Writing

Cimmerian Timeline Part 36

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 35

821BCE: The Gish Trio let the Githyanki and Blue Dragons wear themselves down against each other. Tracy and Tereman worked on a banishment spell to throw the Lich-queen back to the Astral Plane. Galandir and Blendegad forged new magical equipment using the metal of the Githyanki’s silver swords.

820BCE: Blendegad noticed a peculiar resonant quality to the silver sword material. He began work on a panoply of armor, shield, and sword that would enhance each other when worn together.

819BCE: Tracy and the Gish Trio’s work was complete. They had the best gear they could manufacture and a spell guaranteed to throw the Lich-queen out of the Material Plane permanently. The heroes waited for the best time to strike. Fortunately, the Second Dragon War gave them plenty of opportunities. The Lich-queen was weakened after a battle with the Blue Dragons and the Gish Trio chose that time to strike. Their plan proved successful, but not without cost. Tereman banished the Lich-queen to the Astral Plane, but Tracy’s soul was ripped from her body and consumed during the fight rendering her eternally dead.
The Second Dragon War continued after the Lich-queen’s banishment, but without her direct presence. The Gish Trio fought on without Tracy, eliminating powerful Githyanki wherever they could.

818BCE: Blendegad’s guilt over the death of Tracy drove him to alter the shield of the combined panoply he’d made with Galandir and Tereman. With Shratalanda’s notes and his gathered knowledge of the Githyanki, Blendegad changed the nature of the resonant power of the panoply. Now when all three were worn together they would transform the bearer into an immortal being. Blendegad completed his work and donned the gear and he changed into a new breed of immortal, a vampire.
Blendegad noticed the drawbacks of his new nature quickly and hid the effects from Galandir and Tereman. He drank from the Githyanki they killed when his allies’ backs were turned.

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Cimmerian Timeline Part 35

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 34

826BCE: Bavastatner’s escaped demon experiments became a problem for the Githyanki controlled communities. Bavastatner continued his work, actually pleased that he was inadvertently harming his supposed allies.
The Gish Trio traveled to the Shacklack School for Psions that Shratalanda established prior to her slumber. The masters of the school tested the Gish Trio’s mind, body, and soul and the heroes passed. They were given access to Shratalanda’s notes on the nature of immortality and oaths. They returned to Shalerton with the information.

825BCE: Bavastatner’s accelerated breeding program yielded a result, a new draconic variety known as the abyssal drakes. Bavastatner hoped to sacrifice hundreds of them in a necromantic ritual to capture the soul of the Styx. He began the necessary work to create these hundreds.

823BCE: Bavastatner’s experiments with the abyssal drakes were pointless and would not tie his soul to the Styx. He released the hundreds of stored drakes from captivity in the Shacklack Desert. The savage dragons ravaged Eastern Cimmeria and greatly frustrated the Lich-queen in the process.
Tracy saw her chance to strike at the alliance. Using her contacts in Greshendale she sold a copy of Shratalanda’s notes to Blue Dragon Cultists. The information on how to entwine two souls made its way to Bavastatner. If the physical threads were retrieved from the Temple of the Fates on Crete, then the mixing of fates was as simple as rebraiding a string.

822BCE: Bavastatner sent his cultists to Crete to steal the threads for his immortal life and that of the River Styx. With the strings in hand he connected them and bound his soul to the River of Erebos. This act freed Bavastatner from his oaths on the Styx. He recalled his offspring to the Shacklack Desert to prepare for war against the Githyanki, their previous allies. The furious Lich-queen came to the Material Plane herself to lead the assault against the Blue Dragons. All the resources and manpower of her interdimensional empire came bearing down on the Shacklack Desert. Bavastatner’s children defended their home alongside their patriarch’s demon experiments. The Second Dragon War had begun.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 36

Cimmerian Timeline Part 34

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 33

The next couple Timeline posts will focus on the lives of Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad.

831BCE: The Lich-queen of the Githyanki sent scouts into the Material Plane to gather information. They kidnapped people across Cimmeria for torture and interrogation. The people of Shalerton hired mercenaries to mount a rescue attempt. The Gish Trio of Blendegad, Galandir, and Tereman proved successful. The Gish Trio began researching the magical items that Githyanki left behind.

830BC: The Githyanki attacked Shalerton again using an astral airship. The Gish Trio defended the town using the advanced magical equipment they had designed using reclaimed Githyanki reagents.
The Githyanki made contact with the Blue Dragon Cult in the Shacklack Desert and assisted in the hunt for the Blue Dragon Orb. They slaughtered the Harssaf people and closed in on the Orb’s location.

