KARINDOR

Excerpted from the Book of Memories:

“My name is Hessoj from Acrollam, historian, apprentice to instructor and representative of my city before the New Age Council, a city that I love and venerate with all my heart. When the Council asked me to put in writing the history of Karindor, our revered mother and home, I thought that I would never be able to finish such an immense task. To write in one or two volumes the thousands of years that have elapsed since the arrival of The First to the present day seemed like a mere illusion. However, I have dedicated my life and my energies in order to be able to put all these facts in writing.

From the tower of the skies of Zula, to the bowels of Dwelings, passing through the depths of Abyss, I have traveled all the places where I could find remains of our history and our ancestors with a single intention: to bring to light of our days the forgotten shadows of the past.

I should start this compendium by talking about the beginnings of the formerly called Fifth Era to, little by little, go back in time until reaching the First Inhabitants and their original home, the sacred valley that gave them life and that welcomed them in the dawn of time.

I think that, first of all, it must be explained what our world is like and how the unfortunate and dangerous years of the Esai Dorlav passed. That is why I will now speak about our venerated mother, origin of life and guardian of the imperishable light, Karindor, the Living Earth.

KARINDOR

OUR home is our life. Karindor, which literally means "the land of men" in the language of antiquity, is divided since time is time into four large areas or continents: the northern area, the dangerous and icy lands called in the aforementioned ancient language, Valruz; the lands of the South or Belfael; the wild East continent or Valtra, and the inhospitable West or Valgora.

Valruz, the home of evil and the cradle where the wound of the North originated, is the smallest and most dangerous of them all. A place where the sun does not heat and where the light does not illuminate, few are those who survive in such dark lands. If the cold does not kill you, its abundant snowfalls will and, if not, fear and despair will. Only one people managed to settle there, the night's sons whom we know as the neldors, men with a cold and hard heart, like the ice that covers Valruz. The Evil of ancient times lived with them, transforming them, stripping them of their humanity, using them for its perverse designs as a scourge for the rest of peoples and races. Valruz is the place where death lives, the place where our inner strength is put to the test and only the strongest manage to survive.

On the contrary, Belfael, my continent, has always been the most populated and beautiful area. Elf's light, which vivifies us all, floods its valleys, rivers and mountains with each dawn. Its climate is generally benign and welcoming, with three seasons that allow us to feed ourselves and enjoy all the good things that our generous mother brings us: rest in the summers, food in the springs, and work in the mild winters. From the sky the water falls regularly, irrigating our fields. From the earth the food that men and animals use to exist is born and grows. Some areas, such as Darbruna, nevertheless have their own time and climate: a single season composed of refreshing daily rains, high temperatures and high humidity, fostering the growth of the sacred forests where the wisest beings of all creation are born and live, ancestral trees, living creatures that predate man himself.

They are the first inhabitants of Karindor and its rightful owners.

Darbruna, blessed cradle of the onimods.

Valtra is a continent similar to Belfael. The climate is somewhat hotter and the weather is slightly more irregular. Winters in Valtra often unleash heavy rains and hurricane-force winds that have cost more than one unsuspecting life. Its people are usually impetuous and somewhat brusque, as Valtra herself is. But for those who have lived or live there, going to another place is difficult, if not impossible. Those who visit the East rarely forget its vast plains, its slender mountains, or its green valleys. Poets often speak of it as if it were a bird, always in motion and always in the distance:

“Beautiful place for restless hearts Valtra will always be, like a swift hawk in the skies from which no one will want to escape. When your eyes tremble and the last master calls you, go East and tell the indomitable lady to teach you to fly with her...”.

Valgora is a world apart. It is true that its climate is warm and comfortable, but many of its lands have remained uninhabited for centuries or millennia. If weather changes in Valtra are unpredictable, in Valgora they are even more so. With much more fierceness and crudeness and, furthermore, at any end of the entire immense continent. Sudden changes in temperature are the norm and not the exception, thus making it possible to go from intense cold to extreme heat or from seasons of persistent drought to times of endless downpours. And all this in just a week or, in the vast majority of cases, days.

The West has always been a great unknown that only the race of hybrids and a few adventurers or fugitives from among men have managed to explore, which they never master.

