Long ago, the Citadel of the Order was located far north from where it now stood, near the waters of what the humani today call the Gulf of Aqaba. There, in the fertile oasis of Desh, stood the ancient Tower of Amon, the serene pearl of the dessert. Now, it stood no more – nothing remained of the thick walls andsoaring towers made from marble of purest white, once a wonderful sight to behold when the sun hovers over the horizon – leaving onlyblack, scorched earth and crumbling rocks.
It was more than three thousand years ago when the old Citadel once stood proud and beautiful, their home since their founding. After ten thousand years of peace from the Sundering, the Order of Kath'arinan waged again another bloody war that lasted for more than a century against an alliance of five Great Houses. The Houses of Mitutu, Muharishu, Vahashti, Rimanis and Shargashrose up to overturn the Covenant of Erech. In the end, the Order and the other Great Houses that remained true to the Covenant were victorious, but at a terrible price. Thousands upon thousands of elani on both sides fell, not since the Sundering did the world bear witness to such carnage. More than half of the Order fell in battle and most of the structures that survived even the Sundering were left in ruin. Numerous elani towns and villages, from the British isles to the river valleys of Mesopotamia were deserted or completely wiped off.
The loss of Amon during the Great Upheaval was grievous to the Kath'ari for it left them homeless and defenseless, never have they dreamed in their darkest of nightmares that a time will come where it would stand no more. With their Citadel destroyed and the whole peninsula devastated and no longer capable of sustaining a sizable group of inhabitants, the Kath'ari decided to relocate to somewhere else.
Fearing that another day will come where the very walls of their stronghold be shaken and torn down, the Kath'ari built their new Citadel where no enemy can easily reach. Invoking powerful magic long unseen on the face of the earth, the Kath'ari created nine islands where two oceans meet and there they made a new home for themselves. On the largest isle, encircled by the others, they built their new citadel — an imposing fortress carved on the side of a dormant volcano – and named it the Tower of Amon'shen, in memory of their lost home.
- excerpt from “The History of Kath'arinan” by Nicholas Piddlewillow, 6th Edition
Winner of the Eternal Scribe Literary Award for Non Fiction Book of the Year
When Sanders opened his portal somewhere in the Midwestern United States it was high noon, the sun blazing brightly and the world abuzz with activity, but upon stepping through the bluish haze of the portal he was met with darkness and the fierce churning of the sea as the waves crashed unto the coral reefs that surround the island of Menos. If a seafarer passed through that little bit of ocean he will see nothing but a little island in the middle of nowhere with a huge moss covered rock, almost twelve feet high and eight feet wide, that straddled its center. There was nothing much worth mentioning about it, nothing spectacular or note worthy. Aside from the huge rock, it was just a barren piece of nothing in the middle of nothing. However, for wizards, it was more than a piece of rock jutting out of the ocean waves, but a gate to Asul. Menos was the smallest island of the Isles of Asul and the only place that could directly be reached through magic.
Sanders felt the usual jolt of queasiness that often comes after traveling long distances by magic. It was a second or so before the sensation passed, enough time to take-in several refreshing breaths of salty night’s air to help shake off the nausea before he walked up to the rock. He did not dally about, not wanting to be late, he still had one appointment to conclude before going to Incanus. The Triumvir was known for his short temper; an angry Magister is nothing compared to an angry Triumvir. He once knew of a guy who was sent to clean up the dragons den for half a year as punishment for bumbling his report to Incanus. The poor bloke was a little bit twitchy after that.
