Prologue

Many empires have risen, fallen, and been forgotten throughout Orris Kayn's long history. Diverse indeed have been the races of beings who ruled supreme over this land, each for their appointed time. Previous to the rise of Humankind, the most recent of these reigns was that of the True Elves.

The Final, or Twenty First Elvish Emirate, the most recent and shortest lived of the Elvish Empires, lasted a mere twenty thousand years. By its end the dwindling of the Elvish race was nearing completion, and the various sub races of Humanity had risen from their more primitive ancestors.

To render the chronology of events more clearly, during comparatively recent times a most notable celestial event took place. A formerly unremarkable star situated almost on the celestial equator burst into short lived but spectacular brilliance. This event, visible as it was from all parts of Orris Kayn, was seized upon by local historians as a means to regularize the dating of events.

Thus, the fall of the Final Elvish Emirate has been given the approximate dating of Nine Thousand BFS (Before Fraggen's Star). Between this date, and the rise of the Klaamett Theocracy in 4586 BFS (within plus or minus seventeen years), there occurred the rise and fall of countless short lived Human empires and kingdoms, which warred and strove against each other with truly Barbarian enthusiasm.

The three and a half millennia of the Klaamett Theocracy gave Humanity its first semblance of a stable government. During its existence the basic Rules of Magic were formulated and codified as they applied to Humankind. Thus, in this era's final centuries each home had its quota of Magical appliances and devices, and potent Magical weapons could be owned by anyone who possessed sufficient coin.

The Klaamett Theocracy fell, swiftly and completely, but its disintegration was brought about by natural causes. One of the foremost of these was the 'Eclipse of Magic' that threw all of its systems into disarray. From about 2000 BFS to about 1500 BFS, all Magical spells and devices lost their potency. Most authorities are of the opinion that the stars moved into alignments that did not favor Magical forces. Whatever the reason, only during the last five centuries have the Magical Arts regained even a semblance of their normal potency.

In the year 938 BFS, Emperor Darvish the First proclaimed the founding of his Empire. He cannot truthfully be said to have conquered the Klaamett Theocracy. Rather, he forcibly organized the petty baronies and city states that remained after its collapse. The Darvish Empire saw the rise and perfection of a form of technology that owed little to what remained workable of Magical knowledge. This accomplishment served to almost completely erase the remnants of Arcane Lore from the memories and archives of modern man.

The fall of the Darvish Empire came from within. The decay of the Aristocracy, the proliferation of bureaucracies, the reduction of the middle classes, the rise of taxation to unbearable levels, and a turning away from practical matters to concentrate on abstract philosophies all contributed to reduce the Darvish Empire to a hollow shell of its former greatness.

The nominal date given for the fall of the Darvish Empire is 77 FS, when Darvish the Thirteenth, known to his subjects as 'Darvish the Who?' and to historians as Darvish the Last, was assassinated. The remains of the Darvish Empire immediately fragmented back into baronies and city states, similar to the situation before the rise of Darvish the First.

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