Crown of Empyrosis

The Crown, seen sitting on the streets of Galik shortly after having been knocked off Thriskarn's head.

The Crown of Empyrosis, also known as Yro, Midnight, Edna, and originally Brunald Redmane, was an ancient prehistoric relic said to date back to the earliest days of Quelmar, during the Plane Wars, or perhaps even earlier. It was said in fairy tales to be the original weapon of fire in the world, housing all the power and force of the fire lord Kossuth himself.

The Crown was one of four Tools of the Primordial Ancients.

The Crown was subject to a number of Kossuth Fairy Tales

Powers

The Crown of Empyrosis could only be used on the southern half of the material plane. This limited the crown's use to Pteris and Amusa. This is because the Elemental Plane of Fire's location relative to Quelmar.

History

Bruneld Redmane, wearing the crown, which had yet to become Kossuth's great Tool

Creation

Sometime in Prehistory, a follower of Kossuth known as Bruneld Redmane was said to have somehow died and reincarnated into his own crown. The details surrounding the crown's forging are nebulous, and some of the Kossuth Fairy Tales say the crown was made by Kossuth himself, while others indicate the crown already existed and Kossuth merely imbued it with power. Either way, the crown was known to house immense power very early to its creation, with legends and fables about it being passed down over generations.

While most of the story is legend and fairy tale, family trees did show that the Redmanes settled down in Ravendale, and some scholars still believe that is the birth place of the crown.

War of Essence

The crown's most famous and largest effect on the realm was when it was used to sunder the elemental planes, having been collected by an elite team of Eladrin, sent to Quelmar to save the realm. The Crown's power, in turn, forged the Elemental Plane of Fire, having separated the fire energies from the Plane of Elemental Chaos.

Darkness

For centuries, the Crown sat unseen, with its location and existence hidden away from the realm in hopes that no one would ever get their hands on its immense power again. It was in this era of secrecy that Bruneld Redmane's family would somehow get ahold of their artifact once again.

A Flame in the Dark

In the early 400s PR, one descendant of Bruneld Redmane, Callón Calfenris, continued to inherit the crown and keep it safe in Amusa before passing the crown on to his grandson Radonis Calfenris.

Radonis

As bestowed in my Will, the Crown is yours now. I spent over a decade watching over you and your cousins, determining who I can trust to inherit an item of such great sentimental and magical value.

My favorite crown was not just a party accessory, Radonis. It is older than our entire family bloodline, dating back to barbaric years of Quelmar’s ancient tribes and wars. If you have not put on the crown yet, please put it on. It will speak to you if you allow it. Send Yro my regards one last time. Tell him that I have picked you out from nearly a dozen Calfenris children. Tell him to look at the courage and wisdom of your heart and mind. Yro can trust you to protect him and shield him from the public’s eye.

Though Yro’s millennia of wisdom will guide you through your life Radonis, you can’t be seen wandering in public with it. Thieves will envy a crown of such beauty, and they may steal it not realizing that it holds ancient powers to control the fires of the realm. I know you already avoid the public eye like the plague, and that is why you will be Yro’s best defender yet. 

Gods bless the burning path you will walk, and glory to Kossuth who lights our way.

Papa Callón

Radonis would keep the crown secret for a short while, but in his attempts to become a great artist, he would commission a self portrait of himself wearing his most prized possession. This in turn would anger Yro, who would kill Radonis out of vengeance after risking revealing himself to a world who no doubt wants to destroy him.

But after this first kill, the embers of the crown were lit, and the fires of rage began to burn once again through the crown's sentience. Only a week later the crown (Still calling itself Yro) tricked an aarakocra named Croach into helping him kill again, this time eliminating the man named Brontalo who had painted the self portrait. Unfortunately for Yro, now that he had killed twice, his hunger for violence grew once again. The next head that would put him on would be the dwarf Thriskarn, and with his spark renewed, he would begin to go after everything that opposed him, namely anything having to do with water.

After destroying the churches of Istishia and Aegir (the latter in a blazing battle known as The Empyrosis of the Aegerian Temple), Yro would be knocked off the dwarf's head by Grindseed, and the eladrin Edna would quickly put the crown in a reinforced steel pot, where it stayed briefly...until its burning rage exceeded even the industrial pot's strength, and it burned a hole straight through the pot, table, and even ground, burrowing itself in lava until it hit a secret water table deep under Galik.

Finally Yro's rage would subside as heroes of the realm recovered the crown and handed it over to Midnight, who used the Smother Pendant she had been given to calm to flames.

The Hunt

Following Yro's containment, the crown was hunted by a number of parties. The Banites, who just narrowly failed to get the crown once before, publicized the crown's existence and appearance in The Galik Gazette, causing a mass hunt for the crown from anyone seeking glory, power, or wealth. One group that came especially close to the crown was The Escapals. The crown was nearly stolen in an attack known as The AFEW Ambush, but the scattered remnants of the crown's protectors fled east, eventually finding a Grumbaran temple in southeast Amusa, where they used the crown against the Staff of the Marsh.

The Smothering Pendant

The Smothering Pendant was an ornate, red, and vaguely diamond shaped pendant that hung around the neck of Midnight after Kossuth himself gave it to her in a holy vision. The pendant was said to partner with the crown, soothing the soul inside and keeping it from going apocalyptic. When AFEW helped Midnight get to the Crown, it was immediately recognized that the pendants designed matched the metal-laced pattern on the crown, and that the pendant could be inserted directly into it.

When Midnight took both the pendant and the crown together, it soothed Yro inside, allowing the team to finally hold the crown without it instantly melting their skulls or taking control of their lives. From that point on, the pendant could be taken from Midnight, and anyone could wield it. Grindseed was one notable hero who was burdened by wearing the crown and pendant together.