OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF TRITHOFAR: Warning Some Spoilers Will Apply

I plan to make novels out of the materials contained below.  This is more for me than for anyone, as a reference and guide in Trithofar.  However, if you wish to know more, it's below.

I.                    
The Creation of Trithofar: ???-???  All of the following is collected from the writings of various sages, seers, scholars, and philosophers throughout Trithofar.  Willeonis Treborrin himself claims credit for quite a bit of this part of the world’s knowledge of itself.  This is called The Core, or the Vartemaeic Weaving, or The Story of Trithofar, or many other names.  Various religions and vartem of Trithofar subscribe to parts and pieces of this story to make sense of the world and universe in which they live. 

a.       The Garden of the Aaviri: During this time, the ‘Children of God,’ or some unknown race of creatures, who would later be labeled the Aaviri, participate in the creation of the universe and cosmos, and eventually Trithofar. 

b.      The Birth of Life: More and more, the Highest is entrusting the Aaviri to get along, and entrusts the stability and interactions of the universe.  Bedrock laws and rules of creation are established.  The Highest is the only being able to create something from nothing.  The Aaviri are allowed to manipulate and meddle with the materials of the universe, infusing them with energy from what will alter be called the Sark.  Eventually, the Aaviri, are able to create something new, something none of them have ever seen before: stable systems of interactive elements.  A spark is kindled.  Life is born. 

c.       The Highest’s Pleasure and Guidance:  The Highest is pleased with the invention of life among his children, and he seems to guide them to create beings that interact with one another.  The Aaviri begin to build upon their discovery, creating new things.  It is very like a father teaching his children how to light and maintain a fire for a campsite. Life emits a certain light which is pleasing to the Highest and to the Aaviri as well. 

d.      The Creation of Reproduction: The complexity of life increases.  Reproduction is created, with different Aaviri creating different means for their beings to reproduce. Eventually, it is discovered that, like putting a branch to a pile of kindling, new fire can be made, and spread.  Life becomes something independent of the Aaviri, something self-sustaining.  A creature made up of pieces and parts is established, and bodily systems are created, effectively.   

e.      The First Death: The flames are kindled, the lamps are lit, life is created, but soon after, death is discovered.  The creatures first created do not last forever, like a flame with limited fuel, the systems created don’t last.  They break down.  They fall apart.  The first things created die almost immediately after they are created, or after they have reproduced. 

f.        The Invention of Eating: The Highest tells them that the nature of the Substance is to change and be changed, but retain itself as well.  Therefore, without proper maintenance, no fire will last.  The spark of life will only last as it is sustained.  The Aaviri continue to change and adjust their creations, until one Aaviri creates the process of eating.  He or She creates a creature that eats something else, takes what it needs from that something, and throws the rest away.  Therefore, the creature’s body maintains itself. 

g.       The First Compromise of the Gods: Naturally, the aaviri who created the eaten creatures become angry at the one who creates something that eats their creations. So, they create things to eat the eaters.  Now there is struggling among the aaviri, until the Highest creates a balance, a limit to how much can be eaten.  The natural life cycles are put in place.  Creatures eating creatures, benefitting off those things that fall apart, fail, or fall short of perfection in some way.  This is a compromise. 

h.      The First Soul: One of the Aaviri creates a being with great power. 

                                                   i.      This part of the story is unclear.  Which vartem was created first is usually determined by the member of the vartem telling the story.  For instance, Kinto-Shah would say they were the first vartem, while elves would say they are the first, and Kunjels likewise, and so on and so forth, implying or directly stating, the other vartems to be monstrous deviations from the first and most perfect patterns.  When asked repeatedly about this bit, Willeonis never, ever answered, except to say: The first creature to think was a great and amazing thing, to be beheld and admired by all.   

                                                 ii.      What actually occurred was a being was created with a soul: Some aaviri created a being that could make choices for itself, a creature that could actually have preferences, to desire one thing rather than another.  This creature could decide to eat one type of food and not eat another.  This creature could choose when to reproduce and when not to reproduce.  This creature could think great thoughts.  Most scholars of Trithofar claim that these beasts were The First Dragons (Dragons here not meaning creatures with scales and horns and claws and generally large unpleasant lizards, but primitive beings with a brain, which may have been great and mighty to look at). 

                                                iii.      Whatever these creatures were, they were very powerful and probably overmade: Because this creature had a soul, it put out a new and different light, a strange and beautiful light that pleased the Highest greatly.  They were more powerful than any other creature, because the maker of this being wished to have them last, to not be eaten by any other creature, and so they were made very powerful, able to kill and eat the other creatures without souls. 

                                               iv.      And this light within them, once kindled, would not die out.  Instead, as the creature grew stronger and became an adult, this light grew brighter and was very beautiful.  But the aaviri who lacked the ability to make creatures with souls grew jealous, and those who liked the first lights, also grew resentful, and they said the souled-creatures would eventually drown out the light of the rest, and would eventually kill all the others and extinguish them.

                                                 v.      Meanwhile, other aaviri began to try and make more efficient, simpler, or more elaborate ways of kindling the soul lights.  They took up animals from the trith and formed them in similar ways to the first.  Over time, they made other creatures with souls whose lights were equally bright, just as beautiful, and unable to be extinguished, also.  Thus, the vartem were born.  

i.         The War of the Aaviri:  The Highest was pleased with the creations of his children, and he praised them all.  But some wanted all the praise.  There were among the Aaviri some who did not like to create things.  Perhaps they sought solitude.  Perhaps they wanted quiet.  Perhaps they were merely malicious and enjoyed hurting the creations of the others.  “Among the Aaviri were those who were evil and cruel, who resented the others their creations, who wished to establish the world as they wished, who saw no need for compromise among the creations of the world.”  Thus, these wicked aaviri began a campaign against the creations of the other aaviri, and even against the aaviri themselves.  It was said that many aaviri were destroyed in this time, and the more aaviri who were killed, the less stable the world of Trithofar became.  Thus, magic was made.   

