Editing Grael (section)

== The [[Grael Rebellion]] and arriving in Dereth ==

Grael was a warrior of a tribe of [[Ruschk]] in the north of the Kingdomw of [[Haebrous]], who called themselves Mukkir.<ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> Their leader was [[Chief Daemal]] and their warriors called themselves Blood-Warriors.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref> Though he lived in the time of the [[Empyrean]]s, he is not Haebrean, Yalaini, Dericostian, or Falatacot.<ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> It could be possible that his people were here before the [[Empyrean]]s.<ref>2005/10 [[Tricks and Treats]] - [[Tricks and Treats#Ulgrim Rumors|Ulgrim Rumors]]</ref> Grael was described later by [[Lucane Kraest]] as a Mukkir, a "man, large and heavily muscled, like that of a Roulean gladiator with qualities not unlike those of the Empyrean. Tall with a narrow face and striking eyes."<ref name=KraestJournal>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[Journal of High Archon Kraest]]</ref>

In the fifth year of the reign of [[Braletain]] of [[Haebrous]], Grael's tribe is slain to make way for a mercantile company's gemstone excavations.<ref name=GraelRebellion>2005/08 - [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Grael Rebellion]]</ref> The tribe and their Blood-Warriors put up such a ferocious fight against the Haebreans (the "Shining Ones"<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref>) that Braletain's soldiers exterminated every one, save for one single warrior.<ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> This only survivor of this tribe, Grael, is brought back to the Royal Menagerie.<ref name=GraelRebellion>2005/08 - [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Grael Rebellion]]</ref>

At the behest of his queen, [[Carraida]], Braletain subjected Grael to life in the gladiatorial pits.<ref name=AccountMukkir>2005/08 - [[Friend and Foe]] - [[Account of the Spear of Mukkir]]</ref> He survived all the fights, taking the heads and eating the hearts of his slain opponents. His rage over his defeat, the failing of protecting his chief and the slaughtering of his tribe never subsided.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref>

As time led on, Grael. a. k. a. the Spear of Mukkir gathered an army of slaves and fought their way from the pits.<ref name=AccountMukkir>2005/08 - [[Friend and Foe]] - [[Account of the Spear of Mukkir]]</ref> He and his new "Blood-Warriors" savaged the kingdom for three days<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref>, killing many, including Braletain's young wife, Queen [[Carraida]].<ref name=AccountMukkir>2005/08 - [[Friend and Foe]] - [[Account of the Spear of Mukkir]]</ref><ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> The brothers [[Shemza]], [[Lurza]], [[Dmesne]] and [[Rhujun]] (Ruschk deities? <ref>According to [[Lurza]] "The demon Sezzherei once called himself our brother. But when he betrayed our lord to the ancient mages, he fell from Grael's favor. Our brother Tursh slew Sezzherei on the battlefield, or so we all believed." Since [[Tursh]] is a Ruschk Deity, and the 4 brothers claim to be able to use magic, which the slaves couldn't, this implies they were more than human. On the other hand, they must have had souls to be able to exchange them.</ref>)were amongst the first to join Grael and managed to prolong their life, harboring their essences in crystals, given their souls in exchange for life eternal. They can now be found as the Gatekeepers in the [[Gateway to the Deep]] Quest, awaiting the rise of their master.<ref>2005/09 [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Gateway to the Deep#Lore & Dialog]]</ref>
Because the slaves did not have any magical capabilities, and the Haebrous forces did, the Rebellion was suppressed quickly.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref> 

Grael somehow escaped Braletain's vengeance, even as his followers were annihilated by the magical arts of the Haebrean royal "thaumaturges".<ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> Grael managed to flee, still singing his songs of rage.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref> Four of the other survivors were the brothers [[Farelaith]], [[Baranaith]], [[Hiranaith]] and [[Korogaith]].<ref name=BitterWinter>2005/12 [[Through Sacrifice, Strength]] - [[Our Bitter Winter]]</ref>

Though they went separate ways, Grael and the brothers met up again on the coast of [[Dereth]]. Traveling in a land they did not know. Grael convinced them to join him, and follow the call to the north he felt.<ref name=BitterWinter>2005/12 [[Through Sacrifice, Strength]] - [[Our Bitter Winter]]</ref> Grael sought the help of "Darkness" to fight the Haebrous.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref><ref name=ElderSpiritsTable>2006/04 [[Shining Runes and Shadowed Hands]] - [[Translated Elder Spirits Tablet]]</ref>

One night, [[Farelaith]] woke up, and found Grael and his brothers caught in some sort of dark magic.<ref name=BitterWinter>2005/12 [[Through Sacrifice, Strength]] - [[Our Bitter Winter]]</ref> Grael seemed to undergo his transformation willingly, and swore oaths with the "Dark that speaks".<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref> [[Farelaith]]'s brothers were wrapped in darkness and started screaming. Farelaith managed to overcome his paralysis and ran. In his fear of Grael, he did not even look back to see what had become of his brothers. <ref name=BitterWinter>2005/12 [[Through Sacrifice, Strength]] - [[Our Bitter Winter]]</ref> The three brothers now serve, turned into Shadows and having lost their name, in the [[Temple of Stirring Shadows]].<ref name=ShadeDialog>2005/12 [[Through Sacrifice, Strength]] - [[Shade of Farelaith#Lore & Dialog]]</ref> Grael learned "to move within the Dark that walks and learned to devour the light" of the Empyreans.<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref> According to the [[Falatacot]], Grael is, because he is not "pure-blood", i.e. [[Empyrean]], incapable of wielding the full power, and a flawed and imperfect vessel for the energies of the Living Darkness. Grael however, possesses something that no [[Empyrean]] does: a transcendent and transforming rage, a heart filled with the kind of pure, perfect hate which made him a perfect conduit for  the powers of war and destruction and despair. He could serve as an experimental subject for the "Dark Ones". They wrapped him in thorns, in a mantle of Living Darkness and gave him life everlasting within the Darkness, and they tought him to bring True Death and how to extinguish the light of creation.<ref name="Book of Xik Minru" >2005/09 - [[Under Cover of Night]] - [[Book of Xik Minru]]</ref> The "mantle" however,was not originally meant for him, slipped out of the grasp of the [[Nameless]]. He took the Gift, enslaved others as he had been enslaved, and fled from [[The Elder Spirits]] as he fled from his own slavemasters.<ref name=ElderSpiritsTable>2006/04 [[Shining Runes and Shadowed Hands]] - [[Translated Elder Spirits Tablet]]</ref>

Grael, now called the Black Spear of the [[Kemeroi]], went on to the north. The place he chose to sleep was an isle north of [[Vissidal]] Isle.<ref name=KirielDialog>2006/06 [[Toward Ancient Shores]] - [[Kiriel Shadowborn#Lore & Dialog]]</ref> He fell asleep in a realm that was forbidden to the Shadow. The Black Spear is of the Shadow, but drifts outside of the domain of Shadow.<ref name=ElderSpiritsTable>2006/04 [[Shining Runes and Shadowed Hands]] - [[Translated Elder Spirits Tablet]]</ref> His presence, "dreaming songs of rage"<ref name=SongGrael>2005/08 [[Friend and Foe]] - [[The Song of Grael]]</ref>, covered the island in Shadow, and the isle soon came to be called the [[Dark Isle]]. Those [[Falatacot]] who followed the Old One, [[N'cthail]], took a chance and used ancient seals to sink the isle below the waves. It was their hope that none would ever wake Grael and that this world would be free of him forever.<ref name=KirielDialog>2006/06 [[Toward Ancient Shores]] - [[Kiriel Shadowborn#Lore & Dialog]]</ref>