"Nothing feeds a grudge as well as time."
- Eleanor Thalos

Relative normalcy reigned upon Sapience: swords clashed as warriors
fought for glory, ships explored the high seas with sails unfurled, and
the teachings of myriad religions spread upon the lips of the faithful.

Few suspected what the day would bring, as an ominous force gathered
secretly below the surface of the earth. The priesthood of Babel was
about to succeed in what had many years before culminated in the
catastrophic failure known as the Battle of the Storm. In their sights
lay a hidden chamber beneath Shallam: there, long ago, Dunamis, "the
Justice who Was," who would later be known as Deucalion, had sealed away
the Marvinogian, an ancient and terrible servant of Babel.

The task was not easy. Dunamis was wise, and entrusted the box that was
the creature's prison to the archprelate of the bygone Church, and it
required the touch of the foremost servant of the Light to open. That
title was now held by the Caliph of Shallam, and Father Bahtell
Argenthand Del'Strata was unlikely to prove cooperative.

It was only when Tanris Rozzan managed to steal the Torc of the
Archprelate, ancient symbol of that office, from Colgano LastGoodbye
that the cult found hope once more. If worn by a past archprelate, the
torc could be used to break the seal and free the Marvinogian. All that
remained was to reach the box.

Mustering the armies of Ashtan, Tanris and his fellow warriors waged an
all-out campaign against the soldiers of Shallam, and at last penetrated
to the courtyard beneath the Citadel of Light. Fortified at the heart of
the city, they brought forth a carefully nurtured elemental weapon and
summoned a fierce, conflagrant devastation. In its wake, beneath the
shattered flagstones of the courtyard, was revealed a hidden chamber.
Within, an iron box gleamed dully, as though waiting.

Quickly, the Babelonians rushed Mathonwy Corso, one of their number and
a former Archprelate, into the chamber, the torc about his neck. The
Shallamese saw their chance and frantically assaulted the robed human
with all of their strength... but it was too late. As Mathonwy died, the
box imploded with a soft sigh, and the world grew silent.

Heralded by screams of terror, the seven-headed Marvinogian roared
outward from the chamber, bringing death wherever it trod. Despite its
strength, it was not long before the warriors of Shallam drove it away,
wounded and bleeding. The voice of Babel, its master, halted the
creature in its flight, directing it towards a final target: the Erisian
Pyramid, temple of the departed goddess who once claimed the throne of
Chaos.

Descending toward the desert, the Marvinogian reared back its seven
heads and plunged clawed arms into the golden apple above the pyramid's
apex, withdrawing the dark Seed of Chaos. As the ancient creature
hastened toward its master's side, the pyramid began to crumble,
releasing a vast plume of dust that obscured the sun.

Babel knelt and withdrew a shining silver sword from an ancient wound on
the Marvinogian's flank. With a secretive smile he swung the blade,
cleaving a window to the Void through which his servant vanished,
finding rest at last. The Lord of Oblivion turned and was gone in a
step.

Rapidly the pyramid fell into ruin, the last symbol of Eris' power now
extinguished. Gone too, it seems, are the final vestiges of enmity borne
by Oblivion against that vanished goddess... but some wonder in whispers
whether the destruction of the pyramid was ever Babel's true aim.

Penned by My hand on the 21st of Scarlatan, in the year 597 AF.