EM.0.0 Campaign Preface

Pre-Campaign Lore

• Roughly 100 years ago, Cyric murdered Mystra, the goddess of magic, causing the Spellplague, a twenty year long era of magical chaos including events like floating cities falling out of the sky, entire island chains disappearing and magical wild surges and dead zones existing across the realm.
• Cyric was imprisoned in Supreme Throne, his domain within the Shadowfell, by the gods of justice and their allies. There he has remained chained to his throne for a century and will remain there for the next 10,000 years.

Seeker of the Skies

• Vorothruun restores the Crown of Ragnalla by collecting the five devotions, proving himself worthy of becoming her Chosen.
• Vorothruun discovers all of the visions he's received, leading him to the Crown were not from Ragnalla, but Cyric using him to gather the devotions
• The party defeat Malus, leader of the Ragnalla cult, The Feathered, who had infiltrated the organization and bent it towards Cyric's will
• Ragnalla charges Vorothruun, her Chosen, to "Tear away the lesser truth" and thwart whatever machinations Cyric has put into motion. (SS.4.2 Disturbing the Nest)

Storm King's Thunder

• While traveling through the Underdark, the party comes across a small band of Cyric cultists defending a vault filled with magical items.
• In Gauntlygrym, the party thwart a thief from stealing the forges ancient fire primordial
• After discovering Iymrith to be behind the Storm Giant King Hekaton's capture, she steals the scepter and throne of the Storm Giants and retreats to her domain in the distant desert. When she is defeated, the throne and scepter remain missing.

Avenger of Avraathe

• Following visions from Bahamut regarding the darkness looming over Avraathe, Parathraax returns with his brother to Avraathe. Upon returning, they discovered rampant political corruption connecting a string of murders, the stolen Augury, an orcish invasion, and a magical gem trade with drow in the Underdark.
• The dragonborn, along with Endriel, uncover secrets of their past and lineage, and eventually identify the city's betrayer as High Priest Dradke
• The party give chase to the Underdark, where they corner Dradke and he confesses to his wrongdoings out of a mix of Grief AoA.Lore Grief and misinterpreting the Seventh prophecy.
• The party contends with Uthegentel, Malus' uncle, who operates the platinum gem extraction operations in the Underdark. Vorothruun deals the final blow, promising the Cyricist that his "kingdom of lies will crumble under the gaze of Ragnalla." (AoA.5.5 The Chosen of Bahamut)
• In saving the city and fulfilling the seventh prophecy, Parathraax is selected as the Chosen of Bahamut ( AoA.Lore Chosen of Bahamut )
• Parathraax and Vorothruun return to Durindale, where they begin gathering followers, building an army, and preparing for Cyric's next move. ( AoA.Epilogue: Downtime Activity ). Meanwhile, Endriel follows a lede to Waterdeep, related to more magical artifacts going missing.

Knights with Nothing

• After falling to a scourge of undead vampire spawn in Bargewright Inn, Tristain was subsequently brought back from his untimely death. Between these moments of consciousness, Tristain experienced a brief moment with his surrogate father (SKT.5.2 For a Fallen Friend), who confided in him that he has a greater purpose and must pursue these to learn more about the forces at play. Tristain currently possesses three such contracts: A tiefling thief, a githzerai murderer, and a rakshasa illegal arms dealer.
• Tristain returns to Sundabar, home of the Knights of Holy Judgement, where he is promoted to the rank of Paladin. During his vigil, he is haunted by visions and memories of Draxhar, the demon who bested him in his youth, but chose to leave him alive to live with the shame. (KwN.0.2 The Paladin's Vigil)
• After reclaiming the fallen Sundabar, Tristain is joined by Aethuriel and Pax on a quest to complete his contracts.
• Beginning in Silverymoon, the companions hunt down the tiefling thief Arkmenos, responsible for stealing the Augury of Avraathe, and now uses Silverymoon's most famous artifact, the Truesilver Crown, to wield magic within the Mystal of Silverymoon. Chasing a series of clues, the party connect Arkmenos to warehouse operated by Cyric cultists. They eventually capture the tiefling and bring him in for questioning.
• Arkmenos reveals his role in Cyric's operations - to steal and ship out magical items across the Sword Coast. He confirms that he works directly with Draxhar, who appears to him as an "old man." Though he openly confesses to knowing little else of the machinations, he reveals his understanding of the greater mission — the "unraveling of the false portrait of reality" and "Cyric's eventual freedom and return to the mortal plane." ( KWN.2.8 Confessions & Contracts)
• Following their exploits in Everlund and the High Forest, the Triad travels to Neverwinter in search of Folio, the githyanki assassin, now a known associate of Arkmenos.
• Working with the local Tyrrans, the party discover that a number of homes as well as Seymour's Adventurer Outfitters had been burglarized, with only enchanted items or artifacts stolen.
• Clues from an arson incident at the Dancing Stallion send the Triad to a pirate's bar, where they learn Folio had joined a crew and led a mutiny, now using the pirates as his means of exporting the confiscated goods. The party and their allies defeat Folio, saving Second who had been abducted with plans to dismantle him for his enchantments. (KWN.5.3 The Second Contract)
• That evening, Tristain receives a vision in which he learns of his father's fate as a restless spirit in the jungles of Chult. Here, the Triad goes their separate ways, with Tristain setting out for Chult to save his father, while Pax and Aethuriel go to Daggerford to deal with an infernal threat growing there. Meanwhile, Second delivers the final contract for the Rakshasa in Waterdeep to Durindale for Hawk and Thaust.

