Lay down thy sceptre, most puissant lord; for the age is passed, and with it thy domain. For a thousand years and more shall the folk of Adav suffer, magic's power too weak to sustain them. Yet one day, the gods will take pity and lift their curse. Then shall War ride forth, in his raiment of skulls, and the lamentations of mothers who have lost their sons shall echo to the heavens; yet out of that conflagration shall rise a new Empire, uniting all Adav as once did the children of Arethe.

-- the last pronouncement of the Oracle of Starisle