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Here is the document I promised a couple of days ago. Please note
however that this is written by priest of Azari in Aduria, so some of
what is writen may not be exactly truthful.....

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Ian Hoskins

e-Mail: hoss@box.net.au
Homepage: http://darkstar.cyberserv.com
ICQ: 2938300
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The True History of Azrai

You hold in your hands now a history that has never been told, one that has
been covered up by others, or worse still mistold. It is the history of the
greatest of the Gods, Azrai, patron of Aduria. For many centuries now
followers of the other evil gods have attempted to stop us from bringing
you this tale, to block the truth and allow only their lies to be spread,
but here in the great city of Aduria the truth is known, and soon, through
this very document, all others shall know the tale of Azrai and the story
of his betrayal and imprisonment at the hands of the gods of evil.



In the Beginning

In the beginning there was Aebrynis, the lord of order and death, and
Nestellia mistress of chaos and life. Both fought against each other,
hoping to dominate, but neither was powerful enough to defeat the other.
Aebrynis tired of the long battle formed himself into a sphere or rock and
fire to protect himself from Nestellia. This sphere became the world on
which we stand. Nestellia did not wish to let her enemy escape that easily
and made herself into a being of air and water, surrounding Aebrynis to
become the oceans and the clouds. They continued their ancient battle this
way, with Aebrynis sending up mountains of rock to pierce Nestellia, and
fire to burn away the water. Nestellia for her part sent wind to erode the
mountains and water to quench the fire. They still remained at balance
though as both were equal in power and neither could defeat the other.
Their war continued for many, many years and the two gods looked for other
ways to defeat each other. Aebrynis created plants to drink the water and
air that was Nestellia. Nestellia then created animals that would eat the
plants, and walk on Aebrynis as they did so. Aebrynis created lions, and
other predators to eat the animal and Nestellia made her animals faster and
stronger, so they could outrun the predators and continue to eat the
plants. Aebrynis created fish to swim in Nestellia's oceans and the goddess
created sharks and other predators to eat the fish.
This went on for a long time, until eventually both were exhausted and fell
into a deep sleep. Around them the beings that they had created grew and
became stronger and eventually humans were born. Humanity followed neither
god and both, as they would eat both the animals and the plants, and drink
the water and dig in the earth. They breathed the air and used fire to cook
their food. And so it was that humans came to this world.



The Birth of the Gods

Eventually humanity learned of the gods, and their long sleep and called to
them in worship. The gods, although remaining asleep heard their call and
created powerful being, new and younger gods for the humans to worship. The
new gods were part of both the ancient gods and so were perfect for the
humans to worship.
The new gods originally numbered only five, the eldest of who was Anduiras
the god of war. Next was Masela, queen of the seas, and Reynir lord of the
forests and streams. Vorynn, god of magic, and Basaia, goddess of the sun
were the last of the two original gods. As time went by though and human
developed more and more Brenna, goddess of commerce and fortune was needed.
And finally Azrai the god of knowledge was born, youngest of all the gods.
In the time since their birth the gods had found many different races on
the world and each had taken on one race as their worshippers. Anduiras had
taken the evil Andu as his worshippers as they were a people who liked war
and needed the protection of the god of war. Masela had traveled to the
north and taken the Masetians, a weak tribe of fishermen as her people.
Reynir had chosen a minor race of primitives in north-east of the
continent, while Vorynn had taught his people, the Vos, the secrets of
illusion so they could hide themselves in the shadows and sneak up on their
enemies. The foolish tribes of the Ghan people worshipped the sun goddess
while the greedy Brechts of the south followed Brenna. The last of the
race, the Neha did not have any one god, but instead followed all the gods,
as well as the ancient ones.
Azrai, the youngest however had no worshippers, and was still weak and
could not free the people from the others gods control. Azrai realised that
the other gods were stopping the advancement of humanity, preventing them
from being all they could be so he traveled the lands seeking those who
would hear his message, seeking to free them from the enslavement of the
other gods. He could see their unhappiness, but lacked the power to fight
his evil brothers and sisters.



