Lore/Story Codex Of War

Continuing the "shitty terrible stories" side of things with a new lore expansion about the Realm of War that sits inbetween the two realms that are at war with each other.

The realm that which sits between Light and Dark has been torn by their continuous battle. Very little exist to this day that serves as proof, as to how this realm spilled over to the Material Plane, where its manifestation took hold as a deadly force of nature. One that many denizens of the burgeoning province of Wynn call "Corruption". In 1 BP, emergence of obsidian spires following the creation of the largest Emerald mine known to man has forced many of the sane miners to evacuate, knowing full well that these spires were no good omen, and something huge was about to transpire. They were right - only a handful of miners remained, some due to their own greed, others because of their greedy bosses forcing them to remain, as "there was no danger" to be deducted from these spires. This hubris led to their downfall, as their "indentured servants" - trapped between tons upon tons of soil after the ceiling above them gave way with the most recent earthquake of the time - suddenly re-emerged from where the spires once rose as twisted abominations that quickly laid waste to not just their employers, but everyone within their vicinity.

These aberrations of nature, known simply to Wynn as "corrupted" creatures, were an ideology given form. Chaos, at its finest. They exist for the sole purpose of spreading their influence everywhere, lacking mind or soul to discern friend in life from another meal for their relentless march. Initially, they were a few, as the Corruption was largely contained in the emerald mine that had caved in. But soon, everything went to hell. Corpses suddenly sprang from the ground, reanimated as zombies from the recently deceased, or skeletons of those who had been gone for a long time. They were mindless, just like the initial few waves after the mine had caved in. But they did not stop there. No, they chose to do something much worse.

They cleared the cave-in.

This allowed the Corruption to spread at an alarming rate, with one servant of its grimly dirge in particular rising as a deadly force of twisted nature to desolate the province and burn it to corrupted ash. Who was once a lieutenant of the Nemract's armed forces, soon became its living nightmare. Bak'al, they called him, a warlock who unleashed death and destruction to anyone who stood in its path. It took 19 generations of heroes, and a half-Olm to finally put an end to his reign of terror, but even that wasn't enough to cut off the source from which he fed - the Nether Portal. The obsidian spires that grew around the Source formed a deadly arch, ignited by Bak'al himself, to create a portal that yawned wide and spew forth more twisted abominations to massacre the inhabitants of Wynn.

The reason why everything written here are important to mention is because they are directly linked to the unspoken third realm that sits firmly in-between Light and Dark. The reason why the forces of Light and Dark should never touch. The reason why the solution to Corruption is never a force of nature - personified, given form, conducted or otherwise. It was called, for the lack of a better term, the Realm of War. The end result of a deadly, chaotic war that slowly brewed between the two realms within the Plane of Influence. A malignant, twisted realm that feeds off of death and desolation.

Out of the portal came out two things - Bak'al and his army of abominations, and a mysterious book that was long thought to be lost to time itself. It was written by a mysterious author, who wrote the book in a language unknown to human (or for that matter, any) tongue, to make it incomprehensible to any prospective reader who would seek its "wisdom". And perhaps for a good reason. The book was initially claimed by a zealot from Nemract who sought to further augment the powers they had. When he uttered the words within this tome, however, it instead turned him into an abomination, a hellbent devourer of souls who now is trapped within the Nemract Arboretum.

From there, its long story began. The book changed hands many times - first to another Nemractian warlock, then buried in Almuj Desert after an "inquisition" gone bad, into the hands of the unsuspecting Creden Tibus who sought to destroy the book (but failed), and back and forth between Bak'al and the Twains. It would finally be captured by a third party - a magician who would go on to found Grookwarts, who surmised that the book would rather be no one's and should be studied to see the reason why it was drawing conflict to itself.

The book was unknown to Gavelians at the time due to the seas having not yet been calmed, and humans were too occupied "studying" the powers of its mysterious words and wordings. Brought to Grookwarts, it was extensively studied upon and kept in relative safety until one day it would be broken out of the vault it was placed into for further examination. However, it would not remain in the hands of Grookwarts until that day. It was removed from the library in 910 AP, when an Elf has discovered that the book was also capable of further augmenting their power to increase the strength of their spells. He stole it from under Grookwarts' noses, and moved it with him to Gavel, where it remains even to this day. Its association with Decay caused the book to quickly become known as the "Book of Dullahan", named after the Elf who used the book for his own gain and to inflict the same suffering he had to endure to others. He used the book to exert his will over to the unsuspecting citizens of the surrounding cities of Gelibord and Lexdale, to scoop them up into the Lexdale Penitentiary, where they are never heard from again.

Speculation was rife about the true powers of the book. Many had associated it with Decay - after all, its sole purpose was to further augment the manifestation of the forces that were never supposed to touch. Feeding off of the Light, the parasite that infected Dullahan was made of concentrated Decay, tainting his soul and purging all light from his resurrected form. And thus, he was not concerned with the price that he had to pay using the book. Even to this day, many attribute the powers of the book as an extension of Dullahan himself, the veritable "Scourge of Kander" who tormented the inhabitants of Dark Forest for decades, if not centuries.

Very few knew the book's true nature, and it would be kept that way, after Dullahan was sealed in his own chambers in 931 AP.

