[Written] The Ages

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

Early History and the Great Wars

-translation by Dessa McVain


The first race were known to themselves as the An’Dar, The People. They spread across the world and claimed it as their own. As a people they represented strong will and fierce beauty. Four things their race held dear. These were beauty, cunning, intelligence, and strength. After many generations their society stratified into two castes. The An’Dar and their servants the An’Dar’Vi.

Even today An’Dar ruins and sculpture litter the surface of Phantera, demonstrating the pervasive nature of their rule. Their structures have an alien beauty, a sense of loss and emptiness that no structure since has held. In places the strange metal ribs of these buildings still stretch skyward in great rectangles that have survived the death of their creators by millennia.

The literature and art we have been able to find of the An’Dar people was focused around power and politics. Each family seems to have striven for supremacy, battling all others in games of intrigue and wit to rise ever higher in station. How the most powerful separated themselves from their underlings or how these games were even played remains a mystery to even the most talented of archivists and translators. It is known however that the An’Dar people possessed talents and artifacts whose power was beyond that of our comprehension.

In the end it was the infighting common to the An’Dar that brought about the war and tragedy which doomed their race to dissolution. They became so stratified that they treated all laborers as slaves. The An’Dar’Vi became the menial labor force of the people, and the An’Dar, thinking themselves vastly superior never dreamed that those they abused might someday rise to challenge their superiority. For generations they toiled under the domination of the An’Dar, unable to organize any resistance to the power of their superiors. Then from within their ranks a brave few emerged, recorded only among An’Dar records as ‘The Five Traitors’ who lead uprisings in five cities which soon spread to engulf the An’Dar nation.

The First Great War

This conflict was a civil war which raged in every city of the world. The stricken An’Dar were at first shocked, then roused to anger by the effrontery of their underlings. The strange part of this war was the unbelievable strength the An’Dar really did possess. Though outnumbered more than ten to one by their An’Dar’Vi laborforce, and even though both sides had control over vast powers of mind and body, the An’Dar were quickly able to turn the tide in this war. Block by block they swept through their cities, exterminating all who stood against them.

After centuries of oppression the An’Dar’Vi had rebelled against their noble overlords, but suffered a terrible and brutal defeat. Those who fled the vengeance of the An’Dar were cut-off from the great cities of the ancient world forever. The remaining families of An’Dar’Vi were pushed out into the wilderness of swamps and mountains that the An’Dar considered too worthless to claim.

The Coming of the An’Fa’Dar, the Av’Ian’Dar, and the Ga’Vin

Near this time an ancient race of travelers appeared from the ether, looking for new realms to make their own and reshape to their will. This proud and ancient race called themselves Fae, and the An’Dar knew them as the An’Fa’Dar; the unchanging people. For they never seemed to age, or die.

The Fae sought to reshape the world of the An’Dar to their will, but found that the will of the An’Dar matched their own, and were unable to reshape this world’s reality. Giving up their goal of conquest the two people’s lived together for a time. Some Fae also visited with the An’Dar’Vi in the mountains and swamps, but most found their company boorish.

During this time of inter-racial mingling the An’Dar and the Fae interbred and formed the off-shoot race that would later become Elves. These children were first frowned upon, then praised; for they held some of the greatest strengths of both races.

From the few conjunctions among An’Dar’Vi and Fae the first of the gnomes were born. These creatures were outcasts and put upon for a great time, living as shadows among other societies. They learned from these societies, but were unable to form a place of their own.

After many years of separation the An’Dar’Vi grew in numbers and in strength. They met with another race in the swamps and a third hidden high in the mountain tops. These races were the Ga’Vin (beast men) and the Av’Ian’Dar, the people of the sky. The Ga’Vin explained that they had once been An’Dar’Vi but were changed and strengthened by their travels and the knew resolve they had found. The Av’Ian’Dar had no explanation to offer for their sudden appearance in a world that the An’Dar’Vi thought they knew well. Av’Ian’Dar simply claimed to have always been present, merely ignored by the ground dwellers beneath them.

The Second Great War

The An’Dar’Vi forged alliances with these two peoples and a pact was made between them to concur the rest of the world and drive out the An’Dar and their Fae Allies.

