The War for the Higher Plane

A Synopsis

The War for the Higher Plane started with Vigo and Abyssal’s attack on the Six Higher Powers of the Myth Wood. The first battle in the war went in Vigo’s favor, with Abyssal outright defeating or scattering the various Six Higher Powers. The Monarch was turned to stone. The Chaos Beast chained. The Mystic was beaten by Abyssal but managed to use some of the power he had stolen from the Realm’s Rover to freeze his attackers in time for a short period. The Arbiter, Sentinel, and the Recarnit retreated with the Valkyrie Eir, to Eir’s Garden.

        In the Garden, the three of the Six Higher Powers that were still free to move about, with their allies, regrouped and planned their defense. The Arbiter, Sentinel, and Plutus of the World’s Tree investment group, merged their powers into a barrier that surrounded the Myth Wood. It prevented Vigo and Abyssal from leaving the Higher Plane. The cost for the barrier was not just the power the three put into the barrier, but the life essence of the Sentinel and Plutus. The Arbiter returned to his previous form of Grimner Harbard.

At this time, before Vigo and Abyssal unfroze, the Monarch and the Chaos Beast released their power back into the Myth Wood. Though chained or turned to stone, they were still able to relinquish their power and put it outside of Abyssal’s reach. The relinquishing of their power returned them to their previous forms of Dirk McCormick and Sam’El.

The Recarnit, safely behind the barrier, released his power into Eir’s Garden. Now that the garden was part of the Myth Wood this power traveled through the link shared between the two realms into the Wood proper. He returned to his previous form of Luis MorningStar when the power transfer was complete.

The Mystic’s power was put into a clear crystal with a golden miniature figure of a wizard in it. This crystal was given to Burnheart, the Wizard of Brannheim. The Mystic returned to his previous form of Agamemnon but found that the power of the Rover forced him to travel between realms. The end result was that all of the Higher Powers were either dead or Einherjar again.

When Vigo and Abyssal came back into the flow of time, they quickly learned what the Six had done. Abyssal turned Sam’El, the former Chaos Beast, into D’Eir, the keeper of the dead. Then Abyssal created the Blighted by fusing Shadows of the Void with the soulless forms of Einherjar of the Myth Wood. The Blighted were sent to the Lower Plane of the Myth Wood to conquer it for Vigo. A Lich was created and sent down from the Higher Plane to lead the Blighted against the people of the Wood. His primary focus was finding the Blue and Green skull prisons of Ordo and Lady Myth.

The Blighted, under the direction of the Lich, engaged in battling the Jarls of the Myth Wood and their people time and time again. The Blighted won many victories for their Lord and Master, the Lich. They were able to take Champion’s Hall, King’s Rest, Old Tickle town, the Arena of Valor, as well as many of the Gnome Mines. However, they never dug in and defended any of the places they conquered. The result was an ever-changing battlefront. The Lich used this changing battlefront to scour the Myth Wood for either of the two remaining Skull prisons. Though the Jarls of the Myth Wood faltered in defending their lands, they excelled at keeping the Skulls out of the reach of the Lich.

Burnheart who had been given the crystal containing the power of the Mystic, developed a plan to use that power to defend the Myth Wood. Burnheart, with the aid of Jarl Elric and Morgan Daniels, used the magic of the crystal in conjunction with the blacksmiths of the Wood to reforge the Blue Skull prison, of Ordo, into a cube. The plan had been to use the cube to control the monstrous Revenant that roamed the Wood. With the aid of the Revenant they could beat back the Blighted. Ordo, still imprisoned within the cube, had other ideas. He chained Elric, Morgan, Burnheart, and the Revenant to his prison. This transformed the four into Devils. The four Devils then began terrorizing the people of the Myth Wood.

        With the Blue Skull now a cube that was death for anyone to touch besides the four who were chained to it, the Lich put all his attention on the Green Skull. It became harder and harder for the Jarls to keep the Green Skull from falling into the Lich’s hands. In a desperate bid to prevent the Lich and his Blighted army from getting their hands on the skull, Jarl Faolin locked the Green Skull in the Mage’s Tower. He then had the Blacksmiths of the Wood, with the three hammers of Unmaking, seal the Mage’s Tower away from the lower plane of the Myth Wood. In this way removing the skull from their reach.

        While the war raged on in the lower plane of the Myth Wood, Grimner now with his memories returned to him, decided his time in the Myth Wood was at an end. He felt he owed the realm a debt however, so he concocted a plan to thwart Abyssal. He convinced D’Eir to leave the realm with him.  So Abyssal would not notice his absence, D’Eir disguised BroDar as D’Eir. Then he and Grimner left the Myth Wood. It is unknown where they went and what they did on that journey…

At the moment that the Tower was sealed away, D’Eir returned to the Myth Wood. With him was Hela of Helheim. They entered the Higher Plane of the Myth Wood through a gate that D’Eir knew of from his time as the Chaos Beast. Hela, with very little effort, subdued Abyssal and bound him in his skull prison once more. D’Eir chained and cast Vigo into the black chest known as Shadow’s Hold. D’Eir with objects and energies he took from other realms modified the chest, with the aid of the Blacksmith Vandergrah and his hammer of Unmaking. It’s nature somewhat changed, however it was still filled with Shadows of the Void.

So ended the War for the Higher Planes

The price of victory was high. Hela required the Blighted be given the option of tying themselves to her, for their continued existence. They accepted her offer, becoming the Helions. This anchored a portion of the Myth Wood in the Realm of Helheim. Also, at the end of the war, a ship from Folkvangr arrived. In the ship was a chest, that if opened by nobility of the Myth Wood, in the Myth Wood, would anchor a part of the Myth Wood in the Realm of Folkvangr. Ambassador Riven and the Hunter opened the chest in the Myth Wood. After the anchoring took effect, the ship left the Myth Wood and returned to Folkvangr. On board was Jarl Elric, Ambassador Riven, the Hunter, Burnheart, Morgan Daniels, and the now covered cube of Ordo.  

Eir’s garden, having recently separated from Valhalla, was now completely bonded with the Myth Wood. While the war for the higher plane had been progressing, the Realm of Valhalla had come to consciousness. With this new found consciousness, the Realm desired the return of the part of itself that was Eir’s Garden. In this way Eir’s Garden now acts as an anchor for part of both Realms to exist in the other.

If this was not enough, the power of the Myth Wood returned to the Monarch, the Mystic, and the Recarnit. However, Grimner was not in the Myth Wood to receive the power of the Arbiter. Likewise, D’Eir was torn between Helheim and the Myth Wood, so the power of the Chaos Beast did not return to him. The soul of Gadin was missing from the Myth Wood. The power of the Sentinel remained in the barrier that surrounds the Myth Wood.

Only three of the Six Higher Powers are represented in the Higher Plane of the Myth Wood. It has fallen on those three to find replacement souls for those missing positions. Only those found honorable enough will be considered worthy to ascend to the Higher Plane.