History of Tasche

Since the gods first came to Tasche, two eras of the world have come and gone: The First Age: The Age of Gods, and The Second Age: The Age of Dragons. The events of the campaign now take place in The Third Age.

## First Age: The Age of Gods

Tasche -- and its first age -- began in a blink.

In that instant, six beings blinked into existence together on the blank slate that would become this realm. Together they created Tasche, her three moons -- Ruprecht, Ryszard, and Etta -- and her one sun. Satisfied with the beauty of their creation, they took the essential aspects of the world and split them up amongst themselves. Then, bored with their lonely existence, they created the mortal races to worship and serve them.

Millenia passed and the gods changed over time, learning from the mortals they had created to find and appreciate the beauty of the world they had created - but also to covet and seek great power in that world.

As they began to lust for power, they amassed armies and created weapons capable of killing the gods themselves: The Artifacts of Tasche. Inevitably, conflict broke out and the Divine War was waged. Many mortals perished as the gods chose to avoid entering the conflict directly -- for fear of the destruction the Artifacts could wreak.

Of course, their stalemate could not be maintained. When two gods finally took the field of battle against one another, it was only the intervention of the rest of the Pantheon, at the very last moment, that avoided a catastrophic disaster.

Recognizing how close they had come to destroying their world (and themselves), the Pantheon resolved to leave. Together they created The Divine Realm and left their creations (including the Artifacts) behind.

In their stead, the Pantheon created the Dragons. Each god created a Dragonflight to help protect the Mortal Realm they were leaving behind. At the head of each dragonflight was a Dragon Aspect -- immensely more powerful than its dragonkin (but not nearly as powerful as a god), the Aspect led their dragonflight and guarded an essential aspect of Tasche in the place of the creator. Thus ended the Age of Gods and began Tasche's second age: the Age of Dragons.

## Second Age: The Age of Dragons

For a time, this worked as was planned and there was an extended peace in Tasche.

But while life bordered on the idyllic in the Mortal Realm, anger and resentment festered in the Divine. Without warning, Hrodus (the god of earth) disappeared from the Divine Realm. At the same time, his Red Dragonflight vanished from the Mortal Realm.

There was no explanation.

What had been, since time immemorial, a stalemate of balance amongst the Pantheon suddenly threatened to plunge Tasche back into chaos. But a sudden defection saved create as a new stalemate was created to maintain the balance (if not the peace).

Meanwhile, in the Mortal Realm, the disappearance of the Aspect of Earth had a catastrophic impact on the physical world. The earth itself rose and fell, shifting mountains and seas, and killing millions. The Cataclysm had numerous effects beyond the physical changes as well:

* Many technologically advanced civilizations were completely wiped out, while others lost major knowledge and wealth

* The Artifacts were lost

* New civilizations and dynasties rose from the ashes of those that came before them

* The dragonflights, believing they had failed Tasche, mortals, and the Pantheon, retreated from their control over the world. As they left, their power seemed to weaken and the power of mortals -- especially the young race of men -- began to grow.

Thus, the Cataclysm ended the Age of Dragons and began Tasche's Third Age.