Morliek

The dark citadel towers above even the jagged peaks over which it holds dominion. No snow finds rest upon its smooth planes, nor on its sharp edges. Its windows glow an unearthly green, in the dark hours of the night. Those who see it, fear it. And that fear is warranted. But Morliek, the obsidian fortress, was not always the haven for darkness that it is now.

Ten years ago, the elf-king Liam IV, shark-bane, ruled in Morliek. His grandfather had ordered it built, to guard against the menace from over the mountains. His father had first taken up residence in it. And it was Liam the Third, victor at Elm's End and Longpier, who would be its ruin; and his own.

His foes from the darkness beyond the mountains - known by the elves as the Ing - were subtle and cunning. In Liam's grandfather's day, they had corrupted the high ministry of the elven court - nearly taking the elven valley by surprise. It was this treachery that provoked the construction of Morliek, to guard the pass. Liam's father had been surprised when, during his reign, the Ing remained quiscient; not engaging in any aggression against the elves for the entirety of his reign, breaking a six-ruler-long sequence of wars. He went to his grave without ever knowing that their efforts had been focused for the last thirty years on one elf: Prince Liam IV.

Liam had first met the Ing when he, escaping his nannies, ventured to the highest tower of Morliek. They sent shadowy emissaries to comfort the frightened child; soothing him with tales of glorious and righteous battle, of shining knights in golden armor. Before the nannies found him and took him away, the Ing gained a promise from Liam that he would soon return to hear more of their tales. Over the years, Prince Liam IV found solace in that high tower, listening to the tales of the Ing; which changed as he aged, focusing on battles against the Ing, and fables of the wonders just beyond the mountains separating Ing from elf. His servants learned never to disturb him when he rested there; and never did Liam realize the nature of his companions.

Then the sad day came that Liam's father died, and Liam IV ascended to the throne of the elves. He was known as a beautiful and kind king; generous to the poor and fair in his justice. But his one great flaw was his obsession with the Ing. The tales of his Ing companions had stirred in him a fierce flame; the need to be the one to wipe out the Ing at the root, and end their menace once and for all. His advisors could not dissuade him from seeking to fight the Ing - only before defeated with luck and superior numbers - in their very homeland. In the second year of his reign, Liam IV gathered his army - the vast majority of the elven army, and many conscripts beside - and marched over the mountains into the land of the Ing.

The whole strength of elvenkind marched with him, that day, seeking glory and justice. They never returned. There is much speculation on how the Ing defeated them; battle, treachery, madness; but not a single one of them returned to tell the tale. Instead, two months after Liam IV crossed the mountains in glittering glory, the Ing swarmed over on ten thousand scuttling black legs. The survivors of the garrison of Morliek described it as a 'sea of shadow'. Morliek was the first to fall; the entire valley, the blessed home of the elves, followed within weeks. Hundreds of thousands died, defenseless without the army Liam had taken from them. Only a few elves survived; refugees, from the disaster, and from the time of Liam's departure, when the foresighted and pessimistic began to flee.

And so it was that Morliek, once a bastion of light, is become a citadel of darkness. The Ing withdrew after their victory against their hated enemy was complete. Now a few, brave elves and humans are re-entering the valley of the elves. But never does any man seek to enter Morliek.