Ur-Daemon

The Ur-Daemon were chaotic creatures from another valence or perhaps other valences who invaded Elanthia about 105,000 years ago. It is not known for certain how they gained access to our world, though myths have long suggested the blame lies in some fashion with Eorgina and Fash'lo'nae. These primordial "daemons" were later interpreted by the Elves as being extra-planar entities, whereas their oral traditions attested to shadow monsters devouring the forests. These were powerful demonic entities which fed on both the natural mana foci as well as the life's essence. It has become established over the years that they are so inherently unholy that the power of the Arkati cannot touch them, and that pieces of them which sometimes emerge as powerful artifacts can never really be dead.

They were driven back by the Drakes in a thousand year war, which blasted the landscape for hundreds of miles in the last battle when their remaining portal was collapsed. This is implied to be the Southron Wastes. It is thought there were multiple such gateways ripped open through some cosmic violence, suggesting there was widespread vulnerabilities in the veil at the time.

Other extra-planar intruders are associated with this same period of instability, including: the Great Elementals, the Vvrael, the Vishmiir, and Althedeus. The last case was a primordial being formed from the chaos of the war itself. The Eye of the Drake was a powerful artifact designed to seal off the world from the interdimensional rift leading to many other planes of existence. Theology holds that following the destruction of dragon rule, the gods associated with the moons (Arkati) inherited the world and brought life back from brink of annihilation. The historical period is referred to as the Age of Darkness.

Historical Ur-Daemon

It is not necessarily known that the "Ur-Daemon" correspond to a single kind of entity, or if there were heterogeneous hordes of major demonic in a single mass slaughter. The blood of a "dead" Ur-Daemon was collected from Teras Isle by the Palestra Blade Aralyte for her ritual to defeat Althedeus, a demon supposedly born of the chaos from the Ur-Daemon War. These have been visioned as enormous floating squids, essentially black tentacled monsters, but other lore attributes them as having limbs with six fingered claws which is reflected in one of the constellations. The ever flowing black blood was used to charge the crystallized eye of the Ur-Daemon named Ith'can, who vaguely resembled an oculoth, and whose many eyes allowed transportation between valences. The implication is that Ith'can allowed the Ur-Daemon to invade Elanthia, but generally speaking demons are never seen opening portals to our world themselves. The Eye of Goseth corrupted a Luukosian temple with its dark power.

While the official lore has nothing in the way of religions specifically devoted to the Ur-Daemon, there have been some demonic cults related to theology surrounding the First Age cataclysm. With a modernization of the I.C.E. Age lore surrounding The Dark Path, their idiosyncratic beliefs regarding "Ka'Daena" and the "Gates of the Void" can be twisted to reflect the Ithzir "Grak'na'Den" and Tehir "Maw of the Void." The Broken Lands could be reinterpreted with Althedeus replacing the imprisoned Kabis, if the Kabis interpretation of the Broken Lands was being used, with The Dark Path treated as a cult of Shadows with an odd theology of Eorgina. These interpretations are purely apocryphal and would not be backed up by any modern lore on those subjects.

Known Ur-Daemon

• Ith'can - An Ur-Daemon resembling an oculoth, with supernatural powers like possession, whose many eyes allowed interplanar travel.
• Goseth - The Eye of Goseth corrupted the Luukosian Sanctum of Scales
• Unknown - Ur-Daemon dormant in the rocks of Teras Isle
• Marlu - Believed by some to be an Ur-Daemon who sought asylum with the Arkati.
• Kharuugh-Ur - Non-canonical Ur-Daemon who killed the non-canonical Drake Shu'raax. They were famous Ordainers in Shadow World.

Contemporary Extra-planar Beings

• Althedeus
• The Vvrael
• The Vishmiir
• Great Elementals

Demonic Cults

• Disciples of the Shadows
• The Dark Path (archaic)
• Marluvian cultists
• Mezics (Maleskari cultists)
• The Cult of Kron'khaal (unofficial)

Temporal Anomalies

Temporal disturbances sometimes reveal scenes of the Ur-Daemon War. These provide glimpses of the otherworldly monsters as they actually existed.

