Isle of the Seven Apes

Prologue

“Come now, gather around younglings. Today we tell the cautionary tales of a great war that brought about what might be the largest conflict in the entire history of the Isles. Now, you must understand that in the waning years of the first era, peace was much more common than it would be considered today. Tribes of apes kept to themselves and many species seldom left the confines of their homelands if they could not help it. Unless they were of the Lemur folk, for they love to go to new places in search of money to be made.

Mmmm… This great war that occurred two years before the end of the era was a rebellion against the great Elder Council perpetuated by the crazed old Gamba and wicked King Phillius. During such time there was a mighty empire of the Baboon that ruled over the current Chaos Lands, Holy Lands, the Howler Redwoods, the desolate northern reaches of the Elder Isles and parts of the southern Farlands. A truly marvelous and terrible kingdom that ruled with total authority and hate from their subjugates.

This horrible domain was ruled over by the greedy King Phillius, a powerful and well versed dark mage within his own rite. His ways of pillaging and conquering had been passed down to him by his father King Phyron who had conquered the Redwoods and triumphed greatly in such. Phillius had expanded the kingdom to further heights by conquering the realm of Avgrund in the southern Farlands and began a brutal oppression of the native Mandrill population.

He relished in committing these despicable acts and wished to push his realm further to the south. But by this point, the Elder Council had taken notice of his actions and stepped in. He was given an ultimatum, cease his conquering and keep his lands or continue his path of war and face the combined forces of a council lead coalition. Despite being one of the most powerful single nations, he would face no chance against a combined force of the other nations, so he settled to cease his war.

Phillius was a greedy monke, and highly unsatisfied by the Council halting his conquest. While in counsel with one of his oracles shortly after being issued this ultimatum, he was told about the old ‘Golden Banana’, a highly powerful relic that could grant the wielder anything they could possibly desire. The greed in Philius shined straight through and he was elated about hearing of such a creation. As the oracle went on though, he discovered that this relic was destroyed nearly 800 years prior by Earl when he had cast it into the great Baboonic Volcano of Gundalon.

Gundalon was the most terrifying volcano in the entire isles, highly active and unpredictable as to when it would next erupt. T’was no easy task, even for a wealthy and powerful king such as himself. He knew he would need to search to the ends of the isles for someone powerful, knowledgable - or even insane enough to attempt such a task. So he would depart to the southeastern reaches of the isles in search of an ape.

Months would be spent traversing through the Chimp Jungless, the Banana Forest, and the Gorilla Mountains. Phillius would begin to think himself a fool for even wanting to try and attempt such a task. But one evening, while lodging in an inn just outside Marshatea he would meet him; Gamba.

Now younglings, Gamba is a fearful ape. He was extremely intelligent and well versed in many many schools of magic. His words were swift and well throughout and many saw him as charismatic as he would win many over through the power of his words alone. This is what happened with King Phillius.

Gamba agreed to help reforge the Golden Banana, for a price though. He wanted a part in King Phillius’ kingdom upon its establishment. Phillius thought it a small price to pay and let into Gamba's request and the two would begin to devise their plan. The gold used to cast the Golden Banana was so pure, it would be easy to extract from the magma of the volcano which is where they would begin.

Now something must be said about Gamba here, for years he yearned for the Golden Banana for his own personal use but he never knew where it was. Phillius was simply a stepping stone for him, letting him know the location of his ever so desired relic.

The pair would travel to Gunadlon and begin to make preparations for the reforging. Gamba would construct a lab and begin testing the samples of the lava. Gamba thought King Phillius to be a fool, he trusted Gamba far too easily and seldom cared to understand the process Gamba undertook which allowed for him to forge the Banana far quicker than anticipated.

And one faithful day, Philius would come to Gundalon to see Gamba. Gamba had finished the banana on the morning of that day, but something was not right. The ground quaked much more than it normally would, ash spewed in the air creating a thin layer of soot on the ground.Despite pleas from his attendants not to go, Phillius persisted and would go regardless. Gamba realized the signs of an impending eruption and fled east to the Elder Isles. While Philius walked right into what would nearly be his own demise.

The volcano would only grow more active before it erupted. The eruption was so powerful that it would cause the entire volcano and surrounding caldera to come in on itself. The eruptions' effects rippled far beyond, leveling the entire realm of Avgrund, causing it to be desolate and barren. This my dear pupils is the region we now know as the Badlands.

Phillius’ kingdom would likewise collapse like the mighty Gundalon. Despite his (albeit barely) survival, provinces would rebel against the kingdom and rid themselves of the Baboonic tyranny.As for Gamba, he was free from an ill fated promise and had in his hands a relic that could do anything that he wanted with.

Gamba would voyage back to the Orangutan lands and begin to concoct his plan for the domination of the Isles. He would meet an old friend of his who had similar ambitions, Lord Bongo the Fart Slinger. Bongo was as wise in counsel as Gamba himself was and had many years of experience on the Council. Both apes saw the flaws and corruption that was rampant throughout the council so they decided the Council would be the first target of their wrath.

Word of Avgrunds decimation spread fast, though nobody knew its reason. Phillius carefully hid what his intentions of using Gundalon were and shrouded any conception of wrongdoing towards himself. The council impeded no judgment and simply saw it as a tragic accident that had happened as a result of tampering with the volcano.

Though High Elder Earl the Gorilla took a particular interest, knowing what he did there oh so long ago could ripple through to the present day. For some time now, he had taken much more of a backseat role in the Council, simply being the mediator at meetings and providing his insight when prompted as his main focus was training an ape to take his positions in the coming years, Lamont.