At first the conquest went well and many of the An’Dar were killed in the initial surprise of the attack. However the An’Dar regrouped in small numbers to fight a defensive. Seeing that they had almost won the An’Dar’Vi pressed the attack, but they were betrayed by the Ga’Vin who struck from behind in the last moments of battle, seeking to take the possessions of both sides for their own. The Av’Ian’Dar fled the battle to preserve their own lives and left the An’Dar’Vi to face alone the might of the angered An’Dar. This betrayal routed the An’Dar’Vi and drove them deep into the mountains where they had long hidden. The An’Dar’Vi swore vengeance against those who had betrayed them and never forgot.

Once the An’Dar’Vi had quit the field the An’Dar were able to defeat the Ga’Vin quite quickly. The defeated races fled to their homelands and nursed their wounds for several centuries. The An’Dar would never recover from the grievous losses they received however, and in the end died a slow racial death. They were replaced by the Elven race who had stayed out of the war between their progenitors.

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

Age of Myth

According to Seerach, Elven Sage


During the age of myth the An’Dar’Vi delved ever deeper into their mountain fastness, gradually shrinking in stature, but growing ever stronger in their rage and hatred at being betrayed. When at last they emerged from the mountains again, they were no longer the An’Dar’Vi, having given up all traces of their former heritage. In the depths of the mountains they learned new secrets which left them as the Dwarves we know to this day.

The Gnomish people integrated slowly with both Elves and dwarves, trading between the two for no member of one would speak directly to another. It was some time during this period that the Fae migrated onward, silently and without warning.

As for the Elves, this was a time of growth and prosperity where many of the traditions and legends of the Elven people were formed. We learned law and justice, and the arts of poetry and debate first appeared in the literature of our people at this time. No longer did our race seek to copy texts out of the language of the forerunners. Instead we blossomed with creativity and delved the secrets of Phantera’s mysteries on our own terms.

It is important to realize when coming to know the nature of the Elves, and likely that of the Dwarves as well, that the trauma of our racial births have made us what we are. By knowing the legends we first created as people, you can see how we have become the races we are today.

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

Age of Ancients

The age of Ancients represents a time of knowledge and power far beyond that which is available to modern scholars. This was the golden age of the Elven and Dwarven nations. A time of powerful magic, and mighty weapons. A time of hero and legend. With the An’Dar and the Fae consigned to history no impediments remained to outshine the glory of the younger races.

Elven cities were famous across the vast world of Phantera for their beauty and magic. The buildings were grown from living plant and crystal matter. Each held soaring towers that seemed to touch the sky with grace, and shouted to all the world the power of the Elven nations. Each building was imbued with its own consciousness. This consciousness was a sort of vague intelligence which according to tales passed down in the lands of men, was capable of controlling lighting, doors, temperature, and directing visitors to the proper hallways.

During this time the great magic of order and essence reigned supreme over the Elves, and their wizened spell binders could look across time and space for answers to nearly any question. With Elven sorcery chariots that could move themselves were devised, weapons that needed no wielder, and perhaps the greatest creation of all, the Valkin’vi. These race was progenitored by the Elves to control the very weather of the entire world.

The Guthry race, young and care free wandered the face of phantera in great caravans, whose wagons could stretch for miles across great golden plains. Each wagon stood close to thirty feet tall, being pulled by a team of four giant shaggy beasts. The colors were so bright and garish in the sunlight that at times visitors would have to shield their eyes from the light of a caravan making its way like a great glittering snake across the rolling hills.

Guthrie storymeets originated during the age of ancients and were known around the world. According to the Guthries, thousands would flock to their summer festivals for the honor of hearing the greatest legends ever written portrayed by the Guthrie epic poets. Once every ten years the entire Guthrie nation would gather at Great Meet for a year long festival of song and dance. The noise and comotion was said to be second only to the great artifice furnaces of the Dwarven nations.

