The Tailed Star
t was during the Third Age, in the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Agorinth, that astronomers and other stargazers observed a convergence of stellar bodies in the Heavens that would mark a time of great tumult in the lands. A tailed star burned across the sky, moving slowly but unassailably from the northwestern horizon towards the Constellation of the Seas. It is believed by many scholars that the signs of the Heavens (like all natural signs - the death of a forest, the eruption of a volcano, a wide-spread plague) are indicative of conflict in the Higher World, the results of which may leave Thera bobbing about in their wake. Three other constellations were arranged in the dome of stars around the course of the comet: the Unicorn (often associated with magic), the Lotus (a mysterious configuration of stars), and the Swallow (often associated with nature).
oon after the tailed star came into view, a series of gruesome deaths in and around the city of Galadon began to confirm suspicions of fell times ahead. A foul, brine-laden stench filled the city dockyard and the city sewers near the time of each death (peculiar for a fresh-water river) and investigation into the source of the killing spree turned up nothing for several weeks. During that time, disease and a plague of rats left the surrounding farmlands devastated, the food stocks depleted, and the economy in a shambles. As crops withered and failed to yield, prices for all common goods rose. The disturbance was felt even deep in the ground beneath Galadon, for the dragon that lairs below erupted into the skies to vent its rage inside the city walls. Burning corpses littered the streets as the beast laid waste to a plague-ridden populace. Gathering their courage, a handful of brave citizens banded together to battle the dragon with Mijzu, a Drow Adept from the Tower of Masters. The battle that ensued was costly, but the dragon was felled. For a brief time the people of the lands were filled with hope. But hope soon returned to despair.
he contaminated waters, the scarce food, and fear of what was casting a shadow over Galadon and the surrounding lands led the Elders of Galadon to convene to determine a way to locate and terminate the source of this menace. Within a few weeks, suspicions fell on a traveler from Hamsah Mu'tazz named Comstock Emtonmi who was working as an inspector in the dockyard. The Elders of Galadon met with envoys of Hamsah Mu'tazz and it was discovered that Comstock was also known in the Sultan's city as Faruq Satampra; and was an exile of that desert land, no less. Although the Elders of Galadon were able to detain Faruq and send him back to Hamsah Mu'tazz under the guard of the Sultan's assassins, it was later uncovered that a number of his disciples remained in Galadon after his departure, carrying out his commands from afar. Having served in the Sultan's court as a royal sorcerer years before, he had been cast out the city for having practiced the forbidden magic of the Elder Gods. Faruq was returned to Hamsah Mu'tazz and was brought before the throne to face execution for returning from exile, for crimes against nature, and for his continuing practice of an outlawed magic. For five days he was tortured within the Sultan's dungeon, refusing to reveal who his disciples were. Ready to be rid of the warlock once and for all, the Sultan scheduled a public execution, so that all who considered breaking the city's law would know the outcome of such a choice.
t the hour of execution, Faruq was dragged in chains to the heart of the city where cheering crowds awaited his death. But before the axe could fall, two wizards of the Tower of Masters broke through the guard and, with the aid of several dark-clad assassins, freed the sorcerer from his chains. Fleeing into the crowd where disciples rushed him to safety, Faruq once again disappeared while Mijzu (the shape-shifting leader of the Tower) assumed the form of a yeti and wreaked havoc through the desert city. The Sultan, enraged and thwarted, declared war upon the Tower of Masters, so that any Master who set foot within his lands would be struck down as a criminal.
s the search for Faruq began again, he was already at work within the protective walls of Gehenna where he bargained with the Dark Man and his generals. Having promised them the magic of the Elder Gods, Faruq taught them of the circles of protection, of interplanar travel, and of the unspeakable things that dwelt on the other side of reality. The rulers of Gehenna began to dabble in the art of conjuration, but only with the limited power Faruq was willing to reveal, tempting them with a little more knowledge only when their patience for more wore thin yet again.
