Greyfeather History

History of Greyfeather
Pre-Human Influence The first written history of the land came around 3,000 years before the coming of the first human king of the land. Elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings were the races who inhabited the lands and they had their own history. There were wars, famines, conflicts and celebrations during this time period, often too numerous to go into, but I will touch on the highlights.

-3000 Earliest known historic record, recorded by the elves of Elvenwood, then known as the Be'metrial elves. It is believed that the elves were the first created by the gods and placed upon the Island of Greyfeather. In the records, Greyfeather is called Elfhome. The elves interacted with the fairies, who were the magical, existing inhabitants of the forests and welcomed the elves with open arms.

-2810 Opposing factions develop between the elves caused by cultural differences. One group leaves the Elvenwood Forest to explore the island and find a place of their own. They discovered the Aspenleaf Forest, also inhabited by the fairie folk, and settled there, becoming known as Aspenleaf elves.

-2790 More Elvenwood elves leave the forest and venture further north, settling in the forest along the coast. These became known as the Ty’larenthar elves. They encounter fairies here as well.

-2760 Dwarves are encountered for the first time by the elves. The dwarves were found living in the Ogre's Teeth Mountains to the west of the forest. Trade alliances and cohabitation between the dwarves and the elves were the norm, though the socialization between the two was minimal.

-2740 Gnomes and halflings are encountered by the elves. The gnomes were discovered in the eastern mountain range of Greyfeather Island, while the halflings were discovered in the hillside on the western slope of the same mountains, known as the Dragonspire Mountains.

-2710 The Dwarf-Elf War begins over disputes involving the cutting down of trees from the elven forests. The gnomes and halflings remain neutral. Though warfare was against their nature, the fairies aid the elves by providing healing and other magical supplies.

-2698 The Dwarf-Elf War ends with a peace accord signed by the tribal rulers. Both sides are weakened by the war and feel they must rebuild their populations.

-2550 Trolls and orcs begin to mobilize and attack elven settlements. The Troll War begins. All races unite to battle the trolls and orcs. The fairies, repulsed at the warlike behavior of these new inhabitants, begin to go into hiding.

-2545 The Troll War ends with the trolls and orcs pushed back into the hills. A new peace accord is signed by all of the races, honoring their unity and achievement.

-2390 Dragons are found on the island. Before, dragons had only been a myth, but now, they are migrating in at a rapid pace. Though the dwarves and gnomes are greatly unaffected by this, the elves and halflings find themselves being threatened by the intrusion.

-2067 A group of humans lands on Greyfeather Island from the south. They arrive in hand-made ships and wearing animal skins. Seeking a climate more attuned to them, they travel northward and settle in the valleys of the Dragonspire Mountains. They are dubbed "barbarians" by the elven people and the name sticks. All races soon adopt this name universally.

-1588 After almost 500 years of peace, the land is shattered by the declaration of war from the trolls in the north. All civilized races heed the call and mass in the northeast to aid the Ty’larenthar elves. The Aspenleaf and Elvenwood elves send entire armies to combat the troll incursion, while dwarven and halfling brigades arrive to help.

-1560 The Troll-Elf War rages on with the trolls pushing the elves back to the edges of the Dragonspire Mountains. As a last ditch effort to save themselves, the elven king agrees to set fire to the forest to drive the trolls out. The ploy works, but their beloved forest is no more. Disgusted by their brethren's blatant destruction of the natural forests, the Aspenleaf and Elvenwood elves leave their ranks and return to their own forests.

-1558 After two years of mopping up the remaining resistance of trolls, the Ty'larenthar elves find themselves without a forest home or elven allies. They appeal to their cousins to aid them, but after witnessing the senseless destruction of a forest, they are reluctant to aid the Ty'larenthar fully. They give food and medical supplies, but refuse to offer a portion of their forest to the homeless Ty'larenthar.

-1556 The king of the Ty'larenthar elves goes before the Elven Council and demands a home for his subjects. His demands are rejected by the council and this brings about the Elven Wars.

-1506 After 50 years of bloodshed and strife, the Ty'larenthar elves are finally driven underground where they will remain. The Aspenleaf and Elvenwod elves are exhausted and war weary, and they withdraw to their forests to rebuild and forget.