As for those Dwarves, they had carved out the interior of entire mountain ranges, filling them with the work chants of Dwarven smiths and great cities of living stone. The high science of alchemy was first invented here as dwarves discovered new methods for strengthening and blending metals. This quickly passed on and changed among the other races to become the blending of minerals and herbs we know as alchemy among the modern studies of scholars. Dwarven armor was said to be impervious to any bombardment, even the fire of dragons, scarcely heated the surface of these great works of master smiths. Nowhere on Phantera were such marvelous creations of steel possible. For the first time in ages Dwarves and Elves worked as allies, through their emissaries, seeking to balance each others weaknesses and improve both their lots.

The Valkin’vi first appeared in the Age of Ancients as creations of Elven sorcery. A small group of young Elves was volunteered (usually those who had committed some crime) and through a rigorous magic transformed into ethereal beings capable of controlling small portions of the upper Airs. In order to control and monitor their new creations who were of fiery temper and less than happy with their new positions. The Valkin’Vi were given into the care of a powerful race of beings calling themselves the Valkin. These strange travelers who never appeared in great numbers and seemed to step through thin air at will were capable of balancing all of nature’s forces within themselves. Though unable to naturally procreate the Valkin never aged and maintained unceasing vigilance over the Valkin’vi and the pleasant weather of the Elven empire.

At this time the Gnomes were greater in numbers and often found living in large enclaves as either diplomats or engineers. They hired themselves out to Elves and dwarves as go-betweens and aided in the construction of a vast empire of magical causeways to ease travel across Phantera. Gnomes were liked by all for their honesty and amiability, in fact a common saying among the other races was to compliment on being ‘honest as a gnome’. In all respects gnomes were generous and warm hearted, the folk proved to be warm hearted and have a genuine concern for the well being of others. They looked upon themselves as a race as responsible for guiding the less educated masses into careful decisions.

The Aviana dominated the highest peaks and airs of Phantera, feeding their communal society on the refuse and castoff scraps of others. Often a Dwarven gem or Elven orb would mysteriously appear in a rookerie with none the wiser as to how it got there should the owner come a looking. This was a time of equality and peace among the Aviana who were known as marvelous guides and linguists to the peoples of Phantera. Their gift for language was not lost until the talkative fellows were silenced by the poverty and corruption that destroyed their socialist lifestyle at the end of the age of ancients.

As for the sly and cunning Ga’Vin with their enormous numbers of shock troops and reavers, an entire continent was theirs to lay waste. Their struggles transformed the ground into an ever changing landscape of muck and battle as each Ga’Vin shaman and war wizard tried to carve out his own empire as Father, from the chaos around him. Their numbers were so great that no one Ga’Vin was able to meet and challenge all those of the same Tier in order to prove his superiority, and conflict was rampant. At birth Ga’Vin were born into the slums that were the only town left after armies moved across the land. If they lived long enough, at puberty each Ga’Vin would enter the fire and follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.

Those with the cunning and strength, which the Ga’Vin prized among their soldiers earned great honors and collected the bones of many enemies to adorn themselves with. The rare Ga’Vin who lived through a decade of service went back to the slums to raise huge litters of children, some of whom might live long enough to follow in the war-like footsteps of their forebears.

In the time of the ancients the world was a well settled place, filled to bursting with many races and cultures of people. Great cities sprawled across the surface and under it. Wars of glory and conquest crossed and recrossed the land. In the end over population became the great burden of Phantera, her life and beauty sapped by the creatures dwelling upon her creaking back.

No more space existed for the travels of the Guthrie. No more mountains to be carved by Dwarven masons. No more forests to sculpt and hunt for the Elves. No new lands for the Ga’Vin to conquer. The only beasts living were those bred to use as food or in war. The only game remaining was that too terrible to eat. Realizing the imminent danger for the world should not a solution to this overcrowding be found a great meeting was called and the wisest men and women of all races were called forward to speak on behalf of their peoples. For two long years they met and argued over what was to be done.

The dwarves believed the solution lay in greater structures and mightier buildings. The Ga’Vin agreed that the solution was to kill everyone over the age of fifty and any who could not fight to defend themselves. The Elves did not appreciate this view greatly and suggested simply killing all the goblins instead and opening a new continent for settlement. The Aviana said things were fine the way they were, and the Valkin’vi stormed out in rage against the control of the Elves, never to bow under their yolk again.

