The Dark Path

The Dark Path was the theocracy of Bandur Etrevion, which controlled most of the Kelfour's Landing region approximately six thousand years ago. It was a dark religion that was nominally in homage of the Empress Kadaena, with subtle references to the I.C.E. Age precursor of the goddess Eorgina (Orgiana). Its rituals were focused on everlasting existence, as well as various forms of demonic symbolism. The cult of Klysus (Luukos) was also annihilated in its consolidation of power. Uthex Kathiasas worked in the area when it was controlled by The Dark Path, implying that the hooded figures are surviving members. It was one of two major Unlife cults in the history of the region, the other being "The Iron Wind", who first started working there several thousand years later in the Third Era.

While very little is established about the religion explicitly, the symbolism of The Graveyard seems to imply it was more of a false religion that mocked Eissa (Lorminstra). The juxtaposition with Kadaena was blasphemous, not something that made any inherent sense. The most plausible interpretation would be that the "Gates of Oblivion" were to be replaced with the forbidden "Gates of the Void", and so souls were to be "lost to the demonic" and quite possibly become demonic on other planes of existence. The "necropolis" implies that the city was to be replaced with a city of the undead, as well as the bodies of those who were unworthy of everlasting existence. Kadaena was known to have controlled this region in the distant past, so Bandur may have viewed his theocracy as revivalist.

Behind The Scenes

"The Legend of the Necropolis of Etrevion" used some excerpts from Shadow World source books for the sake of proper titles. The "Dark Path" was probably based on the Shadow World Master Atlas, 1st Edition, description of using spells whose power comes from The Unlife: "In the process of learning an Evil list, there should be no question that the spell caster is turning to a new power source for his energies: the Unlife. Once the first spell is cast, he starts down a Dark Path. It may take years, but eventually he will reach the end: submission to utter and complete Evil." (capitalization in the original)

His book "Servants of the Shadow: Power through Thralldom" was another, more obviously borrowed phrase. Several of the 1989 and 1990 adventure modules had a brief history section that included: "Great Demons were fashioned by the most powerful of the Lords who had fallen under the influence of the Unlife, led by the Empress Kadaena. Wise but twisted in spirit, the servants of the Shadow offered knowledge beyond that which the Loremasters deigned to give such 'lesser beings,' and the power of the Unlife grew unfettered in the Second Era."

This refers to the fact that most Loremasters were Iylari, and so were very patronizing of all other races. The Lords of Essaence were conflated with the Lords of Orhan (Liabo) in a typographical error from these paragraphs, which was intentionally preserved in the Legend, referring to Kadaena as the "first Lord of Orhan" when the two groups had nothing to do with each other. It might have been implying ascension along the same lines of the work of Eogun, the father of Kadaena's daughter who wished to make themselves into gods. Kadaena was sometimes referred to as "the Shadow." The paradox of Bandur pledging himself to a dead goddess and owing his soul to her is central to interpreting the story, rooted in the idea of undead demonic gods as sleeping toward a future rebirth beyond the pale.