-1250 With the increased population of the land and the expansion of the villages of the individual races of mankind, the faerie folk who inhabited the land long before the elves came to Greyfeather Island disappear completely from the land. They take with them the secrets of their powerful "Faerie Magic". Though a choice few elves have been taught this magic, none ever mastered it as well as the faerie folk themselves.

-753 A great famine spreads across the land. Crops fail, animals die without cause, and plant life begins to dry up. The weather is unseasonably warm this year and thousands die from starvation.

-729 An invading army from the north sails to Greyfeather Island to conquer it. At first, the army is treated as a neighbor, but when their true intentions are discovered, the races of Greyfeather band together to drive out the invading army.

-708 Again, the invaders from the north, coming from a land called Tar-Stone, attempt to conquer Greyfeather. Again, the races of the land join forces to drive them away.

-455 An elven wizard named Jethrax Goldenstaff uncovers a new type of magic, one that draws upon the powers of shadow to do his bidding. Appropriately, he calls it "Shadow Magic". Shortly after this discovery, Jethrax disappears and is never heard from again.

-206 The Ty'larenthar elves, now known as the dark elves, begin to make surface raids against the elves of the Aspenleaf Forest. After 1300 years of exile, they try to reclaim their place on the surface. The Elvenwood elves join forces with the Aspenleaf elves and drive the Ty'larenthar back underground. Thus begin years of peace between all of the inhabitants.

1st Age of Greyfeather (Year 1-94)
Age of Discovery

The first age of Greyfeather began with the coronation of Kensak I. It was called the Age of Discovery for Kensak I’s travels around the land and discovering much of the land that he would rule. Though the land was well known to those who lived there it was all new to Kensak, and his travels uncovered some treasures that would not have otherwise been uncovered for many more years. After his travels, Kensak I was named King of Greyfeather by consensus of all of the inhabitants of the island. He married the elven princess, Verona, and they had only one child, which they named Edward Robert Kensak II (Kensak II).

Kensak I discovered that this land was ruled by gods that he was unfamiliar with. The Norse Gods ruled over Greyfeather and he quickly realized that his monotheocratic beliefs wouldn’t work here. After speaking to some priests in the land, he came to the determination that Thor would be his deity of choice and he would devote himself to this worship. Thor was a popular god in the land, so this made Kensak I popular as well.

After spending ten years traveling the land, Kensak I decided to settle down in the south, where the climate was more like England to him. He chose the location of Greyfeather City and then went to work building it with his own two hands. Seeing that he was accepting of the land he was now a part of, the other races came to aid the paladin in building the city. Dwarven stonemasons, elvish carpenters and craftsman, gnomish miner and stone workers and Halfling craftsmen all arrived and helped to design and build the city as it stands today.

After completion of the city, the races held a meeting, with Kensak I in attendance and chose him to be the king of Greyfeather, even adopting the name he had given it upon his arrival.

Kensak II ascended the throne thirty-eight years later and ruled Greyfeather much as his father did. He married a human woman named Yolanda shortly after ascending the throne and she bore him two sons, which they named (of course), Edward Robert Kensak III and Edward Robert Kensak IV.

Kensak II was a fair and just ruler of his people, but he lacked the diplomacy that his father had with the other races. He had a temper. When he would enter into negotiations with others, he could only tolerate their refusals and whining for so long before he would lose his cool and begin to bark at them like a dog. This didn’t earn him too many friends among the elves or gnomes, though the dwarves loved him. They could handle that kind of negotiation.

Where he lacked in diplomacy, Kensak II made up for in bravery and leadership on the battlefield. Three times in his reign, he had to take up his sword and defend his lands against invasion from the continent to the north. All three times, he vanquished his enemy and saved the land. The races of Greyfeather forgave his gruff negotiating skills during times like that.

Kensak III would have succeeded his father as King but chose to join the clergy instead, considered a noble calling, so the crown was handed down to Kensak IV. Being of part elven blood, they tended to live to elder years, far beyond what most humans lived, but a series of tragedies and illnesses took the lives of most of the Kensak Kings. Therefore, when Kensak IV ascended the throne, it was late in his life (53 years of age), and most did not expect him to rule long.