Our source of life, Karindor -sacred be her name- gives us a great variety of vast and mysterious forests, deep and beautiful valleys, wide plains, mighty rivers and wonderful meadows. But our home also has a multitude of other habitats for countless countless beings with their own light to also live and subsist: what can we say about the swamps and swamps, the lofty areas that exist in the inaccessible mountains, the hot deserts and of all those other regions of sparse vegetation, arid, lonely and empty places... In the most remote areas of Valruz or Valgora you can find spectacular mountains of fire where rivers of incandescent lava flow down their slopes until they reach magma lakes fiery, in which the heat makes it impossible to breathe...

Certainly, not everything that evil creates is without beauty. An indescribable beauty that cannot be compared to anything else that exists.

The place for man to live is the earth.

And the earth is the place for man to live.

She gives us everything and does not ask us for anything in return.

A few mad and ungrateful have tried to cross the sea that surrounds our world in search, apparently, of a new world or new lands and kingdoms. There the ingrates who leave Karindor perish! If any of the readers are curious about the great ocean of water that surrounds us, they should know that life does not exist beyond our home. The great blue or sea has always been a stranger, a mystery from which Karindor protects us. In fact, it has never been called in any particular way. In it there are truly gigantic creatures, monsters capable of swallowing the largest and best-armed ships that anyone has ever built. In Darbruna I found a lot of information about the sea, despite the fact that the onimods -wise and prudent beings by nature- were always reluctant to talk about it. After much effort and patience, fighting even against my own well-founded fears, I managed to elicit the name that they secretly gave it: “Present Death” or ”dffa kaddfker”, since according to them life could not remain on said sea but only within it, so those of us who need air to exist are condemned to die in it.

Our light cannot shine at the bottom of the deep ocean.

As if that were not enough, it seems that on many occasions a strong wind awakens over said sea, known by the name of ”vattushs”, which makes navigation on the high seas impossible since it devours everything in its path. It is curious that the race of the onimods, who came to our home through such a dangerous sea, had the strange belief that the ”vattushs” is the invisible frontier and always in motion with the lost and imperishable land of its gods (beings almighty who protect, help or punish).

In any case, if those who came across the vast expanse of the sea remained far from it, it is and will always be foolish to pretend to believe that we, mere men, short-lived mortal beings, can cross its endless limits or we will be able to embrace and discover its unreachable frontiers.

EVERY apprentice instructor must know the ancestral gift of Kradparuna. As a belief, especially among men, the existence of a common force that is latent in each and every one of the beings that exists on the Living Land of Karindor is widely recognized. A light that would come from the depths of the earth itself and that, on its journey to heaven or infinity, would adopt various forms, some of which would be visible and easily recognizable and others that would go unnoticed by our eyes.

It is evident that it was not until the middle of the Second Age, with the appearance of the wise Instructors and the construction of their White Tower, that this belief spread throughout the known world. However, the Kradparuna is not just a religion or a faith, nor is it some kind of magic or supernatural power, although from its effects it may seem so.

The Kradparuna is an art in itself.

An ancient art that perfectly combines knowledge and willpower. Through this art it would be possible to change, transform or alter the course of that inner light that each being animate -like people, animals or plants-, or inanimate -like elements, substances or anything else without life or consciousness-, would have and would house within it. It would even be possible to alter the own light that would emanate from oneself, as it is believed that the first mystic or visionary managed to do -names by which those who practiced this art were known in their day- the powerful and cruel King Behej'Ari, the Immortal, sovereign of the old Black Empire (later Dominion), who, obsessed with absorbing all that power, would end up becoming the first corrupt or fallen -names given to those who use said gift to increase their own power by absorbing that of others-.

Since this ability is related to the will of our beloved Mother Earth, it is normally only possible to use it by making use of the ancient language of The First Dwellers, those to whom Karindor herself gave a last refuge, those whom she also taught to speak. It is accepted as the most credible theory that The First came to have a deep knowledge about existence itself, thus creating a set of sounds capable of catching this light, although this is only one of the many theories that try to explain the mysterious operation of the Kradparuna.

It is evident that sound would not be the only receiver of that powerful inner force or light. Some examples of this could be certain objects or materials used by the Instructors or, if they still exist, everything that was used directly by The First Dwellers.

”...I thought everything was lost. Our enemies outnumbered us and outgunned us. He was already seeing death closely, but then something that no one could foresee happened. The White Instructors appeared with a blinding flash atop the hill that dominated the plain we were fighting on. They raised their clubs in unison and, to my surprise, I felt the strength return to me. All my men seemed to draw strength where before there was only weakness and fear. Soon we managed to make our enemies flee in terror in disarray, retreating beyond the river. I looked at the Sages in disbelief and, without thinking about it, I knelt gratefully...”

