Lore of DAoC: Catacombs Albion

      The land where the great city of Camelot stands has long been regarded as a focus for power, both political and mystical. Because of the nature of the land, many people have been drawn to that location, and a succession of cities and towns have risen and fallen on that very site over time. It was no accident that Arthur chose that very spot for the location of his city, for he was well versed in the history and legends of the land. He knew that Camelot was only the latest in the long line of important structures that once stood there.

      Long before Arthur and his city, long before the Romans came to Albion, various people had settled on the land where Camelot would stand.  One of the largest groups to live in and around that area  were the followers of Arawn, Lord of the Underworld. They believed that the Lord of the Underworld had summoned them to that spot to act as his servants upon the land.

      The Arawnites believed that if they constructed a temple to honor the Lord of the Underworld, he would open a portal from his realm into theirs. Through the portal, they could pass safely into the land of Annwn and be with their god. Even before their houses were finished, the Arawnites began building their temple. While helping with the construction, a young Arawnite named Cadfael suddenly fell through a weak spot in the earth. He tumbled a short distance, down a sloping tunnel, and came to a stop on the ledge of a large cave. The other Arawnites saw Cadfael's tumble into the cave as a sign that Arawn approved of their building the temple. Cadfael believed that he had fallen into the cave because Arawn had chosen him to be the one to seek out Annwn.

      As work continued on the temple, Cadfael took a group of Arawnites back into the cave to explore it. Cadfael believed that they would find the entrance to the Lord of the Underworld's realm somewhere within the cave. He was devastated after many explorations of the cave failed to reveal the portal to Annwyn that he had longed to find.. He never gave up the idea that he was the chosen of Arawn, and that he would be the one to find the portal.  Until he grew too frail to walk, Cadfael continued to explore the various caverns and tunnels, all to no avail..

      The Arawnites continued to worship Arawn and make offerings and sacrifices to him for many, many years, until the Romans arrived. As the Romans swept through the land of Albion, they sought to bring everyone they encountered under their control. Some went willingly, but not the Arawnites. They refused to accept the rule of the Romans and their pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Arawnites swore they would only ever worship Arawn, the Lord of the Underworld.  They attacked the Romans, trying to drive them from their village and temple. Angered by the Arawnites' impertinence, the Romans struck out against them.  They wiped out all but a few survivors and tore  down the elaborate temple to Arawn.

      Once the Arawnites were dealt with, the Romans began to build their city right over the land where the Arawnite temple once stood.  The Romans, like the Arawnites before them, discovered the caves beneath the town. As they went deeper and deeper into the maze of caverns and tunnels, they encountered a large lake and many fresh springs. Knowing their constant need for fresh water, the Romans began to build a system of aqueducts through the caves. Channels and holding pools were built, and entire caverns and tunnels were lined with bricks to make them waterproof. Using a system of pumps, the Romans drew the water up from the deep underground lake and springs, through the channels, and into the holding pools. From the pools, more pumps were used to drive the water up through the complex system of channels and into the wells that fed the town.

      The aqueduct system served the Romans well, for it provided them with fresh water even in times of drought. The Romans were vigilant about maintaining the aqueducts to ensure that water continued to flow up from the depths of the caves to the village. But the time came when the Romans abandoned Albion to the barbarian raiders. Those who remained tried to maintain the aqueducts for a while, but they lacked the Romans' sheer numbers. More and more sections of the aqueducts fell into disrepair until finally the entrance was sealed and the entire system was abandoned, or so the villagers thought.

      While the Romans occupied the village, many gods and goddesses were worshiped there. One group of Romans who worshiped Pluto was the source of some trouble in the village. Many Romans, including the followers of Pluto, saw the similarity between Pluto, the Roman god of the dead and Arawn, the lord of the underworld. The similarity between the two gods led the Plutonists to seek out more information about Arawn. Soon they were incorporating some of the Arawnite rituals into their worship of Pluto. This made the other Romans very uncomfortable, for  they remembered how defiant the Arawnites had been. Soon, the Plutonists were being treated with suspicion, and at times, hatred. When the time came for the Romans to leave Albion behind, the Plutonists, influenced by the hatred of the other Romans and their newly formed ties to Albion, chose to stay.

      After the Romans left, the Plutonists expected to live peacefully in the abandoned village, but that was not to be. The Britons who moved into the village resented and hated all Romans for what happened to the Arawnites. They threatened the Plutonists, who in turn grew to hate the Britons. Rather than be driven from their home, the Plutonists chose to seek refuge in the aqueducts beneath the village. Led by Aulus, the high priest of Pluto, the group settled into one of the larger vaulted rooms that had acted as a holding pool. In this room, Aulus and the others began to build a temple to worship Pluto, and honor the memory of the lost Arawnites. After time, though were forgotten by the villagers above, the strange combined religion that paid homage to Arawn, Pluto, and later on other gods of the underworld, flourished in the depths of the aqueducts.

