Several years ago, a large group of mind flayers set their sights on Oerth. Their goal? Nothing short of the complete enslavement of all living creatures on the planet. But despite their formidable psionic abilities and extreme resistance to magic, an army of mind flayer could not possibly hope to conquer a world directly. So the illithid came up with an insidious plan -- to pit the various nations of the world against one another in a massive, genocidal war. As each country destroyed the forces of the other, the resources available to defend Oerth against extra-planetary invaders would exhaust themselves. The idea was for the mind flayer to wait out this great battle and pick off whatever nations remained.
Using their telepathic powers, the mind flayers set their plan in motion. Through subtle manipulation of memories and feelings, the illithid bent various powerful figures to their will. While the mind flayer did not directly control their victims, the individual's perceptions were left askew. Peaceful and benign countries began to skirmish over minor disputes while their more corrupt and/or evil neighbors simply embarked on campaigns of world domination. Furyondy, Veluna, the Great Kingdom, the Horned Society and others ignited a war across the the entire continent. The Knights of the Hart were disbanded as Furyondy attacked its neighbors. The Pope of Angellus declared a holy war against all other faiths. The Great Kingdom attempted to reclaim all lands once under their sway -- it was during this time that the Highlands was sacked, further imperiling this region. The Horned Society invaded Iuz and Furyondy, sacrificing massive numbers of troops to overcome superior opponents.
Into this nascent chaos, Princess Damelia St Karlon thrust herself. Her aim, to recover command of her kingdom from her "evil" brother, Cedric. She had no idea about the illithids' plan, she merely wished to return her nation to their previous ways of good. Assembling a force of adventurers, Damelia touched off a rebellion. At the forefront of her forces was Sir Exvyn de Lyonnain, a paladin of Angellus and Damelia's mentor. Forging unusual alliances, the Princess called together many of the Knights of the Wild March (Bart, Rhom, Anastasia & Rhanée) with Taarna, Amajaro, Margus Jamiah, Suevelia, Carnelia, Raitan Drake, Tetsuko no Kuwahara, Daisy Hornblower, Clive of Twinvale and others. This united force was able to completely turn the tides of battle, putting victory within reach. There was hope that Furyondy would again be free...
Enter Adam Malachitous, an extremely powerful telekinetic, and his aids, Andar and Tyris Flare. Adam's goal was to create a place where those with psionic talents would be safe from persecution. Convinced by undeniable prophecy that as Queen, Damelia would lead Furyondy and the entire world to destruction, these three psis struck ruthlessly at the rebel forces. Using their combined powers, Tyris Flare and Andar even kidnapped Damelia from the rebel head-quarters and stranded her on an alternate world. Meanwhile, Borlon and Caeleia Drake joined yet a third camp, to place the heir-apparent on the throne, the12 year old Prince Nathan Cumberland, eldest son of Damelia and Cedric's sister. Things were looking REALLY bleak now...
After a daring and mysterious rescue attempt (aided by parties unknown), the Princess was rescued. Before the forces of Adam and the Rebellion clashed, however, Damelia bravely met with Adam under a flag of truce. He explained his conviction and vision -- not only would Damelia serve as Queen a mere seven years, by the end of her reign the entire planet would be doomed. Convinced of Adam's sincerity (although not necessarily of the veracity of the prophecy), Damelia officially relinquished her claim on the throne in favor of her nephew, Nathan. Damlia also agreed to Adam's demand that "witches" (commonly burned at the stake in Furyondy) be tested for psionic talent. Those "witches" whom were actually natural psis would be spared and encouraged to attend a special school to hone these gifts for the benefit of the nation. Now, leading a united coalition against the forces of her brother, Damelia was ready to sweep through Furyondy.
The mind flayers in control of Chendl (the Capitol of Furyondy) panicked. Not only would their pawn fail in his mission, but the three gifted psis were sure to detect some form of telepathic influence. King Cedric went berserk and attempted to assassinate Adam, only to be crushed into a paste by Adam's telekinetic powers. As Damelia set about restoring the kingdom (she was to be Nathan's regent until he came of age) and delivering on her promise to Adam, the mind flayer pulled the strings of their other puppets. The Archclericy of Veluna (home of the Pope of Angellus) and the Horned Society (a nation of goblinoids led by devil-worshiping humans) attacked Furyondy from both ends, plunging the country back into chaos.
