| The history of the known world can be categorised in to three basic phases; The First Age (also known as the Mythical or Old Age), The Second Age (also known as the Age of War) and the Third Age (also known as the New or Modern Age).
THE FIRST AGE This is largely a time of myths and legends, and the history of the Old Age is based on various ancient texts and beliefs. It is said that the True Old Gods created the pool of life from which sprang the first races. The pool is thought to remain in its present form as Lake Prima in Hastimine, while the first races were said to be trolls and elves. Many scholars now think that Lake Prima was once a powerful portal to other dimensions such as the older Trollworld, which would explain Assynia's strong associations and its slightly echoing history of Trollworld. Lake Prima has always been connected with weird happenings and strange sightings, and many believe that the portal is not entirely closed even today. In the First Age also, came dragons. Many of these were said to be ancient by the time they arrived, furthering the portal theory. Being ancient meant being of massive size, and one, Alkuine, was said to have a shadow that blocked the sun and froze the lands for two centuries. The land of this time was rich in a huge diversity of now extinct (or extremely rare) creatures and races. THE SECOND AGE War had been known before, but there is good reason for the Second Age being known as the Age of War. Humans appeared about this time, though in relatively small numbers, and the dwarves emerged for the first time from their mountain kingdoms. Elves were at their most powerful and ruled from the depths of the thick woodlands that covered much of the land. Dwarves and elves were the first to war on such a huge scale. This started a chain reaction of centuries long violence that saw racial hatred grow, and many strange alliances made and then broken just as quickly. Orcs (said to be genetically mutated elves created by a wizard from another dimension - his name in this world remains only as Lupus) aligned themselves with the trolls and for a while dwarf and elf fought side by side, but this was a short lived alliance. The Wizards War was the biggest catastrophe of the age. As magical ability became more prevalent, those who could wield it vied for power and land and unleashed sorcery such as the world has never seen. The wizards battled across the dimensions and huge numbers were killed or lost themselves in the matrix of worlds. The land changed much in this era, and many races died out or were driven into eternal hiding. The powerful Zonewatchers and their Overlords ended the war, though its tensions and rivalries echo through time still. Dragons seemed to disappear almost entirely. Dark elves appeared in Nang and fought long with the stone trolls there. Two major wizards appeared for the first time in this age, both famous today. The most famous was the Grand Mage Erdnan-Kest who made his prophecy about the end of the world, when a great evil would rise in the northern wastes and bring the Old Gods back to life. The other was Khal-Abarha, the founder of what is known today as the Wizards Guild, and compiler of The Arconomicon - the first book of spells. THE THIRD AGE With the world ravaged from centuries of war and the old races tired and in hiding, humans began their dominance and the great cities of Marsia prospered. Kingdoms rose and fell, and trade routes were opened. These included the main merchant sea route, starting at Akran (Mainport today), passing through the Nang Straight and following the coast south via Khazan, Phoron (and Gull), Khosht, Lort and finally Itae, home of the warrior priestesses. The Great Road was also made, again travelling between Akran and Itae, with Wizards Gate and Galmigur springing up along its way. Dark forces invaded from the Nang wastes (many believed, falsely, that this was the prophecy of Kest come true) and destroyed entire cities until they were pushed back thanks to a hasty alliance of humans, elves and dwarves. This alliance of the Good Kindreds, though sometimes tenuous, continues today, and there is a border post at Tesh to put a stop to further invasions. Sorcery is not as powerful as it was in the older ages, and this may be due to a restriction by the Zonewatchers as a result of the devastating Wizards War, though there are apparantly a handful of mages who can still summon the power of the ancient arts. |
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