It is said that Arawn, the Lord of the Underworld, came into existence at the same time as death itself. As Lord of the Underworld, it was the task of Arawn to collect the spirits and souls of the dead and bring them to Annwn, the land of the dead. To help him with this task and many others, Arawn created the Inconnu to do his bidding. The Inconnu were unlike any other being in Annwn, for they were living creatures rather than incorporeal spirits or the souls of the dead.  Often though, with their pale, ghostly skin and large black eyes, they were mistaken for the dead that they were to serve. When Arawn gave the Inconnu life, he assigned them one purpose - to serve him without question or complaint.

In serving Arawn, the Inconnu were ordered to do many things. They were sent to retrieve the souls of the newly dead and escort them to Annwn. The way from the land of the living to the land of the dead was long. It was easy for souls and spirits to become lost in the journey down into the depths of Annwn. The Inconnu would lead the spirits down through the earth of Albion and into the Crypt where the Inconnu dwelled. The spirits and souls were not allowed to remain in the Crypt of the Inconnu but instead passed down into an area called the Deadlands of Annwn.

Arawn ordered the Inconnu to build a city.  He did not want to anger the dead by allowing those of the living to reside with them, so he randomly chose an inconnu named Jaro'yen and ordered him to build a Crypt for all of the Inconnu. Arawn told Jaro'yen to use as many Inconnu as needed, provided it did not interfere with any mission Arawn may have already given them, and to do whatever was necessary to get the Crypt built. After giving Jaro'yen a vision of what the Crypt should look like, Arawn went to see to other more important things. Since Inconnu did not question the orders of their lord, Jaro'yen simply nodded and set out to build the city.

To anyone other than an Inconnu, the task of building a city from scratch would be an immense challenge.  To an Inconnu, though, it was simply another task to be completed. Never having built a city before, Jaro'yen used the freedom granted by Arawn to secretly watch the people of Albion, especially the Arawnites that were building the temple to Arawn. As he watched, Jaro'yen saw that the people used stone, wood, and metal to build the temple. With his newly acquired knowledge of materials, Jaro'yen returned to Annwn to begin building.

Upon returning to Annwn, Jaro'yen ran into a large problem in constructing the Crypt. Annwn was plentiful in only these things: incorporeal spirits and the souls of the dead.  It lacked the wood, metal and good stone that was essential for building a city such as Arawn wanted. Jaro'yen searched the Deadlands of Annwn and other parts of the underworld, but was unable to find any of the necessary materials. Knowing that Arawn would not accept this excuse, the inconnu turned to another source.  Jaro'yen knew that Albion could provide the stone, metal, and wood needed to build the Crypt. He gathered a group of Inconnu and led them into a distant part of Annwn. There, he opened a portal from their world into the depths of Albion. Once the portal was stabilized, Jaro'yen ordered the other Inconnu to begin to cut blocks of stone from the walls of the surrounding the cave. These blocks of stone were then taken back to the lands below the Deadlands of Annwn, where they began construction of the Lower Crypt.

Because of the vast amount of stone needed for the buildings, soon the small cave had grown into a large one. As more and more stone was quarried from around the cave, tunnels were left where the stone was removed. It was as these tunnels were being made that Jaro'yen discovered that there were deposits of silver ore within the stone. He ordered the other Inconnu to collect this silver ore, and after watching how the people of Albion work with the metal ore, had the Inconnu begin to do the same. Soon, they had collected enough silver to use in the construction of the city.

As construction upon the Lower Crypt was nearing completion, the Inconnu made a second discovery. As they quarried the desired stone, their tunnels became longer and longer. Since they often did not pay attention to the direction in which they were digging, the tunnels twisted around in all directions. One day, a group of Inconnu removed a large block of stone to discover they could see daylight on the other side. They had dug all the way to the surface of Albion. One of the Inconnu fetched Jaro'yen who then cautiously stepped outside the tunnel entrance. After determining they were alone in the area, the Inconnu began to explore.

Jaro'yen was pleased to see that there were a lot of trees in the area. Not knowing how often the people of Albion wandered by the area, he ordered only a few trees cut down and taken back to Annwn. He then ordered the Inconnu to dig other tunnels to other parts of Albion and gather trees here and there, and told them to make sure that the entrances to the tunnels were well hidden. With the quarrying of stone, the gathering of ore, and the collection of wood, soon the Inconnu had quite a set of mines and tunnels running beneath the surface of Albion.

