Backstory & Lore

**Chapter 1: The Birth of the Beast**

The story begins in a town whose original name is lost to time, but we all now know it as (old) Karth. It was there that the wizard Cagrus lived. Cagrus was very wise and powerful and many within the town often came to him for help or advice. Little did the townspeople know, Cagrus was holding back the threat of a demon invasion by keeping a portal to Arglazia closed. Arglazia was a word which meant "The Dark Realm" in the old tongue and it was the home of the shadow demons, similar to the Nether and it's fire demons. Cagrus eventually resolved to attempt to destroy the portal for good, but was tricked by the demons and was corrupted into a hideous form. The wizard continued to battle against the demons regardless, but eventually lost his humanity in his search for greater magical power to use against them. Cagrus became what people once referred to as The Demon Beast of Arglazia, but most now only know parts of the legend and believe that the creature itself was named Arglazia. Cagrus' son was known as General Dusty; a nickname from his military past. Dusty was Karth's mayor and his own son, Isaac, was a famed swordsman and adventurer. As the town came under siege from Arglazia, Isaac found a sword in Cagrus' old study that, unbeknownst to him, Cagrus had created as a fail-safe. Isaac valiantly battled the beast using the sword and found to his shock that one strike from the sword caused the very sky to swallow the beast. The sword, named by Isaac as "Skybleeder", has since been lost. The power contained in the blade banished Arglazia to a seperate dimension, which contained naught but void.

**Chapter 2: A King is Crowned**

Several hundred years later, a young man named Venion and his travelling companions, Tekrano and the great, great grandfather of Kenneth, the current mayor of Woodport, arrived in the ruins of Karth. Tekrano was an archaeologist interested in ruins of magical significance and had invited Venion along as a guest. Time went on and Venion actually began to rebuild parts of Karth and founded it anew as a settlement. Tekrano and a small number of his men eventually uncovered a portal to the Nether realm and entered it, never to be heard from again. Quickly corrupted by the innate effects of the Nether, their descendants would later resurface as the Netherfolk and scholars note this event as the critical moment in their origins. Kenneth built Kenston, birthplace of the now legendary order of Kenston Knights, and supplied Karth with most of it's military might, as well as holding a very large library, where scholars worked tirelessly to uncover more of the land's old secrets. Venion did uncover something himself, however, and it would eventually prove to be his source of power and his eventual undoing. What he found looked like no more than a large horn, possibly severed from a large creature long ago. He was quite fond of it and placed it on the desk in his study. Late at night, however, he began to hear a strange voice calling out to him and he could swear he saw the horn glimmer with a faint light on more than one occasion. The horn was not from an animal, but from Arglazia itself; cut from it's body before it was banished. Over countless days and nights, Venion spoke with the beast, learning quite a skewed version of the history of Karth. Eventually they made a deal. Venion would be granted with great charisma, that people would follow him. Arglazia convinced him to take the gift of immortality too, which he did. In return, Arglazia would be provided with all of Venion's mana and a small gift of mana would be taken from anyone who supported him. The pact was sealed, and could only be undone in the event of either Arglazia or Venion's deaths. After this, Karth suddenly surged with new settlers and more towns sprung up all over the region. Venion was named the Lord of these lands and eventually people began to know him as King. Surrounding regions began to actually lose land to Venion's new region and soon the whole country of Colvatchia came under Venion's rule. Venion's powers of leadership saw him become High-King, with no bordering countries daring to attack his loyal and unified nation. Peace spread throughout the land and Colvatchia sat at the forefront of human industry...