The Prophet of Belfael

I will continue my compendium explaining that... "

THE history we know only goes back to the time of The First Inhabitants and their establishment in the sacred valley. That date is the one with which the computation through eras or times began in Karindor, five of these ages being established, according to the model of the wise elphic people. These ages or times do not cover the same number of years or cycles as others, although they all occupy long spaces or periods in time and mark the beginning or end of great events that shaped and changed the world, either for the better or for worse.

Despite all my efforts to go back further in time I did not get a single piece of information or clue about what life was like before The First Inhabitants or where they came from. It is as if our beloved mother Karindor has erased that past so that we men will never discover it. I have decided to mention the five ages mentioned, contributing the most relevant and well-known events that I managed to discover about each of them, as I was able to extract from the remains of the Sacred Royal Library of Kradovel, accepted by our contemporaries as the most complete and exact (although I must clarify that some of these events could be exaggerated, omitted or fragmented; for which I apologize in advance to the reader while I encourage you to complete my discoveries).

In the beginning of time The First Inhabitants arrived, after many hardships and for causes unknown to me, to the sacred valley that Karindor provided as a last refuge for men and their children. Centuries later, the onimods arrived from across the seas, beings different from them with strange customs and beliefs. It seems that both races coexisted in peace for several generations until men began their division among themselves into clans or family groups, from which the great patriarchs of the past would emerge, from which all of us human peoples descend.

It was at that time that the Kradparuna began -of which I have already spoken before- and that would finally end in a tragic way in the destruction of the sacred valley after the appearance of a new race emerged becouse the forbidden crossing of men and onimods.

An evil patriarch named Ura-Ross, eager for power, enslaved many with the help of the hybrids -the new race-, why broke the first major war in which were involved those who cohabited until that day in the sacred lost valley. Men against men, onimods against onimods, hybrids against hybrids... no one was left free from bloodshed.

The valley was destroyed and uninhabitable for any of the races.

Ura-Ross, the first patriarch-king, was banished along with his people beyond the limits of the valley while the rest of clans and towns tried to rebuild everything that had been lost in the fratricidal struggle.

It was useless.

One by one, all the patriarchs and their peoples left those lands in search of new homes. Finally, the onimods and hybrids, after a brief new confrontation with each other, also moved away from the refuge that Karindor had generously provided for so many generations. The great exodus of that time gave rise to the name by which that First Age is known: the Ether-Muit or Age of Exodus.

As the end of it, Karindor swallowed the sacred valley for himself without leaving a single clue of where he was.

The world changed the way it would never do again, great mountain ranges emerged and lush forests disappeared. Rivers dried up disappearing into nothingness while others sprang up with force creating new valleys and new lands. The sea withdrew in some parts of the world, leaving more dry land on which to dwell, while in other places it flooded, hiding under its abyssal depths everything that existed in them. For tens, or perhaps hundreds of centuries, Karindor suffered an intense glaciation that separated some peoples from others. To some races of others. Ancient customs were lost and the common language of The Firsts fell into oblivion.

The days of peace are over.

Evil was present in Valruz.

The end of the ice age, in which many perished, was the beginning of the Second Age, the Kradovel Dorlav or the Age of the First Kings. An age that began with the creation of large cities and new trade routes between some towns and others. One was that at first it was only threatened by small revolts of the neldors against the rest of its race brothers. The appearance of some onimods, who called themselves The Righteous, changed all that. The return of those onimods, which we know as The Uncouth, was only the prelude to the great war of that time, the ”Hjari Groa” or final day.

The onimods fell into a deep civil war with those uncouth rebels, who pursued the extermination of the rest of the races of all Karindor. The two great kings of men, lords of the ancestral art of Kradparuna, also went to war.

On the one hand the mighty Sun-King Elf of the golden town of Belfael and, on the other side, the mysterious King of the Black Empire of Valruz, the Immortal, Behej'Ari. After the "Hjari Groa" and the fall of the Immortal, the benevolent Instructors would arise and the White Tower of Albnoc would be built, as a refuge for the wisdom of that time. The day of the Elf king's departure, in which he made the promise of an heir who would protect all free and peace-loving peoples from Valruz's Evil forever -known as the “promise of the heir”- marked the beginning the end of the Second Age.

For millennia the Instructors watched over the peace in Karindor and, under their protection, the peoples and other races thrived and prospered. That was their time, the Third Age, the "Luev Haecoc" or Era of Light and Peace. But a new age was to begin. Not even the wisest of Albnoc's visionary instructors could foresee the new scourge with which Valruz's Evil and the neldors would fall upon them.