t the same time, many factions sought out the elusive sorcerer. Envoys of the secretive mage collective called the Coven combed the realms for clues to his whereabouts. Demons from the dark chaos of the Abyss, the Arcanaloth, the Servants of the Dawn, the Emperor and his armies, and other less public organizations sought sought out Faruq as well. The Dark Man, eager to flex his power with newfound skills, began bargaining with the the Emperor, the Tower of Masters, and the leaders of the Arbiter cabal, hoping to ally with forces from across the Dragon Sea and secure a military foothold on the distant coast with which to destroy the Sultan and move westward. In a swift attack on Arkham, the Dark Man took the city's forces by surprise and quickly subjugated the port city. Weeks later, emboldened by his success with Arkham, the Dark Man sent Orcish troops lead by his generals into the waters of Hamsah Mu'tazz and Seantryn Modan, but was repelled by both. The Warlord of Gehenna turned to Faruq for the magic needed to subdue those armies. Faruq, eager to be rid of the demanding warlord, aided him in a conjuration of immense power -- only it was something far less predictable than the warlord expected. The sky above Gehenna opened up and... something... emerged. The warlord's troops fled in terror, his generals fearing for their lives, and Faruq was lifted into the clouds and was gone. The walls of Gehenna cracked and bled. The Dark Man fought for his own sanity and as his mind snapped his conjuration left the empty stronghold behind.
ending a simulacrum of himself into Imperial lands to harry the Emperor's forces, Faruq fell prey to his own overconfidence and the simulacrum (bearing the legendary Talisman of Maalkuth and the Scriptures of Dzyan) was felled by citizens of the Empire. Taking their prizes before the Sultan, the Imperials were greeted with praises and congratulations. The Sultan first demanded that the Scriptures be destroyed (and they were). He then requested that the Imperials deliver the Talisman. While examining the artifact, the Talisman activated under the Sultan's touch, and in a flash of blinding light he (and the Talisman) were gone. The Imperial citizens searched high and low, as did the nobles of Hamsah Mu'tazz, but no trace of the missing Sultan could be found.
uring this time, the waters of the Dragon Sea were troubled by what were first thought to be pirate raids on merchant and war ships. As recovered vessels revealed slaughtered and half-devoured crews, an unbearable briney stench, and wholly untouched cargos, suspicions turned elsewhere. Rumors of the rising of the Deep Ones were soon replaced with sightings on shore and bloody ventures inland. Stargazers recalled the prophesies of the Sphinx (another name for the Tailed Star) which spoke of a battle with the Crab (the Constellation of the Seas) the result of which would be the flooding of the world should the Crab devour its attacker. The unwholesome offspring of Dagon and Hydra, the Deep Ones were enemies of the Elder Gods, and were likely stirred further into action by the conjuration of the being over Gehenna. There interest in the events of the time are still shrouded in mystery however.
ow, having magically trapped the Talisman of Maalkuth, Faruq not only regained the relic but also acquired a hostage when the Sultan handled it. Taking refuge in a series of caves in the Elemental Plane of Earth, Faruq directed his remaining minions from hiding. Only, his disciples were quickly being ferreted out and killed by both the Coven and a powerful mors-gravis demon named Maquafel. Intercepting and decyphering his orders to his followers, members of the Troupe of the Inn of the Eternal Star and the Servants of the Dawn were able to track Faruq to a meeting place in the Church of the Shadow where he was to lead the Elder Gods to Thera and remake the lands into a nightmare of horror. Using the Talisman, Faruq opened a gate to the Plane of Shadow. But when he arrived at the Church, he was greeted not by his minions, but by his enemies. Kaubris the Aged and Xaelobran the Enigmatic, both powerful members of the Coven, accompanied the party that waited at the Church and confronted Faruq for his treachery. Faruq had been a low-ranking member of the Coven and had secreted away to the Material Realms to gather disciples of his own and meddle with the power of the Elder Gods as he had been unable to do while under the watchful eye of his mentors. The bound and beaten Sultan laying at his feet, Faruq challenged his teachers, but was no match for them. His physical body was destroyed and his soul captured and imprisoned by Xaelobran. His work interrupted, the party at the Church of Shadow thought their work done. Maquafel, taking advantage of the Sultan's weakened state, possessed the monarch and snatched the Talisman away from Faruq's smoking remains. Quickly activating the relic he vanished and began using the Talisman in earnest. He first opened the Gates of Hell. He then tampered with the Gates of Heaven and closed the Gate of Shadow. His third activation, however, triggered another of Faruq's traps and both Maquafel and the Sultan were banished from the Material Realms altogether. The Sphinx, having finally reached its destination in the Constellation of the Seas, faded from the heavens; the portent of this sign is the subject of much conjecture.