j.        The Anger of the Highest:  Because of the doings of the aaviri and the wars that were made between them and their creations, the Highest exploded in anger.  He struck down the displeasing Aaviri, taking from them their Creation Lights, and casting them out into the darkness, banishing them forever.  He spoke to the aaviri and told them only to please him, or they would be crushed under the weight of his judgment, too.   

k.       The Creation of Ollogriath: Some of the Aaviri feared the return of the wicked ones, and so constructed together the Greatest Dragon (whether or not this was the first Dragon is unclear and hotly debated among most Trithofarian scholars).  He was huge, it was said.  Many scholars disagree on just how huge, but to be huge for an aaviri is a very big deal.  Some scholars say he was big enough to “bite his own tail around the world” while others said he’d blot out cities if he flew over them.  Still others think he would become “like the sky.”  Then again, all the words about his size might have been metaphors for his great power.  The creators of Ollogriath gave him the mission of being a protector for both the realm of the Sark, in which the Aaviri lived, and as a protector of their Creations in the Substance.  Ollogriath was a being of both worlds, and it was said he could see in both worlds equally well.  The Aaviri even made him able to harm other Aaviri with his mighty claws.   

l.         The Fall of Ollogriath:  Because the Aaviri designed and ‘birthed’ Ollogriath, he was not perfect by any means.  He was a great and powerful creature, but not perfect.  And unfortunately, just how he was supposed to protect the world of Trithofar, was not ever really established clearly.  Furthermore, he was made king of the world of Trithofar, fully capable of ruling over the world with his might, fully capable of seeing the doings of the creatures beneath him.  The greatest misfortune was that the fallout from the Wars between the Aaviri was not over.  The vartemaea still fussed and fought amongst themselves over territory, still made attempts to kill each other.  Ollogriath was unclear as to which Vartemaea to support and judge in favor of and when.   

                                                   i.      It is said, his great responsibility for the peoples of Trithofar drove him to madness.  Having to treat one race differently than another, or when to treat one race the same as another, was too much for him, and so he attempted to destroy all but one.  The one he did not try to destroy were those like him, Dragons.  Instead, he encouraged dragons to unite with him and destroy all other vartemaea, so their needs would be the only needs, so that they would rule the world.  

                                                 ii.      Again, this is something hotly contested.  Some people said that Ollogriath divided himself up into several dragons, and still others say he divided himself up into 4 dragons, which eventually became the Qwadro.  They say he sent these dragons out through the world, giving them his sight and his knowledge, but only pieces of it, and this incomplete knowledge corrupted his mind, and thus, he set about the destruction of the world.    

                                                iii.      One of the most commonly held theories is:  The Qwadro actually possessed him, and they were some of the banished aaviri who came back into the ‘universe’ or the ‘world’ or whatever it’s called in the stories.  They poisoned Ollogriath’s mind and attempted to use him to destroy all the souls in the world.   

                                               iv.      ***  Each of the stories above has a piece of the truth to it.  That something happened to Ollogriath and he went mad is one of the most easily agreed upon bits of the entire mythos behind Trithofar.  That Ollogriath had the ability to see through the Sark and see the aaviri as well as see into the world of Trithofar is also agreed-upon.  Further, that he was some sort of judge of the world unable to actually correctly judge the world, is also agreed upon. Ollogriath dividing himself up is an explanation about how dragons reproduce. They share themselves and create together their offspring.  Dragons who “dream well” will have beautiful and perfect offspring, while Dragons who attempt to merely divide themselves without another dragon with them will become less, monstrous, and dangerous. 

As Ollogriath attempted to destroy all life in Trithofar but that which was like himself, the Aaviri took their life that they created and fled Trithofar.  The death of some of the Aaviri, and the destabilizing effects thereof, allowed them to flee to other worlds.  The Highest grew outraged at what occurred in his garden, the “‘watchdog’ broke the children’s toys and chased the children, biting and snapping at them with fierceness.” So, he struck Ollogriath down, and he cursed the dragons for siding with him.  Thus, came The Havening.

Some Aaviri and some of their creations were left in Trithofar.  Forests and animals were allowed to prosper as they could.  Only a few vartemaea were left at all, and among these were the gnoblins, who were given great minds and peculiar abilities. 

It is believed that it is during this time, while the Highest was at his angriest, the final laws were written.  These might refer to what was ultimately labeled as “The Laws of the Gods,” or they might have been the physical and spiritual limitations placed in the universe.  It is not entirely clear, but a few things were established in this battle among the Aaviri against Ollogriath and his followers:

1.       The Highest desires peace and love between creations. 

2.       The Aaviri are imperfect, though very, very powerful.  Almost demi-godlike, as regards people below them. 

3.       There is something particularly special about a soul, and the Highest values and treasures them. 

4.       The Final Judgment on all Things is not just reserved for humans, kunjels, kinto-shah, l’wii and other elf-like creatures, or mortals.  It is reserved also for the Aaviri.

5.       The Aaviri are very fearful of The Highest.  They seek to do his will, and seek to please him with their creations.  They know full well the Highest can and will destroy those who displease him, that he is the creator of them, and they have a better view of him and his desires than humans and people do. 

6.       The Aaviri come in two forms now in Trithofar:

a.       The Greater: The Greater Aaviri are those who basically become a bridge between their creation and the Highest.  They guide their creations and hope to present the souls they establish to the Highest as gifts of beauty.  These are Aaviri who are not afraid to make choices and seek the Highest’s forgiveness for their part in what happened with Ollogriath, as well as they seek his grace and mercy for not being perfect.  No, they are not people, but are in a position similar to humans, but on a much larger scale.   

b.      The Lesser: Lesser aaviri are creatures who, fearing the Highest’s retribution for disobedience or deviance from the Highest’s will, hold the world together.  These are beings responsible for magic and responsible for ensuring that certain things happen in Trithofar.  It is not clear how this came to be, but these creatures indwell lesser things, protect or work with them, and continue things according to certain universal, physical laws.  Some of them are willing to be manipulated a little, but most of these creatures so fear the final judgment, they will maintain their posts forever.  These would be aaviri who are responsible for gravity, the winds, making a rock stay a rock, etc.  Lesser Aaviri are not smart enough to judge things for themselves and continue doing what they do until they are told to do something else by a very powerful will.   

