The Known World

I have spent many years of my life travelling in the land we refer to as the protected zone, gathering this information and putting it all together into something useful and accurate. Information relating to times before the creation of the Life Stone is scarce but I have done what I can. I hope you find this tome of some use in your travels and maybe our paths will cross for I will continue to add to this as I discover more about our life and histories.

Yours,

Eoden Pathfinder

The Impossible War

The war is known as the Impossible war because no one thought it could ever come about and when it did, little did we know it would be the beginning of the end for this world.

A little over two centuries ago spies from all different races learned that someone was building up a massive armed force, the biggest in history. This obviously raised more than a little concern amongst the leaders of the races. They immediately ordered all available personnel to find out as much as they possibly could about who was forming the army. The information took time and a great many lives to retrieve but it was discovered that the followers of the dark god Dergo were organizing the army. A large number of worshippers from other gods known to be of an unpleasant nature were also involved but the force mostly consisted of Dergo’s worshippers. The army was made up of not only human and elven but also a mixture of many different races. The Rat-Kin race was, almost as a whole, part of the army as well as number of the illusive dark dragons, trolls, the fire race known as demons and many others. With this information came the aim of the army. They wanted power and intended to take control of the whole world. They would crush all of those who stood against them and they would enslave them. Obviously those who did not follow these beliefs were determined to stop them. The elves, humans and dwarfs were quick to ally with one another and a great many orcs and ogres even chose to join with this alliance, making it one of the strangest alliances in history. The lizard-kin also joined but the biggest surprise was that the dark elves under the guidance of their goddess also stood to fight with the elves. Most of the goodly races stood shoulder to shoulder against this army of darkness including the air based race known as the angels. Soon the two armies prepared to meet across a battlefield, the two mighty hosts, one of light and the other of darkness, awaiting an excuse to begin. As the battle began the hosts of evil charged forward to meet the forces of light. However just before they met over half of the dark army stopped dead in its tracks while the remainder tore in to the lines of their foe. It later turned out that it was the followers of the dark god Dergo who had orchestrated all of this, who had stopped and allowed all of the followers of other gods to be slaughtered. Amidst the carnage the followers of Dergo withdrew.

Once the battle was over the massed armies of the goodly races were not quite sure what had happened. Over half of their huge foe had fled the battlefield leaving their allies to their death. As they were soon to discover, this was only the beginning. The army of the dark god split and set off in different directions. Each section had enough fighting power to level the largest of cities, which is exactly what they did. With most of the fighting power of the races behind them on the battlefield, the capital cities of each of the races were relatively undefended. The army of Dergo had a head start on the defenders they had left at the site of the battle.

The capital cities were taken and destroyed before the defenders could return. Then they turned their sight to other cities, then to towns, then to villages. When the other races discovered what was going on they were horrified at the extent of the carnage. Again they mustered together those who had stood together at the battle and they set off after those responsible. They hunted the groups of warriors for the next two years, eliminating one before moving after another. The groups never re-formed into one large army that might have been able to fight off the larger force of light that now tracked them.
After two years the largest of the groups was all that was left. They chose their battlefield well because they knew that they would soon face the wrath of all those whose homes they had burned and those who had lost loved ones at their blades.

The battle was brutal and drawn out but in the end the forces of Dergo were defeated. After this the victorious forces split and went home to lick their wounds. Virtually all of the leaders of all the races had been killed in the fighting. Nearly half of the population of the known world had been killed and the armed might of the remaining races was reduced to less that a tenth of its original value. This final battle is believed to have seen the end of a number of races. The rat kin, many of the trollish races, demonic and angelic races, dragons and several others have not been seen since.

Insult to Injury – The Undead Invasion

The winter that followed the end of the Impossible war was a bitter one. Much of the food people needed to survive had been killed or burned and many starved. Nevertheless as the days became longer and warmer things seemed to brighten for the survivors. The crops looked to provide an unusually large harvest this year and there was an abundance of game and rabbit all of a sudden. People from all of the races started to take heart and began the rebuilding of their former lives.

Once the harvests had been gathered in and everyone was set for winter once again, much of the damage done by the war had been erased. The major cities still needed work but food was being produced once more and as long as they had food the rest would be only a matter of time. As the year drew to a close though a strange thing happened. Anyone with any magical talent was struck unconscious for a few moments, just as the weather turned cold. Then it happened again around the time of the first snows in the New Year. Finally just as spring arrived, the phenomenon struck again. At the time there were a lot of theories being bounced around as to why this was happening. The theory that is now most widely accepted is that someone was using an awesome amount of magic in one go. Only the largest of rituals would cause such effects and use such magic. It seemed impossible that there should be three such rituals in only a few months. No one is known to have ever attempted such rituals before, because it was recognised to be too draining on those performing it. The quantity of magic users and the amount of power needed was so incredible that the theory was discounted at first but later evidence seems to prove the theory correct. We now have a pretty good idea of what the second two rituals were for but the purpose of the first one is still a mystery. Shortly after the second ritual people who died started getting up and attacking anyone near them. At first it was believed that some form of necromancer was trying to make a name for himself but the reports came in from all over the known world. Priests quickly began to be present at the death of anyone they could attend because the only thing that seemed to stop the dead from walking was to be given last rites. Then something even stranger happened. The very night after the third ritual all burial sites were unearthed. Every known, and a great many unknown, graves were dug up and the remains removed. Now we know that what actually happened is that the remains dug themselves up.

Whilst everyone was trying to work out what had happened the first attacks occurred. Walking corpses and skeletons attacked and burned a great many isolated farms and small villages before anyone realised.