Jaro'yen and his Inconnu team, with the help of the mines, were able to finish the Upper Crypt in a short amount of time. Even after the Upper Crypt was complete, Jaro'yen ordered that the entrance to the mines be left open so that the Inconnu could obtain any materials they needed to maintain the Crypts. On one of their maintenance trips into the mines, Jaro'yen and a few other Inconnu discovered that one of the hidden entrances to the mines was open. Although they found evidence that someone from the surface had entered the mines, the intruders were not there now. The Inconnu sealed that entrance to be safe, and then went about their tasks again.

Unfortunately, that was not the last time they discovered that a hidden entrance had been opened. As more and more people explored the surface of Albion, they uncovered the Inconnu's carefully hidden mine entrances. Because the tunnels were confusing, very few people actually ventured deep into the mines, but Jaro'yen was still worried that one day someone would find the entrance to Annwn.  He hesitated to close the mines completely, though. Its resources continued to provide them with the materials needed for maintaining the crypts.  But then, something happened that changed Jaro'yen's mind and convinced him to close the mines completely.

A group of explorers from the surface had managed to make their way deep into the tunnels, nearly discovering a group of Inconnu at work. The Inconnu had heard the noisy Albions coming down the tunnel and managed to hide themselves in the shadows. The Albions entered the room where the Inconnu had been working and were surprised to see signs of recent digging there. They touched the hammers and pick axes the Inconnu had been using to dig the ore out. After a quick search, the Albions headed back to the surface and the Inconnu went back to work. A day or so later, the Inconnu who had been working in the tunnel became very ill. Arawn saved them from dying, but he was angry with Jaro'yen for allowing the Albions to enter the mines. Jaro'yen took a group of Inconnu and sealed each tunnel entrance to prevent the surface-dwellers from entering.  He closed the portal from Annwn into the mines, sealing the mines forever, or so Jaro'yen and the others thought.

Many, many years later, when trouble began to rise in the Lower Crypt and the Deadlands of Annwn, the Inconnu were in need of stone to build barricades and metal ore to forge armor and weapons. By that time the Inconnu had become immune to the diseases of the Albions, so Arawn ordered the mines to be reopened once again. During the time the mines were closed, evil creatures moved into the mines and the tunnels were now unsafe for travel and work. But since the Inconnu were unable to disobey an order from Arawn, they fearlessly entered the mines to obtain the materials needed to defend the Crypt of the Inconnu from evil.

He had the Inconnu build the Crypt both above and below the Deadlands of Annwn so that they could be close by to the spirits and souls they were charged with watching. Although spirits and souls were allowed to pass through the Upper Crypt to reach the Deadlands of Annwn, they were not allowed to pass back through to the living world nor were they allowed to enter the Lower Crypt.

The souls and spirits that passed through the Upper Crypt were always awed by the city Arawn had ordered his servants to build. The buildings were made mainly of stone, although some were made of wood. The windows of the buildings were tall and narrow but deep-set, with high arches accentuating them. The entrances to the buildings were also in deep-set arches and some had large stained-glass windows over them. Eerie lights from within the buildings set the windows to glowing. Many of the surfaces of the buildings, especially those around the windows and doors, were elaborately carved with grotesque images of death and Annwn. Statues of demons, spirits, and magical creatures decorated the roofs of the buildings. Some buildings were connected by covered walkways, also trimmed in elaborate carvings and statues. Throughout the Crypt, carvings, entrances, and even statues were trimmed in silver work. With the eerie lighting of the Annwn, the feeling of the Crypt was one of darkness and death which is how the Inconnu and Arawn both liked it.

      When Arawn, and death, came into existence, so did the land that Arawn was to rule Annwn, the land of the dead. When a person died, Arawn would send one of the Inconnu to gather the soul and escort it down into Annwn. Arawn would also send his Inconnu to retrieve stray spirits that wandered the lands of Albion and bring them into Annwn so they would not trouble the living. Once in Annwn, a spirit or soul could not leave unless Arawn gave his permission and lowered the spiritual barriers that surrounded Annwn and set it apart from the world.

      At first, Annwn was just a flat, dark place where the souls and spirits wandered aimlessly while the Inconnu watched over them. The Inconnu themselves wandered around among the dead when they were not serving Arawn. This caused unrest among the souls and spirits, for the Inconnu were alive. To end this problem, Arawn selected an Inconnu he named Jaro'yen to oversee the construction of a city for the Inconnu to live in. This city became known as the Crypt of the Inconnu.

      Arawn's plans for the Crypt were unique. Half of the city was to be built beneath the area where the souls and spirits wandered while the other half was to be built above. This would allow the Inconnu to stay close enough to continue to watch over the souls and spirits of Annwn while not putting them directly in with the dead. With the Inconnu no longer staying directly with the souls and spirits, Arawn expected the unrest to settle down - but he was wrong.

