History and Cosmology

## The Age of Creation

### The Ancients

In the beginning, the sun rose. Light touched Arch and time awoke. Oceans roared. Flowers bloomed. Eyes opened. Life arose. The Arch refers to the worlds, planes, and the magical Weave that flows between them all. The World Axis, the arrangement of the Arch, was built before the very gods and primordials.

The Ancient Primordials forged the world from the very elements of creation and the Ancient Gods filled it with life. The Ancient Primordials and the Ancient Gods (often referred to collectively as the Ancients) saw the world differently with the primordials wishing it to remain in constant chaos as a crucible of creation, being reforged for all time. The gods wished it to be filled with life to serve them and their purposes. This led to the Dawn War.

### The Archborn

The first children of light were the Archborn. Tall, muscular, and slender creatures with sleek features and pointed ears. Their skin color ranged from light blues to light greens to light browns. Their eyes were dark orbs speckled with light, resembling the night sky.

Some say that Archborn still exist somewhere within Prime. But we are their descendants. Elves, orcs, and all humans are children of the first Archborn. As the world grew in age, it became more divided. The tribes of Archborn now numbered in the thousands. Tribes discovered farming and founded the first towns and cities of the the world. But with the creation of borders came war. With war, glory.

#### Prime Heralds

As the Archborn advanced, one tribe was far ahead of the rest. These Archborn built magnificent cities and structures. Religion and philosophy took hold and great warriors rose in the name of their gods. They became known as the Prime Heralds. Legends still speak of what they built and what they were capable of.

### The Dawn War

The Ancients collided in battle that shook the heavens and reformed much of the world. Gods and primordials waged war across the Planes of Existence, from high in the Astral Sea to the very depths of the Elemental Chaos. The Upper Planes and the Lower Planes were torn apart from the trials of war. One great battle, tore at the very fabric of space, destroying an ancient device known as the Living Gate allowing the first incursion from the Far Realm. Pelor secretly sealed the remains of the gate deep within his palace but the damage had been done. The Far Realm had discovered the world. Some Gods thought rebuilding the Living Gate would end the connection to the Far Realm but Pelor disagreed.

### The Young Races

The battles waged on until finally, the gods emerged victorious. By this time, the alpha race known as the Archborn had become something else entirely. Recruiting by the gods during the war led to a heavy divide in beliefs, cultures, and rituals. The once proud race was almost gone and three major divisions remained; the elves, the orcs, and the humans.

During the war, the Ancient God Moradin called forth life from the very rock of the mountains and it later became the dwarves and gnomes of the world. In the wake of the Dawn War, thousands of dragons were spawned by the death of Io. They created the dragonborn to serve them. Some races were tainted by jealous gods. Lolth attracted elves and corrupted them. Asmodeus made a pact with humans that led to the turathi (tiefling). The Ancient Gods were dividing themselves much as the races in the world were.

## The Ancient Age

### Arkhosia

The empire known as Arkhosia was the largest empire in written history. Much of that history was lost due to a later conflict with the empire of Bael Turath. What is known is that the death of Io (the spawning of Bahamut & Tiamat), led to the birthing of thousands upon thousands of dragons across the mortal realm. Many of these dragons mastered their blood-lined dragonborn kin and began to build a great empire in honor of the dragon.

Architecture resembled the jagged edges yet firm foundations of dragonkind. Some locations radiated with Bahamut’s beauty and justice while others kept to the shadowy ways and devious plots of Tiamat. A truly great empire was rising from the ashes of the Dawn War. At its peak however, a devilish fiend was rising in the south…

### Bael Turath

It is well documented that leaders of Bael Turath swore pacts with devils to solidify their hold over the enormous territory. The devils took hold and ruled the empire through the newly birthed turathi. Bael Turath rose in power with such fantastic settlements as Vor Rukoth and Vor Kragal leading the way. This fast-rising empire soon ran into a big, winged problem. The Great War of Arkhosia & Bael Turath had begun.

Sometime near the end of the war, a turathi warlock made a powerful pact to ensure victory but something went awry.