In the end it was the gnomes who proposed the chosen solution. They suggested that a series of mighty portals be opened to other realms so that the over-crowded world of Phantera could colonize distant worlds for herself. After much debate, it was decided that this was a plausible solution and the most powerful magicians and sages of the various races were gathered.

From each race and culture they came, the mightiest spell weavers to live in a time of great sorcery. Aged beyond belief and fearsome in their wisdom, they represented the pinnacle of the secret arts. Behind each traveled five hundred colonists waiting for the portal to a new realm, fit for colonization and expansion. Together the mages numbered over a thousand of the most brilliant minds the Age of Ancients had to offer. Together in a show of trust and camaraderie that was never to be repeated they worked the magic to bridge the gap between worlds. Together they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and failed beyond their most terrible nightmares.

Of order and essence they wove strong connections between the fabric of reality, bridging faint fibers of life between distant worlds, a magic so great that none today could duplicate its magnitude or the number of worlds it touched. While deep in ritual the vile betrayers attacked. A host of Ga’Vin, brought through a portal from the Ga’Vin continent by their own warlocks descended upon the host of mages who were too busy in their own ritual to defend themselves. Unprepared for this betrayal they fell under the sword of Ga’Vin hordes who desired to rule the entire world without the interference of other races. It was genocide. Luckily they failed as well.

The magic of order and essence so carefully shaped and maintained went awry when its controllers died. Driven by the emotions of their dying thoughts the magic perverted and twisted in upon itself becoming magic of chaos and some dark force never before realized. The world was shattered as the magic streamed through all the realms corrupting what it touched. Whole mountains rose from the sea, continents disappeared and chaos was loosed upon the world as a malignant hatred created by the sorcerous deaths.

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

The Splitting

‘So you want to know the lore of our people, the secret knowledge that only we possess about the events which lead to the splitting?’ The old elf grinned, his pasty teeth showing nearly ground down to the gums.

‘Yes, I need you to reveal your truth to me, so that I can pass it on to others.’

‘I shall tell you what I know, what was, is, and will be again.’ He paused to take a breath, and broke down in a fit of coughing before taking a drink of strong cider.

‘The Age of the Ancients ended in fire and suffering. They had meddled in powers beyond their own control, and the suffering of thousands twisted the magic of the great spell casters. The magic released had gained a malicious life of its own. Everything that the magic touched faded and died, drained of life and hope, and feeding that great evil, making it ever stronger.

‘Even as it consumed those who had surived the failed sorcery, it spread a new enemy across Phantera. The unliving. Such a thing was a corruption of all that had been before, and struck fear into all the ancient peoples, even the Ga’Vin, who betrayed all, feared the undead. Some of those who survived fought back, they used the great magicks which had been raised in peace before to wage war, and all of Phantera fought against the darkness, and the evil which they named The Master of Death.’ His voice dropped to a whisper, as he continued, ‘They called him Shri’Illi Aingun in the ancient language of Naming.’

‘Such things should not be spoken of though, even now, long after these dark days there are forces which ally themselves with it.’

He turned and took another sip his cider, and waited for me to record what he had said. When He saw my quill stil upon the page, he took a deep breath and continued.

‘The war dragged on, but it was a loosing battle for the living, all of Phantera suffered under the tyranny of the evil force. Some of the members of all the races had allied themselves with the darkness, even some of the elves, much to our shame. It would take many years after this for us to purge ourselves of the guilt we felt as a whole over this treachery. In the course of the great war many of the bravest and truest warriors, scholars, singers, and artists came together in a plot for the survival of all.

‘Using their cunning arts they created a trap designed to feed on the very greed and hunger of the evil one, who the Gnomes began to call Regis Mortem. These warriors, scholars, and poets spread themselves across the battlefield, their timing exquisite, as they baited portions of the evil, which had split itself to guide its armies. Somehow, these seven managed to trap portions of that creature, sacrificing themselves to its hatred in the process.