      To reach the area of Annwn where they were to remain the souls and spirits had to pass through the Upper Crypt. When they saw Annwn after passing through the terrible magnificence of the Crypt, they were angered. They did not want to stay in the dark, empty in-between place when the Inconnu had such a place to live as the Crypt. The souls and spirits became even more restless with their anger and the Inconnu who watched over them struggled to keep them under control. Because it wasn't in the nature of the Inconnu to complain, it took Arawn a while to realize that there was once again unrest in Annwn.

      When it finally came to his attention that the dead were unhappy, Arawn went to the land between the Crypts to find out what was going on. When he entered the area where the souls and spirits roamed, their cries grew louder, and this angered Arawn. He believed that the souls and spirits should be happy to be in Annwn rather than sentenced to oblivion. As he scanned the souls and spirits, Arawn saw that they were jealous that the Inconnu had such a city but they had nothing but darkness. It was then that Arawn decided what to do with the dead. He began to speak to them and the cries of the dead were silenced.

      Arawn told the souls and spirits of his realm that he understood their jealousy of the Inconnu and their city.  He expected the dead to be jealous of the living. Arawn then told the dead that he would create a special place for the dead, with each spirit and soul having its very own part. He told them that this new area would be one fit for the dead and a cheer spread through Annwn. The souls and spirits grew excited as they pictured their land looking something like the Crypt of the Inconnu. The cheer died down as Arawn spoke again. He told the souls and spirits there was a condition to the change. They were not to complain about a single thing in the changed land or Arawn would take it away and return them to the darkness they dwelled in now. The souls and spirits agreed, again picturing the Crypt of the Inconnu as their new home. Then with a wicked smirk and a wave of his hand, Arawn gave the dead their new lands.

      The light in Annwn brightened slightly so that the souls and spirits could see the changes to Annwn. As they looked around, gasps and grumbling filled the air. Instead of a magnificent city such as the Inconnu had, the dead had been given a graveyard. Across the land there were randomly placed gravestones, tombs, crypts, and statues and monuments to the dead. The land surrounding each structure was rough, hard-packed dirt with dead tufts of grass here and there. A pale fog filled the air, obscuring the graves and tombs in the distance. Through the wisps of fog the dead could see that instead of sky overhead there was the massive ceiling of a giant cavern with stalactites hanging down here and there. While the crypts and monuments were carved with designs, they were nothing like the fine work that was seen in the Crypt of the Inconnu. Anger began to spread through the dead once more.

      One soul began to speak, ready to voice its anger at Arawn's choice of land for them but Arawn stopped it. Still smirking, he reminded them not to complain or they would be returned to the dark, dreary land that was Annwn. He told them since they were jealous of the Crypt of the Inconnu he had given each of them their very own crypt or grave within Annwn. The souls knew they had been outsmarted by Arawn, and rather than return to the darkness of before, accepted their new lands. Arawn then decreed that this part of Annwn would be known as the Deadlands of Annwn. He also decreed that henceforth each soul or spirit that entered the Deadlands of Annwn would be given their very own crypt in so as not to be jealous of the Crypt of the Inconnu.

      Over time the dead settled down and accepted their place in the Deadlands of Annwn. Things were peaceful for a long time in the Deadlands of Annwn until the rise of Morgana's power. Through her evil magic Morgana found a way to steal souls and spirits from the Deadlands of Annwn and use them against the people of Albion. This annoyed Arawn, and eventually led to his sending the Inconnu to the surface to join in the fight against Morgana. Arawn's interference in her plans angered Morgana, and as revenge, she used her magic to turn the souls and spirits in the Deadlands of Annwn against Arawn and the Inconnu.

      To protect the Upper Crypt, Arawn ordered the Inconnu to bar the entrance with an enchanted iron gate that spirits could not pass through. The Inconnu then built a small secret tunnel to allow them access to the lands beyond the gate without the dead knowing. The once peaceful Deadlands of Annwn have become a battleground where the Inconnu are forced to fight for their lives against the dead - and worse.

      When Arawn created the Inconnu, his main task for them was to tend to the dead in Annwn. But when their services were not needed by Arawn, the Inconnu needed a place to be. Putting the living with the dead introduced the potential for angry dead, which is something Arawn wanted to avoid. He randomly chose an Inconnu, named him Jaro'yen for simplicity's sake, and ordered him to build a Crypt for all the Inconnu. Arawn told Jaro'yen to use as many Inconnu as needed, provided it did not interfere with any mission Arawn may have given them and to do whatever was necessary to get the Crypt built. After giving Jaro'yen a vision of what the Crypt should look like, Arawn went to see to other more important things. Since Inconnu did not question the orders of their lord, Jaro'yen simply nodded and set about to build a city.

