Leader: ???
Alliances: n/a
This group of techno-magi highly venerate the ancient technologies of the Fallen Ones, the people who lived during the 6th Age.
Preaching in clockwork temples across the world, they may be the only ones who truly believe that the World Engine is winding down and the time for everyone is slowly dwindling away.
The information contained here is a summery of the informational packets your characters would have received as members of the Engineers. As you read through the packet and information it quickly becomes apparent that historical archives that the order has kept have been corrupted or lost throughout time, so that some of the information presented come across as supposition or conjecture from the record keepers of the order.
Time during the 6 th age is fluid and inconsistent. There are documents that when compared speak of the same events, but the time dating of the documents are hundreds of years apart. Because of this, the founding of the Engineers is uncertain.
What is certain is that during the 6 th age, a massive rift appeared near the city once called Galgrahna. From this rift swarms of undead began to march forth and plague the land. This continued of many years, when suddenly a massive Wyld storm swept thru the area and a massive explosion could be heard from many miles away. This was documented by scribes from the city of Keneth, the closest civilized area nearby Galgrahna.
When scouts were sent out, they discovered that the city of Galgrahna was gone, a massive crater where the city used to be. The rift as well was gone, and the undead plague ceased to be. The only other thing that the scouts found was lady Voldun, badly burned, covered in ash, barely breathing.
By this time Voldun had made a name for herself. She had been of a twenty-year pilgrimage with a strange man who seemed to know how the 5 th age used to work. From her pilgrimage she healed the sick, spared the dying, and brought agriculture back to many towns and cities on the brink of destruction. Finding her here was mystery and the fact that she was still alive a miracle. The scouts quickly brought her back to Keneth to recover.
While still tied to a bed during recovery she began writing letters. She had made many friends throughout the years of wandering and now she called upon her allies to come to her bedside. Throughout the next weeks and months, the letters reached her allies and they came. Of the 15 missives she had sent, twelve arrived at her summons. It was these twelve that founded the order and called themselves the Pilgrims of Voldun.
Her allies were all powerful lords and rich merchants that were from successful cities that had been built after the falling of the 5 th age. With there help they were able to build a small university in the city of Keneth. Soon this university attracted many people to Voldun cause and after several years the students of Voldun began to make their pilgrimage to other parts of the world, bringing technological wonders to the cities of the realms. Soon there was a chapter house in every major city, growing and educating the pilgrims.
During this time a new threat began to plague the world. A strange shadow of pure darkness began to spread from rifts that appeared throughout the lands. At first it moved slowly, corrupting the lands and the peoples it touched. Then it began to spread quickly.
Voldun Pilgrims began studying the strange darkness that swept across the land. It was thought their clever use of 5 th age technology and the assistance of The Three Who Slumber that a solution was found. On the fields outside of Keneth the shadows swelled, and the Pilgrims stood fast. When the Three Who Slumbered returned with the artifact, they put it to use against the shadows. It stopped the shadow, but unfortunately it also destroyed the city and caused a cataclysm of huge proportions. It is believed that the use of the artifact is what cause the creation of the Great Grey Wastes.
For years after the destruction of Keneth and the shadow armies Wyld storms raged across the land. When finally, they slowed to a mere trickle, the world had changed greatly. Many of the races had suffered during what would be considered the fall of the 6 th age, and of the hundreds of Pilgrims that used to live, only a handful survived. It was truly a dark time in the world when the dawning of the 7 th age took root.
A handful of Pilgrim survivors of the falling of the sixth age gathered together in the ruins of one of their chapel in a city called South Callan and began the arduous task of rebuilding the world. It was at this time that a Vault of the Ancients was discover. The vault held many 5 th age secrets and with the instructions that the Pilgrims had received they quickly put it to use. Soon the city grew powerful and strong. The leader of the pilgrims, a man named Pilgrim Enders, had come from a particularly religious stock of people. During his time as leader he began reforms in the Pilgrims, naming the them Priests of the Great Engine. Soon his reforms had categorized and built a social structure within the pilgrims that previously had not existed. Naming himself the Grand High Engineer, he renamed the Pilgrims to the Engineers of Voldun, and proclaimed that they would serve the wisdom of the Great Engine.
His leadership was successful and soon the Engineers became a greater power than the king of South Callan. Temples of The Great Engine began to be built in other major cities. As his power grew and the spreading of the new faith took root The Grand High Engineer took complete control of the city and renamed it High Callan.
Over the next hindered years, the Engineers continued to grow powerful. It seemed as if they became more concerned with worldly power and hording of the few discoveries of the 5 th age that they had kept thought the cataclysm. Ultimately this would prove their downfall.