II.                  The Havening: 0 The Havened Age -~10,000 HA or “The Asylum Era” 

a.       Most of the vartemaea were swept away into their own worlds.  The Kunjels and kinto-shah went to their respective worlds, the humans to theirs, the elves to theirs, and the dragons to theirs.   

b.      For thousands of years, these races remained in these worlds, being raised and guided by the Aaviri that brought them there.  Their creators had, apparently, lost by then their abilities to simply create things, perhaps more fallout from the Fall of Ollogriath, and so they helped guide their respective vartemaea towards the future. 

c.       They guided them towards morality, technology, spirituality and religion, etc.  Because the different Aaviri knew the Highest better and could see better into both worlds, the Aaviri continued to serve as a sort of liaison between their respective charges and the Highest.  On almost every world, creatures with a soul were given highest priority, whether this was a command of the Highest or not is unclear. 

III.                The Great Immigrations or The Age of Doors: ~10,000 Settled Age-15,000 SA

0 Age of Open Doors-5000 AOD 

For whatever reason, various events on the various Haven Worlds, would lead to the vartemaea returning to Trithofar.  The first to return are believed to be humans, who managed to find their way into almost every corner.  Here then, is the believed order of migrations into Trithofar (based upon records of civilizations as far back as can be dated). 

Gnoblins: Either never left Trithofar or arrived earlier in some strange fashion.

Goblins: Flesh-bound creatures of indeterminate racial quality. Basically, goblins are believed to be dragonoids and innately capable of magic, though many goblins never are disciplined enough to control magic very well.

Gnomes: Gnomes are also innately magical, though very few are very physical in nature.  Instead, they tend to occupy objects.  Sometimes, they are mistaken for ghosts or poltergeists.  They lack any serious corporality unless they are connected with certain materials, particularly pieces of metal.  It is believed that gnomes and goblins were dragonoids, but basically started as pieces of a dragon who attempted to reproduce itself and grew slowly more limited in its vision and scope. They could be the closest link to the prototypical souled-creature, particularly demonstrable in the way goblins reproduce themselves (by infecting other creatures and having their offspring bud off from the being they infected).    

                                Terrilian Humans: ~100 AOD

                                Allorinian Humans: ~200 AOD

                                Frosomian Humans: ~300 AOD

                                Selahkan and Seruktan Humans: ~400-500 AOD

                                Viprun ~1000 AOD

                                Hials: ~1000 AOD

Kinto-Shah: ~1000 AOD

                                Kunjels: ~1000 AOD

                                L’wii Elves: ~1000 AOD

                                T’wii Elves: ~1000 AOD

                                Murrogs: ~4500 AOD (Actually during another Era). 

Nargs and Gincha*: ~7000 to 8000 AOD (The Nargs and Gincha are believed to

be a “created race,” believed bred into existence by an Aethren flesh crafter or chirogan)

Kaeborians: During the First Qwadro Wars (i.e. much later).  Believed to be a

created race in Trithofar, creatures made with vartem-like intelligence for the purposes of killing undead without the risk of becoming undead themselves, they were bred from wild dogs and other domesticated animals of Terrilia, and are believed to be the source of Lycanthropes in Trithofar.  Currently, Kaeborians are believed to be without souls.

Simmorians: Came to Trithofar via Aschenthia during The Crumbling of the

Aethren Empire.  Not much is known as to how ancient a vartem the Simmorians are, or even if they count as a Vartem.  Believed to also be Dragonoids.

IV.                The Rise of The Aethren Empire: Aethren Imperial Era (AIE): This era is calculated from the time Willeonis began to gather the first of his disciples and began showing them the 8 schools of magic.  Willeonis Treborrin is an extremely controversial figure in Trithofar.  Seen as a prophet, an aethren, a guide, a friend, and some even think of him as an aav, little is truly known about his personal life, and very little is known for certain about his life as a young boy and as a herdsman in Allorinia.  The only thing that is known about Willeonis Treborrin is what he, himself, has told his various disciples and what they’ve made of these things.  Most people know he has a home somewhere in Allorinia, a small hut made of stone and thatch, where his journals and books are stored, but since his disappearance, no one has found this place again.  Many explorers died searching for it, many others were driven insane by the quest for it.  No one has located it yet, not even the most powerful aethren in Sarkoshia (to be discussed later). 

a.       The Aethren begin to rise to power.  People begin coming to them for help, and Willeonis leads the Aethren to serve the people.  The Counsel of the Eight is established, consisting of the Eight First.  Here, then is a list of the different schools. 

                                                  i.      Wizardry: The ability to manipulate portals and hidden paths through Trithofar, as well as the ability to negotiate the Sark and summon from it ‘possible’ things.  Wizards often store for themselves various tools that summon from other places things they want to summon.  Wizards deliberately learn and remember where they have found things in the Sark, or they store things in the Sark so they can access it later. 

                                                 ii.      Magecraft: This school’s power focuses mainly on channeling magical power and influencing the world through the positioning of magical items to create particular environmental responses.  It is, effectively, magical feng shui. The position of things lends power and strength and influence.  Convincing the aaviri to stay in place, to continue to do what they’re doing, to continue to act as they’ve been acting, is what lends this school it’s power.  It’s basically telling aaviri to do one thing continuously. 

