The Whale's Shadow

In 1166BD, Tokjalyo created Murluron, his first child, and Murluron became known as the Black Whale. Indeed, Murluron was a colossal mass of great strength, and he is considered one of the strongest creatures ever. It is not known where Murluron had gained such extreme power, but it was not long before he unleashed his wrath upon the Paladins and fellow mortals. In what is now the year 0, Murluron attacked and destroyed many of the temples and their surrounding land. This event was called The Darkness. In an epic battle, the Paladins stood against Murluron and his fellow Templars. Murluron killed both Renin and Ernamin (though Ernamin had never joined the Paladins) in this battle, and it seemed that the black figure was unstoppable. The battle raged on and hope dimmed until -- after a year of fighting -- Ilertav himself descended and sealed Murluron. The Paladins had lost Renin and Johah in that battle, as well as many other average Paladins, and they were beginning to feel the shock from the deadly blow.

The remaining Templars and Tokjalyo were both triumphant and mournful. Murluron had done a great deal of damage to Riiga's noble warriors -- so much so that this event marked the year 0. Still, in the process, Murluron was sealed away, and the Templars withdrew into the shadows and began to plot more ideas. The power that Murluron had -- wherever it was from -- was still in his hands, so none others were able to grasp it.

Murluron

The Black Whale himself was able to transform into a great beast, as were his siblings -- Bartyl and Pandora. The very few people that claim to have seen him as a human saw he was of average build, wore dark grey plain clothing under a similarly coloured robe, and had hair that was a darker grey again. As a human, he was quite calm and detached from all things. During conversation, he was said to simply stare off into nothingness with an almost pained expression. In an argument, he would be fierce, convincing, and cunning one moment, and then apathetic and distant the next. These traits are common in Templars.

When enraged, of course, he would take his other form. In the case of Bartyl, it is a hideous demon-like creature, and in the case of Pandora, it is a black dragon. Murluron's form was of a giant whale, large enough to block out half the sky and crush an army of many hundreds beneath its body. From what survivors of the battles say, he did not appear as an ordinary whale, and also, as a whale he is referred to as 'it'. A fin of spikes protruded from the armoured plates on its back like pieces of underwater coral. Its hide was thick and black, and nothing seemed to penetrate it. It had six fins on each size, decreasing in size as they moved towards the back of its body. Each of its tail fins was like a giant axe blade, and its belly was also lined with long blades. On top of this, a small portion of survivors say that the Whale shot fire and smoke from its spout that rained down onto the ground, burning everything and choking the life from it. The rest say that these claims are exaggerated and that it was just a natural storm of some kind.

Details of the War

When the first reports of a giant black whale in the sky first reached Lyte, many simply laughed. But this was after Murluron had already attacked and destroyed two (many believe it was more, due to the unusual route the whale took) temples. The first temple he attacked was Sefiunas in South Ideitess. As the people there were unprepared, the wrath of the Whale combined with armies of Garukavar's creatures that swarmed in from the north made short work of Sefiunas. Fortunately, they saw fit not to completely destroy the building, so it was rebuilt later on but it was never used for worship. Reports say that after Garukavar's creatures retreated, the Whale headed slightly north of west, out over the mountains and over the sea. Because the second sighting was almost directly west, this is one of the main arguments used by people who search for temples, as it is believed the Whale travelled in straight lines.

The second attack of the Whale was on Hunnuklad in North Nidonn. This time, the whale came from just north of northeast. This implies that there are two temples between East and West in the stretch of ocean and large islands. Because there is little to no communication between Central, East, and West, the people of Nidonn suffered great losses under the power of Murluron alone. Their feeble attempts to damage it were as effective as throwing dead grass against stone. After the Whale had severely damaged Hunnuklad and some of the surrounding city, it headed straight for Central. The people of the East decided they would do Central a favour, and they sent word on their fastest boats to warn them of the approaching danger.

The boats outran the flying Whale, and Central prepared a huge army. They gathered in and around the Forest of Lyte, which is where cartographers say the Whale would land. Within this forest lies Etalz, and since the Whale seemed only to concentrate on temples, it was safe to assume Etalz was his next target. As waves of arrows met the Whale's tough hide, it came down and smashed its spiked underbelly against the ground, crushing a huge portion of the army at once, and it lifted itself higher and circled around again. The Paladins that had just arrived then fought alongside Renin and his armies against Murluron and the Templars (who had been hiding nearby also), but Renin's life was abruptly ended when Murluron crashed into the earth a second time, smashing everything beneath him. Ernamin, Renin's son, was also killed in this incident, though he was not a Paladin. At the time, there were stories that Ernamin held Renin in place when Murluron came crashing down and sacrificed himself in order to kill his own father, as many believed he had deals with Votorimin, but Renin's remaining family quickly doused the rumour.

The morale of the humans was shattered, though they fought on valiantly against the Templars and other creatures whose description has been lost in history. Murluron supposedly began to rain down fire from his spout upon the forest and the armies not long after, and as the forest and temple and people burned, it is said that Ilertav smelt the destruction and descended to Riiga from his watching place. The only thing that humans could see was a thunderstorm swirl up around the Whale, and soon after it went higher in the sky and then headed straight for the ocean, almost as though he was thrown downwards. The Black Whale plunged into the ocean some way south of Etalz, out in the deep sea, and the priests said that the Whale was sealed by Ilertav. Thus ended The Darkness (BD stands for Before Darkness). As this defeat of the Whale happened in the year 1AL, this event is called The Light (AL stands for After Light).

All the wise people of Central decided that this was an omen for them, and from this moment they marked that the world would start afresh, and they set the year to the year 1, and people lived on as they always did. Central also sent word to the humans of East and West, and they, too, began their timelines in syncronisation with Central.