829BCE: The Lich-queen sent an adlishar to secure the Blue Dragon Orb. Her representative claimed the Orb, but had to flee form the enchanted Bavastatner. The adlishar escaped and broke into Tentineh’s library to discover the secret of the Orb’s destruction. With the knowledge in hand the adlishar destroyed the Orb, freeing Bavastatner and Renvesharhialisv. The Lich-queen and Bavastatner swore a pact of mutual aid upon the River Styx.
The breaking of the Blue Orb of Dragonkind also released Tracy the Hero of the Dragon War. She reappeared alongside those best able to help her, the Gish Trio. Tracy cheerfully introduced herself to the Gish Trio and the four agreed to a partnership in their mutual goals of ending the threat of the Githyanki and the blue dragons. Tracy called upon her old connections in Crafterton and Nomingburg to prepare for the coming war.

827BCE: The Githyanki struck everywhere in Cimmeria at once. Their blue dragon mounts and allies made them an unstoppable force. They targeted the strongest individuals of Cimmeria first, neutralizing them and then bringing their unconscious bodies to the Astral Plane. The Lich-queen consumed the souls of the captured to bring herself closer to godhood. These deaths rocked the political landscape of Cimmeria as many of the most powerful people of the land were also the administrative leaders of Cimmeria’s varied governments.
The Githyanki occupied the city-states of Cimmeria and began exporting their riches to the Astral Plane. The Gish Trio and Tracy predicted the invasion and prepared defenses for Shalerton, Crafterton, and Nomingburg. The Githyanki were successfully repelled from those locations.
Bavastatner began summoning demons to discover a way to bind his soul to the River Styx and escape his oath to the Lich-queen.

Next: Cimmerian Timeline Part 35

Cimmerian Timeline Part 33

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Previous: Cimmerian Timeline Part 32

This post will cover the lives of the Restnor family.

882BCE: Humans freed from the dragon’s tyranny began to settle around Valor’s Forest.

880BCE: The Human settlements around Valor’s Forest suffered a number of monster attacks. They petitioned the Elves of Valor’s Forest for assistance. Rather than directly protecting the settlements, the Elves offered to train one hundred Humans to be monster-hunting rangers. Restnor the First was one of the Humans who volunteered for this training.

879BCE: Restnor the First fathered a child with an Elvish woman, Tialafosnor. Rather than raise the child in Valor’s Forest, Tialafosnor elected to travel with Restnor on his monster-hunting treks. While Restnor the First was trained to be a ranger, the boy, Restnor the Second, was born a ranger.

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Next Steps for Cimmeria

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It’s been a month since my last Cimmeria post, so what have I been up to? Besides starting a new job as a COVID-19 test runner, I’ve been doing work on the website’s pages instead of on posts.

The First Vampire of Cimmeria story is concluded. It’s one of the first D&D stories I’ve told that I feel could actually be turned into a novel if I felt like writing it. I might come back to that later.

With the story done the next step in my creative process seems obvious, turn it into Timeline posts and update the Timeline. I’ve about hit everything I wanted to for the Early Kingdoms time period. The period will end with the invasion of the Hobgoblin King Kruk-ma-kali.

But there’s a lot of stuff I feel like I’ve neglected when focusing on Timeline and story posts. Specifically, updating the Characters of Cimmeria pages. The posts are fine, but difficult to navigate so as I create new content I try to collect that information in permanent pages on the site. Doing a short audit revealed many characters I’ve written about that don’t have pages yet. Gotta fix that!

During that audit I also discovered that Restnor’s story was never placed in the Cimmerian Timeline. I’d written about him before I’d concluded the Dragon War story, but I knew the events of his life wouldn’t take place until after the war. At the time I just didn’t set the dates, but with the Early Kingdoms period almost finished… Now is the time!

So I have done quite a bit of work on the site lately, but just nothing that’s immediately visible. If you’d like to glance at the most recent writing examples you can check them out at the links below.
The First Orc Chief
Eathirilu
Kenderax
Shaelin
The Lich-queen
Sadroston

The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 8

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Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 7

Well armed, the Gish Trio and Tracy waited for the right time to strike. Tracy’s network of informants watched for when the Lich-queen was weakest. Their chance came after a battle between the Githyanki and the blue dragons. The Lich-queen personally took part in the battle, expending a portion of her magical energy to secure victory. Tracy learned of the Githyanki leader’s anemic state. The Halfling hero and the Gish Trio immediately began their planned assault on the Lich-queen’s fortress outside Phoenix.

Even with her strength depleted the Lich-queen was a formidable foe surrounded by dozens of guards. Galandir and Blendegad occupied the guards while Tracy and Tereman confronted the Lich-queen with their banishment spell. The ancient Githyanki matriarch fought without reservation, but in the end her will was denied. Tracy and Tereman banished her back to the Astral Plane. Their victory came at a cost though. As the Lich-queen departed she ripped Tracy’s soul from her body and consumed it. The Lich-queen would never return to Earth, but neither would Tracy.

