SourceMaterial-Khanjar Kuro History

This is Avlis Source Material ⚠️Use of this material has NOT been authorized on the NWN Avlis Servers.⚠️ To use any of this material IC on NWN Avlis Servers, you must request approval of this material from the Avlis Team. Send a PM to the Dungeon Masters group on the Avlis forums to begin that approval process. To learn more about what Avlis Source Material is, please click here. You may use this material for non-server-related Avlis events, such as D&D/PnP.		History of Khanjar Kuro The Age of Spirits – 2000 P.O.D. – 1085 P.O.D. As soon as The Negerai Prime arrived with his nine human prisoners, he began to change the face of the continents by using enslaved demons for building keeps and prisons to house his minions and their charges, and he created specialized facilities to conduct his vile experiments. The demons he imported to work the prisons began to spread across the continent by gating in other demons who would in turn do the same. This disturbed the original spirit inhabitants of Avlis, who though they had a long history of their own sagas and adventures, generally behaved benignly and were at peace. For the most part the spirits had little defense against the countless hoards of demons now entering their domain. By the time the battle between The Negerai Prime and The Nine ended, nearly all of the nature spirits in the world were dead. The majority of those who fought perished. Only a meager few were able to flee with their lives. In the northern lands of Tyedu, intervention by the god Mikon allowed many spirit survivors in that area to hide and so they would be able to make themselves known sometime later as humans started settling the land. A second larger enclave of spirits in the extreme southern part of the continent of Negaria were also able to survive with Mikon’s aid, and with a great sense of foresight, Mikon’s servants (called mikonators) thought it best to help those survivors flee the continent to some refuge that they would create and maintain in isolation from whatever the future held. Thus, the spirits of the southern lands were quickly gathered and placed on a voyage off of the southern coast. Some of these fleeing spirits were unscathed, yet others bore deep wounds from their encounters with specially ensorcelled demons that would spread evil wherever they fought. Most of the wounded spirits damaged by these minions never healed, and some of those wounds festered and became infected, thereby tainting their unfortunate bearers. As members of the rapidly coalescing spirit community, these wounded were cared for and protected on the journey to the new land. Refuge – 1086 P.O.D. – 175 P.O.D. As the hastily constructed vessels carrying the spirit refugees neared the end of their trip, a beautiful green island shone before them like the color of emeralds. Tall forests blanketed the land which was outlined by beautiful white sand beaches. To the east and west, the shores stretched as far as the eye could see, and it appeared as if their new home could be endless. The island continent to which these spirits fled eventually became known as Khanjar Kuro, meaning Black Dagger. At the time, there were not many other native spirits living there and the refugees quickly spread. Some accompanying mikonator servants sent along with them on the journey taught them how to defend themselves and create fortifications. Once they were safe, their first task was to begin eradicating stray demons left over from the crisis. It was around this time that certain wounded spirits from the previous battles began to turn delirious and strike out against their former kin. The newly arisen “tainted” spirits would stir new conflicts and had to be driven out from fortified areas to roam the countryside. This solution would eventually prove problematic, because the taint acquired from their previous battles with the demons was contagious among the spirits and soon most efforts by the spirit communities focused on containing the malady. Over time this struggle was controlled, but tainted spirits were never eliminated and their presence helped evolve the endless dance of power ever parading around the continent. Landfall – 90 P.O.D. In these early years, there was no order among the spirits. As the land became safe enough, they emerged from their fortified hideouts and started attaching themselves to groves, rivers, and mountains to reinforce their long-neglected connection with nature. As this healing process was progressing, a cargo convoy from M’Chek set off on a fateful voyage. The majority of the mariners were humans, but there were a few dwarves among them from Deglos, as well as some goblin slave laborers from Brekon. The crew was in the business of transporting stone from the gnomish nation of Deglos to M’Chek for the construction of a new capitol called Mikona. The humans in the group were among the founders of Mikona, named for their god, Mikon. The dwarves were a more outlandish lot who mostly followed Fegall, the gnomish hero, although some of them kept to their older god, Gorethar. The voyagers made landfall out of a great storm, which legend has it was started as a by-product of magic being unleashed by the terrible conflict being fought by the fairies. The storm was devastating. Many