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History
Primal Age:
Four Primal Elemental lord come together to create the World of Arengor. By their will they endow the Arengor with a world spirit known as the Thiea. The elemental races known as the Jhan populated, until one Jhan named Chald was told that he was destined to be slain by his own child. Chald imprisoned each of children in a prison deep in the earth called the Oubliette, Until his fifth child was replaced with a stone and was then raised in secret. Shaose later freed his sibling and lead a rebellion against the Jhan, the winners named them selves gods and rebelled against the will of the Primal lords, exiling them from the world. The surviving Jhan were imprisoned in the Oubliette unless summoned to grant wishes.
Age of creation:
The gods created new creatures and races at their whim, civilizations rose, clashed and fell, gods fought gods laying waste to the world and bringing it near death. Finally the world spirit Thiea, rose in anger and shook the world with storm, flood and quake, demanding that the Gods place limits on their direct interventions.
Age of adventure:
New civilizations rose and met, often in violence, but also in trade. Explorers and generals pushed back the limits of the undiscovered world, and adventurers abounded. This is the epoch the players came from.
Age of Empire:
The world became evenly divided between the Falaren Confederacy, The Harngard Dictatorship, the Kentai Imperial Bureaucracy, and the Parn Republic. A political cold war brought out the trickster gods, while the bored war gods pushed for open conflict. This intrigue lead to open defiance to the limit placed on the gods by Thiea, and brought about the end of the world. Gods died, the lands were torn apart and the surviving worshippers of the gods were taken away to the heavens, leaving only the non-believers to die as the world shook and burned. The Jhan were freed from the Oubliette and moved to save the survivors who carried their blood.
The new world:
Small enclaves of Jhan blood descended survived and prospered, while a few remnants of other creatures and races revered to savagery and near extinction. The last druids gave up their humanity to bind their spirits to Thiea, becoming the templates for new races of humanoid animals. Each enclave worshipped their guardian Jhan, who stayed with them as their guardian, as new enclave were founded, the Jhan allowed a spark of their power to bud into a totem, who when worshiped became animate and gain in power as they aged.
When enclaves went to war, totem fought totem, the winner eating the spark of life from within the loser and becoming more powerful. To defend her people, Thiea granted beast totem to her tribes with that same ability to take power from defeated enemies. Renegade wizards soon learned to create totem beast of their own, and fought for power against enclave and each other.
Cultures of The Ancients:
These cultures may have had roots in the Age of Adventure, but they flourished in the Age of Empire. Players are unlikely to be familiar with them.
Falaren Confederacy:
A elven dominated collection of small kingdoms and forest dwelling tribes, their lack of infrastructure and nature preservation beliefs cause them to build a series of floating cities and skycraft supported by Aetherite hulls. A series of high towers also created links for a system of rapid transport wind tunnels, some of which still survive.
Harngard Dictatorship:
Tired of facing overwhelming odds due to the treachery and squabbling of their allies, the dwarves ended ages of isolation to simply overthrow all the nations in their reach in a brutally honest dictatorship. It proved to be a enduring and prosperous nation. The Harngard linked their stronghold with a series of steam driven vehicles which drove on tracked tunnels beneath the earth.
Kentai Imperial Bureaucracy:
A oriental culture which spread out to take over the mountain and plains barbarians which surrounded them. The Kentai created hidden paths in the ethereal plain, which could be reached by means of firegates.
Parn Republic:
A collection of isles and seaside nations banded together. The Parn used figureheads to enter the ethereal plain by fog or shadow to seek out the portals that would return them.The Parn system existed in conjunction and separate from the Kentai's.
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