Decent Into Darkness
                The Eighth Aeon of Temuair: A Historical Study by Katrionah Rosalette in Dark Ages


     


            I: The Beginning of True Chaos...
                    The Rise of the Dubhaimid
     

        It was 272 years after Hy-Brasyl's inevitable drowning, in the year of Danaan 1703, that the fifth element of darkness was discovered. A mere two years afterwards, the exact cause of which left under speculation to this day, the vile and evil beings known as the Dubhaimid appeared. All of which would mark the beginning of a long age of suffering for Temuair. Though history, with many of its details lost in passage of time, has succeeded only in telling the basis of its records. However, throughout the generations, stories, myths, even personal recollections were passed down. And, though like history these stories too lost their edge of accuracy, one can only take it hold at least a spark of truth...

    Out of an obscene understanding of the elements
    was wrought a fifth element: darkness. From it,
    atrocious creatures were born. Some which died or
    vanished with only a lingering sense remaining, and
    others that the foolish summoned would wish that
    they had vanished. Their towns, too, would be eaten
    by the monstrosities.

        As it happened, with the discovery of darkness, hideous and grotesque creatures were born. With the bondage of the elements, darkness had been added to the servitude as the other four elements before it. However, its effects proved to be far more sinister in use as compared to what could be wrought with earth or fire. Foolish Wizards saw darkness as a means of crushing others involved in the fierce elemental wars.
        Those who tried succeeded only in conjuring bizarre creatures, hideous and grotesque in form, but not even strong enough to remain in existence for more than a breath's time. Wizards more skilled in their craft, grown tired of the havoc they could manifest with the four most basic of elements, turned to try their hands at the manipulation of darkness. The creature's they produced through their magicks, as it happened, were far more powerful than those the lower of the magicians could bring about.
        These advanced demons did not disappear upon their creation, rather they grew strong. No amount of magickal skill could control these such monsters, and they quickly turned upon their creators who foolishly wished to be their masters. And, feeding off the fear and terror they evoked in those who called them, the makers of these obscene creatures soon met untimely ends by their own powers. These experiments with such an unknown and mysterious element, would ultimately drug many an innocent mundane, even a slight more deserving war-goer, to meet similar and ever more unspeakable deaths...
        Eventually, as the strife and malice increased amongst participants of the mindless struggles for power, the creatures born of darkness too seemed to gain strength. The demons that had been summoned by so many in a effort to turn the tables of the insane battles thrived in both spreading and feeding upon the chaos that reigned. Towns were ravaged as the intellects of the dark beings evolved, leading them to gather in large groups and crush those who sought to right the wrongs of their existence in destroying them. Still the blind mortal struggles for power continued on.
        It was said, amongst many a oracle, scholar, and philosopher that dare research such dark subjects, that as the angst hatred of those who fought reached it peak, so did the society and logic of the fearsome demons, all of which fed upon the chaos that was raged amongst the power mad inhabitants of Temuair. The creatures of darkness, by the unfortunates they tormented from beginning their creation, had fearfully come to be called the Dubhaimid.
        It was during this climax of vile progression, when those involved in the war lusted more than ever for a hold over the land, and when the innocents wrought between the maddening struggled feared more than ever for their lives, that the Dubhaimid assumed a level which could nearly be a twisted parallel to mortals. From the meager, pathetic ooze they had first been conjured as, the Dubhaim had risen to assume far more terrifying forms, human in guise but horribly distorted by the hate and loathing the demon race so thrived and flourished upon. It became so that mortals were gripped by the Dubhaimid's greedy manipulation of their darker emotions, feasting upon the fear the produced from inhabitants of the cities they ravished, and thriving further upon the even more fervent hatred amongst the tyrants and warlords or the lands. Thus, their reign of terror grew...


        II: Darkness' Eclipse
                The Underworld & Chadul

    The dubhaim knew the secrets of life and death; which
    meant death for all mortal races. They created and
    stocked the underworld, land of terror and darkness.
    This was nothing like the final resting place, Grinneal of
    Hy-brasyl. Souls screamed without rest in the underworld
    of the dubhaimid.

        As it would be an even more tragic factor for humanity, the Dubhaimid were endowed with the ancient secrets of life and death. Some wise men say this sacred lore was embedded within the demon's foul minds from the moment they were first create, the darkness holding all the long forgotten or crushed secrets of the realm that all shadows within the land could tell.
        However, other philosophers would insist that it was later when the Dubhaim discovered the forgotten lore, which came during the time of the evil race's high point. Those few who refused the other theories said that their possession of such secrets came from the tapping into the very souls and minds of the unfortunate they preyed upon. Their victims of course, included those from all walks of life, and between them all, as knowledge long ill-used sense the fall of Hy-Brasyl, the Dubhaim discovered and defiled the divine knowledge.
        It was through these discoveries that the Dubhaim overthrew the realm of Grinneal, replacing it with their own foul underworld, one which was built upon the terror and darkness the demons thrived upon. Now, even in death, the creatures of darkness could feed upon the souls of the mortals they plagued in life. As their soul prison became accumulated by more and more souls to torture as they pleased for eternity, the Dubhaimid had literally created an oasis of suffering and torment to benefit themselves. The anguished screams of poor souls the demons fed upon grew so loud and came in such strength that even in the world above their cries could be heard clearly by the still leaving, evoking more fear into the hearts of mortals who still lived, and driving those who had warred amongst themselves so long to near insanity from the never ending screams. All activity within Temuair seemed to come to a halt at the Dubhaimid's twisted hands.

