It was the second Dark Age of Sublanarya; beastmen swept from the east across Thule in a wave of violence that claimed millions of lives, each innocent life taken in the name of the resurrected Kalibos, and each sacrifice feeding the endless horde and summoning demon lords to Kalibos's coalition. It was a desperate time as dwarves retreated into the deepest depths of the earth to escape the apocalyptic holocaust being carried about the beastmen, the peoples of Zafaria and Saesun were overwhelmed with Thule refugees with beastmen nipping at their heels as they fled, and the defenses of the Hamutian Empire began to waiver under constant assault from the sea. Indeed, the last thing standing between total civilization collapse may have been the Hamutian Empire but, ironically, the only thing holding the Empire together was this war for survival. The people prayed to the gods for salvation and, according to their saviors, a god did answer the call.
A host of ships was spotted arriving from east by Hamutian sailors with unfamiliar markings upon the sails. Their sails were adorned with the sign of a six pointed star with an eye in the center overlapping crosses. The designs of vessels were foreign and yet far too sophisticated for beastmen. The Hamutians prepared for invasion as they received envoys from the ships but were surprised to instead receive not conquerors but new allies.
The envoys were holy men of a foreign religion, the Church of the Nameless God, and a foreign land, but had come to the aid the people of Sublanarya. Their leaders were an splinter sect of holy knights, the Order of the Next Dawn, that had broken away from the Xalhoteccan Empire to fulfill a prophecy, a divine mission, to come to the shores of Thule and to push back against the endless hordes. Their armada had traveled far and they had suffered great losses at sea, only having the divine promise of the prophecy to guide them to Sublanarya, but with strong conviction had managed to reach their destination. They offered any Hamutian, Zafarian or dwarf with the will left to fight to take the fight to liberate Thule. This coalition called itself the Unbroken and the name would hold true.
The Unbroken legion came ashore in central Thule and took the raiding parties of the beast men horde by surprise as rather than finding pockets of resistance, they were met by entire platoons of eager and righteous warriors. This disruption caused the horde to shift focus away from Hamut and to turn against the new wave of enemies. And yet, the horde was force on the defensive by the aggressive legion. The Xalhoteccan knights were unparalleled in their tactics and guided by, protected by, and enhanced by the blessing of their divine saints. Their cavalries devastated the beastmen's infantry, their pikemen and divine casters made short work of the horde's giants and the paladins of their orderes were able to go toe-to-toe with demons. Their victories were great as they pushed from west to east where they met with the forces of Kalibos's personal legion and the Bastard Prince himself.
The Unbroken found themselves strained against the devastating and horrible might of Kalibos; his personal guard was made up of powerful demon lords, mad witches and shamans, and a host of other horrors straight out of the Wyrd Wars. They were driven back into the ruins of an old dwarven settlement and things grew grim. As battle broke and the forces retreated during a freezing rain, a Xalhoteccan knight's steward came to the tent of the battle commanders. The boy's name was Croma and he was an orphan born at sea, blind at birth, but obedient, humble and true-hearted. Despite his affliction, the boy carried out his duties to the best of his abilities. As doomsday seemed inevitable, he gave a rousing speech and with conviction claimed he had a vision that he too must ride into battle. The commanders were at first skeptical but the boy's faith was incorrigible and renewed their own conviction. After all, if they failed, they would all be slain. It was better to give the boy a chance and to all ride out with their heads held high.
Croma was given a breastplate that was not his fit and he was given an old sword and rusted shield that were too heavy for him, but he was given a good horse. The commanders did not know about Croma's lineage. They did not know that he was descended from a line of Geledan kings or that his ancestor had met Kalibos in battle before. They did not know that the gods had sent them a weapon. As they watched Croma ride into battle, all they saw was a fragile but courageous boy. Somehow he rode his horse in a straight line for Kalibos. It was as if the horse knew the destiny of the boy who rode it. In fact, as Croma held tight to the horse's reins, he felt an updraft as a pair of wings sprouted from the horses shoulders. Astride a white pegasus, Croma was taken straight for Kalibos who knocked the boy off the horse. The pegasus moved to fight off all foes who approached Croma and, in fact as if by design, a circle of knights managed to break their way in and gave Croma a chance in his fight against Kalibos.
The Bastard Prince had slain many good knights that day but, as he swung his claws at the boy, shifting and twisting his form, and striking with monstrous speed his blows, the blind boy side-stepped and dodged each of them. Kalibos grew furious and turned to unholy magic to aid him in defeating the runt but the boy's faith shielded him. In fact, as the other struck the boy with unholy magic, Croma found an inner strength of his own and began piercing the beast with spear after spear of divine light. But his strength began to falter, the beast unwavering in its assault, and he fell to his knees exhausted. With a wicked laugh, the beast struck his breastplate, exposing his chest and then, with the wicked blow's force, even exposing the boy's heart. The beast prepared to unleash his final blow when a miracle occurred. The rust from the shield was knocked away by the beast's previous blows, revealing a shining mirrored surface beneath, and it caught a ray of sunlight that broke through the clouds above. The reflected light blinded Kalibos and, hearing the beast recoil and shriek in pain, with his dying breath, Croma stood up, pointing his blade towards the heavens, and piercing Kalibos under his chin and through his skull. Kalibos fell dead and his forces panicked, breaking apart, and were quickly routed by the Unbroken.
With Croma's last moment, he died knowing that he had defeated a great evil, that he had saved his brothers in arms, and, with his final request, he asked the Unbroken to settle in this place and make it their home. And they did. On that spot, they built camp into a fort into a village into frontier town into a city into the capitol of the Holy Imperium and named them all after their newest saint, Croma.
