Ink and watercolour sketch of a horde of helmeted orcs marching along a valley road towards a conquered castle, past burning farmsteads under a heavy sky.

History

The Orc Conquest

In the history Aurelius came from, orcs conquered Meliora: a future he travelled back in time to unmake.

  • Before the Invasion

Description

The orc conquest belongs to a history that no longer exists. In it, orcs overran Meliora, which by Aurelius's dry account was rather unpleasant for everyone involved. Aurelius lived in that history and tried to fight the occupying evil on his own, to little effect.

Historical context

Decades after the conquest Aurelius mastered time travel and stopped the invasion in its early days, creating the present reality. Its shadow did not vanish: the goblin invasion threatened to bring that grim reality back, and Aurelius came to suspect that by averting the conquest he had created the very sorcerer who caused the new one.