Jevvica's Narrative

In the ancient recesses of time, a powerful and benevolent cleric set
upon a well-intentioned plan. In those days, evil was on the decline
and the forces of darkness had been routed in almost every field of
battle. The master of evil dragons had been chained, and even the fell
races of orcs and goblins-once more numerous than the races of humans,
dwarves, elves, halfings, or gnomes-had squirmed back into their
meager, shadowy refuges.

With malevolence on the wane, the cleric Danar Rotansin sought once
and for all to rid the world of the remaining evil influences. This
powerful figure began to gather up all the evil artifacts, objects of
dark power, trapped essences of vanquished fiends, demonic relics, and
even the last vestiges of particularly horrible diseases. Danar called
all of these things "banes", and imprisoned them. He believed that, if
destroyed, the banes would simply release their evil into the world to
wreak more havoc and bring about other darkness. Destroying banes
begat new banes.

Danar used powerful spells and magical items to accomplish his task,
working tirelessly. As his collection of banes grew he began to bury
them beneath his tower, Mosul Pearl, located near the sea. Danar
constructed a vast catacomb, well warded and sealed, deep underground,
and he called it the Banewarrens. He also found allies who believed in
his cause to aid him. Chief among them were the dragon known as
Saggarintys the Silver King and a celestial named Bastion, guardian of
the Morning.

But Danar's goal was folly. Concentrating so much raw hatred and
despite-so much darkness and evil power-in one place was a terrible
mistake. His actions drew the attention of vile intelligences of whose
existence Danar had never even dreamed. These secretive forces
manipulated events (and perhaps even time and space) to ensure that
the Book of Inverted Darkness fell into the hands of this well-meaning
cleric.

The Book of Inverted Darkness is an artifact older than the world
itself. Scribed by gods and demons, its pages contain vast lore, all
of it dreadful. Unfortunately for Danar Rotansin-and the world-the
book presented this dreadful knowledge using supernatural techniques,
giving it an irresistibly seductive quality.

While he intended to seal the book away with the rest of the banes,
Danar lingered over its pages for just one instant too long. Its
cunningly crafted words beguiled him to keep the book by his
side. Soon, he read more. And more.

And still more.

The book consumed Danar. He neglected his quest to gather the
remaining banes. He withdrew from his family and comrades. The book's
dark lore corrupted his spirit and twisted his mind. The lure of the
dark power and forbidden knowledge was too much, even for Danar. Danar
Rotansin became Eslathagos Malkith-the Dread One. With the vast
resources of the banes he had gathered and the knowledge he had gained
from the Book of Inverted Darkness, the Dread one withdrew into his
tower, also renamed: Jabel Shammar. He emerged only a few years later,
launching an attack so devastating, it threatened to tear the world
asunder. His might knew few bounds, and with his magical aid, the
armies he had created or summoned conquered the surrounding lands with
ease.

The earth itself, no longer able to tolerate the concentrated evil
that Eslathagos Malkith and the banes represented, thrust Jabel
Shammar away from it, creating a tall, impossibly high and narrow
spire atop which the tower stood, its formerly pearly hue turned black
as night. From there, the Dread One could survey the world---a world he
desired to either conquer or crush entirely.

Only the actions of all the mortal races, led by powerful stalwart
heroes (many of whom had been friends and companions of Danar),
stopped the forces of Eslathagos Malkith. It is said they carried the
battle into the halls of Jabel Shammar itself. When it was over, the
Dread One lay defeated. The world's greatest heroes sprawled dead and
dismembered all around him. Most of them had lost not only their lives
but their souls to their foe's magic and the banes he wielded.

Some bits of Danar-the good and true man he had once been-still
remained, however. His spirit, now free of corruption, managed to seal
the Banewarrens once again. Although his quest remained uncompleted,
and some of the banes were released again when he became Eslathagos
Malkith, the warrens still contained vault upon vault of evil
artifacts, foul creatures, and vile relics that it would keep away
from the world at large.

Unless the Banewarrens should ever become unsealed again...