It is written....
Long ago, in the morning of the world, the mighty Elden Empire stretched as far as the eye could see. Forged with Power and with Art, the great Elden magisters crafted wondrous cities of silver and glass that dotted the landscape like the stars in the night sky. These cities, filled with innumerable artifacts of eldritch magic, were monuments to the power and glory of the Elden empire. Their masters, the Elden, were golden and beautiful and likened unto gods by the other races - the stone-skinned Trall and the winged fey Sprites. For two hundred thousand years, the Elden ruled all of Elberen; their power and glory unmatched in the world....
But all things end...
In their pride and in their folly, the Elden delved too greedily into the hidden secrets of magic. Too deeply did they grasp after arcane power, and the consequence of their lust was horrible beyond imagining. The Elden unleashed a great and terrible cataclysm of fire and magic that broke the world. Fire rained down from the heavens and eldritch energies sundered the world so that mountains were laid low and the mighty oceans poured in upon dry land. The dead outnumbered the living.
The Trall retreated beneath the earth, fleeing into dark labyrinths of caves revealed by the cataclysm. Never again would they look upon the sunlit lands as home.
The Sprites found themselves forever changed. Transformed by storms of magical energy, their beautiful wings fell from their diminutive bodies and did not grow back. In horror and fear, they fled to the newly-formed seas.
And the horribly few Elden who did not perish in the cataclysm they had unleashed? Their once glorious cities utterly destroyed and in ruins, the Elden fled into the wilderness to fight for survival in a world they no longer knew. The age of the Elden had ended.....
Now, it is four and a half thousand years since the Breaking of the World. The race of Man has emerged, and he has come out of the dark years to build a civilization of reason and knowledge. And, he has acquired some small skill with the deadly force known as magic.
Elsewhere in Elberen, the Trall have emerged from their caverns and they are powerful. The Sprites sail the seas and call the island of Corte their home. The Elden remain in the wild places of the world and live as a tribal people who seek to live with nature instead of seeking to tame it. These four races all share a destiny in the dangerous and magical world of Elberen. Their story continues to unfold...
What is your place in the tale?
