The Iron Wind
The Iron Wind was some unknown manifestation of Unlife in the Shadow World history. It was known "only as a power", and "only through its minions." Among these included the Dragonlord Oran Jatar of Mur Fostisyr, who cooperated with it willingly, as well as the Ordainers from this same island. It would have been immensely powerful to have had Ordainers serving it. Mur Fostisyr would have been located northwest of Darkstone Bay, roughly where Ruin Creek is in modern Elanthia. These forces were rarely seen or felt, remaining hidden in the shadows.
Most famously, it was known through the least of its minions, the "evil high priests" who infiltrated societies to subvert them. Very little was established about their false religion. They would commune with the Iron Wind to learn their calling, and would thus be assigned to kingdoms marked for destruction. There were six orders of evil priests, split along geographical orientations. They were all thematic with associated symbols, and so distinguished by their signet rings. These were very powerful artifacts which bound them together. The pain of one was the pain of all.
These priests would often impersonate lovers of knowledge, or even Loremasters, to gain the trust of local populations. Their ranking members were usually Iylari, but they were also known to use mortal races when appropriate. In contrast to the priests who were extremely subtle, however nihilistic and sinister, each order had a branch of dark assassins called Messengers. These were used as agents of force, provided it called for something less than an Ordainer. The true servants of the Unlife, they were absolutists, interested only in utter annihilation.
Six Orders
The six orders were the cults of the dragon, snow lion, sea drake, desert wolf, greathorse, and hawk. They were oriented strategically in kingdoms whose landscape was associated with their theme. The Cults of the Dragon and the Snow Lion always worked together, assigned to northern coastal regions and forest realms respectively. They were responsible for the destruction of the Landing region in recent millennia. The Cult of the Dragon was controlled outright by the Dragonlord Oran Jatar, who had recently made a truce and potential alliance with the Krol. Most of what was known about these cults came from the studies of Elor Once Dark, a half crazy Loremaster who survived the Wars of Dominion.
Very few people in Shadow World knew they existed as any kind of organized power. Some highly learned individuals might have seen through them in any local instance, or perhaps knew of more than one, but only an organization such as the Loremasters would have any insight that these were somehow a coordinated whole. It would have been inappropriate for an adventurer to know their identity, though Elor Once Dark was supposed to live in the foothills near Zeltoph.
| Thematic Symbol | Orientation | Focus |
| Cult of the Dragon | Northern isles and coasts | Xa'ar, Saralis, Mur Fostisyr |
| Cult of the Snow Lion | Northern forest realms | Lu'nak, Wuliris, Quellbourne |
| Cult of the Sea Drake | Coastal regions | U-Lyshak |
| Cult of the Desert Wolf | Deserts | Zor, N. Rhakhaan |
| Cult of the Great Horse | Plains | S. Rhakhaan, Meluria |
| Cult of the Hawk | Riverine cultures | Tanara, Urulan |
The Cult of the Sea Drake has obeyed Lorgalis for most of its existence. Kestrel Etrevion may have served within its fleet during the Wars of Dominion. However, the Cult of the Dragon was undermining Lorgalis in his holdings to the west of the Landing region (Xa'ar), and the Cult of the Snow Lion was undermining the Dragonlord Sulthon Ni'shaang to the east (Lu'nak). This was a considerable source of friction between the two dragon lords, who were actually brothers, but who went about conquest in very different way. These factions all wanted to claim the region immediately south of the Landing.
The Iron Wind
The evil priests first formed and forged their rings around 4000 Second Era. What happened to form their secret orders has been lost to time, but it was most likely the result of a self-aware manifestation of the Unlife. These would sometimes happen in strange forms, and cults would end up forming around them. "The Silver Dawn" cult of lay healers, for example, would feed souls to a mist. The Iron Wind could be channeled by the priests in the form of a crushing icy wind that they blasted out from themselves. They could also transform targets into iron.
While a few of the high priests are over 8,000 years old, most of the founders are dead, perhaps all of them. It was not unusual for proteges to eventually murder the high priests, and replace them, provided they were able to survive putting on the high priest ring. Most of their history is in the form of the things they destroyed. One of the more famous cases was the Shards being awakened to destroy what we call Danjirland, which were once huntable creatures in the forest leading up to the Spider Temple. They would eventually destroy Quellburn as well.
Behind The Scenes
The Iron Wind is actually almost ten years older than the Shadow World setting. Some of its backstory is a little weird for this reason, because parts do not seem to have anything to do with everything else. When the phrase is used in its later context, it mostly refers to the evil priests and their dark assassins. These were the most iconic agents of Unlife on the continent of Jaiman. The specific name that is used to refer to the priests alone has been omitted here, since it never appeared once in the Kelfour Editions, possibly being treated as a game secret.