Lore and History

[sulldawga]

The Seven Ages of History:

The Age Before Time - For tens of thousands of years, mighty beasts ruled the planet Eon. Over time, many gained intelligence and began to exterminate the mindless ones. Dragons and giants ruled, while dinosaurs were made extinct by their depredations. Eon had one massive continent straddling the equator called Archea. It also had many smaller islands to the north and south. The largest one in the north was called Hesiod.

The Age of Giants - Giants lived in the hills and mountains of Hesiod, and the dwarves toiled as slaves for them, mining gems and ore underground. 2,000 years ago, the dwarves gained the strength to overthrow their masters and emerge onto the surface as free beings.

The Age of Dragons - It was not long before the dwarves were joined by other humanoids. 1,500 years ago, elves emerged from deep below the surface in the forests of central Hesiod. They too were slaves, but to dragons who ruled the Underdark. Their dragon masters pursued them but, with the help of the dwarves, the dragons were defeated and the elves made Hesiod their home.

The Age of Sorcery - 1,000 years ago, Men emerged on the continent of Archea. Their origins are shrouded in mystery but most assume the gods created them once it became clear the giants and dragons would not worship them. The Age ended 200 years ago when mighty human sorcerer-kings trafficked in forces beyond even their comprehension, in a misguided attempt to gain immortality and join the gods. The resultant Cataclysm shattered Archea, and many Men scattered to the four corners of the world to discover lands yet untrodden by human boots.

The Age of Piracy - One of the reasons why Men had never discovered Hesiod is because of the predatory Halfling pirates who sailed the oceans around Archea. When the Cataclysm scattered the remnants of the Empire, the chaos that ensued was terrible enough that Men risked their lives on the high seas in order to find a new home. For 50 years, Men and Halflings hunted each other's ships in the Great Northern Sea. Eventually four Lords of Men discovered and settled the western part of Hesiod.

The Age of Heroes - 150 years ago, Men roamed across Hesiod. They settled all along the Blackwater River, which ran from the mountains of the far north down to the southern shore of Hesiod. One family, the Damirondes, through conquest and marriage, united the nobles on the western side of the Blackwater and became Kings. Their subjects, the Harrowden, Sele, and Taunton families, settled the eastern shores of the Blackwater and became known as the Barons of the Line, as their Baronies lined up north to south along the river.

The Kingdom of Damironde made peace with the dwarves in the Duchy of Krunbar, and assisted them in their never-ending struggle against the giants and their kin (e.g. ogres, trolls, etc). They made peace with the elves in the GreatForest of Eyr Hanad, and aided them in their never-ending struggle against the dragons and their kin (e.g. lizardmen, troglodytes, etc). They settled into an uneasy truce with the Halfling pirates, many of whom settled in the southeast portion of Hesiod and declared it the Barony of Sesterly.

The Age of Steel - 10 years ago, rumors spread across the Kingdom of an army gathering in the northeastern portion of Hesiod. The Badlands, as they were colloquially known, ended up being the home base of a man known only as the Chaos Mage. With power rivalling the sorcerer-kings of the Age of Sorcery, he sought to subvert the Laws of Nature and create an army with which he could conquer all of Eon. The Chaos Mage had researched a ritual that enabled him to transform humanoids and beasts into weapons of war. Men became Bugbears, Halflings became Goblins, Elves became Hobgoblins, and Dwarves became Orcs. Dogs were turned into Gnolls and bulls morphed into Minotaurs. For five years, war raged across Hesiod. The forces of Men, Dwarves, and Elves seemed powerless to stop the tide of the Transformed Army. The Chaos Mage carved a six mile wide path of destruction through the GreatForest on his way to the Damironde capital city of Portus Felix. Finally, with the enemy poised to cross the Blackwater and sack Portus Felix, the King and his two brothers, along with his Queen, led the last of the allies in a battle that stopped the Transformed Army in its tracks, while a strike force of powerful adventurers confronted and slew the Chaos Mage. With the death of the Chaos Mage, the Transformed Army collapsed and began a pell-mell retreat in all directions. Alas, the victory at the Battle of the Bridge cost the life of the King and his brothers.

The Aftermath - Five years after the Battle of the Bridge, the widowed Queen Morwen 'Blackarm' struggles to rebuild the Kingdom. The Barons of the Line have flooded Portus Felix with spies, seeking to learn the Queen's weaknesses in order to assume the throne themselves. Remnants of the Transformed Army are everywhere, terrorizing villages and harassing traders. Mercenary bands roam the countryside, reconsidering their loyalty to the Crown. The Church of the Tetrad, priests of the four gods of Man, is stepping into the power vacuum to claim more temporal influence. The Elves and Dwarves have become more wary of Men, having seen the damage done by the Chaos Mage up close and personal. And who knows how long it will be before the Halflings return to their marauding ways?

It is in this uncertain time that your band of adventurers decides to seek fame and fortune!

[sulldawga]

Caelestis - Goddess of the Sky (Air, Moon)
Invictus - God of War (Fire)
Tellus - God of the Earth (Agriculture)
Fortuna - Goddess of Luck (Fortune, Civilization, Water)

[sulldawga]

There are four language trees on Eon:

Common - the language of Men. There are older versions of Common and anyone who speaks the modern version has a chance to comprehend speech or writing in an older version, depending on age and obscurity of the dialect.

Halfling - the language of halflings, unsurprisingly. There are no other known branches of language on that tree, as halflings rarely breed with other species and they have never been slavers or slaves.

Giant - all giants, from hill to storm, speak the same language. Other languages on this tree include Dwarvish, Troll, and Ogre.

Dragon - all dragons, from red to gold, speak the same language. Other languages on this tree include Elvish, Lizardman, and Troglodyte.

A speaker of one language can communicate basic thoughts in a language one branch away, and has a chance to understand the basics in languages two branches away. For example:

A Dwarvish speaker is one branch away from Giant and two branches away from Troll and Ogre.
An Elvish speaker is one branch away from Dragon and two branches away from Lizardman and Troglodyte.

Transformed soldiers speak the language they knew before transformation (e.g. Goblins speak Halfling). Minotaurs and Gnolls, having been beasts before the transformation, speak their own languages.