars, and she kissed him, and she when they
were in the bed he had prepared for that very special night before the
pumping started, she whispered at his ear.

That, Butakis had waited for long, but he didn’t expect what she told
him then.

"Ten years you were away, and ten years I watched the stars with
Twak. And now for him, and for he choose me and my heart, I’ll
disappear, and so does your dream."

Butakis understood that he had been fooled, that she only kept her
attention away enough for Twak and three of his faithful men to sabotage
the pump. And so came a great rumble from the basis of the huge building,
and so the huge engines exploded, and so was his dream reduced to smoke,
smoke that still covers most of Lake Country nowadays. The Elvish lady
probably died, as nobody saw her again after that. And so did the brave
Twak, but his spirit survived in the wind - or so say some people.

Butakis, so strange as it may look, managed to survive, although in bad
shape, as one would expect. Disfigured, he survived until now using black
magic or machines to keep him alive, and he tried to gather again men to
restart his project. But it was now said all around that it was a doomed,
broken man - and so he in fact was Lake country was said to be haunted by
Twak, and several travellers saw a young elvish lady, watching the stars
at night, under a tree, near the lake.

Nobody ever accepted to work on the foolish project again. Butakis now
awaits in his sinister castle, ruling a shattered kingdom lost in the fog
his machine left behind. A tormented man, that is said to look in the
direction of the lake from the highest tower of his castle, every night.

But for him never came again the Elvish girl, and forever his soul stays
alone. And so ends what we know about Butakis and Twak, and so dies my
story.


=head1 The Wizard School of Blue

"Although the School disappeared with the Empire itself from The World,
several wizards claimed to be the heirs of their ancient, secret wisdom,
and nicknamed "the Blue Ones", a reference to the color of the School
Banner." – Gros, the Irrelevant One


=head1 The Great Heliograph

A device made by Mer’Eric the Walker. Built on the highest point of the
Brestian Hills, it is basically a giant magnifying glass, using a complex
mechanism commanding several mirrors, that is able to concentrate the
sunlight into a powerful beam. The concentrator is associated to a Sun
Stone that can receive similar long-range light signals and transform
them into pure thaumic energy. A keyboard is attached to a mechanical
obturator, allowing a single operator to send coded messages to very long
distances. A magically-powered scriptor writes any such incoming message
capted by the Sun Stone.

Although Mer’Eric only saw the Great Heliograph as a research project
and as a way to communicate easily across huge distances, this device
is also a powerful weapon that can burn nearly anything several miles
away. This is probably why he decided to hide it in a sealed cave.

A similar device was built by the Mad Mage of Scorn, but its fate is
unknown.


=head1 The Harelkirjan Sisters

Also called the Twin Witches, they were two powerful women wizards; Herin
was specialized in White Magic, while her sister Urdin was a master of the
Black Art. Both of them tried to improve the life of the people living
all around their house, and introduced the use of cats as spirit-watchers
in Scorn. Unfortunately for them, they were burned by an angry Brestian
fanatical mob for "illegal use of Arcane Powers".


=head1 Ilrya, The Mountain Huntress

Ilrya was an elven spellcaster and huntress from the underground city of
Eallera, that is venerated as a lesser god by most of the dwarves living
in the Northern Territories. She killed the Bear of Snuddenrach in 3657EK.


=head1 Irial, The Fast One, The Shy Light

Irial is a lesser spirit of flashlight - the light that you can see when
there’s thunder, for example. It is represented as a small, jumpy and
fast fairy with a temperamental mood.


=head1 Khorolizov

One of the three great dwarven kingdoms. "Khorolizov" means "Green
Gold", which is a reference to the Green Sand, an alchemical component
the dwarves of Khorolizov are the only ones to produce. It is probably
the oldest of the three kingdoms, founded long before the Old Empire of
Khelens reached the shores of the Continent.


=head1 Kragi, The Crocodile One, Fish-Hunter

Kragi is a very ancient spirit, representing the Dangerous Waters, and
the creatures hidden in stagnant swamps. Kragi was already feared by
Ancient Jiradittis, 2000 years before Khelens. A lot of river fishermen
symbolically throw one fish out of what they gathered, to appease the
spirit of Kragi so that the next fishing will go without trouble.


=head1 Cromli, The Rocky One

Crolmi is the Dwarven Spirit of Rocs and Mountains. It has no temples, as
it is said that buildings made of stone anger him (it is like "building
with his own flesh").


=head1 Glamdri, The Darkness Breaker, The Last Standing One

Glamdri is a lesser spirit of light - it is said that candlelights are
manifestations of Glamdri, for example.

Glamdri doesn’t represent a magical light - more a spiritual light, the
last pinch of hope in a desperate world. Glamdri also represents original
thinking used to get out of difficult situations, as opposed to Sarikka -
the Raging Fire - who tries to resolve those by extreme violence.