of the ships in the convoy were decimated along with their crew, but a few hearty human and dwarven souls made it to shore to tell the tale. Khanjar Kuro was a wonder to behold for the new castaways. They saw before them a vast land full of trees and caves and brimming with untapped resources. However, instead of considering the worth of these resources overseas, the castaways were charmed by the landmass. They fell in love with it and decided to stay. Whether this was the action of the local spirits in an attempt to keep their home secret, or whether the travelers were honestly presented with a better opportunity by staying is not known. But every one of them stayed, and eventually they came to know and revere the spirits who lived there. Mikon, Fegall, and the other gods were forgotten. The Age of Awakening– 91 P.O.D. – 515 A.O.D The new relationship between the castaways and the spirits triggered the evolution of changes in the way of life for both parties. As the humans multiplied, they took on the practice of worshiping certain spirits. As these spirits got more worshipers, they found that their powers increased, and that not only could they affect more aspects of nature, they could give birth to offspring almost as powerful as they were. These offspring were strangely independent and had no need of large numbers of worshipers to acquire power. Instead, they simply seemed to inherit it from their more powerful parent. Some of these offspring even had mortal blood as a result of interbreeding, yet they were in some cases equal in might to demigods. During the Age of Awakening, these powerful newly bred spirits went on to spawn whole new races, as well as to take on the care and guardianship of some of the Negarian’s descendants, the dwarves, humans, and goblinoid races that landed on the shores of Khanjar Kuro centuries before. These older races had already begun the process of slowly forgetting their continental deities and began to seek comfort in the local powers. Both the new and old races acquired identities, lands, and cultures shaped by forces completely independent from elsewhere on Avlis. Lack of Negarian influence over time made the spirit and mortal immigrants change in subtle ways. For example, the Dwarven societies of Negaria and their crafting methods from Deglos were largely forgotten by their descendants on the island due to the fact that most of the original settlers were masons with little skill in other areas. However, their Dwarven eye for perfection was still intact, and they settled in areas of great beauty and set about constructing farms and small villages above ground. Through the centuries, this changed their physical appearance slightly. They became less stocky, with light eyes, and they had little use in their new culture for upkeep of beards and hair, and thus their beards became scraggly and their hair wild or cut short. Over time their relations with the humans decayed somewhat, but they never ceased their love for the spirits. The island was their home and they knew no other, and they called themselves the Korobokuru. For humans and the goblinoid races, the changes were mostly cultural though all races were affected to some extent by occasional breeding with spirits. To some extent over the centuries every individual had at least one spirit ancestor and in most cases it did not change appearance or ability. By contrast, the individuals with a noticeable amount of spirit ancestry to the point where it would change their appearance or functional characteristics became collectively known as “spirit folk”. Enough superstition surrounding these crossbreeds pushed them over time to congregate and form their own small societies and descendants, thereby giving rise to the spirit folk as an identifiable race separate from their forebearers. Though humans, dwarfs, goblinoids, and spirit folk formed the majority of the natural inhabitants of Khanjar Kuro, there were significant numbers of “minor” races that led successful bids for survival on the island. The shapeshifting Hengeyokai, the rat-like Nezumi, and the curious monkey-faced Vanara were the beloved creations of the second-generation spirits of the land that were born on the island and strove to make it their own. An older race that dates back to the Age of Spirits called the Onishin also makes its home there. They were the offspring of unholy unions between the leftover demons and newly arrived spirits. Though the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of all these creatures differ on societal and individual scales, they all see themselves as the children or beloved companions of the spirits who also continued to evolve their own separate society and would ultimately come to rule. The Celestial Council– 516 A.O.D. – 805 A.O.D These new races and cultures sparked a renaissance of ideas that formed the foundational societies of Khanjar Kuro. Powerful spirit folk concerted their efforts to maintain Nature on the continent in addition to becoming directly involved in the affairs of the mortal races. This close relationship between the divine and the mundane gave rise to many conflicts and epic quests that intertwined the histories of the races together like a tapestry. One such epic began when His Most Splendid Majesty, the