The Shadow War/Wardens' War Continued

The weakened, vulnerable Mathias was slowly corrupted by the shadows over a course of approximately two years. My guess is that they took advantage of the psychological and emotional damage they dealt him, and bound him to them. The corrupted Mathias then brought more Wardens to the Shadows, in turn corrupting them.

Around 5 A.E. the self-proclaimed Wardens of Shadow attacked the sole colony of Humans, wiping them out. At the same time, there are rumors that they attacked their fellow, non-corrupted Wardens. In any event, the Wardens were divided, with anywhere from 49 to 57-percent of the wardens now serving the Shadows.

The brutal Wardens' War was fought in the Astral Plane and the mortal plane on Nemedia. The Wardens of Shadow slaughtered mortals mercilessly, while developing living weapons collectively referred to as spawn. The Nemedians were still disorganized for the most part, and were barely able to defend themselves. The Wardens of Shadow decimated several pantheons of gods. The Wardens of Light found themselves beaten at every turn, their best and brightest battling each other to oblivion (See Appendix 6: The Wardens).

In the seventh year of the war, the Wardens of Light began training a select group of mortals, all of whom were either half-human or full-blooded humans. The reason they were selected has been hotly debated, although the historian Albus Sherot believed that these humans were capable of wielding the same power as Antis, but to a more limited degree (i.e. unable to create life) and without going mad.

After three years of training with the Wardens, this small band of humans secretly entered the Shadowlands. What happened within is the source of much debate, but in any case their actions resulted in the defeat of the Wardens of Shadow. As for the mortals, which are now referred to as the Guard, there is no knowledge as to whether any of them survived.

The Wardens of Light trapped their fallen brethren within the Shadowlands, declaring them Xan, which means "Forsaken." The Xan countered by weaving the same type of shields and wards to prevent the Gods or the Wardens of Light from entering the Shadowlands. The shadowlands then became a sort of penitentiary for those entities that posed a grave danger to mortals. They were able to jury-rig a system that would allow them to banish gods within the Shadowlands through the use of a one-way portal, without allowing those within to escape.

Updated August 16 2002
By Moderator/Group Owner Senidel - [email protected]