Incursion of Aebir-Toril, background for BoG'r

Incursion

In the Astral plane, the Lich Queen’s greatest diviners and seers were seeing strange patterns and signs.  Signs that heralded a great change for the githyanki, and , some said, the return of Gith herself.  Whether or not Vlaakith herself believed this, she decided that it was time to launch her long-prepared for Incursion into the material plane.  The official reasons behind the Incursion, to escalate the war against the Great Enemy and to establish githyanki empires on several prime worlds, were also a cover for deeper reasons.  Vlaakiths CLVII also sent her most trusted servants to search for places and objects of power associated with the Liberator herself.  On the world of Pharagos they searched for the Tomb of Gith and for the Grave of the God supposedly once worshiped by their forebears, long since deceased.  Others searched for Gith’s lost regalia; her tiara, a powerful item of psionic crystals, her sword, the very first silver sword forged on the Astral plane, and her dagger.  Vlaakith had searched for these items for centuries, and her search had narrowed down their possible locations to less than a dozen prime worlds.  Still, they had been lost for millennia, and no doubt in some cases the foul illithid had laid their slimy tenticles on them to keep the People from their rightful heritage.  The Lich Queen therefore sent legion upon legion to the material plane, to establish a great empire in her name as they searched.

                 The world of Aebir-Toril held, somewhere, the Sword of Gith.  Vlaakith’s Incursion was well planned and laid out before hand.  Instrumental in laying the groundwork were the nine orbs and Mist-of-the-Mind.  Mist-of-the-Mind had once been one of Vlaakith’s most powerful telepaths, until the Queen called her for her final honor.  Instead of consuming her essence, Vlaakith freed her spirit from her body, creating a powerful and unique psionic ghost.  Unhampered by physical fortifications, Mist-of-the-Mind traveled Faerun, possessing and brainwashing key leaders and spies.  The nine orbs were special items set into amulets, which allowed Vlaakith, using three master orbs, to monitor the material plane from the Palace of Whispers.  The amulets were given to agents and spies, some willing some unwitting.  Through them, The Lich Queen could not only scry into the Toril, but cast any spell she wished through the orbs.  This is, eventually, how she would open her gates for the invasions in precise locations.  The last special items in Vlaakith’s arsenal were the Void Bombs.  Created from the very essences of dead gods of destruction, decay, and death, they were the ultimate weapon.  They were designed to react with all ambient magic, explosively.  A void bomb could level any city that contained magic-shaped buildings, magic items, and magic users.  They were, therefore, an especially grave threat to a magic-rich world like Toril.  The greater the magic in the area of a void bomb’s activation, the greater the destruction.  At the fringes of the effect (which could be miles in radius), a barely-competent junior magician’s apprentice might but suffer a severe headache, but be killed when his master beside him immolated in a massive fireball.  The existence of the void bombs was revealed to Toril’s most senior mages as a threat and an offer.  Remain neutral in the coming wars, and neither Waterdeep nor Shadowdale would be wiped off the map.

                The first step in the Incursion was to cause instability in the current power balances in order to make a possible first base of operation ready to accept the githyanki war machine with little resistance.  Several plots were hatched by Vlaakith’s agents all over Faerun, but the most traction was to be had in the Moonsea, so this is where her attention was eventually focused.  A rift was formed between the cities of Hillsfar and Mulmaster, a task that did not prove too difficult.  The High Blade of Mulmaster ordered his city’s navy to seize the mouth of the river Lis, which drains the Moonsea into the Dragon Reach.  Hillsfar beseeched the other Moonsea city, Zhentil Keep, for aid against Mulmaster, and a great ship battle was in the making.  Just before the fleets were to clash, high in the air a red dragon appeared.  Unknown to the soldiers below, the dragon carried an amulet with a glowing orb.  A gate opened up, and out flew the Lich Queen’s initial invation force; nine red dragons and a fleet of steel flying ships filled with three thousand elite githyanki warriors.  Both fleets of wooden ships were burned to the waterline within the hour.

                The githyanki headed to Mulmaster where they were welcomed by the High Blade, possessed as we was by Mist-of-the-Mind.  From Mulmaster they seized Ironfang Keep and all the surrounding lands between the Lis and the Earthspur Mountains, then moved north.  Aided by red dragons, the githyanki quickly conquered Thar and pressed the humanoid population of that land into a great army moving on the Moonsea.  Zhentil Keep, already weakened by the loss of many ships, still had no choice but to field their armies against the horde.  Unable to save Melvaunt in time, the Zhentilar army met the horde at Phlan.  Their victory was the seed of their defeat.  Having fielded their troops, they left one of their principle fortresses, the Citadel of the Raven, relatively lightly defended.  A small strike force flew with the speed of dragons’ wings behind the Zhentilar, and more astral gates were opened on the very walls of the citadel.  Ten thousand githyanki poured through and took the fortress in the space of a few hours.  Word reached the victorious Zhentilar generals in Phlan at about the time that a long caravan containing the heads of Raven Citadel’s garrison reached the gates of Zhentil Keep.  The message had been sent; to oppose the githyanki meant death, yet the Zhents and their leaders the Black Network of the Zhentarim did not give up so easily (and they had as yet been given no choice), and prepared for an attack on their city.  It was not a long wait.  Before the Zhentilar could return from Phlan, the githyanki attacked, transported by their flying ships.  They quickly conquered the part of the city on the south side of the river Tesh, but then paused.  In one night they sent the fastest of their ships to Hillsfar, and attacked that city so ferociously that it came to be known as ‘The Day of Vultures’ for the bodies littering the streets for scavengers.  The Zhentarim, hearing of this, were put into the right frame of mind, so that when the githyanki emissary offered terms, they were willing to give in to anything.

