Hammer of the Gods (legendary weapon)

The Hammer of the Gods was a weapon of massive power that was fabled to be able to completely wipe out the existence of the Horde. The events surrounding its discovery and creation in the Third Age preceded the Godsdeath War.

The Discovery of the Hammer of the Gods

In the year 675 AD, Tomas, architect and historian of who had lived in the ruins of Caanae for centuries, informed a group of Kinsarmarians that he had recently learned of a long lost temple in the Shaahri Desert, which held an item of great power - the Hammer of the Gods. According to Tomas' research, the weapon could be used to wipe out the threat of the Horde for all of eternity.

When the entrance to the temple was discovered and unearthed by dwarves from Kaark'krazul, undead horde creatures emerged from within it and attacked the dwarven miners and those mortals standing guard over the excavation site. This puzzled everyone, as Tomas believed the temple was built in the First Age and should have never been discovered by the Horde, who did not exist in Aetherius until the Awakening. Shortly thereafter, people at the excavation site began falling victim to a curse that turned them into wraiths, and the assistance of Yanosyno, a mountain priest, was requested. He fashioned a spear out of wraithwood from the trees of Khandava and, hoping that his plan would work and not further damage the people behind the wraiths, impaled Ferriter, one of those affected by the curse. Fortunately, Ferriter was returned to his physical form and the cure was administered to all others affected.

As progress towards discovering the Hammer continued, a meeting was organized with representatives from each city-state of Aetherius and some neutral elders, including Tomas, Mathardan, and Cerise. The debate was heated and centered primarily around the question of whether it was right to use a weapon of such great power to cause a genocide of an entire species. Many also questioned that the legendary Horde empire even existed, and believed that Aetherius had grown to the point where they could easily repel any attack from the Horde's forces. The meeting was cut short when a strike force of Horde creatures arrived at the meeting and attacked everyone. In the battle, Mathardan and Tomas were both killed, but only Tomas returned from the Underworld. When confronted, Charon was adamant that Mathardan had reached the end of his life and his purpose, inexplicably, was to die a violent death to the Horde at that very point in history.

The effects of Mathardan's death were immediate - the city-states were now deeply divided over the issue of the Hammer. Khandava decided it was necessary to reach the Hammer before all others, and so Lionas met with Lyria and concocted a plan to plant a Leech Tree north of the desert. The roots of the tree, once fully empowered, reached out to break through the walls of the tunnels leading into the desert temple. Conflict ensued between those who wished to protect the miners and those who wanted to protect the roots of the Leech Tree, and much blood was shed throughout the end of the year.

At last, the miners succeeded in breaking through to the inner chambers of the temple, ahead of the Khandavans. Inside the temple, explorers found a room of four walls covered with runes, a broken altar, and something called the Stele. Before the temple and its hidden artifacts could be examined any further, Juganothion revealed that he had been plotting with the Horde for months and he opened a portal, allowing the Horde General Onkassus and his army to enter the temple and engage the adventurers within.

Everyone was quickly slaughtered, allowing Onkassus to begin searching the chamber for the Hammer. He was outraged to find that it was not present and retreated to his keep as his remaining warriors were killed off by the adventurers gathered there. Once things settled down, Tomas was able to lead the adventurers back into the temple and examined what was found inside.

The Stele was discovered to be an enormous stone with foul powers and was first found by the Horde in the early days of the Age of the Awakening. Somehow, the same army of horde creatures that destroyed Caanae long ago had also discovered this temple, and brought the Stele there to hide it away from the rest of the world. The Stele's power was incredible - it allowed the dead to rise again, explaining the presence of the undead horde creatures that had first emerged from the temple when the excavation began. The altar and the room covered in runes was determined to be necessary for the creation of the Hammer, which Tomas set out to begin deciphering.

The Search for the Hidden Tablets

As Tomas worked on deciphering the runes, he tasked his allies with venturing out to Karakas Beach to follow up on a lead that he had uncovered. There, Galt discovered an ancient ziggurat and inside was an undead hydra called Nakshatra. As one can imagine, the hydra protected the only item that Tomas needed to finish deciphering the runes, so his allies worked to defeat the creature, which only kept devouring those who engaged it. At the same time, Lionas and members of Khandava decided they did not want Tomas to retrieve the tablet, so they fortified the area and tried to disrupt the attacks of the others. Eventually, Gurn and Risca Arivan managed to slay the hydra and retrieve the tablet. It was decided that the tablet would stay within Celidon and would be protected by councilors there, though they did allow Tomas to examine it.

