BrianFreud/lore

Long ago, in unrecorded times, some gargoyles from Ter Mur found themselves on the facet of Ilshenar. It was a verdant world, populated only by the 'lesser' races - lizardmen and ratmen. Finding no way to return home, they set about building their new world, and eventually Ilshenar had grown prosperous. However, when the Stranger defeated Mondain, and the Gem of Immortality was shattered, for whatever reasons, Ilshenar experienced far more severe destruction than did the Trammel or Felucca facets.

“The world now fallen. All torn and undone until it is remade whole again but different. Where I was is no longer where I am yet I have not moved a step. Fate has swallowed the world and spat it out, gnawed, ruined, changed. We are lost in our own land.”

Those who survived the shattering came together, and over the course of fourty years, built a new city which they named Montor, or "Mountain Passion". Tragically, only twenty years after its completion, Montor was destroyed by a volcanic explosion. As its peoples fled the city, they separated into four sects:

• The Anskitas, which loosely translates as "Awakening Knowledge", went west to Termir Mistas, and on its banks built Terort Skitas, the Temple of Knowledge.

• The Mistas, which translates as "Balance", were not suited for days of study and contemplation. A scroll found in Terort Skitas them as “…stoic and strong. Seeking the Balance of all things.” They went south-west to the other side of the facet, and built the city of Mistas on the edge of Nox Tereg, the lands of the lizardmen.

• The third group, the Lokanagrálem ("talk not fight") (referred to by the people of Mistas as the “lacking will”) went south to the grassy fields on the shores of Termir Ilshen, and there built the city they called Lakeshire, which the Anskitas called Mireg ("water-home").

• The fourth group went south-west to the mountains at the center of the land, and built the city of Ver Lor Reg.

Roughly ninety years later, Ulvol discovered how to make what the peoples of Ilshenar called a 'Vasgres' ("great exit"), similar to what Britannians call 'Moongates'. Ulvol's Vasgreses, however, were capable of crossing between a multitude of facets, many of which are still unknown today. However, at some point, Exodus, referred to by the peoples of Ilshenar only as 'Bal-lem' ("evil one") found its way through one of these Vasgres into Ilshenar. Exodus sought to take up where Mondain had left off. According to other scrolls from that time, "The bal-lem is in league with the Anorlor fiends. Together they seek our doom.” Anorlor are Dark Wisps.

The peoples of Ilshenar were able, with much sacrifice, to destroy all of the Vasgreses and to imprison Exodus, though not destroy him. However, Exodus had brought great misery and destruction to Ilshenar. For unknown reasons, most of the peoples of Ilshenar used the last Vasgres to flee the facet, though the peoples of Ver Lor Reg continued to be enslaved by Exodus, and could not leave. As Ter Mur was the original home to the gargoyle race, they determined that a permanent return home was safer than the risk that Exodus might one day escape.

Many years later, when Britannians first made their way to Ilshenar, Lord Blackthorn found and attempted to defeat Exodus inside of his lair. He failed, and was taken captive by Exodus. At the same time, a group of evil mages found their way from Britannia to Ilshenar, and finding Terort Skitas empty, they took up residence.

Exodus crafted a doppelganger of Lord Blackthorn, and with the assistance of this fake Blackthorn, Exodus altered the ancient timeline of Ilshenar. Searching through the history of the Ilshenar facet, millemnia before the shattering of the Gem of Immortality, Exodus found the Juka. In that long ago time, the Juka were involved in an all-out war with the Meer. Exodus found a moment where the Juka had finally failed in their efforts, and were facing a near-certain loss. He offerred them the chance to escape, to come to the present day, to fight for him. Facing no other option, the Juka agreed. With the disappearance of the Juka, the Meer realized that they had moved to the future, and made the decision to put their entire race to sleep, to wait out the years until they could again catch up with the Juka.

Arriving in modern times, the Juka found the city of Mistas. They evicted the ogres, ratmen and lizardmen that had infested the empty city, and now call it home. Similarly, the Meer, having woken from their long sleep, found the city of Lakeshire, and having removed the gazers and elder gazers they found there, took over that city. Montor was found to already be in the control of daemonic forces, and in their similarly weakened states, neither the Juka nor the Meer attempted to contest the city. Additionally, the volcano is still erupting, making rebuilding of that city still impossible, which likely also affected each side's decision to leave Montor alone.

With doppelganger Blackthorn's help, Exodus managed to complete his escape from imprisonment. Each was eventually defeated by a determined group of humans from Britanniana, though Ver Lor Reg was destroyed. Even defeated, the corruption spread by Exodus is still visible in the various mechanical abominations that inhabit the central areas of Ilshenar.