                                                iii.      Aavemancy: Influencing the spiritual world of the aav.  It is convincing the aaviri that one is correct and absolutely right.  This art creates bindings where spiritual forces are convinced to do follow through or face the consequences of lying in the spiritual world.  Effectively, it is like being an Eternal Lawyer, where the contracts you force an aaviri to sign are binding, because for an aaviri to be deceitful or to break with their agreements is very, very, very dangerous. 

                                               iv.      Tah-Nith: Through interaction with biological forces as well as interacting with the body, mind, spirit, etc. the Tah-Nith are able to manipulate and control power.  They allow power to flow through their bodies and thus they interact with the world.  The aaviri concerned with the Tah-Nith are those who are concerned with the body’s ability to move and the body’s ability to convey. 

                                                 v.      Artificiers: These are people who create tools that basically repeat magical spells, calculations or needful other supplementary magical tasks. They manipulate objects by changing the objects such that, when used correctly, do a spell again and again and again.  Artificiers is one of the more prominent and important of the secondary schools, and artificiers use magic from all the other schools, or at least have a basic understanding of it, but translate it into physical manifestations of what goes on.  Effectively, they make keys to the Sark that open very specific doorways. 

                                               vi.      Chiurgans: Chiurgans are those who understand the magical power associated with all living things.  They are capable of finding, extracting, and using magic to manipulate living flesh.  Their magic primarily focuses on restoring or changing flesh so that it functions either the way it was intended to function, or so that it heals when it would not heal before, or so that it does something that perhaps it was not intended to do.  Chiurgans have been known to extend life perhaps past what it should or would have normally been extended, and they are healers, doctors, genetic engineers, etc. 

                                              vii.      Sensers: Sensers have the ability to hear, see, touch, taste, or smell supernaturally from long distances.  A few of them have the ability to trace backwards into the past or even probe into the future a little, but this has been forbidden in many ways.  Sensers could be called “seers” or “sages,” and some have associated them with divination, but it is not really divination, though some of them can sense the aav and communicate directly with them (although the ones who communicate in this way are usually evil, a lesson painfully learned).  It is just the sensers have the ability to sense what other people cannot sense.  Whether or not they can make sense of what they see is not always standard.  Some of them look into the Sark directly, and can see the most likely path the world will take through it, and through this they can have a limited ability to predict the future.  Again, they do not use a zodiac, and they do not use crystal balls.  Instead, it is like a useful form of autism where the senser can put together all the pieces and make sense of where things are heading. 

                                            viii.      Motivars: The Motivars are people who are able to motivate people to do things.  They are powerful with psychology, and use psychology to motivate people to do things they want (see magic in Trithofar).

b.      The Willeoneaen Law (64 AIE): The Aethren are beginning to realize their ability to manipulate the world around them more so than other mortals.  They realize that magic is something that can be taught.  They are discovering more and more power.  In various regions, countries, and empires, magic users are becoming powerful advisors, generals, and entertainers for the Kings and Queens.  Magic allows races to interact, to learn, to create, to impose justice, and to build much easier.  But, Willeonis draws the Counsel of Aethren together, what is colloquially called “The Eight” to give his Willeonaean Law.  The first law: Magic shall not rule.  The Aethren are not allowed to become kings or hold titles or positions of authority over any part of the land of Trithofar.  This first law is one of the most controversial statements in all of Trithofar, and it is believed to be the source of the first rifts between the counsel.  Those who hold titles and lands are required to give them up entire, including succession rites, to others.  Kings and Queens are to be lifted to their positions by the peoples’ laws, and not through magical manipulation. 

                                                  i.      The Aavemancers and Motivars begin to question Willeonis’ motivations. They think it highly unfair that Willeonis is able to tell them not to rule, and yet still rule over them.  Two particularly rebellious members of the Eight are the leaders of these two schools: Veshniir and Lord Xenoreth.  Lord Xenoreth has maintained his family’s fortunes and his familial estate his entire life.  He has dabbled in the politics of the Allorinian Empire in several ways, and he firmly believes Willeonis is not the only source of magic.  Lord Xenoreth invents the ability to manipulate souls, and creates the first undead in Trithofar, raising ghouls to help him manage his farms and manor.  He does this without Willeonis’ knowledge, seemingly.  Veshniir, the head of the Order of the Motivars, begins to question whether or not normal people are able to self-determine, and he creates and entire town of people who would later be called “The Hopeless.”  He causes people to become so depressed, they become slaves of his will, living ghouls, effectively.  He and Lord Xenoreth are two of the more prominent members of a growing resistance to Willeonis’ rule of the Eight.

                                                ii.      Lord Xenoreth and Veshniir are both influenced heavily by the Qwadro, evil aaviri who help Xenoreth and Veshniir both learn powers that Willeonis didn’t teach them.  This serves to create two issues of import: 1. It tells them that Willeonis is not the ultimate source of magic and that power can be gained elsewhere.  2. It serves to make both of them paranoid about Willeonis. 3. It causes them to believe that Willeonis is holding back from them true and complete knowledge. 

