Shadowbane Lore Archives

Collection of Shadowbane Lore includes rare documents

Rendor, Undead Hunter

Not many come this way ... What business do you have in this haunted valley? Do you seek gold? You might consider hunting elsewhere. There are indeed ancient treasures buried here, but their original owners may not be ready to give them up quite yet. The dead walk these hills -- beware! If you have the courage to match them, then go forth with my blessings, and send the foul things back to their tombs!

But before you go, heed my warnings, and be forewarned against the foes who await you, or they'll steal your very soul! Two lingering enemies have always threatened the Children of the All-Father: the scourge of Chaos, and the cold damnation of the Void, the Dark that Hungers. Both of them are gathering here.

Ages ago, these hills were sacred to the Gwendannen. It was they who raised the ancient stones and built the cairns that dot these hills, burying their kings and chieftains under them with great honor. For ages, they rested quietly, their tombs prospected by ancient wards and mighty spells.
But now all that has been undone, and the hills have grown dark, and deadly.

The Turning broke the tomb-wards, and then came the hordes of plunderers. Some sought gold, but others were more interested in the ancient relics of Gwendannen, the pagan idols and artifacts their archdruids wrought before the first rise of Chaos. Too many precious things were stolen, and so the kings arose. The Dark has taken root here, and now the ancient dead have drawn worshippers to them, and worse things. The Shroud Brotherhood's pale priests are trying to call forth some foul spirit from the Void, and the Gwendannen kings have risen as Vampire Lords, dark and terrible. I've also heard that the Fallen Angels, the Void's most powerful lieutenants, have been sent here to serve as guardians for something. And this is but half the peril lurking in these hills.

Chaos is also scouring these hills, looking for something, some ancient treasure dear to the Banelords on Maelstrom. They came through the runegate: no Traveler has ever managed to open it, but somehow the demons did. In their wake have come the followers of Chaos, both the soldiers' Vorgrim Legion and the Sun cultists of Bellugh Nuathal. I don't know what they're looking for, but I fear that if they find their prize all the peoples of this world will regret it.

Are you frightened? No? Good -- the light needs every sword to drive back the evil growing here. Good luck, and may Saint Wend bless your swords!

Who are you, anyway?

I am an Undead Hunter, of the Holy Order of Saint Wend, the Defender. For centuries we have waited, studying the ancient texts, gathering the proper weapons, fearing that the Shadow would fall again, as it did in Ardan of old. At the Turning the dead arose again, as Alaric had foretold, and we were ready. Our order, once a tiny part of the Holy Church, is vital and growing again. We stemmed the tide in the Dark Years with holy water, cold iron and weirwood stakes, but our work was not done. Our order has not the resources to mount a proper crusade against the evils lurking in these hills, but hopefully you can provide the strength we lack.

Would you join us in our fight? Seek out Malrazor, an ancient veteran of our order. If he deems you worthy, we would be honored to have you join us.

Who are the Gwendannen?

The Sons of Men are divided into many different peoples. The Ethyrians were the mightiest, and indeed gave rise to Holy Church of the All-Father, and the Ten Kingdoms that Cambruin united as High King. The Gwendannen were their ancient enemies, the Hillmen who have always dwelt in wild place, clinging to older faiths. They have always revered Braialla above all other gods, and indeed Old Faith of Druids and Rangers is theirs. Some say they still venerate the Beast Lords, and indeed there are more skinchangers born to them then any other of kindred of humanity.

The War of Scourge, the rise of the Ten Kingdoms, and the diligent work of the Holy Church have driven the pagan Gwendannen into decline. They live now only in the wildest frontier regions, where they cling to their ancient shrines and standing stones.

What is the Vorgrim Legion?

The Vorgrim Legions ... it is an ancient name, once garlanded with honor and glory, but now stained by the treachery of Morloch. In the days of the War of the Scourge, the mightiest warriors and cleverest generals of the armies of Elves and Humanity joined together to form the Vorgrim Legion, an elite army where the Firstborn and the Sons of Men would fight side by side. In time, Malog the War God emerged from his long seclusion and took command of the Vorgrim Legion, leading it to victory after victory.

The Legion's fate was sealed when Malog betrayed the All-Father to the Banelords of Chaos. His foul plot failed, and the warriors of the Vorgrim were trapped with their dark master. In the wake of the final battle, Malog's treachery poisoned the name of the Vorgrim Legion forever. Malog the Traitor God, sealed in the Pit of Chaos, became Morloch the Outcast, and has since returned twice to Aerynth. Now I myself have seen warriors and devotees of Chaos wearing the ancient suits of armor used by the Legion on old. Rumor has it that Morloch himself is combing ruins and ancient places for enchanted relics of the Legion, and some fear that the Maimed God intends to reform the legion and use it to conquer all the fragments of Aerynth. No doubt they do the Maimed God's dark work in these haunted hills. They are powerful agents of evil, and must be stopped!

