You have heard of the Shadar-Kai? Great warriors, fearless in battle, longing for a glorious death and carving out their place in history as they carve their bodies to prove their strength and bravery?
I tell you that the Shadar-Kai are fools and cowards.
My clan lives in the Deep Hollow, a valley in the rough mountains to the north. This valley is home to a shadow crossing, which keeps us close to the Shadowfell, our native home. The humans think our valley is haunted, so they leave us to our own devices, which is best for them and best for us.
Like most of our kind, my clan worships the cold and remote Raven Queen. I was raised to pay homage to her, and my earliest memories are tales of her heroes braving the perils of the world to bring glory to her name.
But I heard whispers in my dreams, which in time came to me as well in my waking thoughts. These were whispers from an older time, a time of true heroes and true glory, the time before the second coming of death. I came to know this as the voice of Nerull, the one true god over all other gods.
And then I saw my people in a new light; I saw that they are but fools and cowards. They live on their tales of old victories, they cling to their mountainside and tell each other how brave they are. They scar their faces and pierce their bodies to prove their strength, yet none will step out of the shadow of the valley to face what the world holds in store for them.
They say that Nerull was killed by the Raven Queen, but he speaks to me, and through me, and I know that he but waits for the stars to realign to take his rightful place on the throne of the worlds. My clan, they call me a blasphemer. Nerull is but a myth, they tell me. The voice of Nerull is the voice of your own pride, they say. If Nerull speaks through you, then prove yourself. Leave the valley and walk the path of those who came before. Go to the place of the old legends, the place where the great dragon rules, and see if Nerull will help you there.
So I leave the valley and seek the great dragon. And instead I find this city, in the shadow of a shattered mountain. I find that the wyrm of our legends is long since gone. I find that my clan has sent me away for nothing. Now I know that this was their plan all along. I have no home now, and no quest to test my worth and my fate.
But then Nerull tells me of the Egg, and of the ones that removed it from its hiding place. Nerull tells me that the spirit of Iere, she may live on through this Egg. She would escape death, she would become immortal, she would stand against nature and become an undying one. This, Nerull tells me, is against his law.
So I will find these heroes, and I will find this Egg, and I will see that Iere does not rise from the ruins of the Shattered Peak. I know this, for Nerull tells me it is so.
And I am neither a fool nor a coward.