## The Elder Age

### Horizon Walkers

The Court of Stars watched as one of the last dragon avatars, Kraldraeg-Tanulth traveled away after the Age of the Dragon. The Court sent five Horizon Walkers from the Feywild to deal with the dragon avatar in his new lands on the material plane of Prime. The Court had underestimated the power of the dragon avatar and four of the five Horizon Walkers were defeated in a series of bloody battles. Auravir Aramorn fled the final fight but did not have enough strength to return to the Feywild so he sought out one of the Pillars of Creation. The Pillars of Creation are magical fonts of power remaining after the creation of Prime. They appear across the world in different forms such as mystical lakes, giant whirlpools, and enormous trees that feed into the magic of the Weave.

Auravir discovered the Dream Tree, a Pillar of Creation protected and revered by moon elves that had found it hundreds of years earlier. With the help of these elves, the Horizon Walker was able to heal and return to the Feywild and answer for his actions in front of the Court of Stars. The Court forgave his actions since it was their underestimation that led to the failure. They commanded Auravir to return to Prime with a host of eladrin to begin a new civilization that could unite with the others to one day bring down Kraldraeg-Tanulth.

### War of the Fey

Shortly after settling in the Fold, Auravir and the people of K’ndara Thaen reached out to the legendary Kingdom of Alheim to form an alliance to defeat the dragon avatar. King Aticus Greythule responded with a cold and foreboding letter refusing an alliance with the treacherous Moon Elves.

> “Cold-blooded murderers and dark magicians like them will never see an alliance with the Kingdom of Men and Dwarves.”
>
>

In the coming years, the dragon avatar wreaked havoc upon the lands of K’ndara Thaen before being brought down by the Jericho Blade wielded by Jericho Redynvar, a man. The Moon Elves and Eladrin loathed the Kingdom of Alheim for standing by idly while they suffered. The War of the Fey was the culmination of tensions between K’ndara Thaen and Alheim and began when the Court of Stars sent an invasion force from the Feywild to assist their brothers and sisters in Prime. The Fey Gate was secretly constructed in Alheim, allowing these forces to surprise the enemy.

#### The Star Conclave

A secret council within the Court of Stars known as the Star Conclave was behind the war effort. It was the invasion force that triggered the war. The Horizon Walker Auravir soon found out about the Conclave and travelled thru the Fey Gate alongside Jericho of Alheim. With the help of the Jericho Blade, he used his full power to bring down three of the four mysterious members of the council but one slipped thru the Gate after being badly injured. The two urged the Court of Stars to pull back fey forces and they agreed. The war ended after years of bloodshed.

The Last of the Star Conclave disassembled the Gate, thinking he trapped the heroes in the Feywild. Little did he know, the Horizon Walker Auravir didn’t need it. He returned with Jericho and struck an alliance between K’ndara Thaen and the Kingdom of Alheim, known as the Heroic.

### Rise of the Dragonborn

During the coming years, the grand Arkhosian Empire fell and a contingency calling themselves the Empire of Az’Rul came to the Fold, looking to conquer and root a new Dragonborn Empire. They came from the south and enslaved the gnomes of Aldesta. They founded their capital city of Alzahn in the West. They fought a war on two fronts against the Heroic but ultimately failed when they entered the unclaimed territory known as the Erelhei Dominions. Thousands of drow raiding parties decimated the Az’Rulean forces, allowing the Heroic to deal the final blow. The gnomes returned to Aldesta.

### War of the Orc

Years later, the Frost came and with it, the Orcs. By the thousands, they came. War ravaged for nearly a decade when finally Jericho and Auravir defeated Thanzule the Unshaken, leader of the major Orc civilization.

Thanzule’s lieutenant Zahrthak fled. He wandered for years before stumbling across a strange artifact. It led him to a temple underground that was lost to time. Here he struck a pact with an ancient demon (Yeenoghu). A terrifying force grew under Zahrthak’s command made up of orcs and gnolls and became known throughout the Fold as The Wild. Zahrthak did not know that the Ruler of Ruin was using him as a means to conquer the world as his forces grew to bring down empires of man.

