The concept of the Inferi, beings crafted from the darkest essence of death and despair, originates not from a singular, dramatic event, but from a slow, agonizing seepage. Millennia before recorded history, before the rise of mortal empires, the Abyss—a dimension of raw negation and forgotten gods—began to bleed into this world. It wasn't a violent invasion, but a corruption, a subtle erosion of reality itself. The first Inferi weren't summoned; they *became*. They were the solidified shadows of those who died within the encroaching darkness, their souls unable to find solace in the afterlife, trapped in a perpetual state of anguish and decay.
“The shadows remember. They don’t forgive.” – Fragments recovered from the Obsidian Tablets.
While the initial Inferi were a natural consequence of the Abyss’s influence, the true architect of their proliferation was Malkor the Weaver. A being of immense, almost incomprehensible power, Malkor wasn't a god, nor was he merely a mortal. He was *resonance*. He existed where fear and regret coalesced, and he discovered a method to actively shape the souls of the deceased. Using intricate rituals involving forgotten geometries and the echoes of primordial nightmares, he learned to distill suffering into tangible forms – the Inferi. He didn't create them to serve a master, but to *exist*, a testament to the universe's capacity for pain.
“To understand pain is to become it.” – Malkor’s recorded pronouncements, translated from the language of the dead.
A colossal, obsidian structure found within the heart of Malkor’s domain. It wasn’t merely a machine; it was a conduit, channeling the collective sorrow of countless souls into the Inferi. Its mechanisms, when partially reconstructed, seemed to react to emotions – accelerating the process of soul-binding when confronted with intense grief or despair. The Loom is rumored to still pulse with a faint, chilling energy.
Over centuries, the Inferi, initially scattered and disorganized, began to coalesce under the leadership of powerful individuals – those who had themselves succumbed to the Abyss's influence, becoming conduits for its power. These 'Shadow Lords' commanded legions of Inferi, relentlessly expanding their domain, consuming entire cities, and leaving behind only barren wastelands and the chilling silence of extinguished life. They were not driven by conquest, but by a fundamental urge – a desire to *fill* the void within themselves, using the bodies and souls of the living to stave off their own oblivion.
“The living are merely fuel for the dying.” – General Vorlag, last leader of the Shadow Legion.
The eventual defeat of the Shadow Legion wasn't a glorious victory, but a desperate, agonizing act of self-sacrifice. A group of ancient mages, recognizing the inevitable return of the Abyss, devised a ritual – the Ritual of Severance – aimed at disrupting Malkor's influence and permanently binding the Inferi to the planes from whence they came. The ritual was incredibly complex, requiring the convergence of immense magical energy and a willingness to confront the darkest corners of one's own soul. It succeeded, but at a terrible cost. The ritual shattered Malkor's domain, unleashing a torrent of raw, unbridled chaos, and irrevocably altered the fabric of reality. The remaining Inferi were scattered, their connection to the Abyss weakened but not severed.
“Some wounds never heal. Some echoes never fade.” – A final message etched onto a fragment of the Obsidian Tablets.