2nd Age of Greyfeather (Year 94-375)
Age of Heroes

The second age of Greyfeather, known as the Age of Heroes, began with the coronation of King Kensak IV. It was during this time that many heroes came forth to explore the untamed land and uncover its ancient secrets. With a former adventurer at the helm of the land, this was encouraged and even rewarded by the crown. Kensak IV ascended the throne late in his life, at the age of 53, and most did not expect him to rule long. However, Kensak IV ruled Greyfeather for 260 years and proved to be the most popular, most successful monarch in Greyfeather history. He stepped down from the throne well before his death, choosing his youngest daughter to succeed him. This came as a shock to his family and his subjects, but they accepted his judgment.

Queen Krystal Kensak ascended the throne to rule for a very short time. She was assassinated after only twenty years as Queen. Krystal's son, Edward Robert Kensak X took the throne, but was also assassinated after only one year as King. The assassin was never caught and no one ever found out that a neighboring monarch commissioned the assassination of both Queen Krystal and her son, Kensak X. This monarch, from the land of Yestari, was hired by the powerful lich, Bife, to have them removed so he could take control of the land. Yestari agreed to help him.

Thus began the long rule of King Bife.

3rd Age of Greyfeather (Year 375-825)
Age of Despair

A dark period in Greyfeather history began with the death of King Kensak X. A sinister force moved in and snared the throne from the Kensak family using guile and charisma, but quickly showed his true colors. The lich, Bife, stole the crown and proclaimed himself King of Greyfeather. A brutal war began, the forces supporting the rightful heirs versus the forces of darkness. For over two hundred years, these armies battled the heroes of Greyfeather against the armies of Lord Bife.

After 200 years, the heroes were depleted and Bife was as strong as ever. The war ended without fanfare and the people of Greyfeather resigned themselves to servitude. Life under Bife's rule was cruel at best. The people bordered on starvation and most of the coin that was earned in the land went to taxation that went beyond extreme, all to fill Bife's coffers. He raised undead armies to enforce his edicts, and when the population attempted to fight back, Bife unleashed his undead lieutenants on them to put them back in line.

Bife had spent most of the first 100 years of his reign seeking out every single Kensak family member he could find and had them executed, hoping that there would never be another Kensak to challenge him for the throne. One by one, the Kensak family line began to die out, leaving no one to step forward and attempt to wrestle control away from the lich.

For 250 more years, King Bife reigned supreme, until a rogue resistance cell formed to unseat him. With careful planning and recruitment of new heroes to fight Bife’s army, they were able to ultimately defeat him and wrest control of the lands away. The key figure in this was the death knight, Vecter, who had watched Bife rule the land unjustly and found a way to redeem himself in the eyes of the gods. He paid a group of heroes to locate Bife's phylactary so he could destroy it and thus destroy the lich. One of the heroes just happened to be a lost granddaugther of Kensak noble birth, Samantha Kensak.

Thus began the squabble over who would ascend the throne. Though Samantha didn't realize she was an heir, another of Kensak IV's grandchildren, Duke Kensak XIV, came out of hiding upon Bife's defeat to lay claim to the throne. The two sparred over the appointment until finally, the gods grew weary and decided to end it themselves. In a cataclysmic episode known as the Great Sundering, flaming meteors, earthquakes and tidal waves, destroyed the land of Grendoth, splitting them into tiny island nations, but left the island of Greyfeather intact. By divine ordination, Samantha Kensak was granted the throne of Greyfeather.

4th Age of Greyfeather (Year 825-900)
Age of Rebirth

The fourth age of Greyfeather began with the coronation of Queen Samantha Kensak. It was deemed the Age of Rebirth due to the fact that King Bife had ruled the land using terror and tyranny, but when Queen Samantha took the throne the terror and oppression ended, thus the land was reborn. The gods chose Samantha Kensak to ascend to the throne after the Great Sundering. As one of the heroes who had defeated Bife, she was an unknown Kensak heir, even to herself. The only other surviving Kensak, Edward Robert Kensak XIV (Duke Kensak), the was found unfit to rule by the Greyfeather High Council due to past transgressions. Samantha, landing on Greyfeather Island and thinking herself just one of the many refugees, instead found herself being named Queen.

