The War Without End – How the Med-Jai came into being

This is based on an introduction Colin wrote for a Story Hour he was going to do over at EN World. 

The beginning …

None who were there will speak of it but I have learned some of the secrets of what happened and so I will make this record of them.

The birth of an infinite multiverse gave birth to an infinite variety of beings, not all of whom were satisfied with their lot. Chief among these malcontents was the all-powerful Tharizdun, who believed the multiverse to be flawed. For, since he was the most powerful, was it not his right to control all creation and bend it to his will? And yet he could not. Feverishly he set about the unmaking of all, for only then could the multiverse be reforged as he desired.

Before long Tharizdun’s peers, other powerful beings known as the Powers, learned of his intentions and were appalled. Together they acted against him to preserve the multiverse, and their own existence. At that time they were unwilling to set a precedent by his destruction and were unsure even if one of their number could be destroyed, so they confined him within the Grey Waste – a dank miserable place unclaimed by any other.

Time passed and Tharizdun’s madness fed upon itself and from it’s fevered revolutions sprang forth inspiration. He created servants, known as the Baernaloths, who were not confined to the Waste as he was, and he sent them forth to do his bidding. He promised these creatures that they would survive the Unmaking of the multiverse and would have dominion over all that followed.

Eagerly the Baernaloths set about the tasks he gave them and though they crossed paths, purposes and eventually swords with servants of the other Powers, the threat of Tharizdun’s continued machinations remained unrecognised and went on largely unopposed. At this time the Powers themselves were too busy bickering amongst themselves and struggling for dominance over one another. No agreement could be had among them.

This continued until one Power who has no name grew gravely concerned by information she had uncovered. Her choice of a feminine form, for reasons known only to herself, has led to this Power being dubbed The Lady. Acting upon what she had learned The Lady subverted one of the Baernaloths and through doing so discovered the full extent of Tharizdun’s progress, as well as the existence of a mighty weapon known as the Last Word, that could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. The Last Word was the ultimate magic of unmaking, a force potent enough to slay even a Power. She vowed to obtain it for herself and use it to combat Tharizdun.

A being of plots and subtleties, she was unwilling to confront Tharizdun immediately with this weapon and initially used it – successfully – against a lesser power who had pledged allegiance to him. Flushed with her victory and having absorbed the essence and potential of the power she had slain, The Lady resolved to confront Tharizdun himself.

But to her dismay, she found that Tharizdun had also somehow learned the Last Word and was, therefore, immune to its effects. She was forced to flee.

Afterwards she used her minions to arrange a conclave of Powers at the centre of the Outlands, a place that is believed to be the spot where the multiverse came into existence. There magic did not function and the attending Powers would be safe from treachery.

As expected, not all the Powers came to this conclave, but enough did. What was said and by whom is not known but what I have discovered, and will relate here, are the six accords that were reached:

First Accord: Tharizdun is a pariah and will henceforth be known as The Enemy as he is the ultimate enemy of all sane Powers.

Second Accord: The Enemy shall be destroyed and if this is not possible for some reason, confined so that he can never bring his plans to fruition.

Third Accord: All those present at the conclave will give servants that will form an organisation dedicated to countering the servants and plans of The Enemy once he had been confined – this organisation will be known as the Med-Jai.

Fourth Accord: The entity who coordinated the conclave and brought the extent of the plans of The Enemy to the other Powers’ attention will be rewarded with her own demense where none of the other Powers would ever interfere.

Fifth Accord: The Powers who did not attend the conclave were declared outlaw and were free game for their enemies present at the conclave – none there would help them.

Sixth Accord: To record for all time the accords of the conclave, a symbol would be erected at the spot of the conclave.

Being of diverse natures and opinions, the Powers could not agree what the symbol of the accords should be. However, the next Power who visited the site of the conclave found that an immense spire had grown there. Although seemingly infinite, the spire did have a summit, and it was here where the names of the Powers and the accords they reached were recorded by the multiverse for all time. The Powers took this as a sign that the very multiverse itself approved of these accords.

The war that was the inevitable result of the Fifth and Second Accords is unimportant to this record. It should be noted however that, unknown to her comrades, The Lady slew several of the errant Powers with the Last Word and increased her own potential as a result.

As the war neared it’s end and all The Enemy’s allies and servants had been lost or had fled into hiding, The Lady arranged a Second Conclave. This time she invited only those Powers who had honoured the Third Accord and provided servants to create the Med-Jai. After binding these eleven Powers to secrecy, she shared the Last Word with them and together they confronted The Enemy within the Grey Waste. After a titanic stuggle they were victorious and cast The Enemy into Belierin, the layer of Elysium that held the only gateway to his prison.

On the site of this gateway the twelve powers confirmed their pact to maintain the Med-Jai and keep The Enemy imprisoned for all time. They entrusted the key to his prison to their leader, The Lady.

She pondered for an age the best way to keep this key safe, before deciding her course. She created the demense promised her in the Fourth Accord – Sigil, the City of countless doors (after all how best to hide a key than within countless others?) and set it above the Spire in the Outlands as a reminder to the other powers of her primacy in the forming of the accords.

This is the end of my account, and by it’s recording I have doomed myself never to return to Sigil, for fear of The Lady’s retribution.

- the record of Legagog the Knowing, Aranea High Priest of Vecna, Uncoverer of all that is Hidden