Age of Heroes

Age of Heroes

4779-877 years ago (0-3903 III)

Preceded by the Age of Dragons

Followed by the Age of Ingenuity

Founding of the Ibyth Goblin empire

Kolzamar and Kazolmor fall to a plague of undeath and are sealed. The survivors travel West and South, taking the Empyrean faith with them.

Humans from Quisir and Rassin establish a midway port on the Ibyth coast. They name the port Wingar. The port becomes a haven for pirates.

Events of the Elfslayer Campaign.

Second Moon War/Thessan Civil War/The Dankil War

The Northern Kingdom of Man is shattered by civil war. The rebel Nobles in the North struggle to overthrow house Halyron. As High King Thessan Halyron's forces and his Danasian allies are pushed to the South, a Danasian army travels around the great glacier and attacks the rebel stronghold in the North, sacking a dwarven stronghold and home of the Crûsgar clan. A branch of the Crûsgar clan furiously storm Danasian holdings in the South and after a long engagement the Crûsgar are triumphant, with Durtom Crûsgar defeating The Dan in single combat in what is now the city of Dan's Rest. Durtom renames his clan Dankil. The Danasians venerate strength in arms and many of them accept the rule of the Dankil clan. Without their allies, and with most of the elves still reeling from their losses in the Great Moon War, the rebel nobles hold house Halyron in an extended siege of the city of Redguard. During this time they work at transforming the country into the ironically named Thessan Federation lead by the Council of Six and the young sorcerer Aragoth Hellslay.

The Dark Elves return using Vasharan binding magic to conjure an avatar of Lyttan to conquer the surface world. The Elflord Solonar is killed in combat with Valotha and Lyttan. Solonar's high priest Austuril Liadon, Grand Duke Aragoth Hellslay and the son of Shogun Durtom Dankil, Dirk Dankil defeat Valotha and Avatar of Lyttan. Liadon developed a cult following, taking up the mantle of his slain lord, and is worshiped by elves as the Lord of Retribution. Dirk likewise developed a devoted following of Dwarves and is venerated as Dirk the Berserk. Hellslay, a devout Empyrean, objects to his companions heretical cults and a rift grows between them. The Titans grant him an Elven lifespan as thanks for his service to the Empyrean Church. He returns to fully unite the Thessan Federation and rule as the First Grand Duke, finally ending the Thessan Civil War after nearly a century.

One of Aragoth Hellslay's experiments with dimensional portals goes awry and permanent portals to Cania are opened in the North. The corrupting cold of the silent realms drives the human population South. Devils agree to not cross through the portals in exchange for resources and aid in the fight against the Abyss. Hellslay agrees wholeheartedly and countless soldiers and supplies are sent to aid in the Blood War.

Liadon and Dirk continue to hunt for remnant drow cultists and artifacts related to Valotha. Their holy crusade is considered a genocide by some.

Events of the Unmourned Campaign

The fledgling human communities on the coast of Ibyth band together and a small nation begins to coalesce around the Fort Findle and Port Wingar. The city-states of Findle and Wingar are officially established.

## Cultures

### Dwarves

The plight of the Dwarves has become desperate. Their fortresses, built to withstand constant attacks from dragons have turned into elaborate tombs. Few of the Dwarven strongholds remain and those that do have another foe. A terrible plague, called the necrosange, swept through the deep roads of the dwarves, turning their kin into ghasts. Few of the Mountain strongholds survived, with nearly all surviving Mountain Dwarf strongholds being Crûsgar clan. Some other clans were permanently separated from their kin through various misfortunes.

Barundar Clan - The survivors do anything they can to escape the plague, some even leave the safety of the underground, fleeing into goblin-kin lands to the south. These refugees would not be given safe passage by the goblin-kin however, and the entire Barundar clan was enslaved by the newly founded Ibyth Empire. These dwarves would eventually become the Hill Dwarves.

Duergar Clan - This clan found themselves trapped by the undead and chose to dig deeper and deeper, until they broke into the realm of the worldcavern. Only slightly less dangerous than facing the undead head on, the world cavern and the exotic dweomar energies therein transformed and hardened these dwarves. Those that overcame the assault to their mental fortitude became the dour deep dwarves, those that were broken by the psionic resonance of the caverns became the mad Derro.

Hulyar Clan - The mountain dwarf strongholds a the far East of the deep roads reacted to news of the plague of undeath in the West by destroying the roads, purposefully isolating themselves from their kin. Generations apart from their kin in isolation and born of the unique features of the island of Valskar transformed them into the Frost Dwarves.

### Elves

Elves are more numerous in this age. Warfare between the Elven nations punctuated the age. The Second Moon War brought an end to the Silver Elves and the Last Moon War brought the new Dark Elves into view.

Copper Elves - The Aira'Ældon (Our family who follow the tree's light), also known as Copper elves are the most populous of the elven races in Ord. They played little role in the Second Moon War, often fighting alongside their Gold Elf kin against the Dark Elves. They lived most of the age in their small druidic communities, changing very little.

Gold Elves - The Malda'Ældon (Our family who follow the golden light) are a culture of elves in the northern coasts of the Silver Reach and the island of Goldenglade. The relations between Thessan and Goldenglade are strong, although interactions are reletively rare. Elves are content to let the ages pass and rarely keep up with human politics, fashion, or technology. Many of the former Silver Elves, now Drow'Shayr engage in open warfare with their former kin. Gold Elves are the primary target and the hatred between Gold Elves and Dark Elves is inescapable. Despite the victories of the united armies of the Elves, the Drow numbers seem endless, and their homeland remains unknown. The Gold Elves manage to weather several assaults by the Drow and even bring in the men of Thessan as allies against them. The Last Moon War pits the unified Elven people and the men of Thessan against the Dark Elves and their Ibyth Goblin-kin allies.

Dark Elves - The Drow'Shayri (born of venom, without kin) The former Silver Elves, having discovered the endless passages of the World Cavern, rededicate themselves to destroying their surface counterparts. Through their own dark deeds, a side effect of the Shay'ri curse, and the dweomar energies of the world cavern, the Drow have changed dramatically. Their skin is now a dark obsidian colour, their eyes burn red with hatred and they lack the full extent of elven traits. They are shorter of stature and do not live as long as their surface counterparts. Throughout this age, they strike out at their surface kin. At first they ally with the Vashar to bind a titan to their will, but are defeated by a union of Elves, Men, and Dwarves in the Second Moon War. Routed by the Great Alliance, they reached out to other allies to form their own coalition. The Ibyth Empire aligned with them and the Drow brought fourth the Demon Lord Horcos Karun to bolster their united forces. The Second Moon War nearly spelt the end for all parties. The island of Goldenglade and for the Ibyth Empire would take centuries to recover, and the Drow demi-goddess Valotha was finally slain, releasing the drow from her domination. The Drow largely withdrew from the surface, hounded by the Alliance and Liadon's hunters.

Grey Elves - The Mith'Ældon (Our family who follow the stone's light) were also known as grey, mountain or stone elves. They had grown in numbers since the founding of their city-state, having offered safe harbor for many Silver Elf families not subject to the Shay'ri curse. The Grey Elves remained largely neutral during the Second Moon War, but were forced into action when Valotha and her Drow sieged the city. Grey Elves marched from the mountains and cleared much of the Eastern lands of Drow and Goblin-kin. The Grey Elves of this age worshipped the Ancestor Stone and were well known metalsmiths in the region, taking over many of the ancient duties that the Dwarves held. To this end, they and the Dwarves were rarely friendly.

### Humans

The North Men -

The South Men -

The East Men -