Angry at being denied, Duke Kensak vowed vengeance and disappeared. He has made his presence known through attacks and sabotage on Queen Samantha's kingdom, but she defeated him time and again. Now, the island nation flourishes under her guidance and intelligence, a gem for all to see. But lurking in the background, ready to strike at her, is her cousin, Duke Kensak, who plots to return from his exile.

The Great Sundering

The Overseer was the Father of the Gods and he had twelve other gods to manage the pantheons, four on the side of good, four on the side of neutrality and four on the side of evil. The one edict he handed down to them upon ascending to the heavens was that they were not to interfere in mortal lives. They could not send avatars to the land and they could not go there themselves. They could do pretty much anything else but that.

Nedora, The Shadow Queen and Goddess of Evil Magic, didn’t like to be told what to do. She flaunted her power by sending avatars to help her chosen worshipers and often went to the land in her goddess form in direct violation of this edict. To counter her actions, Kensak, the God of Law and Justice for the side of good, began to do the same thing, to keep her from granting too much power to her evil followers.

After Nedora aided Duke Kensak XIV in a bid to claim the vacant throne of Greyfeather, the Overseer had finally had enough. He demanded that the gods, all of them, punish the land they had been helping. It should not come to pass that this human would gain a throne he didn’t deserve, so the land should be destroyed. The gods and goddesses all pleaded for mercy, claiming it wasn’t the fault of the people, but the fault of a few chosen gods.

The Overseer agreed with that, but he still demanded that the land be destroyed. He would protect Greyfeather Island, and they could have five thousand of their followers travel to the island before the land was destroyed. They had no choice but to agree. For one full week, the gods and goddesses aided in moving five thousand of their most faithful followers to Greyfeather Island. Once this mission was complete, the gods and goddess rained down hell, fire and brimstone on the continent of Grendoth. Although many perished in that night of destruction, the land was torn asunder as the Overseer demanded and this appeased him. The influx of refugees was overwhelming for a time, but they managed to find places for them all as the new Queen, Samantha Kensak, took the helm.

The War of the Shadow Queen

After the gods were removed from the heavens, Nedora was back to her old ways in Greyfeather. During her reign as Queen of the Aspenleaf elves from the year 93 to the year 180, she had a series of mage towers built in the plains north of Greyfeather City. She called it the Circle of Mages. In the center of the circle of towers was a central tower that she would reside in and in each of the other eight, her lieutenants would reside in those. It was a base that was heavily guarded and heavily fortified. Seeing this as a threat, Samantha mustered an army to march against Nedora to defeat her once and for all. In the year 850, Samantha’s army marched north, along with contingents from the Elvenwood Forest and the City of Justice, now known as the City of Light. Heroes from around the land joined the queen’s forces and they assaulted the Circle of Mages. The war only lasted one week, as Queen Samantha’s forces, along with the heroes of the land were able to utterly destroy Nedora’s forces.

Nedora escaped death that day and disappeared for fifty years. Samantha ruled Greyfeather from 825 to 875 at which point, she and her husband, Lord Vecter, retired to Tranquility Farms. Their only son, Edward, took the throne in 875. Edward only ruled for 15 years before he stepped down as king to marry a commoner, which was against royal law. He and his new bride moved to Tranquility Farms as well, leaving the throne vacant for a time.

Kensak IV, no longer a god, stepped in to rule the land for the next ten years so that there was a Kensak on the throne again. He only did this out of his own feeling of necessity.

5th Age of Greyfeather (Year 900-1006)
Age of The Creator

The fifth age of Greyfeather began in 900 when Christopher came to the land. Christopher was an outsider of sorts, from a future time and a different plane of existence, but had somehow found his way to the land that he created. He played a game in his timeline called Dungeons & Dragons, and he created Greyfeather as a world for his friends to adventure in. During a vacation, he ventured into a castle and found himself in Greyfeather, speaking directly to King Kensak IV. This was the start of his reign.

