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religious pressures combined to give certain opportunistic Warlords the impetus to throw off the Garulian Empire’s rule. An uneasy alliance between the CorwenthWarlords drove forward the insurrection, and protected from the north by the Sundered Shield Mountains Corwenth was able to hold off the Imperial forces from a series of assaults.
It appeared that Corwenth was largely invincible, as long as Kyallisar, a fortress city which guarded the only passable route through the Sundered Shield Mountains, stood firm. However, The Warlord of Kyallisar, tempted by promises of power, betrayed the alliance by allowing the Imperial Legions through the pass. Koreth IV ordered her Sura allies, the great warbeasts of the northwest wastes, to sack Kyallisar and execute the Warlord of Kyallisar – once a traitor, always a traitor.
The rebellion suffered massive losses in the wake of this betrayal, and the surviving Warlords retreated to the city of Arken, the birthplace of the legendary Arkor Godslayer who is said to have slain the God of the Land. The situation looked hopeless, as the Garulian Legions (accompanied by their fearsome Sura shock troops) moved to lay siege to
Arken. Months later, food was becoming scarce, and Garulian troops had dammed the river upstream, drying up the wells in Arken. With winter coming, defeat seemed inevitable.
At the darkest hour, a scarred and deformed man calling himself Taryn Arkor approached the surviving leaders of the Corwenth alliance and offered them a deal. If the alliance would assign to him its strongest champions and heroes, he would take them to raid the Reliquary, the storehouse of the God Emperors’ and Empresses’ most powerful relics, and recover the Godslayer – the sword used by the legendary hero Arkor to slay the God of the Land. With this blade, they would be able to liberate
Corwenth.
The Reliquary Crusade was an epic quest about which songs are still sung. Taryn did as he said, but as the heroes converged upon their goal, he revealed his true intent by causing the death of his comrades. Only the Mage known as Mara Valkarin escaped - vowing vengeance as she fled. Armed with the Godslayer, Taryn developed incredible power – it transpired that he had hidden his true heritage. Not just of the bloodline of Arkor, Taryn was a pure descendent of Arkor – inbred from Arkor’s son and daughter for generations. Before, he was a weakling who could barely stand without aid, but armed with the Godslayer, Taryn became the Aspect of Arkor Godslayer – fierce and terrible. With this power, he slew the Empress, declared himself Theocrat and promised death to all who did not obey him. Armed with the full potency of the Godslayer, Taryn was nearly invincible.
Meanwhile, at Arken, news of the revolution in the Garulian Citadel reached the legions who were besieging the city. Afraid of what Taryn would do to them, military discipline broke down and the legionnaires began to riot. In the ensuing carnage, the deserting soldiers sacked Arken, looting it of anything valuable and causing immense damage to the ancient city.
Taryn feigned anger at this insult to his ancestor, and decreed that all Garulians were to be destroyed.
Thus began the reign of the Theocrat, whose cruel hand ruled the Heretic Kingdoms for almost three hundred years until the seeds of rebellion once more took root in Corwenth, and death’s inexorable hand finally fell upon Taryn Arkor’s shoulder…
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