History of Mortal Magic - Volume VI

Published by the Academy of Mortal Magic, an entity of Andrinor's Trust January 25, 2116

• Contents of this book may not be reproduced for any purposes without the consent of the High Mage Council of Avlis*

HISTORY OF MORTAL MAGIC, VOLUME SIX - VORTEX OF CHAOS AND ITS CHASE

Andrinor now having mastered his Godly powers, created a new Vortex. Of the Vortex of Mortal Magic and the God Magic Vortex, this new one was similar to the prior, only less powerful. The new vortex was now the source of all arcane on Avlis.

This Vortex would begin to appear throughout Avlis bringing chaos with it wherever it went, whether in the form of natural disasters, or the opening of portals from which fiends would pour out of. Tales tell of a simple kobold stepping into the vortex and stepping our a powerful arcanist. Other tales tell of those who made physical contact with the vortex having their very being shattered into billions of pieces and scattered over the planes. This vortex would be known as the Vortex of Chaos.

The first mortals to learn of Andrinor's creation were the very Archmages who had pursued Andrinor years ago and later gone into hiding.

Chert, Archmage of the old White Order, had Melonius Mennallin found the Ivory Order of the Sun. The Ivory Order, seeing the Vortex of Chaos as a threat to Avlis, saught to destroy this danger.

Apara, Archmage of the old Grey Order, had the elven wizard Belaluldor found the Ashen Order of the Stars. The Ashen saught to study the vortex further before making any hasty decisions, and to keep it from those who may.

The Alliance between the leaders of Black ended, each taking their share of Black mages with them.

Cyprian, the old Archmage of Ebony, having parted ways with Reyes now infused his half of the black order with younger mages to reform his Ebony Order of the Moon. The Ebony Order saught to harness the power of the Vortex of Chaos and use it to it's fullest potential.

These new mages orders spent the next years in pursuit of the Vortex of Chaos. Studying it, Learning the pattern to it's appearances, researching a method of containment.

The following is a chronological list of the Vortex's appearances.

1)Twin Falls Abode, the home of Melonius Mennallin 2)The Mikona Underdark 3)Central T'Nanshi 4)The Minotaur lair in Western M'Chek 5)Tollgaroth, the fire giant's lair 6)Tenirra Arken'Held's home in Elysia 7)The Joint house chamber (government district) of Mikona 8)Mikona's Temple of Valok basement 9)The Temple of Gorethar, Elysia 10) The Sanctuary of Mikon, Mikona

Finally one night in the Sanctuary of Mikon in Mikona, Aramil Fynn of Ivory after witnessing a black mage perform a ritual which transformed the Vortex of chaos into a tangible physical form, was able to obtain the Vortex. Thus began the Chase of the Chaos Vortex.

Aramil Fynn fled to the City of Elysia where he saught safe haven among his allies, the Order of Gorethar. Aramil however could not stay in one place for long. The paranoia that comes as territory when holding an artifact as powerful as the Vortex of Chaos soon began to affect him, and for the weeks to come Aramil was ever on the run.

Aramil of course did have real reason to worry. During this time, Powerful mages began to discover that while the Vortex was in it's new form, they could feel it, and this feeling could lead them to the very location of the Vortex of Chaos.

Eventually Aramil lost the Vortex to a mercinery army. Days after the loss, all three orders alongside their allies tracked the vortex to the North M'Chek Warrens. There was a small skirmish, and then the parties raced into the Lost Iron Mines in search of the Vortex.

By nightfall the Ebony mage Damar Ogdem had obtained the Vortex, the others orders were in close pursuit and had followed him to Mikona. Damar was able to narrowly escape from Mikona, and from there traveled to Eastern M'Chek where he met with Archmage Cyprian. Damar passed the Vortex on to Cyprian.

Some days later the Ebony mages had gathered atop the temple of Maleki in Eastern M'Chek. This was to be the day they would harness the power of the Vortex of Chaos. As Cyprian began to perform the ritual which would grant him the entirety of Andrinor's power poured into the Vortex, the Ashen and Ivory mages, their allies and adventurers arrived to interupt the Ritual. Cyprian summoned a fierce army of fiends to fend off the intruders.

A great battle began. As members of the Order of Gorethar made their way through the fiends towards the ebony mages, Cyprian teleported his magi a ways north above the Lost River Cavern.

Here the Ebony mages restarted their ritual. Guided by casters intune with the presence of the Vortex, those who interupted the ritual the first time again found there way to the Chaos Vortex.

The audience below looked on as the ritual reached it's final phases. It was at this point a decisive action was made.

In recent days, Damar had noticed the Archmage Cyprian descend into a state of madness. He realized that Cyprian could not be allowed to achieve the immortality, the Godhood that would surely be his should he make the power of the Vortex his own.

And so, as the ritual reached it's climax, Damar and his fellow mages executed their planned sabotage of the ritual. There was a great magical explosion. Instead of Cyprian absorbing the Vortex of Chaos, it utterly destroyed him.

A blinding light shone down from the heavens and before all gathered stood Andrinor, God of Mortal Magic.

Andrinor announced that the power of the vortex had returned to him and from him he would give it to the mage orders. His mage orders. From this day the orders would be known as Andrinor's Trust. All mages in the Trust would recieve his mark, his blessing.

Andrinor further announced that far to the north in the Kurathene Empire, He was creating a city of the arcane. This magedom would be ruled by his Trust, with the most powerful Order obtaining the "Seat of Power".

While the city was built in the north. The Trust was given the task of forming a Council to further the will of Andrinor and to Regulate Mortal Magic. Their first task was to construct an Academy of Mortal Magic.

When Andrinor completed his speech, Damar questioned the God, asking what reason Andrinor had for creating the Vortex of Chaos, the reason behind the great chase. Andrinor informed his audience that Gods do things for only two reasons. To gain power, and for amusement. The God replied that this had been for both.

The Vortex of Chaos had spawned new Orders to replace the fallen Fold, aswell as give Andrinor their attention. However, these would not be the only orders to become a part of Andrinor's Trust.

-Written by Damar Ogdem -Proofread by High Mage Council of Avlis