=head1 Archmage Rhyz, (Entorinaas Durdennis Rhyz, Fourth Archmage of the Seat, Herdysenmark of Normania)

Rhyz was an Archmage of the Blue School during the Old Days of the Empire.

"(...)Unlike Dhelyy Olyy, his contemporary rival for the Seat, Rhyz
focused mostly on closing the gap that existed between the art of fighting
and the Arcane. While Dhelyy Olyy believed in the dual association of the
Warrior and the Wizard, each with its own strength increased by a long
specialization in their respective fields, Rhyz believed in the idea of
a "super warriard", a combination of a powerful wizard and a strong
warrior. As such, he devised many items that increased the strength and
combat capabilities of their wearers, hoping that wizard apprentices would
so be more inclined to learn the battle skills of warriors.

Unfortunately for Rhyz, most of his followers relied more and more on
magical strength more than physical training, leaving them to a severe
defeat at the Battle of Moriach, when Dhelyy used an anti-magic field over
them."

(Quote from the Codex Simochusianus, Volume XVII)


=head1 Archdaemonist Xebinon

Xebinon was an Archmage and Daemonist that was since trapped by a demon of
the 10th Circle in his mannor.

It is said that Xebinon used the Crown of Hellfires to try to tame the
Arch-daemon (and failed) - this is a crown that gave a lot of power, but
drained the magical force of the wearer at the same time, making the spell
regeneration more difficult. This was in fact a cursed, twisted artifact,
created by daemons for people who were seeking short-term power, but would
thus head directly for long-term soul slavery.

Xebinon is sometimes called "The faceless one", as it is said that the
daemon trapped him by stealing his visage. This may explain why magical
artifacts wearing his name are often helmets.


=head1 Argoth, the Fish-City of the Two Towers

Argoth is the name of a city that was located West of Scorn, in the middle
of the sea, in an island that since sunken after the explosion of the
volcano of the same name, in 674EK. It is called the City of the Two
Towers, because two huge towers were built there, to guide the ships
navigating on the oceans between Bigworld and Khelens.

Argoth was a dwarven city built on one of the highest mountains known,
rooted in the depths of the sea, and climbing so high in the skies that
uneducated travelers said that it was a "stairway to the gods". On the
top of the mountain, the Imperial Governors built the Two Towers, who were
visible from Scorn, about 200km far from them.

The dwarves of Argoth had a terrible secret: in the depths of the caves
below the mountains, they had trapped Hregalakhen, one of the last
survivors of the race of the Ancient Dragons, who ruled Bigworld long
before the time of humans. Unfortunately for the dwarves, the dragon got
free for an unknown reason, and destroyed the city, the mountain crumbling
and disappearing forever into the ocean. The Imperial authorities spread
the false story of a volcanic eruption to limit the panic a free dragon
the size of Hregalakhen would have caused in the population. The fate of
the dragon is unknown to this day.


=head1 Zormola, The Bashing One

Zormola was a great female orcish warrior, that is sometimes considered
as a lesser divinity by not only orcs, but also by southern barbarians or
even dwarves of Herfensheim, who salute her courage on the battlefield.


=head1 Morgul, The Tower Builder, The Dark Climber

Morgul was a Dark Mage that built a tower in the hope of creating a bridge
with the skies, so that demons could attack heavens. Fortunately for
angels, a group of adventurers defeated him in 2374EK.


=head1 Wolfen the White, The White Hunter, The One Who Listens

Wolfen is one of the three moons orbiting around The World. It is said to
be the spirit of the legendary hunter Wolfen, who tracked Kalkaruntes, God
of the Dragons, to is cavern and vainquished it.

In astrology, Wolfen is the symbol of practical mind, swiftness and
flexibility, but also cowardice and stealing. It is associated with the
Earth element in Alchemancy. Wolfen is seen as a protector by hunters and
rangers. Priests of Lythander think it is the reincarnation of the wolf
that hunts with Lythander in the divine forests of Nerënna. Fenxes see it
as Fixas, the one that saved them from the Humans so long ago.


=head1 Ranisha the Red, The Red Death, The One Who Commands

Ranisha is one of the three moons orbiting around the world of
Crossfire. It is said to be the spirit of the legendary warrior Ranisha,
who was supposed to be an invincible general that was even able to
vainquish gods themselves on the battlefield.

In astrology, Ranisha is the symbol of violence, hatred, murder, but
also of strength and courage. It is associated with the fire element in
Alchemancy. Priests of Ruggili consider it as the watchful eye of their
god.


=head1 Asferenn the Blue, The Blue Sister, The One Who Suggests

Asferenn is one of the three moons orbiting around the world of
Crossfire. It is said to be the spirit of the legendary wizard Asferenn,
who was said to have been able to force the gate of the divine dimension.

