History of Freeport (english)

[Ilion Sturmlied]

The history of the City of Freeport dates back thousands of years. The current incarnation of the city evolved from the camp established by an elf known today by only single name Aataltaal during the Exodus of the combine Empire. Before the arrival of this somewhat mysterious elf, the city existed as a little-used pirate haven overlooked by the Combine Empire. The pirates used the deep bay to their advantage and took refuge in the underground tunnels that were the remains of the dark elf city of Wielle, part of the Caerthielian Empire. It's possible that Wielle was built on the site of an older city, but if so not even the dark elves themselves still have a record of it.

The broad strokes of Freeport's history are fairly well known, but attemtpting to find exact dates or details regarding these eras is far more difficult. In part, this is due to the great age of the city and the lack of any hereditary continuity among its rulers. Without a single king or council to oversee and record (or have recorded) each stage of its development, Freeport must have its history cobbled together from secondary sources such as journals, guild ledgers, and religious texts.

There is a second and more compelling reason scholars seem unable to agree on relatively simple matters of historical fact - intentional disinformation. Beginning with the dark elves of Wielle, and continuing through various incarnations of the Dismal Rage and then the Militia, there have been intensive efforts to rewrite history to replace one group or antother in a better light. For example, texts found among the high elves of Faydwer claim the elves sacked Wielle when fleeing their great city of Takish-Hiz and the desert surrounding it. Dark elf books from the same era, however, claim that the high elves were part of the empire of Caerthielian and attacked Wielle as part of a rebellion against their Teir'Dal masters. Similarly, in more recent years agents of the Militia have done their best to destroy or rewrite any writing that suggests the clerics or paladins of Erollisi or Mithaniel Marr played an improtant role in the city's history.

What follows, then, is an approximate history of the city, based on what the majority of scholars agree is the most likely chain of events. Some details may be mistaken and certainly every claim is disputed by at least one well-known historian, but for the most part this version of history is accepted by the scholarly community as being something close to accurate.

kopiert aus dem EoT Board, dort geposted von Tau

[gracjanski]

Erstmal schnelkl sichern und auf Pladde kopieren :frank2: und dann danke sagen
habe aber noch keine Zeit das genau durchzulesen :/

[Ilion Sturmlied]

Ist ne Story in mehren Teilen =) nächster kommt morgen *g*

[Ilion Sturmlied]

Teil 2:

The City of Wielle

Before the time of the Combine Empire or the coming of Aataltaal, when the Elddar Forest covered the southeastern coast of the continent (then called Tunaria), the empire of Caerthielian controlled the northeastern quarter of the landmass. There is some debate as to the origin and fall of Caerthielian, but it is clear that the empire included dark elves in positions of great power and that it had contact with the high elves ov Takish-Hiz.

Some time before the wars of Rallos Zek, the Caerthielians built the city of Wielle on the site of modern Freeport. The site lent itself well to fortification, with a large, deep natural bay allowing large ships to land close to shore and a large hill nearby providing an excellent site for defensive ramparts. Dark elf histories claim that the city of Wielle was a mere outpost, and that Caerthielian stretched across the width and breadth of Norrath. There are few extant histories from that era that might dispute this claim, but the fact that no evidence of dark elf settlements has been found on Kunark, Odus, or Velious makes most scholars (especially elven vones) doubt the veracity of the claim.

There are few records telling of how Wielle, or Caerthielian, fared during the wars of Rallos Zek's armies. There is a teleport pyramid near to the city in the northern reaches of the Desert of Ro, so it's likely that some assaults were staged. However, the city's port allowed it to be reinforced and supplied easily by sea, leading some scholars to suggest that this region and its people were among the few to withstand the Age of Wars unconquered and unbowed. The piecemeal history of the Deathfist orcs also provides some tantalizing clues, for they claim it is their destiny to make Freeport their own. Could the orcs be remembering their last commands from Rallos Zek, or trying to overcome a failure dating back to the time when they were part of that god's armies?

What is clear is that the city of Wielle was besiged, broken, and sacked by high elves under the command of Captain Paetroen as part of their departure from Tunaria and hejira (or "exodus") to Faydwer. It's likely that the elves needed the large boats found only in Wielle to move their entire population successfully. They may also have wanted to remove the ability of any creatures on Tunaria to follow them, ensuring that their new homeland would not immediately come under attack from old enemies. Whatever their reasons, the elves of Takish-Hiz left little intact in Wielle. A few towers, sections of a once-mighty stone wall, and the burning wood of the docks were not enough to keep the dark elves safe in the ruined city, so they soon left. The high elves would again rule the city during the time of Aaltaltaal, but in just a few centuries the dark elves would return as well.

wieder: kopiert aus dem EoT Board, dort geposted von Tau

[Ilion Sturmlied]

The Combine Years

The combine Empire is said to have been the mightiest nation ever known on the face of Norrath, yet it disappeared with few traces of its existence aside from the odd spell, magic item or relic. There are no commonly known histories, no great plays or epic poems clearly hailing from that age;; therefore, scholars are unsure of how the empire came to be or, more importantly, how it fell. Similarly, a great span of time preceding the Combine Empire is almost entirely undocumented, so no one can say for certain exactly what happened after the high elves scaked Wielle.

