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

The Zekarian

The Maps of Myrist describe the battlefield beneath Drunder as the Zekarian, split from east to west by the Wall of Rallos. East of the wall is the Field of Blood: rubble from an ancient lost city, a hill and a graveyard to the north. West is the Field of Strife, between the castles of Rulnavis and Tamrel, each held by one of the two Zeks, where the greatest fighters of the primal worlds train and fight to prove themselves. Rallos chooses the strongest of them to serve him at Drunder. Inside, Vallon and Tallon play an endless chess game to keep their strategy sharp.

Sources: Library of Erudin: The Plane of War (The Maps of Myrist — Plane of War)

Narikor, the Halls of Shame

Fighters who fall short are exiled by war wraiths to Narikor, the Halls of Shame. There they work as slaves, mining and processing the ore for Drunder’s great war forge, and dream of earning their way back to the battle above. Some do, by successfully revolting against their Diaku overseers.

Sources: Library of Erudin: The Plane of War (The Maps of Myrist — Plane of War)

Gorynn and Woomp’s vision

In a 2006 developer post, Vhalen described Gorynn, the Champion of Zek. He belongs to a tall, four-armed humanoid race native to the plane, a former general who became champion of the grand arena and has beaten thousands of challengers. Rallos lets him build one arena on every world the god of war touches. The RPG’s Heroes of Norrath tells of the ogre shaman Woomp, who, as adventurers neared the Plane of War, saw a vision of an uncursed, intelligent ogre army attacking Cazic-Thule’s temple before a green mist killed every soldier but him.

Sources: Library of Erudin: The Plane of War (Derris and Gorynn Orcs? — Vhalen 2006; Heroes of Norrath — Woomp)