Over the past several years there had been whispers against the Engineers. Why should they hold all the power and arcane technology of the 5 th age? These whispers eventually fomented into a full- on revolution. Almost overnight, in several cities across the world, the citizens of the towns raised up against the powerful Engineers. It proved too fast and too furious for the Engineers to stop and many were massacred, their temples burned to the ground and additional wonders of the 5th age lost.
The Grand High Engineer was paraded through the streets of High Callan and then beheaded in the town square. Across the world, only a handful of temples stood unmolested. In one of these temples a priest reached out to the local nobility and proposed a peaceful resolution. The Engineers would forever remove themselves from politics and ruling of nations. Instead they would be an order destined to serve the realms, like they had before in the time of Voldun. Satisfied, the nobility offered them peace and was instrumental in helping the order survive this most momentous time. Soon the Engineers were thriving again, although this time in a much-reduced capacity. The temple in High Callan would not be restored for another 200 years as the people there had long memories.
The order slowly regained its strength over the intervening years. They held true to their mission and once again spent time surviving the people. They new leadership removed Priests as a title and stuck just with Engineer to outsiders. They eventually began to explore the world again, looking for remnants of the 5th age.
It was during the years of 300 that a discovery was made. There was an enemy agent hiding amongst the Engineers. He was secretly plotting their downfall, turning local principalities against the Engineers, hiding secrets from the order and killing off lone Engineers on missions of discovery. The true extent and damage that this individual caused the order was incalculable. Formulas designed to heal the sick were corrupted and purposefully lost. Weapons that should not be in the hands of anyone was revealed and given out freely to cause destruction. When this agent was discovered by the Engineers, he was swiftly executed. His name was Shadis.
Although this enemy was found out and executed, the enemy continued to plague the engineers. Over the years Shadis has returned, always someone different, and always someone who could corrupt and hide the truth from the Engineers. The Engineers now believe that Shadis is a title, given to one who is highly ranked in whatever organization that has chosen to set itself against the Engineers.
The Engineers of the modern day are a diminished lot. Although they have 5 th age technology, much of the meanings have been lost through time and the machinations of the enemy Shadis. They still strive to uphold their mission: to seek out the technology of the 5 th age and to shepherd the realms in its use, for the betterment of all.
Only the most senior engineers are privy to the real reason that the order exists. It is true that they seek to shepherd the use of the 5 th age technology, for there is much danger in some of the uses found from the Vaults of the Ancients. But the order has another mission, one that they rarely speak of for fear that the enemy will know.
The Engineers were tasked by Voldun herself to seek out the World Engine. This myth of the fallen 5 th age has been proven to exist by documents and descriptions discovered in Vaults of the Ancients. It is believed that Shadis himself let slip that the World Engine exists to the masses, although most people believe it a fantasy, or something long lost in the time of the 5 th age.
The Engineers believe that the Engine still exists. Furthermore, they believe that the rifts that exist in the world and the Wyld storms that rack it are caused by the failing Engine. They believe that if they can discover it, they can repair it, and cure the world of the sickness that is slowly killing it.
The reason they believe this is the discovery of a Vault of the Ancients that housed a Manuel to the World Engine. Although incomplete, with the knowledge contained a trained Engineer could diagnose and fix most ails of the World Engine.
Although they still have not been able to locate the World Engine, the Engineers believe they are getting closer with each Vault discovered.
Currently, there are seven Vaults that the Engineers have discovered. It is believed that many more used to exist, but the knowledge and locations of these Vaults have been lost, destroyed, or stolen by the enemy over the ages.
of the seven vaults, only three are considered currently active. Two of these Vaults exist in Ekandor, one Vault in the valley of Ishranna in Dar’Alora.This Vault is currently locked and all attempts at accessing it have been unsuccessful. It is believed that a key is needed to gain access, and although one was recovered, it does not seem to function for this particular vault. The second Active vault was recently discovered by the Grey Slayers in the jungles of Azhim near Riston. These vaults power systems have been restored and the access passwords given, although it had received severe damage and much of the facility lies in ruins. This new discovery has yet to be fully cataloged.
Of the four remaining inactive vaults, one remains in Ekandor, in the Great Grey Wastes in the Northern part of the continent. It is the current headquarters of the Engineers and one of the most successful Vaults ever discovered.
The reason the Vaults go inactive is only slightly understood. It appears as if the Vaults themselves come with there own power supply. The one found in the Great Grey Wastes was running for over three hundred years when a final systems warning was displayed followed by an emergency shutdown. All 5 th age systems that were running at the time completely shut down and any further research on the texts and knowledge of the 5 th age was lost. Of the remaining Vaults, only one was active when discovered and it only lasted a meager five years before a similar emergency shut down deactivated the Vault.