                This was well planned, for the Lich Queen and her chosen overlord for the githyanki empire on Aebir-Toril desired to keep the Black Network and the forces of the Zhentilar mostly intact but sufficiently cowed.  The Zhentarim spies and agents would gather intel for the githyanki and deal with other threats and potential allies against the illithid, like the drow, while the Zhentilar soldiers would be a core force in what would become ‘The Allied Companies’, natives of Toril who now fought on behalf of the githyanki .

                The Moonsea region now conquered, the githyanki and their subject forces moved south.  Certain areas were designated neutral territory by the githyanki.  The githwarriors were ordered not to slay any graith (barbarians) in these areas.  The penalty for disobeying this order was death.  Usually this was carried out by making the offending warrior’s next mission a suicide mission.  The prohibition did not extend to the Allied Companies, however, so some proxy actions were still carried out in these areas, but for the most part the neutral territories were left alone in what would become a widespread tempest of battles.  Thus, throughout the Incursion, the Dalelands, Waterdeep, and certain cities within lands that were otherwise fair game, like Raven’s Bluff in the Vast, Neverwinter and Silverymoon in the north, Crimmor in Amn, and Elversult in the Dragon Coast, did not feel the bite of silver swords.  The reasons behind this were in some cases based on deals that certain powerful individuals, like Elminster, were given by the Lich Queen.  The other major reason, however, was to set aside places where espionage would be concentrated.

                The rest of Faerun was fair game.  The githyanki and their spared allies first conquered The Vast and Procampur.  The githyanki fleet established a major flying ship hub at lone rock in the Dragon Reach.  They then set their sights on the rich lands of Sembia.  Part of the invasion of Sembia included The Cult of the Dragon’s agents opening a portal to the neg-energy plane to let through an ancient red dragon dracolich known as The Claws of Death, and scores of undead and necromancers.  Tilverton was taken too, cutting off the kingdom of Cormyr from the north.

                After Sembia, the pirate isles of the Sea of Fallen Stars were scoured, and every pirate ship that desired not to be burned was herded west, to attack Westgate and the Dragon Coast.  Meanwhile, the dwarves of Ironfang in the Orsraun Mountains were attacked in order to secure the githyankis’ alliance with the durregar of Dunspeirren against the illithid city of Oryndoll.

                Darkhold, which had been taken over with the fall of the Zhentirim, had thusfar been a brooding threat on Cormyr’s western flank.  Zhentilar and githyanki forces issued forth to attack the Dragon Reach from the west and the cities of the Lords’ Alliance.  Now that the Incursion was well underway, however, these cities were considerably better prepared for the githyanki onslaught than other lands had been, and Berdusk, Scornubel, Elturel, and Balder’s Gate remained unconquered, and even retained a fair amount of control over the roads in between, considering the githyankis’ superior tactical mobility.  Iriaebor was not so lucky.  Though the High Tower of Iriaebor remained steadfast, much of the city was burned by the armies of Darkhold.

                A gateway to the south now open, the githyanki first attacked easy targets in Tethyr and stirred up that land.  The Eyes of Amn were looking south when the githyanki seized the citidels in the Cloud Peaks of northern Amn.  Strategic strikes on the shipyards of Calimshan ensured that land would look inward to their own defense rather than try to aid their neighbors.  The githyanki raided the rich lands of Amn, seizing much-needed resources for their efforts throughout Faerun.  Throughout the empires of the sands, and among the pirates of the Nelanther, all looked in fear towards the night sky for githyanki raiders.

                The kingdom of Cormyr stood like a fortified island among the chaos engulfing Faerun.  Dispite losing major battles at the Bridge of Fallen Men, Thunder Pass, and Tilver’s Gap, the kingdom remained steadfast, though isolated.  Its borders may have been controlled by the githyanki, but the Purple Dragons and the war-wizards of Cormyr kept their land safe, until a major invasion from the east.  Launched from a conquered Sembia, the forces, mostly githyanki-allies, managed to take over the eastern part of the kingdom but were stopped at Wheloon and the Wyvernflow.

                In addition to the major battles described above, there were hundreds of smaller specialized actions throughout the realms.  The flying ships of the githyanki allowed them to reach across Faerun in a matter of days if they so desired.  Many a dungeon or ruin saw small parties of githyanki who searched for magic and gold, and secured numerous access points to Faerun’s underdark. 