Damelia's former coalition united again, this time joined by Nanarch of Oakmont (the most powerful telepath on Oerth), Moorak Drake, Marti Silverwind, Harbinder Prandoori, Kurt, Guile, Shang-lung Drake, Photon, Jerilyn, Gamoth, Ashtabular, Gundar "Gunny" Mountainspine, Billy, Harlan, Charles, Zé, Glorianna, Treblo SkyMage, the new Pope Hazem, Turin Deathstalker, Quelzar, Wynnith Kinseeker, Grimslade the Gray, Mirrana of Istus, Mirkquin and others. These few powerful heroes led small forces against massive military assaults. In one particular battle after their troops were slaughtered, Damelia, Clive, Caeleia, Margus, Amajaro, Taarna, Bart, Rhom and Anastasia repulsed and slew more than 1,000 invading goblins and hobgoblins at the fields south of Grabford. In honor of the nine survivors and their victory, the region was renamed the Valley of Nine. Likewise, Moorak and Margus combined their spells to conjure torrential rains and storms which blocked several attempted invasions. After a group of heroes slew the Herzod, ruler of the Horned Society, the mind flayer manipulated the nation into a final, suicidal strike against Furyondy. When dawn broke, all lands west of the Veng River were again in the hands of humans. For more information, see Amberwood or Knights of the Hart.
During this war, the heroes enlisted the aid of Aris Tradewind. He and his fellow party members learned much about the illithid plan. Now armed with this information, the heroes set about freeing their world from the mind flayers' influence. Many mind flayer enclaves were attacked. A group of adventurers now known as the KZM party (Kalavor, Zarabell, Margo, Jessica, Castrol, Brianna and Gilford) proved especially effective and entering and slaughtering illithid nests. Andar used his telepathic abilities to possess several illithid after picking their minds clean. Using this information, the coalition organized several raids against mind flayer bases, including a major settlement below Diamondback Lake, near Greyhawk.
After this assault, the humans recovered an elite mind flayer leader, the ullitharid, Akulon. Using their combined talents, Adam and Andar broke the ullitharid's will and raped its mind. They learned of nine major bases on Oerth and a tenth on the larger moon, Luna. In fact, the mind flayer settlements under the Nereganti deserts and on Luna held brain-pools, the center of illithid society and "religion". The plan was after resistance on Oerth was crushed, the illithid would alter the planet's orbit and atmosphere so that it would receive less light. The illithid would feed on the remaining populous for a few centuries and exhaust Oerth's remaining resources. Then the mind flayer would move on, leaving a dead and lifeless world behind.
It was Moorak who came up with the counter-plan to destroy the illithid brain-pool under Neregan. A massive strike team was assembled of powerful heroes whose minds were shielded with Mind Blank spells. One team was to be "cursed" to destroy the mind flayers' beholder allies. A second team was to enter the center of the massive underground chamber and invoke a Wish-empowered efreeti to alter a magma flow to create a volcano in the cavern. Several other teams set out to seal the various exits from the caverns. The idea was that once the efreeti was summoned, Moorak would use a Wish to increase the range on his anti-teleportation spell, Moorak's Anchor, to cover the whole cavern. Deprived of anti-magic and a means of extra-planar escape, the illithid would be forced to flee into the sealed caverns. There, they would be trapped and killed by the rising lava flow. Ultimately the plan succeed although it required the combined efforts of Grayhawk's greatest mages and a full ring of three wishes.
Flushed with victory, the heroes spread their plan and information across the globe. Mind flayer enclaves were sought out and destroyed. The mind flayer retreated from Oerth to their base on Luna, demoralized but confident they would have vengeance. Using their spell jamming vessels, the mind flayer bombarded the planet with meteors, wrecking havoc on the environment and the creatures below. The KZM party discovered in the lost elven city of Myrendell a plan to drive the illithid away. A group of elves was assembled to carry out the core of this daring plan. Meanwhile, another host used this information to assemble on Luna. This strike force held a pair of titans and Oerth's most powerful priests. The brain pool on Luna was housed in the ruins of an ancient lunar elven city, well away from any magma. This time it was a series of conjured Earthquakes which wrecked the illithid's base. No spell could truly block the mind flayer's departure this time, but the brain pool would be destroyed. Unknown to the heroes, the brain pool was already within a spell jammer and when the heroes attacked it tried to fly to freedom. But a magically massive and powerfully enlarged tigress prevented that. The illithid invasions was over.
Even now however, many illithid nautiloids linger in space above Oerth. A freed celestial dragon hunts these vessels, but still a few mind flayer stubbornly remain. They have not yet completely given up. What is their next move?
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