Below Melgorehn's Reach

When Elithain Cross was confronted in 5114 Modern Era, temporal anomalies showed a scene related to the Ur-Daemon and Vvrael.

The air grows warm and ethereal lights drift through the area like ghostly white smoke. Among the pale mist, images form and shift, first depicting a sky filled with ancient Drakes, their fiery breaths pouring out to burn a gnarled black Ur'Daemon that floats through the air like a giant squid, and then next an Ashrim ship gently floating on the waves as fires rage on the distant land.

Planar Shift Distortion

This is what you see when you look into the rift opened by the sorcerer spell Planar Shift (740).

A collage of images fills your mind as you peer into the depths of a shifting twilight grey rift.  You gaze unwaveringly, transfixed by the jumble of historic images racing across your consciousness.  Massive winged beasts, reptilian in nature, flit through a flame-ravaged sky, locked in battle with otherwordly creatures.  Soon enough, the scene changes to one of serenity and peace, various humanoids emerging en masse from caves.  That image, too, fades and is replaced by a great amalgamation of humanoids, all different races standing across a great decaying battlefield juxtaposed to zombies, banshees and other abominations.  But, after only a few seconds, that scene too disappears as quickly as it entered your now reeling mind.  Just as it seems the jumble of images will stop, they start again, in quick succession like a seamstress wielding her loom.  An eternity of tranquil images passes you by, only to be suddenly, and devastatingly replaced by a crude half-elf leading an army of humans towards a small town.  But alas, as the story gets interesting, all the images fade and you avert your gaze.

Teras Isle: Head of the Beast

Aralyte is charging the crystallized eye of Ith'can. The Staff of Ith'can was made for Althedeus from sacrificing Ithzir for their bones. The glaes cavern itself encases a huge wall of veil iron which is clearly unnatural, an anti-magical cage for the beast making teleportation impossible. It emits a high-pitched hum as though it is shrieking, characteristic of very powerful essence nodes and flow storms. There is no lore for how this happened, but the obvious implication is Eonak made it. The reasonable assumption would be this is the thing that took his arm, which he replaced with a veil iron prosthesis.

The strange stone substance that cannot be analyzed, unconscious daemon, bats, indecipherable runes, and the eternal dripping of dark ichor from stone are typical Lovecraftian motifs. If this was intentionally related (e.g. the beetles, the anvil), when the Terrorite demon of Shadow Valley was awoken, there was at the same time a corrosive and foul smelling flood of viscous black liquid. "The beast", "leviathan", and implicitly the lake of fire are likely Biblical, given the influence of the Book of Revelation on the Vvrael quest. The anvil might allude to Isaiah 41:7 from the Hebrew word for "beaten", which would symbolize the defeat of the beast by the smith. The chapter is set in the context of the silence of "the isles" before the judgment of God along with references to Jacob. The Vvrael quest was influenced by the Vedic myth of the serpent demon Vritra, the basis of the Shadow Valley story, where he is defeated using a mace or hammer forged by the artisan god Tvastr. In the quest this was a mace of Eonak.

[Head of the Beast]
The cavern is immense, yet it seems almost dwarfed by the monstrous head of a beast rendered in a strange scaled substance that defies analysis. Emerging from the surrounding walls, its visage is contorted in an eternal grimace of fury and pain. Beneath it sits a large glaes anvil. A steady drip of bubbling black liquid leaks from the glittering eyes and snakes down the sides of the monstrosity's face, falling down upon the anvil's top where it pools just before hissing into a vapor of steam. 
Obvious exits: northeast, southeast

>look head
The leviathan head towers above, dominating the chamber with its hideous snarl. Its dark eyes seem to flash with fury, as light flickers across their reflective surfaces. Tears of smoking black liquid create twin stains down the creases in its gaunt cheeks.

