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The World of Teréth End - Gazetteer - Terèthor - Dekàlas |
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Links Home "...[name] stood in the [name2] Hall, a hundred peers watching from the galleys above. She called her Provider's name, and all could feel the power she commanded. [name3] summoned his wards, but all that watched knew his efforts were in vain. The next name she offered was his, and the misery of [name3] was legend." translated from Dekàlan fragment found in ruins of Ilduùn  |
Ildûn Capital: City of Gyrdon The City of Ildûn is a spoon-shaped peninsula of stone and sand crowned with jagged ruins. Once a planned city of canals, towers, avenues and parks, the Ildûn of the Old Empire is no more. Beneath the glowing sands and melted stone above, three sentries stand in eternal vigil over the bones of Yrygarmandralyth, the great Dágul who was slain there over 650 years ago. They have stood there since he fell, and they will stand there until her bones turn to dust and the dust becomes no more. Among the Elve, there are few greater fears than the ressurrection of Yrygarmandralyth, for his return (they believe) would herald the rise of the Old Empire and the destruction of all Elve kind. Above, the timeless ancient city is a lifeless place. Wind does not blow among the crumbling fingers of stone, the dunes stand unscarred. The ground is criss-crossed with by the footprints of those that have dared venture to this old place, but an alarming number of the tracks stop abruptly, as if the walker was pulled from his feet, or simply vanished. 
The history of Ildûn is the story of death. Ildûn's history begins long before the arrival of Dekàlan warships. Previously, the island was host to several warring tribes who called themselves the Eoyn (EE oh EHN). The Eoyn called the island Aylyra, a name shared by the high spirit of the isle. The Eoyn prayed to the spritis at dolrum shrines scattered across the island. "Securing" the land around a dolrum brought blessing upon the victorious tribe, so warfare was frequent and dolrums switched hands often. The Eoyn were skilled horsemen, and expert archers. It was this style of warfare that drove the Dekàlans back into the sea during the first century of the High King. When Thar'Guruf landed near Dysway on Aylyra's southern coast he found thatched coastal fishing villages, with no swords or shields in sight. A messenger was dispatched to Lanàdus within the day announcing the "The Isle is Thine". The next morning the encamped but undefended Dekàlan armies were devastated by horsemen raids. The soldiers wrestled with their armor, shields, and swords, surprised by the sudden attacks, but the horsemen refused to draw near, instead stopping at a distance and releasing volley after volley of arrows. The Dekàlans had seen the ponies of Terèthor, but had never seen horses as the Eoyn possessed. The Dekàlans returned to their ships. Thar'Guruf was summoned before the High King, where he told the High King that the Isle could not be taken. The knight also explained how troops were left on the beaches as the ships pulled away. This displeased the High King. Thar'Guruf was escorted to the gate and killed. The seeds for the eventual fall of Eoyn had been sown however, for over the course of the battles on Aylyra, many horses had been captured. The next time the Eoyn would meet the Dekàlan forces, they'd be facing heavy calvary. The Ummoni Guard landed at Falswyr around the Fall of 98. Three battalions of heavy infantry seized the town and began fortification. To the east, Savarin the White landed at Savar'Dirm (Savarin's Landing) with heavy calvary. The stage was set for a protracted Second Ildûni War. The Ummoni soldiers and priests had never known defeat before Ruun's ascent on Wyrthyr Tor the decade before. They were bound by their faith to succeed , and in a custom that would prevail to the Empire's end, would fight until none remained. Savarin's forces marched to Gyrdon Pass where they were engaged in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Gyrdon, the ancestral home of the Hedrym had recieved word of the landfall and was prepared for seige. Savarin's heavy calvary charged the resistance followed closely by battalions of infantry. Capturing Gordyn proved easy, maintaining control was impossible. After three days, Savarin commanded his forces to withdraw from the city, torching all they left behind. When the Dekàlan forces exited Gyrdon, the Hedrym calvaries beared down upon them. Taking serious casualties from these attacks, Savarin's forces retreated toward the Plains of Vyr. The horseclan followed Savarin eagerly into the Nuldruar, knowing there would be no where for Savarin to hide once they reached the plains. In the forest however, Savarin was joined by the Merdun Fer (Red Fist) who had marched from Falswyr. The Hedrym were outflanked and crushed. In the Eoyn tradition when defeat was realized the Hedrym put down their weapons in surrender. Despite Savarin's wishes, the Ummoni priests ordered each prisoner killed. The few surviving Hedrym spread word of this throughout Aylyra, the news of which contributed most to the uniting of the Eoyn. Savarin joined forces with the Merdun Fer and followed them to Dolrum Dayr where they found the ancient Eoyn meeting place in smouldering ruins. The plains were littered with the bodies of Hedrym families, soldiers, and horses. Savarin, apalled by the carnage called forward the Merdun Fer priests who responded "Irul is strong within us." From Dolrum Dayr the swath of destruction turned easterward