The Betrayal of the Anduiras

Azrai, still young and looking for a people to call his own came upon the
Andu. The Andu were a young race then, but had already chosen a patron god,
Azrai's elder brother Anduiras. Some of the Andu though seeing the truth in
Azrai's words choose to worship him as was right and were well rewarded by
Azrai, growing in both knowledge and power. Anduiras though, looking down
on the Andu saw that they had begun to choose Azrai as their patron and he
became jealous.
The Andu who followed Azrai were well fed and healthy while those who
followed the evil Anduiras were ill and war constantly among themselves for
food. The jealousy in the god of wars heart soon spread to his followers
and they began to look on the worshippers of Azrai as a people to be
conquered. And so Anduiras made his followers attack and kill those who
worshiped the great Azrai. All but a few of the worshippers of Azrai were
slaughtered by the Andu, their blood used in unholy rituals to praise the
evil Anduiras. Many thousands died under the swords of the monstrous Andu
warriors and only a few of Azrai's holy order were able to escape the
attack. They fled south, and Azrai followed to protect them from the
bloodthirsty Andu who still pursued them, carrying out the orders of the
foul Anduiras.
Eventually the few remaining priests and followers came to a far off
southern island and hid there, building a temple to house the books of
knowledge that they had saved from the fires that had consumed their
temples. There they remained for many centuries, preserving the knowledge
of Azrai for a time when they would be needed once more.



The Return of Azrai

In the time since Azrai had been forced to flee by his evil brother a new
race had risen in Aduria, in the lands south of the Andu. This new race was
formed from the people who had been forced like Azrai to flee for their
lives from the evil of the Andu and they had once freed of this evil grown
strong and hungry for knowledge. And so it was that these people, who now
called themselves Adurian came to the hidden island where Azrai's priest
lived. At this time they were without a god to call their own and on
hearing of Azrai's glory the Adurians took the great one as their own and
the priest returned back to the north.
The followers of Anduiras heard of Azrai's return though and they mounted
an attack on his new followers, the Adurians, soon after the priests
arrived. Azrai learned of the foul plot though and gave weapons and
knowledge to his new people, strengthening them against the Andu. When the
evil ones came to the Adurian city they were defeated and driven north out
of the Adurian lands, never to return. The evil god Anduiras was furious
with the destruction of his hordes and called on his other brothers and
sisters to fight Azrai, and so they did, sending storms to attack the
Adurian ships, plague to sicken the people, and hordes of monsters to kill
those who survived. Azrai had been strengthened by the prayers of his
people though and was able to defeat the evil of his brothers and sisters
sending the other gods fleeing in the face of Azrai's greatness. They would
try again many times, but Azrai was strong now, and growing stronger all
the time, while the other gods were weak and could not work together. Had
they all join together to attack Azrai perhaps their evil might have been
successful, but alone they were no longer a match for good.



The Rise to Greatness

Now with many followers Azrai was able to help them to advance, and follow
the cause of knowledge and good. The other gods remain jealous of Azrai's
greatness, but were too weak to attack him directly. With the help of Azrai
and his priest the Adurian people rebuilt their homes, damaged in the wars
with the Andu and constructed mighty cities, including Aduria, Genova, and
Floresele, the home of the largest of Azrai's temples. Now strengthened
against attack the Adurian raised armies to defend themselves against their
enemies.
The first to be converted to the truth were the Andu, who dominated the
lands around the Adurians, ruling from forts while their people were
enslaves. The Adurian army freed many of these slaves, allowing them
freedom and drove out the Andu, capturing many of their forts. The largest
of these forts was built closed to the Adurians, but it was no match for
Azrai's power and was conquered. The Adurians did not destroy what they
captured, like the Andu and altered the fort, making it large and stronger
so they could never be threatened by the Andu again.
The second of these enemies to try to attack was the Masetian Empire of
Subriya. The evil warlords of that land looked at the Adurians lands and
saw the wealth and beauty that had been build there through the hard work
of its people and sent their navies to attack. Azrai aided his people
though and like the Andu army before them the Subriyan navy was destroyed
and the new Emperor of Adurian people sent his armies to capture the evil
warlords and free the Masetian people from their grasp.
This they did, as the Subriyan army was no match for the might Adurian
force. The evil empire though called on the other Masetian tribes and they
sent soldiers, killing many Adurian before they were defeated. The people
of Subriya could not be freed from the Evil of Masela though continued to
fight against the goodness of Azrai. Some were saved, their evil hearts
cleansed, and they joined the Adurian and were happy. The rest though were
too tainted by the evil that dominated them and the Adurian army was
eventually force to retreat from Subriyan, least it also be tainted by the
evil sea goddess.
A great victory had been won though, for Azrai had proven that he was the
most powerful of the Gods and that none could stand against him now. His
people, the Adurians, were the most enlightened race on the planet, living
at peace with themselves and their lands, while the other races still
fought amongst themselves.



