The Shrine of Hamaskis. South West Khul Contact the High Priest.

This page is not yet complete. See the Recent Developments room for details of completed areas of the shrine. Below lies an article by Andre Hansen, a.k.a. massena.

+ FF30, FF35 and FF39 are the Mage Order, local to SW Khul; the Council of Elders would be FF23 & FF55, local to NE Khul. They are not the same body, although they may be affiliated - see FF41 Master of Chaos - there, a seemingly very powerful body of mages with worldwide influence hires you. See also FF34. There, a powerful mage body seems to have influence within Lendleland, with the ability to contact far off places and project power, but not much.

In FF41, the group of wizards calls itself the conclave of Grand Wizards. Personally, I think it is most likely to have been in the Old World, since there is a naval voyage to the northern coast of Khul which puts in at the eastern port rather than the ones which used to be part of Klarash, which would have been closer if coming from Allansia. Also, the idea of a conclave of grand wizards seems to me to fit better with the Old World. Hence this could be the same body which sends you off to rescue Alsander in FF34 Stealer of Souls.

I think that the Conclave is an association of the most powerful wizards in the Old World, although in theory, any "Lawful" wizard could join (the Grand Wizard of Yore, for example). Members are known as the Grand Wizard of ..., and so are usually limited to the most powerful magic user in a country, although there might be lesser mages who would be considered "associate members".

The Mage Order might have once been Klarashian, although there also seem to be connections with Gorak and Kazan, which do not seem to have been ruled by Klarash, although they are in the right area of Khul. They also seem to have some connection with Zamarra (where exactly is Zamarra, for that matter?).

The Council of Elders is probably an ad hoc group of respected mages in the area around Arion who get together to discuss how best to coordinate the use of their magic to aid the people of NE Khul. I think that all these need some more work on them.

On to the questions: in FF25 Beneath Nightmare Castle, the historical description of the battles with the southerners, and in particular the time since them, seems a little contradictory. Note also that Neuberg was only a tiny village before then, but is now one of the Council of Seven.

The battles could have occurred during the Great War against Chaos, in which case the history would read as follows:

Klarash expands south and founds Zagoula and Y+H

Chaos spawn attack Zagoula and with the help of trecherous Klarashians, including the sorcerer Xakhaz, go North.

Problem: This force was supposed to have been halted by Skarlos, so what is the situation with Brendan Bloodaxe?

Alternatively, Xakhaz could be one of the southern Klarashians who survived the sack of Zagoula, but was driven to resent the north, which abandoned them, and turned to Chaos, assembling an army some time later to travel north and be defeated by Skarlos.

Problem: there were not supposed to be any survivors of the attack on Zagoula. However, in FF25, it says that Zagoula is now the capital of the southerner civilization, which already contradicts what is said in Titan.

Finally, Xakhaz could have attacked before the Great War.

Problem: Before the Great War, the only humans in the south had come from Klarash, so would they really have been allowed to raise an army without the Klarashian government intervening? Of course, it might be that Skarlos et al. were not local heroes at all, but were the leaders of the Klarashian army which just happened to meet the rebels at helm hill, and that Neuberg was then founded for this reason.

Or perhaps there is another option. Clues are that the battle was allegedly remembered by a dwarf gardener and an old goblin (with a beard, so maybe especially long lived due to dwarf blood?), which suggests recently (200yrs max) and that both Xakhaz and the Vitriol Essence talk of centuries since their imprisonment, which suggests much longer.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, Flanders wrote:

+ Just a little point to the list- The Magicians, whether of the mage order or whatever may not be linked, else why would you have to travel between continents in Master of Chaos- surely they'd have just contacted the Khulian faction and sent in a local lad.

If the Mage Order is primarily western and the Council of Elders easternt then maybe they were too concerned with their own problems and could not spare an adventurer to deal with Shanzikuul in the middle, but you are right, it seems that the Conclave was not on friendly terms with he Khullian representatives, if they were even in contact.

Also, believing Mordraneth was in Allansia in FF34 Stealer of Souls suggests that the contacts of that group (which I believe to be the same one) with Allansia were not great either.

On Wed, 24 Jan 2001, The Milnes wrote:

+ + It is possible that Kazan (and maybe even Gorak) only date from after the Great War, but if not, maybe Klarash left them alone because they were inhabited mainly by humans?

+ It's probably easier to suggest that they were only founded as "new" kingdoms from after the Great War. Most states/cities in Khul, with the exception of Arion and the territory around it (such as Fallow Dale) were, after all, razed to the ground. That way, Klarash could not have conquered them, since they were never there.

In FF30 Chasms of Malice, there are a few clues as to the age of Gorak and the Gaddon (who live in the Chasms). It says that the Gaddon went to live in the Chasms possibly due to religious persecution and soon afterwards started to give birth to blind babies. When Tancred the Magnificent and Orguz entered the Chasms to imprison the Malice there, Orguz was lost and Tancred entrusted the Gaddon warriors to guard them, so presumably this was some time later.

Now, Tancred's line died out ages ago, according to the regent, but in a world which is only 2300 years old, this might mean a couple of centuries.

In that case, it could be that Klarashian persecution led to the Gaddon going below ground and then after the Great War, Tancred founded Gorak to guard the entrance to the Chasms where he had imprisoned the Malice. On the other hand, you might all think this is rubbish, but if it were true then it would still raise some questions.