Gruumsh despised the orcs in the Wild and set out to punish them, rewarding orcs that would do so. In time, the Wild lost most of its orc contingency. Some still remain, thinking that Gruumsh abandoned them in the War of the Orc. The Wild struck alliances with powerful dragons, bringing kobolds and dragonborn into their ranks.

### Dawn of the Everwar

The Last of the Star Conclave had been hiding with the remnants of the Fey Gate. Some say he was driven mad when he found out that Auravir made it back to the Fold from the Feywild. Others say he went mad during his isolation. He lived in a ruined stone keep in the mountains, far from civilization. He studied the remnants of the Fey Gate, determined to use it again. Some of his notes were found in the ruined keep, along with drawings etched into the stone of an eye and references to “the Elder”. Shortly after this discovery, a young courtier in Risencrest rose to power after the disappearance of King Theranzi. He quickly struck a pact with the Wild and declared war on the Heroic. The Wild and the Rising Lands quickly decimated much of the Heroic with a power not seen before. Four years into the war, with the help of the Court of Stars, Auravir was able to out the new leader of the Rising Lands as the demon lord Graz’zt. Somewhere in the heart of the Fold, the Fey Gate was rebuilt into something monstrous. It pulled forth demonic beings and an aspect of a long forgotten deity. Jericho destroyed the Gate and slaughtered the Last of the Star Conclave but at the same time, Graz’zt had bested Auravir. Jericho was able to weaken the demon lord and send him back to the Abyss but knew he would not survive a fight with the Forgotten Aspect. He hid the Jericho Blade so that it would not fall into the hands of evil and then fell in battle to the Aspect. The Rising Lands rallied and joined the Heroic along with the gnomes of Aldesta and together they pushed back the Wild and nearly ended the war. Graz’zt told Jericho:

> “You are too late. This is the Dawn of the Everwar. There is no end.”
>
>

The Aspect of the Long Forgotten God reached the Dream Tree near the end of the war. Ydoril, the moon elf warrior of legend was able to surprise him there. Ydoril led a group of moon elves in a protective ritual at the Dream Tree. The power of the tree all but destroyed the Aspect but not before his evil influence had tainted the blood of Ydoril. The moon elf warrior descended into madness and took his closest followers when he was banished from his homeland. His descendants and those of his followers are called the Fallen Elves or the Elves of the Fall. These creatures still inhabit Amystere and the Forgotten Lands.

## The Common Age

### Nerathi Empire

In the wake of the Great Wars, the dragonborn and turathi were decimated. Once-great races of power and nobility were strewn across the lands, desolate and poor.

Dragonborn were pitied. The great and powerful race was now in shambles and scattered throughout the lands, left far from a crumbled homeland by the travels of war.

Turathi were scorned and hated. Rumors and enemies grew. “He who deals with devils deserves this fate.” The devil-pact humans were forced to leave their ruined homeland and move on with their lives, knowing that their greatest days were behind them.

The world was thrust into darkness as the magic from both sides of the war distorted not only reality, but the very dreams of mortals in the world. Much was forgotten as darkness set in. Evil lurked in the shadows and chaos should have ensued. But a point of light shone in the distance. A light in the west pointed towards a new hope, a new future…for man.

In the wake of the destruction of the Great Wars, the human race began to rise in power. Nomadic tribes had began to settle in cities during the Great Wars and it was these growing cities that were left in the west after the destruction of the ancient empires. Shortly after the war had settled, a 15 year old named Magroth gained power as a strong leader and founded the imperial capital. Scrolls speak of his brave acts including his victory over Ayunken-vanzen, the ancient gold dragon whose lair was beneath the land Magroth desired for his capital. After his victory, he lit the Flame Imperishable in the imperial capital and began his decades-long marches of expansion that would conquer most of the known world.

