The Broken Seal

The Oath

A thousand years ago the valley had no name. It had only a border, drawn in blood.

For a hundred years crimson Shinsoo, golden Chunjo and azure Jinno fought over these lands. Arrows rained on the lake shores, and generation after generation was buried in the same mud.

No sword ended that war. An oath did.

One morning, before the eyes of three armies, an old man walked unarmed to the island in the middle of the lake. His name was Tianyun; centuries later they would call him the First Emperor. He wore no armor and no crown. On the island he asked each people for a single heirloom. From Shinsoo, an ember from the ancestral hearth that had burned for a thousand years. From Chunjo, the gold in which their ancestors had trapped the lightning of Goldflash. From Jinno, a water stone raised from the bed of their holy lake.

And, to their own surprise, the three peoples brought them.

The Forging

The first of all master smiths laid the three heirlooms on his anvil. The forge burned as white as dragon's breath, and ember, lightning and water met in a single light. When the last hammer fell, one seal lay on the anvil, bearing a dragon crest.

On its three faces the oath was carved:

"Forged from the fire of three peoples, bound by the oath of three peoples.
In a hand that holds me by force, I break into three.
Whoever sets my three shards upon the Throne under one banner shall be emperor of the three peoples."

Tianyun built a pavilion on the island and raised the Throne within it. With the oath he left a law: before any sword is drawn, the Great Council decides who sits on the Throne. Each people chooses its king, each king appoints two banner lords, and the banner lords carry their people's banner into the valley.

The sky dragons Goldflash and Skyrender swore to circle above the Throne for as long as the seal stayed whole. For a thousand years, not a single blade was drawn in the valley.

The Night of Breaking

Centuries passed. The last emperor, Yuanzhen, had grown old, and he had no heir. In his shadow, patient for years, waited the Black Vizier Heiyan.

It was Heiyan who had once had the seal stolen and broken, its pieces buried inside metin stones. When heroes gathered the pieces one by one and had the seal reforged in dragon fire, his plan failed. But Heiyan did not give up.

Yet a seal reforged in dragon fire was no longer the seal it had been. It had awakened.

Yuanzhen wished the oath itself to choose his successor, and he laid the seal upon the Throne in the Pavilion. That night a storm fell upon the valley. Heiyan climbed to the Pavilion terrace with his hooded men. His dagger found the Emperor's back, and the vizier tore the seal from the Throne.

The seal did what its oath had sworn.

The sky split open. Hidden in the storm clouds, Goldflash and Skyrender struck at the same instant, and two bolts of lightning fell upon the Pavilion. The seal cracked in the vizier's hand and broke into three. The shards flew out over the black lake like comets of crimson, gold and blue, to the three far corners of the valley.

At dawn only Yuanzhen's lifeless body and Heiyan's burnt cloak lay before the Throne. The vizier's body was never found.

Three Shards, Three Guardians

Where the shards fell, they woke.

Scorched Valley

The shard born of Shinsoo's ember burned the valley for seven days and seven nights, until the earth split open and the Hell Lord rose from the rift. He hovers above the shard. Whoever comes near sees him fold his wings, draw his blade and descend.

Sunken Ruins

The shard of Jinno's lake fell into the ruins of what was once its ancestors' lake temple. It drew the stones and the poison of the swamp into a body: the Poisonous Golem. When no one is near, its stones fall apart and the shard lies dim. At the sound of a footstep the shard flares green, and the golem rises again.

Dark Forest

The shard of Chunjo's lightning gold fell among the ancient trees. Freed from their oath, Goldflash and Skyrender built their nest around it, and its warmth keeps their eggs alive. Out of a thousand years of habit they still circle the empty Throne, but when a hand reaches for the nest, they come down from the sky.

With the seal, the power that held the valley's gates was broken too. And all three kings said the same thing: "One of the shards was always our ancestors'. The other two are ours to take."

The War Horn

That night three horns sounded at the valley's three gates. For the first time in a thousand years the three peoples gathered their Great Councils. Each chose its king, and each king appointed two banner lords.

But the shards will not stir until their guardians fall. Once the Hell Lord, one of the sky dragons and the Poisonous Golem have each been brought down at least once, by any kingdom's blade, the shards are freed and the war horn sounds across the valley. In that moment Shinsoo, Chunjo and Jinno turn their banners toward the island.

The kingdom that sets the seal upon the Throne makes its king Emperor until the next month. For the seal, awakened by dragon fire, holds for only a month. When the month ends it cracks again, the shards return to their guardians, and it all begins anew.

Above the empty Throne the sky dragons still circle, waiting to see under whose banner they will descend.

The Broken Seal awaits heroes of level 110 and above.

Note: Active in game version 1.21 and above.