V.              THE CRUMBLING: The Fall of Drod (20 AIE), The Rise of Morrigar (45 AIE), The Training of Stel (21 AIE to 70 AIE), The End of the Golden Age of Terrilia (100 AIE), The Arrival of Aschenthia (70 AIE), the Traiting of Lukhasius (~75 AIE): Several things happen in short succession which cause the Counsel of the Eight to fall apart. 

a.       The Fall of Drod: Drod was a powerhouse just at the ending of the Age of Open Doors.  The King of Drod, who was crowned to spite the Xomirian Empire which ruled in Frosomia, united the Drod tribe with the Cheens and the Farrigs and pushed Xomir out of Frosomia and back towards Allorinia.  Unfortunately, Drod would be a short-lived kingdom. The Kunjels, the Kinto-shah, and the Hials all began arriving in Frosomia within a couple hundred years of each other.  The rulers of Drod attempted to coordinate and maintain the newly established Drod Kingdom in spite of all this intrusion, but when the Drod kingdom attempted to enslave kunjels and hold them slaves, it led to a revolution Drod could not handle.  The kunjels were not human.  What happened to Drod’s capital has been a subject of debate for years and years after.  Willeonis found, after the fall of Drod, Stellinor as a baby and trained him to use all the different types of magic. Willeonis would say that Stel was the body who carried all the tools of the aethren. Many of the rebellious members of the Aethren Counsel would claim that Willeonis actually used magic to destroy Drod and allow the Kunjels to stay in Trithofar.  This is why the Fall of Drod adds to the Crumbling.  It leads to the human influence in Frosomia being almost negligible.  He trained Stel to prove that magic was united and to make him his successor, not knowing how magical ability and touching magic extended life in people.  

b.      The Rise of Morrigar: Like in Frosomia, the region in the west across the sea, Morrigar, became like Alexander the Great’s East.  Morrigar was a land full of tough and self-sufficient people who bristled at Xomir’s attempts to control it for years.  They both hated the Terrilians and the Xomirians and took up their yoke under either empire with hesitation.  When it was made known that Drod had revolted and shook them off, the Morrigari almost instantaneously began their own plans for rebellion and a few years later managed to push away the Xomirians also.  When the Terrilians attempted to come in, they pushed them back as well, until Morrigar became a self-ruled region of barbaric tribes.  These barbarians began to form a loose confederation of loosely associated lands under a king heavily influenced by regional lords.  The king of Morrigar was heralded as the King of Kings, but truly, he was merely the head of a large counsel of lesser lords whose will was respected over all. 

c.       The End of the Golden Age of Terrilia and the Arrival of Aschenthia: The latter years of the Terrilian Empire were considered its Golden Age.  Aschenthia became the Terrilian Emperor’s fourth wife.  Eventually, thereafter, she became the Terrilian Emperor’s only wife.  She began reproducing offspring to serve her, the Simmorians, which were a part of her.  These creatures served as a secret police force and spy corps, as well as a work force.  Aschenthia slowly exerted more and more influence over the Terrilian Empire until she ruled absolutely over it.  No one knew what Aschenthia was, nor what her abilities to manipulate the minds of men were, but they were slowly becoming aware that humans no longer controlled the land in which they lived.  The L’wii and T’wii elves who lived in the jungles of Terrilia rebelled, and Aschenthia thereafter made it her goal to eliminate both of them from the face of her empire.  She used all manner of uncouth magics (those not supported or even addressed in Willeonaean law) to destroy the jungles.  She is responsible for creating the East Terrilian Wastes.  Stel encountered her and became one of her many lovers and through her learned that she had magic that Willeonis did not give to her.  She tried and succeeded to some extent to manipulate Stel to give her magic from Trithofar and in exchange, she would give Stel knowledge she gained through her offspring. 

d.      The Traiting of Lukhasius: Lukhasius ruled in a little kingdom on the other side of the Whitefist Mountains called Nermanna or Nermania.  He saw the Terrilian Empire expanding and he believed that it would only be a matter of time before Aschenthia’s monstrous offspring would begin to attack his kingdom.  He begged Stel to come and help him not only unite his lords and ladies to help him repel the Terrilian Empire, but he also begged for the ability to control his own people.  Stel made him into a Revenant, the first Vampire, and through Lukhasius, other revenants would come to exist and rule in Nermanna for centuries.  Lukhasius would raise the first of many armies of the undead, which would later become the basis for the Qwadro’s attacks against the world.  By this time, Stel was evil and working contrary to Willeonis, having been convinced Willeonis was slipping or attempting to deny the world the true power behind magic.  Stel bought Xenoreth's belief that what magic COULD do should be known ultimately and completely and SHOULD be controlled by those most powerful and most responsible to use it.  Of course, Xenoreth also believed that those who had the power to rule were the ones entitled to rule, and life is governed by the fittest beings.  

    

VI.                The First Qwadro Wars (166 AIE): THE BETRAYER, who was supposed to become basically the poster-child for the Aethren, becomes convinced that the Willeonaean Law is short sighted and wrong. Truthfully, Stel is heavily under the influence of the Qwadro.  These powerful and demonic aaviri are bent on not only destroying all life in Trithofar, but causing chaos, horror, pain, and suffering.  They know they cannot steal the souls from the Highest the Highest claims, but they believe they can force people to choose not to serve the Highest, and to turn themselves away from good.  They seek to make such an impression that no one will ever have hope that goodness can rule.  Just as the Qwadro is believed to have bent Ollogriath to destruction, they attempt to make Stel do the same. 

a.       The Dead Rise: Lord Xenoreth refuses to surrender his titles and disappears.  Many people believe he was either murdered, bound, deTraited, or has gone rebel.  Quite a few other aavemancers begin to raise armies of the undead, as does Lukhasius.  The Qwadro are entirely responsible for this.  Lortho, of the Qwadro, the Queen of Lies and Deception, allow souls of the damned to infest corpses and rise as ghouls or other undead. 

b.      The Betrayer begins his rebellion: THE BETRAYER, having given over more and more of himself to the notion that the Counsel of the Eight are breaking and Willeonis has lost his way, allows more the Qwadro to “Help” him.  He becomes their puppet, and they begin to raise up armies to fight against each other.  Under the guise of overwhelming and usurping power from the Counsel, the Qwadro really leads the governments of the world to fight each other, and help them raise armies, fueling paranoia all over the world.  The Betrayer is seen in a hundred different places, all seemingly at the same time, or within moments of different appearances.  He is accused of committing crimes against the Eight in several locations, and many believe he is doing the dirty work of Willeonis.  For one, he is accused of killing the Kinto-Shah Emperor, and another he is accused of attacking and killing the members of a monastery as well. 