      To anyone other than an Inconnu, the task of building a city from scratch would be an immense challenge but to an Inconnu it was simply another assignment to be completed. Never having built a city before, Jaro'yen used his freedom from Arawn to secretly watch the people of Albion, especially the Arawnites that were building the temple to Arawn. As he watched, Jaro'yen saw that the people used stone, wood, and metal to build the temple and he decided that those would be the same materials he used for the Crypt. Jaro'yen then returned to Annwn to begin building the city for his people.

      Upon returning to Annwn, Jaro'yen ran into a large problem in constructing the Crypt. Annwn was plentiful in incorporeal spirits and the souls of the dead but it lacked the wood, metal and good stone for building a city such as Arawn wanted. He searched the Deadlands of Annwn and other parts of Annwn, but was not able to find anything else that would lend itself well to building. Knowing that Arawn would not accept a lack of proper materials as a reason for the Crypt not being built, Jaro'yen set out to find the materials he needed.

      Jaro'yen knew that Albion could provide the stone, metal, and wood needed to build the Crypt. Taking a group of Inconnu, Jaro'yen went off into a distant part of Annwn and opened a portal from their world into the depths of Albion. Once the portal was stabilized Jaro'yen ordered the other Inconnu to dig a tunnel to a small cave that lay just outside the portal. Once they reached the cave, Jaro'yen ordered the Inconnu to begin to cut blocks of stone from the walls surrounding the cave. These blocks of stone were then taken back to the lands below the Deadlands of Annwn and construction of the Lower Crypt was begun.

      Because of the vast amount of stone needed for the buildings, soon the small cave had grown into a large one. As more and more stone was quarried from around the cave, tunnels were left where the stone was removed. It was as these tunnels were being made that Jaro'yen discovered that there were deposits of silver ore within the stone. He ordered the other Inconnu to collect this silver ore, and after watching how the people of Albion work with the metal ore, had the Inconnu begin to do the same. Soon there was silver to use in the construction of the city.

      As construction upon the Lower Crypt was nearing completion, the Inconnu made a second discovery. As the Inconnu quarried the needed stone, their tunnels became longer and longer. Since they often did not pay attention to the direction in which they were digging, the tunnels twisted around in all directions. One day a group of Inconnu removed a large block of stone to discover they could see daylight on the other side. They had dug all the way to the surface of Albion. One of the Inconnu fetched Jaro'yen who then cautiously stepped outside the tunnel entrance. After determining they were alone in the area, the Inconnu began to explore.

      Jaro'yen was pleased to see that there were a lot of trees in the area. He had watched the Arawnites use wood in their temple and knew it would be helpful in constructing the Upper Crypt. Not knowing how often the people of Albion wandered by this spot, he ordered only a few trees cut down and taken back to Annwn. He then ordered the Inconnu to dig other tunnels to other parts of Albion and gather trees here and there, and told them to make sure that the entrances to the tunnels were well hidden. With the quarrying of stone, the gathering of ore, and the collection of wood, soon the Inconnu had quite a set of mines and tunnels running beneath the surface of Albion.

      Jaro'yen and his Inconnu team, with the help of the mines, were able to finish the Upper Crypt in a short amount of time. Even after the Upper Crypt was complete Jaro'yen ordered that the entrance to the mines be left open so that the Inconnu could obtain any materials they needed to maintain the Crypts. On one of their maintenance trips into the mines, Jaro'yen and a few other Inconnu discovered that one of the hidden entrances to the mines was open. Although they found evidence that someone from the surface had entered the mines, they were not there now. The Inconnu sealed that entrance then finished their tasks.

      Unfortunately that was not the last time they found a hidden entrance opened. As more and more people explored Albion they uncovered the Inconnu's carefully hidden mine entrances. Because the tunnels were confusing, very few people actually ventured deep into the mines, but Jaro’yen was still worried that one day someone would find the entrance to Annwn, but he hesitated to close the mines completely, for the resources it provided were helpful in keeping the Crypt in good condition. But then something happened that changed Jaro'yen's mind and drove him to close the mines completely.

      A group of people from Albion had managed to make their way deep into the mine tunnels and nearly discovered a group of Inconnu at work. The Inconnu had heard the noisy Albions coming down the tunnel and managed to hide themselves in the shadows. The Albions entered the room where the Inconnu had been working and were surprised to see signs of work there. They touched the hammers and pick axes the Inconnu had been using to dig the ore out. After a quick search the Albions headed back to the surface and the Inconnu went back to work. A day or so after the almost encounter with the Albions, the Inconnu who had been working in the tunnel became very ill. Arawn saved them from dying, but he was angry with Jaro'yen for allowing the Albions to enter the mines. Jaro'yen took a group of Inconnu and went and sealed each tunnel entrance to prevent the surface-dwellers from entering, then sealed the portal from Annwn into the mines, sealing the mines forever, or so Jaro'yen and the others thought.

