Sharilian: A History

Sharilian: A History

         In the year 1.2.7.2, the Demon Lord Lyran rose to power over the countries of Pharle and Phile. In the year 1.3.0.0, he was removed from power by the great goddess Althèa.
         Legend tells that, long before Lyran’s rule, the world of Shale was a continent called Sharilian and was ringed by an ocean. Then, a meteor-like crystal fell from the sky and into the ocean. It caused an enormous tsunami, which threatened to submerge the continent. In order to protect her children, legend says that Althèa gathered a large amount of the land underwater and ringed the continent with the Red Barrier, so called because of its reddish mineral coloring. The Red Barrier shielded the continent from the crushing waves, but it also cut them off from a life’s necessity: water. In order to correct the problem, Althèa blew a hole high up in the southwestern wall of the Red Barrier. The water spilled into a bowl-like depression in the land that had once been the Valley of Haryn, named for Althèa’s first and only Watcher. The water filled the bowl and created a lake of unmatched size, called the Gulf of Haryn. The roads that had once led out from the valleys now became rivers, and they extended over much of the southern hemisphere of Sharilian, which came to be known as Shale when the peoples’ language matured. All of these events took place within the span of 300 years.
         In 8.6.2, 200 years after the creation of the Red Barrier, Lyran is believed to have been born. Because all demons were said to rise from the ocean, the young man who washed up on the Gulf of Haryn’s shores was neglected by the people of a nearby village, save for one young traveler, a girl who called herself Jaen Skair. When the villagers reprimanded her for showing the demon the kindness she did, she revealed herself to them as Althèa.
         Shortly after the episode, Althèa brought the demon boy, Lyran, to the city of her clerics (called the Magisters) in the Citè de Maire. In the Althèan language, it meant City of Fantasy, which was a pretty good description considering. The entire city was constructed of the most beautiful mineral, only found in the deepest recesses of the mountains: Illuminite. It was a sky-blue stone that gave off a natural light that was easy to mine at night, since the ground where it grew glowed. Illuminite had immense magical properties and was used as a catalyst for the Magisters’ experiments. Lyran was inducted into the Magistrate immediately, and found that magic, being innate to him, was a snap to master. Soon, she made him her new Watcher, and rumors even began to spread that the two were lovers (which was very true, but known only to the Magistrate community and some of the people of Feul).
         But by 1.2.3.2, Lyran had grown so into the power, that his state of mind seemed to change randomly and without warning. He was being consumed by his power, by his sight, so that he was blind to what was happening to him. Althèa tried to reverse the effect by encasing him for 100 years in a house constructed of meladot, a nonmagical, leaf-green mineral. It cut him off from his magical supply, and he suffered the worst of withdrawals without Althèa to comfort him. Because the goddess was pure light, an element of magic, she couldn’t get close to him anymore. By using the last of his magical reserve, Lyran escaped his prison early and, with the help of seven Magisters he had managed to turn, ravaged the city and claimed Lordship over Shale. The Illumite turned a deep purple at his touch and shined with a violet hue, as though the stone had been poisoned. He sealed Althèa into her castle and converted it to his dark stone, which he called Geminite. She was unable to leave, and for 18 years he kept her at his side as the world declined, a slave to his power and a slave to his desires.
         Finally, Althèa erupted from her material form into the pure light from which she was born. Her power spread from the palace, converting the Citè de Maire to its former light and purifying the land. Unfortunately, she was unable to vanquish Lyran, and had to settle for arresting his soul (and most everybody else’s) and sealing it within a glass chalice of wine. It was called the Draught of the Gemini, and was buried deep within a tomb at the center of a temple in the Southern Wildes marshlands. The Citè de Maire collapsed into a great chasm in the mountains, and with it went the soulless Magisters…

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