What is the Bellugh Nuathal?

The Holy Church has fought many rival faiths over the last two ages of the world, and denounced many false gods. The Beast Lords and the Banelords of Chaos are only the All-Father's best known enemies: there have been many others. The followers of Bellugh, who worship their Sun God Nuath are an ancient cult, long thought brought to ruin. Yet now they stir again ...

When the Centaurs who taught escaped Human slaves the ways of the All-Father and the forgotten history of Ardan, not all Humans embraced their true faith and destiny. There were some who cursed the All-Father for never saving Ardan, and renounced the Titans as well, for had their folly not doomed men of old? These Men spurned the counsel of the Horse Lords, and set out to find new Gods.

Led by the prophet Bellugh, the renegades were drawn to worship of the elements, of earth, wind, sea and fire, which they placed above all the other elements as creator and destroyer, the source and the bane of all that lives. Bellugh's followers worshiped the Sun, which they named Nuath, the Sky God, mightiest force in the universe. Their heresy could not long be countenanced by the faithful, and accounts of dark rites and human sacrifice led the Holy Church to denounce the followers of Bellugh as heretics. Crusade and inquisition drove the cult of Bellugh Nauthal into hiding among the Gwendannen, who for a time added Nuath to their pantheon of Gods. In time, however, the power of the Gwendannen faded and Bellugh's heresies were forgotten, even to the Hillmen.

In recent days there have been rumors that the Bellugh Nuathal has reformed or emerged from hiding. Priests in the brazen vestments of Sun God have wandered into these hills, no doubt seeking ancient relics of the Sun Cult among the tombs of the Gwendannen kings. This would be grim news enough, if the Nuathites has not been welcomed by both the followers of Chaos and the Brothers of the Shroud! Here is a mighty fellowship of evil -- it must be destroyed!

Brotherhood of the Shroud?

Speak not that name too loudly! Of all the perfidious heresies that fester in this blighted age, the so-colled *shroudborne* surely cling to the vilest of all. They are the followers of Katullus, the Doomed Prophet of Ardan. A fallen Healer, Katullus was the first and only Shade ever to become a Prelate of the Church of the All-Father. Katullus' admission in the ranks of the Holy Church was an attempt to bring the newfound race of Shades into the fold of the All-Father's Children. Alas, the attempt failed. Katullus was posted in Holy City of Dalgoth, where he worked as a scribe and copyist of holy tomes. The young Prelate crept into the Patriarch's most sacred libraries by night, and read many ancient tomes denounced or prescribed by the Holy Church. None can say what Katullus found within the ancient books, but the knowledge seems to have driven him mad. The Shade Prelate became wild and erratic, and Katullus was promptly excommunicated from the Holy Church, and the Patriarch himself issued a ban on Shades serving in the clergy.

In the long years since, a mysterious cult, the Brotherhood of the Shroud, has grown up around Katullus' teachings. The Brothers are fanatical followers of Ardan, the fallen king of the Titans and Ferryman of the Dead, and they believe that Katullus is the Grey Lord's chosen prophet. It is whispered that Katullus still bears ancient scrolls from the lost realm of Ardan, stolen from the Patriarch's libraries. The cult exhorts the World to prepare itself for the great change that is approaching -- the Turning, they say, is but Dusk, and soon Night will fall. Death will return to the shattered World with a vengeance, and all who live will be consumed by the shadow to come. The Brotherhood exults in Human sacrifice, cannibalism, and a host of other depraved crimes. They mostly practice their foul worship in the wastelands among the ghosts and walking dead, but for some dark reason their agents now comb these hills, communing with the dead kings of Gwendannen.

Who was Saint Wend?

Wend was ancient saint, who lived and died long before the separate faiths of Men, Elves, and Centaurs were conjoined into one. Ancient scriptures tell of the Doom that came to Greensward, a foul plague that brought with it not only pain and death, but unholy terror as well! The victims of this plague all arose on the fourth day after their death as mindless undead, who feasted upon the flesh of the living. Wend of Kelledor alone walked into Greenaward without fear: his faith sustained him, and at his touch the walking dead returned to sleep. He ended the reign of the dead, and cured the plague forever by purifying the wells of Greensward, which in time became a mighty abbey of the faith. It was there that the ancient texts from the War of Shadows were brought, and there that the Order of Undead Hunters was born.

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