Many thousands of years ago, the continent of Putarrha was ruled by an elven king. Dwarves had not yet arrived on the continent and gnomish tribes paid tribute to the elven king. Hobbits had not yet evolved to their present state of civilization and most humans existed only in barbarian tribes, isolated in remote mountain regions and dense, unexplored forests. Most, but not all. There did exist a small, civilized, human population in the region now known as Kaldor. These humans, however, were considered by the elves to be of a different race from their barbarian kin. The elves called these civilized humans, Jarin. They numbered no more than 10,000 and, like the gnomes, acknowledged the elven king as their liege.
When the WAR OF THE SPIRIT MASTERS began, it sundered forever, the elven culture. Those who paid homage to Lloth, then known as the goddess of the under-earth as her worshippers were mostly those elves who mined the precious metals and gems in the underground tunnels and caverns, rose against their fellow elves and the cry of war, was heard throughout the continent.
Shortly after the war began, a Jarin mage-warrior named Mitra Pureheart forged the first of his three soul gems. This was done by gathering the pearl of the Isacladies oyster, an extremely rare mollusk created by the elder god Triton and inhabiting only the deep ocean trenches. The pearl contains even more power, in its natural form, then either mithril or adamantite. He then placed enchantments on the gems that prevented their use by anyone not dedicated to the furtherance of law and good. This prevented any elves, even the good ones, from using them since all elves are inherently chaotic in nature. The gems, however, were used on the side of the good elves and were very effective against the followers of Lloth, who called themselves Drow elves.
Triton soon realized the powers he had inadvertently let fall into the hands of mortals and destroyed all remaining Isacladies oysters. But it was too late. In addition to the three gems garnered by Mitra Pureheart, seven other gems were lost into the hands of mortals. These seven were collected by the Koa-tua, a subject race of the Drow. Among these seven were two gems of exceptional size and quality. The remaining five were fashioned into artifacts of chaos and evil for use by the Drow to combat and defeat the three gems of the Jarin, Mitra Pureheart. The larger of the two exceptional gems was forged into a master soul gem that would command all other gems. It, in itself, was not aligned toward good or evil nor law or chaos. Its power was so great, however, that, except for the strongest of wills, to use the gem was to become corrupted by it and turned towards evil. The remaining Isacladies pearl was stolen from the Drow by one of the Drow elf charged with its safekeeping. This elf killed his fellow guards and sought escape to the upper world where he would forge the gem into a powerful artifact to further his own goals. Although he was never seen or heard from again, his gem was not lost forever. When next the gem was seen, it was in the possession of the Druids of the Grove of Ki, the Goddess of Nature.
Realizing the tremendous power, and thus the tremendous threat to the balance, the druids had fashioned the remaining gem into an artifact of balance. Its power was to seek out and destroy all other soul gems. When the last of the soul gems had been destroyed, the Soul Gem of Balance would also cease to exist.
With the completion of the artifact of the druids, the Grand Druid of the Grove of Ki sought out the master soul gem. A confrontation of epic proportions took place during which the sky blackened and the mountains shook. The entire continent of Putarrha felt the residual effects of the wizard battle between the gems. The earth-shattering effects lasted for eight days. It is not known what became of the Grand Druid or, the Drow high priest who possessed the master gem. It is known that both gems were lost.
The loss of the master soul gem was quickly followed by the defeat of the Drow and the end of the War of the Spirit Masters. The final confrontation took place on the plains of Endor. All of the remaining soul gems (the three gems of the Jarin and the five gems of the Drow) were present at the battle and thus the final battle was called the Battle of the Soul Gems.
The master gem was not lost forever. It has appeared intermittently throughout history always to fade away again after causing much death and woe.
The soul gem of balance was also recovered, three thousand years after its loss, by the Druids of the Grove of Ki. It has subsequently been used to destroy one of the gems of the Jarin and two of the gems of the Drow. The remaining soul gems have escaped the scrying powers of the druids gem by either being in the possession of one who is capable of shielding his mind against the mental questing of the gem of balance or by remaining outside the knowledge of any intelligent creatures.
One of the remaining soul gems of the Jarin was buried beneath tons of rock in the battle between the forces of Set and the followers of Mitra, the God of the Pure at Heart (the forger of the original three gems of the Jarin raised to divine status by his numerous followers after his heroic death during the Battle of the Soul Gems. Its exact location is known only to a guardian naga named Omphalos who has been geased by Mitra to guard the gem until a worthy individual should appear to claim it. He is able to resist the powers of the soul gem of balance by means of psionic defenses.
The location of the remaining soul gem of the Jarin is unknown.
All three of the remaining soul gems of the Drow are in the possession of these evil elves. The means by which knowledge of their location is hidden from the soul gem of balance is unknown. |