c.       Other Forms of Qwadro Evil: Other monsters begin to appear.  Among them, a cult of people known as the Fallen.  These people willingly drink the ‘Blood of Breaking,’ (Whatever this is) and join themselves against the Counsel of the Eight and any government affiliated with them.  Through their rites and rituals, they manage to raise a greater terror than any had foreseen.  Eventually, we see some creatures called "the Twisted" which are things that are mutated beyond recognition and which are murderous to other creatures.  They are convinced that 'normal' or 'mundane' is evil and they are the new right way (for now).  Their vision of themselves is skewed, as well as their vision of other people.  Of course, other types of monsters also exist and are created.  

d.      The Moths: Among the foulest, most terrifying creatures ever raised are the moths. The moths represent reprehensible things and have powers to encourage mortals to do all manner of horrors.  They are called moths because of their huge wings, usually wings that do not fit correctly on their bodies in some ways.  Some of the moths have upside down wings, while others have wings that simply do not attach to their bodies. Still others have wings made of flesh.  Several types of moths are identified, depending on their particular powers. 

                                                   i.      Lust Moths: appear as beautiful women or men, depending on their victim’s taste, with huge, leathery wings.  Among their powers are the ability to convince people they can be saved by the love of their victims.  Once a victim allows them, the lust moth controls their mind and will effectively bend over backwards to help them or save them or allow them into their social circles.  They often distract people and encourage kinky, odd behaviors and encourage people to seek after their particular proclivities instead of being productive.  

                                                 ii.      Wrath Moths: Monstrous, skeletal warriors who can produce weapons when needed from their own body, usually weapons made of bones or pieces of other bodies.  Wrath moths enjoy nothing but killing and fighting, and they lead the undead against their enemies.  They have no compassion, no love, and absolutely no patience.  They are too foul to be allowed to make decisions.  They encourage victims to become hopeless and angry to the point of not caring who or what they are fighting for.  They usually use weapons that do not kill very quickly and are patrons of vengeful, spiteful violence.  

                                                iii.      Shift Moths: Spies.  The Shift moth works in two ways.  First, it convinced people that it can be captured and used to make teleportation easier, and second, it can enter and exit any location at will.  It sees through the eyes of victims, those it has managed to attach itself to. 

                                               iv.      Raiser Moths: These are the ones who raise the undead.  Where their blood falls, so the dead rise.  

                                                 v.      Hate Moths: The generals of the armies of the Qwadro.  These are the thinkers and the strategists.  They encourage many people to make things impersonal.  Wars are, to them, an opportunity to turn people into objects to be used to ends.  Sometimes, these are called Greed Moths.  

                                               vi.      Chaos Moths: These creatures drive people mad and cause chaos.  It is believed that their primary power is twisting the images and the truth, such that people don’t know who or what they are fighting.  Many have been reported to turn on their own people through the influence of these creatures.       

e.      The Qwadro Wars Rage for nearly 40 years (166 to 206 AIE): The Qwadro seeks to sow horrors and hopelessness all over the world.  Everywhere, empires crumble and fall.  People fear their next door neighbors.  Monsters abound.  The world seems doomed.  Many blame the Aethren. 

f.        Willeonis disappears and Leor the Champion Emerges (205 AIE): Leor, a young kunjel who is a Null (meaning magic does not affect him, or he has some immunity to its effects) and who has been trained by Willeonis as well as by Stel and several other Aethren to recognize when spells are cast, seeks to find and kill Stel.  He carries with him a peculiar sword, which would later be deemed the Sword of Destiny.  Many people think the Sword of Destiny is really the Sword of the Eyes, a mythical and legendary sword forged from the broken soul of Ollogriath himself.  If this is true, it would add to the legends surrounding this legendary blade.  The sword gives Leor some help in finding and assaulting Stel. 

g.       The End of the Qwadro Wars (206 AIE to 277 AIE): A NEW ERA OF PEACE EMERGES (PQE). 

VII.              THE POST QWADRO ERA (PQE): Slowly, the world rebuilds.  Almost everywhere, a new and paradoxical philosophy emerges.  The Aethren are mistrusted, while at the same time, the Willeonaean law is kept and expanded on by people who are not even Aethren (Basically, it is the same fear people have of Nuclear War).  Some magical technologies are kept and maintained for a while (among them the Travelisks).  In many regions of the world, and in many countries and kingdoms, magic is not permitted under any circumstances for years and years.  In other places, magic is treated like dangerous materials or relegated to secretive and isolationist orders.  A few schools remain, and they stay underground and far from each other.  Magic is not allowed back into cities, except as medicine and in non-ruling ways (only as a form of construction).  Stel’s name becomes a curse word, tantamount to calling someone ‘Satan’ or ‘Hitler.’  It actually starts a list for the Kunjels of unacceptable or dishonorable names. 

Meanwhile, the Willeonaean law, and stories of the heroes of the First Qwadro Wars, as well as some of the interventions of the aaviri in the defeating of the Qwadro become mutated into legends and even a few new religions.  Among these new religions are:

