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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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Liter Asper Rebellion (ca. 2778 - 2785 I.D.)

After their victory during the Counterspell Campaign, the magocrats were in no position to continue their war with the Fygae. The mundanes of Domus Palus and other western cities were in a state near revolt due to the large number of their kin who had been conscripted by the wizards. Further, Mardux Klug had lost the Chair halfway through the campaign, and the magocrats were squabbling with each other for the title of Mardux. With the rural Mar pacified and made confident by their victory over the once invincible Kalkoraen infrastructure, many wizards lost interest in the Fygae. The Fygae, meanwhile, had problems of their own.

The infrastructure of Litus Albus and other cities had been disabled by age and an absence of mede operators, but the task of rebuilding it proved much easier than that of building an infrastructure around the resource-poor rural communities. By the end of the Counterspell Campaign, the Fygae had occupied the south coast and supplanted the Mar leaders with their own generals.

At first, the Mar of Liter Asper - a small coastal city near the west side of Marrishland's southern coast - welcomed the Fygaen engineers, remembering stories of their wondrous, work-saving devices. They grew increasingly disappointed, however, when the Fygae demanded most of the metal the Mar owned in order to build weapons. Far to the north, Fygaen engineers devoted much of their research to developing a way to shield their foci and relays from Mar counterspells. It is believed several Mar wizards helped the Fygae accomplish this feat shortly before 2800 I.D., but for reasons that will be clear later, it was never produced on a massive scale.

After several years had passed without any improvement in the lifestyle of the urban Mar, wizards and mundanes alike began first to grumble and then to plot. In 2780 I.D., the Fygae arrested and publicly executed as traitors nearly 400 wizards in Liter Asper, including many prominent scholars, judges, and priests. The population rose up in a violent revolt led by the magocrats. As the Fygaen defenses were intended to repel threats from without, not those from within, the Fygae were soon overwhelmed. The Mar then set out to strip the foci, harvesters, conduits, and relays of their metal to forge weapons.

The Fygae in neighboring cities had no intention of losing control of Liter Asper, but they had a dilemma. As powerful as their devices were, they were largely immobile, while the Mar wizards could not be deprived of their magic so long as they had torutsen available to them. Thus, while the Fygae had a strong defense against the Mar, they were far less capable of attacking. Instead of moving against Liter Asper right away, the Fygae sent messengers to the north to petition the king for a naval assault.

A rebel Mar in one of the occupied cities learned of the Fygaen plan and fled to warn Liter Asper. The wizards there dreaded an attack from the sea, for while the Fygaen ships were not as powerful as the war ships of the Medien Empire had been, they were floating fortresses that could bombard Liter Asper without fear of retaliation. The Mar of Liter Asper had no navy, only a few fishing boats that would certainly not drive off the Fygaen navy. Liter Asper sent messengers of their own to Domus Palus, begging the Mardux for the West's support in their war against the Fygae.

The Mardux and the wizards of the magocracy refused with the message, "The people of Liter Asper invited this doom among them, and the people of Liter Asper will pay the price of their folly." This infuriated the wizards of Liter Asper, but there was no time to persuade the magocracy.

Liter Asper adopted the methods of Weard Fraevyd Erbmung, training every man, woman, and half-grown child in the basics of magic - especially fire and counterspells - calling these magic-wielders Aspiron. They stripped the leaves off every kalysut for miles around to brew enough torutsen to supply them all. For an entire year, the population of Liter Asper trained in using the myst cooperatively. It is said that 25,000 Aspiron cooperated in the defense of Liter Asper.

Had anyone in the Fygaen navy lived to tell the tale, they no doubt would have expressed surprise at the fierceness of the battle. Sun slings proved no use against the walls of Liter Asper, so the ships sailed closer. In a concentrated magical effort reminiscent of a bucket brigade, the Aspiron defended themselves, countering every attack against them at every hour of the day and night for eight days. The Fygae no doubt believed their victory was inevitable, for while the Mar were not drawing from a limited pool as did the wints, the Mar were only defending themselves without threatening the Fygaen fleet.

It is not clear what happened on the night before the ninth day. Legends say Marrish rode out from the south wall of Liter Asper on the back of a great storm, but history teaches that the Fygaen ships had nothing to fear from a storm. Some scholars suggest that Liter Asper's defenders did not counter the Fygaen spells but, rather, opened a gateway into the Tempest into which all the fleet's magic vanished. A few fervently believe that on that night, something stepped out of the Tempest - a demon or a god, no one is sure - and wreaked bloody vengeance on those who had disturbed it. There was indeed a storm that night, but tales tell of a hail of daggers carried by a wind that set wood and flesh ablaze.

When the sun rose, there was no sign of the Fygaen fleet. By most accounts, the beach of Liter Asper was covered in tiny pieces of metal that looked like gold-green snowflakes. It is said that these were carried as tokens by the people of Liter Asper and by their decendants. Stories tell of the magical properties of this strange metal. No one in the last several centuries has ever claimed to have seen one, however, so there is no way to verify the truth of these claims.

(Contributed by Weard Gilda Kronas)