A Simple Contract

• Back in Waterdeep, Hawk, Thaust, and Endriel hunt the last of Tristain's contracts, a Rakshasa
• They uncover the fiend's involvement in a blackmarket operation in which the Rakshasa hunts individuals exchanging magical items and artifacts, stealing the items and delivering them to Cyricist cultists in Skullport while the bodies are removed by Nalaskur's vampiric spawn
• The Rakshasa operates under the authority of the Cassalanters, who worship Cyric and carry out his Waterdeep operations in exchange for his promise to restore their family and get them out of the infernal contract that saw them forsake the souls of their children
• The party learns of Draxhar, Cyric's Chosen, and his efforts to gather magical artifacts from across the Sword Coast as part of some ritual.

Cyric's Proclamation

• Following the defeat of the Rakshasa, Cyric sends a vision to all of the heroes of Durindale. In his rage, he warns the companions of the consequences of their interference in his efforts. In his cryptic language, Cyric presents himself as striving to protect existence from a looming threat beyond the hero's comprehension.
• The vision then broadens, consuming the entire horizon, such that the entire Sword Coast witnesses Cyric declare war upon those who stans against him, calling upon his Chosen, Draxhar, and his loyal worshippers to come out from the shadows and finish his great work as he strives for Ascension and names himself the savior of existence, The God of Madness.

Vorothruun's Revelations

The Crinishad

• There are three fundamental elements to Existence: Magic, Reality, and Time.
• Beyond the pantheons of gods or primordial forces, there are three entities who exist outside of and beyond all other creation: Ao, Ragnalla, and Thren
• Each of these beings, as pure forces, represent an element of existence, where Ao constitutes Reality, Ragnalla constitutes Magic, and Thren constitutes Time.
• These beings also represent sides of the universal alignment, where Ao represents the ideals of Chaotic Good, Ragnalla Lawful Evil, and Thren true Neutral.
• The universe exists in a cycle of creation and destruction, where Ao gives life to a universe to allow it to flourish and grow into whatever it may be. When the world reaches a critical state of entropy and power, Ragnalla awakens from her deep slumber beyond time to consume the world, testing whatever might may exist to challenge her, though it is never sufficient.
• In this infinite back-and-forth, Ao and Ragnalla pit their philosophies and existential alignments against one another, where the former wishes for existence to be as varied as the endless creativity and imagination that is his very being, whereas Ragnalla believes existence to be reserved for only those who exist beyond creation itself, and that the entire universe bends towards the singular entity of existence, her. Thren, their neutral observer, initiated the ideas of the various layers of existence in which they might test these theories and explore new ideas.
• Cyric, as a mortal, was the previous Chosen of Ragnalla
• Cyric murdered Mystra as a means to destroy magic, so that Ragnalla would not awaken to destroy the universe.
• The other gods did not believe him about the paracausal beings beyond their pantheon, denounced him as the God of Lies, as chained him in his Supreme Throne for 10,000 years. Cyric actually serves as the God of Madness.
• Cyric has spent the last century laying the groundwork for an ambitious, last-ditch effort to save the universe. He intends to Ascend. Beyond godhood, to paracausality, so that he might face Ragnalla as an equal and save the universe from utter annihilation.
• His Ascension requires an unimaginable concentration of the three elements of Existence: Magic, Reality, and Time and a ritual to weave all of them together into a single entity.

Ragnalla Revelations

• Using a cypher built upon prime numbers, Vorothruun uncovers hidden verses transcribed within the sacred texts of the five cults of Ragnalla.
• The poetic revelations appear to confirm the text of the Cyrinishad, namely Ragnalla's paracausality, her nature and representation of singularity existence, and her ravenous hunger which will eventually consume the universe.

Hammer of Tyr

• Tristain experiences visions of his father's last moments, in which he came face to face with Draxhar in Chult (EM.Lore Tristain's Visions)
• Draxhar stole an ancient artifact, The Guardian's Tear, said to be from when Helm regretfully struck down Mystra as part of his solemn oath to Ao to prevent gods from returning to the heavens without the Tablets of Fate during the Times of Trouble
• When Helm shed a single tear, as it fell, it bound together the Reality of the Material Plane, Time through Helm's immortality, and the essence of Mystra's Magic, and formed into a prismatic, azure tear-shaped gem, The Guardian's Tear.
• Draxhar reveals his plan to a dying Rulidd — to extract Magic from other artifacts and sources across the Realms, pouring them into the Guardian's Tear until it is overflowing with power. Then, releasing its Magic, Reality, and Time all at once, to tear a hole in Existence through which Cyric can Ascend to paracausality.

Misc. Lore

• Durindale: Davan
• Draxhar, Demon of a Thousand Faces
• Ragnalla