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Ireth was a blight.

The evil experiments conducted by its mad mages were the stuff of nightmares and cautionary tales. The world feared Ireth. But, fortunately, Ireth was isolated, of no danger to anyone beyond its walls. Until, one day, creatures and slaves were seen creeping along the dunes at night, and nomad caravans travelling to nearby Velyzar began going missing. Ships were lost, and dark magic was seen. Ireth was quiet no longer.

All the factions of Teleria were alarmed, but it was the Dwarves who were the first to act. They called a Conclave in the Dwarven city of Port Wretched, and every faction sent representatives. Even the Dark Elves and the Knights Revenant came, despite the cult’s nominal control over Ireth - clearly, expansion was not what the Elders of the Cult had intended.

This turned out to be a problem: nobody trusted each other enough to form a coalition to march on Ireth. But, there was another suggestion: use a war machine to march on Ireth alone. The artificers among the Conclave confirmed that the idea was feasible. There was only one problem: they would need two souls to control it.

They found two suitable candidates: the High Clerics of the Light and Chaos Divinities, the churches of the Telerian League and the Gaellen Pact. Divided by their church associations, but united by their shared faith in the power of Lumaya, the two were bound to the golem.

The Iron Twins were brought to the Irethi coast on a Dwarven warship, and, once they were anchored as close to shore as they dared, the Twins stepped off the deck into the depths of the bay. When they emerged from the water in the docks district of Ireth, they were greeted with curiosity.

The Twins answered with violence. The Docks were rubble within minutes.

Irethi soldiers assaulted the Iron Twins, but they answered with sweeping destruction from their voltaic blades. Flying monsters attacked, but they were blown to pieces by airbursting munitions. Mages threw up barriers and flung their strongest spells, but were incinerated by the Iron Twins’ burning eye. Within hours, the monstrous army that Ireth had planned to unleash on the world was little more than ash and blood, scattered on the city’s shattered stones. The Iron Twins marched on.

Desperate to protect the towers at the heart of Ireth, the Irethi committed their final resource: Ascension itself. They flung thousands of potions on the Iron Twins, hoping that madness would halt what weapons could not touch.

They did. The Iron Twins slowed, then stopped, then knelt. To the watching members of the Conclave on the ship offshore, they knew only that the Iron Twins stood back up, and called to parlay with the surviving defenders of Ireth. The defenders escorted the Twins into the city, and the golem disappeared from view.

The Irethi Empire never did get made. The army was lost, and the warhawks slain. The Iron Twins had succeeded. But there were no celebrations, for the Conclave may have unleashed something even worse.