I think that the Shining Sword is really rather special, not just a run of the mill magic sword: it is the only one capable of defeating Orguz, apparently, and only Tancred's descendant can wield it. Personally, I think that it might be more accurate to say that it is the only weapon available which can defeat Orguz; there might be a handful of others elsewhere in the world. However, there is still the question of who created it, why Tancred ended up with it and for what purpose was it made.

Now maybe after (or even during) the Great War, the Mage Order chose pair of twin heroes (Tancred and Orguz) and equipped them with powerful magic to help defeat the forces of chaos - perhaps even in response to the Council of Elders-led leadership of Brendan Bloodaxe (if the two groups were rivals). However, Bloodaxe defeated the Chaos Hordes and Orguz was lost in the Chasms, so history remembers BB as a hero and Tancred as the ruler of a little kingdom in old Klarash.

I can't find any clues to the age of Kazan, but the concept of the Select seems the sort of thing that might be instituted after a huge war, to ensure a good warrior ended up on the throne. If Kazan used to be part of Klarash, then it was still probably inhabited by rough types, and the six clans probably reflect Klarashian, or even pre-Klarashian distinctions.

Then, when Klarash was forced to give up claim to territory south of Neuberg and Tancred was founding Gorak, the clans, abandoned, banded together under some great leader, built Sharrabas and instituted the strange succession ceremonies. I don't know whether the labyrinths would date from this period or from before the clans were absorbed into Klarash. By the way, who do you think controls the two islands just off the Kazanid coast?

Finally, Zamarra. Once again, this could date from before, during or after the rule of Klarash. Its hugely overblown defences (14 city walls AND the Stone Dragon Sentinels AND a large, well trained army with quite a few knights AND the Wazarri Silent Knights) might suggest later, when chaotics were a real danger. Or, perhaps all this was originally designed to defend against Klarash. I quite like the idea of the city being the home of the Mage Order, built on their instructions (this was the Age of Wizards, after all) to demonstrate their power. I would also like to know why the Gaddon would have been the victims of religious persecution and not the Wazarri, who seem to me to be potentially quite subversive. Is this one of the reasons they are so secretive? Did they only survive through the agency of the Mage Order?

Zagoula was supposed to be a centre of learning and sorcery, so Xakhaz - and other southerners - could well have come across one of the Dark Lords and been persuaded to rebel and go north to sack the capital, only being stopped by Skarlos, the Klarash army and the priests of Oiden. Then Xakhaz and his

apprentices could have been doing a lot of experimentation in Zagoula. In fact, maybe it was to stop news of this abomination getting back to Shakista that they rebelled in the first place.

First Battle.

Humans start farming and settle villages.

Humans start to trade and build towns.

Some of these in the region now known as the Inland Sea are consolidated into a country.

It grows to become one of the leading human nations of the time (and probably includes some other races as well)

The "Finger of Elim" (or whatever you want to call it - it was your idea) is found and a city founded there to study it.

The brother (Birel?) of the rightful king usurps the throne through desire to possess the relic.

The corrupting influence of the relic causes the people of the country to become evil and eventually transforms them into Brain Slayers.

The brain slayer empire expands and they discover the world portal, which they learn to use for nefarious purposes.

They, together with the n'yaddach (corrupted by Ishtra?) and the lizardmen (corrupted by Myurr) try to take over the world.

They fail, partly due to the actions of the Atlanteans, and civilization starts to rise again.

The transformation into brain slayers is complete.

Myurr is made king of Atlantis and together with the various chaotic races of Irritaria sets about taking over the world.

The gods destroy atlantis and the empire (creating the inland sea in the process). The only brain slayers surviving are those who for some reason went to the dead city to hibernate.

And the rest we know.

+ + why the Gaddon would have been the victims of religious persecution and not the Wazarri, who seem to me to be potentially quite subversive. Is this one of the reasons they are so secretive? Did they only survive through the agency of the Mage Order?

+ The Gaddon were probably very open and possibly aggressive about receiving converts-Klarash did not take kindly to these people trying to sway him and his people to their religion. Thus, the religious persecution.

I can't really see what was so bad about the Gaddon. However, since Oiden seems to be a non-standard deity, perhaps Klarash was the real "heretic", trying to reform the way people had worshipped since the beginning of time. If the original calendar (the one like ours) was a gift from the gods, then Klarash's replacement Khulian calendar might be another sign of this. Since Klarash was replaced by the Council of Seven, they have probably had to allow a partial return to the old gods.

In this case, maybe the Wazarri were part of the new order and only had to become hidden when the popularity of the new gods (who had failed to protect the country from the Great War) went into decline.

So, the story would be like this: After the splitting of the lands, the humans in W Khul grew discontented with the gods (understandibly, to some extent) and searched for new beings to worship. They were not silly and managed to avoid demons and other unhelpful beings for the most part, and instead began to worship some "younger" gods: the offspring and servants of the old gods. Now the people who stuck with the old gods suffered persecution, although probably not institutionalized (i.e. people took it upon themselves to avoid them, not trade with them, etc., rather than being told to do it by the priests of the new religions). The new gods and their priests were probably not in favour of this, but what could they do?

<---Back to Local History. | <---Back to Historical Records. | <---Back to the Contents page.