In the final year of the reign of Emperor Lennox (Y.L. 42) the following question was posed to the Imperial court of the Capital City: If a priest cast Miracle and a wizard cast Wish at the same time, and each wished the other dead, which one would Nethys spare? Would he slay them both? Ignore them both? Would the god of magic turn them both into chickens?
It is said that the elven traitor Yeltil first posed the question to the court jester who then posed the question to amuse his emperor. Such an act of mischief is very in keeping with Yeltil's character. He was known to have been jealous of the power wielded by N'gorak the Archmage and Elipsus the Priest of Nethys. While all three had been instrumental in the defeat of the elven king, Seydar Moonkiller, the elven traitor Yeltil was the least trusted and esteemed of the three, both in terms of magical prowess and owing to the fact that if Yeltil could betray his own people, who was to say he might not one day betray the humans as well? In any event, the seed that the traitor planted bore fruit. At first the remark was met with universal laughter by all but Elipsus, who stated that 'Nethys would never turn his faithful one into a chicken.' N'gorak stopped laughing for a moment, then retorted, 'And which of us is the faithful one?' To which Elipsus then huffed and said that it 'ought to be obvious.' 'To be sure,' said N'gorak acerbically, 'Who better to represent the faith than one who filled my water jugs all day beneath the hot Illandrian sun.' Elipsus' cheeks colored and allowed as how perhaps N'gorak needed so much watering owing to his choice long flowing dresses and a ridiculous hat. N'gorak also colored and increasingly heated words were exchanged that are best not repeated here.
To the credit of the two mighty spell casters, their disagreement did not come to blows that day, but both resolved to a compete in a duel. Just as the jester had suggested, each would cast a single spell simultaneously, and Nethys would determine the winner by whichever spell prevailed. Legend has it that Mount Gaul was settled upon for a battleground owning to it's remote location and it's relative lack of local flora and fauna. Emperor Lennox protested, though he was waning in health at this time and most of the court deferred to the judgments of his son, Vladimir, the crown prince. Prince Vladimir stated that only good would come of the competition, which would answer the question of supremacy of divine or arcane magic once and for all and would rid them of the inferior spell caster. Prince Vladimir would soon become renown for favoring the advice of his Fool over all other councilors, despite the disastrous results of the spell duel.
The summer before the death of our beloved first emperor Lennox, the two spell casters gathered with a single witness atop Mount Gaul. The air was hot and the wind was still on the mountain, as if in anticipation of what was to come. The witness, a lackey of Yeltil's named Ilwe (no one much cared if an elf was injured or killed during the duel) explained the terms of the duel: Each would prepare their spell but for the final command word and signal Ilwe when ready. Ilwe would then raise his arm, and when it dropped, the two would unleash their spells -- Miracle for Elipsus, and Wish for N'gorak.
What precisely happened next is lost unto time, for none of the three could have survived the resulting blast that ripped apart the mountain top and rent lands asunder for hundreds of miles in every direction. The results were calamitous to say the least. The women of Ixonia emerged from the cataclysm unable to bear male children, and strange beasts from another time now walked their lands. All the residents of the White Plains were turned to various forms of undead. To the west and east of Mount Gaul, it's denizens were transformed into horrors and abominations, alive but deformed beyond all recognition, both sentient and beast alike. The resulting carnage became known as the Great Convulsion, and none dare attempt to reach the top of Mount Gaul since. It is rumored that the closer one approaches the site of the horrible conflict, the greater the chance of some mutation befalling the wanderer.
There are those who claim to have reached the peak of Mount Gaul and returned intact, but their accounts do not agree and are dismissed as boasting or quackery. Some say the wizard and priest are locked in an eternal duel atop the mountain, and neither will yield to the other. Some have said that death awaits atop the mountain, and that every kind of beast can be found lying at the summit, all dead. Some few claim to have found the final resting place of the three, a tomb that holds the remains of Ilwe, Elipsus and N'gorak. Such a one who boasts of these tales has yet to produce a jot of proof. Those who are sane do well to stay clear of the mountain and its deformed, cursed inhabitants.
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