Platinum Dragon visited the island in avatar form and struck up a friendship with the local spirits. A beautiful mountain nymph named Lyelia caught his eye and the two fell in love. During their courtship and eventual marriage, the lovers built a kingdom of loyal spirit folk, humans, and korrobokuro. The capitol city of Kazani’e was a mighty fortress atop a volcano at the center of the island with major roads spreading out in five directions. Though there were few enemies aside from the evil goblinoids and the tainted folk, the inhabitants enjoyed the safety and security provided by the loving and benevolent rulers. Their joy was multiplied when Lyelia gave birth to quintuplets. Shulin was strong and flexible, with brown eyes like her mother’s. Kasai was quick to anger and always on the move, with red hair and eyes that burned like the sun. D’chyo was a headstrong and steady woman, having the darkest complexion and a thick build. Kinzoku was fast but calculating, with silver skin and golden eyes, and finally Shay was easy going but powerful when aroused, with a pale blue complexion and hair as white as mist. The five siblings learned the ways of the spirit folk under the watchful eye of their father who became known at that time by the name “Taiso”, meaning Great Ancestor. Taiso filled them with stories of his otherworldly ancestors and taught them the skills they would need to survive both on Avlis and in the planes beyond. As their childhood quickly passed, their mother Lyelia ascended to demigod status through the adoration of her followers and was escorted to be with her beloved on his home plane. The eternal lovers were happy but longed for a realm to call their own once more where they could eventually bring their children and descendants to live in peace and harmony as they deliberate on the affairs of Khanjar Kuro. To achieve this, Taiso decided that his children must perform a quest as part of their coming of age to earn their place among the ancestors and help their father create his new realm. However, creating a new pocket plane was a monumental task often reserved for the most knowledgeable and hearty magic users. Doing it through any other means would require items of exceptional strength and magic. Taiso ordered each of his offspring to leave Kazani’e and build their own bases of operations from which they would begin their searches for the necessary ingredients, and so the children departed the home of their youth and built fortresses around the island which were destined to one day evolve into the great capitols of the clans. Soon after they became settled and construction was underway, the children were given new tasks by their father. Taiso ordered his daughter D’chyo to bring him a shard from the first Lifestone ever created, the fabled Father Lifestone. Although neither D’chyo nor Taiso knew the location of the stone, they had collected information from older spirits who remembered it and believed that it was located somewhere on the island, but that it had gone dormant. The shard was necessary for the creation of extraplanar land which could be shaped to Taiso’s liking during the creation process. Sustaining the magical structure of the pocket plane would require another artifact, and this task was given to Taiso’s daughter Shulin. She was charged with finding the mythical All Tree, which grows on the spot where the first spirit arose from the ground after Avlis came into being. Local legends said the tree grows somewhere on the island where all the pathways of life converge, but that since the Age of Spirits it has become sick. Shulin was to revive the tree and create clippings from it. From those new saplings she was to create magical timbers to act as the structural support of the new realm. Kinzoku’s task was to provide a tool that could be used to shape the realm. Through his father’s tales, Kinzoku knew that a Hammer of Creation would do the trick, and that there were once many of these devices in existence but that they had become rare since the Age of Spirits. Although he did not know where to find one, he was sure that certain spirits who still told stories of the ancient arts might know, so he set out to begin his search. The temperamental son Kasai was given the task of providing the raw power to fuel the planar creation and drive the tools that would shape it. Such power could be found in the soul of the volcano located at Khanjar Kuro’s geographical center. However, taking the entire soul would surely destroy the island, so Kasai needed to find a way to extract just enough to do what was needed and no more. Unfortunately for him, he had little patience for research and did not look forward to this undertaking. The lovely and demure Shay was instructed to provide the harmony and balance to stabilize all the other elements of creation. Her quest led her far away through a portal located in the depths of Lake Minokuchi, where she sought a rare form of magical fluid called the Water of Life, which was thought to act as a facilitator of energy transfer among the planes. These quests took many years, and as the children toiled, their followers continued to build their cities and farm their lands. Each quintuplet soon took on spouses and concubines who bore them children that grew to eventually