The Impossible war provided countless dead for the third ritual to re-animate and another army was born. This time a different figure stood at its head. Edevilgiam, the lich king led the army he had created for himself from the millions of dead.

The once mighty host of races that had stood against the minions of the dark gods now seemed pitifully inadequate before the army of the undead. The army won every battle they joined, mostly by sheer weight of numbers. This, combined with the fact that every living being killed became another member of Edevilgiam’s undead legions, meant it quickly became obvious that drastic actions were needed if they were to be stopped.

The Life Stone

In order to stop the undead something was needed to hold back their seemingly unstoppable advance. The most powerful mages and priests of the day devised a ritual that could, if done correctly, create a safe-haven against the undead. After multiple defeats the armies of the living races needed somewhere to rest as they were fighting a losing battle and they never seemed to get the time to recuperate. Therefore the mages and priests set about preparing the ritual. In order to perform it they had to gather a large number of items, the most important being the large stone circle used to help contain the Life Stones power and of course the large stone obelisk that would become the Life Stone. This took several weeks to arrange as the stone had to be cut from the earth by the dwarves and taken to the site that had been chosen as a suitable spot.

The site was chosen because nature had made it a very defendable area. On three sides there were virtually impassable mountain ranges. In fact the mountains were known to the locals as the Passless Peaks because no-one knew of any way through. The fourth side was open to the world, however a second dwarven contingent, along with helpers from every race imaginable, set about building a great wall across the entrance of the area. The wall would never be finished before the undead arrived but it helped everyone to know that they were doing something positive. In fact the half-finished wall proved to be the saviour of the races.

When everything was ready the surviving armies of the living races fell back to a position close to the area that was to be protected by the Life Stone. The idea was that they would hold off the undead for as long as possible and would fall back into the protected area as soon as the ritual was complete. The army engaged the undead for the final time as the ritual was beginning. The ritual lasted several hours and vast quantities of magic were pulled in from the elemental planes and supplied by the gods. Everything seemed to be going well until the ritual came in to its final stages. The workers on the wall suddenly noticed a large force coming toward them. Initially they believed that the armies had been forced to retreat earlier than expected but it slowly became clear that it was the undead hoard that was approaching and NOT the remains of the living army. This could mean only one thing; the army of living races had been utterly destroyed. The workers scattered in panic but it was the dwarves who brought calm. Everyone knows that a dwarf loves a fight and those working on the wall were only too keen to take up their tools and try to fight off the undead. Soon the other races that had been helping got the idea. The workers consisted mostly of women, children and those too injured to fight. However they took up hammers and axes along with anything else they could find and prepared to sell their lives dearly. Thanks to the semi-complete fortifications and the knowledge that they had to hold the undead off long enough for the ritual to be completed, those workers held the wall just long enough for protection to come into effect. They watched as the undead, caught in the initial effects of the Life Stones magic, burned to ashes before their eyes. Then they howled with joy as they watched the remains of the hoard held off just outside the wall completely unable to get at the defenders.

Undead mages and priests tried to throw their magics at the defenders atop their half finished wall but the spells fizzled away to nothing. A few arrows and ranged weapons were fired at the defenders but they fell short as the range was too long. The undead army stood outside the wall for three whole months trying everything they could think of to gain access and then they moved off. There was still an entire world to conquer, they could always return to take care of this little piece later.

The ritual had done everything that it was supposed to and more. Unfortunately its creation took the lives of most of the mages and priests who had participated in the ritual. With them went a great deal of the lore that would be needed to defeat the undead. The Life Stone protected an area of approximately 10000 square miles. It would not allow either undead, or it seemed, magic cast by undead, to enter its area of effect.
It also seemed to negate the second ritual and anyone who died whilst under its protection no longer needed last rites.

Betrayal of the Gods

Once the Life Stone was created the survivors took stock of what they had left to fight the undead with. Of the mages there was only one and he decided to devote his time to recording his knowledge so others could learn from it. Other than that the military was all but destroyed. The only things the survivors had left were the worshippers of the gods. These priests had the ability to channel the power of their deity and use it to cast spells or to turn the foul undead. In the early days their powers were needed to tend the wounded refugees that had escaped the undead and fled to the protected zone. Soon however it became clear that the powers of the priests were waning. As more and more time went by the powers of the priests became less and less. They often came together to discuss what could be causing this loss. The only thing that came to mind was that their gods were turning their backs on them. The priests redoubled their efforts to try and please their gods but their powers still waned until they were unable to call upon any power at all. The priests believed that the gods had become angry with their worshippers and had turned their backs on this world, finding another to entertain themselves with. This meant that there was little the survivors could do against the undead until enough time had passed to allow them to grow stronger again and to learn ways of defeating their foes. In anger at the betrayal of those who had worked so hard to please them the council passed a law decreeing that it was illegal to worship the gods and anyone found doing so would be executed.

Power and Politics

After the Life Stones creation all of the surviving races realised that none of them had a leader. After much argument two members of each race were chosen to form the Council of Races. It would be up to this council to resolve land disputes, sort out law and order and generally restore some semblance of stability to the area. They divided up the lands according to the needs of the races. Dwarves got the mountain ranges, elves got the forests, lizard-kin got the swamps, dark elves got a small amount of surface land because most of their realm was under the ground and humans got the large open plains. Orcs and ogres, who could not agree on any terms, received whatever was left.

