Upon the month of Variach, the Nazedha Emperor Baelak Shipbreaker found
a solution to the problem of too few sacrifices - intending to suppress
rebellion within the ranks and fulfill the prophecy and the ritual
simultaneously, he took the men of the Nazedha tribes Karthek and
Adessim and put them to the blade alongside captured victims, using them
to spill the necessary blood.

He was not met without challenge, however - braving the Nazedha-invested
City, the combined forces of Sapience, aided by explosives from the
dwarven engineer Rhulin, attempted a last-ditch strike to stop the
ritual in its tracks. The Nazedha forces proved fearsome, however, and
hope seemed lost until a fragment of Omei, taking the form of a glowing
cat, opened a portal past the Nazedha lines and straight to the Nazedha
Emperor - now ascended into the form of a Chaos Lord.

The ensuing battle, in which the Duamvi Aban was mortally wounded, raged
across a good portion of the day - many of the Nazedha fought amongst
each other in the streets, driven to rebellion over Shipbreaker's
slaughter of his own men. Surrounded by chaos, it was unpredictable from
moment to moment what would serve to hurt the Emperor, and what would
not - but in the end, the people of Sapience emerged victorious despite
their losses in the battle of Enorian.

That was not all, however - soon after the death of the Emperor, the
skies opened, and it seemed for a moment that the ritual had worked.
Unfortunately, however, for the Nazedha, it had not been sufficient to
awaken Lanu Du, the Faceless God, merely to stir It in Its slumbers. In
response, It lashed out at Enorian, flattening the City and much of the
remaining Nazedha army before rolling back over and resuming its sleep.

As the people of Sapience returned to the ruined lands, they discovered
a crater where Enorian's palace had been, filled with ocean water - and
just off the shore, the remnants of the Nazedha fleet. Boarding the main
vessel and killing the Emperor's skald, they descended into its depths
and rescued Qeddwyn, the Wise - Lenci, the Luminary tutor - and
capturing the Empress of Nazedha, Freydha Shipbreaker.

While Qeddwyn traveled with Bloodloch, Lenci set off in an effort to
save what was left of the Sparks following the devastation of Enorian.
The Empress, meanwhile, was taken into the custody of Enorian, after
commanding the remaining Nazedha forces to surrender. The Nazedha
Empire, as it transpired, was no more - without Baelak to unite them,
and with many of them frightened of Lanu Du after witnessing It
firsthand, they had become splintered and fragmented into their old
tribal rivalries.

In the wake of this destruction, three new personages emerged - the
first two were Goddesses. One was Ethne, the Rekindled, the
reincarnation of Mebrene into the Ogre smith Katshkele; the other, a
Goddess of new origins altogether, was Avareti, titleless and
ill-understood as of yet. The third was a prophet, reincarnated from the
soul of the first Illuminai whom Lenci had carried with her for many
hundreds of years - and this was Kayalenki, sent by the Gods to serve
the cause of Light in Enorian. Avareti, being tethered to Shadow, made
Her way north toward Spinesreach, while Ethne remained in the south.

Kayalenki went to the ruins of Enorian, however, and called upon the
fragment of Omei embodied as a glowing cat - and together, with the cat
sacrificing Her essence and Her being to the effort, they raised not
only a Temple, but a Grand Flame that was an amalgamation of the Spark
of the Luminaries and the Crescent of the Daru. Standing at the center
of the ruins and casting its light downward upon the nearby territory,
the Temple stands as a moment to the Gods and to the triumph of Light
over the Nazedha.

The shadows have remained quiet in Variach, though there is no telling
when they will strike once more, and with still-greater vehemence.

Penned by my hand on the 24th of Variach, in the year 452 MA.