The Adurian Empire

Azrai's people now had build a mighty empire and brought his truth to many
race, driving out the evil of the older gods who were not worthy of
worship. The Adurian empire now covered many lands, but enemies still
remained. To the north the followers of the evil sea goddess were first to
fall, although the goddess saved many of them from salvation by carrying
them away across the sea on great ships. Azrai let them go and his priest
converted those who remained to the truth, freeing them from the evil that
had bound them for so long.
Next of the evil gods to be driven away were the Vos, who had been taught
trickery and illusions by their god Vorynn. His evil nature was no match
for the righteous Adurians though and the Vos people soon saw the truth,
joining with Azrai's followers in the war of truth. Azrai had spent many
years attempting to teach the Vos of Vorynn's evil and many had joined him
even before the Adurian army arrived to free the people, and so the armies
were welcomed by cheering Vos, grateful to be free of Vorynn's
imprisonment.
The hateful Andu were next, but even here Azrai was kind and allowed all
who were free of evil to live, only killing those who were beyond help. The
evil of Anduiras ran deep though and many had to be cleansed. Unlike the
Vos the Andu had been taught by Anduiras to hate the Adurians and the great
one and this teaching was hard to cleanse from their souls. Azrai's priest
were eventually successful and the Andu were converted to Azrai's cause.
The followers of the other gods were not capable of preventing Azrai's
truth from being heard now and the primitive Rjuven and greedy Brecht were
also converted, along with the corrupt Neha. Only the evil Ghan people of
the deserts still resisted the truth, despite many attempts by Azrai's
priests over the centuries to free them. It seemed now that Azrai had won,
and driven out all the evil gods, but this proved not to be true.



The imprisonment of Azrai

When the other races had been converted to Azrai's truth the evil gods had
fled Aduria, travelling north into the wilderness. Here that bought some of
their followers and began to build a massive army of evil, ready to strike
down all that had been built. Azrai learned of their plans though and
traveled north to try to convince the people who made up the evil gods
armies to turn from evil and embrace goodness instead.
He was however only successful in freeing the Vos from the evil gods grasp
though and with the native creatures of that northern land they were able
to fight the huge army of the evil gods. Azrai could not win against all
the evil ones at once though and was forced to call on his people for help.
All the warriors of Azrai's faith who could reach the northern lands in
time came at his call, armour by his faith, and ready to destroy the evil
gods once and for all.
After a long battle Azrai had succeeding in driving the forces of the evil
ones before him, but the evil gods had set a trap for him and Azrai spoke
words of peace and kindness to the poor imprisoned people forced to be the
slaves of the evil gods sprung their trap, imprisoning Azrai in another
dimension, and breaking his connection with his loyal followers. Unable to
call on Azrai's help his armies still fought on against the evil ones, but
they were not strong enough to fight all the gods and the armies without
Azrai's assistance and were destroyed. Cut off from their god many of the
people of Adurian in their grief allowed the other gods to influence their
thoughts and the peaceful Adurian empire fell into civil war. His priests
no longer able to hear the word of their god could not aid their people and
many lands slipped back to the control of the evil gods. For a time it
looked like all that Azrai had created would be destroyed, but his people
were stronger than they seemed and evil without his aid they were able to
drive off the influence of the other gods and restore order to their lands.
Much had been lost, but the Adurian Empire itself was still intact.



The Future

In the thousand years since the imprisonment of Azrai his priests have
worked hard to free him, but have not been able to contact him yet. Azrai
however has managed to reach his people and aid them with his magic,
although his words no longer can be heard by the commoners of Aduria and
only his priests can hear his wishes. His power flows through them once
more though and they can again use magic to aid their people.
Priests of Azrai, working day and night for the past five centuries are
close to discovering Azrai's place of imprisonment and soon when this place
has been found the Adurian faithful will once more ride out to do battle
with the heathen followers of the other gods and they will free Azrai and
drive out the influence of the evil gods once and for all.

Back to the Empires of Blood page.

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