>look anvil
The anvil is expertly fashioned, made of black, shiny glaes and decorated with strange symbols around its base.  Its surface seems oblivious to the hissing liquid dripping down from the hideous visage above.

>read anvil
That's almost certainly a bad idea.

Aralyte walks over closer to the head.
Aralyte says, "It is said..."
Aralyte runs a finger along the cavern wall, and briefly across the monstrous head.
Aralyte asks, "Is it true, perhaps?"
Aralyte asks, "The remnants of an Ur'Daemon?"
Aralyte says, "In time perhaps, I will need to return here."
Aralyte tilts her ithzir bone staff side to side, making the light play off it.
Aralyte walks towards the glaes anvil.
Aralyte raises her ithzir bone staff in triumph!
Aralyte chants her tongue musical and archaic.
Aralyte grips the bone staff in her hands, almost spinning, her grey gossamer cloak flowing out around her like a ripple of silver waves.

Aralyte holds the white eye of the bone staff over the altar, its crystallized surface slowly being covered by the bubbling black liquid leaking from the gnarled, huge scaled head above.

The black liquid pools over the eye, slowly bleeding through the crystallized shell, filling its depths like a slow rising jar of ink.

The white eye hisses as the black liquid continues to bleed over it, wrapping it in a blanket of shadows.

Chants more, closing her eyes and her voice rising in a gentle, melodic tone.

Smoldering fire breaks into life around the eyes of the monstrous head. It flickers for a few moments, then dies away with a sizzle.

For a moment a flash, or a spark, perhaps of life, spreads across the glistening dark eyes of the leviathian head towering above. It is brief, and fades quickly.

The liquid black smoke swirls inside of the white eye on the ithzir bone staff, slowly filling up and turning black.

Aralyte says, "It was successful."
Aralyte says, "The eye, it is filled."

Woken Up

Above the glaes anvil, steam begins to seep out of the huge stone beast's eyes, coiling and twisting up in twin columns.  The sound of hissing fills the chamber, soon augmented by a deep, bass thrum.  The ground starts to shake, giving rise to clouds of dust, which mix with the steam and smoke to form a thick fog.

Through the haze, you see the colossal head begin to rise, its eyes glowing into ruby-tinted life.  The thing is vastly more hideous with the vestiges of life than it was in its dormancy.  Then, to your dismay, it seems to notice you, and the acid-slavering snout approaches, opening as it draws closer.

Suddenly, all motion stops!  You see the head, frozen in the demeanor it had originally... as if it never moved at all.  You almost have a chance to exhale in relief, when a tortured scream rends the caverns, leaving echoes careening around the stone walls like frenzied shades of undead.

Ordinary Scripting (some of these are not room specific)

A tiny vibration passes through the floor.

A spout of steam hisses from the fanged mouth of the stone head.  It slowly drifts up around the snout, giving the eyes an illusion of flickering.

A cloud of lava bats suddenly erupts out of the maw of the immense stone head, creating a mirage of fiery energy with the distinctive blood-red undersides of their wings.  In another heartbeat, the hundreds of tiny mammals have disappeared into the gloom of the cavern.

A drop of hissing, steaming black liquid hits the top of the glaes anvil, splattering into a shower of fiery droplets!

Smoldering fire breaks into life around the eyes of the monstrous head.  It flickers for a few moments, then dies away with a sizzle.

The floor shakes slightly.

The floor quivers beneath your feet.

The floorboards creek slightly as a small tremor passes through the area.

The floor shudders for but a moment, the slight quivers in the earth traveling through your body for several moments after it ceases.

A rim of gooey black liquid pools beneath the eyes of the huge stone head looming above the glaes anvil.  Suddenly,  the liquid bursts into open flame.  The blaze slowly gutters out, leaving twin plumes of smoke curling up from the head's eye sockets.

A loud shriek bursts into life, followed quickly by an explosion of sparks!  Glowing bits of glaes are hurled through the air, creating a fan of trailing smoke above a roiling pool of magma.

The ground shakes and rumbles for a few seconds, then all is calm once again.

