Of Times Forgotten...

News and rumors concerning the sorcerers — and of the inquisition that followed them — spread quickly. With each month, more suspects were brought to the Paladins. Like all inquisitions, some were legitimate, most were not. But the Paladins were quickly losing favor in the public eye. The Scions had infiltrated the highest levels of society, and it was the nobles of the land who most often found themselves under scrutiny. And they did not care for accusations pointed their way from malcontent commoners.

In these days, the Sacred Order of the Ankh began its great division, with the lines clearly delineated between the Healers and the Paladins. The Healers remained ever focused on aiding the Afflicted, while the Paladins became obsessed with hunting the Scions. Eventually, the differences would prove irreconcilable, and their beliefs became so different that they belonged to the same Order in name only.

For some time, there was doubt that the Paladins were indeed accomplishing their work. The Scions were crafty, and often escaped, only to establish themselves elsewhere. It seemed as if the public outcry, both from commoners and nobles alike who feared the accusations of the Paladins, would cease their efforts. But once again, it was the act of the Scions themselves — this time Mord’naztra, full of pride — that spelled the end for their sorcerous treachery. Held as an accused sorcerer, he manifested his power before a tribunal in order to make his escape. As a final act of defiance, he raised an army of undead for all to see, right before he was cut down in the streets of Magincia. And so it was that the Paladins’ efforts were renewed, and this time, no one dared to speak out against them. But the quiet fear did not fade.

After the incident in Magincia, more sorcerers were indeed found. Sometimes they were captured by the Paladins of the Ankh, sometimes they escaped to wage their war another day. But under such scrutiny, the Scions did not have the ability to maintain the territories that they had controlled for so long. Soon, their numbers began to thin. One by one, city-states were reclaimed by the Paladins. Mord’aren was forced to leave his beautiful palace in Nujel’m. Mord’tassius, an advisor to the local Court, was beheaded by the Paladins of Moonglow at his Well of Darkness — even today spirits roam in the cemetery that was built over the profane portal. And when the Paladins marched into Ocllo and revealed the true nature of Mord’ralthus, that island knew freedom for the first time in forty years. The people, many of whom were Afflicted and dying, destroyed the Temple of the Damned, leaving only a single misplaced rune to mar their countryside.