‘When the creature was distracted and weakened it fled into the bowels of the earth. Deep below the ground and beneath the waves, it fled and hid. It could still draw the life from the living creatures around it, and slowly rebuild itself. Even without the senses which had been stripped by the heroes above, it was still a danger, and would surely have consumed all Phantera if given enough time, were it not for five great wizards from among the ranks of elvenkind. Well actually four great wizards and one of their apprentices.

‘While the other races celebrated the end of the war, and purged the world of the many unliving still in existence, and their allies, we of elvenkind looked to the future. We realized that Regis Mortem was not beaten. We knew that if we did not finish what the others had begun, it would rise again to destroy us all before we could rebuild the glory of our world. So with the future in mind, the four greatest remaining wizards formed a plan to counter this evil once and for all. With a single apprentice to record their deed, they entered the catacombs under the earth by means of a great maelstom, and found their way into the fiery core of the earth, and passed even through that until they came at last to a pulsing sphere of metal and stone, somewhere at the heart of Phantera. It was here that they found Regis Mortem.

‘The evil creature was feeding on the very magical fibre of Phantera. It was using the energy and life which powered the planet to fuel itself. Knowing that magic was the fabric of creation, and that life could not exist in the absence of magic, they understood that when this creature was done feeding, there would be no magic left in phantera, and the world would be dead forever.

‘Using his powerful arts, the eldest of them erected a powerful barrier to preserve them. Then the four of them joined their powers together and raised a focus of great force. They turned that force between themselves against the very nature of reality, bending it to their will as their ancestors had done in the time before the age of ancients, before memory and records become dim and fade. The time of the first races. With their great shaping they pulled at the very fibre of magic, because up to that time there had been only one magic.

‘First the youngest of them strained out the threads that traced through the earth, that provided life, the fabric which tied structure and order into a physical body. He reworked each and every living object on the planet, and all of the unliving ones as well. Into each and every stone, grain of sand, each tree and flower, he awoke a consciousness. His mind struggled to grasp the complexities of all existence, and in the end, to complete his working he poured his own life energy into his crafting.

‘Even as his own life’s candle burned out, his work was taken up by the next sorceress, who grasped at the fabric of the seas and the rain, the water within each living thing answered to her call. She strained from the whole the energies which define intellect and differentiate those motive creatures from the more stolid deep intellects of trees and stone. Her working touched each creature, and through her craft she protected all those on the surface from the ravaging destruction of Regis Mortem. As her work was nearing completion, Regis Mortem grew aware of their presence, he could feel their life near him, as all things were near him, and feel the source of his power growing fainter, weaker. Howling with a rage which shook the world it hurled through the darkness to strike at their barriers. The force of its blow shook the world, and their bubble of reality began to crack.

‘Straining with effort they held on to their faith in their purpose, and redoubled their efforts, even as it raised power against them again. On the surface the world was beginning to feel the strain of the massive forces being released beneath it. Chasms opened, rivers flowed uphill, and mountains sank or rose as seas shifted. The winds swirled and the sky was darkened with storms that seemed without end. Even as she struggled to complete her work, the last of her energy gave out, and Illuminia Corazona too sank into the slumber of death.

‘Her work was not for naught though, and where she had left off, another took up the strands of mastery and worked great conjury. Again the chords of reality vibrated, as from within their pocket of reality the world was changed. Alljina MosDariia reached into the great airs, and the currents that are the breath of life. Her mind touched the consciousness of the sky, where before the Valkin’Vi had been sole masters and reworked the permissions of the sky. From the whole of reality she singled out the air, the force of change and motivation. Even as she worked, so too did Regis Mortem. With the energy it had gathered in plundering the world, it reached out in pain and suffering and battered at the minds of those inside the wards. Under the strain of her conjuring Alljina was in no shape to resist and her mind collapsed into a whirling wind of despair, and she was destroyed. The beast rejoiced smelling victory at hand.

‘But it had not counted on the mastery of the eldest. He was a wily old elf, nearly two millennia had passed in the time he had lived, and in that time he had learned more than any other still living. He grasped the last strands, those of natural consumption, the fires of creation gave ear to him. With his powers he sealed the cycle, bringing an end to all things, as must be done to preserve the natural order. Magic was sundered with his will, from one made into four. Even as the fires raged through his body he stepped through the crumbling wards, which could no longer exist in the new reality, and embraced the darkness, bringing light. As he flared in brilliance Regis Mortem retreated from his death flash, but not before it knew despair.