Christopher knew the land well, having created it in his mind. He took what had already been done and improved upon it, making life in the land more prosperous and it had a higher quality of life. He met and traveled with many influential characters of Greyfeather and he did many good things for the realm as a whole. He became the Champion of the Overseer and he liberated Whitefeather from the Black Orcs.

He wasn’t always a popular king, enforcing royal tax laws to included taxing the guilds as well. He put in social reforms, such as adoption for the orphans of the land and rebuilding the South District, once a slum, but now a very prosperous distinct of Greyfeather City. Christopher married Vesah, a cleric of the Overseer, and she bore him two children, a boy and girl. Christopher also had a child out of wedlock with another of his traveling companions, Velmir, a gnome psionicist. Their son, Jenek, was born in 904. Wilreal was born to Vesah and Christopher in 906 and Allimere in 910.

In 935, Christopher grew weary of sitting on the throne and not being able to travel with his family when he wanted, so he went to the monarchs of neighboring lands to attempt to unite all lands under one ruler. This didn’t go well. They rebuffed his attempt and severed ties with Greyfeather.

In 940, his eldest son, Jenek, showed his father his ability to create avatars from his mind and this gave Christopher an idea that would have dire consequences for the land. He allowed Jenek to impersonate Queen Samantha Kensak and her consort, Alac Auvryndar, and to run the kingdom as he saw fit. After helping his son learn the craft for three years, Christopher took the rest of his family to the Ogre’s Teeth Mountains and disappeared from the public eye.

6th Age of Greyfeather (Year 1006-)
Age of Uncertainty

The Dark Alliance has gained control of the throne and various factions have sprang up around the land, either siding with the Dark Alliance or battling against them. Through it all, Whitefeather, the land seven days sail to the east, has struggled to build its nation from the crumbling ruins it once was. Formerly a part of the main continent that was destroyed by the Great Sundering in 825, Whitefeather is really nothing more than a smattering of small villages and self-sufficient farm lands. There is a Queen on the throne, but she sits in the capital city of Aurora, unable to gather enough power to settle the land properly. And with King Jenek no longer in power, she has no allies. This is where the 6th Age begins.

Ruled by the wizard, Debren The Dark, this faction is the most powerful in the land at the moment. With the ascension of Lord Vecter, Debren has stepped into the void and chosen to make it the land he always felt it should be. The Dark Alliance began in 923, when Lord Vecter was sent away by his former wife, Samantha Kensak in favor of a drow ranger, the only drow elf in the land, Alac Auvryndar. Samantha had met Alac when she first became the queen and she fell in love with the noble, quiet drow elf. She was promised to Lord Vecter and would not risk the kingdom on an affair, so she sent the drow away and married Vecter, as she felt she should.

Vecter had served as her consort for almost one hundred years, acting as the commander of her guard and giving her good strategic advice, especially during the War of the Shadow Queen. He was a good soldier and a good husband and father, but Samantha could never forget Alac, nor did she. Vecter was totally unaware of this fact.

In 923, King Christopher formed an adventuring party to travel to Whitefeather, to deal with a cult that was trying to bring a major demon lord into the land. That demon lord was named Reldayxus. The Overseer had tasked him with making sure the demon lord arrived, but that it was not allowed to escape. Had it, it would’ve devoured most of the people in its wake. Vecter agreed to join this band of adventurers to lend his sword to a worthy cause. During this adventure, Alac arrived in Whitefeather to aid the cause as well. Christopher had asked for Alac’s aid, but the stipulation was that he meet with Samantha afterward. Samantha agreed to this meeting. Once Reldayxus was turned over to the Overseer, Vecter returned home to find Samantha gone. She returned two days later and asked him to leave. She would be asking for a decree of divorce and she would be marrying Alac Auvryndar.

Vecter flew into a rage over this, but he did not slay either party. Instead, he blamed Christopher for this development and left his long time home so that he could plot his revenge. His revenge came in the form of the Dark Alliance. Knowing that King Christopher had made the land into what it was currently, he wanted to turn everything upside-down, showing the good king that evil was just as powerful as good, and chose to use Christopher’s own words against him. Without evil, there can be no good.

