Malifotarius, Great Magus, 209-570 A.C. (After Crossing)

Epoch of the Exodus:

These were the words of the great wizard Malifotarius to his people, who after the bitter exile from their own world dark with conquest and rampant destruction were completely awed at the sight of the green canyons, the grandiose forests and the mountains with their creamy snow peaked tops. All had just emerged from traveling the deep mysterious caverns of the Necromancer's Portal, stinking with the filth of cave beasts that they had fought so hard to reach the unwavering shimmer of a new sun. The Necromancer was someone to be feared who ruled their world with an iron fist even as they fled from it.

Malifotarius's people settled into the new lands with a will. They formed a peaceful community unto which the same quality of peace had been established like the new home around them in the deep forested valley. Many cast aside their weapons, sorcery and steel both, scorning the ways of war that was the law of their old world. The rose and leaf garlands were the important emblems now, no more of the blade and shield or the magus's book.

From the valley they spread onward and outward as generations of the Darenians grew. Thousands of years had passed since Malifotarius had led their forefathers on an exodus. They discovered the rolling, frothy oceans of Joice and Syloch, building ships to live, fish, and explore them as much as they pleased, and the many races of the harbor towns did well in delighting crowds of people.

Inland, tiny hamlets sprung up all over the face of Darenia beyond the mountains of the Taurius Valley, as it was now known. The rivers were bridged and rough earthy roads flocking with farmers and well-to-do merchants on horsed wagons and carts rumbled their way into growing cities that knew not the creation of the walls of fortresses for self-defense. A giant feasting hall occupied the space where a barracks would have been established. Festivals took up the size of what would have been battlefields, and from all over Darenia the motto was simple: eat, drink, and be merry, for thee shall live life to the fullest.

Magic was still practiced, but not spells of death and war. Healing spells, love charms, seed-spells and earth-spells were just a few of the new range of uses for magic that sprang out of four large, monolith stones, the MagiStones. They had been created to help draw the magic of Darenia, so that they need not try the hard way of drawing magic out of the earth but out of the stones. They grew to be the focal points of where energy was drawn to do magic.

Greed of the Necromancer:

Fully three thousand years went on, yet something had appeared in the very heart of the Taurius Valley. It blighted the entire land, shadowing it with its taint of evil so vile old Malifotarius would have sickened and made warding spells. To the peoples horror, the Portal to Darenia had been found! The Necromancer had come with a power-hungry thirst after it had stripped the old world dry.

Unaware, small pockets of people began to disappear. Dark armies appeared as if out of nowhere of rocky, gnarled trolls, goblins, evil sorcerers, spirits, and the walking undead with their sheer inhuman strength. Half of Darenia was conquered before the people realized what was going on. The tempering of weapons was rediscovered. Forges that made farmer's scythes and plows turned hot as spears, swords, shields, and all manner of weaponry were quickly banged into shape as the hammer fell on the cooling metals again and again. Secret ores with magical properties were found and mined. Seals to old, dusty books of magic were broken as soon-to-be mages feverishly read line after line of the powerful words.

A collective army gathered together from all the hamlets, cities, and coast towns into one huge force on the Plains of Glacias. It was known so for the ice-cold touch of the white flowers scattered all over the tall grass with their healing properties. Here they managed to train and gain knowledge of how to fight, even though they had only half-forgotten scrolls and books with quotes of techniques and illegible words. They needed all the lore they could lay their hands on, for the Necromancer was believed to be an invincible force.

The Necromancer was not the only one to find the portal. Aloof Elfadorians and battle-weary Dwarvos, accompanied by the blue skinned and fiery tempered Kisha'hala appeared and wreaked havoc to the Necromancer's vanguard, slaying as many and laying to rest the undead in a series of hit-and-run battles, for there were fewer of them in number. Their coalition was to create the Nethereal force, the same force that had fought the Necromancer time and time again in the old world.

War lasted for many years with few victories for the Darenians. Being unaccustomed to battle many brave warriors died at the onslaught of the Necromancers forces. The Nethereal force was the only thing keeping the evil hordes from comletely wiping out the meager Darenian resistance. In one last desperate attempt the mages of the Nethereal force blocked the portal temporarily to stem the flow the demon hordes. With the Necromancers reenforcements cutoff the Nethereal force and the Darenians massed one final assualt against the Necromancers main horde. They quickly sent out word to all scattered groups to join up in the Lost Vale for the final march.

