Losthome

Safe in their mountain valleys, the mousefolk lived in peace. They offered no offense to any living soul. In return, they were met with shadows on the wing and slaughter. This atrocity demands redress. Amber Glory, first among the Chorus

The diaspora

Before the tragedy, the high mountain home of the mousefolk was known as the New Den. (The mousefolk never clarified about any older dens.) These diminutive folk plied the mountain meadows and rivers for food; traded happily with their Izuno neighbors; kept an amiable distant from the centauri on the plains below; and looked to the future with bright smiles.

Then, in the year, 4591, the skyshadow eagles descended from the east. They arrived in the morning, a terrible flock, and set to slaughter.

Each skyshadow eagle was the size of a barn, equipped with the cunning of a fox and the cruelty of a man, and they hungered.

The mousefolk had no defense against these predators, and what followed was wanton slaughter. The eagles established a fence around the valley and methodically picked apart the mousefolk settlements, one at a time, letting a few runners escape each time to let the rest know what approached.

Most mousefolk perished, and Losthome was born.

Wounds of war

This genocide struck at the heart of Harmony. A terrible storm exploded across the entire Kingdom, ringing with the voices of the fallen, and multiple wards shattered under the strain. The Queen was reported to let out a roar of anguish that shook the entire capital, and black clouds covered the sun.

Many wondered if this was the end of the world.

Both King and Queen immediately departed to the east, accompanied by five hundred Path masters, and they struck against the skyshadow eagles.

Yet, for the mousefolk, what use was this act? Would revenge return their loved ones? Seln had slumbered peacefully, unprepared, and now the isle rang with their grief.

The eagles fled the King, baiting his forces into high mountains to pick them off one by one, and the campaign raged for months. Day by day, the land fouled. The air filled with a thick, hateful mist, and the nights slipped bit by bit into a Shade Realm deeper and more vile than any seen before.

The unclean dead rose in Losthome, and the Crown summoned more Path warriors.

Fifty eagles were known at the start. Fifty were killed by the King and his men at high cost.

Yet Losthome continued to foul.

The Crown sent geomancers to anchor the land against this deathly invasion. It was declared a success; only the Crown and a few sages knew the truth.

They had merely chained the corruption, and Losthome remained a fouled place.

Many clans, outraged at the loss of their sons and daughters, demanded answers and recompense.

The bloodstained, weary King responded, “We have failed the smallest among us. If your heart is stone to their plight, fall on your sword and spare Harmony your weight.”

Despite the new wards, no one has been able to safely settle in Losthome since. Its heights, once the best route to Izu, were abandoned.

A cursed and forgotten land, it lingers.

Malevolent mists

The mountains never look so bad at first. The way is never so murky at first. Only once greed or hubris has drawn you far enough in will this land bare its fangs.

It might come as a cunning mist, or the distant glimmer of some treasure. Whatever it takes to lure you to venture a little too long; night falls quickly in these mountains.

Then, once dark falls, your fate is sealed.

Losthome hates you. You, personally. You, who still lives and breathes. Losthome remembers, and Losthome hates you.

The legacy of eagles

No one knows the origin of the skyshadow eagles. Mousefolk survivors reported that the flock “blotted out the sun”, but who can believe accounts from a period of such sorrow and chaos?

King Riku states that he defeated “all living eagles”, though the cost was great. However, what if the King lied? What if he missed one? Surely there must be some source to the evil lingering in that land?

In battle, a single skyshadow eagle was reported to be capable of killing an entire party of Path masters. Should a new flock appear, their target would be overwhelmed. If enough emerged, the Kingdom itself might…

Do any eagles yet live? Why did they arrive? Is their evil truly banished?

All unknown.

Even now, you hear whispers of travelers seeing vast shadows among the distant peaks. Even now, you sometimes hear of caravans discovered in tatters – every traveler dead.

Eagle anecdote

What can we say of the skyshadow eagles themselves? Perhaps we should let them speak for themselves.

This story comes from a mousefolk survivor. As he hid under the sundered bodies of his parents, he heard the skyshadow eagle pluck up his sister.

“Why?! Why are you doing this?!” she had shouted.

There came a terrible crunch, and the eagle answered slowly. Carefully. As if it wanted to make sure the trembling boy heard every word.

“Because you are tasty.”