Earl would begin his own investigation into what truly happened at Gundalon. As opposed to going directly to King Phillius, he would speak with locals and members of the King’s guard. Through all the accounts he gathered, he learned that at some point there had been ‘an old and fat Orangutan’ accompanying Phillius. This description was broad, but very little befitting of such a title could be able to trigger an enormous event.

One of the accounts from a local sailor told of a similarly ‘old and obese’ Orangutan who left on a passenger ship bound for Herunar City in the northern Marshes. Earl would follow this trail and make a for the Great Marshes.

He would arrive in Herunar City after three days of voyage. The city was vast, old and fat orangutans were quite a common sight among these lands. Earl knew Gamba and his ways though, his aura stuck out like a foul stench among the pleasant living Orangutans. Gamba would not stay in a city for long as he could not stand being with those who he saw as beneath him.

Earl would spend some time traversing the marshes, trying to find where he could be hiding. The Marshes were vast and often difficult for Earl to search, after dark it was far too dangerous and too dimly lit for him to search so he would only travel by day. The spiritual presence in the region made it incredibly hard to pick up anything that Gamba had been doing.

Weeks would pass before Earl would come across much of anything. A monastery residing among the trees on a windy day. What stood out though, was the lack of care and icons on the exterior. The trees around it had branches that would wrap around and be warped from the bricks of the monastery. All statues were either gone or smashed on the outside. Very odd for both folk and Safashuist monasteries.

Earl studied the exterior, without daring to draw any closer. He circled the outside, and as he did the scent of something burnt would permeate his nostrils. He would slowly and cautiously make his way towards the origin of the smell to find scorched garments about the ground. He would look over a few of the scattered pieces and find them to be that of monks.

Traditional Orangutan monks would never burn a body let alone clothing as typically the dead were buried among the trees. Then, he felt it. An overbearing feeling that he had not felt in many years, his old apprentice Gamba. Among this presence he felt many others that were unfamiliar to him. Out of fear, Earl fled back to the city. He could not engage such foes yet, so he returned to the council.

The Council had seen its fair share of conflict but such a threat as a rogue mage with a relic as powerful as the Golden Banana was completely foreign to them. Many were confused, as to what the motives of an ape would be. Earl reminded them though, that Gamba was an insane and evil ape. He could not be trusted so long as he lived. The only way Gamba could be stopped was through swift and decisive action against him.

In leaving to see the council though, Gamba had made a foolish decision. Since he last reported on Gamba, he had amassed a much larger force. Now a part of his rebellion was: His son Randi, Gibbon King Sombex, Deltex (No relation), and Isaac. This band of powerful monkes would begin to wage war all throughout the isles, some even removing their nations from the council itself.

Chaos ensued throughout the entire isles nearly overnight, the isles split in half between council-supporters and council-separatists all because of Gamba. But the region which got it worse was the Orangutan Isles. Gamba had thought that his home isles needed to be reformed, rebirth through fire as he saw it. The rebellion would rage for weeks while the council stayed in Monkeplex this whole time, deliberating and trying to draw back in members which had left while preventing war from consuming the entire isles.

Earl could stand the sight of the isles crumbling in front of his very eyes no longer, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Earl would travel back to the Orangutan lands to challenge Gamba.

He would arrive in Bongo city to find a destroyed city, in some buildings fires raged and bodies lie along the streets. The peaceful Orangutans deserved none of this. Earl was enraged at what he saw, yet he knew to temper his emotions and to not let them get the better of him. His goal was to find and subdue Gamba.

He would meet Gamba far sooner than he expected, seeing that Gamba - and Gamba alone was waiting for him among the bereft streets. The student returns to challenge the master, a tale as old as time!

Earl would attack first, showing his magical prowess over Gamba. The two would exchange magical attacks for quite some time, meeting fist to fist on occasion. Over time, Earl would become weakened because of Gamba's heightened powers drawn from the Golden Banana. The two persisted though, the battle lasted into the early morning the next day.

Both apes were exhausted from their endeavors but they were both relentless, aiming to stop the other. Slowly, Earl would realize that he would more than likely not come out of this battle alive. He schemed that if he were to seize the Golden Banana and pour his own pour into it, this would cause it to destroy itself but likely him and Gamba in the process.

It was a necessary sacrifice.

As the sun began to rise again, Earl seized the Golden Banana and put all his magical power into it. As expected the Banana would explode into an explosion of unprecedented proportions, rocking many realms as it did so. With such an action, Earl was killed. Gamba survived, but not without paying the cost of his psyche. Old Gamba was driven absolutely insane afterwards, hardly being able to think or talk straight.

Members of the council would soon journey to Bongo City feeling the disturbance to find the aftermath. Gamba was swiftly sent to the Great Exile to live out the rest of his days. The Orangutan lands were decimated and left to be rebuilt after the war. As a result of the mass exodus from the council, many of the apes who had left rejoined alongside the replacements who had filled in for them.

In his wake, Earl had left his apprentice Lamont to lead the council through these years of rebuilding. Even though Earl’s tutelage was effective, Lamont was not fully prepared for the job he had at hand now and it would take years for him to become as Earl did.

Well… Younglings, that was quite a harrowing tale, was it not? Learn to be like the mighty Earl and stand up in the face of adversity, and do not let the powers that be control your mind like they did to the wicked Gamba. This next story I am going to tell you though is much worse, a tale of how the Isles was changed forever, a tale of ignorance and loss, of competence and bravery, a tale of revenge and wisdom…”