Setting:Mosaic/History

The Chaos

Before the Creation there was no distinction of one from the other. There was the Chaos, but it had never been created, it had simply been. From the eternal uproar of the Chaos, the Essence arose.

Creation of the Realms

The Essence created the Golden Realm, the Shadow Realm and the Realm of Reality. The Essence thought it true, and so it was. The two Ethereal Realms encircled the sphere of Reality and reflected its firm existence. The Essence saw that the Realms influenced each other, and it was true.

Creation of the Races

In Reality, on the World, the Essence created races. The Merfolk to tend to the rivers, the Hillfolk to master the stone, the Things of the Forest to cure the woods, and the Centaurs to be shepherds of the animals. The Races could see the mirrors of Gold and Shadow, and Essence taught them how to shape Reality through the Ether. The Essence made itself part of its Creation, becoming the Nature of All and the Source of Magic.

Coming of the Humans

The Humans came from Outside of Creation - through the Chaos into Reality. The Races warred with them, but the Men could shape the Earth, guide the Water and cut the Forests, and so the Races soon learned not to engage Men outside their own element.

The Ancient Empires

Rapidly mastering the Mirrors, the first human civilizations created runes to channel magical energy from the Ethereal Realms. The Golden and Shadowy Mirror were drawn from in equal measure, as Men's greed became apparent. The ones known as the Blightlords settled at the very center of the World and decided scorch it of all other life. They made the Desert and spawned the Shifters from the Mermen. In the north, the Builders of the Dark Citadels understood the journey their spirits undertook through the cycle of death and rebirth, and through a dread ritual they would sever their souls and use an unnatural connection to drink deep from the Source. The Tower-kings dug deep and built high, channelling the essential power of Reality left by the Essence at the moment of Creation, using the runes to shape these immense energies.

Fall of the Ancients

The Blightlords were sealed in their tombs by their servants, the timeless empire being swallowed by the dunes they had created. The Dark Builders drifted further and further into the Shadow Mirror until Reality no longer mattered - they are now the Demon Lords of that dark domain, clawing at anyone greedy enough to draw upon the shadows for boons. The Tower-kings faded without any other trace than their windowless monuments, scores of their philosopher-princes and thinker-nobles ascending to lord over the Golden Realm, taking what the Dark Builders shrugged off as weak and insignificant. The Golden Gods are now worshipped by millions as granters of wishes and miracle-bestowers.

Coming of the Njord

From the cold seas, the Njord arrived, finding the runes awaiting their coming. With the power vested in them through the magic, they laid a quarter of the World under their dominion.

Old Njord Empire

The Njord gathered the pieces left after the Ancients left the world, making tribes and harmless villages into cities and fiefdoms, building roads and majestic buildings all over their world. Within its borders, new schools of magic were developed, but the Imperial Mages grew concerned that the magic would eventually grow to slip their grasp.

Fall of Njord

When magic reached the average masses of the Empire, the Njord soon found themselves in a civil war of a massive scale. To restore power, the Imperial Mages used little-understood and far too powerful Forms of Shadow Magic, resulting in the destruction of the Empire overnight. Its core realms lain under water and its people spread to the winds.

Second Empire

From the ashes of the Old Empire, rebel groups built a new capitol and formed a new nation. The nation grew into a great Second Empire, which eventually destroyed itself as its overstretched armies were sent to subjugate the other races - ending with the Empire having next to no military strength and collapsing to internal struggles.

State of the World

Today, the shards of the Njord Empires have spread civilization far and wide, most notably the merchants of Amenai - jewel of the desert.