1. a.  The Universal Order: The belief and worship of the Highest, who gave power to mortals.  Willeonis began a sort of religion all his own, of which he became a (much debated) avatar figure of the one called the Highest or The Highest Good.  The appeal of The Universal Order is that it attempts to unite all peoples, all vartemaea, all religions, all forms of magic, all ideas under one umbrella of universal truth, peace, and love.  The unfortunate implications, of course, is that no religion is 100% correct, and all religions will be forced to give up something of their faith.  And of course, the primary function of Willeonis, who was the only solid spokesperson for The Highest, is that he came to give magic to the world, and regulate its use, and so he was not establishing himself as a religious figure at all.  However, in his passing and after the Qwadro Wars, many would come to claim priesthood and seek the Highest.  They would become "The Seekers of Truth" and would establish temples all over Trithofar where they attempt to codify, worship, and keep good.  They would judge and dictate to others that The Highest is bigger and more important than what they would deem "Lesser Religions" or "Lesser Views."  Many, many, many of the vartemaea would believe that their gods were one of a few choices:  
1. Messengers of the Highest sent to deal with them as individual races.  
2. Completely wrong compared to The Highest.  
3. Right and that the idea of the Highest was really a part of the Qwadro's evil.  
4. The one and only right choice compared to other gods, including the Highest. 
5. In reality, number 1 is the closest to the truth.  The Aaviri are, for lack of a better word, ways the Highest has exposed himself to the different races of the world.  Basically, the Aaviri include Christ-like or Prophetic figures in that they have come to each group of people and explain to them how to be loving and caring, peaceful and to live together in a structured way.  However, they have been misheard and misinterpreted, AND what is right and good for one race of people may not be the best answer for another. 
2. The Ligniites (15 PQE): The Ligniites were founded by a group of unassociated men called thereafter the Woodsmen of Werthor.  In a secluded forest, several trappers, hunters, and wood cutters gathered together in a peculiar glade.  None of them claimed to be heading in that direction, and none of them claimed to know one another, but they had all been gathered by what they believed to be a god.  This creature, a powerful Aav and servant of the Highest (most believe) taught them how to resist the Qwadro’s monsters and how best to slay them.  This became a holy order of Trithofar known as the Ligniites, or Keepers of the Dead, or Cleaners.  They are the predominate church of Western Terrilia and Nermania, Werthor, New Marthinía, and Edderra and several countries in that area.  The Ligniites developed what many believe to be a magic or ritual specifically designed to destroy or prevent the undead and counter Lortho’s influence in the world.  The undead never stopped coming back, even after the Qwadro Wars had ended.  Several lands remain cursed, though Ligniites seek to destroy the influence of the Qwadro in the world.  They were formed to "put out the fires" or "clean up the filth" left behind by the Qwadro.  
3. Trochiabites (17 PQE): The Trochiabites are convinced that the world needs purging every so often.  This is a false religion, started by a person who claimed contact with a deity known as Trochaya or Trochia.  This deity claimed that the Qwadro Wars were really not about destroying the world, but about cleansing it of wickedness and weakness.  The Qwadro only came for the hopeless, the wicked, and the weak, and they left the world a better place, having eliminated the surplus populations of people who were sick or evil.  
4. Ultimists (22 PQE): Many, through the interactions of the mortals with the aaviri, come to believe that the aaviri are just as fallible as humans, and just as capable of doing wrong and causing massive harm as well as being manipulated for magical purposes. The aaviri are dissuaded from doing what the Qwadro did because of what can become of wayward aaviri: the judgment is much harsher for violating the Highest’s commands.  Much of what Willeonis and others who were his disciples wrote is restudied and people begin to realize that while the aaviri are powerful, they are not gods, and should not be treated as gods, but as cooperative and powerful beings (not quite angelic; more like Japanese spirits).  Instead, they are either servants of evil or are servants of the Highest Good.  Many mortals throughout Trithofar are awakened to the notion, whether right or wrong, that only one ‘god’ exists and is the source of all good, and all hope.  This burgeoning philosophy becomes known as Ultimism, and becomes a dominant ideology.  Many religions all over Trithofar become Ultimist in nature (basically like the Seekers of Truth but with less reverence for the Aaviri), in that they acknowledge their former gods as mere aaviri, powerful servant creatures, akin to angels or demons or spirits, instead of gods, things that can be communicated with and which either lead towards or away from the Highest.  A more unified view of the cosmology of Trithofar is established, and over time Willeonis Treborrin is exonerated as a cause of the Qwadro Wars and actually becomes a hero and prophet.  What journals of his or words recorded are used to attempt to make sense of the Highest Good, as he refers to it, and what is meant by god or lesser god, etc.  Many epic poems cast him as the sacrificial or often even tragic hero.  A legend written by kunjels claims that he put himself inside the Sword of Destiny to guide Leor to find Stel and this has come to be an accepted fact of the matter. 

d.      The Fallen (0 PQE): A cult of Qwadro Worshipers, who believed the Qwadro had come to clear the world for them to rule it, continue to thrive and flourish in various corners of the world.  They continue to drink the blood of the moths and the Blood of Breaking and the Blood of Dreams and some of them are turned into the Black Eyes, people who allegedly have the ability to see into people’s souls.  They produce wicked seers and philosophers who believe the Qwadro were agents of the Wrath of the Highest, who delivered justice and only destroyed those who resisted the will of their way and who sought to be broken from the truth.  These Qwadro Worshipers continue their secret rites and in ‘the Four Corners of Trithofar’ erect four statues, each one representing a different member of the Qwadro: Korrg, Fereo, Ith, and Lortho.  They continued to make sacrifices to these statues, believing these statues would eventually come to life.  They beg the Qwadro to return and cleanse the world of the evils of disunity and disorganization in the world (or at least that's what they tell their fringe and skeptical members). 

e.      The Qwestors (50 PQE): The legends of the Eyes of Ollogriath, the four broken pieces of Ollogriath’s soul (so it is believed), forged into four might weapons, surface.  Many believe the Sword of the Eye was really what the Sword of Destiny is.  The Qwestors emerge, not as a religion, but as a treasure-seeking group (they think the power of the Four Eyes can rule the world of Trithofar and ultimately end all evil or rule over it).  Legends suggest that if the pieces of Ollogriath are returned together, then the bearer of these mighty weapons will have control of Ollogriath and will judge the world.  The legends of the four eyes are mutated and are as sought after as the Holy Grail.  Hundreds, then thousands, of people believe the Qwadro surfaced to find these things and would have used them to destroy the world, and so it is believed the four eyes are up on the surface of Trithofar somewhere and need to be found.  Many people make this their obsession, including Menderiin Tharneliir, a rare L’wii Orderer from the Larkenwood Region.

