As of 5/24/99
The 8th Day of Darkwinter, YK 5397
For nearly sixty years, the fate of the Dervatear of the Province of Arvandus had been decided by King Tearsac of the Plains: to stay hidden within the foothills and caves of the Kienken and Fillian Mountains, avoiding the king's slavers; to be sold into slavery within the confines of Arvandus; or to be shipped to the small island of Atar, a Dervatear word meaning "death." Little more than 15 miles wide by 15 miles long, the island of Atar was a rich source of uhmta, a rare and priceless spice that possessed magical properties powerful enough to slow the aging process. Although outlawed within many of the nations of Western Glashia, for one of the primary side affects of uhmta is complete insanity, followed by a physical transformation into a hideous and always unique monster, this spice was nevertheless at constant demand.
To maintain the call for uhmta, King Tearsac dedicated much of his time in the hunting down and capturing of as many Dervatear as he could, shipping the prisoners to Atar to work in the uhmta spice mines. And for nearly sixty years, King Tearsac's system of prisoner capture and transport, followed closely by huge shipments of uhmta, worked to near perfection. But just seven days past, on the first day of Darkwinter, as the frozen winds from the north swept across the small island of Atar, the Dervatear prisoners revolted. The two-hundred or so guards hadn't a chance against the Dervatear mob . . . all four thousand of them!
Word reached King Tearsac three days later regarding the Dervatear revolt on Atar, but by the time the Fpathen lord was able to rally an army large enough, most of the Dervatear were gone. What remained on the island of Atar was a small band of eighty Dervatear engineers. When King Tearsac's reinforcements reached the uhmta spice mines, the Dervatear engineers had just completed the finishing touches on a project they had been working on for nearly six days straight, and devising for nearly sixty years. With a roar that was said to have been heard within King Tearsac's palace in Port Dynard, the whole of the uhmta spice mines were destroyed, swept over in a gaseous volcanic explosion that tore a crater in the center of Atar five miles across and nearly two miles deep.
Unknown to King Tearsac, his guards stationed on Atar, or the mining commanders whose job it was to oversee the work of the Dervatear miners and engineers, an active volcano lay buried several miles under the surface of the island. With their keen sense of reading the land and rocks, the Dervatear were able to detect the volcanic activity below them. Nearly sixty years later, after consistent mining downward and toward the active volcano, the Dervatear finally got close enough to tap into a stream of explosive gas and lava. A few days later, the Dervatear rioted against their captors and claimed the island of Atar as their own. Less than a week after that, the Dervatear had vanished from the island aboard the ships that had brought them there; some just a few weeks prior; others, many, many years before.
King Tearsac has placed a bounty on the heads of each and every Dervatear that escaped from Atar and has sent word into the Independent State that any and all aiding and assisting the escaped Arvandus prisoners will be punished right along side the Dervatear. Rumor has it that King Dommic Stonefast, ruler of the nation of Tsan, has set out from the Dervatear capital of Rockome with an army of 3,500 foot soldiers and is marching them north toward a stretch of prairie found between Wizard's Peak and Einith's Bend. Although a formal declaration of war has not yet been signed by either ruler, their are rumors in the air that the Silent War between Tsan and Arvandus is about to get a lot louder!
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