Charn

An ancient Aelvar structure in the foothills of the Riftwall Mountains, built to contain an entity known as the Adversary. Built sometime early in the Second Age after aelvar mages tortured tribes of local goblins into summoning their "deity" (to be used as a source of power). This back-fired when the Adversary answered the call from the Abyss and quickly proved too much for the mages to handle. It took a combined coalition of aelvar, the angelic Legions, fiendish Families, rune-wielding giants and sorcerous dragons to contain the entity. It is believed that the containment somehow holds the entity between the timelines in a null space. It is believed that if the Adversary were to fully escape, the entire continent would have to be reduced to ash to prevent it from corrupting the whole world.

It was maintained for millennia by unknown hands, but that lapsed at some point. In 246 AC (roughly), a mage from the Phoenix Empire opened the outer wards and enacted some sort of ritual that cracked the inner prison, letting the entity's influence leak out. This caused the event known as the Reweaving. Its continued influence has warped the surrounding area, now known as the Vale of Corruption.

Relevant Lore

A family of Ikelans has maintained a book of lore and prophecies relating to the site and its prisoner, supposedly dating back to the unknown maintainers. Each generation has one woman called as Watcher (lore-keeper and rememberer) and one other person called as Seeker. The Seeker goes to Charn and somehow "bonds" with the wards. Later in life, the previous Seeker becomes the Guide who leads the next Seeker and explains the history. The current Seeker is Fai; his mother serves as Watcher. Most of the book is in an unknown language related to yonwach. Some sections have been translated, including the following poem, believed to tell about the construction of the prison:

angels to see (amaranthine heart)

wyrm to destroy (unsleeping enemy)

fiends to design (prison eternal)

titans to build (unchanging bulwark)

summoners to deny (coiling malice)

sacrifice to bind (between the lines)