Chapter 1 - Humble Beginnings

Ah, Lithariya - a world of great possibility and awesome purpose. A land wandered by wondrous and terrible beings. A world deeply affected by the will of glorious gods and mortal machinations, perhaps a mere game to the former and life and death for the latter. A place of unlikely heroes, tragic villains, and, above all, a struggle to do what’s right. Now, to business. I am the historian Malzara Ayj-Iarud.

We recall 1219, a year when half of Lithariya blossomed under unprecedented technological advancement under the Pax Quinstella. Never before had the Northlands and Western Shores lived through such peace and prosperity. With progress came profit – for some. Stability however came with order, and with order discipline. Those unfortunate souls outside the Pax’ warm embrace suffered, with little recourse. The Untamed Lands, with the exception of Gnentrasa, a land of splendor and plenty, enjoyed but scraps of the Pax’s progress. Instead, the beastmen, giants, many elves, and other Untamed, live freely – for better or worse.

1219 is, as we all know, the date associated with the First Dawn. The story tells of an unlikely figure, Solim -the Liberator to some, the Betrayer to others – acquired the Thrice-Edged Ruin. He wielded this most powerful relic of divines and mortals against the gods themselves. The gods, refusing to relinquish their birthright, fought back against his insolence, invoking all of their domains against him. Oceans churned, the earth trembled, the sky burned as the gods unleashed angels and demons, nature and the cosmos. Victorious in his struggle by deceit, deception, or perhaps some other stroke of fate – Solim eternally sundered the gods’ power over Lithariya and its kith. A cloak of blinding light blanketed the land with brilliant radiance and changed the world forever. Whether the story is a convenient lie or a deep and painful truth, the legend is a popular and powerful one throughout Lithariya. However, there are few who know the true Chronicle of the First Dawn.

It begins in the Sixmonth on a warm and drizzly Godsday of an ascendant summer, three days before the full moon. An old Dwarven ship of practically antique design makes its approach in Ralgan under the growing glow of the city’s lighthouse illuminating the coast and waters against a brilliant golden lavender sunset in the West.