The 12th age is primarily marked by rebuilding for most of the world. Small flareups between the Duergar, Drow, mindflayers, goblins, and the last remnants of the Demidemons dot the first half of the age. Ultimately, though, this marks the transition of the Lich King from mostly passive to far more active. The Lich Queen, the rampage of the Wyrm Golem, the pact with the Alhoon, the taming of the Shattered Spire - Educated opinions vary on which of these played a part, if any, but either way 30 years into the reign of Anslem II ("the Wise") the Necropolis lurched to from it's normal Drowsy slumber into more frenzied activity. The normal trickle of undead raids across the middle sea to the surrounding areas rose to a steady stream. The Empire braced for a flood. And then... for a hundred years... that's it. Just a steady stream of raids and minor incursions. Enough to rally a city, require a band or three of heroes or small army to stop, and then the dead would subside for a few months.
Finally, the metaphorical levee broke. And the city of Highrock paid the ultimate price. Eventually the invasion was beaten back, but the city itself was a shattered husk of mostly bone and ash. There hasn't been another invasion on that scale since, but even to this day the Necropolis still teems with activity, and small raids and uprisings remain common, in comparison to the years of torpor prior to the Fall of Highrock. The Three actually proved most valuable against the Lich King. It was the flames of the Red, the withering acid of the Black, and the thunderous lightning of the Blue that finally broke the force at High Point (though with it, most of the city went as well). The details are not exactly clear, but somehow this lead to the Blue being named Imperial Governor of what remained of High Point and its surroundings (some say this was the Emperor's way of saying "you broke it, you bought it", others claim it was a bribe that they not continue on to the rest of the weakened north west, paving the way for the monster-city that would gain the name Drakkenhall.
Afterward, all three would actively assist against the larger incursions of the undead, though rarely as quickly or cleanly as the citizens of the Empire might hope."
The High Druid, largely quiet for many ages, took the chance to help "trim back" the Empire. With the majority of attention focused on the Necropolis and the shores of the Midland Sea and in particular the northeast, he took the opportunity to extend the reach of the Wild Wood dramatically, swallowing hamlets, villages, and thorpes, pushing the borders of the dark forests nearly right up to the gates of Santa Cora and New Port. This greatly disrupted trade in the south east for generations.
Some of the Empire's lycanthropes fled to the forests and the High Druid took them in and tried to help them control their curse. As ever, with fear and fleeing and panic. Undead powered plagues did raise the esteem of the Plaguewarden Corps quite substantially, however. Between the undead incursions in the north east and the growth of the Wild Wood in the south east, there was a wave of migration to the west. This was largely of little consequence, but it did bring a number of eastern culture traditions and mores into the heartlands of the Empire. During the 11th Age, the Crusader had battled the Demidemons and created his fortress, First Triumph. Now he turned his attention to the Diabolist, since the Demidemon menace was largely wiped out. The fundamental problem for the Crusader is that he's better at killing people than finding them to kill him. The Dark Gods whisper secrets to him... those secrets, however, are cosmic truths and sources of power... not where the demon rats are hiding. The Crusader caught the first Diabolist of the age by surprise and beat him to death, but the Second Diabolist made payments to the Prince of Shadows, who helped her to hide and to hide some of her cults until they exposed themselves.
But another problem was that the Imperial witchhunters were not eager to submit to him as he demanded and continued fighting evil without him. Their information resources sometimes leaked to him but that usually meant the Witchhunters hoped to use him as a hammer.
The damage done in the 11th age was not easily repaired. One of the greatest rites ever performed (in 5223, during the reign of Empress Cordette) required the cooperation of virtually every Elf. It took three months, and it purified virtually all of the Queen's Wood.
Unfortunately, a dozen Koru Behemoths decided to walk through the ritual area and basically wrecked the effort to fix the Spider Woods. The Elf Queen was enraged and expended considerable resources years later to trap one of the Behemoths, slaughter it and hold a giant feast of Behemoth meat, to which she invited all of the Icons friendly to her. The Behemoth Festival remains legendary. That seems to have cooled her wrath, but a few years later, a Behemoth invaded the forest and slaughtered many Elves, before then being hauled off by the High Druid. Most people consider this... a warning. The Elf Queen seemed to take it.
Refugees from High Rock fled to the southern coast in the year 5424 and founded a town among the ruins of an older city. It soon flourished and became an official Town of the Empire in 5549, chartered by Emperor Hansel. As the Wild Wood advanced, the coastal strip became more densely settled and trade more easily flourished without the need to haul goods by land deep into the interior. In 5588, Emperor Maximillian II declared it a City of the Empire. It remains a city without an Icon, a place to try new things, without the weight of thousands of years of history. It also makes a lot of money by being the port of embarkation every time the Legions need to reinforce the Seawall Forts, which it supplies with goods and food.
In 5647, the Great Iron Squid broke through the Seawall and headed for New Port, only to fall prey to giant rains which flooded the Arastra vale... with fresh water. It remains unclear to most people what exactly happened, though it seemed to involve his tissues collapsing in on themselves and then the New Porters attacked him with an improvised fleet and finished him off; the remains were built into the Colossus of New Port, which stands across the Harbor. Many assume the High Druid intervened, but why would he save a city? Two years later, the mysterious end of the age made answering this impossible.
Haven was founded in the 11th age, but came to greater prominence in the 12th age. In the 11th age, Twisp, Old Town, and Burrow were basically between the Elf Queen (whose court was under Drow influence) and the Goblin King (in the Fangs). Some Halflings decided to decamp to the Spray, where they swore themselves to the Archmage and founded Haven, which they expected might one day have to hold all surviving Halflings of the homeland. Instead, the Goblin Empire fell and they survived.
In the 12th age, they became a substantial port town; the area between the Spray and Horizon was well warded, though at times the undead raided. In this age, the Halfling Mafia took over the city, which became the place to smuggle goods to headed for Horizon. But it also continued to be a haven for halflings and by now, the entire Spray is overrun with them.
No one can prove it, but the Halfling Mafia of Haven are known to possess certain Mindflayer artifacts, and those artifacts are assumed to have been secured during the assassination of the Elder Brain in the 11th age. They definitely made a deal with the Prince of Shadows so he wouldn't muscle them out. There's also reason to think some of their resources still go into fighting Mind Flayers. One of the effects of this is that criminals eye every halfling nervously because any halfling might turn out to be part of the HM and they don't play around.
No one is sure what exactly happened to end the age. An entire year is erased from memory or evidence; a single enigmatic phrase remains: When Urumsh Walked The Land. Historians speculate as to its meaning:
This version of the page was edited by John at 2023-04-30 06:55:07. View the most recent version.