Call of the Forsaken lore

Some of the lore of the Call of the Forsaken expansion is posted here. Most of what is here is word for word what has been posted by SOE and is copyright Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Used with permission.

A series of cataclysmic events in the West Karanas bring the arrival of powerful dragon from another dimension [EverQuest 2], Lady Lendiniara. Torn through an invisible seam that binds realities, she does not arrive alone, but brings others. No one is sure if she is friend or foe.

Lady Lendiniara is from Ethernere, a realm where the living cross over to the dead. Ethernere is watched over by Drinal, the Silver Reaper.

...she's the EQ2 version of Lendiniara being forced into the EQ1 timeline. It's her, but a different her [from the EQ1 Lendiniara the Keeper, who guards the west Temple of Veeshan], if that makes sense.

Zone lore
The cataclysm arrived not from the air but from within the earth. West Karana, a fertile plain filled with trees, farms, and settlements was pulled apart as Lady Lendiniara traveled from another dimension, passed through Ethernere, and tore into this dimension. As the rift opened beneath West Karana, tectonic plates began to shift, thrusting sections of land into the air, breaking open stores of flowing magma, and causing the river that flowed across the plain to heat near boiling and spill haphazardly into the newly created basins and depressions. Trees bent and snapped, villages drowned in rushing waters, long-buried warriors were unearthed, and the inhabitants of the land feared that the apocalypse was arriving.

Now, the rift to Ethernere is widening, its influence seeping out into West Karana. While some of the plain's old beauty remains -- lush grasses and trees, rolling hillsides, and flowing waters -- destruction has visited most regions. Trees have been uprooted, houses have toppled onto each other, new rock formations and mesas have jutted out of the earth, sections of land have fallen away, lava creeps across grasslands and burns all in its path, and the boiling waters denude the landscape.

More troubling, Ethernere spreads its tendrils beneath the ground. Its gray mists form pockets and tunnels underneath the land, hollowing out land formations like burrowing shellfish in an ocean rock. Holes of mist open and close every day, and the region becomes increasingly unstable. Whatever the mists touch becomes drained of color and begins to pass into the gray space, the place between worlds.

Unless Lady Lendiniara can be sent back to her dimension and the rift be closed, Norrath will be lost in the gray.

Storyline
The ground rumbles across the plains of West Karana. The land contorts as the barrier between dimensions breaks down. A chasm opens. Lady Lendiniara, a dragon from another dimension, breaches Ethernere and is thrust into our Norrath. Mountains of debris rise. Rivers of lava flow over the land.
 * Call of the Forsaken: The Western Plains of Karana

Some citizens of West Karana believe that the upheaval marks the end of the world. The guards of Qeynos have entered the plains and set up base camps in order to calm and assist the inhabitants of West Karana. Meanwhile, Ethernere and its mysterious creatures invade Norrath and begin to consume its land and population. After arriving in this strange alternate universe, Lendiniara's first thought was to reenter Ethernere in an attempt to return to her proper reality. Landing on the floating island of rock in the place where she entered this dimension, Lendiniara searched for passage home but could not find it. And so, here she remains, communing with those that travel through the portals, attempting to find anyone who would help her return whence she came.



Dragons are not often welcome visitors, especially in a land torn asunder by an unexplained cataclysm. A military squad from Qeynos, led by General Brustus Tacitum, has been dispatched to assess the damage done by the invasion from Ethernere. Their mission is to provide aid for citizens in danger, reestablish a sense of order in the region, and destroy the dragon thought to have caused the incursion.



The exposure to Ethernere has even transformed the local wildlife. The numerous giant spiders and bears in the area have fused together, forming a new species of creature known as the ursarachnid. These new creatures, with an instinct to trap their prey and store them in caves, have taken up residence in West Karana.



Lendiniara was not the only being to arrive from Ethernere. When the passage to this dimension opened, the Harrowing Horde came through as well. The beings that make Ethernere their home thrive on living essences, and they have emerged into Norrath to claim the energy of its inhabitants.

Unless Lady Lendiniara can be sent back to the dimension from which she came, the passageway to Ethernene will remain open and all of Norrath will be lost to the gray mists between worlds. With this in mind, will you work to aid Lady Lendiniara, or seek to destroy her?

Neriak - Fourth Gate
Neriak is a city divided.
 * Call of the Forsaken: Neriak Fourth Gate



King Naythox Thex, ruler of Neriak, sits somberly on his throne in the Darklight Palace. Flanked by his personal Dreadguard, Naythox looks to the empty throne next to him. He wonders silently to himself where his wife Cristanos Thex is, and in what way she plans to murder him.



The atmosphere of Neriak’s Fourth Gate is taut with tension. There has always been dissension between the various Teir’Dal factions, but the altercations between King Naythox Thex and Queen Cristanos Thex are at an all-time high. As a result, the Dark Elven factions they represent are preparing for what they believe will be a bloody civil war. Previously, Lanys T’Vyl was able to rally the Dark Elves to a common cause and keep the peace in Neriak. However, Lanys has been missing for quite some time, and the Teir’Dal are more divided than ever.



While areas of Neriak like the Foreign Quarter have historically been accepting of morally-flexible and opportunistic races, this is not the case in the Fourth Gate. The unhappily married king and queen plot against each other, work to rally those forces loyal to them, and continue to build up their own sovereignty. Untrusting of outsiders, the royal couple has ordered the Fourth Gate guards kill anyone who isn’t Teir’Dal on sight.



Norrath is on the verge of destruction. As witnessed in West Karana, the end of days appears to be rapidly approaching. However, it is believed that there are powerful artifacts in the Fourth Gate of Neriak that will have a significant influence on Ethernere and the denizens of the dead. Ironically, few Teir’Dal are aware of the importance of the relics in their possession. Adventurers will need to seize these items from Neriak’s Fourth Gate if they want a chance at saving Norrath from obliteration.

Will the current state of political fighting in Neriak make it easier for adventures to acquire these items that may be their only hope to prevent the complete annihilation of reality? Or, is there another way to save Norrath?