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| Map of the world - Saga of Zammar the Great |
For the first eighteen years of her life, Ren never left the city of Torst.
Torst wasn't any ordinary city. Built in a valley deep in The Dragon Peaks mountain range, the city was the only neutral state in the world. With gates open to people of any colour, the city differentiated itself from the four other great nations: The Whitelands, The Blacklands, The Dragon Empire and Indus.
For a thousand years of war, Torst had maintained a semblance of balance in the world, preventing the nations from annihilating each other completely, while also providing a home to refugees who fled their ravaged lands. It became a powerful state in its own regard, and slowly fell to its own corruption.
Ren loved her city, and the ideals that it stood for. But having grown up in a noble family as the daughter of Torst's military commander, she was educated highly and longed to see the world with her own eyes. Instead, she had to content with spending days exploring the city's secrets, or lounging in its beautiful gardens.
Then Zammar came. And the mysterious man brought news of the Und'kal.
An alien species from the planet Ghek'yal, the Und'kal consisted of two sub-races. The Und were humanoid in appearance, except for the rough fur that covered their bodies, and their oval heads with elongated ears. They were also intelligent. The Kal were blood thirsty and driven by savage instinct. They walked on four bladed legs, with plated armour across their bodies and deadly claws always ready to rip their prey to shreds.
An immense horde of the aliens now descended upon Torst. The city, too proud to ask for help, stood alone. Commander Ansari, Ren's father, ignored Zammar's advice, and faced the Und'kal in open battle.
Women were not allowed to fight, and instead took refugee in the vast network of cave systems underneath the city. Ren took exception to the rule, and sneaked into the barracks dressed as a boy. She stood in the reserves, and watched as Torst's army was decimated by the aliens. She saw her friend Cody killed by the hand of a Kal. Enraged, she charged at the alien, only to be knocked unconscious.
When Ren woke, she found herself safe by Zammar's side. They were on a ledge overlooking Torst as it burned in the morning sun. The city state, which had stood for a thousand years of war had been destroyed.
Following Zammar, Ren set out on a journey to warn the world of the new Und'kal threat.
They soon came upon a village and Ren met a boy named Tristan. Tristan wasn't from the village, but his parents had left him there soon after birth. Having never felt a part of the community, he found solace in nature and animals. He saw the sadness and guilt that Ren had buried herself in after Torst's fall, and helped her overcome it.
Then Tristan's village was attacked by a group of Und'kal. Zammar managed to fight off the aliens, but the village was destroyed in the process. On Zammar's advice, the villagers traveled North to warn the city of Kathman. Tristan decided to join Ren and Zammar as they continued West through The Dragon Peaks and to The Blacklands.
During this journey, Tristan met a young Und named Aythyl. The alien used an ability intrinsic to his species: mind sharing. This ability allowed Aythyl to read Tristan's memories such that the alien had lived Tristan's life. The process resulted in Tristan seeing things about his past that were forgotten to him, such as his parents' faces.
After living through Tristan's life, Aythyl decided that the planned Und'kal slaughter of humanity was uncalled for, and that the two races could benefit from collaborating. Him and Tristan promised to work towards this peace. Aythyl also decided to mind share with Tristan and allow him to live through the lives of several Und'kal. As a result, Tristan experienced the aliens' insatiable bloodlust, and this took root in his being. Tristan also learned of Und'kal Primes. These were the leaders of the alien race, and their prime directive was a command so powerful that no Und'kal could disobey it.
On the way to Kampalla, a city of The Blacklands, Ren learned from Zammar that she had descended from the ancient Adriatic line of Torst's kings. The monarchy had been abolished centuries prior, but had been reinstated soon before the Und'kal invasion. This meant that Ren was now queen - the queen of a fallen kingdom.
She understood what this meant. Torst was the only neutral city in the world. As its queen, it was her duty to unite the shattered lands and counter the Und'kal menace.
Kampalla was a city located at the edge of The Dragon Peaks mountain range, at the border of Torst's neutral territory and The Blacklands. Abasi, a war hardened man loyal to The Blacklands, was one of the commanders in charge of defense at this city.
Before Ren, Zammar and Tristan could arrive, Abasi saw an army of Und'kal descending upon the city. The aliens, who had made a home in Torst were quickly reaching out to claim more territory.
