It began on a hot summer’s night. Ashen clouds gathered overhead, and a frigid breeze chilled the world to its bones. Then, snow began to fall. And it never stopped. The 30th of Dalin, 1,107 AC marked the beginning of the Black Winter: a frigid apocalypse of unending blizzards and an unholy plague which nearly brought an end to life itself. As rivers froze and hearths dampened, something began to emerge from the darkest depths of the earth. At first they seemed to be [[Men|men]], but eventually proved to be twisted abominations afflicted with a living disease known as the Black Mourne. Quickly these Mournlings ravaged the land, infecting the peoples of countless villages, towns, holdfasts, and cities, all while hundreds starved due to famine, thousands died in battle over what little resources remained, and uncountably more froze silently before their dead hearths. None know the true origins of the Black Winter, but all know from where it came: the Black Wombs. These seething masses of inky flesh and tendrils were living and thinking hiveminds that birthed from their fell depths the Mournlings in manifold forms. Their enormous tendrils spread across Runera, slithering through snow-covered forests, suffocating abandoned villages, and tearing through castle walls. Mortals who were infected by the Mourne first became *wretches*: oily-skinned, white-eyed, and warped reflections of their former selves with bundles of writhing tendrils erupting from their distended jaws. Wretches formed the backbone of the Black Mourne's horde, but the strongest of their number were drawn by the tendrils of the Black Wombs back to their hearts, where they were transformed into new, deadlier forms. [[Men]] became unyielding *scurges*, [[Elves|elves]] became vicious *wrythes*, [[Dwarves|dwarves]] became hulking *mawls*, [[Gnomes|gnomes]] became pestilent *blyghts*, and [[Halflings|halflings]] became shadowy *skulks*. Mortal children, however, were never infected. Instead, after decimating a settlement, Mournlings would carry them screaming and flailing back to a Black Womb, after which they were never seen again. In an attempt to quell the tide of darkness, the Vigilant Brotherhood began tampering with the Black Mourne itself. Deep within the vaults of Blackenhall, the Brothers used alchemy and dark magics to isolate the Mourne's capabilities into mutagenic elixirs and poultices, which they then forced upon child test subjects. After years of experimentation and hundreds of dead children, the Brothers finally produced a mutagen strain that would transform a prepubescent child into a mutant capable of slaying Mournlings by simply coating their [[weapons]] with their own blood. Children who underwent the mutations gained superior reflexes, strength, and nightsight, but were also subject to disturbing physical changes. They lost all hair, including their eyelashes; their skin became milky pale and translucent, wrought with black varicose veins; their eyes too turned ebony black, save for their white serpent-like pupils; and most unsettling of all, they sprouted a third eye in the centre of their forehead, capable of detecting the presence of [[magic]], [[monsters]], and Mournlings. These new mutated Brothers quickly set about pushing back the Mournling hordes, but their efforts were in vain; the Black Mourne spread faster than it could be stifled, and the Brothers' numbers were too few to mount a strong enough resistance. For 99 years this apocalypse endured. Survivors huddled in what few sanctuaries of warmth and civilization remained, scrambling over ever-dwindling food and supplies; cannibal-warlords roamed the frozen wastes, snatching the young and old to be butchered; the Black Wombs continued in their foul growth, infecting countless folk and birthing countless more Mournlings. All hope seemed lost, and many proclaimed this to be the Last Winter of the world, that the last echo of [[Alor|Alor's]] light had finally diminished and all would fall into darkness. But then came the Bright Lady. Records of her birth are unreliable, but many claim she was raised amongst the steams of a long-forgotten castle-town warmed by natural hot springs that lay beneath it. Her name is lost to time, but the [[Hand of Alor|Hand]] dubbed her the Living Saint Aurela Springbearer, and teaches that she was a Child of Prophecy, brought to Runera by a falling star, and blessed with the impossible power of [[Alor]]'s blinding light. Her divine [[Magic|gift]] was discovered by a Vigilant Brother named Wyll, who spirited her away to the Godspire so her blessing might be used by the [[Hand of Alor|Hand]] to end the Black Winter. The Godspire, however, was besieged by the zealous Flagellants, who were led by the Wicked Three: the Mad Butcher [[Wulfsige]] the Defiler, the Dread Witch She-of-Many-Faces, and Bloody Briallen the [[Men|Man]]-Eater. The Three, who had been tracking the girl-child since her flight from her home, broke through the Godspire's defences and confronted her at its peak. Only Brother Wyll stood between them, but in Aurela's hour of greatest need he betrayed her by willingly surrendering her to the heretics. However, the Bright Lady would not be so easily felled. Summoning all of her strength, she released the full power of [[Alor]]'s searing light upon Wyll the Betrayer, the Wicked Three, and their Flagellants, turning them all to ash. After this reckoning, Aurela was taught by the Exarch and his Oracles to unlock the full potential of her divine [[Magic|gift]]. With it, she destroyed many of the Black Wombs, causing the Mournlings to flee beneath the earth, and the snows to finally melt for the first time in nearly a century. The Black Winter was ended. Today, the Bright Lady yet lives, having been blessed with long life by the [[Gods|gods]] themselves. She is the [[Hand of Alor|Hand]]'s most faithful servant and wages an eternal war in the frigid Mournelands of Runera's north, fighting off the ever-encroaching hordes of Mournlings that descend from beyond the [[Kharadrim]] and the Pale Mountains. So long as she stands, Runera is safe. Long-be-Her-vigil. Blessed-be-Her-reign.