#### Ruler of Ruin

The empire met its finish beneath the rending claws of a seemingly endless horde of gnolls and demons led by the mysterious “Ruler of Ruin.” With the central government destroyed, provincial kings banded together to defend what remained of the empire. One of them, the just King Elidyr, took up the imperial crown and rallied a valiant defense of Nerath, but it was not enough. When Elidyr was slain, the remaining lords of the empire—fragmented, fearful, and desperate—fell upon one another for survival. Commerce ground to a halt. Famine spread. Hope withered, and the Flame Imperishable became a funeral pyre for the world’s greatest empire.

#### Harpam Halandor

The flame extinguished, the hope of man gone. The shadow swept across the land. Nightfall for all mankind. Yet the morning came. The sun rose over Isle Dragor, pushing back the darkness. Halandor’s Courage, like the morning sun, pushed back the eternal darkness that we may have peace. And now the world sits broken. A sword has been shattered but thanks to Halandor’s Courage, not destroyed. Let him rise above the rest, as he passes to eternity.

Harpam Halandor, a man from Isle Dragor, would be the one to wield Halandor’s Courage, a famed greatsword. He led a small force directly into the heart of the Ruler of Ruin’s forces. No one knows how he did it but Halandor struck down the Ruler of Ruin, ending the incursion of gnolls into the world.

### Starfire Calamity

Two hundred years after the fall of the Nerathi Empire, a threat was rising. A being known as Starfire was building a magical device known as the Gaze. It would rival the power of the gods. A prophecy led a group that would become the God’s Chosen on a mission to stop him.

After the Starfire Calamity, there was a great Shattering of the Arch. Planes were ripped from reality and thrown into the nothingness of space-time. The World Axis was no more. The gods were helpless to save it – the end was here. Yet, something happened. The Arch rearranged itself. The cosmology warped and changed until the Great Wheel was born. However, the Weave, once guided by divine magic, was now free…and dangerous. Practitioners of magic saw the new raw power of it, and the inherent changes and danger it brought to any magic user.

### The Fallen Star

Deep in the Valley of the Gods, a crater shined white hot and debris across the fields glowed with a radiant light never seen before. The trees on the edge of the valley were seared and dying from the intense heat.

A streak of fire still lined the sky above, telling of the journey that star took on its fall to the world. To the west of the fallen star, the blazing light shined off of a thousand golden helms as the dwarves of Alheim marched proudly to claim the remains to make starsteel, one of the strongest materials known to mankind. To the east of the fallen star, the emerald and silver sparkled in the armor of the elves of K’ndara Thaen as they marched to claim the remains to make stardust, an ingredient used in alchemy, crafting, and spellcasting.

Upon meeting in the middle, they would strike no bargains. They would hold no talks. It was a battle and the last army standing would claim the prize. Over the burning and crackling of the crater and fire, one hear the unified clanging of plate mail from the dwarves’ perfectly-timed march. On the wind, one could hear the war chants of the elves.

Some tales tell that the Dwarves of Alheim arrived not only with an army, but with a Death Knight amongst their ranks. But the elves had more. A Gold Dragon countered a surprise attack by the dwarves and three legendary heroes defeated the Death Knight in glorious flame and battle.

The Fallen Star was claimed by the elves of K’ndara Thaen but tensions quickly grew between the kingdoms. Some say this battle started the events that led to the Great Silence ten years later. None know for sure…

### The Great Silencing

More than a decade after the Starfire Calamity, the gods went silent. Temples went days without prayers answered. Then weeks. Months. After a year of no word from the gods, the spiritual leaders made their claims. For the last 90 years, we have heard not a breath from the divine beings we once worshipped.

### The Prime Imperium

Kandalur had become known as the Shattered Kingdoms. Travel became dangerous, threatening trade and safety. The religious foundations of the world were in pieces. During the crumbling of these great kingdoms, the Kingdom of Alheim entered a golden age. Dwarves had returned to Hammerdawn, forging a powerful alliance with Hygahr.

The King of Alheim proclaimed that Kandalur would become one empire, under the rule a mysterious stranger he appointed the Emperor Prime. From one shore to the other, all would be the Prime Imperium. The little resistance he faced was easily handled. Though the grip of the empire does not yet reach everywhere, it's only the borderlands where major disputes still occur.

The Emperor Prime became the sole ruler of all in the Fold and he remains so today.