VIII.         THE RISE OF THE MORRIGARI EMPIRE (200 PQE):  It is believed that some of the remnants of the Qwadro, relics and various weapons of their war, were recovered in Morrigar, the land geographically separating Terrilia from Allorinia.  Morrigar’s King, of the Farthik Dynasty, begins gathering strength, and Morrigar begins to develop an extremely insular and anti-vartemaic view of the world (stemming from the 'disunity ideology' of the mainstream Qwadro worshipers.  The King of Morrigar eventually becomes the Emperor of Morrigar, uniting the various kingdoms and baronies and duchies under one banner.

a.       A despot comes to power in Morrigar named King Morlin Farthik I (200 PQE).  He will later become known as Morlin the Black to most of the rest of the world.  He was, at first, the  

b.      Much of Morlin’s ability to wreak havoc on the world and begin his pillaging of the surrounding kingdoms, going so far as to push eastward and southward through Allorinia, and westward as far as Rothlar, is due to his associations with the Fallen and his use of remnants and leftover horrors of the Qwadro.  He uses some of the monsters left alive to aid in his conquest, believing that it is not the weapon that determines evil, but the use.  He believed the Qwadro's power was basically swords in the hands of evil, and so he can use the swords without the evil (at least from his perspective).   

c.      Among his most terrible weapons was a creature known as a Portalian, a beast created by chiurgans for the purposes of serving wizards and making portals.  Portalians normally range in size and ability to navigate the Sark for their masters.  Some are just small little animals that guide a person or are better able to open a calculated portal from place to place.  This particular portalian, which was known simply as the Portalian Beast, was a creature capable of moving armies through itself.  It lived in the mountains near the Morrigari capital of Thonilia, and was Morlin’s secret weapon.  With this creature, he was able to send shock troops to ambush key points of his enemies, to raid cities, to come pouring out of Travelisk Houses in the middle of cities.  He could put an army directly into the palaces of kings and emperors.  This ability spread fear throughout Trithofar, and some kings surrendered to Morrigar without question, and even without battle, because of it.  Morlin further sowed seeds of distrust among the people against Ultimism and against those in support of Willeonaen Law through convincing people that this weapon was created by Willeonis’ wizard counsel, which might have actually been true. 

d.      It was commonly known that Morlin the Black was an anti-vartemist, meaning he believed that the differences between the various vartemaea was the result of a corruption that happened in earlier Trithofar history.  He initiated a breeding program to attempt to reclaim the “original race,” going so far as to attempt to breed kinto-shah with kunjels and humans with hials, claiming that there was just one main race that ended up breeding with animals in the first place.  His philosophical ideas actually caught on among quite a few who saw similarities in the various vartemaea (two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, etc).  He kept a harem to himself, where he attempted to ‘breed himself out.’  Some of his offspring became abominations, while some of his offspring lived on.  He had a sort of kink where he really liked to experiment sexually with the various vartemaea, which if the vartemaea are all souled creatures, should not have been an issue, but this practice disgusted quite a few people who were not quite ready to be with rat or pig or squirrel people.      

e.      He used the commonly-held belief that L’wii and T’wii, goblins and gnomes, and Simmorians were dragonoids to turn people against them, claiming they were children of Ollogriath and should be destroyed because they were not members of the true and original vartem, but part of the Aaviri-spawn, creatures that had proven themselves to be corruptible and had been cursed by The Highest Providence (he called it).  He also fueled these fires with notions that Simmorians were related to the L’wii, and the Morrigari had long had enough of Simmorians attacking their borders in the past.  This propaganda was also useful in claiming much of Terrilia, as the people of Terrilia were already tired of Simmorian rule and slavery.  Still, Morlin the Black was not able to overcome Terrilia yet, as Aschenthia was still quite powerful there, and had established quite a few hives and new-born queens.  The people of Terrilia were not all that interested yet in trading one tyrant for another, either, and the Simmorian warrior caste was quite able to fight and defend their realm from Morlin's shock troops through the "wormhole" as it were.  It was believed that Aschenthia had bred some of her own monsters, too, to help her fight Morlin.  

f.      Morlin the Black aligned himself with the Fallen and other branches of Qwadro Worshipers secretly, believing that the reclamation of the Eyes would lead to his ruling the world and living forever, as well as allowing him access to several unsavory monsters to put to his disposal.  Among these was a terrible creature called the Bailiff who, through torturing its victims, forced them to ‘confess the sins of their fathers,’ meaning he could make them tell about people related to themselves and what they’d done that was wrong or corrupt.  So, if Morlin captured someone important, he could not only find out about their lives, but about their children, about their family members, and about their grandfathers or mothers, etc.  Through this process, he found weaknesses to exploit in his enemies and means of demoralizing or publically disgracing key figures in his path.  It was believed the Bailiff could even force people to confess information about their own ancestors in the form of tortured prophecies.  

g.     Another such creature he gained access to was the Reader: a creature that could psychically enter into people’s minds through looking them in the eyes.  This was among his abominations created by breeding himself with a Traited kinto-shah woman.

h.      Meanwhile, the Fallen had their own plans, and were using Morrigar’s aggressive expansion to seek after what they wanted.  They kept a dark agent for themselves and sought to create new monsters for themselves.  They called one such creature the Breeder, a creature that impregnated people with demon spawn, and which some believed would create new Moths of the Qwadro eventually.  The Fallen were hunted, but their leader escaped capture, even during the Morrigar Wars. 

Morlin the Black became such a world-wide threat many believed another Qwadro War was coming swift upon them.  However, this was an age of heroic deeds, also.  This was the Age when Sābel Sithrin ascended the throne of Thortinis.  This was the age when Padreic Al’Dunhar and Quellobrin of the Wildlands joined the Inner Circle of Thortinis, heroes who would help stem the tide of Morrigar’s aggression against other lands.