THE WAR OF THE ELEMENTS
The KNIGHTS BELOW defeated the monstrous psionic Eye Emperor beholder known as The Web, but at a terrible cost. Most of the highest level characters in the Wild Lands are dead, the Elemental Planes are disrupted and agitated, and the chaos is only beginning... And the Knights Below have been dispersed. Their mighty quest over, they have gone their separate ways. Now they will have to regroup, to fight alongside other heroes such as the Silver Knot, putting aside any petty differences...
WHAT IS THE WAR OF THE ELEMENTS ?
The War of the Elements is a colossal struggle between the primary, demi, quasi and para- elemental planes.
The Elementals of the Inner Planes don't want to fight each other, but their natures are too strong for them -- they instinctively hate each other's nature, and unless a new truce between them can be achieved, the Prime plane will cease to exist as its fundamental forces break down...
THE SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS: THE FOUR HEARTSHIELDS OF THE INNER PLANES
These four shields are strange gilded bronze artefacts resembling demon faces. Each is set with three gems.
The AIR HEARTSHIELD is set with three emeralds, gems of Earth, and must be returned to the High Altar of the Earth -- in the centre of the Plane of Water...
The WATER HEARTSHIELD is set with three rubies, gems of Fire, and must be returned to the High Altar of the Fire-- in the centre of the Plane of Air...
The EARTH HEARTSHIELD is set with three diamonds, gems of Air, and must be returned to the High Altar of the Air -- in the centre of the Plane of Fire...
The FIRE HEARTSHIELD is set with three sapphires, gems of Water, and must be returned to the High Altar of the Water -- in the centre of the Plane of Earth...
The heroes undertaking these dangerous quests could almost become complacent... Were it not for the complications. There is a SANCTIONER for each element, a Thaalud taken from the Prime long ago and turned into a colossal elemental champion. Wielding a massive fine quality warhammer, these bestial monster-demigods are dedicated to recovering the Heartshields -- for their own planes -- which will of course prevent the new truce between the planes, and thus destroy the Prime. The instincts of the Elementals being so strong, there is no way to reason with them; they must be stopped or destroyed.
And of course Entropy does not like to be excluded, and as usual has generated a spoiler of its own -- it too has a Sanctioner, and its Sanctioner, The Entropy Sanctioner, has done its best to "help" all four of the other elemental champions, hoping that by doing so it will cause the death of all inhabitants of the Prime, and so fulfill Entropy's goal of realising the Anti-Life Quest.
And there are still more problems. The villains and super-villains of the Prime have not rested in this period. In fact since the deaths caused by The Web, a new crop of madmen and would-be world emperors are spawning, taking valuable time away from the all-important Quest to end the War of the Elements..!
