I’ve been working privately on a side mod to Grim Dawn and it’s important to me that I do not interfere with the storyline of the game world. I have made additions to the Cairn map as shown below, and I want to clear it with the Developers, and really the community at large, to make sure it will be an acceptable addition.
I’m also writing up a short story to help me with the timeline of events of my mod. And one of the passages gives a history of part of Cairn, but this needs to be checked against the canon of Grim Dawn. I’ve not seen a compilation of historical events that take place in the game world, so I’ve had to piece together bits of knowledge from writings and some of the conversations with NPCs.
So if anyone sees a conflict with my write-up with what’s been established in the game, I’d like to know in this thread.
Now submitted for your approval…
Here’s the changes to the known world, found west of Homestead and Old Arkovia:
https://www.mediafire.com/view/n6jmtzded15lpuh/Cairn_Addition.png/file
(Sorry i couldnt figure how to inline images from my mobile phone…)
Here is the text i’m talking about. This information will be discovered in the mod (kinda long):
Nearly three hundred years ago, before the advent of firearms, before anyone had ever heard of the Aetherials or even the Imperial Confederacy, back when primitive religions were the keys to governance within the splintered tribes and clans, about the same time as the pinnacle of the Arkovian Empire, there was a kingdom called Mogus. It encircled the lake of the same name, west of Arkovia on the opposite side of Mount Ckhaasia. The rich valley was the birthplace of the people that would later be called the Rhowarians, named after their last king, Rhowan.
Theirs was a land of peace and art — even as primitive as they were — and trade between Mogus and Arkovia thrived under the benevolent rulers of each. The ruling families were wealthy and sound, and this prosperity led for many generations. The lineage of royalty was preserved among three main families, each succeeding the other upon necessity, and the last house was that of the Turins.
Their last king, Rhowan of Mogus, had five children that grew into adulthood. The youngest was named Rhyanna, who, as legend would have it, was visited by the maiden Ishtak, the Goddess of Mercy, who blessed and sanctified her. She ordained, and it was apparently recorded by scribes in the child’s chamber, that Rhyanna would be the goddess of Virtue, so that her beauty may not be in vain.
Over the next several years, as Rhyanna grew into a beautiful woman, many faithful residents, loyal to the Turin lineage, dedicated their lives to virtue and sainthood in the name of the princess. These dedicated were named the Rhyannans, and they had but one church.
An assembly of wealthy donors had a library built near the pastoral village Humbel, at the crossroads of a few wealthy towns, where would be housed all manner of literature and art that could be rented by patron members. The board of librarians commissioned, by authority of the royal family, a statue from a local silversmith, who had been creating metallic sculptures in Mogus, and whose work was known throughout Cairn. The library requested a tasteful and elegant depiction of Princess Rhyanna, as a commemoration of her influence in the region.
The statue was said to have been providentially inspired, capturing Rhyanna as a young woman, veiled and slenderly clothed in a single tunic with a sash, holding her open hands to the heavens, as if beseeching the gods, or perhaps catching the blessings they bestowed upon her. The form was pure silver, and stood on a mount of iron and gold.
Meanwhile, in the royal house, a much older Rhyanna heard of the statue’s dedication, and was curious about its depiction. She sent for her retinue to bring her to the grand library, where she quietly arranged a private viewing. Even she was mesmerized by the graceful curves and the shimmering surface, and she was proud that the artist depicted her in her days of a young woman, rather than the matronly senescent she had become.
History records that, upon arrival back to the royal house, she spoke secretly to her godfather Dorwin, a dedicated Arcanist wizard and prophet, and begged him to find a way, upon her death someday, to install her soul into the statue, so that she may rest eternally in its beauty and workmanship. After researching many months into the matter, Dorwin found an archaic spell that would put her soul into an eternal slumber, then he could move this soul into the elemental arrangement of the statue. It had not been attempted in centuries, but the reasons why it became arcane were not recorded.
A few years later, Rhyanna did in fact expire from an unrecorded blood disease, and her godfather honored her final wishes, and performed the spell flawlessly, though through tears. Her body was interred, her soul was laid into the silver idol, and the entire region mourned at the loss of the royal sainte. Dorwin died a few months later.
Rhyanna’s older brother, Arius, the second in line to the throne, decreed that she never be forgotten, and that all of her followers be allowed to visit her idol at a public religious building. There was none to be found that was grand enough to house the statue, so King Rhowan issued an order to build a great cathedral high on a butte near their border with Arkovia, north of Mt. Ckhaasia. It took nearly 20 years to be completed, finally finished following King Rhowan’s abdication, and his son Anovar had ruled for five months.
Around this time the land was finding disorder on both sides of the great mountain, and shortly after, wars between the trolls and the humans were breaking out at the borders, driven by some unknown motivation. Something in each land, nearly simultaneously, sent their respective kingdoms into chaotic downfalls. In Arkovia, dealings with meddling necromancers led to their demise, while in Mogus, the king Rhowan was convinced for some reason to abdicate, just resign his throne and discard his power. Historians believe that he was visited by an apparition of the god Mogdrogen, and warned that doom was going to befall his kingdom unless he rescinded his authority and bequeathed it to his eldest son, Anovar. While indeed he abdicated and fled to the forests of Sanctuary, his kingdom still fell into chaos, and as skirmishes broke out, the kingdom, ill-equipped to handle these battles with the trolls as well as their own terrified civilians, fell apart into anarchy. The King gone, the royal family either executed or given as ransom to enemies, and the looting of the nation’s wealth occurring every day on the streets, the Rhowari fled their homeland for more peaceful existences. The immigrants began to be called Rovers as a convenient term of disparagement by other nations ad clans, and they were dispersed throughout the lands even as Arkovia was collapsing.
The monks who were guarding Stoneward were also fighters and were able to defend the great cathedral for most of the outbreaks, but as anarchy took over the entire region, and the Chthonic influence was beginning, they made a grave mistake: they turned to the necromancers of Death’s Vigil to assist with Stoneward’s defense.
The monks, only two dozen in number, made a pact with the necromancers to revive them every time they fell in battle, so that they may continue their defense. This was a double-edged sword. On one hand, the resurrected monks would be stronger with each reviving. On the other hand, that would be their lot forever — never to rest, never to leave their bonds of defense. They would have no other purpose in their existence; that was part of the pact that they asked for.
Feel free to pick apart this summary in relation to the known lore of Grim Dawn. I can make adjustments.
It would be very helpful if you can provide evidence. OTOH, if youre one of the devs and this definitely does not line up with the world you created, please make helpful suggestions so the story can be wedged into the GD universe!
