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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 3007541" data-attributes="member: 467">NOTE: I am terrible at coming up with names.  People, places, things  -- it doesn't matter.  They all sound like horrible made up bargain bin fantasy.  rather than fret over it, though, I am just going to use the ones that come to mind.  If you have an alternate suggestion, let me know.HISTORYThe Birth of the Dragons: When the world was created, and by whose hand, is a mystery long lost to the depth of time.  What is known is that the Dragons – immortal and powerful beyond measure – were the first born of the races.  They emerged on the continent of Abyscor car to the south, an enormous land of jagged peaks, deep forests and sprawling deserts.  They remained there, mastering their domain and ignoring the rest of the world – including the birth of the Mortal Races: men, dwarves, elves, goblinoids, giants and others.Ten Thousand Years Ago: In the earliest days of the civilizations of the mortal races, the first great war was fought.  For uncounted millenia, the elves of the forests, the dwarves of the hills and mountains and the men of the plains and deserts had contended with orcs, giants and ogres, respectively, for land and resources.  These savage races were physically superior and quick to breed and the very first kings and priests of the elves, dwarves and men knew that they must be defeated.  Before this time, the three races had little contact with one another.  But under the threat of the savage hordes, they joined forces.  The dwarves taught the forging of iron to men and elves; the elves taught mastery of magic to men and dwarves; and men taught the elves and dwarves respect for – and the ability to channel power from – the gods.  Together, the trinity drove the orcs, ogres and giants back, pushing them ac ross the narrow land bridge that led to Abyscor.  The trinity prayed and drew upon mystical might and the land bridge was destroyed, forever trapping the orcs, ogres and giants on Abyscor.Eight Thousand Years Ago: After millenia of observing – and occasionally hunting – these strange immigrants, many of the dragons of Abyscor chose to become masters over these lesser, mortal races.  The first Orc Empire rose in service of the Dragons shortly thereafter.Five Thousand Years Ago: The long friendship and alliance among elves, dwarves and men frayed with the the emergence of the Goblin King.  Not evil like the orcs and their kin, the goblins were merchants and swindlers who sought the benefit from the resources – and gullibility – of the other races.  As kings and emperors rose and fell among the trinity, the goblins changed alliances and worked deals to their best advantage.  Their guile – and some would say treachery – led to a great war among the trinity that would push civilization back thousands of years and forever shatter the friendship that had been forged in the first great war against the orcs, ogres and giants.  Meanwhile, the goblins profitted, as rthey would for centuries more, as greed and nationalism overcame the trinity.  The elves in particular were offended by these events and became insular and unwelcoming, dealing with humans and others only when the need was dire or the advantages great.Three Thousand Years Ago: After five thousand years, the first Orc Empire is crushed and its population nearly obliterated.  The reason is unknown, though it is believed that the Dragons felt threatened by the Empire and chose to destroy it before it could challenge their superiority of Abyscor.  Orcs degenerated back to their earlier ways, living wherever they could scratch a living from the land or its inhabitants.Twenty-Five Hundred Years Ago: The War of The Right begins when dwarves attempt to excavate a tunnel – for a trade route – through a mountain claimed by the elves.  Soon, men and goblins are drawn into the conflict as well and war rages for a century.  Ultimately, the gods themselves intervene – disgusted by the actions of their worshipers, they abandon the world entirely and warn of an even greater punishment to come.  The mortal races fail this test by scorning the gods, rather than supplicating to them.Two Thousand Years Ago: The Great Catastrophe occurs.  Few records explain the nature of the catastrophe, but one thing is known: it was so destructive that all the mortal races fled the greater world in fear.  Over the next two centuries, Abyscor saw an influx of refugees and migrants of all the mortal races – not just the men and elves and dwarves and goblins, but many lesser races as well.  After two hundred years, the refugees stopped coming and none who left Abyscor for the outer world returned.  Whether all had been destroyed or some divine wrath had erected a wall around Abyscor is unknown.Fifteen Hundred  Years Ago: Despite the trials of living on the new continent of Abyscor, civilizations begin to grow, usually in the form of city states established by one immigrant culture or another.  While the threat of raids by orcs, ogres and goblins is great, and many lesser cities are destroyed by these raids, the stronger cultures flourish.  Meanwhile, the Dragons observe with interest but do not intervene.  Among the city-states, one grows to prominence: Babyrost.  Ruled by powerful wizards who consort with fiends, Babyrost quickly emerges as the most influential – economically, militarily and magically – of the nascent Abyscor civilizations and dominates the continent – or at least the settles coastal region – for the next thousand years.One Thousand Years Ago: At the height of Babyrost's might, the city state of Halifar – righteous and pure and dedicated the gods that had abandoned the mortal races – wages war against the demonologist empire.  For over a century, their knights raid the fortresses and towers of the ranking wizard-lords of Babyrost.  Finally, the Wizard-Kings – nine sorcerers of supreme might that rule in a cabal – vote to destroy Halifar.  The city is reduced to a ruin in less than a day by fiendish armies.  The dragons of Abyscor take notice and begin to consider the dangers posed by the mortal races.Five Hundred Years Ago: After long study and debate, the dragons of Abyscor decide to eliminate the threat of the wizard ruled empire of Babyrost.  Hordes of servitors – orcs, ogres and gaints, as well as many strange monsters mastered or even created by the dragons – march upon Babyrost and its many client cities.  The dragons themselves join the battle when Babyrost proves to be an enwemy not so easily destroyed as the orcish empire thousands of years before.  Over nearly a century of fighting, the Babyrost empire is destroyed.  The city itself, however, manages to survive, if barely.  Viewing the threat overcome, the dragons return to their polar lairs.  Mortal civilization is nearly destroyed, but manages to crawl along and heal.One Hundred Years Ago:  The wounds of the destruction of Babyrost heal and the individual city states of Abyscor emerge from the ashes.  The goblin merchant-princes of Gezerak reopen trade routes, ushering in an era of commerce not seen since the fall of Babyrost.  Any and all attempts at creating nations and empires are quickly quashed, however and the city-state – and whatever surrounding areas can be controlled – become the standard of civilization in Abyscor.Now: Civilization moves forward, though the heights of ages past are long lost and perhaps forgotten.  The mortal races – elves and dwarves and men and goblins, in particlar – exist in homgeneous city states and have little trust – but much use – for one another.  The ruins of the empire of the Babyrost wizard-kings litter the land, and even greater secrets and treasures of the first Orc Empire can be found deep in Abyscor.  The dragons have turned a blind eye to the mortal races, believing their spirits broken by the destruction of their “greatest” empire.  Meanwhile, monsters prowl the wild places between the city-states and the orcs, ogres and giants constantly threaten the unstable city-states, threatening to forever end the promise of civilization.  Heroes that can cross the land and sea between the city states, who can uncover the lost treasures of ancient empires, who can redeem the mortal races in the eyes of the gods or who can strike at the dragon master of Abyscor while they sleep will be forever immortalized in the annals of Abyscor.</blockquote>

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