The History of the Darkspawn

Today we cover the history and beliefs associated with the Darkspawn. The relevancy of Darkspawn to ones outlook has entirely to do with where you were raised, and what your race is. To the average citizen of Manrath, living in a densely populated city with hundreds of thousands to even millions of people, Darkspawn are barely a thought. A problem for the frontier provinces and the farmers to deal with.

(UNIVERSAL RULE FOR THIS POST: This is all very very general stuff, and even what is written here other than what I say is 'common knowledge' requires knowledge checks. Knowledge Darkspawn, Religion, History (Local and Ancient can cover different things), Nature, Underdark, Dungeoneering, and even Politics/Nobility can uncover other information and more detailed information on what I am posting here. To know anything about other Races beliefs you must make 3 checks, Knowledge Darkspawn, Religion, and History. This only applies if say you're a human and want to know the Halflings point of view on Darkspawn for example. An Elf or a Dwarf would only have to make 1 check, for an equivalent roll for their own racial histories. An Elf wanting to know Dwarf or Gnome history would have to roll 3 checks as well. Yes, I like knowledge rolls.)

(This will be listed on the House Rules post, but Knowledge (darkspawn) is now a class skill for every class.)

To others, like the populations of Feralath and Crombar, Darkspawn are a constant threat, and a daily topic of conversation.

'The Way,' the official religion of the Empire, describes Darkspawn as a cursed race that live underground, no different then the Drow or Illithid or other monsters of legend. Darkspawn simply come to the surface more often than any of those other monstrosities. For the vast majority of the Empires city dwelling population, that is a more than good enough answer to the 'question' of the Darkspawn.

To those that live in the farmlands, or in Feralath and Crombar though, see the Darkspawn more for what they are; something dark... twisted, unique among the dangers of the wilds. They see the large variety of 'types' of Darkspawn, and the ever increasing numbers as a genuine problem... but the common man still has little explanation for them.

Those with education know that the Darkspawn are a somewhat recent threat to the world. While written record of these creatures can be found in the earliest texts of the Empire, (approximately 700 years ago) they have only been a substantial threat to the empire very few times. The last 90-100 years, however, have seen a very steady increase in Darkspawn activity.

The Templar and the Military branches of Manrath have a more studied and educated view of the Darkspawn, as they've been fighting them for some time now. While publicly nothing is admitted, there are rumors of exceptionally well armed squads clearing out darkspawn 'Hives' that pop up near train lines or major farming grounds. In small town bars, rumors of what these groups find underground are spoken of in hushed tones...

The Templar and Emperor's military have been recruiting people with knowledge of the Darkspawn, and it is becoming a more gossiped about topic in the courts of the Empire... and like many things associated with the government, the 'recruitment' isn't always voluntary.

The most learned of the Empires sages know something much closer to the truth, and that is that the Darkspawn appeared roughly 3000 years ago, during a period of time called 'The Reckoning.' Other than vague references to this time on very ancient manuscripts, and writings on the walls of ruins, no human knows anything genuine from this ancient time frame.

(Ancient ruins... the source of our most ancient knowledge.)

As we have established, even the most wise sages know very little about the Darkspawn, and other than very few instances in the Empire's established history, have they been a threat to humanity.

To the much slower reproducing, and more wild roaming races of the world, the Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, Centaur, Giants, and other wild dwelling races, Darkspawn are the most serious threat of all. Every one of these races has a different explanation for the origins of these beasts, almost all of which involve curses from various divine agents.

(The following is all very general, and is what would be revealed with a DC 15 knowledge check on all 3 skills, Darkspawn, Religion, and History. No character has this information innately.)

The Elves squarely place the creation of Darkspawn on the Humans. Many many years ago, in the time when Elves were truly Immortal, the world was torn asunder. The humans in their hubris had tried to control powers far beyond the realm of their control. The darkness unleashed upon the world made the Darkspawn, the bane of the Elves. There are rumored to be some elves ancient enough to have lived during this time... but finding them would be a truly epic undertaking.

The Orcs place the corruption on the Elves, specifically the Drow. The greenskins claim that the Drow made a pact with a dark lord other than Lloth, and that in her anger she cursed them, and that curse then spread to what it is today. This can exacerbate the already touchy relationship between Orcs and Elves.

The Goblins blame the Gnomes, claiming that in ancient times the gnomes planar magic, (For those unfamiliar with my world history all gnomes had personal pocket planes, and potent magical abilities, just as strong as Elven magic but more specialized towards illusion and such.)  the goblins claim the Gnomes ripped a hole in the planar fabric to a cursed realm, where the original darkspawn came from.

The Dwarves blame the Goblins, with a story very similar to the goblins story involving dark magic and planar rifts. The Dwarves say the goblins intentionally reached out to a dark power for the power to conquer all, and the curse is what followed.

The Halflings don't blame any particular people, they claim that an incredibly powerful artifact was made to create and control the darkspawn, and if that were to be found the plague of darkness could be stopped.

The Gnomes feel that the darkspawn were an ancient race that was hibernating until the Dwarves mined too deep, waking them up and unleashing them upon us all. This belief has greatly strained relations between the racial cousins.

Many woodland races, like the Centaur and Fey, share the Elven view that humans are to blame for the darkness, while there are minor variations of the tale between Centaurs, Dryads, Nymphs, and other wild folk, the theme of destroying nature in search of power is common.

And so, I feel we have covered the basics of Darkspawn history. There is plenty more available to players with successful knowledge checks, but I think this should be enough to have a decent foundation.