      Many, many years later, when trouble began to rise in the Lower Crypt and the Deadlands of Annwn, the Inconnu were in need of stone to build barricades and metal ore to forge armor and weapons. By that time the Inconnu had become immune to the diseases of the Albions, so Arawn ordered the mines to be reopened once again. During the time the mines were closed, evil creatures moved into the mines and the tunnels were now unsafe for travel and work. But since the Inconnu were unable to disobey an order from Arawn, they fearlessly entered the mines to obtain the materials needed to defend the Crypt of the Inconnu from evil.

      When Arawn made the decision to choose nine maidens to guard his cauldron, he sent nine Inconnu to bring them to Annwn. Because the Maidens were alive, but not of the Inconnu, the Inconnu could not bring them to Annwn in the normal way of traveling (through the Upper Crypt and the Deadlands of Annwn) for that was the path of the dead and the path of the guardians of the dead. Another way had to be found.

      Arawn sent the Inconnu to the surface where they then had to travel on foot to find the hidden valley of the Maidens. While the Inconnu were traveling, Arawn searched the depths of Albion and located a vast underground forest that, with a bit of digging by his Inconnu, could be linked to the valley where his Maidens lived. Arawn opened a portal between Annwn and the cavern and sent teams of Inconnu out to begin the tunnel. When one team would begin to tire he would replace them with a fresh team. Arawn ordered the Inconnu to hide the entrance to the tunnel since he did not want all valley residents to come to Annwn. Thus the Inconnu dug the tunnel so that its entrance was hidden by a powerful waterfall. By the time the Inconnu reached the hidden valley of the Maidens, the tunnel connecting the underground forest to the valley was complete.

      After Arawn sent a vision of the tunnel's entrance to the Inconnu on the surface, they escorted the Maidens to the waterfall. While a small crowd of onlookers watched in amazement, the Inconnu each led a Maiden safely through the powerful force of the waterfall and into the tunnel beyond. Once the Maidens were through the waterfall, Arawn used his magic to disguise the entrance to the tunnel, so that only those chosen by him would be able to see it. That would allow access to the valley if needed, but keep the residents there out of the underground forest and ultimately Annwn.

      The Inconnu led the Maidens down the tunnel and emerged on a ledge that overlooked the forest. The Maidens gasped in surprise, and begged the Inconnu to wait as they studied the forest below them, for they had never seen anything like this before. The trees below had pale trunks that seemed to glow from within. Instead of leaves, the trees were topped with mushroom-like caps in reds, oranges and bold yellows. The Maidens looked their fill and then followed the Inconnu down the path and into the forest. When the reached the forest floor, the Maidens saw that the ground was mostly covered with a mass of entangled roots that connected one tree to the next. The Maidens stared in wide-eyed wonder as the Inconnu led them down a hard-packed dirt path through the forest.

      When the group reached the other side of the forest, the Inconnu led the Maidens up a steep path that wound around the side of the cavern. At the top of the path was a flat cliff that overlooked the forest below. The Maidens continued to look at the forest below while the Inconnu silently waited for Arawn to open the portal. Arawn had temporarily closed the portal from Annwn to the underground forest once the tunnel was complete as a precaution. Now that the entrance to the tunnel was hidden and there was no danger of strangers coming in Annwn, Arawn reopened the portal. The Inconnu led the Maidens to Arawn who set them to their task of guarding the cauldron.

      Once the Maidens had been delivered, all the Inconnu who had seen the portal believed that Arawn would seal it again. Instead, Arawn decided to send some of the Inconnu to explore the forest further to see if there was any potential use for it. He summoned his chosen Inconnu, Jaro'yen and ordered him to choose a group of Inconnu to venture into the forest. Jaro'yen chose an Inconnu named Divzar to lead the exploration group into the forest. Jaro'yen had a bad feeling about the underground forest, and ordered Divzar and his group to take weapons with them into the forest.

      As they roamed through the forest of strange trees, Divzar and his group found it very peaceful. It appeared that the Inconnu were the only ones to have access to the forest, since they hadn't seen any signs of creatures or other people living in the area. They were about to head back and report this to Arawn when suddenly things turned chaotic. A group of strange beings came crashing into the clearing where Divzar and his group stood. Surprised to see someone else in the forest, both groups studied each other for a minute before the strangers launched a few poorly aimed arrows at the Inconnu, then fled back into the forest.

      After the initial shock of the encounter and the feeble attack had passed, the Inconnu began to talk rapidly to one another. They talked about how the strangers were about the same size as the Inconnu but had blue skin instead of the pale, purplish-white of the Inconnu. Their eyes were tiny and obviously not made for seeing in the dark like the eyes of the Inconnu. Their attack, obviously driven by fear, was none the less taken seriously. Arawn had to be warned that there were potential enemies in the forest. As the Inconnu prepared a second time to head back to Arawn with their report, they heard the sound of someone falling to the ground just outside the clearing. Thinking it was the blue creatures coming back for more Divzar and his group took up their weapons and ran into the forest to meet their attackers.

