The Lore

For thirteen months, the volcano buried the sun beneath a thick veil of ash. Crops failed, hunger spread, and the unified valley descended into war. Closest to the mountain lived the Ashkari, governed by a priestly caste devoted to Moloch, the god believed to dwell within the volcano.

The priests enforced animal and prisoner sacrifices as a mandatory blood tax to maintain the soil's fertility. During severe famines and tragic disasters, the priests demanded the ultimate price, sacrificing the children of the tribes to appease the mountain.

An ancient Ashkari tradition foretold that the darkness would one day return, and that a Prince of Ashes would rise during a second Long Ash to end their wars and unite the fractured tribes.

When a farmer's son named Caedros was offered as a tribute during a tribal war, he returned alive, pale and unable to endure the sun. The priests declared him cursed, but Caedros denounced them as tyrants using fear and blood taxes to preserve their own power. He claimed Moloch had spared him for a purpose, warned the tribes that the second Long Ash was approaching, and declared himself the promised Prince of Ashes.

Over three years, Caedros gathered followers from every tribe and survived multiple assassination attempts orchestrated by the Ashkari priests. When the sun vanished a second time, a massive panic swept through the valley as the people feared an age of eternal darkness and famine.

Yet beneath the ash choked sky, Caedros walked unharmed in daylight. To the terrified populace, the prophecy was unfolding before their eyes. Desperate tribes turned on the priesthood, abandoned their warlords, and joined his growing host.

Caedros had long taught that true authority required serving the people rather than demanding their blood. On the third day of darkness, he gathered his vast army, abolished all tribal divisions, and declared them one united nation: the Ash Folk. He crowned his companion Kyros with the Crown of Ash and charged his Five Companions with preserving his laws.

Caedros then revealed his final duty. To end the darkness, he would climb the mountain to face Moloch and demand the return of the sun, knowing his pale body could not survive the light. When the sky cleared on the third day, only his ashes remained upon the sacrificial altar. His companions built a mausoleum over the site, enshrining his core principle: The ruler carries the burden of the light.

Around the mausoleum grew the city of Ashkeep. Kyros and the Five abolished the old priesthood, forbade all human sacrifice, and created the Ashguard to enforce equal laws.

Sustained by fertile land and generations of peace, Ashkeep evolved from a fortress into a center of learning, trade, and philosophy, proving that a society could be governed by law rather than fear.

Ashkeep decayed slowly as institutions built to preserve order turned toward corruption, wealth, and private ambition. Trade faded, districts fell silent, and a disastrous fire destroyed much of the city.

After the twelfth Prince took his own life, there was no recovery or remaining force strong enough to hold the city together. Ashkeep was abandoned and slipped into ruin within a single generation.

Centuries later, Neron arrived at the ruins possessing forgotten knowledge of the ancient city. Declaring himself the Thirteenth Prince of Ashes, he began recruiting builders, scholars, and mercenaries to rebuild Ashkeep.

Neron promises to restore the city's original ideal: a sanctuary governed by law, open to trade, and built upon the ashes of the past.