The ground begins to rumble slightly for several moments.

The ground begins to shake for a few moments, the mild vibrations traveling across your body.

The ground begins to shake rapidly, the faint vibrations causing the earth to shiver for several moments.

The walls and floor are shaken with a low rumble, which reverberates through the catacombs like the growl of an immense beast.

A globule of viscous black liquid slowly trickles down across the grotesque head's cheek, leaving a trail of smoke to mark its progress.

A jet of steam suddenly shoots up from a fissure in the tumbled floor.  The gas plumes up in a dazzling display, filling the cavern with its deafening hiss!

A shrill, reedy whine hisses into life, building in volume until it feels like knives are probbing your eardrums.  Then abruptly, it ceases, leaving your ears ringing.

A bat suddenly careens through the cavern, zigzagging in its peculiar flight pattern almost too quickly for the eyes to follow.  The fiery magma pools throw bloody reflections on the underside of its wings, giving the animal the appearance of a glowing dervish.

A low ominous rumble heralds an earth tremor.  It shakes the floor and sends the pools of magma over their edges in dangerous splashes accented by careening sparks!

Claw

[Glaes Caverns]
The vast chamber is starkly uncluttered, save for a strange formation of glaes that extends from the center of a pool of magma.  With its grotesque appendages, it seems to reach from the heart of the hissing magma like a misshapen claw clenched in agony.  From the 'palm' of the thing, a slow rivulet of viscous black liquid pulses out, dripping down over the gnarled surface of the outcropping and pooling on the roiling face of the bubbling glaes.
Obvious exits: northeast, southwest

>look claw
The formation towers over the magma surrounding it, its strange dark discharge marking the sides with bubbling stains.  It's almost painful to look at, clenched as it is in such a contorted aspect.  The black substance floating on the liquid glaes gives off a nauseating odor as it burns away into green steam.

Veil Iron Cage

[Glaes Tunnel]
A massive iron wall to the south dominates this gloomy tunnel.  Underfoot, the floor is a vicious track of glaes spikes and pitfalls.  Here and there, pools of molten glaes lie sheathed in steam, which drifts up from the surface of each in a languid, curling dance.
Obvious exits: north

>look wall
Upon closer examination, the wall is revealed to be formed of solid veil iron, with its unique patina and impossible rarity.  Such an immense concentration of the stuff is as staggering as are the monstrous proportions of the wall.  Also disturbing is a high-pitched hum which emanates from the wall in pulsing bursts, almost as if the thing is screaming.

>go door
[Glaes Vein]
The corridor ends.  Abruptly, it simply melts away at the foot of a huge wall of metal so dark, the thing seems to absorb what little light exists in the gloom.  The metal is banded with rows of studs, each one incised with a strange device, and it is embraced on all sides by solid glaes, as though the mountain was forged to support it.
Obvious exits: south

The Drake's Shrine

The Drake's Shrine was supposedly built by the Arkati themselves after the Ur-Daemon War ended. It was sealed off from mortals for over a hundred millennia.

The following is a depiction they painted of the Ur-Daemon:

[Vaulted Aisle East, Ice Shrine]
The vaulted hallway veers to the northwest, marked by an increase of shadow in that direction as the reflections from the ice behemoth are less ambient.   This part of the hallway is notable for its rich frescos that alternate with the columns on the aisle's exterior walls.  Overhead, the ceiling's elevated arch is as graceful as a heron's wing poised for flight.
Obvious exits: south, southwest, northwest

>look fresco
The scene painted into the wall's frozen plaster is vivid, even though viewed through its skin of ice.  It depicts a great battle, the sky a wall of fire and vast armies caught frozen in combat.  Against the battalions of heroes is arrayed a vast and terrible army of darkness, its countless legions misshapen and horrible to look upon.  Poised at the center of this sprawling vista, you see a majestic, winged drake breathing a spout of fire as hordes of the vile minions of shadow overrun it.  The heroes seem to fight with desperation born of horror.  You marvel that pigment painted into wet plaster eons ago could convey such agony and emotion.

