Shissar

Encyclopedia -- Shissar -- Vol. I ----------------------------- Escaping the Green Mist

Nearly two thousand years before the appearance of the Combine Empire, the Green Mist swept over Kunark and decimated the Shissar. Over a period of a year, tens of thousands of Shissar succumbed to the green death. However, during that time, the coddled emperor, nobles and their slaves isolated themselves from the lower castes in an attempt to prevent their own demise.

Emperor Ssraeshza, the military and spiritual leader for the Shissar Empire, spoke of a vision that promised to deliver the noble Shissar to Luclin, the moon. He assured all that he could release them from the clutches of the Green Mist. Emperor Ssraeshza and his supporters firmly believed they could start their empire anew on the moon and be free of the Green Death forever. Alas, there were some nobles who were in disgust of Ssraeshza's plan, chiefly Zhisza, who quietly set to work to find a way to remain alive on Norrath. It was their dream to retreat, rebuild and return to reclaim their empire.

On the day that Ssraeshza and the remaining Shissar cast their great spells to teleport to Luclin, Zhisza and his followers executed their own plan. As Ssraeshza moved through time and space to the moon, Zhisza and his nobles teleported deep within Empotith, an underfoot school of Dark Arts that had been under construction. When Ssraeshza and his followers arrived on Luclin, they presumed Zhisza and the others dead.

You say, “Hail, The Book of Sunder”

The Book of Sunder says to you, “As has been stated, the magical manuscript security protocol requires that all information is withheld until the proper password is given.”

You say to the Book of Sunder, “Till Yonder”

The Book of Sunder says to you, “Oh boy! You’re a smart one, aren’t you? Looks can be deceiving, eh? Now, I suppose you wish to hear about the Rune of Sunder. It’s my specialty, you know? What do you wish of me?

You say to the Book of Sunder, “Please tell me about the Rune of Sunder.”

The Book of Sunder says, “The Rune of Sunder is a representation of an event that is to take place in the Norrathian year of 5595 B.T. The event will see the destruction of the moon called Luclin that orbits the planet Norrath. This is a unique event foretold in the doomsday calender of the ancient race known as the shissar.

In the Norrathian year, 3000 B.T., the shissar completed a calender comprised of runes and symbols extracted from the planar realms. These runes took order upon a massive stone calender that was carved into the shissar city of Chelsith.

Master Tashakhi

Once, ages ago, a mighty kerran beastlord named Khati Sha served his King Vah Kerrath faithfully. When the city of Shar Vahl was transported to the Moon of Luclin, Khati Sha immediately set out to explore this new world. As always, he served with honor and distinction, expanding his people’s knowledge of the moon and its strange inhabitants. After a time, Khati Sha heard tales of a strange place on the light side of Luclin where the evil shissar snake-folk purportedly held sway.

Fearful of the threat that the shissar represented, and perhaps just slightly too curious for his own good, Khati Sha ventured into the blazing eternal day of the light side and sought out the region known as the Grey. He never returned, and soon the Vah Shir mourned the loss of their greatest beastlord. Today, the Shar Vahl guild of beastlords bears the name of their greatest hero. Most believe that the legendary Khati Sha perished, while others believe that he lives on still, watching over his people from the wilds of Luclin.

The Shar Vahl and their king would be horrified if they knew the truth. In the Grey, Khati Sha was captured by the shissar and taken to their temple, where he was subjected to unbelievable torments. Curious about the world’s newest inhabitants, the snake-folk twisted Khati Sha’s body and mind, transforming him into a cruel and terribly powerful creature of evil. Infected by the shissars’ xenophobia and lust for further power, Khati Sha escaped from the Grey and wandered Luclin’s moon for a time, a twisted parody of the noble creature he had once been.

At length, he found his way back to the Mushroom Forest, where his people managed the thriving Acrylia Mines. In the depths of the mines, Khati Sha encountered a primitive race of bestial humanoids, which he dubbed grimlings. Handling the grimlings as cruelly as he himself had been manipulated by the shissar, Khati Sha transformed them into a cruel, sadistic race bent on spreading death and suffering. By the thousands, the grimlings burst from the Acrylia Mines, slaying countless Vah Shir and driving the kerrans from the forest. Renamed the Grimling

Forest, this realm is today a bloody battleground.

For their part, the grimlings worshipped their new leader as a god, who now called himself “Tashakhi,” a twisted version of his old name. Few if any have realized the similarities, though some newer grimling architecture is said to mirror the Vah Shir style of design — a fading remnant of Khati Sha’s old existence.