These are the words of the Collector of Cannis, who spent thirty-seven years and a day traveling the world Doloras collecting stories of the Great War between the good citizens of this world and the ancient entity known as The Enemy. This she did so that the great and noble deeds of humankind would not be lost to time and forgotten. She writes:
According to the Dolorans best informed in history, the Eryans began the quarrel. They came over the Northern mountains in such great numbers that many supposed that they were invaders, but many modern sources suggest that they entered the Wide Plateau virtually unopposed. A few others suggest that the Eryans overtook a technologically advanced civilization and erased them from history by destroying the keys to deciphering their written language and monuments, but those sources are few and far between and I personally do not believe them.
There is evidence that a civilization existed before the arrival of the Eryans. They had advanced sanitation systems and a written language. Even the most uneducated archeologist will agree with me that this old civilization vanished long before the Eryans arrived, leaving behind only ruins.
In any case, the Eryans largely ignored this older civilization, bringing their language and culture over the Northern mountains and into the Wide Plateau. This language is no longer in existence today and no living languages are descended from it. All we now know about their culture comes from archeology and translations of translations of their literature, for all of the original documents have been lost for centuries.
The greatest of the Eryans, Adan of the Berka clan, brought about the Eryan golden age when she conquered all of the neighboring tribes and claimed the continent for her empire. She named the continent Delan after her patron goddess, and it still bears this name today.
In a bold move, Adan took a wife from Cheli, the chief enemy tribe of the Eryans. She was beautiful, ambitious, and intelligent. Adan saw this from the start and was determined to marry her. At the point where they met, Adan was only beginning her conquest and Imi, as her wife was called, was the most desirable woman on the continent. Men from everywhere came to court Imi, for her father, Astya, was a very wealthy high nobleman and they wished to gain his favor, marry his daughter, and thereby be wealthy for life. Astya was in for the shock of his life when Adan's honor guard found their way to his doorstep in a rainstorm carrying Adan, badly wounded and dying. They asked for his daughter, whom they heard was the best healer in the land.
He recognized that Adan was his enemy, but he'd also been having dreams that his daughter would marry the conqueror of Cheli and their kingdom would benefit from it. His dreams were never wrong, so he agreed to take her in. Adan was sick with a high fever for many days. Imi took care of her. She worried for seven days and seven nights as her patient slipped in and out of consciousness, doing all she could to heal her.
On the eighth day, Adan began to feel better. Imi came into Adan's room with breakfast to find Adan trying to sit up. Imi wept from relief. Adan was confused as to where she was and why there was a fair skinned woman weeping in front of her. Adan introduced herself in Eryan, and to her surprise, Imi replied in the same language. Adan quickly learned where she was, who Imi was, and that her loyal honor guard hadn't left the house while she recovered. Adan asked bluntly why they hadn't killed her. Imi explained that her father was a man of visions and that he must have seen something, for not even her many suitors were allowed in the house while Adan healed. Adan would never know what Astya saw.
Three days later, Adan asked Astya for Imi's hand in marriage, for she knew that that was the only way she'd ever see Imi again. She timidly approached Astya and asked for permission to marry his daughter. His laughed and wept. His reply was "if she agrees, yes." Imi did agree, but Adan had to go to war and finish her campaign again before they could get married. Adan made Imi a promise that she would return in six months with the whole continent under her control. True to her word, she arrived at Imi's doorstep at sunset on the final day of the sixth month of her absence, having finally brought Cheli under her rule peacefully the day before.
One of Imi's suitors, a man named Areus, refused to go quietly. He believed he was entitled to Imi's hand because he was the most handsome man in his tiny fishing village on the northeast coast. He convinced the rest of the suitors to attack Adan the day before their wedding ceremony. Imi learned of the plot and tried to warn Adan, but it was too late. The suitors had already surrounded Adan and she was outnumbered. There were thirteen suitors and only one Adan. As she watched her fiancée fight off the suitors, something inside her snapped and she began to sap the life forces of all of the men attacking Adan.
They all fell to the floor one by one, leaving Areus as the only suitor left alive. He pleaded for mercy, but Imi was not kind to those who were cruel to her or those she cared about. She snapped her fingers and he fell to the ground, lifeless. Adan respected Imi even more now that she knew about her power. There were many times during her long reign that she could have asked Imi to use her gift, but she never did. Imi decided to do that all on her own, and her army of Immortals became one of the reasons that the Eryan Empire became feared for centuries.
Over time, Imi came to the conclusion that her gift was useful and helpful. She used it to reanimate fallen soldiers to create an unstoppable, unfeeling force that could crush a city in a matter of hours. Imi became known to most of the Eryan conquered territories as the Pale Horsewoman. She struck terror into the hearts of all who saw her with the exception of Adan, who loved her fiercely.