Marching over hills and tramping the plains flat, the Darenian army was soon on the move. Many still carried the optimism that had been infectious in the land. Brass war drums beat a lively tattoo to keep already good spirits high. They marched led by no one but themselves, for they did not believe on dumping the burden of responsibility on one poor young recruit.

At the Taurius Valley they clashed. The Necromancer had his army set in a pincer formation, encircling the honorable Darenian force. Yet his army was frayed by the constant ambushes from the Nethereal force, and the Darenians managed to hold out by sheer stubbornness, though in doing so many brave soldiers fell to magical traps, skirmishes, or feeling the sharp edge of the enemy's offensive countermanding their defensive stand. A series of successful night raids made them bold and reckless, and at the dawn of a deceptively lazy day they charged into a sleepy foe. Though it is said that the undead never sleep, they nevertheless fell back under the onslaught of the renewed hope of Darenia.

Seeing his conquest in peril, the Necromancer attempted to cast a dark spell, a life-force stealer that would drain them until they were on the brink of death, and then his horde could just walk by and hack them to pieces. The battle-magus with the Elfadorians sensed it however and in a desperate attempt crashed his magical weaving to the ground. To the battle-magus and the Necromancer's surprise, the spell was diverted thus causing the Necromancers control of the undead to collapse, for the spell was a bane upon them while many of the living remained upright.

Not knowing what just had occurred since no mortal's magic could best him, the Necromancer made a desperate bid to gain the upper hand and gave the order for an all-out attack. Both sides fought until the ground was soaked with Darenian and foreign blood. This was what the Nethereal force was hoping for as the Kisha'hala sent arrow after arrow, thinning the enemy's ranks, and the Dwarvos simply laughed with grim satisfaction upon seeing them fall for their traps.

At last, the Necromancer was feeling the tide of defeat as victory slipped from under his feet. Sorcerers dropped their staffs and fled. Goblins shrieked and fled for the mountains. The trolls continued fighting, too stupid to realize that they had lost. Soon he was the only one left standing against a might army of inhabitants he had intended to make his slaves.

Snarling in bitter contempt, he wove a spell in the air. A cage of ice and unholy fire gathered around him. It prevented his enemies from reaching him, but in turn he could not attack them. It was as if he was placing a magical cocoon on himself. Everyone in the valley remembered his words screamed through the top of the quickly enfolding crystal of ice and fire. "Wyrms, you all are; curse you all! This shall not be the last of me. Hear me now, I am the Necromancer! I curse your land, blight your food, and shatter that magic in your hands! The day will come when I will return!"

Shattered Darenia:

The Taurius Valley erupted in a blinding volley of fire and brimstone. A giant earthquake shook the very bowels of the land, sending life a-toppling. Docile creatures and evergreen plants on the furthest islands that never knew of war sickened and died, and throughout the cursed land all magical artifacts were destroyed in a single gulf of destructive magic. The four great MagiStones, the large monoliths that held anchor all the magic of the land, shattered, and the shards flew every which way, releasing raw wild magic.

Yet the worse was to come. In cursing the land so, the Portal that the Nethereal force had come through closed with the force of a massive earthquake, only ten times the magnitude. Now they were not only cursed and suffering the most deadly earthquakes, but they were cut off from their homeland, ill though it was.

When the earthquakes stopped, Darenia was shattered into five large continents. Each race fled from the valley and occupied a continent as their own. It would be hard to carve a new life after the sudden war, and each one knew the hardships that lay ahead. Through the isles came whispered rumors on the wind. Pieces of MagiStone had been found up in the middle of a plateau on a mountain. More were in the smaller isles surrounding the south isle, now Fallough. It was said that the stones still contained a magical force. Rumor had it that when enough had been collected, there might be enough magic to make the land grow strong again. In a land that was stripped of its resources, their populations bleak, it was a great hope.

Adventurers competed and fought against the remnants of the Necromancers' army for the stones, for the stones could also be used for evil. Exploration began in earnest, and cities rose again. The new age had begun; the age of the Quest for Magic.