      In the forest, the Inconnu were surprised to discover that the beings they faced were not the blue people, but a different group. These people were taller than the Inconnu and had long spikes that ran from their foreheads and ears back around their heads as well as a short row of spikes on their wrists. Their skin was a golden orange color with a swirling pattern of reddish-orange. As the Inconnu approached them these strange creatures drew there weapons and a skirmish broke out. Divzar paired off with the leader of the orange people while the other Inconnu each took one. Divzar seemed to have the advantage in the fight but suddenly the spiked one slid his sword into Divzar's stomach. As Divzar tumbled to the ground, the fight ended. The Inconnu scooped Divzar up and fled back to Annwn.

      Divzar survived the wound thanks to Arawn's intervention, and told the Lord of the Underworld what had happened. The incident in the forest angered Arawn - how dare anyone attack his Inconnu? Using his magical powers, Arawn learned that the blue people were called Kobolds and the orange ones Shar. He ordered the Inconnu to continue to explore the underground forest and if they should encounter either the Kobolds or the Shar, they were to drive them from the forest. Arawn was not going to allow strangers to kill his people.

      Once Divzar had recovered, he began to lead groups into the underground forest again. Both with a group and alone, Divzar spent a great deal of time searching the forest, for Divzar wanted to exact revenge upon the Shar that had wounded him. Divzar and Jaro'yen were out in the forest together when they happened to spy that very Shar and his group in the forest. Since they were outnumbered, the pair could not attack, but they could watch the Shar to see what they were up to. As the pair watched, the Shar quietly took up stalking a group of Kobolds.

      Knowing something was going to happen, Divzar and Jaro'yen followed the Shar following the Kobolds into a large, dark cave. Both the Inconnu and the Shar hid from view while the Kobolds explored the cave. As one of the Kobold females approached the far corner of the cave, a wave of evil and fear like none the Inconnu had felt before washed over them. The Kobolds tried to stop the female from going further into the corner, but they could not and another wave of fear and evil washed over the entire room. As they stood frozen by the wave, the Shar rushed past them, nearly falling over the hidden Inconnu. As the Inconnu turned to flee, finally free of the fear, the Kobolds flew past them. Divzar and Jaro'yen returned to Annwn and told Arawn what happened to them.

      Arawn listened with interest, but he was not worried about the evil presence the Inconnu sensed. He decided that when the time was right, he would send the Inconnu there to capture the spirit and bring it to Annwn, where it could be kept safely away from everyone. In the meantime, he ordered the Inconnu to stay away from the cavern, an order to which they readily agreed. Arawn then became distracted with other things in Annwn, and never got around to sending his servants to retrieve the spirit.

      If Arawn had gone to sense the evil for himself, he would have never let it go free as he did. What no one realized was the wave of evil was Morgana's way of scanning the minds of those in the cave for information she could use. When she scanned the minds of the Inconnu she increased her knowledge of the dead enough to steal the souls and spirits from the Deadlands of Annwn. She also learned something of how Arawn controlled the Inconnu, which she stored away for later use. Morgana's ever increasing evil spread from the cave into the forest and to the valley beyond, and ultimately, into the realm of Annwn where she now controls a good portion of Arawn's Inconnu.

Ill omens were all around the Inconnu who sought to defeat the usurper, Morgana.  The battle for the souls of Annwn had grown to a feverish pitch with the surprise attack that Morgana dealt those faithful to Arawn.  The witch had possessed a large force of the Inconnu and turned them upon their brethren, dividing the race in two, causing great strife in the lands of the dead.

Cysgod was a scholarly Inconnu necromancer who researched long and hard for a method to combat Morgana, and to gain the upper hand in the ongoing war.  Through his questing and study he ventured to the lands of Camelot and Atlantis and discovered that Arawn was not the only god of the underworld and the dead.  He found that there existed other such gods named Hades, Hel, Osiris and many more who also claimed rulership over the domains that his own god Arawn declared ownership of.  His journeys abroad led him back closer home to where he knew the human Arawnites had once kept a temple to his god.  There, beneath Camelot, he found the remains and tenets of yet another god of the dead, Pluto and his plutonists.  Cysgod marveled at the work done by the plutonists and found himself appreciating the combined religion that Aulus, the high priest of Pluto, had created honoring Arawn, Pluto and other similar gods of the underworld.