The council then set up a system for each area to be managed by members of the race that owned it. The human lands were divided up between seven people who were chosen to be lords of the human realm. The dwarves chose a new king and he assembled a council of advisors to help him rule over his race. The lizard-kin also chose a new king, their method however was a little bloodier. The new king divided up his land between himself and six others to maintain stability. The dark elves, who had always had a matriarchal society, had a radical change and they chose a king and queen to rule. The elves found the closest relative to the old royalty of the elves and crowned her the elven queen. She nominated two other elves, granted them the honorary title of prince and sent them to rule over the two smaller elven owned areas. The orcs and ogres who were still arguing, did not manage to choose a ruler of any sort and continued to live the nomadic lifestyle they always had. There are several places that serve as towns for these races but the population is very transient and they serve more as meeting and trading places rather than as towns.

The Council of Fourteen, as it became known, defined the basic laws for the society the different races would live by. These you can find under the section on laws. They also set up and have direct control over the guard.

Laws
The council defined the basic laws when they first set up the guard. Individual rulers may add other laws but those laws apply only in their own lands. There are no jails in the protected zone. Instead criminals are virtually treated as slave labour, with their hands and feet chained, forced to do backbreaking work, that is if their crime did not get them the death penalty. The following are the basic laws for the protected zone.

If you get caught doing any of these listed below you are guaranteed to receive the death penalty.
Worshiping a deity of any type
Aiding the undead forces
Destruction of lore

The following is against the law and usually carries the death penalty
Murder
Using a poison of any type
Arson
Rape
Hunting lizard-kin for skins.

The following crimes carry a sentence of hard labour.
Stealing
Mugging
Carrying or selling a poison
Slavery

As I have said, other laws apply under different rulers but if you stick to these you can’t go far wrong.

Organisations

There are many organisations and institutes that have grown up in the protected area. Below I will only list the ones of any interest.

Thieves Guild
After the undead invaded the few remaining thieves worked pretty much for themselves leaving behind the guild structures that they always had used. This was fine until there became more and more thieves. Then groups of thieves started banding together to fend off rival groups and it quickly turned into gang warfare. This benefited few, as more often as not all of the members of warring gangs got arrested by the guard or killed in the fighting. Nevertheless this was how it went for some time. That was until a new figure appeared on the scene. Well that is not strictly true for no one is known to have ever seen this person, let me explain. A group of thieves suddenly started recruiting new members. They had a reputation as being exceptional thieves so many tried to join them. About three quarters of those who tried to join failed and after undergoing some strange trials were sent on their way. The other quarter were initiated into what was to become the new thieves guild called the. Guild of the Shadow. No one knew at the time but this group was led by an individual who was a master at stealth and trickery. So complete is his mastery that not even the highest ranks of the guild know who he is or what he looks like, however they ALL obey him.

Amongst thieves, there is a common saying “the Shadowcat knows”. This refers to the mysterious individual mentioned above who heads the thieves’ guild. The saying came about after the recruiting that I have already mentioned. It seemed that those who were turned away from Guild of the Shadow formed a guild of their own, named the Ravens, who’s mission was to oppose and destroy those who had rejected them. This, which was to be the final turf war before stability returned to the thieves’ society, should have been won easily by the Ravens because they outnumbered the Guild of the Shadow. In fact they didn’t and the Ravens guild only lasted about two weeks.

The first move was made by the Guild of the Shadow. The man who proclaimed himself the leader of the Ravens surrounded himself with guards and traps in such number he boasted that no one could get to him if he did not want them to. The very morning after he first made the boast he woke to find a card on the pillow, next to him saying “You boast too much, signed Shadowcat”. It is said he flew in to such a rage he called together all the Ravens and planned an attack on the Shadow Guild that would take place that very night. Some spoke out about such a rash decision to attack but they were silenced with a blade. So that night the Ravens made their way to the first of the properties the Shadow Guild were known to use and they burned it to the ground. Confident that they had taken the Shadow Guild by surprise, for all they found was an empty house filled with stolen goods, the leader decided to head straight for the guild house of the Shadow Guild. The easy success of the first attack went to their heads and the Ravens followed him. Unfortunately they walked straight in to a trap. It appears that a contingent of the guard had arrived at the Shadow Guild house just before the Ravens, having been tipped off about this place being a hideout of thieves. In the dark the Ravens took the Guard for members of the Shadow Guild and the Guard took the Ravens as the defenders of the Shadow Guild house resulting in a rather messy fight breaking out. Most of the Ravens were killed or captured that night with only a small percentage escaping unharmed. Those who survived suspected that it was an inside job with one of their number having tipped off the Guard. They turned on one another and the Ravens guild became no more. Due to this and the fact that every attempt to usurp the Shadowcat as guild leader has failed with the conspirators being caught before they even knew what had happened, the saying has come into common use. Most thieves now believe that the Shadowcat knows everything and they always work as if he is looking over their shoulder.

Primarily because of the reputation built by the mysterious Shadowcat and also because of swift elimination of rogue thieves and anyone who attempts to set up rival guilds, the Shadow Guild is the only thieves’ guild. All thieves must belong to it or work alone. The Shadow Guild does not force people to join but it makes it very difficult to work by oneself.

The Guard
The guard was originally set up by the Council of 14 as a police force for the protected area. When the land was divided between the races, each ruler had to raise its own company of guard members to protect and police their area. Now the Guard is more of a private army and police force combined for the rulers of each area. They do protect the areas but are also sometimes used in border skirmishes and the like. Each company has an overseer who is assigned to them by the Council of 14, the idea being that the overseer reports on troop activity and such like to the council. This was implemented after one of the human lords tried to use his guard forces to take over some land belonging to the lizard-kin. However, as I have said, the primary role of the guard is as a police force, to enforce the laws made by the council and to protect outlying communities against raiding by orcs and ogres.