‘At last only the apprentice was left, standing alone in the darkness at the center of all things. And yet he knew deep inside himself that all was not done. Something was lacking. He knew, that all things had a consciousness, one that was outside of and beyond the elements, there was something more, something intangible in all creation. The dreams of reality and the harmonies which fueled Phantera had not been accounted for in the conjuring by either the old wizards or the evil creature.

‘After pondering for a long time in the darkness, finding his old skills and powers exhausted in the changing world, he grasped at the fibres of the dreams within, and begging the permission and forgiveness of the four elements he beseeched their aid. And aid him they did. A prison of the elements bathed the core, and was sealed with wards of the most complicated mathematics, theories, and dreams that the apprentice could construct when calling upon the knowledge of the ages. Thus was Regis Mortem sealed away, and the time of prophecy begun.

‘One year after they had journeyed beneath the surface the apprentice emerged, gaunt and tired. He traveled the changing world, and was wracked with sorrow and dispair at the changed that had been wrought. Never again would Phantera know the glories of the ancients. In sorrow he traveled the world, trying to make up for the destruction which he had been part of. He taught others, for a time, and then disappeared in solitude into the wastelands, which had taken over much of Phantera’s surface.

‘It was never known if the creatures created by the splitting of magic were the end of him. If they were, perhaps in his death at the hands of misdirected creation he attoned. Such is life, we all pay in the end.’

And with those words the old man closed his speech to me, and walked from my study. I never found out who he was, or where he had come from, but I will be forever thankful for his story.

-Saethin Maevers

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website

Age of Mystery

as explained by Talarin PyrErris

Mystery exists in all things, but no time is so blank to the history of Phantera as the centuries following the Splitting. During the upheaval created by the rampant change of magic’s basic laws civilization as it had been known disintegrated. Creatures alien to the world of Phantera seemed to spring full grown from the ground overnight.

Natural disasters destroyed cities and flattened mountains leaving a death toll so catestrophic that even now the races who went through it mourn the loss of knowledge which has never been recovered since. It was during this time that humans and Orcs were found wandering the soil. Humans were often born to Elven and Gnomish parents, seeming to be overgrown aberations that left parents weeping in despair.

The Age of Mystery is also responsible for many of the bizaar and localized creatures that exist across Phantera. It is quite possible to have a completely different bestiary at distances of only fifty miles or so. Creatures that may be prolific near the town of Katak for example may never have been seen in Dorchak or Da’Thanis. This is one of the great perils of living in any place that does not have a large civilization. The sheer number of dangers from natural causes is difficult to comprehend and even more difficult to avoid. It is because of this that many of my people spend much time learning lore, and trying to master the secrets of the forest so that it does not master us.

We know now that the age of mystery lasted for several centuries and it is believed that no man or woman lived at the end who remembered the Age of Ancients. The power of our ancestors was lost forever long before the earth settled its rumblings and the weather could be predicted by soothsayers again.

Found in the Old Lore Books on the Final Haven website.

Age of Humans

Excerpt by Stephan Veers, from his lecture on the History of the Kingdom, 995 P.E.W. in the Royal Accedemy of Arts.

‘The age of humans begins officially when the first Elven city fell to human hands. However, mankind was not truly a common force for several hundred more years. During this time city after city chose to be lead by beneficent men and women who preached that all life was connected and precious. They attempted to form a just system of government and provide for the needs and education of all. Unfortunately their own magical techniques were perverted and turned against them and others were tempted by a strange power of darkness, that had been believed defeated since before the age of mystery.’ ‘The Essence Wars as they were later known ended this time of growth and peace between man and Elf. Those beneficent individuals who had once ruled converted all their energy to war, for the fate of all life hung in the balance. Few of either side survived the devastation and those who survived and remembered the time of destruction cannot help but weep at the horrors that were committed.’

