At the time of the Empire’s founding, there were many gods and spirits worshipped instead of or alongside gods like Ulric, or Taal and Rhya. Some of these cults were subsumed into those of more powerful gods, others were suppressed by zealots of other faiths, and some simply faded into obscurity. One of these ancient gods, Ahalt the Drinker, was a spirit of the hunt and fertility who hid himself away with just a few worshippers to sustain him rather than submit to the authority of Taal and Rhya. In the early years, priests of Taal and Rhya, who were determined to unify the faiths, hunted Ahalt’s worshippers. Eventually even the most zealous of these priests gave up the hunt, convinced that Ahalt’s worshippers were no more. For over a millennium Ahalt the Drinker concealed himself, until th