At least one document known to date back to this time suggests that for some reason the Combine Empire ignored Wielle and its natural port, allowing the place to become a haven for smugglers, pirates and bandits. Others postulate based on sketchy evidence that a powerful elf within the ranks of the Combine Empire purposely kept Wielle off-limits, and some suggest that this elf was Aataltaal. Whatever the case, the outcasts dwelling within the crumbling buildings made no effort to rebuild the city, as its ruinous state was one of its attractions for them. By leaving the city in ruins, they maintained the illusion that the port was unused and worthless. It's possible the Combine Empire knew of the haven and left the site alone for that very reason - better to leave the pirates to haunt one base you're aware of than scatter them to a dozen sites you don't know. At best, surely, no more than a few dozen pirates used this haven, and they had little long-term effect on the shape of modern Freeport. The port was forgotten by the rest of the worlf for the better part of an age. Eventually, though, the city of Wielle was to be rebuilt.

wieder: kopiert aus dem EoT Board, dort geposted von Tau

[gracjanski]

Die Seite füllt sich :D Und es sollen wieviele Teile kommen?

[Ilion Sturmlied]

Hab noch 6 davon =)

Muss mal sehen ob ich die am WE posten kann, bin ab Freitag in Deutschland und hab da z.Z. keinen Internetzugagn.

[Ilion Sturmlied]

The Combine Exodus

Whatever the cuase, the Combine Empire did fall and many of its citizens were left without a home. One of those citizens was an high elven governor named Aataltaal. A natural leader and respected spellcaster, Aataltaal led an armada of ships from an unknown location across the Ocean of Tears to the eastern shore of Tunaria. Fragments of logs from this time imply that Aataltaal planned Wielle as the destination of his voyage, which leads to speculation regarding some larger plan of the elf's some believe continues to this day. Soon, the ruined walls and abandoned towers of Wielle were restored and new docks and piers built to aid the unloading of hundreds of ships.

As a population began to develop, the new city was referred to as the landing, and later called Landing in some journals of the time. As most of the people traveling in Aataltaal's exodus were not sailors or warriors, but common laborers and artisans, they began to develop some commerce and business. Landing required more food than could be provided by the Ocean of Tears, so Aataltaal also encouraged the people to farm. Two main agricultural communities developed near Landing, marking the spots where the villages of Fairfield and Freefield now sit.

Though he was never officially named king or lord over Landing and the surrounding lands, it is clear that Aataltaal commanded much respect and was the de facto ruler of this burgeoning community despite the fact that it consisted almost entirely of humans. However, Aataltaal's interests seemed larger than Landing's present needs. As the community kept growing, much of his energy went into planning and preparing for the future, a time that for him never came.

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[Ilion Sturmlied]

The Coming of the Rage

As Landing grew, it (once again) attracted the attention of the dark elves of Neriak. The Teir'Dal had long known of the pirates who sheltered in their old outpost, but considered the humans a passing nuisance that required no action. This recent development, this "Landing", was clearly different. The armies of Aataltaal were rebuilding walls, sending out patrols and helping people build homes well into the Commonlands. If Landing became the center of a powerful new human empire, Neriak itself would be threatened, an eventuality the Teir'Dal claim ass the entire point of Aataltaal's effort, or what their histories cast as this "Koada'Dal's sacrifice of the humans". Clearly, the dark elves had to take action against such an intrusion.

By join decree of the king and queen of Neriak, a force of necromancers, shadow knights, priests, warriors and rogues was sent to undermine the Aataltaal's authority and sabotage any effort to build a new empire. This group called itself the Divine Rage, and its members saw themselves as the tools of Innoruuk's wrath upon any who dared lay claim to what had once been a dark elf city. One of the Divine Rage's founding members, Opal Dark Briar, had great influence over the actions of the Rage in its early years. Knowing they lacked the numbers to assault Landing directly, Dark Briar recommended the Divine Rage use their knowledge of the secret entrances into the tunnels beneath Wielle to sneak into Landing and set up cells of resistance. They recruited humans and other races wehrever possible and began to plot to take over the city. The dark elves knew they would need great numbers to overcome Aataltaal's army and were patient for the first few years, building their numbers and planning to overthrow the existing rulers in a single, bloody night.