During this build up of operatives that would help him take the throne of Greyfeather from King Christopher, Vecter met a rather untimely end, one that would’ve been disastrous for the Dark Alliance, had he not done something back 50 years before that changed the course of history. As a paladin, he made a solemn vow to the Overseer to always protect Samantha and Greyfeather. A vow made to a god that is not fulfilled means the paladin, should they die, will rise as a skeletal knight...a Death Knight. He needed a base of operations to form this alliance so he chose Eventhil, a port city in the northwest of the land. He had to be as far from Greyfeather City as he could get to avoid detection until the time to strike was right. Unfortunately for Vecter, he overestimated his abilities when it came to combat. He walked into Eventhil alone and attempted to remove the mayor and his guard there, but was unsuccessful, as they were nearly 100 strong and he was alone.

He rose the next day, laying on the sand of the beach in the north of the city, but he was no longer a knight in service to the Overseer. Instead, he had risen as a Death Knight and was now under the control of Reldayxus, the newest god in the heavens. The new god informed Vecter that he would be the Chosen and gave him additional powers to go along with his already increased undead powers. Within two hours, he had slain every guard and all of the hierarchy of Eventhil alone. To begin with, the alliance was very weak. Very few thugs and toughs wanted anything to do with a death knight. Over time, however, he began to find solid recruits who didn’t care that he was undead, and they began to perform tasks for him to further his cause.

By 952, he had only recruited around 25 members and was beginning to believe he would have to do this himself, but another ally joined the ranks that he least expected. A wizard by the name of Debren The Dark arrived in Eventhil and offered his services as a recruiter and lieutenant to the Dark Alliance. Vecter knew that this wizard, who had changed his name, was just the man he needed to make this plan work. Debren The Dark became the new name for a wizard of fame and renown. His real name was Basquel The Red. A former friend of King Christopher, Basquel had a falling out with the king as to how to rule the land and make things right. Basquel considered the king to be soft and too kind, even to his enemies. In Vecter, he felt that maybe the land would finally find that discipline it lacked under Christopher’s watch, so he joined the Dark Alliance.

Vecter had respect for the wizard, but he didn’t feel that magic was the way to take the crown. He accepted Debren’s help because he needed to focus on efforts to secure Eventhil and move his plan forward, so he left the day-to-day operations to Debren. The wizard proved to be an excellent recruiter and soon the Alliance was growing. Debren found hearty adventurers with an axe to grind against the crown and turned them into stalwart operatives of the alliance. All he had to do was pay them handsomely for their deeds. He used Vecter’s coin to do that.

For the next fifty years, Debren built the Dark Alliance into what it was, but he constantly gave Vecter the credit for it, to soothe the death knight into believing he was the true hero here. It was a manipulation ploy that worked like a charm. Debren knew that keeping Vecter happy was the way to make his mark on this alliance, and hopefully usurp the death knight at some point. Though a very powerful arch-mage, Debren knew that Reldayxus had granted Vecter powers that would make him very dangerous if confronted, so he placated the death knight and tried to find a way to neutralize him at a later time.

A group came along that was brought to his attention by an underling named Olen Wilks, a wizard who had served him well for several years. Olen said that the group he was mentoring in Tannebaugh might be some of the best he’d seen. Debren was intrigued and asked for continuous reports. The reports didn’t lie. They handled many delicate and notsodelicate missions with nothing but success. This is when Debren took them under his wing. For the next year and a half, he gave them mission after mission to perform, and though their methods weren’t orthodox, they success they garnered was enough to give Debren hope that he could use them to rid himself of Vecter and then place himself on the throne. The key to this plan was the wizard of the group, Delinarra, also known as Delilah. He mentored her in the ways of wizardry and even allowed her to take on a delicate mission alone, which she handled with ease.

In 1007, this group finally got to Greyfeather City and to the crown, which was the ultimate goal. It was when they arrived that things took a very strange turn. The moment that it was discovered that Samantha was not really ruling Greyfeather, that the bastard son of the former King Christopher was, the new Father of the Gods, Dragokar, arrived. He commanded Vecter to come with him, that he would be ascending to the heavens to be a god and then told Debren that the fate of Greyfeather was now in his hands as he always wanted. With that, Vecter and Dragokar vanished and Debren was king. Now Debren could make the land into what he hoped it would always be, powerful.