The Elemental Crown of Might was constructed by a once-in-an-eternity coalition between the six elemental lords. On the assumption that the mortals were unbiased, each of the lords created a ring of control for their element. Then, together, they crafted the crown which would allow the wearer to safely use the powers of more than one ring. These were then given to the king of the land known today as Qualaraî and were passed down from generation to generation.
In the beginning, things seemed to go as planned. However, there were two snags. First, the mortals were predisposed against evil, so the positive energy ring was used as a controlling influence much less than was the negative energy ring. This angered the Dark Lord immensely. Secondly, the Shadowlord was neglected by the lords when constructing the set and so no protections were made against his power. Since it was believed that control over the six elements would indirectly allow control over shadow, none of the lords felt it was necessary to include shadow in the set. As it turns out, with the rings together, this holds true. However, if even one ring is not used, then the unique power of shadow is free to be used against the wielder.
Rhae – Wielder of the fire and air crystals
Shardanna – Wielder of the water crystal
Larindel – Disappeared into the underworld searching for the negative energy ring.
Giamo – Jann. Lived primarily in the Erean empire (D'Hari), but served the elemental lords. While investigating unknown elemental energies in the northern foothills of the Atlan mountains, he was ambushed and imprisoned by Sirol. Later, he was rescued by Rhae.
Sirol – Evil sorceress. Has been known to convert natural creatures to evil (presumably by using negative energy). Believed in league with the underworld.
Lord Kier – High priest of the Dwarves. Once held the positive energy ring, but it was stolen by a well-planned raid by orcs.
Ruthgar – Dwarven general sent to recover the positive energy ring. He failed and was captured by Sirol. Rhae rescued him as well. He guided Larindel to the underworld in September, 2713, where he was killed.
Karil – Larindel's eldest brother. Ran away from his family many years ago. Returned unexpectedly and fought with Larindel. Now known to have stolen the negative energy ring and replaced it with a fake. He is now in the underworld under the Shadowlord's influence.
Baruch – High priest to the elemental lords in the D'Hari. Unwilling pawn of the Shadowlord.
The Shadowlord – Always hungry for power and resentful of the “real” elemental lords, the Shadowlord is currently in the process of controlling the underworld. The Noldor and the Illithid are helpless against him.
The Elemental Lords – Too busy fighting with each other to worry about the Shadowlord (who is actually a greater threat).
The Illithid – A race of mentalists that live in the underworld. They were created by the terran gods to be a balancing influence on the Noldor. They speak of themselves in the plural but never in the individual. They often call themselves the “King of Dreams” and rarely let people see their true face. Their preferred method of communication is telepathy and they often use dreams and other illusionary visions to manipulate those around them.
The Demons – Followers of the Dark Lord, these creatures are often in disarray because they are never trustful of each other. They only band together in small groups and then only under threat from one more powerful.
The Devas – Followers of the Lord of Light, these creatures are noble and trustworthy to a fault. They will sacrifice themselves without hesitation if they feel the cause is right.
Goel – A psychic warrior. One of the Githzerai who fought the Illithid a thousand years ago. Now he continues the fight on the astral plane. He is one of only a handful of surviving Githzerai.
ca. 2460 – The Shadowlord enlisted the aid of “ninja” warriors to steal the elemental crown and the six rings. In a direct attempt to confuse the other lords, he dispersed his warriors across the world. Naturally, the other lords attempted to hunt them down, but not before the Shadowlord was able to destroy one of the rings: The ring of water control. When that happened, the volatile hatred between the lords exploded. No longer were they allies against the Shadowlord. Instead, they were out for themselves. It didn't take much additional effort to destroy the remaining three rings controlling the physical elements. This time, however, he was able to do it without the knowledge of the lords. To this day, the lords believe the rings were merely “lost”.
In the grand scheme, the spiritual elements are more powerful than the physical elements. Thus, the Shadowlord was unable to destroy the crown or the rings of positive and negative energy, though he was able to hide them. By the time the rings were uncovered decades later, the Dark Lord and the Lord of Light were not in a position to retrieve them. To do so would have incurred the wrath of the physical element lords. The crown, on the other hand, was given by the Shadowlord to the Dark Elves. Since then, he has exerted a steadily growing influence over the underworld. An influence, it should be noted, which has distressed the Illithid greatly.
ca. 2610 – The negative ring was recovered by the elves. Larindel's family was chosen to guard it.
2707 – After a century of exposure to the negative energy ring, Larindel's family had gradually become more sour and mean in disposition. Larindel's younger brother Karil, affected by the ring more than the others, had a major disagreement with his father and ran away from home.
2708 – Karil's journeys brought him to D'Hari where he met the sorceress Sirol.
Spring, 2711 – Karil returned to steal the negative ring. Larindel caught him after he had substituted a fake in place of the original. Larindel challenged his brother and the two battled. Larindel, being the older of the two and the more powerful psychic, won. Karil was sorely wounded. Feeling remorse from his actions, Larindel decided to protect his brother and did not tell their parents of Karil's theivery. Karil, however, took advantage of Larindel's honor and won favor from his parents while smearing Larindel's reputation. Larindel left home rather than argue against his brother.