The Long Night

The Divine Rage plotted for the first several years of its existence, mostly concentrating on recruiting new members from the disaffected Landing population and harrying Aataltaal's forces. They aided the Deathfist orcs in raids against the agricultural centers, attacked Aataltaal's men whenever they could do so from secrecy and safety and underminded Landing's defenses whenever possible. Ironically, however, this constant threat actually helped toughen Landing's forces. While he was unable to trace these attacks back to the Divine Rage, Aataltaal was sure some serious foe wanted Landing destroyed, so he gained the authority among the humans to create a stronger army.

The constant struggle between Aataltaal's forces and the hidden Divine Rage reached a head a mere five years after Aataltaal's arrival on the continent. A force of hundreds of Deathfist orcs, aided by many of the Divine Rage's most powerful spellcasters, marched on Landing with the intent of razing it to the ground. As Aataltaal readied his officers and allies to repulse them, Divine Rage assassins set upon them. The Divine Rage had expected to kill most of Aataltaal's experienced men and delay his response to the Deathfist attack, thus winning a significant victory.

Unbeknownst to the Divine Rage, however, Aataltaal had allied himself with several arcane scholars. The additional powre of thse spellcasters allowed Aataltaal and his officers to fight free of the assassins, in fact killing most of them. The attack, though not entirely successful in the leaving Landing without capable leaders, did evidently succeed in one brilliant fashion: Aataltaal was lost. No bady was ever recovered and while each side later claimed the other took possession of it, there's good reason to believe that neither the Divine Rage or the human officers have any idea what became of Aataltaal. Regardless, the humans quickly rejoined the army Aataltaal built to lead the counterattack against the Deathfist Clan. The humans scored a massive victory against the Deathfist, crushing them and destroying their greatest stronghold in a battle that raged from dusk to dawn. On the same night, nearly every leader of the Divine Rage was captured or killed. Only Opal Dark Briar herself escaped. This turning point called the Long Night, spelled the end of the Divine Rage's power for many decades and would be a point of shame to Dark Briar for centuries.

The followers of Innoruuk were bloodied by the events of the Long Night, but not broken. Rather than risk another open confrontation, the few survivors moved deeper into the tunnels of the city, hiding in the shadows. No longer declaring prodly their imminent vitctory, the group renamed itself the Dismal Rage. Although they would continue with small plans, such as smuggeling trolls through the city to Neriak and subverting those they could to the cause of hate, it would be long before the group could once again claim significant power within the city.

As for Aataltaal, rumors of his fate are countless. One popular theory is that he never existed at all and was merely an invention of the dark elves to create a cause for an agenda against Wielle. There also remain whispers of an idea thought outlandish though not impossible: namely that using his spells to assume the guise of a dark elf, Aataltaal vanisehd into the ranks of those who attacked the humans during the Long Night and used this cover to later infiltrate Neriak itself.

[Ilion Sturmlied]

The Crusade of Marr's Fist

After Aataltaal's disappearance, a power vacuum was created within Landing. Without Aataltaal's strong leadership, the forces within Landing soon began to fight among themselves. Regular patrols failed, as a great deal of effort was required simply to ocntrol sections of Landing.

The Deathfist orcs thus escaped oblivion, and, slowly, they once again became more brazen in their attacks within the Commonlands. Dangers such as undead and brigands also began to develop. Soon, the communities of the Commonlands were under constant siege, and it became nerly impossible for land-bound caravans to bring supplies into Landing. The residents of the coastal town survived on fish and other trade goods brought from Faydwer, but they did not do so happily. Some groups of mercenaries and spellcasters made an effort to guard the walls of Landing and to send patrols out to protect the Commonlands villagers, but increasingly their efforts were too little and too late.

It became obvious that if some force did not step in to take control, Landing would tear itself apart, leaving the surrounding settlements defenseless against attacks by orcs and worse creatures. Five years after the disappearance of Aaltaltaal, the Order of Marr's Fist, an organization of clerics and paladins of Mithaniel Marr, made the choice to fill this role. To do so, the Order first had to regain control of the Commonlands. This resulted in the Crusade of Marr's Fist, a series of extended sorties and brutal battles in the Commonlands between the forces of the twin Marr gods and the Deathfist orcs. This crusade lasted for three years and culminated in the Battle of the Tower, in which the priests and paladins crushed the mighty Deathfist fortification closest to Landing. Their numbers inflated with brigands and dark elf advisors, the orcish defenders refused to surrender even when clearly outmatched, fightin with such ferocity that they would not be captured - it was necessary to slaught them wholesale. The result was a terrible carnage so great the earth around the Tower ran red for ten days.


