Chapter One: The Continent of Oerik

“‘Our sagacious master,’ replied the barons, ‘we advise, and even beg you, to
accept the terms they offer.’ But the Whispered One did not listen. That very day
the mangonels and war-wizards were set up outside the walls. The assault went on
for about five hours and then the wizened lord broke the walls of Fleeth with a wave
of his hand.

“By the dawn, the heads of citizens were stacked before the burghers. Their own
wives and children stared at them foremost. This was the humour of Vecna, and as
his final cruelty, he allowed these burghers to depart in peace and guaranteed their
safety for the remainders of their sorrowful lives.”

- from “The Chronicle of Secret Times” by Uhas of Neheli

itself to be the true nation of the Olman
marking the first year of the Olman lunar
calendar. This may have occurred when
the old Hepmonaland Olman culture was
finally destroyed by warfare, disease,
internal strife, or other disasters. Nothing
more is known of it, though pockets of this
Olman culture may still survive there.
Tamoachan (“the home sought after”)
was the northernmost city of the Amedio’s
Olman Empire, which spanned all of the
Amedio Jungle, reaching as far north as
the Olman Islands. The Olman have a
detailed, 13-month calendar based upon
the phases of Luna.
The Amedio Olman Empire lasted some
500 years before it suffered a devastating
series of internal wars. These may have
lasted a century, all told, but they ended
with the ruin of most of the seven cities.
Farming has always been a precarious
business in the Amedio, as the jungle
constantly and aggressively attempts to
reclaim lost land. If most of the peasants
of one city were killed in warfare, the
jungle moved in all the more swiftly to
overgrow unworked fields.
Disease and pests, always present in
wartime, may have dealt their own blows.
Wall paintings and temple carvings in
Tamoachan indicate that only that city
and one other, far to the south, were
known to have survived the wars, which
appear to have been spawned by struggles
over precious-metal mines and control
over the seat of the emperor. Religious
disturbances are also suspected, as some
writings predict the coming of a many-
eyed being or god who casts fiery ruin
upon the nation.
Rise of Vecna
Always a people close to nature and
led by druids, some Flan began secretly
learning arcane magic from mysterious
dark entities who plied them with
prophecies and promises of greatness
and power. The first Flan wizard, Galap-
Dreidel was born in Haradaragh but was
driven from that city when his magical
studies became known. Branded an Ur
by his people, he fled and is known to
have built a great tower in the Abbor Alz
of the central Flanaess by -990 CY. The
Flan word Ur at that time meant “witch”

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