Arnorrax

Owner: Bookz

Read by: Kajus

Author: Ember Falknir

Preface of the book:

Dear reader, I have written this painful history for the simple reason that histories
forgotten have a way of finding themselves in newer times. Here I shall forward the tale of
the Elmsmere Lich; his rise, his dark plan, his fall and his legacy.

The book appears to have sections titled as follows:

Lichhood

The rise of Arnorrax

Mertophas the Second

Crystophág

The Arnorrax Bane

Lichhood

Details concerning Lich, Demilich and Dragonlich

The rise of Arnorrax

Arnorrax was a talented mage, who at a very young age challenged and defeated his
master. The honor of besting his master was, however, short lived. Arnorrax claimed that
his ‘master’ should now serve him as he was no longer his superior, and not even his
equal. When the ‘master’ failed to comply, Arnorrax took his life. The mages council did
not take Arnorraxs crime lightly and banished Arnorrax from his homeland. Banished from
the civilized world, Arnorrax travelled North where he stopped at the Elmsmere side of the
northern plateau. At this point Elmsmere was not yet inhabited by the higher races. He
there found and enslaved a clan of goblins whom he had built his mighty tower. After the
arrival of Tartilon, and the founding of Darrowshire and Falkirk, Arnorraxs influence
strayed beyond his poor goblin slaves. Arnorrax used his magic to charm strong, abled
men. Once under his spell, he made them venture north. At first, a few of them returned,
but they could not remember why or where exactly they went. However, returning
became a very rare occasion all too soon.

Mertophas the Second

Since those who disappeared tended to have business near the Elmsmere Tower,
Arnorrax quickly became a suspect. The Tower was first sieged by a militia formed from
both Darrowshire and Falkirk. However, as months passed with no trace of Arnorrax, the
siege fell and Arnorrax was presumed dead. Not long after the siege ended, people
started to disappear again. However, this time it appear to be exclusively children. The
chilling development soon reached Tharkalyon and he immediate sent one of his most
trusted and cunning mages, Mertophas the Second, to Elmsmere. Mertophas disguised
himself as a youngling and started to roam near the Tower, pretending to run errands
between Darrowshire and Falkirk. Arnorrax took the bait and tried to charm Mertophas.
Protected by powerful magics, Mertophas willingly convinced Arnorrax was charmed and
ready to follow Arnorrax his every wish. Playing dumb and acting like a curios child,
Mertophas extracted much information from Arnorrax. Combined with Mertophas’ own
knowledge of the dark arts, he distilled Arnorraxs plan. The evil mage was not only
prolonging his own life in unnatural ways, not only close to being a fully actualized lich but
was also preparing the unthinkable.

Crystophág

Arnorrax had first spent the lives of his ‘charmlings’ finding the location of the lair of
Crystophág, the ancient white dragon of the north. His subjects had studied the
behaviors, habits and personality of the dragon. It wasn’t long until Arnorrax came up with
a plan to befriend the dragon, overwhelming Crystophág with all the silver and diamonds
he could wish for as well as a steady supply of young tender meats. But Crystophág did
not realize these younglings were poisoned… poisoned with extraordinarily powerful
herbs, often stolen from the fertile monastery grounds. Crystophág was being prepared
for a lichhood like no other. A lichhood of servitude. Piecing together Arnorraxs plan,
Mertophas knew he had to act. After being sent to Crystophág by Arnorraxs, Mertophas
quickly headed to the Solinja monastery. The poisons were neutralized with the combined
power of herbal remedies and magics. After gaining back his strengths, Mertophas took
on his former disguise and headed back to Arnorraxs. Mertophas convinced Arnorraxs he
found Crystophág in a near lifeless state, a state of suspended animation. Both surprised
and ecstatic by the news, Arnorraxs flew into a manic rage, quickly gathering all he would
need to claim Crystophág as his servant and force lichhood on him. Ignoring Mertophas in
his frantic preparations, Mertophas snuck up behind Arnorrax and stabbed him through
the heart. Taking no chances, Mertophas cut out Arnorraxs tongue, wrapped him in silver
chains and locked his lifeless remains in the cellars of the Tower.

The Arnorraxs Bane

Mertophas nor the dozes of wizards and mages he brought to the Tower to investigate all
of Arnorraxs notes and spell books, were certain about how close Arnorraxs had come to
lichhood. Some claimed he was a lich already and would soon regain he corporal from.
Others claimed he could not have been a lich yet but were concerned about the vast
knowledge on undead magics found in Arnorraxs liberary. They claimed he may have
conquered death long ago. This claim was further supported by the fact that all evidence
found suggested Arnorrax must have inhibited the Tower for over 300 years. They
decided it was simply too dangerous to leave Arnorraxs remains unsupervised. Moreover,
the books and notes in the library were deemed far too dangerous to be allowed to even
exist…but fire nor magic could damage them. And so the order of Arnorraxs Bane was
formed. Mertophas swore a life of servitude and was to spend the remainder of his life
guarding the tower. Six of the other mages and wizards, two from each major kingdom,
swore they would find a way to destroy all of Arnorraxs books and works. The Arnorraxs
Bane, as they called themselves, decided that the history of Arnorrax should be forgotten,
for it may tempt power hungry mages and wizards to seek out Arnorraxs library. The six
wizards used their political influences to make it so. The wizards also provided Mertophas
with an apprentice to train as his successor, a tradition now long standing. But ignorance
does not prevent disaster, in fact, it ventures towards it willingly. How could one ever
hope to stop such a treat as Arnorrax if one cannot fathom the evil of men? I will make
sure all will learn of this hidden history. The Arnorraxs Bane needs not be a hidden
organization, and it no longer will be.

Signed,

Ember Falknir