Setting

Open for Adventure uses the 4th Edition background information, deities, and general history. Despite the fact that we play 5e, the DM appreciated how setting is intentionally incomplete, allowing the gaps to be filled by imported or homebrewed content.

## Dawn War Background

In the beginning of the cosmos, the primordials emerged from the Elemental Chaos below and the gods emerged from the Astral Sea above. The primordials, creatures of creation and destruction and beings of raw elemental power, created the mortal world and, as a side-effect, its echoes in the form of the Feywild and the Shadowfell. The gods got interested in this creation and begun to shape some of it after their own natures, instilling it with a property of permanence that was utterly antithetical to the chaotic primordials. The primordials wanted to destroy the world to start over with a new creation. The gods, now invested in the world and the lifeforms they had created from it, opposed this. This opposition and certain events led to the cosmos greatest conflict, an event named the Dawn War, where primordials, gods and their servants clashed. In the end, the gods won, and most of the primordials were slain or imprisoned. The primal spirits, an expression of the worlds features in form of spiritual energy, then declared that neither primordial nor god should interfere directly in the worlds affairs because of the danger the power of both posed to the mortal world, and enacted the "primal ban", a property that makes the worlds collective primal energy resist entry into the world by the cosmos most powerful beings. The gods then had no choice but to try to influence the world indirectly through their believers and servants. Great weapons and monsters created during the Dawn War still remains, scattered throughout the planes, and are the center of many a plot.

## Open for Adventure Additional History

Before the Dawn War, the realm existed as a massive plot of rich, fertile land. This Pangeantal continent is referred to by scholars as **Amora**. The Dawn War saw massive destruction and displacement of land. In order to protect the Elves from as much of the war as possible, it is said that **Corellon** himself tore apart the southeastern most part of the world and designated it as a safe place for his creation, creating **Easthaven**. The blow that took down the great dragon god **Io** also broke off a piece of the southeastern continent known now as **Dragonshire**. This is the birthplace of both **Bahamut** and **Tiamat**. The rest of the continents' origins are unknown aside from that they were byproducts of the greatest war known to the world.

After the Dawn War ended, the vacuum for power took ahold of the scattering realm. The Dragons and Giants fought for this power. The **Cult of the Dragon** claims that **Tiamat** was given dominion over the Prime Material Plane, but most scholars easily refute this large claim. The accepted theory is that she and her brother were given the task of creating order in the realm and reigning in their powerful dragons from destroying what was left of mortal creations, but **Tiamat** became greedy and decided that only she and her chromatic dragons were fit to rule, and together the remaining 'good aligned' deities imprisoned her in the first layer of the **Nine Hells.** From then on, the souls of every chromatic dragon would suffer there as well, no matter their actions in their long lives. **Bahamut** ordered his metallic dragons to aid in keeping their chromatic counterparts from destroying the lives of innocents, commanding them to remain in **Dragonshire** in their own society.

The remaining war between the giants and the dragons faded into a stalemate, both sides having taken heavy losses. From the ashes rose the humanoid races, flourishing and exploring this new world they had won by the blood of their ancestors. This time of peace is called the **Golden Era**, and where many great bardic tales of adventure and heroism take place. This is also a time of great exploration into arcane magic, and many amazing and horrible artifacts were created in this age of freedom.

King **Quan Mal Macierre** ruled over Westbourne, a highly-religious continent composed primarily of humans. His crown was recognized as a symbol of leadership all throughout the world, and it was his decision to re-enter the now supposedly uninhabited lands of Senmarria, the center continent, and claim it as his own. He did so, founding many great cities along the way. The first of such accepts his name as its own: **Quan Mal** is a desert town that many mercenaries get their start in. The center of the giant city boasts the largest temple to **Kord** in all of the realm. His final destination was **Zandaria**, named after his beloved wife, the Queen.

The next generation saw great expansion across the vast continent. Elves in the south and Dwarves in the North began freely trading with settlers. Small Halfling and Gnome villages were discovered and grew as well. This time of prosperity marks the very end fo the Golden Era.

King Orelious Macierre, grandson of Quan Mal, in an effort to unify all of the 'great kingdoms' of the realm, began a campaign to bring all of the realm under one rule, an empire. This war became known as the War of Crowns. The resulting conflict was known as the bloodiest war since the Dawn War, but eventually resulted in exactly what King Orelious desired. He became known as **Emperor Orelious the Bold, King of Zandaria and Lord Protector of the Realm**.

After the war, many of the former kingdoms struggled to assimilate to their new ruler. A few small rebellions broke out, mainly in Wolfecrest, but each were quashed by the Empire before they could even turn into a flame.