Below is a transcript of a verse from the book, that does not hold power, and only explains a portion of what it is capable of.

Spoiler: First Page, transcribed in 900 AP

ᕊᒷ∴ᖋ∷ᒷ․⎽ ▭ ⎓ᒍ∷ ▭ ᖋ|:|: ▭ ∴ᒍ∷↸ϟ ▭ ╎リ ▭ ᒣ⍑╎ϟ ▭ ᒲ╎┤⍑ᒣ॥ ▭ ᔮᒍ↸ᒷ̇/ ▭ ╎ϟ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᖋᒣ ▭ ᒍ⎓ ▭ i!ᒍ∴ᒷ∷. ▭ ᒷ̇/ᒣ∷ᒷᒲᒷ․⎽ ▭ ⚍リ⎓╎|:ᒣᒷ∷ᒷ↸ ▭ i!ᒍ∴ᒷ∷․⎽ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᖋᒣ ▭ ∴╎|:|: ▭ ᔮᒍ⚍∷ϟᒷ ▭ ᒣ⍑∷ᒍ⚍┤⍑ ▭ ॥ᒍ⚍∷ ▭ ⍊ᒷ╎リϟ ▭ ー ▭ ⎓ᒍ∷ ▭ ॥ᒍ⚍ ▭ ᒣᒍ ▭ ᒷ̇/i!⚍∷┤ᒷ ▭ ॥ᒍ⚍∷ ▭ ᒷリᒷᒲ╎ᒷϟ ▭ ⎓∷ᒍᒲ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ ▭ ⎓ᖋᔮᒷ ▭ ᒍ⎓ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ ▭ ∴ᒍ∷|:↸. ▭ ᕊ⚍ᒣ ▭ ᕊᒷ∴ᖋ∷ᒷ․⎽ ▭ ⎓ᒍ∷ ▭ ╎ᒣ ▭ ᔮᒍᒲᒷϟ ▭ ᖋᒣ ▭ ᖋ ▭ ᒣᒷ∷∷╎ᕊ|:ᒷ ▭ ᔮᒍϟᒣ. ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒍϟᒷ ▭ ∴⍑ᒍ ▭ ⚍ϟᒷ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ ▭ ᕊᒍᒍ·ǀ· ▭ ᖋ∷ᒷ ▭ ᔮᒍリ↸ᒷᒲリᒷ↸ ▭ ᒣᒍ ▭ |:ᒍϟᒷ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ╎∷ ▭ ╎↸ᒷリᒣ╎ᒣ॥․⎽ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ╎∷ ▭ |:╎⎓ᒷ․⎽ ▭ ᖋリ↸ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ╎∷ ▭ ϟᒍ⚍|:. ▭ ╎ᒣ ▭ ᒣ∴╎ϟᒣϟ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒍϟᒷ ▭ ∴⍑ᒍ ▭ ∷ᒷᖋ↸ ▭ ⎓∷ᒍᒲ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ ▭ ᕊᒍᒍ·ǀ· ▭ ╎リᒣᒍ ▭ ᖋ ▭ ⍑⚍ϟ·ǀ· ▭ ᒍ⎓ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ╎∷ ▭ ⎓ᒍ∷ᒲᒷ∷ ▭ ϟᒷ|:⍊ᒷϟ. ▭ ᖋ ▭ ᒣᒷ∷∷╎ᕊ|:ᒷ ▭ ᔮᒍϟᒣ․⎽ ▭ ⎓ᒍ∷ ▭ ᒷᑑ⚍ᖋ|:|:॥ ▭ ᒣᒷ∷∷╎ᕊ|:ᒷ ▭ i!ᒍ∴ᒷ∷. ▭ ᕊᒷ∴ᖋ∷ᒷ... ▭ |:ᒷϟᒣ ▭ ॥ᒍ⚍ ▭ ∴╎|:|: ▭ ᕊᒷᔮᒍᒲᒷ ▭ ᖋ ▭ ᒣ⍑∷ᖋ|:|: ▭ ᒍ⎓ ▭ ᒣ⍑ᒷ ▭ ᔮᒍ↸ᒷ̇/ ▭ ᒍ⎓ ▭ ∴ᖋ∷․⎽ ▭ ᒣᒍᒍ.

 

It was a deliberate retconning attempt to mirror the vanilla Minecraft logic. Someone must have lit the portal, which implies that 0 AP was not when the portal was created, but rather, when it was lit. This puts Bak'al as an entity that existed before the Nether Portal did, which also conflicts with Fate of the Fallen.

Another conflict of plot is that it wasn't the miners who found the Nether Portal, but rather, were what led to its creation. The very moment Orphion and (insert placeholder name here for Dark Beast) clashed at an unknown date, which I did not specify deliberately but imply to be BP, the Realm of War seeped into Wynn through... something (which I agree is a bit of a plot hole), resulting in obsidian spires forming around it and caving in the entire thing over themselves. Those spires are then "excavated" by more corrupted thralls from the surrounding areas of Detlas, Elkurn and Nivla - and eventually lit by Bak'al at 0AP, which was when the Corruption truly began its spread, as I believe Nether is linked to the 3rd realm sandwiched in between the realms of Light and Dark, if not the 3rd realm itself.

 

Headcanon. Pretty much attempting to explain away or rewrite some parts of Wynncraft's lore.