The council has the right to call up the guard forces from all of the rulers if the protected area needs them but as yet they have never needed to. It is also hoped that they will never need to.

While it is up to the guard to capture criminals, it is not up to them to punish them. Each race has its own ways to deal with its criminals. In every population centre there is a court with a judge from each of the races in it to hear cases against fellow members of his race. This method of convicting criminals may seem a bit strange though the punishments are fairly standard as has been noted in the section on laws. However, sometimes there will be cases where huge racial disputes can be avoided by the use of this method

The Council of Races formed the first guard company and still controls it. Company A, as it is known, is made up of the best guard members from the other companies. They are considered the elite, the best of the best, taking on roles such as advisors and overseers. They know the job and their wisdom is greatly valued by the council. The council also used to maintain a company of scouts known as Company B. It used to be much the same as Company A in so far as the best of the scouting units were chosen to be part of it. However for reasons never known, they chose to disband it.





Other Companies
Company C
This company is almost entirely made up of scouting troops. As there have always been less scouts than fighters the council decided to create a single company of scouts and then spilt it in to smaller groups which were each named “XXX company C” where XXX was the name the smaller group chose. There was one of the smaller companies for each of the rulers plus an additional one for training new members.
Unlike the other companies created by each of the rulers, Company C takes recruits from all of the races.

Company D, E & F
These companies are the three elven companies. There is one at each of the elven forests.

Company G, H & I
These are the lizard-kin companies. Again there is one at each of the areas inhabited by the lizard-kin

Company J
This is the dwarven company. All of the dwarven territories are joined, unlike the elven and lizard-kin territories and so the dwarves decided to make just one large company.

Company K
This is the dark elven company. Like the dwarves, all of the dark elf territories are interconnecting so they opted for a single company.

Company L, M, N, O, P & Q
These are the human companies, one each for the human rulers. Yes I know there are seven human rulers but I will cover Company R below. Each human territory controls a single company. Orcs and Ogres are a common sight amongst the human companies. As they have no companies of their own they choose to join the humans. Why they only seem to join the human companies is a mystery.

Company R
Company R is also a human company but it is for the territory nearest the Great Wall and deserves a mention all of its own. It is the largest of the human companies because of its proximity to the Great Wall. It also has the highest number of non-human members in it compared to the other human companies. This is because every race in the protected zone feels a need to help defend the Great Wall from intruders like they did on the day of the Life Stone’s creation. Thus, most races send a small percentage of their new recruits to join Company R as a form of tribute.

Soul Casters
There are a large number of groups trying to set up a soul magic organisation for research and improvement of the soul caster powers. Unfortunately because there are essentially 3 sects there has been little success. All want their sect to be in charge and the quarrelling involved all but bloodshed. Hopefully this will begin to settle soon and the practitioners of this new magic, who, it seems, will be of great use against the undead, will start to use their power for the common good.

Races

Once this world had an abundance of life. Beings both terrible and wonderful wandered the continents. Now there is nothing but desolation across much of the world. Of the many races that were spread across the globe, only seven are known to have survived (unless you count the vile undead as a race). Each of the surviving races has adapted to the changes and many would say that they are greatly different from how they once were; while they look the same to an observer. However the Impossible war and the Invasion of the Undead would change anyone. The following sections detail the races as they are now after two centuries of containment within the protected zone.

Humans
Humans have been the most numerous of the races for as long as anyone can remember (including the elves) and they still are today even though their numbers are greatly diminished. Humans have, as they always seem to, adapted to the environment in which they live.

The human lands within the area of the Life Stone are now split between seven lords. Each lord is responsible for the safety and well being of everyone in his area. The council keeps an eye on these lords but as long as they do nothing particularly untoward they are left alone. Each lord has a guard company, which they use as a glorified police force to resolve disputes. These companies are watched over by members of the Guard’s elite to see that they are trained and used correctly. There have however been instances of such troops being used to attempt to extend the lands of a greedy lord now and then. Mostly though things are peaceful between the seven rulers if a little tense.

Prodigio Town
This is the town nearest the Great Wall and consequently has the largest company of guards stationed here. The lord is General Galeb. He served for 20 years in the Guard and a further 10 in A company until his father died and he took over ruling this area. Many would say that in Company R he has the most difficult of all guard companies to keep under control because it is made up of the different races. However that does not seem to be the case. The General has his troops so well disciplined and trained that they are almost an equal for A company. Being so close to the Great Wall it is a comfort to know that there are a large number of competent defenders in the front line of this last bastion of life. The General is said to be the greatest tactician known in the protected zone, certainly few will play him at chess. Prodigio town itself is highly fortified; it was built not long after the great wall was completed. Those that helped construct it were those who had been forced to fend off the undead on the incomplete wall and thus they knew the benefit of good defences. Consequently Prodigio was constructed in such a way that an attacker would lose the maximum possible troops before he took the city. As the protection of the Life Stone has held and no one has gone outside the wall in nearly two centuries the guard units of Prodigio have only had orc and ogre raids to occupy themselves. Such raids are common in this area because there are two ruins close by that orcs and ogres use as gathering places.

