Many years after Sao's scheme was brought to a violent end by the lords of soul and steel, the legendary lord of Chaos, known only as Rao, returned into this world intent on destroying every single living thing on the face of Raokrá, and nearly succeded. The chain of events that led to this disaster is quite complicated, and only the most relevant facts are presented here.

It all started in another plane, the place of pain and flames known to us mere mortals as Eshnor, the Athosdit (punishment, hell) of fire, where its newest immortal lord looked upon the earth with unquenchable ambition. This immortal member of the council was Ordwyn, elevated to this new position by the ancient ones shortly after his "death" at the hands of the lords of soul and steel during the year of the dead.

Ever since then, Ordwyn had been plotting revenge on his foes, and last he had found a way to obtain it; after many decades of research, he had found a way to breach the barriers between his realm and the material world. Still, Ordwyn feared what would happen if he did, you see, Immortals of the council have strong ties to their assigned planes, on them they are Immortal, but they can be killed outside them; and Ordwyn knew that Arkus (the Immortal keeper of the earth) would not allow an intrusion into his domain.

But the lord of Eshnor had foressen this, and had prepared for it. 23 years ago, an ancient prophecy, told to Naram Sun many years past, was fulfilled with the birth of a child, Rashad Sun (Naram Sun's grandson). The child was to be a powerful warlock, potentially more powerful than Naram himself. The child's ties with the entropic energies of the underworld had brought him on the infernal lord's attention, and allowed the evil being to exert a small control over him. Appearing before the young necromancer, Ordwyn lured him with promises of power and riches, and convinced him to aid him in his plan.

In the same manner, Ordwyn allied with several other lords of soul and steel, promising them to fulfill their dreams of riches and power. Naram Sun, Darwynn, Sargaso, and several others joined the evil lord. With so many powerful allies, Ordwyn was ready to make his bid for world conquest.

The lord of Eshnor had prepared a powerful spell, a spell that would allow him to spirit Arkus away from Raokrá and into his dimension of flames and pain. By doing this, Ordwyn would have Arkus at his mercy, mortal and defenseless.

With the help of his new earthly agents, Ordwyn broke the eternal storm that surrounds the keeper of the earth's castle. Naram and the others broke through the castle's defenses and came before Arkus himself, and while the others kept the immortal occupied, Naram and Rashad finished the last enchantments necessary to complete Ordwyn's spell.

Arkus soon found himself standing in the throne room of Eshnor, and Orwyn stood before him. The battle that ensued was fast and furious, but since Arkus was no longer in his realm, he was defenseless before the Immortal of Eshnor. Ordwyn eventually emerged victorious, after which he killed Arkus and threw his lifeless body in the deepest pit of Eshnor, making sure that he would never return.

It was now a matter of weeks before Ordwyn and his legions entered the world, but still he feared that the remainig lords of soul and steel may stop him, and so ordered his allies to hunt them down and kill them.

The corrupted lords of soul and steel went after them, and would have anhilated them were it not for the constant interference of a strange man. The appearance of this new foe worried Ordwyn greatly, for not even he knew who he was, all he knew was that he possessed inmense power.

Even though the lords of soul and steel managed to avoid their former comrades, they were not able to get together and launch an attack to stop Ordwyn's crossing into this world. And so, on a moonless night, the infernal lord and his demonic legions came into this world. Ordwyn took over Arkus' palace and his scepter, the legendary scepter of the earth, said to have the power to control the forces of nature.

As retaliation to his greatest enemy (Fernando Du Mont, the paladin who had given him the final blow during Sao's time), Ordwyn used the scepter and his own powers to send a rain of acid and fire to the capital city of Alis, destroying the entire city just after he had sent one of his minions to assasinate the king. Not happy with this, Ordwyn rejuvenated and healed Lawrence Du Lac and sent him to destroy Du Mont.

The legions of demons were now loose upon the world, and ravaged many nations for several weeks. With the power of the scepter, his inherent powers and the endless legions of Eshnor, Ordwyn's ultimate victory seemed close at hand, challenged only by Emperor Ruzsell of Thyrana.

When Ordwyn's victory seemed inevitable, a man appeared before him out of nowhere, a strange symbol shining red in his forehead (see the header). The man ordered Ordwyn to return to his dimension at once or suffer the consequences, Ordwyn laughed and unleashed the very flames of Eshnor to burn him to ashes, but when the flames disappeared, the man was unharmed. Ordwyn attacked the man until exhaustion, without so much as scratching him.

Ordwyn demanded to know who he was, and the man revealed himself to be Rao's incarnation. Pushing Ordwyn aside, Rao closed the gates that linked Eshnor to this world, also closing any other gates from any other dimension. Rao then banished the infernal armies and nullified most of Ordwyn's power.

Amused by Ordwyn's pleas, Rao allowed him to live and threw him out the castle to wander the world until its destruction, but not before showing him how he destroyed the scepter of the earth.

On a far away land, the lords of soul and steel, after seeing the demonic legions rip through the land leaving nothing but destruction in its wake, had united again to defeat Ordwyn.