The Roots of Freeport

The Order of Marr's Fist had originally planned to take control of the Tower and use it as a base of operations. So horrible was the scent of death after the battle, however, that the order abandoned this plan. Instead, they built a powerful stronghold in the hills of the Commonlands, digging deep into the earth to make it secure. From this chapterhouse, the Order of Marr's Fist began to patrol the territories near Landing and its settlements. Rather than trule take control of Landing, the Order of Marr's Fist declared the city to be a free port open to all who were willing to abide by the common laws of the local populace. The Office of Records and Rulings was built to keep safe all the legislation of the inhabitants of the city, as well as to serve as a depository of contracts and agreements made by anyone within the city. Over the next few years, the former town of Landing became commonly known as the City of Freeport, and eventually the name was officially adopted.

With the positive example of the Order of Marr's Fist, brave souls frequently took up the defense of Freeport and the Commonlands. Heroes rose regularly from its streets, and more flocked to its banner in times of need. The Freeport of this era was home to hope, bravery and epic deeds. It became known as the City of Valor, and bards still sing the taled of its noblest heroes.

With the stability forged by these patriotic defenders, it was possible for other groups to gather together within Freeport. Some of the officers who served under Aataltaal soon formed a ragtag group of enforcers that, in its earliest form, was simply an instrument of revenge for the wealthy against the depredations of the Deathfist orcs. These mercenaries became more organized and engaged in other kinds of activities, they also received word from the new city of Qeynos that a group called the Steel Warriors had been created. The mercenaries sent word to the Steel Warriors that they'd like to become a chapter of the organization. The arrangement instantly legitimized the Steel Warriors as a global source of hired warriors.

The arcane scholars who had aided Aataltaal against the Divine Rage eventually opened a school which eventually became the Freeport Academy of Arcane Science. Rather than promote the magic theories and beliefs of any one race or nation, the Academy dedicated itself to exploring all magic possibilites, initially allowing even the study of necromancy. Not forgetting who had caused her downfall, Opal Dark Briar quickly saw to the formation of schools of magic within the Dismal Rage, and vowed to keep a careful eye on the Academy.

Common merchants and traders formed the Coalition of Tradefolk, regulating trade and commerce within the city. Soon thereafter, certian less reputable traders (an in some cases the reputable as well, or perhaps "cousins" of the legitimate merchants) also gathered together, whimsically also calling themselves the Coalition of Tradefolk. Even this early league of scoundrels and their hired ruffians were in some ways good for the city, however, for they knew Freeport would do best if violent crimes were kept to a minimum, and they dealt harshly with any criminal who threatened the city's long term prosperity.


Befallen

Under the aegis of the Order of Marr's Fist, the city grew even more powerful and prosperous. The Order established regularly patrolled trade routes westward to Highkeep and eastward across the Ocean of Tears to Faydwer. Guard towers were built in the Commonlands and several of th plain's towns officially incorporated. The defenses of Freeport were established with a great wall that took over fifty years to build. Sadly, the gentle reign of the Order of Marr's Fist was not to last much past these five decades.

While striving to cleanse the Commonlands of evil, members of the Order came across a wandering man called Gynok Moltor. Once a guard in far-off Qeynos, Moltor claimed in his fevered ramblings that he had been cursed by gnoll shamans and driven into exile. Concerned for his safety, the Order took him into their stronghold and tried to nurse him back to health. That night, however, Moltor overcame his saviors and slaughtered every cleric and paladin within the bunker.

Somehow, Moltor had either summoned or been posessed by a terrible force of darkness that was more than a simple gnoll shaman's curse. For a night and a day this dark force ran unchecked through the Commonlands, animating those that had been killed at the Battle of the Tower and turning the stone building into the Tower of Death. Ghouls were raised from the weak and sick, and the slaughtered members of the Order of Marr's Fist became an army of zombies and skeletons.

But the malignant power was limited, and perverting so many once holy men and women drained its energy greatly. When dawn broke on the second day, the vile power was drawn back to the bunker where Moltor's corpse lay, and bound within. Though its evil had created the Tower of Death, it could no longer break free of the bunker, and it was now limited to playing with those willing to enter. No longer a place dedicated to the twin gods, the bunker became known as Befallen, and many adventurers were lost to its evil grip as the centuries passed. The Order of Marr's Fist would never recover from the blow.

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