Reirox Town
By all rights Reirox town should be a city. Its population is great enough and it has all you would expect to find in the biggest of cities, but it remains a town for one good reason. Due to its location, most of the population is very transient and is made up of merchants. There are a large number of inns, alehouses and other places of entertainment in Rierox because of the high turnover of people. Consequently it also has a reasonably large guard company but they act predominantly as a police force because where a great many people gather, so do a great many thieves. The lord is Lord Hennel. He is a bitter man because he believes that his town should be elevated to city status like the great Halward and Dwartis Cities but the council have denied him time and again. As a result his rule is rather harsh as he takes his anger out on his population. Taxes are high and some less than agreeable laws have been made. This action has reinforced Reirox’s reputation as a place to pass through and not to remain in for any length of time.

Elmet Town
Elmet town has the potential to be a great city for it is close to both an elven and a dark elven trading town. However the ruler of this town and associated territories, one Lord Bolmer is a very laid back person. Quiet and without a hint of anger or malice in his voice or manner he is known to be a pushover by the other lords. The land he rules is much the same. Everything happens at much more of a relaxed pace than in the other large towns. In fact Elmet is a very nice place to relax and contemplate and is known for its thinkers and inventors. Even the odd explosion coming from a workshop does not seem to distract from the relaxed atmosphere in Elmet. Some say the elves put a spell on the ruling family here in order to make them more pliable, however this is only a story. It is said that the Bolmer family has a frightful temper if you can invoke it but as far as is known it has never happened. The laws are slightly more lax here as well. Only the laws decreed by the council are enforced and even then they do not always carry the required sentence the council set for them.

Escavon Town
While the dwarves do most of the mining, Escavon is a place where humans do so as well. It has a reasonably large population of the other races as well but they are nearly all miners or farmers. The Lord of this town was forced to work in a mine by his father because he believed it would shape him into a suitable leader. In the mines a wrong decision can mean the loss of life and the same can be said of a lord decisions. Consequently the current lord, Lord Malnear is very direct and some say dwarf like in his ruling style. He does not join in the political games often played by the lords; instead he makes his position clear and does not change his mind. Furthest from the Great Wall and quite a long way from orc and ogre ground Escavon has only a small company of guard but they are known for their toughness, most having worked in the mines for some years.

Crawgan Town
Miles from the nearest town, the population is mostly made up of farmers. Thus Crawgan is known as one of the best places to get crops, animals and other foodstuffs. The lord here is a very crafty individual. He is of the Kalent family who see themselves above ruling over farmers and long to take over the rule of one of the Cities. Power hungry is a good phrase to describe Lord Kalent. He seeks to marry the current ruler of Dwartis city, the Lady Tylin but she has proved unresponsive to his advances so far. Whether this is because she knows what he is truly after or whether she simply does not like him is unknown. Either way he feels as though he lacks power in his current position and will do almost anything to improve his standing and level of power. Due to this he treats his population like scum and will do little or nothing to help them if they need it. Instead he taxes them quite hard and pockets most of it

Halward City
The location of this city was chosen for one reason only, its proximity to the Life Stone. Originally it was the closest place you could build to the Life Stone but Halward has since expanded quite drastically. Owing to its location it attracted a large number of people and because of its reasonably central location it also became the largest trading centre for the protected zone. Consequently its rise to city status was assured. Another factor which helped was that the council decided to set up there and it has been the home of the Council of 14 ever since. Its current rulers are Lord and Lady Felgir who, because of the size of the city tax it little and still make large sums of money for themselves while providing carnivals and festivals for the population. This makes it one of the nicest places to live in which means even more people come to live here.

Dwartis City.
Ruled by the fair Lady Tylin Dwartis became a city because her family set up on the main trade route between the dwarven town of Ungart and Halward City. This meant that they effectively controlled the transport of dwarven made products. Another positive factor was that one of the elven settlements was also near by and they had to travel through Dwartis to get to the trading city of Halward. This meant that Dwartis quickly became known as the place to get fine dwarven and elven made products and so Dwartis became a city. Lady Tylin is known as a cunning yet fair ruler and several of the lords vie for her favour. This is partly because she is very beautiful but more probably because she is the ruler of Dwartis.

Before the Impossible war the humans controlled huge amounts of land and were constantly coming into conflict with other races over the cutting down of forests and the mining of minerals and such like. The humans were ruled over by a monarch. We only have detail of the last monarch to sit upon ‘the throne of ruler ship’, as the humans once knew it. Known as King Lars, he was a good, kind and brave king. Everyone liked him, which was unusual because humans always seem to have something to moan about. He was known for his acts of bravery and valour in the Impossible war, the war which also brought him death for he fell in the last battle. He struck the fatal blow on a mighty dark dragon who was slaughtering the army of light, but, in doing so was covered with the blood of the dark beast and was poisoned. Although he died he had an heir who took the throne for the brief time between the Impossible war and the Invasion of the Undead despite the fact he was only twelve. The palace was all but destroyed when the undead came and no one has any record of what happened to the child king. All that is known is that he did not make it to the safety of the protected zone and so, as far as we can tell, is dead.

The currency at the time before the war was known as the crown because it bore the head of the current human king. This currency became widespread and all races began to use it because it eased trading between the humans and other races. As a result of this the name has remained even today though we no longer use the minted coins.

