Prologue

Excerpted from:

The Book of The Risen God;

Of the beginning; Of the Races; And of the Rise of Drachon.

As all men know at the dawn of time, before The Races as we know them, did the Old Gods walk upon the world. Few were they in number. But great were the wonders they invoked. Built they the mountains; and cast they the heavens above them. Filled they the forests and seas with beasts and fishes. And lo were they pleased with their works. And at last, when they found their first creations complete, created they the Races as we know them today.

Valkyrie; The Forge Lord. God of smiths, and Dweller Beneath The Mountain, took up stone and carved from it the Dwarves. Took He then clay and breathed life into it. And thus created He, the Gnomes. Taught He both races to work metals. And great joy did He take in witnessing the wonders they wrought in celebration to their patron God. And at last, deep within the earth, and surrounded by his innovative children, was Valkyrie at last well pleased.

Asverion; He Who Sees. Aralethea; She Who Knows. And Dazrelas; The Weaver of Destiny. Known by their children as The High Triumvirate. Gathered They the elements of the world that bore patience, and timelessness. Brought They together The Heart of The Forests. And the last bulbs of Their first creation; The Fire Orchid. As well, brought They, the first waters of the great rivers of the world. And combining them with Their eternal song did They create the Elves. Gifted were they with unparalleled longevity. And seeing the promise Their new children held, given were they the first language of Magic. And in the depths of the unspoiled forests, surrounded by Their exquisite creations, were They at last well pleased.

Cylindria; The Mistress of Ire. Goddess of Jealousy and Revenge. Seeing the wonders being wrought by her fellows did gather the raw elements of the world. And binding them together, did She create The Dragons.

From fire did She sculpt Amoraxis; The Flame Tyrant. The first, and greatest of the Fire Dragons. From Ice made She Sharlomantria; The Frozen Matriarch. The eventual mate of Amoraxis.

From the Earth did She raise Zythrotura; The Gemmed Empress. Scaled and armored in all of the splendor the earth hides beneath her bosom. The great dragon which gifted The High Priest of Drachon his throne of silver, was of her Brood.

And from the Air did She spin the essence of the greatest of all Dragon kind. Golgarthorin; The Tempest Lord. Sire of The Storm Dragons. And most powerful of the Elder Races. And thus, surrounded by the unassailable, and magnificent results of Her work, was Cylindria sated, and well pleased with Her creations.

And though millennia have passed, some of the eldest of the Races claim Cylindria’s first four still slumber. Waiting for they know not what, before they reemerge, and once again claim dominion of all that they see.

The power and longevity of The Elder Races, did create many frictions however. The Elves self important superiority created clashes with their less fair neighbors, the Dwarves and Gnomes. The were viewed as beneath them. And were called The Ugly Folk, because of their toughened exteriors, which displayed the unyielding elements from whence they were created. And many a clash between the three occurred. With no one side ever being able to declare victory.

The Elves were strong in magic, and able to fend off their diminutive neighbors. But the Dwarves and Gnomes were hardy, and powerful, and able to withstand the onslaught of magic from the Elves. Doomed it seemed were they, to be forever stalled in that perpetual state of war. Until that is, The Dragons decided to join the fray.

The Dragons, beings as fierce as the forces that created them, did descend upon The Elder Races, and make war upon them all with a savage equality. The Brood of Amoraxis and Sharlomantria simply took from the lesser races that which they desired. And leaving only the bitter lament of the survivors in the wake of their passing. Vast were the hordes of The First Hatchlings. And bottomless did it seem was their hunger for plunder and war. And great were the sorrows that they wrought upon The Races.

The Brood of Golgarthorin, and Zythrotura were more noble than their rapacious, vain, and greedy cousins. And as such, less apt were they to vent their rage at the Lesser Races. Sadly though, to the Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes; one Dragon was much the same as another. And through that error drew they the devastating might of Storm and Earth down upon them. And with a single minded eruption of violence did The First Brood bring war to those whom had attacked them.

The ensuing centuries were dark, and grim. The violence of the Elder Wars was on a scale undreamed of. Horrific were the clashes of The Elder Races. And most of the surviving history of those tragic events have been colored by those who wrote it.

But what is known is; all of the Elder Races were nearly driven to extinction in those long savage centuries of war. The greatest cities of antiquity were laid waste. And nearly an entire generation of Dragon hatchlings were slaughtered in reprisal. And all feared that the end of the world they had come to love and cherish was all but inevitable.

But the Old Gods intervened. Valkyrie; fearing His children would be destroyed, did reach forth his hand and create within the Dwarves the Valkyrians. Those awe-inspiring shape changing berserkers known among the Clans as The Firstborn. And to their cousins, the Gnomes, did he grant them knowledge of arcane machines. The wondrous blending of magic and science that thus creates their amazing clockwork inventions to this day. And in so doing, did He ensure the safety and survival of his most precious of creations.

Seeing the success of Valkyrie’s children did The High Triumvirate bless their children as well. And reaching out with their combined will did they gift the Elves with the power to harness the very elemental essence of magic itself. And thus were the first Warlocks created. And thus were Elves finally equipped with the power to fend off the worst of Dragons rampage. And finally were they able to begin healing the woodland kingdoms they held so dear.

Through the gifts of their creators were the Elder Races finally able to come to an uneasy peace. The animosity, and racial hatred, that had been the utmost reason for The Elder Wars had not, however, been abolished. But was it instead cooled into a millennia long series of singular and isolated skirmishes. Serving only to perpetuate the tensions, and ill regards, between the Elder Races.

It was at this time that Mrynn; He Who Dwelt Alone. God of Foresight and Judgment did decide to take some portions of the gifts of all the Elder Races. And with those gifts, and with his ever patient hand, did he sculpt the race of Man.

To the far corners of the world did Mrynn cast his creation. Far to the north settled he the hardiest of Man. And gifted He some few of them with the Dwarven powers of the berserker. Fierce and strong were they. And though savage and unrelenting, lacked they that singular of the Valkyrian to alter their form for which they are so famous.

Upon the heart of the world, where the most hospitable climes do dominate, were placed the most numerous of His children. And gifted He them with both the language of magic. As well as that terrifying power granted only to Warlocks. The gifts granted to the race of Man were of lesser power than those granted to the Elder Races. And so to compensate, and allow them to become the balancing factor He had imagined when He did first conceive of them were they granted to greater numbers of His children than to the Elder Races.

Burned bright did the spark of Man; though early did it extinguish. And as such did the Younger Race become prolific beyond the measure of all of the Elder Races. And though sharing in them, it was not the gifts of the Elder Races that was Mrynn’s ultimate blessing. The greatest gift to Mrynn’s children was their ambition. For though were they vastly shorter lived than the Elder Races, were they able to create works to equal or, indeed, even surpass those of the Elder Races.