In fact, little known to those facing the Incursion on the surface, an equally wide-ranging war was developing deep underground.  The githyanki enclave of Gatchorof became a teeming military encampment with fresh swords from the Astral arriving constantly.  Deep beneath Mulmaster, the githyanki brought war to the destrachans of Kuragolomsh, eventually killing, or driving out the monsters, and mentally dominating their largest specimen, ‘Ooorooee’, to forge a long spiraling tunnel to connect the “Eastern Capitals” of Mulmaster above and Kuragolomsh below.  From these bases, they hunted the hidden septs of the illithid throughout the underdark.  The drow, a major force in Faerun’s depths, were bought off and paid to hunt illithid heads.  The durragar, too, were cultivated as allies for their hatred of the mind flayers, though they remained untrusting of the Lich Queen’s servants.

Throughout the underdark, in every illithid sept, no matter how large or small, the githyanki searched for the Sword of Gith.  The collected intelligence evolved to reveal that the sword had indeed been taken by the illithid centuries before.  The loretakers of Oryndoll seized the sword long ago, but feared its power and would not keep it in Oryndoll itself, hiding it instead.  Eventually, while other armies expanded across the surface of Faerun, the githyanki under-armies zeroed in on their prize.

It was at a major battle, which would become known as The Darkfields, that the githyanki finally found what they sought.  They destroyed the strong sept that guarded Gith’s Sword, but their victory was soon to be short-lived.  Reinforcements from Oryndoll, Ch’chitl, and the few other septs that had managed to survive the githyanki onslaught surged up from the depths and threatened to over-run the weakened githyanki forces.  Just before their moment of looming defeat, however, the githyanki witnessed a miracle, and a sign of great upheaval.

On the astral plane, a strike force from a prime world that had been caught up in the Lich Queen’s invasion (no one is sure which one) successfully achieved the unthinkable.  No one is sure how, for there were no survivors, but somehow they infiltrated the Palace of Whispers and destroyed Vlaakith and her phylactery.  It is not really known if they triumphed over the Lich Queen directly, or exactly how their victory was won, but with her destruction (or whatever, since many githyanki believe she will return) her final contingency plan was activated, and the void bombs went off.  The ensuing destruction engulfed Tu’narath and those cities and forts nearby, creating the largest astral storm ever seen.  It continues to rage, with psi/arcane fallout preventing any further investigation of the area.  The force of the void bombs ripped open the planar barriers where Vlaakith had opened gates between the primes and the astral, bringing untold destruction to the Incursion worlds and their githyanki empires.

                At the Darkfields, the instant Vlaakith fell was noted in an entirely different manner.  Those githyanki present, which included members of the bands of Lapis, Lead, and Diamond, say that Gith’s soul returned and entered into the junior officer charged with holding the Sword of Gith.  Aided by the power of the Liberator, and their own morale restored by Her return, they turned the tide of battle against their foes and triumphed.  They have since returned to the astral, and now call themselves “The True”.  The young woman, now known as Ar-Gish ( "The Great Gish, a way of saying Gith herself without using that name ) now leads a growing power bloc that believes in the War of Two Skies as fanatically as it does the war against the illithid.

                On the Incursion worlds, many legions of githwarrios were trapped, for as a result of the void bombs’ devastation on the astral their ability to plane-shift home was disrupted.  Many have fled back to the astral plane by whatever means they could.  Many color pools between Varsh’isks and those astral cities and forts well away from Tu’narath remained undisrupted.  Others had to flee to the planes by other means, such as through Sigil.  Still, many githyanki remain, either trapped without means of escape, or by their own choice.

                On Toril, the githyanki faced a revitalized opposition.  Many former allies who had been cowed by the power of the githyanki and the Lich Queen turned treacherous.  Others remained loyal, or afraid enough, and continued to aid the githyanki.  Now, after Vlaakith’s fall, the githyanki empire in Faerun still includes Mulmaster and much of the Vast.  Their fling ships command the Sea of Fallen Stars from several bases in the Pirate Isles.  Cormyr’s armies have managed to reclaim their own territory and liberate most of Sembia, though Daerlun remains in possession of the Cult of the Dragon, and the center of power of an ancient red dragon dracolich called The Claws of Death.  Githyanki also still control the citadels in the Cloud Peaks in northern Amn, and have several small bases which they launch flying-ship raids from in the Nelanther.  They have a small but growing power-base around Castle Spulzeer in the border region between southern Anm and northern Tethyr, in alliance with a powerful human lich.  They also have a few secret villages in the Snowflake Mountains.  Thus they have all of Amn and Tethyr to raid with impunity.

                Their power in the underdark was not as damaged as that aboveground, for they mostly used existing color pools and gates to move there from the astral.  Gatcheroff is stronger than ever, and Kuragolomsh, though initially damaged by void bomb rends, is now a very strong githyanki enclave in the north.  Hundreds of smaller fortifications and weapons-caches have been established, and the depths below Faerun will feel the marching boots of the githyanki for some time.