In astrology, Asferenn is the symbol of wisdom, endurance in effort,
diplomacy, but also treachery and dark secrets. It is associated with the
water element in Alchemancy. It is said that the cycle of water creatures
are strongly influenced by Asferenn.


=head1 Story of Lorkas the Fallen, Volume I

I’ll tell you about Lorkas of Amudrias, and how he found the White Bird
of Hope, and how he capitained it, opening the Gates of the Sun, and some
stuff like that.

Some say that Lorkas was an angel of Valriel, that fell long ago from the
Skies, stealing a couple of highly holy artifacts, and hiding them in his
new underground domains.

Some also say that Lorkas is a dark spirit, a lost soul, an unclean,
unfaithful, untrusty creature of Doom and Chaos.

But, for what matters, some also said that Fido was a fiction, or that
the Empire never was more than a dream of a past that never existed. Some
definitely are foolishly uninformed for sure, and speak more than they
think.

Because, if they were less quick on jumping to conclusions, they’d
quickly notice how difficult it is for an angel to fall from the sky and
never be able to climb back, as if wild gooses were never able to take off
again once they land after their long journey to the South.

Anyway, as every wise man knows, Lorkas was no angelic creature of divine
essence, or even a magical creation of a godly force.

Some say that Khelens is the Beginning, first of the Cities of Men. That,
too, is untrue: before the Age of Khelens was the Time of the Kingdoms
at War. And before them, the Era of Songor the Great. And going back
through the thick book of history, you’ll cross Arnistar of the Desert
Dwellers, the Republic of the Two Rivers, and the Ancient Haemdel, and the
Kingdom of the Long Wall. And before it, the forgotten towers of light
that Horadrists built.


=head1 Story of Lorkas the Fallen, Volume II

Lorkas was born in Kuratas, a small agrarian state that existed on the
Coronian Valley, when Songer and Khelens were still in infancy. He was a
boy that wanted to see everything, to understand the world and its stars,
and discover its limits, for it was extending much further than the mists
of his home valley.

But life was rude in Kuratas, and trying to think about anything else than
your next harvest wasn’t well perceived by most; and, more than often,
Lorkas dreamed with tears and despair about the Mountains with the white
tops, and Seas that ended only when they touched the sky, far away.

Tired of his senseless life, he left his parents, his village, his
friends, when he was only 12, and for weeks walked to the West, until he
reached the Coast of the Stonewalls.

And there, he saw Ottarakans, the Infinite Ocean that extends west of the
Old World, and so fell in love for the sea. He then joined the Port of
Kridatta, which was famous for its ships, as its inhabitants had mastered
a powerful arcane, so that their boats roamed not only the seas, but the
very clouds themselves.

Because he was smart and quick-brained, Lorkas soon got enrolled in the
team of Capt’n Bortaras; and after several adventures I shall maybe tell
about another day, he took the succession of the old mariner.

Horizon was the name of his ship, and famous was his crew, exploring huge
territories and fighting the Princes of Sinas, who back then tried to put
the whole area under their iron, greedy grasps.


=head1 Story of Lorkas the Fallen, Volume III

But Lorkas heard about a wonder that him and his crew soon wanted to
find: The White Bird of Hope.

Buried in the Very East, it was said to be. And so he sailed east; he
crossed the Great Desert, passed the Mountains of Daigojij, reached the
forests oft he western normanika. But still was the Bird further away.

Reaching the Eastern Ocean, they decided to try to cross it, despite that
it was said to be the end of the world. And for 30 days and nights, across
tempests and monsters, they firmly kept heading east, east, east.

When despair was growing on them, mists magically opened, revealing a
golden city built on what seemed to be a rich, fertile coastal plain.

People there spoke a strange language; they were small and not unlike
joyful foxes, and they welcomed Lorkas and his men (and women)
warmly. Soon, they learned to understand each other enough.

They called themselves "The People of the Mother", and they had
never seen the "Flat-Eared Giants" before, although they already met
"Flat-Eared Beards" and "Flat-Eared Greens" before.

But there was a lady called Sonja. And, although she wasn’t human, she
seemed brighter, smarter, more beautiful than any other woman Lorkas had
ever seen before.

Those months were the most wonderful for him - and her - and time seemed
to have stopped for them in their endless love. But of course it hadn’t.

And after a while, some of his men wanted to go back to their own homes,
and some wanted for their families to come to the Golden City. And, also,
there was the Bird.

They had no problem to find the White Bird of Hope - a statue entirely
made of the purest of the white marble, with gemstones of red ruby as
eyes. But so much the inhabitants liked it, so they thought that a
valuable friend was much better than a valuable statue.