It was then that the lords of soul and steel got the first taste of the Seneschals of Chaos, powerful warriors infused with Rao's powerful energies, which made them incredibly powerful. The lords of soul and steel were lured to a trap by Enhyad, the bastard son of Du Mont, trained by Lawrence Du Lac and now one of Rao's most powerful warriors. In that trap, Rao captured all the lords of soul and steel, took away all their possessions and cursed them (the curse manifested differently in each one of them, Omem could not hold weapons, Naram lost many spells, Darwynn turned any money he touched into dust, etc.).

Seeing them as worthless scum, Rao allowed them to live and set them free so that they could see his unavoidable victory. Without equipment, hunted (for fun) by the Seneschals, they were ready to lay down their weapons and await death.

Ordwyn appeared before them, but instead of wanting their heads, he needed their help. He knew that an Immortal's weapon was indestructible in its home dimension, and he believed that Rao had not yet mustered enough power to have destroyed the scepter of the earth so easily. He believed Rao had broken it into pieces and spread them across the world, probably because he feared its power could be used against him.

Knowing this, the lords of soul and steel set out to find a legendary medallion that may have had the power to locate the pieces of the scepter, under constant attack by the Seneschals of Chaos, fights they mostly avoided. After unlocking the secret of its location, they found the medallion, which allowed them to locate a piece of the scepter, it was in a small uncharted island off the coast of Pinshak.

Once there, they found out that the island held the resting place of the remains of Asckura, the dead force of the earth, and had to brave many dangers to recover the piece of the scepter. Outside the tomb, however, another of the Seneschals of chaos, named Rakhosh, stole the piece from them and escaped.

During the voyage home, their vessel encountered the feared dark waters and they shipwrecked, barely escaping alive with the help of a misterious shadow. Reaching Pinshak, they encountered a piece of the medallion in an art shop and retrieved it. During their stay, they also encountered Thyranian forces led by the emperor himself, and joined him in a battle against a small detachment of troops from Centhaz, led by a wizard who possessed a legendary artifact, the tear of Acron. After a furious battle, the wizard managed to escape by boat, with emperor Ruzsell on his trail.

After a short battle with Cambas, a nearly invulnerable Seneschal of Chaos (a battle they barely escaped alive), they boarded a ship headed for Thyrana, in the hopes that they could find a clue about the whereabouts of the scepter in the ruins of the temple of Ascan. On their way, they were intercepted by a war ship surrounded by dark waters.

After being forced to come aboard, they met up with the leader of the Seneschals of chaos, who apparently was not very loyal to his master; not only did he returned some of their weapons, but also dropped them a hint on how to stop Rao before it was too late.

Also on their way, the shadow that had saved them earlier came to them, and told them to head towards the islands of Karnool, said to be the last vestiges of the once great continent of Karnar (Karnar was sunk by Acron when he destroyed the ascan civilization, and it reemerged later under Rao's influence).

Before the lords of soul and steel could continue their journey, Egnok set a task for them; the council of immortals was prepared to intervene if necessary, but if they were to support the lords of soul and steel, the warriors would have to prove themselves worthy first. They were to battle and defeat Mezra, the messenger of the council.

The battle was long and furious, but in the end, the lords prevailed and emerged victorious.

Nevertheless, other creatures had traveled time to interfere with the battle against the Dust Men, these creatures, which the lords of soul and steel believed them to be Varnicals of some sort, sided with the Dust Men, aiding the beasts with their strange magic (its true nature has yet to be revealed) and hoping to defeat the defending forces before they were showered with the essence of order.

With the victory of the lords of soul and steel over their strange opponents, history transpired as we know it, and the lords were showered with the living essence of Miszhná. This, is said, was Egnok's true purpose, since he knew that only creatures infused with primordial order could hope to face Rao's avatar.

Once they had accomplished their mission, the great warriors returned to their time. Egnok appeared before them once again, and told that he had found perhaps the only weakness of Rao's avatar. It seems that the Seneschals of Chaos were created as more than servants, for they were feeding their master through their victims; stealing their life force to increase the avatar's power.

The great warriors chose Enhyad as their first target, since he appeared to be one of the strongest seneschals. They tracked him down to an abandoned keep in Thyrana, where Lawrence Du lac was waiting for them, eager to stop his former apprentice.

Upon entering the keep, they came face to face with Enhyad and Rakhosh, who had a little surprise for them. They had abducted Rashad Sun and Federico Du Mont (actually Du Lac's son, explained later), and tried to exchange their lives for the loyalty of their parents. Something the other warriors could not allow.

Things went from bad to worse, and Rakhosh vanished his prisoners from this dimension, never to return. In the ensuing battle, both seneschals were defeated, but they managed to escape.

Before leaving for battle with Enhyad, Du Mont travelled to the once glorious city of Asunción de la Plata (capital of Alis, destroyed by Ordwyn at the beggining of the cataclysm), searching for enlightment and courage at the now destroyed keep of the Knights of the Temple. In there, the sprit of the order's founder appeared before him, and after undergoing several tasks, he appointed Du Mont as the new leader of the order, in charge to reconstruct it. As the new leader, he recieved the legendary "Evil's Bane", the sword of the first High Knight.