Another tablet was rumored to be hidden away in Sodiuar Lake, so an expedition set out to search the area. Another ancient temple was discovered, but the entrance had long ago collapsed, and so the dwarves of Kaark'krazul were commissioned yet again to dig out the rubble. Before they could finish, a battle broke out between the magickers from Kinsarmar and Celidon, and demonic warriors of Khandava and Stavenn. Demonic forces prevailed and eventually entered the temple, discovering the undead troll called Hrutchik. The troll was dispatched after a grueling battle, and the second tablet made its way back to Khandava.

The Khandavans plotted to steal the first tablet, not knowing that Tomas didn't actually have it in his possession. They tricked him into coming to the Council to look at the second tablet, where they abducted him and put him through hours of intense interrogation and torture, led by the cruel Lalaith Vian'Cirith. A daring rescue was attempted by Tomas' allies, but was thwarted by the combined demonic forces who had captured him. In the chaos, however, Tomas was able to slip away from Lalaith and fled the forest, eventually returning to Caanae, where he was whisked away to sanctuary by Risca and the magickers on his side.

The next step of their plan was to recover the second tablet, which was held by Aleutia Sol'Anlumaire. Risca, Gurn, and Mathiaus were able to kill Aleutia and plucked the tablet from her corpse, and so Tomas' allies were once again in control of the items required to uncover the fabled Hammer.

Over the course of the year 676 AD, Tomas and his allies discovered the third tablet, guarded by three Gorgon sisters, and successfully retrieved it for their cause. The undead army from deep within the desert temple decided to march against Stavenn, who had struck up an alliance with Khandava and, in a stunning turn of events, the rest of the Horde army. The Horde war camp in the Nolmine Mountains near Kragge was established, while Oogoogh, leader of the undead, set up their own camp in the Shaahri desert.

The fourth tablet was discovered to be hidden underground in Demon's Pass, but this time its location was kept a secret. Galt and Tomas reached out privately to their contacts in Kaark'krazul to excavate the fourth tablet, which was of course protected by a vicious wraith lord called Barsul. Somehow, amidst the confusion caused by the attack on Barsul, the fourth tablet was recovered by Aleutia. Another bloody battle ensued and after a hard-fought victory, Tomas' allies finally held all four tablets in their possession.

The Rise of the Champions

After close examination of the tablets, Tomas realized that repairing the broken altar in the desert temple was the next step. His allies held close vigil over the altar and prayed for days before it, eventually restoring it to its former power. Once rebuilt, the altar allowed mere mortals to become Champions, capable of driving back the forces of the Horde, the undead, or demons. Obviously, no one responsible for repairing the altar wanted their adversaries, the demonic forces of Khandava or Stavenn, to benefit from this power, and so they were prohibited from getting near it. The Leech Tree outside of the desert was still growing, though, and the Khandavans directed its growth towards the altar once again, draining some of its power away and giving the Leech Tree a similar purpose, to create a Champion from a tainted source of power.

Meanwhile, in the year 677 AD, the Horde and the Undead continued to wage war on each other, their mortal allies being drawn into the conflict as well. As if Aetherius wasn't facing enough, strange creatures began appearing all throughout the lands spreading a disgusting bile that contained vile larva that would infect anyone it spread to. This plague ravaged Aetherius, and both Nicoletto, the alchemist, and Rythanis, the herbalist, were contacted to create a cure. The bitterbrew purgative was concocted and quickly administered to all those who had been infected.

It was around this time that cities and councils across Aetherius were being visited by slavers who had heard rumors of an impending conflict, and wished to capitalize on the city-states' need for strong laborers and defenders. To each city-state, a different slaver offered their services:

• Celidon was visited by Lios, but strongly rejected the practice of slavery and instead imprisoned him; they would later retask him with being a trainer for soldiers and laborers,
• Kinsarmar met with Isper, who was convinced to give up slavery and instead provide paid workers,
• Khandava encountered a woman named Lotan but found her slaves to be weak and unreliable, so she was tasked with becoming a trainer instead,
• Antioch openly accepted the services of Denril,
• Stavenn's existing slaver, Nigometh, agreed to increase his efforts to supply the Empire with slaves.

As predicted by the slavers, a third army soon joined the Horde and the undead in their vicious battle - demons, which would soon be revealed to have come from a massive rift that had opened in the northern mountains. Kinsarmar was the first to find their way to the site of a demonic stronghold guarded by Utoxor, who told them that the gates leading deep into the stronghold could be activated only with soulgems held by each of the demon guardians. He sealed his own fate, of course, because the expedition quickly killed Utoxor and took his soulgem, opening the first of the series of four gates.