Microsoft Zone Archive/Asheron's Lore/A Brief History for Travelers/Keep Your Enemies Closer
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Original Link (now dead) - http://zone.msn.com/asheronscall/ASHEhistoryseptember01.asp
Keep Your Enemies Closer
by Allan Maki
Turbine Entertainment Software
Thistledown PY12 / Earth: September 2001
It had been several months since the world saw magic this great in scope and power. Now it comes again, but this time it is from an enemy that remains obtuse.
The skies continue to shift and with them now the land itself has changed. Through some understanding wholly alien to the Isparians the Virindi have furthered their incursion by altering the very nature of the wilderness. Creatures have been displaced and now inhabit areas never before seen.
The Direlands have become a place of woe and despair. It is here that the Virindi have laid claim at last to the Obsidian Plains. They have driven away all others save for their allies and those they mean to warp to their own devices. Further to the north the Olthoi have been found swarming the landscape once again, there have been pockets of the Olthoi seen throughout Northern Osteth but this new revelation cannot bode well for the Isparians.
In Zaikhal, a once trusted ally has begun displaying some frightening and unnerving characteristics. Diyas al-Yat has begun removing his head, revealing an erupting column of portal energy from his shoulders. This coupled with the arrival of the latest Virindi shock troops, the Simulacra, leaves the fate of this ally as a new mystery to be discovered.
In dungeons bearing the same blood-red walls of their masters the Simulacra are preparing for what can only be a final assault against the Children of Ispar. These beings look like most Isparians in every way, yet their deliberate way of speaking will lend the first shadow of doubt to the cautious adventurer, and once they reveal their true selves by removing their own heads, attack and do not relent.
These new troops afford those adventurers strong enough to wrest victory from their tenacious grasp with a new shield and helmet of great power. These can be further enhanced with the addition of a strange gem found within a final stronghold of the Simulacra. But those halls are filled with beings of immense power and should be traveled only by the most hearty of warriors.
The changes to the world have had an unforeseen effect on the denizens of Dereth. While they have been pulled from their climates and homes some of the creatures have banded together under leaders of their respective races. These leaders are different from their lesser cousins in look and in power. Travelers should be wary when facing down one of these new foes.
Autumn slowly begins to crawl toward the Isparians but it appears the war is far from over. Though the Virindi themselves have lightened their assaults this latest maneuver is one that has changed the way that most travel. This could be just a precursor to an even greater change. The raiding parties of the Virindi death squads have lightened but they still harangue the lonely travelers of the world.
This is a time of weary battle but the hearts of the people are strong and in the face of this great terror they shall not fail. But what comes next from the Virindi, and when?