The Tome of Lore:  Table of Contents

The Hulgurod (The Great Madness)

The Hulgurod, also known as the Great Madness, refers to a dark, widespread epidemic marked by madness and death that ravaged a large portion of the north broadlands more than a thousand years ago.

While some historians prefer to suggest that the Hulgurod was little more than a plague that swept over a vast swath of the world, there are equally as many among the learned who believe that the Great Madness was spawned of a sinister, otherworldly source.

Whatever its origin, the Great Madness quickly spread across the realms, devastating certain regions while inexplicably leaving others largely untouched.

The symptoms of those afflicted by the Hulgurod almost always began as feverish dreams but quickly devolved into raving lunacy, culminating with what has historically been described as hallucinations filled with "the stares of distant eyes" and "great, earth-shaking roars of silence".

Those "infected" by the Great Madness were often found to have sketched or in some other way crafted a specific marking, which came to be known as the Sigil of Doketoth . The curious symbol was in the form of a square eye surrounded by a ring of flames.

When asked about the symbol they had drawn or carved, nearly all those suffering in the grip of the Hulgurod would respond that it was "Doketoth's Sigil" or the "Mark of Doketoth".

"Doketoth" is the name of a deific figure that appears in certain ancient Aldvari writings, though very little is known about him.

The Hulgurod lingered for nearly a decade, during which time its ravaging hands altered much of the world it afflicted.

According to legend, the Great Madness was only defeated when a band of seven warriors, known to history as the Seven Knights, encountered and defeated the great 'demon' who commanded the Hulgurod. In the battle that brought about the demon's demise, all seven of the knights (believed to be of the Ironheart Order from Phiadon), perished.

Though scholars disagree on the origin of the Hulgurod (and the legends that surround its arrival and abrupt disappearance), most believe that its return -- or the birth of a similar epidemic -- is a notion that should be not be flippantly discarded.