Twenty Years Passing

At the tender age of eight, Evanjeline Topali watched as her family and village were destroyed by a ravaging plague.  In desperation the young girl offered manic prayers to any god that would hear her pleas to spare her life.

One answered.

And so it was that the child began serving Morgion, Lord of Disease and Decay, in his ambitions to enact all of suffering upon the face of Krynn.

The child grew into a woman, with a beauty and lethality that were both beyond compare.  To this end she used that beauty to lure men to her Lord's cause and to their final destruction, knowing no other path than what was commanded of her.  She was Morgion's chosen, favored first among all his servants.

In the course of service, Evanjeline crossed paths with Solmanic Knight Damien Bishop and Warden Daniel O'Malley.

Both men realized what she represented and the danger that would come from allowing her to travel freely.  Many attempts were made by both men to stop her destruction and bring her to justice, but each time she avoided capture to lead them on a merry chase.

That was until the Warden Daniel trapped her in Kharolis valley, having the dangerous enemy at last in his hands.

But the Warden did not strike Evanjeline down immediately.  Something caused his hand to stop before delivering the killing blow, and instead he prayed to the gods to show him what had lead a woman to this path, asking for their guidance in the matter.

Warden Daniel was shown the path of the child, the images of an innocent shattered before his eyes until he knew the truth of the woman before him.  Tears slipped past his cheeks at the suffering, and in a selfless act, he pledged his own soul if it would bring the child redemption for what was lost.

Mishakal was so moved with the actions of Warden Daniel that she was able to redeem the child, destroying the woman that was Evanjeline so that a little girl known as Eva could live once more and reclaim the innocence she had lost.

Yet such an act was not without consequence.  Morgion was furious at the loss, feeling keenly the severing that resulted in her passing.  

In a fury he offered an Ultimatum unto the lands.

Return Evanjeline, or Suffer the Breath.

The Breath of Morgion.  A plague that not even his own followers were immune to.

It was Archmagus Morier, Black Robe in service to Nuitari, that first attempted to warn them of the danger that awaited.

The wizard had seen the Breath first hand, and knew precisely just how horrifying it could be.  He urged them to aid in the quest to find the Tears of Mishakal, a healing relic that would be able to stop Morgion's gambit.

But most dismissed the Archmage's warnings, putting them aside without knowing just how real the threat was that lay ahead.  Even more dismissed the Archmage's words as time passed and there was no further word from Morgion, most putting it aside as a failed bluff that had been called.

And while the people dismissed the danger, the first tendrils of the plague had already begun to weave through their midst.

Thus friends would share a meal, lovers would embrace, quarrels would spill blood.. and in each action of life, would Morgion's Breath and his cruel machinations, be furthered still.

While Morgion's scheme worked quietly in the background, unseen and dismissed by most, all eyes turned once more to the Dragon Armies.

Empress Sekhmet Hazsheis had united the five wings of the armies to one purpose, to one common goal and ambition, to see the rule of Takhisis spread through all of Ansalon.  Below her standard did the armies rise to greatness never before seen, to strike fear in the hearts of all men.

The rule of Empress Sekhmet was opposed by Grandmaster of the Knighthood, Lady Anastasia Mercedes.  Where the dragon armies flourished, they were intercepted by the Solamnic Knights, and the people once more rallied behind their banners to promote the noble defenders of the land.

Grandmaster and Empress would clash in numerous conflicts, neither side gaining advantage over the other, and yet the influence of the Dragon Armies would continue to grow.  

In an attempt to unite the free races of Ansalon together against the forces of Takhisis, Lady Isabella E'lhanan called for a White Stone Council.  She would carry among them the one true dragonlance, a weapon that could stop the very heart of darkness, so that hope could once more be renewed.

Lady Isabella was the Prophet to the Gods of Light, first cleric of Mishakal and chosen to the gods of good.  Her summons to the people of Ansalon could not be readily ignored, and so it was that men and elves, dwarves, magi, knights and heroes alike would gather in the glade of the White Stone to hear her message.

It was at this time that Morgion's Gambit was finally sprung.

There are no records of what transpired within the glade of White Stone, history does not tell of what horrors were unleashed that day at what was meant to be a peace summit.  

What is known that the Breath of Morgion was finally activated, and a good number of those within the glade went mad.  The disease wraped their minds first, and those who were meant to become allies turned upon one another, until the great white stone, was stained red.

Grandmaster Anastasia was not present for events, and was spared from the horrors of the glade.  However the Prophetess Isabella had indeed once been within the glade.

In the aftermath she was not recovered, and to this day no one knows what became of the Light's chosen priestess.  With her loss, so too did the one true dragonlance, forged of pure dragon-metal in Paladin's grace, disappear.  And thus did the forces of light lose one of their greatest allies, and in this, the only weapon by which to stop the dragon armies path.

The council of Whitestone was not the only incident in which the Breath of Morgion began to wreak havoc. All across the land the disease twisted into the minds of men and women from all walks of life, of all factions and allegiances.

The farmer in his field turned upon his family, brother would lash out against brother and entire families would eventually destroy one another caught in the grip of madness.

Caught up in the disease, the Solamnic Knights took the field against the Dragon Armies in a series of battles that raged across the landscape. Numerous losses were suffered by both sides in the conflict, and the Grandmaster Anastasia was eventually defeated in battle, and placed to her eternal rest at an unknown location.

And it was at this time that the Tower of High Sorcery would also come under the influence of Morgion's Breath, and all havoc was unleashed upon the lands.

The destructive power of maddened wizards was released upon the populace, and the mages turned upon one another in the very towers, breaking all rules that composed the very foundations of magic and all it represented.

In an act of desperation the High Mage at the time, an elven white robe named Helene, issued a horrifying decree in an attempt to stop the madness unfurling both without and within the Tower.

The Hunters, and Auxiliary were ordered to seek out all afflicted magi, and eliminate the threat that they posed to the magic and to all the Tower stood for.

And so it was that the world tore itself apart in a frenzy.