AC:DM CD Lore/Historical Overview/Portal Year 12 - The Rise of the New Singularity
Portal Year 12 – The Rise of the New Singularity
It seems that as long as Isparians have been on Dereth, the Virindi have been there, watching. The mysterious beings seemed content to limit their presence to the Direlands and Obsidian Plains, establishing a few well-hidden fortresses where they carried out experiments upon the creatures of the island, most notably Drudges and Tuskers.
While Virindi found in the Direlands or in their underground installations proved to be vicious and powerful foes, they seemed to be acting in a defensive stance, moving only to protect their interests. The Virindi created more deadly creatures called Hollow Minions, resistant to human magic and able to batter through protection enchantments with ease. The discovery of these terrifying creatures raised fears of a Virindi assault, but the Hollow Minions were employed as guards, rather than as the brutal shock troops of an invasion.
The Virindi took increasing interest in the activities of their human neighbors in the midst of the struggle with Bael'Zharon, the Hopeslayer. A pair of Virindi agents established themselves in the town of Ayan Baqur, established on the western shore of the Direlands. Claude the Archmage and his associate Leopold proved a benign, if odd, pair of agents, rigorously maintaining a façade of human behavior, even if it was perfectly obvious to any human interacting with them that these two were foreign observers.
As the conflict with Bael'Zharon and his shadowy legions reached a climax, the Virindi took a more active role in Dereth's affairs. The Empyrean archmage Asheron assembled a coalition of disparate groups to defeat the Hopeslayer, even hinting at Virindi collusion. As if to belie this suggestion of cooperation, however, a Virindi artifact was stolen from one of their most well-guarded installations and used in a ritual to weaken Bael'Zharon in this world. It has since been speculated that the theft of this “Shard of the Singularity” angered the Virindi, perhaps goading them into a more aggressive stance against humanity.
When the Hopeslayer was defeated and banished to another realm, it seemed that his departure left a power vacuum in the world, and the newly belligerent Virindi eagerly stepped in to assume power. The first signs of their true nature surfaced in the mad journals of Candeth Martine, a member of the Dereth Exploration Society captured by the Virindi and subjected to terrible experiments. Martine became a violent and ruthless killer in the service of the cabal who warped him -- given unusual powers and abilities that his notes only hinted at. Martine eventually escaped, murdered his former associates in the Exploration Society, and promptly disappeared into the shadows. Presumably, he waits there still.
Soon after the revelations of Martine's torment, the Virindi struck in force. They introduced new servant creatures, eerie floating “Dolls” and “Marionettes,” which surged across the A'mun desert and threatened human settlements in Osteth. Following on the heels of this wave of terror was their takeover of Ayan Baqur.
Scholars still disagree on the details of these events, but it is clear that the Virindi, their ranks bolstered by a newly-arrived variety of killers known as Executors, kidnapped the residents of the popular town. At first, the occupying forces seemed peaceable, even continuing to trade at the same favorable rates as their predecessors. Shortly after their arrival, however, a Director in the center of town was slain, at which point the full terror of the invasion was unleashed. Eventually it was found that the hostile forces were under the control of a Director named Adirred, in a nearby dungeon. Also in this dungeon were the missing townsfolk of Ayan Baqur, wills broken and only barely able to speak.
After Adirred's destruction at the hands of vengeful human warriors, the Virindi in Ayan Baqur again assumed a friendly and non-threatening pose, though the town remained surrounded by a picket of hostile Executors. The Virindi established a “consulate” in southern Osteth. Their mission was to forge an alliance with renegade Lugians who had been cast out of the fortress of Linvak Tukal. Furthermore, human explorers found the laboratory and notes of Aerbax, a Virindi gone mad from its own experimentation, the creator of the twisted Dolls and Marionettes.
These events shed light on a growing rift in the Virindi ranks. Some Virindi, like Adirred and Aerbax, were straining against the constrictions of the race's communal mind, and were largely responsible for the aggression against humanity. They sought ways to free themselves totally from dependence on the “Singularity” – where the race evidently resides – and separate themselves from the shared Virindi consciousness, the “Quiddity.”
Isparians gained greater insight into Virindi motivations when explorers learned ran into “Black Claw” Drudges in the north and south mountains of Osteth. These were Virindi-twisted Black Drudges under orders to kidnap humans for experiments similar to those conducted upon Martine and the citizens of Ayan Baqur. A hard-fought quest exposed the machinations of a Virindi Director named Lacandrillar.
Lacandrillar helped orchestrate the kidnapping of Ayan Baqur's population, and had been using them as experimental fodder. He hoped he could, with access to fresh captives, discover what in human consciousness allows us to function as fully individual and independent beings. Lacandrillar believed that within the human mind was the secret to final liberation from the Quiddity. Outraged humans slew him, releasing the residents of Ayan Baqur from their imprisonment. The Virindi fell back to consider their next step.
The next step did not take long. Unknown to many, the Virindi had taken over the island to the southwest of Dereth. The island, formerly a proving ground where Bael'Zharon tested monarchs eager to join his army, became known as the Singularity Caul. It was the center of Virindi power on Dereth, flooded with hordes of their most powerful servant creatures. Humanity's discovery of this island coincided with the launch of perhaps the final Virindi offensive.
All over Osteth, groups of humans found themselves assaulted by Virindi servants transported by Virindi portal servitors, the Rifts. Virindi Inquisitors, lethal enforcers of the Quiddity, arrived on the island and in some of the newly opened Virindi bases. Some speculated that the Inquisitors were there to curb the activities of the breakaway Virindi faction, but the Inquisitors also turned their sickles on humans, suggesting that perhaps the renegades had reached a détente with the old guard, to eradicate the human foe before deciding their internal struggle.
This suspicion was borne out as some documents found on high-ranking Virindi were translated, showing a new edict for all Virindi: to cease all interaction with humans and to act only to destroy them. The masked ones called upon a long-standing alliance with the warlike, desert-dwelling Tumeroks to cooperate in a military push against human towns. With Virindi providing transportation and magical support, and the Tumeroks bringing fighting power and organization, the new alliance moved against the human capital cities of Cragstone, Hebian-To, and Zaikhal. Massive floating fortresses and underground bunkers provided anchors for the invasion, and humans scrambled to drive back Virindi and Tumerok forces. Meanwhile, continued lightning raids continued to make victims of isolated human groups in the wild.
The Virindi campaign to dominate or destroy humanity has reached a fever pitch. One can only wonder what the next days will bring….