Shards of Oblivion - Age of Aeronore

:Introduction:

After Thrägorn cast the Seven Shardstones to the planet of Galaron, they landed in each of the seven kingdoms of the Hethrona Realm. One in the kingdom of Oblivion, one in Morgad, one in Kithrona, one in Dargonda, one in Frostborn, one in Mathino-Duga (Mathinia), and one in the Kingdom of Aeronore. The first Shardstone landed in the sea just off the coast of Oblivion.

***

There were men in Hethrona long before the elves settled in Kithrona in the third age, but most of them returned to the Realm of Karrovella when the savages came. The men of Aeronore, however, stayed in the land and built a large fortress in the south to repel the beasts, and they have dwelt there since. The men of Oblivion (who call themselves Víoníans), on the other hand, almost entirely abandoned the realm until the third age, for other reasons, but they did not forget the tales of this mythical stone that was said to have landed just off the coast of Oblivion. Over time, many stories had been told about it, and those who believed in it called it the Depthstone.

No human had ever seen the Shardstone after it landed, but it had gone down in mythical stories and legends as a very powerful stone that was hurled to Hethrona by Thrägorn himself, and has long since been waiting in the depths of the sea off the south-west coast of Oblivion. Many wanted such power for their own and tried to find it despite the belief that it was just a myth, but none had any success in finding it.

After years of hunting, men stopped searching for it, and all hope that it was more than a myth was shattered. The stone sat for millennia just waiting for men to find it, but it became no more than a legend, and was eventually forgotten by all but a few. Three-thousand years later, at the beginning of the fifth age, news began to spread like a virus of a Morgad merchant ship lost at sea off the south-west coast of Oblivion. Morgad blamed Oblivion for the loss of their ship and with already tense relations now worsened, they declared war on the people of Oblivion. All the other kingdoms, except Mathinia (a territory of Morgad), sided with Oblivion and war broke out between the seven kingdoms. Although none saw the significance of the news until another ship, from Oblivion, was lost in the same spot, and then another, and another. Men found the story familiar for some reason unknown to them, until an elderly bookkeeper named Oldrik remembered the old tales of the Depthstone that supposedly landed right where all the ships were disappearing and started convincing people that it was not a myth, but the truth.

The idea that the stone may not actually be just a myth made most roll their eyes, but gave some hope that it was really out there. One group set out on a quest to find the stone, but none returned. A few months later another group wanted to attempt the quest, and they set off with the same task. Ten left that day, but only three returned. The survivors all had severe burns on their bodies and were riddled with claw marks and large scars. One of the three bled to death after one day. The other two claimed that they were attacked by a dragon on the way from the coast to where the ships were lost at sea.

Many didn't want to believe it but the evidence was too much to ignore. News of the "attack" spread across the entire kingdom and caused a lot of arguments about the tale of the Depthstone. Another larger group set out to prove the tale to be no more than a crazy myth, but of the twenty four men that departed, only seven came back. They were scarred and burned in the same manner as the last survivors, and their ship was barely afloat. They came back claiming the same things the last survivors claimed. That they were attacked without warning by a large dragon that guarded the region where all the ships were lost. All of them died after a few days either from loss of blood, refusal to eat or drink, or suicide.

After this horror only few refused to believe in this dragon that guards the Depthstone. Rumors of the stone spread across the entire realm. But no one dared to attempt another hunt for the stone, not after all the failed attempts that ended in many deaths.