Elders

1. REDIRECT Unlike other games of this type, Obsidius’ First Age does not include a creation account. Nor does this world include a pantheon of gods, goddesses, demons, etc. The mythological-scale conflicts of the First Age occur amongst the Elder races. No explanation is given as to how these races came to be, with the exception of the derivative Corrupted Elders.

The Elder races are separated into four distinct categories: Noble, Corrupted, Monstrous and Primal. In keeping with the early ideals of the Impworld game, each Elder sub-category was assigned a general alignment, spanning from Order to Change to Chaos.

## Types of Elders

**Primal Elders** consisted of Gnomes, creatures made of rock, earth and clay; the Imps for which Impworld was named; and Arboreals, or tree folk. Faeries and sprites are a sub-set of the Arboreal species. Gnomes were led by the devious Gnome King, arguably one of the largest of his species.

**Monstrous Elders** consisted of Giants, Balrogs and Dragons. Monstrous Elders are not only classed by alignment but by domain. Dragons ruled the skies and seas, and were thus called the Keepers of the Winds and Deeps. Giants were mostly terrestrial beings, cloud giants being a notable exception, and were dubbed the Keepers of Ice and Stone. Balrogs were called Keepers of the Flame and Shadow; these dread lords lived in the Lower or Nether World in vast subterranean caverns so enormous that they have their own weather. Fungus provides their world with food and artificial light. They fly over their domain, ruling the Nether World with an iron grip, but they also have designs on the Upper World. Balrogs are treacherous beings who desire only to dominate; they will only speak with other races in order to threaten or beguile them. Since they do not view other races equal, they do not consider any “agreements” with them binding. At the end of the Balrog Conflict, the Gates to the Netherworld were magically sealed and buried, but some suspect that there are still ways a balrog might make it to the surface.

**The Noble Elders** were comprised of Elves, Dwarves and Humans.

**The Corrupted Elders**, derived from magically corrupting Noble Elder stock, were ogres, trolls, goblyns and orcs. There is some dispute as to whether ogres or goblyns were derived from men, so bards have agreed that Corrupted Elders comprise four races rather than three, as is typical. Like their Balrog creators, all Corrupted Elders all fall into the Chaos alignment; however they do so by degrees. For example, it is said that orcs were corrupted from elves, trolls from dwarves and ogres from humans. Thus, ogres are fiercely chaotic, while orcs form well-ordered, albeit fascist regiments. There is some dispute as to whether ogres were corrupted from humans, as was traditionally thought, or whether goblyns were corrupted from humans. Evidence now suggests that ogres were corrupted from a lesser race of giants known as the Summa.

## Elder Alignments

* Primal
	1. Arboreal – Order
	2. Gnome – Change
	3. Imp – Chaos
* Monstrous
	1. Giant – Order
	2. Dragon – Change
	3. Balrog – Chaos
* Noble
	1. Elf – Order
	2. Dwarf – Change
	3. Human – Chaos
* Corrupted
	1. Orc – Chaotic Order
	2. Troll – Chaotic Change
	3. Goblyn – Changing Chaos
	4. Ogre – Chaotic Chaos