Perhaps Bor strode across the void and struck a lifeless
rock, making it live. Perhaps the Earth
Mother arose from nothing and brought forth life and the living, who can
say? Perhaps it is both and neither. But life did come to Caedes. In the early days there were the elves in
the forest, the serpent-men in the deserts, the lizard-men in the swamps, the
goblins in the hills, the Ur-trullen in the mountains and the humans in the
valleys. All of them killed animals for
food, huddled in caves and were ignorant and afraid. Yet, the elves slowly awoke to the nature of the world around
them, their long-lives gave them time to think, time to learn. They built an arboreal civilization, learned
to trade, to read to sing. The
serpent-men found they had an in-born talent for sorcery and used that talent
to build a great civilization. As
these two races disturbed the primeval order, Bor was looking away to the other
worlds where he was lord and master and noticed it not for none called upon
him. The Earth Mother laughed, as she
always does and spun the wheel.
The Serpent men grew powerful and terrible in their
power. They slaughtered and
enslaved. The lizard men and goblins
were completely enslaved and the humans and Ur-trullen driven to the far
corners. The elves fought against them
but were few and weak. No one called on
Bor for they had forgotten. The Serpent
men called, however, but they called beyond the veil of the world to the
deepest pits and the four abominations answered and gave them great power. They let lose the plague of undeath, sent
evil dragons to be godlings among the serpent folk and taught them greater
magic in exchange for blood and misery spread worldwide.
But the elves were patient
and wise they invented the art of wizardry to methodically counter-act the
inborn sorcery of the serpents. They
bargained with the Earth Mother and trained the Druids to aid their cause against
the outsiders. And they struck against
the serpent folk and leveled some cities and drove them back into the deserts
and places far form the forests. The
elves founded great kingdoms and protected man, ur-trull and beast against the
raging of the serpents.
But one elf grew old and
grew proud. Prouder than he was wise,
mightier than he was proud Ambratax sought all the evil secrets of the serpent
folk and was deceived by the abominations.
He became a lich, a magician still, but a walking corpse just the same. He went mad and did horrors beyond
count. His clan, the Drastin, stood by
him blindly and defended him without question.
He took hordes of slaves and performed hideous experiments and wicked
necromancies on them, to create races of slaves. From men he made halflings and giants. He exterminated the Ur-trullen, creating from their bloodlines
the dwarves, gnomes, ogres and trolls.
He warped and crossbred many of creatures, making orcs from goblins and
elves, hobgoblins from goblins and men, bugbears from Ur-trullen and
goblins. And many, many more creatures
did he spawn, spread and ruin.
But men had dragged themselves from cave-dwelling
savagery to a barbaric level of agriculture, herding and metalworking. Three great kings: Harr, Ing and Gorm led several great northern tribes against the
remnants of the serpent-folk and exterminated them. Other men joined with clans of elves and assaulted the lich
lord. These two great conflicts rocked
the land from one end to the other, overthrowing the elf civilization
completely. The shattered elves
returned to the forests and banished the Drastin forever. They crawled beneath the earth and were
called Drow “the accursed” forever.
The races created by the lich wandered the earth and
grew. The dwarves and gnomes, least
tainted of the Ur-trullen stock, built their own small civilizations. But, men fought year after year with the
spawn of the abominations until at last the people learned again of Bor and he
sent to them the five prophets, one by one, to guide man to re-order the
world. And under the guidance of these
saints men defeated the chaos and built an empire, bringing the world a share
of peace and justice. But men grew vain
and forgetful and their greed martyred the last prophet and no more came. The empire fell and the abominations crept
back.
Another empire of dark magicians arose and using armies
of humanoids and foul necromancy nearly overcame all. But, 7 kings drew together and chose an emperor. They slew the magicians and broke their
realm. Their swords become the crown of
the emperor and it seems a balance returned to the lands. Evil still lurks and grows but the Law of
Bor is plain for all to hear and kingdoms stand ready to challenge the threat
of abomination.
Year of the World
0 Creation
of Thinking creatures
c3000 First
Elf and Serpent folk civilizations begin
c4000 Serpent
men begin great expansion
c4500 Serpents
call upon the Abominations
c4700 Undead
first appear
c5000 Dragons
first appear
c5500 Great
Serpent Empire reaches its height
c7500 The
War of the Elves and Serpents
c9000 Ambratax
unites elves in elf empire
c10000 Ambratax
becomes the Lich Lord
c10500 Lich
Lord spreads his creations across world
c11,000 Harr
begins final war against serpent men
c11,025 Elves
and Men overthrow Necromantic Empire of Lich Lord
c12,000 chaos of the devastating war
begins to abate
c12,200 Men
found the Empire of Dawn, guided by Prophets of Bor
c13000 Empire
of Dawn falls
c13200 Evil
magicians found Empire of Acherousia
c14000 Church of Bor begins to unite
civilized states
14532 Empire
of Seven Swords founded, begins crusade
14678 Crusade
destroys Acherousia, modern era begins
15,000 Beginning
of campaign (Imperial Year 468)