The worst of the nightmares of living beings took shape throughout those millennia in the dark mountains of Krad-Muna. Beings that lived on the blood of others. Servants of evil and darkness. Forged by and for war, they appeared as a swarm over the rest of the continents, ruining and consuming everything within their reach. They had come to Karindor with the sole objective of exterminating and maiming our beloved mother.

Their name: the gonks.

Their lord: the Evil of Valruz.

Their banner: the rebuilt Black Empire.

Thus began the Apocalypse of the Third Age, thus began the Kradovel Akluev. The invasion lasted for a long time and the men suffered great losses. When all seemed lost, after the sudden and unexpected fall of the Tower of Instructors and its near total genocide, an alliance was forged between the remnants of the races that still lived in freedom. The new allies, who until then had been scattered and at odds, rallied as one to face the gonks. A new and more bloody war, the ”Akluev Groa” or the day without light, took place on the plains of the Laoent River between two armies so numerous that they shook the earth as they passed. Whether by fortune or the help of the nameless gods, the gonks were miraculously defeated and returned to the other side of the Red Mountains from which they had descended.

A new city then arose where so many men and onimods had died, remaining the greatest symbol of freedom and victory over Evil that had ever been built. The immense city of Travaldor was proclaimed capital of a new kingdom without a king, the Republic, which would later be called the Council of Peoples. After many vicissitudes an agreement was reached between all the races and peoples that made it up. As a seal and guarantee of this pact, The Stone of Forgiveness was placed in the ruins of what was once the capital of the elphic kingdom, which fell due to a painful and painful betrayal.

For thousands of years peace reigned in the domains of the Council.

In time Judges emerged, men and women of enormous power and wisdom who dispensed justice throughout the free land without asking for anything in return. Their age had begun, the Etherdor or the Age of Judges, the Fourth Age.

But the Evil of the North was not completely defeated and took advantage of that long time to regain strength and prepare a new and more violent offensive that would lead to the final victory. Little by little he put in the hearts of men of not so noble intentions the desire to rule in Travaldor. Finally, one of these men, a lost descendant of some ancient king, claimed the throne of the city. The brave Judges, who at that time were not many in number or very popular, were betrayed and mercilessly executed with the invaluable help and collaboration of the neldors and their terrible emissaries.

How many of our most precious works tell us of such cruel and unjust betrayal and death! May Karindor remember them and carried them with alacrity beyond our skies...

After the advent of Travaldor, the kingdoms of the past re-emerged which, dissatisfied with the new way of doing of the Council, reclaimed their old borders and lordships. At that time the Sigrim, the gray people, abandoned their slavery in the North and sought the help of the elphics, who generously gave them lands where they could live in freedom.

After a while, a scattered group of hybrids arrived in Belfael from the depths of Abyss, claiming to be enemies of the Evil of Valruz. What seemed like an impending civil war between the kings of men and the newcomers quickly morphed into a struggle for survival. The gonks returned to Karindor more fiercely than in the past but with an equal desire for destruction, death, and blood. Finally the great city, the capital of the Council, fell to the neldor armies commanded by Naam, the worst of all men to ever set foot in our world.

He was the greatest general and first guardian of the Black Empire, which would be renamed the Domain after the conquest of Travaldor.

The invasion did not stop and the Dominion extended its borders west, east and south, defeating all who opposed them. The fall of Zula, the great capital of the people of heaven, was what unleashed the fury of the kings of Belfael, of Valtra, of the onimods and of the hybrids and sigrims newcomers. They firmly marched together to confront an enemy that surpassed them in number, power, and malice. But fear did not stop them.

How many great warriors fell those days in the long struggle of the North! How many lives were lost in the “”Ether-Ruz Grodavor”!

But their efforts and their lives were not a futile sacrifice, as the advance of the Domain was stopped short and the peoples enjoyed a tense peace. Few of those who made up that army returned to tell what they had seen. The only certain thing is that the gonks disappeared for twenty years from the face of Karindor. With that period of time, called thev”Dab Akluev”, the Fifth Age began.

The Second Great Age of Kings had begun, the Esai Dorlav.

*Note from the author: since the events that occurred after the ”Dab Akluev” up to our own days are more recent in our memory and more scrolls and works that deal with them have been preserved, I have decided to include them in a later work. Furthermore, all the events from the Fifth Age turn out to be too extensive to be included along with this compendium in a single scroll or volume.