The Bring Of Extinction

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Title: The Brink of Extinction

Author: Jaggerauth

Translated to the Common Tongue for ease of understanding by the wingless.

I was walking along the road to the Sosarian city of Minoc when a human came across my path. The human told me that he had ventured to Ter Mur since the ground burst open, revealing passage to my home land. The human then asked me a simple question: why are there so few Gargl?

I suppose to my kind, it is common knowledge and a shared history, but for outsiders such as this human, it might be perplexing to see an entire society with multiple cities, but only run by a handful of inhabitants. The answer was a simple one, which I gave to the human: we were brought to the brink of extinction.

The human did not understand and requested that I tell him of our sordid tale of survival and perseverance. It makes little sense to speak of this to one human, only to have another human come across my path and ask the same questions and I must give the same answer to, so instead I shall write of it so that all humans may read of the answer.

The Gargl have been on the brink of extinction for generations, and before that were nearly extinct. Long ago, far past the generations of my forefathers, my kind lived in a city by the name of Ambrosia. This city collapsed beneath the seas, along with my race, thus nearly wiping our kind from history for all time.

However, a single egg survived and was handed over to a wise Gargl seer who was not in the city when it collapsed. He watched over this egg for years until it finally hatched, revealing a female Gargl. This female Gargl was kept secret from the world and guarded closely. Her sole duty was to produce new eggs, and for generations she did. This Gargl, as you may have guessed, is the Queen of the Royal City, now, and through her efforts for generations the Gargl were allowed to populate the realm once more.

We sought a new home, away from Sosarians and other dangers. What we ultimately found threatened to be our very tomb. A great colony was created in what is now known as the Stygian Abyss. A great library was created there as well, and for generations it was our home. We were free to study and learn in peace, all the while our numbers grew slowly. Until the unthinkable happened.

Terrible horrors crawled up from the murky depths of the Abyss, bringing great horror and destruction with them. The worst of all was the appearance of the dreaded Slasher of the Veils. He single-handedly claimed hundreds of Gargl lives and brought the colony to ruins, and once more brought the Gargl race to the brink of extinction.

We fled. We sealed the Abyss shut and established a new colony in the realm that is now known as Ter Mur. We have yet to recover from the devastation wrought by the infernal horrors of the Abyss, but we are slowly rejuvenating.

However, with the re-opening of the Stygian Abyss, I can but wonder what trials we shall face in the near future? Will the coming of the humans and elves be a boon or ill-tiding? I know these things not, nor does our great seer Naxatilor. The coming years will see to the thriving or decimation of the Gargl race once and for all.

-Lore Master Jaggerauth

Ter Mur Royal Library