Inspired by these ocurrences, Du Mont rode to his final confrontation with Enhyad. On an abondones keep in northern Alis, Du Mont and Enhyad fought one on one, a battle that bards all across the land tell to this date. Even though Enhyad had defeated Du Mont on several ocassions before, this time Du Mont defeated him in all senses; and yet, he allowed Enhyad to live.

Convinced that he and Enhyad could start over, and that he could be turned to the light, Du mont took Enhyad to a safe place. Du Mont rode his pegasus to Alis' border with Zirtra, to the resting place of a mystic artifact of order he and his companions had come across several years ago. An artifact that was used against Cambas and other creatures of chaos. With it, the knight headed towards Arkus' castle, decided to stop Rao all by himself.

Meanwhile, the other lords of soul and steel fought against the other seneschals all over the world, all of them being victorious.

Du Mont arrived to the central island, and found Egnok dead, impaled in the castle's iron gate, most likely as a warning. The knight entered the castle, and walked unhindered to the very throne room, where Rao and Cambas were expecting him. Rao ordered his "invincible" seneschal to destroy Du mont, but to his surprise, the knight slew Cambas. As several warriors of chaos encircled the paladin, he issued a challenge to the avatar, for a fair one on one fight. Rao laughed, and agreed.

Du Mont attacked first, striking Rao with a blow that could have broken a man in two, Rao, however, did not even wince. The fight was very short, and the avatar overpowered his enemy in less than three minutes, and encaged him within a gemstone, so that he may see the lord of chaos' triumph.

A few hours later, the other lords of soul and steel stormed the castle, ripping through Rao's guardians before arriving at the throne room. As the warriors prepared for battle, Rao got up from his throne and unsheated his sword, and as the warriors charged towards him, the avatar drove his sword through his abdomen, ripping it apart with a gleeful smile. The warriors stopped their attack, confused. Rao fell to the ground, and a being made of chaos lept from the wound, and left.

The Lords of Soul and Steel wasted no time, and teleported to the sunken continent of Karnar, only to find that it had reemerged from the depths of the sea. Standing in the ruins of the ascan capital, they saw an enormous portal to the plane of chaos hovering above the great temple of ascan.

When they arrived at the temple, the diamond was breaking, and Rao was there, amused by their persistence. The warriors knew that they would never defeat Rao, but perhaps they could distract him long enough for the spellcasters to find a way to mend the diamond.

The battle began, and the all powerful lord of chaos was merely playing with them, no matter how many blows or spells the lords hit Him with, they didn't make a scratch on Rao. While the warriors fought, Naram, Ordwyn, Darwynn and Perceval tried, unsuccesfully, to mend the diamond. The diamond had sustained too much damage, and all they could do was delay its destruction a bit.

Meanwhile, the fight outside the temple had already bored Rao. He raised a hand and anhilited Sonhi with a single blow, after which he raised both hands, and gigantic bolts of chaos shot from the portal, haeding in all directions. Those bolts flew across the world, landing in far away lands, destroying large areas. An eastern portion of Astar, half of Senes, Kheles, Dexla, half of one of the central islands, they were all destroyed along with other extensive regions.

Rao laughed as the sky turned black and the diamond was shattering, signaling his release from two of the three cages, after which destroying the third cage and destroying the entire sphere would be child's play. Still, the warriors threw themselves at the walker of the storm, using all their might in a desperate, final attack.

As even more bolts of primordial chaos filled the nightsky, Naram Sun and Ordwyn magically floated under the portal, chanting incantations. Naram had come up with a plan, the portal to the plane of chaos was responsible for the degradation of the diamond, as well as supplying Rao with more and more power. A portal to the plane of Order (residues from Miszhná), Naram thought, might be able to restore the diamond, and defeat Rao.

The only problem, which Ordwyn mentioned inmediately, was that Rao had neutralized any and all means of opening a portal to another dimension. "The portal is there already, don't you see it?", Naram said to Ordwyn, "the spells necessary to open the portal have already been cast, all we have to do is modify the magical energies that keep it open". To this objective, Naram pulled out a planar key he possesed, and he and Ordwyn began casting, in hopes of somehow modifying the portal.

The warriors attack had proven to be completely useless, and Rao was about to destroy them, when a blinding light appeared above Rao. The avatar turned to the portal, and saw a beam of light and energy falling from it, towards the temple. The lords of soul and steel were thrown back as the beam reached its destination, filling everything with light. As they closed their eyes, they heard the blood curling scream of Rao's avatar.

When the light was gone, Rao was nowhere to be seen, and the diamond shined brighter than ever before. Several pieces of metal and other objects fell from the sky, they were part of Ordwyn's trident and Naram's possessions, their sacrifice appeared to be the price of victory.

And as the gemstone that held Du Mont shattered and released him, plants and animals appeared all over Karnar, turning the once barren land that laid in the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years into a living monument of the victory over chaos.