Introduction
Since the dimly remembered past, the great kings of Usiren have dominated the civilized world, their dynasty seeming as much a part of the natural order as the turning of the seasons. The last of these august monarchs, Ehetusir, united Usiren with its ancient rivals in the North. For this he was rewarded by the Serene Goddess with a precious amulet granting its wearer everlasting life, the Royal Numen. With time, he came to be seen as a god himself, the power of the hallowed immortals immanent in flesh and blood. But worship is too much for any man to bear for long; Ehetusir grew detached from his people, and blind to the clouds of war on the horizon.
Three years ago, the hill tribes of the shadhavar, unicorn worshipers of the Wild God, came down from the untamed mountain wilderness. They were united as never before under the banner of a new warlord, Shezeqan the Scourge. Shezeqan commanded all the peoples of the world to abandon the great cities and repent of their decadence, subjecting themselves to the vicissitudes of untamed Nature. All who refused this divine call to penitence would be put to death. The army of Usiren crumpled before the unconventional tactics and fanaticism of the unicorn horde. One city after another was broken by Shezeqan and destroyed, its inhabitants scattered or dead.
At last, the unicorns laid siege to Usiren itself, the ancient capital, seemingly impregnable behind its mighty walls. Its fortifications were imbued with the divine power of the city gods gathered there from the far reaches of its crumbling empire. The king projected an image of security. Counselors advised him to move the royal court to its peninsular stronghold in advance of the siege, but he would hear none of it, placing his faith in the hallowed immortals and his own manifest divinity. It was not enough. Some said that a traitor within Usiren had desecrated the inner sanctuary of the Mother Temple, breaking the bond between the holy gods and their besieged city. Whatever the cause, the walls were breached, and the city burned. Usiren and its empire had fallen. The king seemed to realize the gravity of his situation all at once. Taking off the Royal Numen from around his neck, he tossed it at the feet of the crown prince Nanusir, and without a word he threw himself from his citadel to his death.
Expecting to meet your end defending the walls of the riverfront palace of the crown prince, it came as a shock to you when your lord informed his court that the king had given him the Royal Numen, and with it, the scepter of Usiren. But there would be no time to mourn the passing of the god-king or his great city. Nanusir and his most capable fighters led the court in a daring night-time escape down the river, evading the victorious besiegers to arrive at the old royal stronghold city on the seacoast.
Shezeqan did not pursue the crown prince then. When Usiren fell, winter was near, and the canny unicorn knew that overwintering there, cut off from his people's mountain heartland, could provide his enemies with the opportunity for a counterattack. His triumphant forces followed him back into the mountains, leaving behind them the smouldering ruins of the city that had so long held the throne of the known world. Meanwhile, stories arrived in the court of a people in the North who had successfully repelled the unicorns. This seemed incredible - these were simple rustics on the far fringes of the civilized world; how could they hold back the horde of Shezeqan when the army of Usiren could not? Some said that they had received a new ME, the divine embodiment of a foundational idea, unknown in Usiren. There were darker rumors, too - that these people were led by a heretical giant priest banished from Usiren a century ago. But if there is any truth to the matter, it seems that these people might have discovered a way to save what is left of civilization.
Nanusir has called you and some of your companions before him today to officially receive your orders, but this is a formality. You know why he is summoning you: your group is to seek out these people and find the secret of their success in driving back the horde. It will be a difficult journey - long even in peaceful times, but now fraught with danger, from unicorn stragglers and scouting parties, from bandits, and from local potentates eager to reassert themselves in the momentary power vacuum formed by the destruction of the royal palace and the withdrawal of Shezeqan. Time, too, is running out; it is already weeks past the solstice. With the spring thaw, Shezeqan and his horde will surely return to finish off Usiren. If you delay too long in your mission, there may not be anything left to defend when you return....