Artifacts

Ur-Daemon Obelisk

Wehnimer's Landing Museum (Circa 5101 Modern Era)

(veil iron obelisk)
The obelisk is black, so dark it seems to absorb the light. A band of glyphs is carved around the middle. You find them incomprehensible and strangely disturbing. Though black velvet ropes prevent you from approaching the obelisk too closely, you feel a slight chill emanating from it. A small plaque stands on a tripod just inside the ropes.

>read sign
It reads:
The Ur-Daemons

>read plaque
It reads:
Recovered from the ora mines in Rhoska-Tor, this strange artifact is thought by some to be an Ur-Daemon relic.

The Staff of Ith'can

It is an "ithzir bone staff" with the crystallized eye of the Ur-Daemon Ith'can. When charged it is able to open gateways to other planes of existence, and was used by Aralyte to turn Lake Eonak by Melgorehn's Reach into a portal to the Shadow plane where Althedeus was defeated. The staff was made using the bones of sacrificed Ithzir for Grak'na'Den, the Ithzir epithet for Althedeus, who they called "father of the black heavens" in the Tehir language. It was pivotal in the finale of the Cross into Shadows storyline, and was later mentioned to provide backstory for Aralyte's red soulstone.

Return to Sunder Storyline
(9th Olaesta 5116 Modern Era)
Vynessa asks, "Are you all familiar with the Staff of Ith'can?"
Vynessa asks, "It was recovered, I believe, almost two years ago?"
Puptilian asks, "Was going to say, wasn't it part of what we used to get into the shadow realm?"
Vynessa says, "The Blade Aralyte, it was within some of Grishom's collection."
Puptilian asks, "What they went to Teras for?"
Vynessa says, "Precisely."
Vynessa says, "It was forged by the bones of ithzir, and capped with the eye of an Ur'Daemon, or so the story goes, or I suppose, went."
Falvicar quietly says, "Snd filled with demon blood from Teras."
Vynessa says, "The white eye was.."
Vynessa nods at Falvicar.
Vynessa says, "Exactly, filled with the blood of a demon, and then used to turn Lake Eonak into a pool of shadow, allowing many of you into the Shadow Realm."
Vynessa says, "When many of you confronted Althedeus."
Vynessa says, "The staff is presumed gone now, I do not recall what transpired to it, rather it crumbled, or remained with Aralyte in the blackness."
Vynessa says, "But the staff was forged by ithzir bones, and per Grishom's writings..."
Vynessa says, "And, let me preface this all."
Vynessa says, "Grishom Stone is a madman."
Vynessa says, "It took me only a few moments of regarding his work and musings and research to confirm what I knew from the stories I'd heard."
Vynessa says, "But, it is important to understand the enemy, at any rate."
Vynessa says, "I think another item of such, exists."
Vynessa says, "The staff was said to be forged by ithzir bones, but, was actually created by an ithzir."
Vynessa says, "Grishom believed, the creator actually had volunteers sacrifice themselves to try to make this staff."
Vynessa says, "Grak'na'Den."
Vynessa says, "Grak'na'Den is the Ithzir's name for Althedeus."

The Shroud of the Red Dreamer

There was a shroud of Ur-Daemon origin in the Red Dreamer storyline which possessed their power of sealing the wearer off from the Arkati entirely. It was guarded by the Dreamwalkers of Ronan, who were forbidden to use it because it was dangerous. One of the Dreamwalkers named Indhis sought to use the shroud to separate himself from his duty to the order of being shed of mortal bonds because of his love for a woman named Yaolara. He was manipulated into this path by a traitorous Dreamwalker named Nostus, who was seeking to ruin the order from within itself. Indhis was their best swordsman and defeated them all in combat, with Tseleth fleeing into Bir Mahallah where he would become corrupted into the worship of Luukos. (Tseleth has referred to the shroud itself as "The Skin", which he claims infected and weakened him allowing him to be killed.)

