Alter Aeon The Great Library

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Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  47600
Title: a book entitled, "The Cult of Dul: A Re-Examination"

In Q'thelas, before the coming of the Seven Mages, magic was poorly
understood. The clerics and paladins of the High Gods wielded power granted
by their patron deities, but personal magic was all but unheard of.

A trio of scholars, Mig, Grath, and Fahjar, began to dabble in the arcane
arts. They found fire to be the easiest of the elements to conjure, though
more difficult to control than the others. Being men of station in circles
of learning, they gathered students. The name Dul began to be associated
with these men and their apprentices. The common folk of Q'thelas began to
fear these fledgling sorcerors, and they were labeled a cult because of a
supposed demonic patron.

The King of the Silver Throne, Alspacus, declared the practice of
unsanctioned sorcery a crime. The so-called "cult of Dul" was accused of
kidnapping and sacrificing a missing child in an insidious ritual. Mig,
Grath and Fahjar fled, fearing any trial would biased against them. A few
of their followers fled with them.

The cult of Dul sailed northeast across the Inner Sea (1), until they came
to the Rud'Jali Desert. There they established a settlement and became
prosperous. They built towers concealed amid the dunes in which to work
their magics. Mig, Grath and Fahjar became known as "Duls", a title of
leadership.

Years passed. After his demise, the daughter of Alspacus ascended to the 
Silver Throne, becoming Queen Elandria. She came to regard her father's
untimely death (2) as the work of the nearly forgotten Cult of Dul. Shortly
after Elandria's coronation, Fahjar-Dul was executed for some unknown
treachery and his corpse sent to Q'thelas by horseback (3). This is
believed to have been an attempt to appease Queen Elandria's wrath. It
failed.

Queen Elandria drew up Q'thelas's fleet and sailed to the borders of the
Rud'Jali Desert. She mustered troops from Q'Ital and Q'Seneg to form a
great host. She rode into battle upon T'yarnefess, daughter of Draj
Storm-Wyrm, and laid siege to the Cult of Dul's Towers. The Grand Army of
Q'thelas entered the Towers after the meager resistance was crushed. They
found the compound mostly abandoned. A garrison was established. It is
unknown exactly what happened that night, but the interior of the towers
burst into flames, slaying the occupying forces within. The survivors
camped outside gathered what they could of the dead's remains and laid them
to rest in a tomb in an oasis in the Rud'Jali Desert.

(1) The Inner Sea was drained during 4th year of the Siege of Q'thelas,
becoming the Salt Flats.

(2) Alspacus died in a palace fire that consumed him and his wife, Elaina,
in the 44th year of his reign. The cause of the fire was never discovered.

(3) This supposed sending by horse is highly suspect, see note (1). At
least one source implies a demonic entity was involved. The oldest record
indicates a hippogriff was used.