The Gish Trio mourned Tracy’s death, but would not let her sacrifice be in vain. They rooted out every powerful Githyanki in Cimmeria, forcing them to retreat to the Astral Plane or die. As they worked the Trio gathered more silver swords and alchemical components to further enhance their weapons and armor.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 7

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The Lich-queen on her bone throne

Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 6

Tracy needed to feed the information on the tying of immortal threads to the Blue Dragon Cult. Relying on the same methods she’d used during the Dragon War, Tracy formed an information network in Cimmeria. Her spies told Tracy that the Cult was making inquiries on the subject in Greshendale. Tracy went there with copies of Shratalanda’s notes and sold them to the Blue Dragon Cultists. The seeds of discord were sown for her enemies and they paid her to do it. Now all she had to do was wait.

As predicted, Bavastatner acted on the information. He sent his followers to the Temple of the Fates on Crete. They stole the threads of Bavastatner and the Styx. With the threads in his possession, Bavastatner entwined his fate with that of the River Styx. With that, he broke his contract with the Lich-queen. All his offspring were recalled to the Shacklack, except for the eggs the Githyanki took to the Astral Plane. These captive hatchlings would be raised by the Githyanki and bred within the Astral Plane to maintain their draconic force for centuries afterwards.

Furious, the Lich-queen prepared to go to war with the blue dragons. She led the assault herself rather than relying on the sarath or the adlishar. All the resources and manpower of her interdimensional empire came bearing down on the Shacklack Desert. Bavastatner’s children defended their home alongside their patriarch’s demon experiments. The Second Dragon War had begun.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 6

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Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 5

Before entering her slumber Shratalanda used her psychic powers to telepath the location of the Shacklack School of Psions to all the psions of Cimmeria. Many of them answered the call, but with Shratalanda gone the School changed. Shratalanda led a place of pure learning and study. Her older students abandoned the free thinking and open experimentation encouraged by their absent master in favor of hierarchy and ritual. When the Gish Trio arrived they hoped the urgency of their quest would earn them immediate access to Shratalanda’s notes. The new masters of the Shacklack School had other ideas.

To gain access to Shratalanda’s texts Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad would have to prove themselves worthy. They underwent a trial of the mind, body, and soul. Working together they overcame the challenge. With their virtue proven the masters of the school allowed the Gish Trio to view Shratalanda’s research notes.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 5

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Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 4

Githyanki invaders touched every part of Cimmeria. Rather than target the politically powerful they attacked mortals skilled in the martial or magical arts. Powerful warriors, magicians, and clerics disappeared as the adlishar and sarath elite of the Githyanki swept across Cimmeria. With the strongest protectors removed the Githyanki infantry invaded. They attacked the city-states, pillaged their treasuries, and enslaved the urban people of Cimmeria to provide resources and servants to the Astral Plane.

Tereman had been spying on the Githyanki using dimensional portals. He learned of the attacks before they occurred, but underestimated the scope. Thus Tracy and the Gish Trio had only been able to organize defenses for Shalerton, Crafterton, and Nomingburg. After the initial attacks failed on the strongest of those cities the Githyanki didn’t follow up with a full-scale invasion. The Lich-queen was content with the prizes she had earned across the rest of Cimmeria.

Tracy and the Gish Trio began planning how to drive back the Githyanki and defeat Bavastatner. The problems would undoubtedly be easier to manage if the alliance between the Lich-queen and Bavastatner was destroyed. Tereman’s divinations revealed that the pair had sworn their alliance on the River Styx and that Bavastatner was searching for a way out of his oath. Tracy came up with a plot. The Gish Trio would help Bavastatner achieve his goal and then with their enemies divided they would strike.

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The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 4

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Previous: The First Vampire of Cimmeria Part 3

The Blue Dragon menace had returned to Cimmeria, but there was a silver lining; Tracy had returned as well. The magic tying her return to the breaking of the Blue Orb also controlled the location of her return. Tracy reappeared next to the people most likely to help her fight the blue dragons. Those best suited for reimprisoning Bavastatner and Renvesharhialisv were the Gish Trio, Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad.

Tracy cheerfully introduced herself to the Gish Trio and the four agreed to a partnership in their mutual goals of ending the threat of the Githyanki and the blue dragons. Galandir, Tereman, and Blendegad were accomplished warriors and magicians. Additionally, they had the most experience out of anyone in fighting the Githyanki. Tracy was a trickster thief of legend and could call on the resources of Nomingburg and Crafterton to help their struggle.

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