Event

The Necromancer's Gambit

CanonOfficial lore from the booksSSGp. 15-16

After the great successes in the underdark, the realm enjoyed a period of peace and calm. Then, in 158 AVD, a powerful wizard named Gelts stepped onto the stage of history. He struck at the Emperor's life in person in the Marble Palace, and the attempt failed.¹

The rebellion

Even so, the attack was seen across the Empire as a sign of great weakness, and some nobles who were already estranged from the palace openly raised the banner of rebellion. It happened so swiftly that the rebels had plainly been waiting for news of a death from the Marble Palace and preparing their rising for some time.¹

The loyal forces could easily crush so small a rebellion, and they did. Yet the rising was only a distraction. Gelts's journey was one of personal revenge, not politics: blaming the tragedies of his own life on the Red Eagle, he awakened forbidden powers with potent magic.²

Spoiler: How it endedSpoils: Starter Setting Guide · Say what you have read

After the rebellion was defeated, Emperor Conrad II advanced with a small guard towards a place known as Dwarf Gate and found himself facing a formidable force hidden in mists by Gelts's magic. Judging that flight would carry a political price after all the chaos, he chose to stand and fight. His disciplined elite troops, soon joined by dwarf reinforcements, were on the verge of victory when the Emperor was struck by three cursed black arrows loosed from afar.²

Conrad II was the first emperor to fall in battle, and he is still held to be the greatest emperor of recent ages after Vaden I. The traitor Gelts was found and neutralised by an elite strike force shortly afterwards.²

Notes

↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 15
↑BookLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide, p. 16

Sources

This article draws on:

SSGLands of Exile: Starter Setting Guide(Bad Badger Games, 2024), pp. 15-16

PlaceMarble PalaceThe palace of the emperors of the Empire, whose walls legend says were raised by godly magic in the First Age, guarded by the Throneguard and keeper of the original decree of the Sanction.CharacterGeltsA powerful wizard who tried to kill the Emperor in the Marble Palace in 158 AVD and later ambushed Emperor Conrad II at Dwarf Gate, driven by a personal hatred of the Red Eagle.

EventHourglass ConspiracyA shadowy affair of 261 AVD in which the Cult of Void came to light, touching the god of time and the Grand Hourglass; little else about it is known.ConceptPax ImperiumThe enduring peace in which the Empire takes pride, upheld by the small standing armies each province keeps even in peacetime as a constant sign of readiness for war.EventRise and Fall of the UsurperThe civil war of 24–27 AVD that followed the assassination of Emperor Vaden I, set the Order of Chain to flight and ended with Elatan I on the throne.EventThe SanctionThe imperial decree of 1203 BVD, issued by Emperor Valigard IV after the war of the immortal mages, that binds every mage to the Archon Academy and remains in effect today.ConceptFeast of ShadowsMyria Vethis's book of political intrigue, a scandalous account of betrayal and power plays in the history of the Empire.