The Nagooth Incident

From records unearthed in R.Y. 425 by Arkan explorers in Nagooth, the story of this strange incident was pieced together. It's often recounted today in the east of Arkoland and in Kattegut as a children's tale, but its roots are based on a real incident that happened on the borders of the ancient High Elven Empire of Caer Sidi. Here it is as is told today in the city of Heorot.

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"Among sages it had long been rumored that ley lines of deep magical power must criss-cross like a web at nexus points yet undiscovered in the wildest parts of the Realm. It was rumored that if such channels of magical energy could be located, the power of a mage's spellcraft might be amplified beyond imagination. So like knights in search of the Fountain of Youth, multitudes of the Realm's most ambitious mages, be they conjurers, summoners, illusionists or enchanters, all disappeared in search of the mythical ley lines, never to return... except one.

After a disappearance of several years, a certain sage, Lord Aelfrith, returned in 2570 B.E. and confirmed the existence of ley lines deep within the Marches of Nagooth.

(Contemporary stories of the account call this sage-lord, "Aelfrith", though this is likely a re-derivation of his name or a complete invention of the Arkan people in the east who use "Lord Aelfrith" in many strange and wonderful stories of Arkoland.)

Though the Marches of Nagooth was a distant elven principality, Aelfrith documented his findings in a secret report commissioned by the Duchy of Duckforth, a inhabitance of humankind in vassalship to the Elven Empire. Aelfrith, so the stories tell, believed that instantaneous travel throughout the Realm might be possible if the power of these ley lines could be harnessed and controlled. The sage was hesitant to begin the work of testing his hypothesis for fear of revealing such an uncertain power to the certain ambitions of his contemporaries. But in 2570 B.E. before any of Aelfrith's reports could be read beyond his immediate coterie, a great cataclysm stuck and humankind disappeared forever from the east of the ancient Realm. Aelfrith's reports were buried in ruin among the tossed stacks of the lost Duchy of Duckforth.

Nigh seventy years passed before a young and sporting band of goblins, marauders and spell-tricksters all, re-emerged from the wild: they would eventually gain notoriety as the Snôtlingas. This plucky band of prestidigitous dart-chuckers discovered Aelfrith's reports while mucking about in the ruins of Duckforth. It took some fatal experimentation and divination but evidently the Snôtling spell-tricksters succeeded in interpreting Aelfrith's notes and locating a slough of mythical ley lines. They attempted to summon an underworld lord by the name of Maghrek, but in their spirited incantations the Snôtlingas being as notoriously undisciplined as they were enthusiastic, succeeded in tearing open the fabric of space and time. Their Lord of Ooze failed to make any appearance but did manage to cast a great ball of dreck upon the Snôtlingas before his trajectory was short-circuited and the great pulsing ley lines dumped a fantastically wild array of peoples, mystical relics and strange architectural structures into the backwater Elvish principality. This sudden rifting between planes of existence caused great mishap and disruption among the Snôtlingas, but they were rewarded for their pernicious meddling.

Sensing power for the taking, Nagooth had her reporting vassal disglottled and declined any consult, confab or contact with the High Emperor of the Elves. Abandoning all protocol she sent her own warband to lay claim to whatever it could of these new lands or to get her hands on some of those little Snôtling fireworks.

Intensely rifted lands in the Marches of Nagooth were claimed by both renegade goblin and backwater elf. Separate bands of Snôtlingas and Nagoothniks unofficially set up camps upon the borders of ancient and powerful magical ley lines and began meddling about in a bath of raw magical power trying to negotiate complete control of the surrounding territories. In one month their skirmishes drew armies from both Caer Sidi and the Great Sahn of Gobkinkind and a four way conflict erupted. In three days the Snôtlingas were scattered, the Great Sahn repulsed and the Marches of Nagooth forcibly abandoned. The Margrave went missing and was never again seen by Elvenkind.

 

Lady Dessetia

Many have heard the tales of the High Elven Empire of Caer Sidi, cruel, capricious and copper-loving, but few outside of east Arko and Kattegut have heard of the ancient backwater Elven principality of Nagooth. The province, still wild and mystical today, used to sit on the border of what Caer Sidi called the Absolute Wild and was lead by a particularly unscrupulous and grasping Margrave. She was born Dessetia of the Lake, of the powerful High Elven house of Burrayl. Though upon age she was given the faubourg known as Lake Calecathon, Dessetia never learned the subtle game of courtly intrigue in Caer Sidi and much preferred the subtlety of the dagger, more so the panache of her sword. Repeated lying, cheating, gambling and brash insubordination brought her neck to the guillotine, and though the Emperor wished to make a point he had far too much invested with Burrayl to bring such ignominy to their house. Dessetia was spared and sent to the furthest marches of the Realm. There she was allowed to continue whatever wicked plots she could carry on with while using her prowess with a knife and her command of elven knights to keep the things of the Absolute Wild in their absolute place.

But Nagooth was far from united under the Margrave and she had many enemies among elves who shared a claim to her position and were just waiting for their chance to rise. After the conflict in Nagooth she disappeared forever but her body was never found.

Before she was lost to history it is recorded that Dessetia scandalously took the name of Alfenriel in Nagooth sundering all ties with her family and by extension Caer Sidi.