Meria

“Upon a snow capped mountain slope opened a portal black as night, a broken mirror reflecting into an strange alternative dimension, The Other. For a moment there was nothing in this world, only the false gods and pretender charlatans in their unholy palaces. Then He was here. A radiant, and terribly powerful, beautiful god. A true god. The God. A being of such magnificence that that heretical snow melted at his presence, that the very wind and atmosphere itself bent to his will. Harbinger emerged from that portal. Behind him, an army of ten thousand loyal, immortal soldiers. Behind them, true believers, the first of them. In those early days they were few, named The Follows of He Who Emerged. At first they were few, but as His holy crusade swept across an abandoned, savage world of warring ‘civilizations’ and ‘empires’, the few became many, and then the many became majority. At first it was outlying hamlets, easily kneeling to their new god with their few warriors who could no more match a single Immortal than our God himself. Then it was the cities they fed, still in the interim of the empires they slaved for. The pathetic walls that had been built crumbled, and the heretical and sinful lords and ladies were slain, their corpses strung to the walls for all to see. Those who could not see the obvious holiness of His power were killed, executed en masse by those holy warriors who could see The Path. The path of his unification, of his consolidation.   Through stinking, fetid swamps, mountainous crags, windswept plains, scorching deserts and verdant forests, his legions marched. Growing with every wondrous conquest as they swept aside the infidels, the unworthy, the heretic. Yes there were those who rose in dissent, those who provided an admirable, but ultimately futile resistance. Their leader, The Great Fool, A’akaro Yvsa was killed, cast into the yawning abyss from which he was devoured, after having been ran through by our God in his ultimate power. They broke after this, after this horrific sight. Truly, it was horrible. For the children of Harbinger never needed draw each others blood. Brother needed not fight brother, son needed not fight father. Yet this world, and its savage inhabitants had not seen what unification truly was. Too focused upon their cultural, ethnicity and racial based conflicts to see that under one caring God, anything was possible. And so in the shadow of this great war, our world was built. From the mindless slaughter of a world of war, came the comforting order, of a world of peace. From the endless division of world of inequality, came the perfect unity of a world of true equality. We are all children of Harbinger, his flesh and blood, born under his reign, and will die under his reign with glory and love in our hearts.   Yet his mantra, his legacy, his teachings reside. The strong rule, abjure the false ones, conflict causes evolution, and finally, most of all. Hate deeply.”   Imperial History Professor Ardim Yar, Doctor   Welcome players and readers, to A Throne Built Upon a Shattered World!   A world of darkness, evil, and horrific life awaits in the shattered world of Meria. From the devil ridden, ore rich mountains of the Devilclaw Spires, to the southern, barren wastes of the Godless Peninsula, all the way to the sun-scorched deserts of Ghray-Lekor, to the isles of Althia, adventure awaits for daring and suspect adventurers in this dangerous world. Unlike any other standard fantasy world, this campaign will unfold in a world in which the unthinkable has occurred. The heroes have failed, there are no heroic silver or gold dragons fighting for good, or brave and worthy mortal champions harboring the light. A thousand years of darkness has reigned upon the world of Meria, and the gods have not answered. You will face challenges of mind, body, and spirit. Can, or will you end the reign of the first true god to ever walk the earth of this world, or will you ignore it, or perhaps even enhance His iron grip upon all of life.   The choices are yours. But to survive in a world as dark as this one, at least one of Harbinger’s mantra’s rings true, hate deeply.