Unable to hold out against the Und'kal, Kampalla was utterly destroyed. Ren, Zammar and Tristan arrived to see the desolate ruin of what used to be a major trading hub. After crossing the ruins and entering the planes of The Blacklands, Zammar summoned Arion, his horse, so that they could travel fast across the land to warn Candahar - the next nearest city.
Abasi managed to escape the destruction of Kampalla with three fellow soldiers - Hadi, Imad and Jamil. They journeyed through ravaged lands behind the Und'kal to try and get word to the pharaoh (the god king of The Blacklands). However, Abasi spotted Ren, Zammar and Tristan riding atop Arion. His anger at seeing white skinned people in The Blacklands drove him to follow them to Candahar.
Both parties managed to reach Candahar before the Und'kal. The city was smaller by far than Kampalla, and also occupied by people who lived a more primitive lifestyle. The natives worshiped a different religion than the rest of The Blacklands, practiced cannibalism and dressed minimally. At this city, Ren met Abejide and Hirat: the two chiefs. She promised them her help in the oncoming battle, as the Und'kal horde could be spotted across the plane, charging towards the city. Even Tristan, who was normally peace loving, promised his sword to Ren.
Meanwhile, Abasi met his old friend Omir in the city. Together they plotted to overthrow the current leadership: Chief Abejide had betrayed The Blacklands by giving hospitality to white people.
Before this could happen however, the Und'kal horde descended upon the city, and the people of Candahar took up arms to defend their livelihood.
Midway through the battle, a Kal Prime appeared. The creature was immense, and Zammar fought it alone. After a long and hard struggle, he managed to defeat it, despite being fatally wounded in the process.
Tristan and Arion retrieved Zammar's body and dragged him away from the battle. The field medics in the battle were unable to revive him and Tristan soon lost hope. However, Arion pointed him towards a vial of clear liquid in the horse's saddle. Tristan fed this to Zammar, and after a long wait, the man's heart started beating again.
The battle continued, and the humans found themselves in a desperate position. Zammar managed to stand and fight. Tristan joined him and helped the last remaining human defense. However, he had lived the lives of Und'kal. With a sword in his hand, the aliens' insatiable blood lust overwhelmed Tristan, and he uncontrollably found himself attacking allies.
Ren continued to fight as well as she could, firing arrows from the wall top with her guide Maria. However, the situation grew dire and soon the wall was demolished. Ren fell, suffering critical injuries and losing consciousness.
Just before the human defense was annihilated completely, a horn sounded. Lion's Gate, a city of The Whitelands, had come to the rescue. The Golden Brigade, headed by General Anderson, charged upon the Und'kal horde. Soon, they were joined by the bird riders of Kathman (a city of Indus), who tamed falcons, hawks and giant eagles. In addition, The Dragon Empire also joined the fray. Their fireslingers used explosive rockets and martial arts to combat the aliens.
Though Candahar was destroyed, the Und'kal horde was finally defeated.
Upon waking, Ren found the bloody battle over, and a new one begun between the leaders of all of the different nations. She managed to quiet the fight, and commanded the leaders to arrange for a council of nations to discuss the new alien threat.
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Hi all, if you are joining this adventure for the first time, I welcome you most heartily. I decided to write a recap for several different reasons. A primary one being that it's been a long time since this story started, and considering how long the intervals between parts coming out can be, it is easy to forget what's happened.
Another reason is because parts 1 to 3 are not very well written in my opinion. I would like to rewrite them eventually. They are immensely long and bleh and not worth reading. For that reason, I wanted an easily accessible way for people to start reading the story. I would like to believe the writing has improved a lot since then, the parts are much shorter, and things just feel easier to read.
With that being said, if you read this, I hope you are interested in seeing where this story will go. I highly recommend reading through the "History" sections I've written (at the end of part 6 & 11 so far). These should help fill in some of the gaps in the universe's story and clarify the motivations behind what goes on further in the story.
Another nice addition is the map I've drawn for the world. It took a while, and doesn't look amazing (I blame my complete lack of artistry), but I hope it clarifies lots of things moving forward.
It is very much an incomplete map, and subject to change as the story continues. Many cities, rivers, etc are missing from the map.
Either way, I'm really excited for what's planned for this story. It started off without direction, but I think I've reached a point where I know exactly what I want to happen, and how to get there. I hope you guys can join me on this journey.
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