March, 2712 – A skilled orc raiding party, under the leadership of Sirol broke into the heart of Azadmere and stole the ring of positive energy from Lord Kier, the high priest. The Dwarven general Ruthgar was enlisted to find out who was in charge of the orcs and retrieve the ring. Karil, upon learning of Sirol's success, left home with the negative ring.
August, 2712 – Karil entered the underworld following a trail of clues left by the Shadowlord. Though he did not venture far, he learned of the elemental crown and decided to find Sirol again so that the two of them could claim
December, 2712 – After tracking her for the better part of a year, Ruthgar and his small army found one of Sirol's mountain hideouts. The dwarves were caught unaware by the sorceress and her orc allies and most were killed. Ruthgar's right-hand man was converted to evil by Sirol's magic and Ruthgar himself was imprisoned. The next day, thinking she was safe from invaders, Sirol sent her orcs away.
December 25, 2712 – Rhae and Larindel arrived at Sirol's hideout and caught her by surprise. The sorceress cheated Rhae of a victory, though, by mysteriously disappearing into a mist when she was defeated. Ruthgar immediately began his trip back to Azadmere.
January, 2713 – Karil rejoined Sirol after a brief excursion into the underworld. There he had found clues as to the location of the elemental crown of might and with Sirol's help he intended to retrieve it. The two entered the underworld and fell directly into the Shadowlord's trap.
April 23, 2713 – Rhae retrieved the flame crystal from Imix's volcano on the Elemental Plane of Fire.
September, 2713 – Lord Kier of the dwarves contacted Larindel to discuss the fate of the rings. Larindel agreed to travel to Azadmere.
September 9, 2713 – Larindel traveled through the portal on his way to Azadmere.
September 11, 2713 – Larindel arrived in Azadmere and was granted an audience with Lord Kier. He declared his willingness to retrieve both rings despite the fear that they lie in the underworld. Lord Kier ordered Ruthgar to guide Larindel to the entrance to the underworld.
October, 2713 – Ruthgar was killed by a band of Noldor and Larindel was taken captive and placed in slavery. He concealed his psychic powers and deliberately remained in captivity to learn about this new world he found himself in.
December, 2713 – Sirol gave birth to the Shadowlord's host body.
Summer, 2714 – Larindel escaped the Noldor slavelords and fled into the tunnels to search for the Shadowlord. He found Sirol and Karil, both puppets of the Shadowlord. Larindel was able to break his brother free of his curse and the two joined forces to destroy the Shadowlord. Sirol, however, betrayed them both and Karil was killed in the ensuing battle. Larindel was then brought under the sway of the Shadowlord.
July 9, 2715 – The fire wizard Tamak, a servant of Imix, confronted Rhae and she surrendered the fire crystal to him.
August, 2715 – The Illithid stepped into Rhae's mind and enhanced her latent psychic abilities.
August 29, 2715 – Shardanna retrieved the water crystal from Limbo.
September 6, 2715 – Rhae killed Tamak and recovered the fire crystal (again).
September 24, 2715 – Alsif helped Shardanna summon Giamo, the Jann.
September 30, 2715 – Rhae/Shardanna found the Air crystal in D'Hari.
October, 2715 – With the help of Baruch, a priest to the elemental lords, Rhae and Shardanna were about ready to magically divine the “big picture”. Matana, a seer and friend of Baruch, was to have performed the spell, but the Illithid learned of Baruch's plan and sent a Jann to kill Matana. (The Illithid could not afford to allow their pawns to know the real truth. They can conceal their intentions from the Shadowlord, but not those of their pawns).
At this point, the Shadowlord began keeping a careful eye on both Rhae and Shardanna. He was able to keep tabs on the two while they were with Baruch (since the priest cannot hide his mind from an elemental lord), but after they parted with the priest, the Shadowlord was forced to search for them. Whenever Rhae and Shardanna went through one of the portals, though, Shadowlord lost his touch with them. Thus, he began sending tendrils of energy out so that he could link up with them and remain in contact wherever they went. Rhae, with her amulet of protection, was immune to this form of scan, but during the sunset of October 23, Shardanna was located and bonded to the Shadowlord.
Sunset, 10/23 – Shardanna scanned by the Shadowlord. Four demons are sent on the astral plane to keep an eye on the two women.
3 AM, 10/24 – The Shadowlord's Jann is sent to kill the two women, but is killed himself.
10/26 – The Illithid locate Shardanna and send one of their warriors to watch over the two women. He appears to them in a dream, guised as a Deva. The Shadowlord's demons believe the Illithid is another demon (such is the warrior's power).
So they do not expose their position, the Illithid must be very careful how they contact Rhae and Shardanna. Since Rhae is immune to the Shadowlord's mind scans, they concentrate on her by sending her a vision.