The Dreamwalkers made an agreement with Ronan to put Yaolara into an eternal sleep after drawing Indhis inside of her mind. Nostus was able to infiltrate this mental prison and torment Indhis, who would eventually become the Red Dreamer. Since Indhis was wearing the Ur-Daemon shroud, it was impossible for the Arkati to intervene directly. Tseleth would later reappear seeking the shroud under the premise that it was too dangerous to be in the possession of the Red Dreamer. Tseleth had assembled a horde to assault Solhaven and destroy the Red Dreamer, but was betrayed by his construct Athamael, who sought to escape his own fate in the maw of Luukos.

It would turn out that Athamael required his master's knowledge to free himself from damnation. Nostus escaped from the mind prison at some point and was assisting Athamael in opening the maw to retrieve Tseleth, but was pushed off a high precipice by Athamael, who opened the maw by himself but was sucked into it. There was a ritual of massive sacrifice happening below the temple which pulled Morvule from his own prison, the high priest of Luukos who was the leader of the Dark Alliance in the Griffin Sword Wars. Morvule opened the maw and retrieved Tseleth after all, who had since been transformed into an arch-lich of Luukos. Tseleth was able to repair the seal on the prison of the Red Dreamer, which put Yaolara back into a deep sleep but ended the nightmares of Indhis that were manifesting in the world.

The Eye of Goseth

The Eye of Goseth is an artifact the arch-lich Tseleth was seeking to remove from the Sanctum of Scales, which was corrupted by the power of the Ur-Daemon due to a mutiny by one of his human followers in The Sand Snakes. Tseleth wished to open the way with the power of soulstones and banish the Eye of Goseth into Bir Mahallah where it would be sealed off from mortals forever. These events took place on the 8th and 9th of Phoenatos in 5116 Modern Era.

A tiny pinpoint of light winks on the distant horizon, far off to the southeast.
A slight breeze causes the tiny pink threads dangling from a floating malachite green eye to flutter softly while hovering in mid air.
The point of burning light blazes brighter, now clearly moving across the skies. As it nears, there is a distinct greenish hue to its radiance.
The careening light streaks toward Solhaven, wobbling drunkenly on its course. Now within range of Vornavis, it is clearly a sphere of streaking flame with the hue of a cut emerald in sunlight."
A floating malachite green eye enters the area.
A floating malachite green eye floats over towards Aydan and stares straight into his eyes.
A high-pitched keening shriek fills the air as the sphere of fire closes in on Solhaven. Now, it is near enough to make out a skeletal form wreathed in the flames.
The skeletal figure crashes down into the town, sending up a cloud of virdian flame to the south.

Tseleth reaches toward Menos with one crooked talon, his bony claw grasping Menos's skull and slicing his scalp to bloody ribbons. That is merely the indignity before Menos's true fate: the air around him warps with heat as emerald flames gout from his pores!
...39973 damage! Utter destruction.
Menos's eyes pop, fire gouting from the empty sockets and leaving blackened chasms behind.
* Menos drops dead at your feet!
Menos seems to lose some focus as his eyes narrow and shift momentarily to one side.

Tseleth begins, haltingly at first and obviously still weak. "I require... the assistance of this town's populace."
Tseleth says, "I am betrayed."
Tseleth says, "My Sanctum, taken from me. My priesthood corrupted."

Speaking to Tseleth, Shannivar says, "Oh, you poor thing. A Luukosian betrayed, what a shocking occurance."
Speaking to Shannivar, Tseleth says, "I am all that there is between you and the powers of the Ur."
Tseleth crumples into a crouching position.
In a lightning-swift blur of movement, Tseleth's blurs back into a standing position.

Speaking flatly to Tseleth, Aydan asks, "All right, what's the deal with the arrow? I thought you were supposed to be utterly invincible?"
Bristenn briskly remarks, "I would assume it'd take a bit more than that to wound you, than just a stick and iron bodkin."
Speaking to Aydan, Tseleth says, "It has... infected me. The Skin."

