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Marrishland has a long and violent history. Several civilizations have risen and fallen, here, and the book tells about events during one of the most turbulant periods - a period whose events determine whether a civilization survives or dies.

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The Elrich Campaign (ca. 2730 - 2750 I.D.)

During the time of peace following the Isensump Campaign, the urban Mar in the western cities, including Domus Palus, did not forget the war they had lost to the rural mundanes who rebelled against the magocracy. Many of their kin and fathers had fallen in Mardux Schutzorn's doomed campaign, and it was not a sleight they took lightly. They did not seek open war with the rural separatists, but nor did they fail to maintain a ready defense in the event of another brutal siege like Saxus Rubus.

The cities in the south, however - including Weard Darflaem's home of Litus Albus - bore the rebels no real grudge after Mardux Fribrin's treaty. They had not been conscripted by Mardux Schutzorn's levy of flesh, nor had they come under attack by the rebels. While still loyal to the magocracy, the leaders of Litus Albus worked diligently for the decades after the Isensump Campaign to maintain peaceful relations between Domus Palus and Weard Erbmung's followers.

Most famous of these was Weard Vili Elrich, an energetic diplomat beloved by both the magocrats and the rebels. His star is Kaesitor Concor (meaning "harmonious judge") and lies in the Advocate. He is credited with preventing many battles between the magocracy and the separatists over tense events ranging from border disputes to criminal mayhem by one group against the other.

He strongly advocated accusing and punishing individuals, not the larger factions. Many from the magocracy - mundane and wizard alike - came to justice under rebel laws, and many rural Mar became slaves for their crimes against the magocrats. Weard Elrich oversaw many trials. Both the rebels and the Mardux appointed him judge of law in their lands, and only those sentenced by him ever accused him of being unfair.

Weard Elrich had a brother named Weard Nidhug Schnitt, who was a scholar and healer of unsurpassed skill, in his time. Weard Schnitt was the first wizard to successfully regenerate an internal organ - the liver of a mundane slave who had lost hers. For this feat and many other important discoveries concerning the medical applications of magic, Weard Schnitt has a star in the constellation of the Hunter - Faber Iker, which means "liver smith." He was heralded as the greatest scholar of his generation.

Rumor passed through Domus Palus, however, that Weard Schnitt had mastered healing magic not by aiding the sick and injured but by practicing his arts on healthy slaves provided to him by his brother's judgements. Mardux Garet Hemlich tried to keep rumors of Weard Schnitt's experiments a secret from Vili Elrich, but word reached the judge's ears that some sentenced to eight years of slavery had not been returned to their homes in accordance with Vangard's Rules of Governance.

Weard Elrich decided to pay his brother a visit, but Mardux Hemlich met him at the gates of Domus Palus and ordered him to stay out of the citadel where his brother was working. Weard Elrich clearly suspected some foul play, but he agreed to the Mardux's terms. He only met his brother outside the walls of the citadel, but he took note of Weard Schnitt's unease and of the fear in the eyes of the slaves who accompanied him.

When Weard Elrich returned to Domus Palus, he came with eight mundane adepts. They came disguised as slaves bound for Weard Schnitt's service and accompanied by two rebel magocrats. While in his brother's service, Weard Elrich saw many dying Mar restored to health, but he saw no attrocities. Those slaves who had served Weard Elrich for several years told vivid stories of Weard Schnitt's terrible experiments, however.

Weard Elrich's adept companions fed his suspicions, so the judge remained in Domus Palus, searching for the truth about his brother's experiments. While he remained incommunicado as a slave in Domus Palus, some of his brother's slaves - all of whom had been sentenced by Weard Elrich for crimes against the magocracy - were set free in accordance with Vangard's Rules of Governance. Soon, rumors of Weard Nidhug Schnitt's experiments, which had spread throughout the rebel lands, were accompanied by tales of his terrible experiments on his own brother - the beloved and respected Weard Vili Elrich.

One of Weard Elrich's adept companions (some say she was also a former lover) kidnapped him and escaped into the wilderness, where she killed him and removed his liver and stomach. Fashioning a crude stretcher, she brought the dissected corpse to the nearest rebel town, providing flesh to the rumor of his death at his brother's hands. In other tales, Vili Elrich's lover smuggled his body out of Domus Palus only after Weard Schnitt had unknowingly performed a terrible experiment on his own brother. Regardless of the truth, soon after word of Weard Elrich's death reached Domus Palus, Weard Schnitt was found dead in his home, having apparently fallen on his spear - suicide brought on by grief or guilt, some say, but others suspect he was murdered by his own slaves.

Some scholars believe Weard Schnitt either ceased his dreadful experiments before his brother began his investigation or that he had simply become far better at concealing them from his slaves. Others argue, however, that the rumors of Weard Schnitt's experiments were started by jealous colleagues and fanned by the fears of rural mundanes. They claim Mardux Hemlich never forbade Weard Elrich from coming to the citadel or that he did so only because he feared the diplomat might become a target of a political assassin.

Whatever the truth of Weard Elrich, Mardux Hemlich, and Weard Schnitt's experiments, the judge's death confirmed the worst fears of the rural mundanes and marked the beginning of a fresh wave of hostilities known as the Elrich Campaign. While none of the battles ended in a decisive victory for either side and the six years that followed resulted in no changes in the borders between magocracy and rebels, the Elrich Campaign and the events leading up to it had several important consequences.

First, it put an end to the cordial relationship between the magocracy and the rebellion. Ever after, whenever the two sides met each other, bloodshed was inevitable. Second, it made the southern cities even more sympathetic to the rebels' cause and weakened their loyalty to the Mardux. Litus Albus effectively broke away from the magocracy after Weard Elrich's death. Third, it gave rise to a faction within the rebellion that sought to ally themselves with the Fygae. Finally, it saw the capture and eventual execution of Weard Erbmung by the myseseron.

While news of Fraevyd Erbmung's death soon put an end to the Elrich Campaign, it also marked the beginning of a schism in the rebellion between those who wished to fight on their own and those who wished to form alliances with others who had reason to regard the magocracy as a threat. Eventually, this latter faction won out, leading to the Fygae Compact.

(Contributed by Weard Gilda Kronas)