Another human worthy of mention was the mage Calderon. He was the only survivor of all the mages who performed the ritual to create the Life Stone. No one is sure why he was spared the fate of the other mages, as at the time he was one of the oldest amongst them aged at some eighty years, but nevertheless he survived. When he realised that most of the magical lore had been lost between the invasion and the death of the other mages he immediately began work writing down as much information as he could on magical theories. He worked for almost fifty years at this. Since these events have come to light many people have asked how could a human live for over one hundred and thirty years? I am afraid that I cannot answer this for certain. Some say that he had a little elven blood in him and other say his magic sustained him, in truth I doubt we will ever know due to the events that followed. After fifty years of work Calderon believed that he had written as much as he knew on magical theories and spells so that the generations that followed would have some way of fighting the magic of the undead. He then took on four apprentices and started to teach them everything he could. All went well and the apprentices learned much until one day when Calderon unexpectedly sent his students home for a break in their studies. The four thought it very odd because they had not had a break for three years and then suddenly he sends them home. However they did as they were told and returned home for a well-deserved rest. Two weeks later, the students returned to continue their studies but when they entered the tower they realised that they could smell burning and ran to investigate. Upon entering the library where all of Calderons work was stored they saw a fire was burning the books and texts that he had written. Each student grabbed all that they could and fled the tower. As they ran the tower suddenly exploded violently. There was no sign of old Calderon and everything within the tower was destroyed. The four students went their separate ways and took with them the lore they had each saved.

Elves

The elves are a very long-lived race, the oldest of them living to over one thousand years of age. So it was because of this the elves were entrusted by the Council of Races to keep the histories and knowledge of the races. So much was lost when the undead invaded leaving us to know little of the world before that time, it was decided that we should retain what we could. The elves were granted the forested lands within the Life Stones area and they chose a new elven queen who has ruled them since. She has become known as the Silver Queen. She granted two worthy elves the honorary title of prince and gave them the position of managing the two smaller forested areas.

The first problem that the elves faced was that the humans and other races wanted quite a lot of wood in the early days in order to build new homes. The elves who had seen this problem before set about providing wood for them, rather than let them gather it themselves in an uncontrolled fashion. By doing this it seems the new queen proved to the surviving elves that they had chosen wisely and the elves now tend areas of growing woodland, planted to replace the wood given to the other races.

The elves now have three small towns built and maintained on the outskirts of each of the three forested areas they tend, Dimlit town, Traileat town and Soeltron town, These glorified villages are used as trading centres and diplomatic meeting points because the forest homes of the elves can be a little disconcerting to those not familiar with them. These towns are places where anyone can and does come and buy wood at very reasonable rates. It is against the law for anyone to cut their own wood in elven lands and breaking this law carries the death penalty as does hunting on elven lands.

The elves do not just maintain the three towns on the outskirts of their forests. They also have large communities deep within the forests themselves. Only the elves and a few they favour have ever seen these places and many who have tried to find them are not seen again. It is said that the trees hold great magic controlled by the elves and even an experienced woodsman may never find his way out again. The elves certainly are not known to kill interlopers. However the council went as far as to investigate the elven dwellings after some people complained that the elves main homes were kept too secret and that they must be up to something. In truth it seems the elves, when entrusted with the position of keepers of knowledge, take their position seriously and keep it securely within these forest citadels. They are more than happy to share this knowledge but they do not intend to fail in their task and hence the high levels of security.

Dark Elves

The Impossible war turned dark elf society upside down. For centuries their goddess had instructed them to fight against the elves as a hated foe then suddenly she is telling them to join them in the Impossible war. Some say the goddess saw the plans of the dark god Dergo and sought to stop him, others say she simply disliked him. The real reason will never be known as, like the other gods, she has turned her back on those who used to worship her. With this sudden change in her teachings before her disappearance the dark elf society was in uproar. Without their goddess the dark elves were in turmoil because they had always looked to her for guidance. Houses fought houses and the death toll was huge. Just as the society was getting back together the undead invaded and the dark elves were called to help fight them off. When they learned of the plan to create the Life Stone a number of them moved into tunnels under the area and set up a new society. They rigged the only tunnels into the area to collapse and then set about building. Soon after the Life Stone was created the council came to them and asked them if they wanted to join. Two dark elves were selected and became members of the council. The rest formed houses once more but they also formed a council from one member of each house and through this council they would solve their disputes. They retained their matriarchal society primarily because it was something they were familiar with. Soon after this a column of dark elf refugees poured in to the area from other dark elf settlements. The undead had invaded their subterranean homes. When the dark elf council thought they could wait no longer they collapsed the tunnels, barring entry to their new home from the old passages. All went well for a short while but soon war erupted between the houses and the council fell apart. There was much fighting and many dark elves died. In the end two factions joined as one and overwhelmed the others, which brought an end to the fighting. The two factions then set up a new society for the dark elves with a Queen AND King chosen to rule over it. They had equal power and both had to agree. It seems that such a break with tradition was needed and the dark elven society has been stable ever since.

Shortly after all this was resolved the king and queen decided that a town above ground should be built to allow the dark elves to interact and trade with the surface world. The town was named Hatel after the king’s dead daughter. The items the dark elves had to trade were somewhat unusual as they came i to their own only in darkness and in daylight looked pretty ordinary. After little interest at first such items became a status symbol for the noble houses who loved such things and so the dark elves truly became a part of the protected zone.

The location of the surface town was chosen very carefully in order to allow them to build a relationship with the surface elves. They had been at odds with each other for so long it took a long time, neither side really trusting the other. Nevertheless it happened and the two races of elves now get along with a reasonable degree of peace. Unfortunately there are some on both sides who believe that the others should not be trusted and still follow the teachings of their gods but thankfully they are in the minority.