Cleodelia says, "Depends on who's skeleton that is flaming."

Speaking to Alisaire, Tseleth asks, "The Order. What has happened to the Order? Why do they not answer the call?"
Speaking simply to Tseleth, Alisaire says, "They have withdrawn from this region save for two."
Tseleth stumbles to the edge of the ramp, supporting himself on the base of the tower. His talons dig into the stone.

Speaking to Cleodelia, Tseleth says, "He does not answer, the one our master held most dear. I hear that he perished in the white fires of his foes."

Speaking to Tseleth, Alisaire repeats, "Do you have it?"

Speaking hurriedly to Tseleth, Bristenn continues, "The High Priest is no more?"
Speaking to Bristenn, Tseleth says, "So I have heard. So I have heard that his Order was in disarray."
Tseleth says, "So it was that my Sand Snakes rose to primacy, for we were safe and protected by the Master."

Speaking to Tseleth, Cleodelia says, "There is much in disarray at this point."

Tseleth quietly says, "But there are things that even the Master fears. A matter I was once sent here to prevent."
Speaking to Aydan, Tseleth says, "No, the Skin is safely entombed for ever more with its mad wearer."
Speaking to Tseleth, Aydan asks, "But you mentioned an Eye?"
Tseleth says, "But the Eye of Goseth... it has been found."

Alisaire asks, "Who has it?"

Speaking to Tseleth, Bristenn demands, "You'll have to elaborate on that bit of lore, Cold."
Speaking to Cleodelia, Tseleth says, "The Blameless wage a war against the children of the Serpent."
Tseleth says, "A piece of an Ur-Daemon never dies."
Wadsworth asks, "What do you want? Why should we care?"
Tseleth says, "It is full and brimming with the power of its originator."
Tseleth says, "Each artifact of the Ur has a power that the Arkati cannot touch, cannot penetrate."
Several of the bones along Tseleth's ribs snap as they realign and repair themselves.

Speaking to Bristenn, Tseleth says, "One of my flock has found the Eye and brought it to the Sanctum."
Tseleth says, "My Sanctum."
Speaking to Tseleth, Alisaire asks, "And what has happened there?"
Tseleth ignores the insult, tottering across the way and leaving a trail of green flames.
Tseleth says, "I did not know until it was too late that a mutiny brewed within our ranks."

Aydan asks, "All right, then. So what happens with this so-called Eye, and why is it a bad thing that he brought it to your sanctum? And why should we help you about it?"
Speaking to Tseleth, Aydan says, "Because frankly, after the trouble you've caused us in the past, I'm still leaning toward the verdict that anything causing you consternation is a good thing."
Speaking to Aydan, Tseleth says, "A human hand holds an artifact of the Ur. Such a thing is of grave import to the Arkati. You, of all people, should know what comes next."
Speaking dryly to Tseleth, Aydan says, "Yes, you show up, throw some threats around, rip some soul fragments out of people, and tell us you're the only one that can fix it if only you have our cooperation."

Speaking to Wadsworth, Tseleth says, "The Eye must be sealed away. Buried."

Speaking mildly to Tseleth, Alisaire asks, "What do you need for us to do to help, then?"
Cleodelia says, "If Tseleth says it must be sealed away for no one to use, not even himself. That is serious indeed."
Speaking to Githros, Tseleth says, "It must go to Bir Mahallah. The place where none can enter and leave."
Tseleth says, "They have raised wards against me."

Speaking to Aydan, Tseleth says, "There is... a place here that I thinned long ago. Scratched at the walls of the world so that I might forever join its space with that of the Sanctum."
Speaking to Tseleth, Raelee asks, "... there?"
Speaking to Tseleth, Raelee says, "It has not changed."
Speaking to Raelee, Tseleth says, "Below."
Tseleth says, "With enough power, I could open the way."
Tseleth says, "Soulstones. I am too weak to accomplish this rite without their power."
Tseleth says, "I can barely travel by fire, so drained am I."

