History of the Underdark of Southern Avlis: Part 1

[Orleron]

Long ago when the planet was formed, great torrents of magma formed tubes under the surface of the planet,
which still persist to this day. Since that time, these tubes have been expanded, altered, and deepened by
various forces and races who have passed through them. In fact, it is through these very passages that the
nine original warriors of old fled from the terrible force of the newly deified Negerai, and it is far down
in these passages where the heroes uncovered the secrets set there by the Supreme itself, which resulted in
their ascensions.

Though it is not widely known, these tunnels and lava tubes played an important role in the evolutoin of Avlis,
and in its continued existance to this day as we know it. Long ago, when the newly ascended heroes were
battling the evil Negerai, a mysterious and lowly minion of the Abyss stumbled upon a great artifact there.
This wretched and disgusting Dretch would go on to shape the history of Avlis upon finding this artifact: the
Black Dagger. Forged by The Supreme as a tool to work in concert with the Eternal Spark used to create the
planet itself, the Black Dagger appears as a normal double-edged fighting knife, except that the metal
comprising it is of the deepest black of night, with a hue of red. The covering of the handle is made from an
unkown hide, which some say may be skin flayed from The Supreme's own body. Further details of the weapon are
only speculative, for no mortal has ever laid eyes on it, yet the physical properties of the dagger are not the
most crucial ones. Upon finding this object and wielding it, Kimonicticus, a lowly Ta'Nari, transformed himself
into a powerful destructive force, and immediately involved himself in the battle raging above him.

The stalemate waged between the nine gods figthting on the side of The Supreme and the devious and malicious
Negerai deity could not be broken due to the inability of a god to slay another god of equal stature. As all
the participants in the battle were of equal stature, no progress could be made until a deciding factor entered
the fray: the Black Dagger. Kimonicticus somehow knew this. Whether he was councilled (or even threatened) by
The Supreme is not known, but what is known is that Kimonicticus turned the awesome destructive power of the
Black Dagger on the Negerai god, destroying him utterly. The events immediatley following this decisive blow are
not known precisely, however it is deduced that he halted his attacks once the Negerai was vanquished, and somehow
lost possession of the artifact. Many scholars presume that the very last intervention of The Supreme on Avlis
was to remove the Black Dagger from Kimonicticus, hiding it once more where it will not be found.

However, the saga of Avlis' creation myth did not end there. It continued.

Though Kimonicticus was a demon and therefore immortal, using such a powerful destructive item caused great
changes to him. He was no longer a weakling Dretch, or a grovelling slimey lackey. He was something more. The
power exhibited by the Dretch after wielding the Black Dagger was staggering, but not impossible to overcome, and
some of the more goodly gods of Avlis contemplated destroying Kimonicticus. As the new gods were creating the
necessary minions and races to do the job, Mikon chased the altered Dretch down deep below the surface of Avlis
in order to clear the way for the new lives to come. It was during this episode of containing the Dretch's power
that Mikon discovered a terrible secret. The essence of Kimonicticus was joined with the Black Dagger. It seemed
that by using the artifact, the demon became integrally connected to it. Though the artifact itself was
indestructable, Kimonicticus was not. Destroying him would be akin to destroying the Black Dagger itself, which
was an integral part of the universe where the planet existed. This destruction would not only mean the end of
the world, but also the end of the gods themselves, so soon after they were just created.

Deeply distressed, Mikon brought this information to his eight counterparts. They could not allow Kimonicticus
to roam free, nor could they allow themselves to be destroyed. With these two points in mind, the nine gods
attempted to transform Kimonicticus into a deity in order that he would be harder to destroy. They failed.
The creature's essence was not amenable to godhood, for it was composed of a higher essence than godhood.
Then Toran, purveyor of Law and Order, came up with another proposition. He suggested that they create guardians
to watch over Kimonicticus instead. These guardians would have to be either numerous or powerful, maybe even
divine. Valok pointed out that creating more gods was what started their whole predicament in the first place,
and making even more of them after that was not the way to solve it. The wise and goodly deity named Gorethar
agreed with Valok's sentiment, and proposed that each god take some of their mortal creations and set them
down below the ground to guard Kimonicticus, but none of the other deities were willing to create versions of
their races to live underground as Gorethar's dwarves did innately, except Mikon. He decreed that this idea
would go into effect, and he moved some of his newly created Romini-folk to the vicinity south of Kimonicticus'
underdark lands, charging them to guard the creature from harm for eternity. Gorethar did the same with his
dwarven-folk. He set a number of them to guard Kimonicticus from the north, and the matter was considered
settled.