Fallen Times

Fall of the Empire
By the 1000th year of the Empire, it had grown so large and unwieldly that governing it effectively was almost impossible. The Emperor Glathiax was as decadent and unruly as his empire had become. He cared little for the actual day to day rule, instead relying on his Prefects to do the job for him. Of course, most Prefects were in much the same position as their lord, and had very little direct influence on life in the realm. Coupling those facts with an inexperienced military, as the Legions had not faced war in 100 years, it is little surprise that the carnage of the Demonic Invasion was as widespread and as thorough as it was.

The Invasion
When the Elemental Chaos, and therefore the Abyss, became aligned (largely believed to be a dramatic increase in the number of portals and gates linking the worlds) in 1843, the Demon Princes felt it. The Screaming Queen herself whipped the hordes into a frenzy, the opportunity for revenge at hand.

The Demon Princes again readied themselves for vengeance. With the wall between worlds at its thinnest since its creation, the hordes appeared all over the Empire. The outmatched and outnumbered Imperial Legions fought valiantly, but ultimately futilely. The furthest reaches of the Empire fell beneath rending claw and acid-dripping fang. Humanoid refugees heading to stronger cities and fortresses to escape the carnage would find them already razed, if they weren’t slaughtered on the roads by the ravaging hordes. Trying to find solace in the wilderness proved no better, as world’s own monsters took great delight in such a new plentiful food source.

Departure of the fey
While the eladrin had always primarly inhabitants of the Wild, their drow and elf cousins had been of the world. The elves were usually content to stay in their forests, the drow were creatures of the cities. After witnessing the destruction of so many cities, the drow began gathering at the Dragonclaw Mountains near the Alabaster Desert. How they accomplished this gathering of such a widespread and scattered people has never been revealed, nevertheless they did. Before the eyes of the elves of the desert, the drow wizards raised a three mile chunk of rock from the mountains, boarded the floating new island, and sailed over the desert heading toward the Eastern Ocean. While raging at the drow for their perceived cowardice, the elves were being quietly abandoned to the world by the eladrin as well. Within months, almost all of the eladrin had left for the Wild, believing that the dissolution of their culture by the human empire was at least part of the reason the world was being destroyed.

The New Immortals
When Hiatia, the capital of the empire was razed three years after the invasion begun, Dulnaeria's humanoids knew that their time was short. Many were cowed by this realization, but some few were inspired by it to take up sword and spell against the invaders. Adventurers grew in number, inspired by the stories of the Hundred Immortals fighting off the first invasion by demonkind. Soon, small parties were roaming the countryside spilling demon ichor onto the earth. During the 20th year of the invasion, a band called the Light of Shoru travelled into the Astral Sea and came back with a weapon.

That weapon was an artifact, the Starcrossed Orerry, a strange mechanical scrying device that showed the current alignments of all the planes of existence. It showed that the Abyss would soon be arriving in a reverse position to the one that allowed the invasion to begin. The Light of Shoru sent out the word to as many adventurers that they could, gathering wizards and priests from around the continent at the ruins of Hiatia. On the last day of the 20th year of the invasion, a great ritual was cast.

At the cost of many of the casters lives, new demongates sprung up all over Dulnaeria. These gates however, worked in reverse, sucking many of the demon hordes through them back to the Abyss. While large numbers of demons were still left in the world, the threat they posed would no longer stop the humanoid races from retaking their homes, and rebuilding civilization

Repaying the sacrifice of the great heroes, they were raised to join the Hundred Immortals. Today, they are known as Kord, the Raven Queen, Pelor, Erathis, Torog, Bane, and others.

The Nine Hells
During the invasion, a powerful warlock called Asmodeus was a scourge upon demonkind. Believed to be of Abyssal heritage himself, he sought vengeance against the invaders at every opportunity. Why he was filled with so much hate for the invaders, no one knows for sure. Nevertheless, after making his pact, he wrought terrible destruction on the hordes.

He was killed during a fierce battle during the ritual casting that reversed the demongates. He too, joined the ranks of the Hundred Immortals after the demons were scoured from Dulnaeria. Revelling in his new power, his Astral Dominion became a place of terrible punishment. Many of his mortal followers joined him, and became the Devils. Together they launched a series of assaults on the Abyss, in what became known as the Blood War.

Today, the Nine Hells is primarily a place of punishment for those who would sell their souls to demons. Of course, Asmodeus' war still rages, and he too needs souls to fight against the Abyss. This need has led to the devils purchasing souls from mortals as well, whether through the warlock Infernal Pact, or via more mundane and worldly means.

Peace and Rebuilding
With the Invasion finally over, and the new immortals busy setting up their dominions in the Astral Sea, the humanoid races began to piece together the remnants of civilization. With the Emperor long dead and much of the imperial infrastructure destroyed, pockets of people simply built anew where they were. A few places survived outright destruction, or the refugees never made it far and did rebuild on the old cities. Over the next 100 years some trade routes were slowly established but many towns and villages remained in isolation. As much as a third of Dulnaeria's population had been killed during the invasion, and many feared that a large population center would be a new target should the hordes return (as was certainly the case during the invasion).

The Tiefling Problem
During the invasion, many demons sired or birthed half human children. These