Dwarves
The dwarves were the backbone of the constructions, which had to be built after the Life Stone was created. There had been dwarves here for centuries before the area was chosen for the Life Stone and therefore a reasonably large contingent of them survived. In fact the only surface town that the dwarves maintain is named after their largest surviving clan, the Ungart clan. When the war came all of the clans, even the ones who were already in this area, sent a large band of warriors off to help. However because of the slow dwarven reproductive rate they were still rather under populated when the undead arrived and therefore were not of great help. Having said that many attribute the holding of the Great wall during the creation of the Life Stone predominantly to the presence of the dwarven workers. After the invasion there was a great mix of dwarves from all different clans that made their way to the protected zone. After a lot of discussion it was decided that the clan with the largest surviving number of members would be the ruling clan and the Ungart clan won by four dwarves. Despite this there seemed to be a lot of bickering between the clans over what they were entitled to. The Ungart chose a new king from their number and he set about resolving the issue. What he did was a little unorthodox. To a dwarf his clan name does not belong to him it belongs to his clan. If the dwarf ever does anything to dishonour his clan he is stripped of his clan name and made an outsider, never to return to dwarven society. The Ungart king formed a council from those who had been chosen to speak for each of the clans. He then stripped all dwarves of their clan names and made them all Ungarts. At first there was outrage, the new king had absorbed all of the other clans into his own. Slowly though the dwarves began to see that the king wanted to rule with the help of his council and they say that those who they had chosen to speak for them could, actually influence the king’s decisions so gradually things calmed down. As such the dwarven society has been stable ever since, the king rules with the aid of his council and all the dwarves are happy to be united as a single clan.

Ungart town is renowned for its metal goods. The weapons and armour crafted by the dwarves are famous although somewhat hard to come by. Because of Dwartis sitting on its main trade route, most of such items go there and are sold on. In many ways this suits the dwarves because they do not have to worry about transporting and selling the goods due to the merchants coming to them. Ungart has a large population of craftsmen from other races as well. Some come to try and learn from the dwarves, others just come for the raw materials. Either way its metal goods are known far and wide.

Orcs & Ogres

It was hard enough to get two members of each race to join and take part in council affairs so the idea of settling them down into towns was never even mentioned. Consequently most of them still live nomadic lives and still raid the farms and villages of other races for anything they need. The Guard try and dissuade them but over the years they have just become more cunning and harder to catch. There are four known gathering places for the orcs and ogres. Each is in the ruins of an old town that has been there since before the Lfe Sone was created. These places serve as points for the orcs and ogres to trade and enjoy themselves for there are many “recreational facilities” at these meeting places. Other than orcs and ogres only the brave or the stupid attempt to enter or trade here because they are violent and dangerous places.

No one really leads either of these races. Small groups are led by the strongest member of the groups

Lizard-Kin
The lizard-kin were already here when the Life Stone was created though not in such large numbers. The swamps were just the sort of place they liked to live and there was plenty of room for any refugees that entered the area during the war. When it became clear that they had no leader the battles to become Lizard King began. It cost the lives of a great many lizard-kin but it was the only way they knew how to decide their ruler. First the fights started in the villages, and then when the winner of each of these fights was decided they all got together and the final battles began. The only survivor was chosen and proclaimed the Lizard King. I shall not even attempt to name him here for lizard-kin names are not easy for anyone else to say or write.

The new king decided to split up the swamplands and set up others to rule over them for him. He chose the largest area and built the only permanent lizard-kin settlement. Named Ssliter Town it looks little more than a shantytown to the rest of us but to the lizard-kin it is the peak of their achievements. That is not to say that they are unintelligent or poor at making things instead think of what is actually available in the way of raw materials in a swamp and you will get the idea.

Lizard-kin society has been pretty stable since those times. There have been a number of complaints received by the council that they have conducted raids on nearby settlements and there are rumours that they actually eat people. However neither has ever been substantiated by the Council. Having said this these actions might be understandable in the light of the following. The only real crisis the lizard-kin have had to deal with is hunting. For some reason garments made of lizard skin became very popular among the more wealthy and the easiest supply was from the lizard-kin themselves. Naturally they fought back but because they only live in relatively small groups they were easy targets. It also did not help that their guard companies were rather small and unable to get to an attack until it was too late and it seemed that the attackers were well informed of the location of the guard companies. Even after the council banned hunting the lizard-kin and made it punishable by death the trade still continues. It has however become more of an underground activity and is even harder to trace and prevent. It still goes on even today with the culprits almost entirely being human and it is to the human lords and their families that most of the skins go, (although they seem to believe that they come from snakes).

One thing that should be noted about the lizard-kin is their relationship with fire. As they are a cold-blooded race they need warmth and so they find the magic of fire a very useful thing to have. In fact it is very uncommon for a lizard-kin to practice another form of elemental magic. It does happen but those who do tend to find it difficult to find teachers. Water magic is the one type of magic lizard-kin are unwilling to use or have used upon them because it revolves around coldness. Most of the communities have at least one mage, which the lizard-kin call red shaman. There is one community that is mostly made up of these red shamans and serves as the school for others. There are also other types of shaman in lizard-kin communities and all of the colours relate to either the skin of the user or the definition of the powers the shaman wield. The powers a lizard-kin uses can have strange effects on the colour of their skin. As you probably know, when a lizard-kin becomes the Lizard-King their skin turns a golden colour. Sometimes you will get a red skinned lizard-kin who has no magical power at all or you will get a white skinned lizard-kin who uses fire magic. However, in general the following holds true. A light soul caster often has white skin while the dark has black. A fire mage has red skin; earth mage brown and air mages have a pale blue skin. Most lizard men have green skin and sometime a deep blue. Having said this it is not a hard and fast rule

