A World of Fantasy

The Craghorn Peaks of Onoria

Somewhere, somewhen, there is a wondrous realm. A realm of magic. A realm of dragons. And dungeons. And heroic adventurers overcoming tremendous obstacles in search of glory, treasure, or perhaps simply a good time. This world is made up of sprawling continents and trackless oceans. The portion we will concern ourselves with, for the moment, is the northeastern part of one of these continents; an area known simply as the Northlands.

The Northlands spans perhaps 1,200 miles from north to south and again as wide from east to west. Other civilized lands stretch thousands more miles to the south and west. Many hundreds of years ago there were great kingdoms in this region. Kingdoms of men such as Onoria, Ithilkar, Gorlavar and Tirask. The elven kingdom of Myrveen. And the dwarven realm of Barak Brannar, greatest of all the dwarf-holds, known to elves and men as the great Under-City of Aravesk. These were realms of great might and magic, rivaling the ancient southern realms in glory and accomplishment. Then began what the histories call the Elder Wars.

Here of old was the Kingdom of Ithilkar...

For reasons that are no longer clear, Onoria and Ithilkar went to war. Great battles were fought and devastating magics were cast in support of the respective armies. Men died in droves. The wars escalated. The leaders of these nations, determined to emerge victorious, became more and more desperate, unleashing ever rarer and more dangerous magics. First Tirask and then Gorlavar were pulled into the maelstrom of battle. Elves and dwarves, more inclined toward peace, were drawn inexorably into the conflict. The wars raged for more than a hundred years. Civilization in the Northlands began to break down while the southern realms looked on in horror and mobilized their own might for protection.

In pursuit of ultimate victory, all caution and reason were discarded. Celestial gates, abyssal vortexes and temporal rifts were opened, and all manner of supernatural and monstrous allies were brought into the world in the hopes that they could be bound to fight for one side or the other. Humanoid hordes were recruited, undead were created and enslaved, and every conceivable type of creature was bound to the will of the warring powers.

And then the power of the Elder nations began to crumble, and their ability control that which they had unleashed on the world began to fail.

Ruins of Tirask

In one final generation now known as the Cataclysm, that which would pass for civilization in the North ceased to exist. Monstrous hordes overran the land, sweeping the battered remnants of men, elves and dwarves before them. The Years of Darkness, lasting for centuries, began.

In the south, the might of the Florian Empire and the Kingdom of Burgaresh stood firm, forming a bulwark against the evil and chaos rampant in the Northlands. The few surviving enclaves of elves and dwarves retreated deep into their forests and mountains, and the once-glorious heirs of men either fled south and west to seek refuge in other lands or survived in small scattered groups, wandering the far northern wilderness as little more than barbarians.

During the Years of Darkness, civilization in the Northlands is reduced to scattered fortified cities and towns along the southern coasts, relying on the Florian Empire, Burgaresh and Larenthy for protection. Throughout these years, bands of warriors fight to stem the tide of chaos, but evil reigns in the Northlands for hundreds of years.

Eventually, the strength of the monstrous hordes began to wane, and when the southern kingdoms entered a period of famine, coupled with a prolonged civil war within the Florian Empire, men began to look to reclaim the lands and lost wealth of the Northlands in earnest. People began to move north, first adventurers and treasure seekers, but then farmers and settlers of all kinds. Immigration of men to the coastal towns and cities grew and slowly expanded the frontiers of civilization. Towns and cities were founded, some on the ruins of the Elder nations. Trade routes were re-established; new realms were founded and began to prosper.

The last 200 years have been an era of slow but steady progress in trying to reclaim the North. The surviving realms on the southern coast stabilized and expanded, and civilized lands have spread up the eastern coast. New kingdoms of Romney, Mercia and then Alsberg were founded, and independent towns and cities began to take root and prosper in other areas. Trade began to move through the region again, first primarily along the coastal roads, but then beginning to move further inland. As trade routes spread, settlements grew along with them.

While men have moved into the Northlands once again, much remains to be explored and conquered...