Speaking caustically to Tseleth, Bristenn asks, "Once this 'way' is opened, you intend to tuck talon and scuttle off over the horizon, like when you battled Indhis?"
Speaking to Bristenn, Tseleth says, "I am the Chosen of the Master. I will do as he commands, as always I have."
Tseleth places a hand on Bristenn's skull in an almost paternal gesture.
Speaking to Bristenn, Tseleth says, "You were always one of my favorite experim--oh. Not Athamael."
Bristenn deadpans, "Verily."

Tseleth lets out a rumble of almost-mirth, the flames in his belly flickering wildly.
Tseleth says, "I will need time to recover. A day. And then... soulstones."
Speaking to Tseleth, Amerek asks, "How many soulstones do you require? Several? Several hundred?"
Speaking to Amerek, Tseleth says, "As many as can be found in the passing of a day."
Tseleth says, "Full of power and energy."
Speaking to Raelee, Tseleth says, "It is the Grey Lady's duty to sort such things. I care only for the power."

Speaking to Areigha, Tseleth says, "...I am, and always have been, an honorable being."
Tseleth says, "I shall prove my good will."
A single flickering ember drifts free from Tseleth's belly, writhing like a tortured man.
Aydan stares at Tseleth.
Speaking to Aydan, Tseleth asks, "A kindness. You see?"
Aydan growls, "Fine, I'm slightly less disposed to trying to throw you into the bay and see if that puts out the flames."

Tseleth throws his skeletal head back and stares upward with eyes of virescent fire. His wings unfurl to their full, impressive width. He crouches, then launches himself skyward, trailed by greenish-white flames.

Melgorehn's Reach

It is not known yet what the nature, function, or origin of the orb is in the monolith near the apex of Melgorehn's Reach. Loul the Enchanter was a story from the I.C.E. Age, but the "daemonic" details and "pure" veil-iron would not make sense in the original context. It might be an ancient artifact from deep in the Age of Darkness. The fundamental premise is that Loul used very rare (ancient) artifacts of extreme power to make the Reach. These would have been Lord of Essaence artifacts from the First Era. However, they did not exist in Elanthia, so this orb is possibly an Ur-Daemon relic.

[Melgorehn's Reach, Lost in the Fog]
You are in a dense fog bank and can see absolutely nothing.  You realize that you can probably back out of here easily enough.
Possible paths: out

XXX glances at an ancient granite monolith.

>look monolith
Twisting runes and carvings along the face of the monolith dance in your vision causing you to sway uneasily.  You can't seem to keep a clear focus on them long enough to decipher what they mean. Imbedded into the monolith is a large, krodera orb covered with veins of pure veil iron.  The detailed stonework around the orb portrays hordes of daemon clutching at the orb.  The daemon's arms extend toward the orb, their claws digging into the its surface and securing it in place.  The orb pulses rhythmically with a dull red glow.  The veil iron veins seem to writhe as the opposing magics caress them and tap their power, and a swirling mist surrounds the monolith as if protecting it.  There is a small, gem-shaped, indentation just above the orb which is empty.

Resources

• History of Fash'lo'nae (official documentation)
• Rough account of the Ur-Daemon War
• Marlu's Profile
• Elanthian Times, Volume 3, Issue 2

Behind The Scenes

Very little is established about the Ur-Daemon, other than their inherent unholy power, and the idea that they can never truly be dead. The archaic spelling "daemon" is Lovecraftian where this same concept of a sleeping death that is never truly dead would apply to otherworldly entities like Cthulhu. The "father of serpents" Yig in the Cthulhu Mythos would be regarded as "the ur-daemon" (the truth behind the fiction) behind mythical Mesoamerican underworld snake gods such as Quetzlcoatl, and he is an "ur-text" behind the wyrm of Shadow Valley and possibly even the abyran. The prefix "ur" would simply mean "first", "original", or "primordial." They would be the original demons of prehistorical memory, as opposed to those lesser demonic who emerge through random rifts from mana storms and celestial alignments.