Song of Rats

Disaster / Destruction

From the south a Thothian Lord comes to Alphatia, creating the skaven.   His defeat creates the Blood reef.

As the news of the islands had spread to the Emperor of the Sun so it traveled south on the lips of the Garundi and creatures of the wing to the Gods of Thothia. These powerful creatures considered the islands to be no more than another field of battle and a possible source of new slaves. As the resources of these powerful beings were used to wage their constant war or build temples to their magnificent none had a fleet large enough to challenge the Shets'doma and Varisian flotilla, disorganized as it was. For this reason for many seasons, the powers of Thothia simply ignored the isles and continued in their struggles.   A young noble from the south decided that rather than serve under his noble father he would break free and set sail with a Garundi family to the small isle of Trenaja. There the lord decided he would begin his new realm by taking control of the islands and dominating the sea thus making him the most powerful lord of the Thothians. Beneath the city of Ohjavia, he began his experiments on creatures that he could combine with the Garundi people to build a new slave race for himself. His experiments led to the development of the Skaven, a sneaky race that bred quickly. This allowed the Lord to have a new army which he led into the desert of Trenaja in search of a powerful artifact.   Many powerful sages and oracles within the Isle began to notice the dark power growing on Trenaja. The dark desert of Trenaja hid the Lord's progress with most unable to penetrate this strange environment. In the meantime the Ratkin continued to breed and transform into different forms, some traveling across the spine of the island into the jungles, displacing the elves located there. With the Elven guardians gone the dark creatures from the feywild invaded these forests and to this day Fomorians, Cyclops, and dark fey can be found here, many living side by side with the Ratkin. Beneath the city of Ohjavia, the Ratkin created their own wards and clans creating a metropolis of their own. In the center of Trenaja, the Thothian Lord discovered a Mask of Destiny and made use of its Abjuration properties to further warp and develop his army.   Across Alphatia word spread of a grave danger that existed in Trenaja or as it was being called, New Thothia. A year later these words of doom came true as the Thothian Lord, wearing the Mask of Abjuration, left his desert citadel with his army of rats. As he marched to the eastern coast his followers before he tore down trees and built a giant flotilla for the Ratkin and their master. The Lord's walk didn't stop until he was centered on the flotilla. Then the boats began to travel towards the South Isle millions of paws paddling them along. Waiting for the Lord in the middle of the small strait was a fleet of Varisian rafts. At its front, a group of Half-Elven heroes prepared to fight this dark creature. As the heroes saw the behemoth floating towards them, many detected the presence of the Darkness. In this already powerful creature, it had found a new avatar more wicked and insidious than any before. Ill-prepared for such a power many heroes fell that day. The Thothian Lord's magic corrupted and transformed their bodies into mockeries of their previous exploits or visions of past wars the Darkness had fought in the islands. Many of these new creatures disappeared beneath the waves to take up residence in the reef between Trenaja and Guney.   Across the Isle, the terrible battle could be felt and many oracles feared this would be the end of the Alphatian nation. Their divinations revealed nothing but destruction, a sundering of the land, and a blackening of the sky. The battle raged for a week in the waters around Trenaja, the Lord striding forth to bring devastation and transformation among his foes but each night more ships arrived as the heroes called on their allies within the families of the Varisians and tribes of the Shets'doma. In the grand temples across the Isle, the priests prayed to their gods for a way receiving only vague notions of the solution, till a young priest and oracle suddenly understood the meaning, "Call the Lord home". She raced to the battle to find the Lord laughing over the slaughter, the sea itself had turned red with the many bodies of ratfolk and heroes. The priest called forth the power she felt within her, a single spell that would force the Lord to return to his home. The priest thought it would force the Lord to return to Trenaja giving the forces time to rest and heal but as she cast the spell the Lord cried out. It was not drawing the beast to Trenaja but Thothia and the Mask would not leave the Isle. The young priestess held her ritual as the giant before her twisted and transformed between its natural form, the Darkness and back to the mask-wearing behemoth, then exploded, showering the reef in its tainted and altered flesh and blood. The remnants of the hero's fleet searched the strait for the young priestess for a day and a night, hampered by the fact that none knew her name, till at the very center on a tiny island they found a simple statue of obsidian.   The strait has since become known as the Blood reef, a strange and dangerous part of the Isle with many new and vicious creatures patrolling its waters. Fleets, a mixture of ratfolk and Varisian vessels, move through these waters, some of them seeking salvage or new alchemical supplies but some never return their crews becoming shambling monsters or undead that seek to keep new visitors within these waters. The Sahuagin and sharks that call the reef home have become even more frenzied desiring to not only kill intruders but to cause them to bleed into the waters. At the center of the reef sits the island with the obsidian statue of the young priestess, pure black in the sea of red, a beacon of purity that many an oracle has sought when trying to divine the future of the Isle through its darker times.