assist in their parents’ quests. It was discovered over several trials that certain pairs of children had to work together at times to achieve their goals, and that not all of the artifacts were independently acquired, researched, or utilized. Sometimes this created tension when services were not rendered to the satisfaction of one sibling or another, each now the head of a major clan quickly spreading around the island. Frequently, these tensions boiled over into open conflict between clans and just as frequently the other siblings and their followers would step in to mediate the conflict, or to become embroiled in it. Almost three centuries after Taiso first set foot on the island, his children had finally completed their quests and assembled the artifacts according to his instructions. The pocket plane of The Celestial Dragonlands was born and set within its facet located on the Astral Plane. Lyelia and Taiso quickly made their move to their new home and shaped the realm according to their needs. Shortly after the new creation, the quintuplets also ascended and were taken up to their new home to be with their parents, leaving the ruling of their lands to the next generation. The divine family declared that the inhabitants of this new realm would henceforth be known as the Celestial Council, the single true and rightful ruling body of Khanjar Kuro’s mortal subjects. The members of the Celestial Council became known by their subjects as the Celestial Spirits. The Five Clans– 806 A.O.D. – 1265 A.O.D The vacancy left by the family at Kazani’e was immediately apparent to the five clans that had sprung up from each of the quintuplets. Though each clan was almost entirely autonomous in its day to day activities, and trade between the clans steadily advanced as their societies developed, the culture of the island was highly hierarchical, and the absence of a monarch of the five clans was seen as a major societal and political problem. The burning question was which clan ruler would be the most eligible to lead as “Tenshin” or Emperor. As the firstborn, Shulin’s line was the presumptive heir to Lyelia and Taiso, and soon after the ascension of the quintuplets, Shulin’s son, a half human spirit named Maseki marched his army into Kazani’e and took the throne for himself to become the first Tenshin of Khanjar Kuro. However, there were some seemingly insurmountable political problems with this situation according to the other clans. Maseki was the son of Shulin’s consort, a human named Akelo. Since the son of Shulin was not technically a legitimate child, the Kasai clan claimed that Kasuro, their ruler and legitimate son of Kasai had the true claim to Kazini’e and a war began as the Kasai clan laid siege to the city of ancestors. The Kasai Clan was victorious, but the victory for Tenshin Kasuro was short-lived. Over the next four centuries, the throne would be contested on at least one occasion by each of the five clans. These disagreements arose whenever the legitimacy of an heir was put to question. In many cases, a consort’s children would claim the throne only to be supplanted or usurped by a more legitimate claim by a direct descendant with wedded parents. In other wars during this period, the sole surviving heir in a line would be too young to inherit and the opportunity to seize the throne would prove too tempting for another clan to attempt. Conflicts of this sort were often held behind the scenes, because openly challenging the legitimacy of a true monarch was seen as a grave dishonor. This period also saw the expansion of the number of noble families. Since the early generations of rulers were often polygamous or unfaithful in their marriages, legitimate children were common and treated with some degree of status up to an including the role of Tenshin, as demonstrated by Tenshin Maseki. Many children of consorts and concubines went on to found lesser noble families, which would ally themselves with one of the five major clans. In return for their loyalty and ability to manage affairs for the clan ruler, the lesser noble would be granted lands. Citizens living within those lands were expected to be loyal to the local noble. When wars between the major clans erupted, lesser noble families were called on to rally their subjects to fight. Larger nobles were also called on often to mediate disagreements between lesser noble families as well to prevent outbreak of smaller wars. Over time, the number of layers of status for the noble families increased, mostly by the same mechanisms of procreation and inheritance that gave rise to the first noble families connected to the five clans. This hierarchical structure of noble families was the unifying characteristic that underpinned this period of time. During these centuries, the families existing higher up in the rankings, i.e. closer in blood relations to the five original clans, were more powerful. They could field more soldiers, grow more food, and produce more crafts. Trade equalized the resources among the clans, but some lands were better off than others in their natural availability, and this also affected their power and influence. All in all, this period was stable and looked at as a golden epoch where society most closely followed the ideals set forth by Taiso and Lyelia.