UNDERLINGS

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====== The Tenebrific Mountains ======

==== Year In Review ====

"Now over to our special correspondant in the Tenebrific Mountains, Rita Malone."

"Thank you, Richard. This year - and in fact, this last six months - have seen an immense amount of upheaval in the political climate of the Tenebrific Mountains. Villains have been toppled at a terrifying rate, and the makeup of the mountains today looks very different to how it was a year ago.

"The first villain in this explosive chain to fall was the dragon Razeraith. A coalition of forces from four villains stormed his lair and evicted the dragon, depriving him of hoard and home. The lair was claimed by Oseneth the Inexorable, and while Razeraith survived the assault, he was reduced to being a roving marauder, a far cry from his previous status as one of the major powers of the Mountains.

The next, three months later, was the demon Anathema, ruler of Hartrock Haven. Anathema had a long-standing rivalry with the Demon Queen Arkh'azia, of Indulgence, and this year Arkh'azia decided it was time to end the matter. Using some sort of portal originating in Epicentre, Arkh'azia and a small team of underlings launched a surprise assault on Anathema's stronghold, resulting in a near-total victory. Anathema itself was banished back to the hells, and its cult was scattered. The cult did attempt to summon their master back, but a clean-up campaign involving co-operation between the Infernal Legions and the Army of the Damned managed to eradicate all traces of the cult before they could succeed.

"Only two weeks after the fall of Anathema, the Mountains saw two more upheavals, this time against more minor villains. In the Spires, the enchantress Madame Ruby apparently fell foul of Oseneth the Inexorable, who launched a devastating sorcerous attack on her, burning Madame Ruby to ashes. And in the foothills, the blood witch Malicia chose to murder all her underlings, rather than give in to demands from the fledling Underlings' Union. While Malicia herself still lives, her power base has been dramatically weakened by the loss of her underlings, and nothing of note has been heard from her since.

"Finally, a month later, the biggest upset of all happened. Oseneth the Inexorable, generally considered to be the single most dangerous villain in the Tenebrific Mountains, was deposed. It's still somewhat unclear exactly what happened, but it seems to have been an operation by the Underlings' Union, perhaps as a show of strength. 

"With Oseneth's death, there is a power vacuum in the Mountains. Razeraith has returned to their lair, and the Underlings' Union has claimed a portion of Oseneth's former holdings, but they lack the power to hold everything that belonged to the no-longer-Inexorable sorcerer. But that still leaves vast areas of land unclaimed, and I think it's safe to say that we haven't yet seen the end of the turbulence that has seized the Tenebrific mountains.

"Rita Malone, EBN news. Now back to the studio."
==== The Rise and Fall of Temperance ====

The short-lived nation of Temperance has a history born of strife and economic mismanagement. In the months before its founding, Queen Alyx the Damned instituted a purge of her territories, apparently dissatisfied with the soft-heartedness of her lead general at the time. Under her orders, the Army of the Damned rampaged through her lands, razing villages to the ground and generally provoking terror and destruction. In the face of this assault, thousands of civilians fled Alyx's outlying lands, hoping to seek refuge in the neighbouring nation of Indulgence, ruled by the Demon Queen Arkh'azia.

Arkh'azia, then allied to Queen Alyx, was occupied at the time with a conflict against the demon Anathema, and apparently simply didn't notice the influx of refugees. Neither, it seems, did any of the government of Indulgence, including Arkh'azia's Left Hand, Pontifex Superbia, who would normally manage such civil matters. Regardless of the cause, the refugees arrived in Indulgence to find no support, no instructions, and a general disinterest from anyone involved in administration.

Unable to return to Alyx's kingdom for fear of the rampaging armies of undead, and receiving neither aid nor oversight from Indulgence, the refugees banded together and simply settled on the edge of Indulgence, forging a community together and gradually building up a significant town. Within a decade of Alyx's purge, the town of Temperance, as it was named, was thriving, and showed no signs of having been a makeshift refugee camp just ten short years before.

Perhaps emboldened by this success, and lulled by the absence of villanous attention that had allowed them to grow so successfully, the leadership of Temperance officially announced their existence to the world, and declared themselves an independent territory, attempting to secede from Indulgence, whose land they occupied. This, unfortunately, had the effect of drawing the attention that had so far passed them over. Neither Queen Arkh'azia nor Queen Alyx took kindly to this upstart nation attempting to establish itself on their borders, and within the week, both the Infernal Legion and the Army of the Damned were marching on Temperance. 

Alyx and Arkh'azia had at this point been allies - and lovers - for ten years, but the issue of Temperance would spell an end to that relationship. Arkh'azia claimed that as the land the town occupied was within her borders, it naturally belonged to her, while Alyx claimed that the residents of Temperance were her citizens, so by right it should be hers. Neither queen was prepared to give up her claim, and so, in the manner of villains in the Tenebrific Mountains, they decided to settle the matter with their armies.

The ensuing war lasted three years, and by the time it was over, Temperance itself was in ruins, its population scattered or dead.