Tellus Efficiens

The world was not created by the gods; but it was irreversibly changed by them. Primordial gods filled the seas and raised the mountains. More gods arrived and crafted peoples and creatures that suited their nature. Good and evil, lawful and chaotic; the gods ruled over their creations for an age. They came into conflict with others, modified and taught their disciples, and eventually left the world.   You all grew up hearing stories from the Age of Legends. Heroes good and evil, monsters great and terrible. Dragonslayers, great magicians, the kings that forged the earliest nations, and the necromancers that tore them apart. As time passed the dragons of the world grew rich and powerful by enslaving those near their domains. Century after century their armies marched forth and expanded their dominion. Something had to be done before they ruled over all. The source of their near boundless intellect and charisma were called the Dragon Stones; 7 magical confluxes of multiplanar energy spread throughout the world. A grand alliance was formed to face the draconic armies in the field and destroy the dragon stones. Dragonfall, the day the dragons were finally defeated, is still celebrated today nearly 3 millennium later.   Thus began the First Age. An age of chaos filled with war and violence. Nations battled for resources and for survival. The wilderness remained untamed except for the sparse trading routes between cities. For 1,200 years the world remained in flux. Conflict between nations left cracks, cracks where the darkness of the world grew. The terror of a bygone age remained in the fragments of the Dragon Stones. Of these fragments, some were lost immediately after Dragonfall, others were put under heavy guard, and still more were hidden away. Suddenly they began disappearing. Assassinations and uprisings drove a wedge of suspicion in any fragile peace that was in the world. A Dracolich ,believing that her reassembled dragonstones and the disunity of others would ensure victory, came to power in a stunning campaign of undeath and fire. The emergence of such a threat united those who were so recently at war. A century of total war followed, ending in the destruction of the Dracolich and her armies. In the aftermath the dragonstone fragments were shattered into even smaller pieces, called shards. Instead of returning to the suspicion and conflict that predated the dracolich, the nations of the world decided that these shards be used to power magical gateways that connected all corners of the world.   So began the Second Age. An age of powerful magic, far reaching trade, and global unity. Now, 1800 years later, the powerful magics of the past have started to fade. The gateways that connected the world failed long before you were born. Global threats no longer unite the people of the world, but heroes still roam the land. Raiders from the underdark and monstrosities from the wilderness still threaten the lives of peaceful people the world over.