Kor-Avul-Thaa...  finest  jewel in the crown of a realm of sublime glory,

greatest  city  in  the  Middle Kingdoms, mayhap all the world... Its splendid

walls  of  shimmering  crystal  could  be seen from a hundred leagues distant,

kissed by the golden rays of the sun, or caressed by the ethereal fingers of a

midnight  moon.  Its  magnificent spires and citadels, built by generations of

kings  from  the  resplendent  gifts hewn from the ancient bosom of the sacred

Crystal  Mountains, had oft' times been the bitter envy of rival emperors, and

many  were  the sieges which Kor-Avul-Thaa had withstood and repulsed over the

centuries,  for  powerful sorcerers did weave great spells of protection about

the  dazzling  towers,  and  none  may  have  passed unbidden through the vast

sapphir ean gates of mighty Kor-Avul-Thaa...



From the Journals of Sage Daelun



[The Oracle of Kor-Avul-Thaa:]

The sky rent asunder... black-winged devils surge forth from the void...

A maelstrom of crimson fire burns above us... what carnage has thou wrought?

Not sword, ballistae, nor burning brand

Could e'er these walls aspire to breach,

Yet now the city's fall is nigh,

As elder rites black fiends unleash.



High  Lord  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Dark  Elucidation  (Keepers  of the

Forbidden  Books  of  the First Cataclysm): By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, such

ancient  secrets  we  discovered  within  these  sinistrous,  worm-worn pages,

Etched  with  darksome  glyphs  and  sigils,  bound  with  fearsome spells, An

eldritch  tide  of  stygian  sorceries  unfettered  by  the  forbidden Tome of

Shadows...



Now  thunderous  cataclysm befalls the gleaming Kor-Avul-Thaa (The mystic

gate  stands  open!)  The  Xytaxehedron  held  to the stars... the incantation

uttered  with  eager  tongues...  (What long-shackled powers of the elder dark

have our conjurings loosed?)



By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, the vortex blackens the stars above,

A vast plague of amorphous horrors descends to rend with fang and talon,

(As with torrents of blood the crystalline walls run red?)

And in the glooming chambers of our shadowed sanctum, we wait, half-mad with

terror,

To reap the slaughterous harvest which we have sown...



[The Chronicler of the Cataclysm:]

And beyond the vortex, the churning black waters of the void did disgorge the

Dwellers in Eternal Shadow,

And upon a horde of winged horrors, brandishing swords of ebon flame, they

rode out from the Gate...

And a terrible silence fell upon Kor-Avul-Thaa...



[The Echoes of the Oracle:]

The sky rent asunder, black winged devils surge forth from the void...

A maelstrom of crimson fire burns above us... what carnage has thou wrought?



[The Chronicler of the Cataclysm:]

The Chronicles of Time speak of only two other instances when the sky did

split  wide  and  bleed  forth such a torrent of horror as that which assailed

Kor-Avul-Thaa...  One  of those times was the fateful eve when the moon burned

black  over  ancient  Lemuria, as a legion of ravening fiends emerged from the

Outer  Darkness  to  visit catastrophe upon that realm... And the other... the

other  manifestation  of such a staggering cosmic evil is recorded only in the

ancient  Scrolls  of  the  Third  Circle,  a  dark  collectio  n of terrifying

blasphemies  which  was  believed to have been burned by the Order of Kl'aa at

roughly  the same time as the first Tome of Shadows was discovered deep within

the  Black  Pyramid...  These scrolls speak disturbingly of visitations to our

earth  by  creatures  from  a  terrible  place  known  as  the Black Galaxy...

creatures  which  were  able  to  span  the  vast  expanses  of time and space

separating  our  world  from  theirs  in  their  great dark chariots, bringing

pestilence  and  carnage whenever they set foot upon the earth... And yet, the

scrolls  also  speak of the Others, known by some ancient, long-dead tribes as

the  Travelling Ones... beings who did stand against the denizens of the Black

Galaxy  and  wage  war with them across the nighted void. It is said that t he

Travelling  Ones  sailed  the  star-seas in huge silvern spheres ringed with a

myriad  pulsing  lights,  and  that in a great battle they drove their shadowy

foes  back  to  the Black Galaxy... but at a great cost... The Travelling Ones

were  drained  of  their cos mic powers and cast into a deep slumber, and some

say that they remain here still, hidden in mysterious, secret places, awaiting

the time of their reawakening. It was ascertained by those mages who found the

Tome  of Shadows that certain gateways existed linking our world and the Black

Galaxy,  just  as  maps carved into the stone walls of ancient tombs displayed

the  pathway  to  the  terrifying  realm  through the eternal blackness of the

void...  and  within  the  sinister  pages of the dread book were the arcane k

eys...  the  rites to open wide these gates and give the dark wanderers beyond

the freedom to roam the earth once again... And the darkling lords did descend

upon  Kor-Avul-Thaa  to  claim  their  splendid prize, and enthrone themselves

within the glittering walls...



[The Echoes of the Oracle:]

Not sword, ballistae, nor burning brand

Could e'er these walls aspire to breach,

Yet now the city's fall is nigh,

As elder rites black fiends unleash...



[The Brotherhood:]

By Klatrymadon and Zuranthus, in Kor-Avuk-Thaa, darkness reigns eternal...

Nevermore shall the city glimmer, for now the crystalline walls gleam black...

Ever black...



And  so  it was that the bedazzling and splendid Kor-Avul-Thaa did become

the  City of Shadows, a sinister fortress of elder fiends and fearsome beasts,

unleashed by the meddlings of mortals aspiring to dark thresholds of forbidden

knowledge  and  arcane powe r, a nightmare city shunned and feared by all. And

not  since  the  sinking  of  Atlantis  was  the  fall  of  a  realm so sorely

lamented...



[From the Journals of Sage Daelun]



[Lyrics: Byron]

[Music: Jonny and Chris Maudling]