    Perhaps they screamed too loudly, or perhaps the
    thoughts of the living were too strong. The eighth
    aeon of Temuair was known. Wise men, described
    it by the being that was born: Chadul, the ruler of the
    third realm: the underworld. The wise returned to the
    worship of Danaan, goddess of the light.

        In the year of Danaan 1813, Chadul, rule of the underworld, was born. The ruler of the Dubhaim's foul realm marked the final decay of Grinneal, leaving all souls within Temuair within the twisted hands of the beings that reigned amongst the third  realm. As it still remains today, no mortal can say for sure what Chadul himself was borne of, or why it was he that took reign over the Dubhaim's unspeakable land. All that is known is that the new lord Chadul was the product of all the hatred and sin the world had bore in all the past centuries, raised upon the Dubhaim's torment of mortal souls, and fed by the screams that rang across the air day in and day out.
        Whether it was out of the knowledge the Dubhaimid themselves had of life (knowledge which had since been ill used from their preference of death), or out of the own torment the mortals of the land were put upon, Chadul had come into being. All of which would again  mark a new turning point in the age of Temuair, one even more twisted and corrupt than the appearance and rise of the demons the Dubhaimid. Under Chadul's new reign, the suffering of the world reach a new high. It was this such woe of ultimate levels that let those not yet taken by death or complete madness to return to the worship of Danaan, the goddess of light.  And so came the beginning of the war between light and darkness, a war between the very aspects of good and evil within Temuair.
        For the first time in more than 2,000 years, Temuair was given a chance to fight back against the chaos and strife that gripped it by the likes of Chadul and the Dubhaimid....
     


        III: Temuair's Revenge
                The War of Light & Dark
     

    A war rose up of light and darkness, the armies
    amassed under Danaan or Chadul. Danaan
    convinced the other beings aid to her, and Chadul
    was defeated in three days. Chadul was held at bay
    at the darkness. Not without casualties. The mortal
    world was ravaged by hail, earthquakes, floods, fire,
    and the fingers of the dubhaimid.

        In Danaan 1980, the war between the followers of Danaan and Chadul began. Those who followed Chadul were all the minions of darkness, even including many a corrupt mortal once to be trusted to Danaan's ranks. By the dark lord Chadul's command, the Dubhaim wreaked havoc anew across the land, ravaging cities and terrorizing villagers as they had in their earliest days of existence. Danaan, however, was quick to retaliate, gathering the aide of all beings that remained pure of heart in Temuair.
        In the end, the forces of light were stronger of number and determination to push back the dark, and Chadul and his forces were taken back and defeated within three days of the new union's forming. For the first time in ages, those in defense learned to ban together in their efforts as opposed to protecting solely themselves foolishly, it was this change of strategy by Danaan's hand that at last led to victory. Though as it had happened... All was not solved by Chadul's defeat, which would be realized all too late. The other beings Danaan had gather in aide of the mortals could do nothing once the battles were finished, the unfortunate mortal inhabitants of Temuair were alone in the eventual suffering...

    The beings realized what was done and wept for
    mortality. Mortal spirits wandered the land, and
    slipped into the darkness of Chadul's realm.
    Darkness spread.

        It had happened, despite the triumph that was at last gained, the settlements of the mortals had been all but destroyed in the battles. The combination of force from the Dubhaimid and the elements was too great, and it was a mixed victory at best. Though Chadul no longer had such a power over the realm above the underworld, those who survived the war were left with nearly nothing, and hopes again dropped even shortly after the war's end. The following years would again be ones filled with woe and hopelessness, given Chadul the chance to rise again to make another crushing blow to the mortals realm. Danaan could not save those who lost hope and faith in this time, and the mortal realm too began to fall into the darkness of the underworld...
     

    Survivors gathered and balkanized. The wisdom
    wars should have taught them did not survive. Hungry
    for a memory of Hy-brasyl glory, without the discipline
    to its creation in their heart, they used more of the
    darkness for conquest. Lord Tenes arose from them,
    forming a foolish alliance with 6 other lords and one
    inhuman thing. They called their alliance the League
    of Darkness.

        In Danaan 2230, when the civilization of Temuair had only just begun to pick itself back up, the 9th Aeon became known, one which serve a strange twist in the lives of the mortals. In the centuries following the world's submersion in darkness, some learned to use the fifth element to their advantage, which would lead to the eventual forming of the legions of darkness.
        It would be in this era that some form of order, no matter how  foolish corrupt  the leader's intention were, could be brought upon the realm. Nonetheless, strife and tension continued in the land as it had before Chadul's chaotic appearance. However, this time such things seemed well hidden behind politics and social reforms of all kinds. It would be during the 9th era, when mortality at last began to learn to live amongst the hold of darkness, that the very span to be called the Dark Ages would begin...