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Lore · Planes & Wars of the Gods

The Plane of War & the Zek Brothers

Above the Field of Blood stands a fortress built to the scale of gods. Rallos Zek plans his wars there, and two former mortals run them.

Original fantasy illustration for The Plane of War & the Zek Brothers

Drunder, Fortress of Zek

Drunder, also called the Plane of Tactics, is a vast stone stronghold towering over the Field of Blood in the Plane of War. Tallon and Vallon each have a tower of war chambers. Below are an arena, cave pens of war boars bred for bloodlust, barracks, a dining hall that Rallos and his generals regard as an inconvenient necessity, an armory, and the magical war forge where the army’s weapons and armor are made.

Upstairs is the War Room of Zek, where every plan is played out before the Warlord, with balconies looking down on the arena.

Sources: Allakhazam: Drunder · EverQuest.com: The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 15

Tallon and Vallon

Tallon Zek, the Beholder of Battle, is a tall, older, wise-looking orc-like figure in steel plate with no helm, carrying a famed obsidian war bow. Vallon Zek, the Governor of War, is a muscular, regal general in blackened chain under an emerald and black cloak, with a silver saber he is said to wave while explaining tactics. Each is called the other’s alter ego.

They were mortal war heroes once. They led Rallos Zek’s second invasion of the Plane of Earth, and when the gods’ curse came for them, the Warlord pulled them into his plane and gave them the essence of war he had torn from his own son.

Sources: Allakhazam: Tallon Zek · Allakhazam: Vallon Zek · Library of Erudin: Tallon Zek · EverQuest.com: Seeds of Destruction, Unfolding the Lore Part 5 (2008)

The Diaku

Drunder’s upper halls are held by the Diaku, the elite of the Warlord’s army, in three groups: the Gindan archers under Tallon, the Hendin assassins under Vallon, and the Decorus under Rallos Zek himself, great-axe warriors described as the most brutal and deadly that existence has known.

The official Planes of Power lore includes a scene of Rallos Zek brooding over war maps, lifting a messenger by the throat over late weapons, smashing the map table with his flaming axe, and then leaping from his balcony into the arena to cut through everything that moved.

Sources: Allakhazam: Drunder · EverQuest.com: The Fabled Planes of Power Lore, Part 15

The zone that wasn’t

Players know one more story about this plane. Allakhazam records that the Plane of War was built for Planes of Power but scrapped before launch, reportedly because its intended war mechanics could not be finished in time. The files sat in the game for years. It was finally completed and became end-game group content in The Darkened Sea.

Sources: Allakhazam: Plane of War

Where the sources disagree

  • Some fan lists call Tallon and Vallon Rallos Zek’s sons; the official 2008 article calls them mortal war heroes he saved and empowered. Eriak is the son.

Keep reading

Retold in our own words from the sources linked under each chapter; short quotes are marked and sourced. The illustration is an original AI-generated painting made for this page alone, not from the game.

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