The City Of Shrill

A tragic tale is the city of Shrill. At one time it was a poor village small and the people were dieing of famine. They worshiped the goddess and prayed for food but food never came. The harvests brought only dust and the seas never bore fish to them. The beasts that they hunted were frail and had little meat on their bones. Then from an unknown place a man came to them. He called himself Thaitin for he was the avatar of Thatos an unknown god during that time.

 

The people said to him “Go away for we do not worship your gods here.” The temple warriors kept him away from the village. However others caught word of a promise he told them. “For if you follow my lord I promise you gold for your fortune and food for your health and even immortality if you serve him.”

 

The people loved his words and believed him. Slowly a group of them congregated outside of the town and by the shores they did a ritual at night. They cried out those old words to Thatos and Thaitin was pleased. The next day gold and rubies washed upon the shore. It was a treasure hoard even the greatest of nations would envy. The villagers gathered the gold and they discovered that fish too had washed on shore and they were good to eat. When the ones who worshiped Thatos that night told the villagers what they had done they grew angry with the temple. The came with the gold and pored it upon the floor.

 

The said to the high priest “Your goddess never gave us bounty like this!” then they took a golden dagger from the pile and forced him upon the holy alter and cut his stomach from his body. They burned him and the temple down. The villagers cried out to Thatos in thanks. They made Thaitin high priest over them and built a new temple made of gold and every day they reaped more of it from the shores.

 

The harvesting grew lively and the beasts became plump with meat. All was perfect or so it seemed. However there were groups of them that did not trust this strange unknown man and his god. Why should they? At night they saw the keepers of the new temple going about and acting strange. A group of them sneaked inside and searched the temple to find and underground labyrinth made that was not there before.

 

To there horror they found the dead walking as if they were not dead. They rushed out for fear of being seen and fled to the graveyards to see what was going on. There they found all the graves dug up and screamed in horror as they saw them carrying the dead back to the temple. Thaitin the next day said that now that they have gained so much now was the time to bring immortality to them.

 

He selected some among them to get immortality. He said that they would be the first to join him. However the group of people said that they harvested the bodies of the dead and gave them life. Thaitin smiled and said to them “Why should only those living among you have immortality. Should your loved ones be excluded from life? They too have life again. I promise it to you as well. However right now they still are not ready to come into the light. I will work with them and through my powers given to me by Thatos I will make it so they too can walk among you.”

 

That night Thaitin gathered those who knew the secret and turned them backward in the mind. They too then praised Thatos but not freely but as slaves with their minds destroyed. They were captives that could never be set free.

 

Soon Thaitin had an army below the earth he had made. Many creatures among them were forged as well. There numbers were large and then he ordered them to gather all the living and the dead in the village of Shrill. So they did. After the entire city had been made into the undead he decided it was time to convert the rest of the villages around the area into the undead for if they knew of what was happening here they would surely slay them all.

 

They built secret paths all through Timier. They were the masons of the hallows. The gatherers of the dead. The first of the Reaper clan. They were known as reapers because of the way they gathered numbers. Thaitin then revealed himself in his true form. He was Thatos in disguised as a human manifestation. This was the place where Timier rotted. Below the city of shrill is a secret place. A place that goes so deep that you can reach the underworld from it.

 

And there in the distance, that tower. It was forged to allow them travel to other worlds. For they work in the service of beings with no native world of their own. Nine gates were forged to the tower. Nine worlds are linked through the tower. Nine is the number that marks that tower. Before you travel to the underworld it is best to visit the tower.

 

However you are not done in Shrill. You must know more about Shrill. This is only the beginning of the tale. For Thatos scared more then just this land and this people. His arms reached wide and he was greedy. However before this time he was not as great. There was a time when he was a man as well. He was at one time servant to another god and that god made him servant to that great and powerful one in oblivion.

 

And now even he is servant to other gods. For Thatos is a lesser god, one who ascended from weakness. You see he was one of the first humans to be created by the goddess. He was then seen by Anothak master of chaos and madness. He took Thatos from his world and showed him how to use the bars of creation in order to forge magic. Thatos learned much of the powers that governed life and death and even was able to bring life. However he could not create and sustain flesh for the powers of time are almost impossible to master.

 

So Thatos learned much and then became servent to Anothak who had made Thatos mad. Humans cannot understand much when it comes to the laws of magic. They are limited by the goddess and the mind is broken in such ways so that they cannot understand much of it. Anothak knew this and taught Thatos anyways.

 

Anothak taught Thatos as much as he could for he hated the goddess and wanted to ruin her creation. However he is unable to touch the creation himself because if he enters her creation he will become part of it. So he uses Thatos to exact his will. Now Thatos is avatar to Anothak. He is a tare in the book of life. Rewriting what was once written.

 

He is aloud to exists because the goddess feels pity for him. His plan was not this and she hopes that he will gain back his sanity before she must destroy him completely. For she loves all her creation equally. Even those parts that have been damaged against her will.

 

There is a war beyond this realm of existence between many beings of creation. Each one creating there own worlds and existences with unique laws and unique creations. Among them there are those who ruined there creations while they were still young. Others creations lasted far longer but all are doomed to destruction for on occasion when one looses their creation they try to destroy the others creations out of jealousy and spite.

 

By now you have seen much of Shrill and see what a magnificent empire it is. Go now to the tower for there you will find far more about your world then you once knew. You will be no longer blinded by the false visions of time.