The Barrowberg of Myrne

The first great Halfling city was Myrne, and it left its name to this continent as its legacy. The city rose in the hills that brace the southern border of Demos. Hedge wizards and sorcerers were known before this time, but the lords of Myrne were the first to master the formal practice of magic. They built the high roads that run the breadth of our lands. When you see a cromlech—three standing stones engraved with runes and images supporting a long, smooth capstone—know that these are mystical structures created four millennia ago by the mages of Myrne. They embue the high roads with magic that even today speeds travelers on their way. The secret of their creation has been lost to us, but we keep and protect them so that four millennia from now the people of Myrnia may still use them.

Myrne was not selfless in building these roads. They controlled access, and the roads gave their armies longer reach, their merchants more goods, their outposts better supplies. They demanded tribute from other races and competing Halfling cities. It is said today that all roads lead to Demos, but a close look at a map reveals that this is not quite true: all high roads lead to the barrowberg of Myrne.

Even the fertile lands around Demos could not feed the enormous population of that great city forever. As the soil produced less grain, they relied more on tributes and trade, and eventually harsh taxes and even pillage.

War is stirring in stories, but exhausting in practice. The lords of Myrne tired of risking their sons and daughters in their now-constant wars. Their wizards gave them an option: through necromancy their fallen enemies could be raised to fight again, but this time under the banner of their conquerors.

Myrne was responsible for first joining together all the peoples of the continent, and it’s important to remember their greatness even as we remember their folly. Many of the features of Myrnian civilization comes from this first city: continent-wide trade, magical study, cosmopolitan cities. But we inherited the dark traits, too: war, greed, and oppression. The spiked seeds of Myrne’s doom would be sewn throughout our history alongside the good grain of their wisdom.

Stories are still told of the armies of corpses that would destroy villages, adding to their numbers with each victory. Such creatures are efficient at razing and killing, but worthless at collecting goods and, as Myrne soon discovered, quite fickle. The undead army was effective at suppressing resistance, but soon it turned itself back upon its masters.

The undead army of Myrne laid waste to the city that had created it, and they would have turned their hunger to every village and city on the continent if given a chance. The only reason the world was saved was the quick thinking of the Halfling wizards. They made the earth itself swallow the city, turning it into just another hill among many. The darkness of the earth, perhaps recalling a memory of the grave, made the undead creatures still and calm again.