to the coastal city of Esserwyl. Savarin found the Ummoni troops engaged in a seige of the city. The Ummoni armies had encircled the city by land and sea. Flaming arrows were rained upon the rooftops. Fleeing townspeople pleaded for mercy at the feet of the surrounding infantry only to be cut down in the high plains grasses. Savarin put a stop to this practice despite the protests of the priests. Savarin accepted the surrender of Esserwyl. Progress slowed as Athwyr and Nadryn strikes drove deeper south from their homelands. Savarin realized the danger to the campaign should the Eoyn join forces. The Ummoni armies struck the northern towns of Carradyr, Maavayr, and Tharawyl. These towns exchanged hands many times. In the Spring of 100, realizing that the land was too vast for his armies to conquer and control, Savarin ordered the construction of an earthen and stone wall from the mountains to the sea. Built to repel light calvary raids, the wall carved a physical niche from Aylyra, a foothold for the growing Dekàlan presence. In 104, orders arrived from the High King that Savarin was to release his reins on the Ummoni armies and allow them to do their god-given tasks as best they could. Jubilant at the chance to prove themselves, the Ummoni armies marched north from Gyrdon, descending from the mountains onto the town of Nyrrm Nalam. A Nadryn town on the eastern coast, Nyrrm Nalam had become a headquarters for Nadryn raiding parties. After two years of inaction from the Dekàlan forces, an attack this deep into their homeland was not expected. Nyrrm Nalam was reduced to ruins in a day. Irul history claims there were no survivors. The Eoyn united under Alfard the Hedrym soon afterward the fall of Nyrrm Nalam, ratcheting the war to a level and ferocity that the Dekàlan armies had never known. When the Ummoni battalions reached Kirit Nalam six towns lay in ruins behind them. They entered the town from the west, having traveled north through the foothills for cover. Charging into the town they soon discovered that the town was empty, though fires still burned in the fireplaces. Realizing the trap they retreated back toward the foothills only to be swarmed by a united force of Nadryn, Tirwyn, and Widrym. The Ummoni forces were pushed from the town into the Inunda Kirit. Unprepared for such a large battle force, the Ummoni forces retreated south through the swamp, and in time back to Savarin's Wall. The war continued for another 11 years before without the Wall falling to Eoyn forces. In the Summer of 116, the Ummoni forces made a final thrust north along the western coast of Aylyra. Decalan warships traveled north to a place identified by priests of Draun and dispatched a thousand men near the Ilwyryn town of Ildûn. Ildûn was chosen for the Eoyn temple that existed there, the most important of the Eoyn faiths. Dolrum Aylyra stood upon an off-shore rock which the Eoyn believed was a gateway to the spirit realms. Alfard's tribal armies raced across Aylyra to defend the sacred site only to be met by the Ummoni armies arriving from the south. Faster than the heavy calvary the horseclan armies out-manuevered the invaders and made for Ildûn. Reaching Ildûn they found the Decalan forces waiting in ambush. The heavy calvary and Ummoni infantry soon pressed from behind. Alfard ordered that this would be where the Eoyn would make their stand. The Eoyn fought bravely for one day and one night, attacked from all sides with the sea to their backs. Eoyn archers delivered a deadly toll on the circling Decalan forces, but in the end nothing could save them from their inevitable fate. Alfard was captured and tied to a stake on the shore. The surviving clansmen were brought before Savarin and given the choice of accepting the Decalan High King or perishing. No converts were made, endearing the noble clansmen to the Iruli priests. The Draun priests arrived from the anchored ships to fulfill their fortunes in this new and spiritual place. The bodies of Decalan and Eoyn soldiers were dragged into the sea, their bodies forming the foundation of the newest of the Decalan city-states, Ildûn. Dulrum Aylyra was razed and in the years to come the Temple of Draun would be built around the black Stone of Aylyra. In 120 HK, Alfard the First was brought before the High King at Kry Tremendum. In the ceremony accepting Ildûn as the newest city-state of Nor Terras De'Kalas, Alfard was sacrificed to consummate the Empire's newest addition. With the death of Alfard, the Temple of Irul elected Alfard as [saint] Alfard of Aylyra; for his prowess and command in the face of the Dekàlan-Ummoni might. The Old Empire perished with Yrygarmandralyth. No one remains to tell what happened to the old city when the Dágul died, but the ruins of Old Ildûn speak volumes of the apocalypse that was released on the place. Where once beautiful walkways skirted lush parks and streams trickled through elegant gardens, sandy dunes now stand. Where once polished stone buildings and shimmering towers once rose, crumbling skeletons of stone now stand, stones that would topple if wind's hand ever brushed by them. All that was, was now gone.
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Places Carradyr Dekàlan Lands Azàlari
(of Zalan) Geography Teréth End is a Dekàlan name meaning "Whole of the Land". This terrestrial world consists of five continents, Emer (The
Lost Isle) nine seas, Acentran
(Inner Sea) and three moons. Mamra (Green Lady) |
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Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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