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VII. The Dark Emperor BaûlThe AlinyuAmidst the quarelling and vain skirmishes amongst the humans, a
single figure slowly rose to power: the Sorcerer Baûl. A bastard child
raised by the magic-loving elves, Baûl came of age and returned to the
lands of men during the Great Division. Outraged at humanity lack of
honor and solidarity, he gathered a troop of the best warriors and set of
to subdue, one by one, the warring factions left in the wake of the
Klar-cil's death.
With his greatest magicks, alien to most men, and with the weight
of his warriors' baldes, Baûl defeated each faction, subduing the people
and then explopiting them and their lands, bringing both order and
suppresion to Ruun. His empire expanded quickly, soon engulfing all of
the lands of men.
Here the uneasiness of the Elder Races grew to genuine fear. This
sentiment was not without cause, for the Emperor Baûl had ambitions
far beyond the mere lands and lives of simple men. Yet, Baûl was no
fool; the kingdoms of the Elder Races were ancient and large, their
armies formidable and the magicks more beyond the grasp of even the
wisest human sage. To advance his empire, to spread his great shadow
further over the world, Baûl sought an ally: the beaten and bitter
goblinoid hordes, hiding the swamps and black hills about Ruun. The
alliance was kept secret, even from Baûl's highest and most trusted
advisors.
The generations of peace between men and the Elder Races came
to an abrupt and bloody end as Baûl led his legions into the elfin lands of
Cymir and Lizgûl, what is now called the Middle Kingdoms of men.
With his trsuted general, Doon de Ruthe, at his side and a garrison of
orcish warriors in hiding, Baûl easily crushed the elfin army sent to meet
him.
Again the Elder Races found themselves beseiged, now by a
power of their own creation. Baûl's magicks grew in power as did his
empire. His warriors wer merciless, his tactics reviled. Yet he marched
on, spreading the shadow of his reign and magical power through the
lands of Cymir and Lizgûl, onto the Frost Plains, stretching his iron grip
into the Halfling Prairies, to the frigid shores of the Blood Sea, even to
the wild jungles of Chalûn and the wind-swept deserts of Kyrgaärd.
Soon, the entire world fell under the rule of the Dark Emperor
Baûl, and the Age of Shadow had begun. The sole source of light during
these desperate times was the elfin kingdom of Lorn. Its glorious capital
of Starglow plundered, its greatest cities and and heroes captured and
ravaged, the levs of Lorn took to the tress of the Great Forest, refusing
to capitulate to the Dark Emperor. They strove valiantly, yet all seemed
without hope.