Soomy's TOI Story

This is ripped from Soomy's blog, http://soomy.blogspot.com/2007/12/toi-boss-lore.htm, but I thought it was to good not to post here...

Long ago before the time of Aden, there were the first race of humans
who served the will of Gran Kain, their creator. They were the first to
be created. There are no written record of this race except for what
has been passed through to us by word of mouth. Among this race were a
great Archmage. His magical powers were greater than any mortals of the
time. In his deep determination to master all magical matters of the
world, the archmage constructed a glorious tower much like our Ivory
Tower.

Many
mages gathered here to research and unlock powers of magics. One day,
Archmage and his followers stumbled across one profound obstacle to
their research. They've been searching an answer to the true mystery of
life and death and believed that all magical powers stemmed from this
very simple source. They believed that the essence of life and death
can be used to focus magic powerful enough to transcend humans to
embrace immortality.

Dangerous magical experiment began
testing the limits of life and death. The first of the subject was a
human girl named Zenia. She was bitten by a poisonous spider on her leg
and had only few months to live. The Archmage thought it was acceptable
to risk her life to dangerous experiments as it seemed just to lengthen
the girls life. The archmage and their followers gathered what they
understood at the time and began casting their magic together. The
magic weaved out of their fingers and eyes in attempts to unlock
secrets of life and death through Zenia. Magic coerced within Zenia in
great light. But something has gone wrong. The girl painfully underwent
a transformation resembling half spider and half human. Slowly, losing
her memory, she was droven into madness. She became what we now call
the Zenith Queen.

His first failure didn't deter the Archmage in
his pursuit. Uncertain of his mistakes, the Archmage weren't ready to
sacrifice another human being. The choice was made to experiment with a
lesser life form, a mythical beast named beholder. They spent years
perfecting their understanding of life and death in magical means.
Thousands of beholders were lost. Yet in his latest attempt, a single
beholder reached to a form of unimaginable power. It showed incredible
resiliency toward magic and seemed to naturally carry an ability to
cast destructive magic as well. With birth of this new specimen, the
Archmage grew hopeful. He named it Sear and immediately began searching
for volunteers to test what they now knew on human subjects.

The
one chosen for this experiment remained nameless. We only know that
this person through many experiments has become a Vampire. He was the
first of his kind, immortal yet doomed as an undead. Lost were the very
qualities that defined human compassion. Driven in thirst for blood,
vampire was yet another failure in the eyes of the great Archmage.

Years
gone by and each time Archmage were unsuccessful in his attempts. The
experiments became even more dangerous and uncontained. Many of his
followers were affected and turned undead as well. His very own pet
kitty was even affected. Magic transformed the baby kitty, Cougar into
a magical being powerful with uncontrollable might. It didn't stop the
Archmage as he felt that he was just one step closer to unlocking a
mystery.

One day, in his unlikely attempt to reveal the secret
of life and death, Archmage accidentally opened a rift to another
dimension believed to be on a threshold between living and the dead. A
dark faceless form emerged out of the rift riding a black undead
stallion. Its eyes burned in flames of death and immediately Archmage
recognized the adversary. It was a Grim Reaper, a demon of unother age.
Frightened, Archmage carelessly tried to close the rift but it was too
late. Grim Reaper has already passed through the rift and stood in
front of him. They fought in timeless battle locked in magical power
that were beyond any physical means. Months went by and Archmage
continued to battle the Reaper. He neither ate or slept only focused on
destroying his enemy that has come to take his life. Yet their powers
were so evenly matched. Neither could hold dominance over each other.

Archmage
understood that he couldn't fight forever. His magical powers were
fading and while he could fight on another year without rest, He knew
he'd be lost. He needed help and Reaper needed to be confined in his
tower if the race of men were to kept safe. He lured the Reaper to the
100th floor of his tower where he momentarily were able to trap the
Reaper through a magical seal. He quickly dispatched for help to his
trusted friend, Knight Vald. Knight Vald was no ordinary knight. He was
a champion among the humans undefeated in every battle and one who
could also wield magic. Vald arrived to aid his friend with a companion
named Lady Iris. Much is unknown where Lady Iris originated from. Yet
we do know Iris was a beautiful mage from a distant land who was so
beautiful that even animals were charmed by her beauty. The three of
them devised a plan to confine the Grim Reaper.

First,
Archmage summoned elemental guardians to guard the path toward 100th
floor and magically mirrored Knight Vald and Lady Iris so no human
being were foolish enough to venture near these floors. Meanwhile
Knight Vald and Lady Iris created charms and collapsed the floors
through magical means so that only the holders of these charms may pass
through these floors. They intended to seal the tower forever yet
create means for them to come back if the need arose. They placed a
guardian on each of the 10th floor and entrusted them with the charm
needed to pass the seal. Lady Iris, Knight Vald and the Archmage kept
the charms to the final floors leading to 100th Floor.

The
time has come for Archmage to complete a final incantation to seal the
tower magically as a whole. So powerful was this magic, it consumed the
soul of Archmage. While Knight Vald and Lady Iris watched in horror, it
was far too late for them to reverse the magic that consumed the
Archmage. With final breath, Archmage became the Lich. Driven mad by
magic, the Lich magically charmed Lady Iris and Knight Vald who stood
near. Then he turned them into his mindless undead minion. To this day,
they still roam the floors of his tower. Lost are the purpose of their
immortality, lost are the conscience they once had. We, the people of
Aden named this tower, Tower of Insolence. For it is indeed insolence
that caused Archmage to cross the line that no human mage should ever
have dared to cross.

***** this lore is not part of the
official Lineage Lore. The official lore describing TOI is a one line..
"not much is known how or when the tower of insolence was contructed".
I was saddened to see there was no lore behind TOI and I began to write
the story couple of months ago in my leisure time. I'm glad its
complete and I hope some enjoys it :)