‘After the essence wars at last ended with the near total annihilation of both sides, but the preservation of the world, a new faction seized power. These were the elemental mages, who used the raw force of the four primal strengths to achieve their magic. They wielded power like an iron gauntlet and marked all who opposed them magically so no descendant would ever escape their eye.’

‘Mankind revolted after more than three centuries of abuse and took the power of state back into the hands of the ungifted. No man of magic has been permitted within office of political power since these dark days passed.’

‘Out of the ashes of the Magriocracies rose the first empires. Into the Silverthorne region from the west came the Empire of Great Lassa. They moved large infantry units into the area and attempted to subdue man and beast around fortified stone towns, the first of their kind. These replaced the wooden palisades and earthworks that were previously common barriers against the beasts of the wild in these parts. Though ruins of earlier cities, ones created during the centuries of the Magriocracies and before existed, they were thought cursed and left as abandoned ruins for bandits and clans of cannibalistic monstrosities. The advent of new military strategy and cohesive armies significantly altered the region.’

‘Military might however was not enough to prevent trouble in the center of their empire and one legion after another was called away after another to leave the foundling cities of Sussra and Dorcha untenanted by guardian hands. These two cities were nearly destroyed by the creatures of the wild before gaining a significant population of nomads from the north a little over three hundred and fifty years ago. The nomads brought with them horses and the skills of cavalry, turning the tide for the two city states in the wilderness.’

‘Dorcha was abandoned sometime around 450 P.E.W. There came to follow another small rise to empire as a warlike culture expanded from the tundra driven out of their homeland by great white hared beasts. The people called themselves the Haurks and demanded tribute from all city dwellers. For nearly one hundred years they dominated the region of Sussra and Dorcha demanding slaves and food from the laboring peoples - riders and farmers alike.’

‘In the year 726 P.E.W (post essence wars) a ship sailed into the bay of thorns under the ensign of the corsair isles. It ran aground on the volcanic rock, forcing its crew to conquer the locals or perish in the attempt. A glorious battle was fought against a group of black robed slave holders who were digging in the volcanic rock from which the captain, a man by the name of Draelin Falconbridge emerged victorious. He and his crew set free the slaves and declared the bay the new kingdom of Silverthorne. Captain Falconbridge became the first king.’

‘His reign was long extended and the officers of his crew advised well the expansion and operation of this fledgling nation. Shortly before his death a second corsair ship was sighted off the bay and requested permission to settle the bay as well. Captain Asand Falconbridge, brother of the new king of Silverthorne also sought the riches of this new bay from which he could launch many profitable raids against the clans of the mountains to the east and the beach dwellers of the savanna to the south.’

‘King Draelin turned his brother away, telling him that piracy and brigandry were at an end within the boundaries of his kingdom. Captain Asand sailed east into the rising sun never to be seen again, but forever cursing the name of Silverthorne.’

‘With the succeeding generations of Silverthornes came a rapid growth in kingdom and population. Exploration of the lands outside of the bay found them rich in wildlife and ground suitable for profitable farming. Tribes of previous inhabitants rapidly fell under the charm of the warlike son’s of Draelin, Valric and Arthur. Both held the thrown for a short time after their father and succeeded in expanding the realm. Valric added Portsmouth and Norillon, before falling in battle with a fierce tribe of burnt skinned hunters at the mouth of the Silverthorne River. His brother Arthur took up the standard in that same battle carrying the cry of Vitii Valiri ‘Life to Valor’ and broke the tribe scattering them northward. On the site of that battle he founded the city of Brax and then turned west along the coast of the inland sea. Within sight of the dark depths referred to by natives as the Vaun or steam ‘Steam’ a military colony under the command of the grizzled veteran Tucor was formed.’

‘At word of repeated raiding by the burnt warrior aided with devices and herbal magic of strange short folk Arthur turned his army back to the embattled site of Brax determined to push the creatures out of his realm and punish them mightily for their effrontery. He reached the new city of Brax with a little over one thousand men and less than a full hundred of archers. A bitter and bloody battle fought under torch-light and bonfires threw the interlopers across the river and into the unexplored regions to the east.’