Cysgod kept the knowledge that Arawn was not the only god of the underworld and the dead to himself for a time for fear that the other Inconnu would label him a traitor, heretic and madman.  Eventually however he consulted with those closest to him, other Inconnu who shared his scholarly interests and who also endeavored to defeat Morgana.  In time a small cabal of necromancers formed of those who came to terms with the information they had found. They took the next step, together, with a scattering of other indoctrinated death worshippers from the Temple of Pluto, to uncover the next step past such knowledge.

Cysgod and his extremely secretive cabal came to the determination through their combined efforts in research and theorizing that there was a higher force of nature that these gods themselves served.  Many names were bantered between them for this higher and darker power – the Shadow, the Void and Oblivion just to name a few.  The cabal came to the realization that perhaps their best strategy in finding a weapon against Morgana was to beseech this entity or force for the aid they would need to free their kin and secure their homelands.

A great ritual was devised by Cysgod  deep within the Aqueducts and the Temple of Pluto, where the Shroud between the land of the living and the world beyond was almost non-existent due to the centuries of worship to the deities of the dead, the cabal conducted their dark rites to call attention from the Void itself.

The ritual worked, perhaps entirely too well as a great Darkness answered their call and descended upon them, blacker than anything they had experienced before in their crypts and underground lands.  This unholy and cold force devoured Cysgod and his cabal entirely, yet the majority of them did not cease to be.  Most were reborn into extensions of this Shadow and acted as its agents, hating all life, energy and warmth.  Even the kin that they had at once sought to save were nothing but objects of their intense hunger and hatred.  The Tenebrae had been born, and they began to spread out from the Aqueducts into the varied caverns and cities that they used to know as home.  All that they defeated by their hands were reborn in their image, as warriors and servants of Oblivion.

The Tenebrae, growing in number rapidly, attacked both former friends and foes alike and wanted nothing more than to satiate their overbearing hunger to consume the lands of light and the realms of the living.

Those Tenebrae who were once Inconnu retained much of their knowledge from their former existence.  There were those who remembered when Arawn commanded the Mines to be re-opened and knew how to find the entrances of the once Abandoned Mines.  These Tenebrae recalled an energy about those Mines, found in the form of crystals, which at once both repelled and attracted them.  They sought to feed upon this power and taint it, to convert it to their own dark ends.  The living shadows descended upon the Mines like a plague, finding both their former brethren and other creatures that further sparked their terrible thirst.

After much fighting, the inhabitants of the Mines have found themselves in a losing battle, as each individual they lose to the Tenebrae rises again as extensions of the Void, fighting their former loved ones and allies.  Gnolls, Half-orcs, Inconnu and more are being pushed slowly into the corners of the Mines as the Tenebrae siphon the energy out of the crystals, changing it into entropic power that they harness for an unholy cause, to bring Cysgod from beyond the Shroud so that with his might and guidance they can march upon the Crypts of the Inconnu, the Deadlands of Annwn and the realms of Albion.

      Long ago, Arawn perceived unrest among those who served him.  The Inconnu too often ventured to the Deadlands, tempted to disturb the souls that roamed there out of spite.  This angered the Lord of the Dead, and in response he created the Heretics.  Part internal security force and part inquisitors, the Heretics were feared and respected throughout the ranks of Arawn's minions.  Charged with maintaining strict discipline and unquestioning loyalty, the Heretics were empowered by the Lord of the Dead to investigate any reports of corruption, possession or betrayal and carry out the necessary punishment and re-education. 

      In creating the Heretics, Arawn made one mistake.  In order to better allow him to carry out his duties, he infused each newly-made Heretic with a fraction of his own power.  This had an unintended side effect, which was discovered by one of the high-ranking Heretic Captains named Mal'Azak.  During a foray into the Deadlands, Mal'Azak felt his powers grow dramatically.  He realized that, like Lord Arawn, he could draw strength from the souls of those who had died.  Mal'Azak suspected that if he could rally enough of his fellow Heretics to his cause, he might be able to overthrow Arawn and take his place.  The plot was discovered, however, and Arawn, unwilling to risk another insurrection, destroyed the entire Heretic force.   

      When the Crypt of the Inconnu came under attack by a mysterious evil force lurking deep under the ground, Arawn was faced with a dilemma.  His forces were already spread thin aiding the realm of Albion against the Drakoran in Avalon, and there is little hope of withstanding a direct assault against the Inconnu citadel without additional aid.  Believing he has no other choice, Arawn has decided to bring back the Heretics.  This new breed of Heretic, however, will be markedly different than the first.  Arawn's new order of Zealots will be fearsome warrior-mages, able to channel their devotion to Arawn into righteous power.

      At Lord Arawn's command, trainers have been dispatched to Albion, Avalon, and the Crypt of the Inconnu to prepare the next generation of Heretics for battle.  Whether this fearsome addition to Arawn's forces will be enough to repel the invading army of Inconnu thralls remains to be seen.