**Chapter 3: The Fall of Colvatchia**

During what was seen as the height of High-King Venion's reign, strange things started happening all over the country. The undead horde, which had been successfully held back by the soldiers of Colvatchia, suddenly began to surge with a new aggression; shadowy figures were seen roaming the streets and many citizens within the royal capital of Karth began having frightful nightmares of destruction and slaughter. The horn of Arglazia, now mounted on the King's wall, illuminated and spoke to Venion for the first time in decades. It told Venion that it was ready to emerge, but that the pact must end and that Venion could live, but that his people must be sacrificed. The King knew he had been greedy in accepting the pact in the first place, but he had succeeded in creating a veritable utopia and his rulings had always been just and fair. Venion boldly told Arglazia that should he emerge, the pact would end, but it would be due to Arglazia's death. Ominous laughter erupted from the horn as it exploded in a cloud of dark magic energy. Over the next few days, Venion informed every city and hold throughout his Kingdom to take up arms, with a focus on defending Karth the most, and to prepare for war. The people waited, unsure of what was supposed to be coming, some even refused to take the rumours of war seriously and went about their day as before. Eventually, however, the beast did emerge. Arglazia brought with him an army of his own creation, which swept through the land destroying everything in sight. The most powerful of Arglazia's minions were his horrific giants, who smashed their way through the walls and fortresses of the land with ease. It soon became clear that this was not a fight that Colvatchia could win and so those that could escaped in a fleet of airships. Aboard the royal airship the King looked down at his country, being torn apart by shadowy beasts. He knew that the pact was not yet broken and that Arglazia might choose to pursue him wherever he went. Also aboard the airship was a man named Dominus who had been the founder of the famed Warriors Guild and was also the Captain of the Karth town guard. Ballicus II, the grandson of Lord Kenneth was also on board, with two of the last surviving Kenston Knights. The airships travelled far to the West, for many days and nights.

**Chapter 4: To Lands Unknown**

After some time, the airship passengers began to run out of food and so it came to a consensus that the Colvatchian survivors must land. Soon people began hunting animals for food and felling trees to build shelters. It was in front of a particularly large birch tree that Venion gave a rallying speech and lifted his followers' spirits by christening the land as Longbirch, promising them a bigger and better kingdom that could withstand any force *(later it was to be learned that the land had long been known as "Elunia", but when referring to the land in the Colvatchian tongue, even non-humans have adopted the new name)*. Though many Colvatchians took Venion's words to heart, some grew disillusioned and there were soon rumours of a new powerful group who promised a better kingdom devoid of Venion. This group would eventually be known simply as The Cult. After long-standing service to the crown, Captain Dominus was elevated to the seat of the King's Hand and The Cult shifted their focus on to having Dominus succeed the throne, soon adopting the name The Cult of Dominus. There were also reports that one of the Colvatchian airships did not carry humans and when all others had landed, it disappeared into the mists of the mountains. The Zianite leader Lightclaw has since confirmed that he and a few others had used this airship and seized the opportunity to desert their dark master in the commotion. The first race the Colvatchians actually had contact with, however, were the Nefaryn. Initially there was some hostility, but Venion urged his people to make peace with any they met. Venion's mystical charisma did not work so well on non-humans and so he made alliances by sitting down with the leaders of other races and bartering and offering whatever he could. Tensions soon gave way to trade and peace flourished. Aquirioth did seem to be uninterested at first, but as soon as it surfaced that an elder shadow demon was chasing the humans, the lizardfolk were overjoyed at the promise of a grand new hunt. Soon most races came to accept the Colvatchians, though very few considered themselves as part of the Kingdom of Longbirch, they were happy for the trade and industry that the humans brought in their wake. Contact with the Zianites still often ended in hostility, however, with deep mistrust on either side. The wounds inflicted by the Zianites' master were still too fresh in the humans minds.

**Chapter 5: The Beast Returns**

A few years passed and, for the most part, peace was prospering. Though the tragedies of the past weighed heavily on the king's mind and it was not long before his worst fears were confirmed. Darkness once more fell over the land and from a giant rift in the ocean emerged Arglazia, assuming an even larger and more horrifying form than before. Many other smaller rifts opened throughout Longbirch and a host of shadowy creatures came spilling out in droves. The Colvatchians thought themselves doomed and made ready to make their final stand in their small town of Woodport. The beast steadily made it's way through the ocean towards the port as the humans battled the dark army that came with it. All of a sudden, hundreds of Aquirioth emerged from the depths, pulling the dark creatures under the water in a surprisingly co-ordinated assault. All across the land, the old races of Elunia rose up to challenge these new enemies. The Nefaryn rained down arrows from the tree tops, while Zianite mages purged the fiends from the caves and mountains with powerful magic. A tiny Lyonian camp miraculously held the creatures at bay while they sent word for a cavalcade to come in with support. Even the Netherfolk, whose fiery dimension was under no immediate threat, felt honour-bound to defend their allies and brought some of the last of their original moltenforged metal to the battle. After a long and grueling battle, which was so destructive it changed the very shape of the landscape, the beast was wounded and driven back in a last charge by Venion himself and his honour guard. A confrontation in which the king expected he would probably die. Dominus, the king's hand, celebrated on the Woodport rooftops with his squads of archers, most of which, even at this early stage, were secretly cult members. The conflict came to be known as the Great War, and was followed by a much welcome time of peace and miraculous harmony between all races.

**To be continued...**