‘Arthur gave pursuit, though reduced to only half his original force and continued to harry the retreat of his enemy. At long last on the banks of another mighty river he found the homeland of the small allies to his charred enemies. Here at a great castle shaped rock their leader surrendered his claim to land and bowed his head before the supremacy of Silverthorne. The young prince, Arthur’s dear nephew held the city while his brother continued with a small party of scouts to the north hoping to find where the other tribe of enemies was hiding. Two weeks later three injured scouts carried his body home to his nephew, the new king. The body was carried south into the gentle rolling hills on the eastern bank of the silver river and there laid to rest in the foundling village of Norillon in which all the surviving soldiers of that great campaign were granted land. In later days this pleasant village would grow to hold the Discorum of Toevass, where philosophy would be hotly debated and knowledge prized above all else.’

‘The current king, Edward gave little thought to expansion, choosing to consolidate his holding and encourage immigration from the corsair isles and other distant land to bolster his growing kingdom’s economy. He set up trade with the neighboring kingdom of Alleria and imported refined items of jewelry and precious metals which his own kingdom was very short on while selling massive quantities of food to the land short Allerians.’

‘His three sons in the late 860’s began the westward expansion once more. They moved up the Serpent river from Fort Tucor and rapidly conquered the strange swamp city of Mordin at the fork of the Serpent and Susspin. However, they learned of a great city state to the north containing vast riches and horses of the highest quality and dreamed that it would soon be theirs’. Thomas himself made a pilgrimage into the depths of the Vaunephasauk forest searching after a legendary city within. He found the City state of Vaunephasauk and its people and brought back with him his wife, Anne of Ishania. After the death of their father in 867, Thomas lead his brothers Lionel and William against the Armies of Susspin. The war was brutal and Susspin’s military trained to perfection, honed in centuries of war with the Ari’i forest and the riders of the high plateau. The war dragged on for year costing first Thomas and then William their lives.’

‘At last the peace between Susspin and Silverthorne was sealed when Anne and her first child Edward brought the aide of enchanters from Vaunephasauk to turn the tide against Susspin in the battle of Shrouded Glen just south of the walls of Susspin itself. After the battle Lionel married the daughter of Susspin’s ruler and out of his respect for them gave up tittle to Silverthorne in favor of ruling Susspin as a fief for his nephew.’

‘With ties firmly secured in the West the eyes of Silverthorne at the turn of the century returned to the frontier on the east. After the depletion of the last war, Edward’s children George and Delkirk put war aside for a time and concentrated on the improvement of life within the country. Delkirk was the first ever to be named First Knight of the kingdom and defended his brother’s interests both militarily and politically away from the throne while George concentrated on matters of state and diplomacy from within the capital city. For the next three generations the descendants of Delkirk had the tittle of First Knight and were loved by the people as they mediated between nobles and commons in favor of their king.’ ‘George’s grandchildren brought the expansion of Silverthorne across the black river and into the Dorchak forest. Here the natives of the long lost colony of Dorcha fought with skill, bravery, and savage force. For years they held out against the growing nation of Silverthorne, but at last gave in when The nation of Silverthorne cut them off in a two hundred day siege.’

‘Grayston the First took control of the city, until a suitable replacement loyal to the crown of Silverthorne could be found among the local nobles while his general, a man by the name of Harrison pushed north for the headwaters of the Dorchak. There he formed a strategic fortress and settled it with the men of his army until such time as a suitable number of the peasantry could be recruited to follow into the north.’

‘Grayston passed over his reign to the house of Kendal and Established the House of DeVris to minister the Law with the knowledge that the First Knight and the other roving noble justiciers were no longer enough to maintain the king’s peace and the king’s law. This was the year 945.’

‘Shortly after this James the brother of Grayston assumed the thrown and firmly entrenched the law of the realm for the first time in books of paper and the Laws as a force of man. In the late seventh decade of this century disappearances began along the frontier in great numbers and the First Knight, Prince Gwyndwr along with his wife and child were killed in the frontier by forces unknown.’

‘In 991 Johannes assumed the thrown and made a declaration of war on the unknown armies from across the mountains to the east. Those armies later came to be known as the hordes of Gromm and that war continues its bloody cost until this day in 998.’