Other races
There were a great number of other creatures that inhabited the world that now lies in devastation. The Impossible war saw an end to many of them and the Invasion of the Undead pretty much finished off what remained. Of these races there were four that are worthy of mention purely because of their links with the elemental realms from which mages draw their magic. The close proximity of these elemental realms was bound to have an effect on the world in which we live in, especially as it is obvious that there is a link between these realms and ours. If there were no link then mages would have no power. The biggest effect that these realms had on our world was that there were four races that became strongly bound to each of the elemental realms, one race for each realm. First there were the creatures of fire, often referred to as the demons or the demonic race because of their appearance. They usually looked like great creatures with flames instead of hair and they could wield flame as if it was a simple tool. The name demons also stuck because they were not particularly nice, prone to violent outbursts of rage which could easily level small towns and villages, killing all within. Second there was the avian like race linked with the plane of air. They had the form of beautiful winged humanoids and because of this it is little surprise that they became known as angels or the angelic race, especially as they has a reputation for gentleness and caring for others. These two races played a chief role in the Impossible war, each taking opposing sides. The war seems to have proved to be the death of both races for neither has been seen since its end. As for the other two races, little is known. Firstly there are the leviathans or water based creatures. It is known that they had some part to play in the Impossible war but few, if any, are known to have been killed. Similarly the gargoyles or earth based creatures also did not take any great part in the war All that is known is that since the end of the war no one has seen these two races either. It is not believed that they were killed off like their fire and air counterparts had been but still there was no sign of them. Perhaps time will tell us what has become of them.

This next copy is very well thumbed....

The Elemental Realms

There are four known elemental realms which border and have links to our own world. It is from these realms that mages draw their magic and it is to these realms such magic eventually returns. Each realm is inhabited by creatures made up totally of the element from which the rest of the realm is created. Consequently these creatures are referred to as elementals.

Each of the elemental realms is ruled over by a house. There are anywhere between two and six houses warring over control of each plane at any one time. These houses are controlled by what has become known as greater elementals. Compared to a normal elemental these greater elementals are almost like gods in the power they wield. The lords of the elemental realms are always fighting for control of their realm and the balance of power shifts on a daily basis. Often these lords will involve unwitting mages to aid them in their battles. If one of these lords can be distracted or even be called into our world then it will leave his house vulnerable and another will take up control. It is only because mages can sometimes be useful that theses elemental lords made pacts with the first of them to allow mages to draw on elemental power.

Unfortunately when the mages drew the power to create the Life Stone they broke these pacts. The pacts stated that only a certain amount of elemental magic could be tied up in items. The reason for this is that there is only a finite amount of magic in the elemental realms and drawing too much of it severely weakens them. When a mage casts a spell the magic is used and then returns to the elemental realm from which is came. When it is bound in an item it cannot return and the realms weaken. If the realms weaken too much its dwellers die. The creation of the Life Stone drew on massive quantities of elemental magic and bound it into the stone. The stone may have protected the area against the undead and saved many lives but its cost on the elemental realms was devastating. Thousands of elementals perished in the ritual because there was not enough magic to sustain them and the remaining elementals were weakened terribly. The elemental lords who made the original pacts with the mortal mages sundered them. Although this did not stop mages from casting spells and learning spells it did do two things. Firstly it prevented them from creating any new spells. The creation of new spells required experimental manipulation of elemental magic. The greater elementals had tolerated this in the past, as it was part of the original agreement. Now however they would not permit it. This meant that mages were limited to the spells that had been saved from the undead invasion. The second thing the sundering of the pacts did was to prevent mages binding magic into items. This meant that mages could no longer make the very items that were so effective at killing the more powerful undead. A further division of this also made it impossible for mages to duplicate spells from spell books. If a mage failed to learn a spell and the magic escaped there would be no way to recover it. It can therefore safely be said that it is because of the destruction of these pacts with the elemental realms that mages have been unable to attain the levels of power that they once held. This combined with the fact they have jealously guarded the information they do have means that they are not likely to reach those levels again in the foreseeable future unless they can somehow win favour with the elemental lords once again and make new agreements.

Until that time the only thing the elemental lords do grant is favours. If you can do something that will aid an elemental house then its lord will grant a favour to the person who performs the deed. It is sometimes possible to ask an elemental lord for a favour in return for a deed but since the sundering of the original pacts the elementals have been understandably reluctant to offer a favour without payment in advance.

One thing that should be noted is that the knowledge of an elementals true name is believed to give power over the elemental. Therefore they guard their names very carefully and so no names will appear in the descriptions of the houses below.

The Realm of Fire
There are currently four houses fighting for control over the realm of fire. At present the Aimn house is in control. The elementals of fire are known for their violence and rage. They prefer open war to determine superiority.

The Realm of Air
There are only two houses in the realm of air at this time. Currently the house of Lyph is in control and has been for some time. It seems that rulers of the elemental plane of air are chosen by displays of art and beauty rather than by combat.

The Realm of Water
The House of Tares currently leads the realm of water. They caused a bit of a stir in the realm as the house was not known to have existed until they toppled the last rulers by surprise. There are now four houses known to be in existence in the realm of water. They prefer to use magic to determine the rulers of their realm

The Realm of Earth
There are currently three known houses in the realm of earth. The house of Dling is currently ruling over the realm. When a house wishes to try and topple the current ruler only the greater elemental that heads the attacking house takes part. A battle takes place between the two greater elementals and the winner is named ruler. Their battles are known to last many weeks as they are to prove endurance as much as strength.