And so they said: "Take the bird as a gift of us to your masters, to
show them we want to make friendship with them. Welcome are the friends of
the children of the White Bird."

And so Lorkas left, promising Sonja that he’d soon return.

The people of the Golden City also told him that "The Bird is imbued
with powerful magic: the one owning it will always keep hope."


=head1 Story of Lorkas the Fallen, Volume IV

When Lorkas came back, he and his men were welcomed as heroes. So where
does the story turns sour, as Lorkas is said to have fallen from the skies?

Well, when he and his crew came back home, Kridatta was at war with Sinas,
and for several years, he and his crew fought, using the power of the Bird
to help them. And during those years, Lorkas kept in his heart the hope of
seeing again Sonja.

Then came the Fever Plague, that killed a third of the people in the
Ancient World. And again was the Bird used, and again did Lorkas help all
those he could help, still having hope of seeing the Golden City again
soon.

And then, he sent messengers and explorers, as he had become influent,
rich, and powerful, across the seas, to rebind the ties with the Golden
City, as he promised. But they all came without finding their way to
those faraway shores; yet all that time, and for each new mission sent to
explore the seas and the skies, they seemed closed and closer from the
goal.

Sixty years passed. The world changed; new kingdoms ruled old cities;
Lorkas was now an old man that lived in a small house looking at the
Ocean.

And still, each day, he spent hours waiting, watching the line where the
sea met the sky, hoping that one day, one would sail back and tell him:
"we found the Golden City !". And always he hoped, but never received.

Nearly all of his companions were now dead, and the Horizon had been
retired long ago, now slowly rotting in the bay, fading souvenir of a long
forgotten past.


=head1 Story of Lorkas the Fallen, Volume V

Lorkas walked to his boat, and where there was only tarnished wood and
corroded metal, he still saw the fierce ship on which he saw Sonja for the
first time, so long ago. Who knows what he did, then? One thing is sure:
the vigile of the Sea Tower of Kridatta, that watched boats coming and
leaving from dozens of miles away, reported that an ancient ship left the
bay, with Lorkas sitting at the front of it, holding the Bird, as if he
was sleeping.

Nobody knows exactly where he went. Was he even dead? Nobody knows. But
everybody kept hope that, one day, he’d reach the Golden City
again. Lots of people tried to find the Bird after that event. They all
accused Lorkas of having "stolen" it. The story became legend. The
legend became fairy tale. And the fairy tale got forgotten by most.

Yet, Centuries ago, deep in the oldest parts of the Old City of Scorn,
people claimed to have found an ancient mausoleum, a relic of the
past. All made of the purest, finest gold. On the walls were engraved a
man at the wheel of a strange ship, and a woman with pointy ears, watching
the skies. And many nowadays keep the Hope that the White Bird now sleeps
down below the streets, having found its way back to home with Lorkas.

But who could tell if it is the truth, or only a silly story? Who
knows? As for myself, I don’t care: I just hold hope it is. And so ends
the Story of Lorkas, and so keeps Hope running.


=head1 The Prison of Madness

It is said that deep in the underworld there is a vast maze that will make
everybody who dares to enter die of madness.

It starts in a room, with a row of mirrors to the south. pass through
those, and carry on slightly further, and you are in the maze proper.

Little is known about the maze, but Worus the Wanderer claimed to have been
in it, seen many of its wonders and returned.

He also wrote a book that details all the ways and passages, alas, nobody
could decipher it yet:

gb2trg2gb2gur2rkvg:
2jnaqre2nebhaq2hagvy2lbh2ybpngr2n2znc2aN,
2vg2vf2ba2gur2obggbz2ragenapr2bs2n2znc.
2bapr2gung2vf2ybpngrq2tb2evtug,
2hc,
2evtug,
2evtug,
2evtug,
2evtug,
2evtug,
2lbh2jvyy2or2ng2gur2rkvg.
2gb2trg2gb2gur2inhyg:
2jnaqre2ebhaq2hagvy2lbh2trg2gb2znc2aN1,
vg2vf2gb2gur2evtug2bs2n2abezny2znc.
2tb2hc,
2yrsg,
2hc,
2yrsg,
2qbja,
2qbja,
2evtug,
2qbja,
2qbja,
2qbja.2Lbh2jvyy2or2va2gur2unyy,
2tb2guebhtu2naq2gb2gur2yrsg2gb2ernpu2gur2inhyg.

 
=head1 Order of the Gravestone

An ancient order of druids, that venerated the supposed gravestone of
the Spirit of Khalbow. The Spirit was supposed to be a symbol of eternal
renewal and redemption, that lived a regular, short-term dead/revival
cycle. The Order of the Gravestone was very popular during the first
Millenia EK, but then went extinct. No druid is known to exist today, and
the exact location of the gravestone has long been forgotten.


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