The Age of Power

Before man, before Time, before even the gods themselves, the mist of the Old Universe was home to only the Powers of Order and Chaos. Since Reason or Love had not been created, two Powers, Order (named Saroth) and Chaos (named Tholis), swore eternal hatred for the other. Saroth, with his Rod of Rule, and Tholis, with the Dice of Chance, struck blow after relentless blow on one another for uncountable millennia.

Time was born then, and its emergence signaled the first shift in the creation of a New Universe. The randomness of What Was began to take shape into something tangible: a Universe measured in Time, confined by Dimension, and filled with Matter.

As the Universe took on a naturally more ordered shape, Saroth’s blows became stronger. Sensing he held the upper hand, Saroth redoubled his attacks to be certain that Tholis could play no hand in the formation of the New Age.

Weakened by the unrelenting blows of his enemy and the shifting of natural events, Tholis had no choice but to allow his fate to be determined by Luck. He dropped his defenses, and waited for Saroth to strike….

Order landed a crippling blow. Chaos exploded into one million and one pieces, spreading the length of the Universe. Tholis, scattered to infinity, was no more. Saroth had nearly perished as well, for the explosion of Tholis had nearly consumed him. Staggering and weak, Order had no choice but to rest.

For epochs he slept, and in this time, the Universe underwent a change that nearly followed Saroth’s plan. Stars emerged, planets formed, and the Universe took on an Ordered shape.

Saroth did not, however, plan for his blood to mix with the Shards of Chaos and form a new race of beings. They were called Mortals…and their tales were to fill the books of the Second Age.

The Age of Mortals

Mortals were limited by finite understanding, but blessed with infinite feeling. Love and reason, ideas that never existed before, flourished because of this new race. Though fragile and linked to the matter of the Universe, mortals could rapidly change events on the cosmic level.

Settled in the material plane, mortals quickly proved their might. Magic, a force that could control nearly anything, was invented by a human named Sentiffin and was used to control the Elements--old minions of Tholis. The great Dwarven King Thorl Owmsbutt tamed the Universal Fire, marking the first time a mortal controlled it without Magic. The Elven nations revolted against their unjust, controlling gods and formed free, open societies. Hand in hand with these advances, virtue, emotion, and a sense of well being flourished. Mortals had acquired souls.

Perhaps this is what awoke Saroth (for it is said that the mortal soul is so unpredictable that it must hold a piece of Tholis inside it). Upon looking over the works of man, elf, and dwarf, Saroth first knew fear. This fear turned quickly to hatred.

Still wounded, Saroth knew he could not compete against these numerous and resilient mortals. He decided to assume a mortal shape. In this new shell (made from the same elements as the new Universe), his healing accelerated. Though not as powerful as his previous incarnation, this New spirit named Sariloth quickly amassed an army of beings to support him and his plan to unite the Universe in Rigid Order.

Upon the moment he arrived on the material plane, Sariloth found that his ancient enemy, Tholis, was not slain. If anything, the Spirit of Chaos was more present than ever. The most perfectly ordered system had enough Chaos within it to make it imperfect: a drop of water would never follow exactly the same path twice, an invincible army would sometimes be beaten by a far inferior foe, and planets would randomly, unexplainably decay in their orbits and be sucked into great holes in Space.

In fact, Tholis had learned the same valuable lesson as Saroth: mortality had great advantages. He had assumed a mortal body as well, and took the name of Thorolis, the Spirit of Chance. Since he could not stand toe-to-toe with Sariloth with hope of prevailing, he worked behind the scenes, complicating the smallest of battles and the largest of campaigns, Thorolis challenged Sariloth at every step.

While Thorolis acted seemingly out of pattern and as randomly as was his essence, Sariloth, in his namesake fashion, had formulated an intricate plan to wrest control over this New Age. In a Universe so rich with natural energy as the Universe of Mortals, Sariloth quickly devised a scheme to steal this power and fuel a final assault on Thorolis.

Sariloth fled to the Underworld, a nether region below a land named Farr that teemed with natural energy. Legends that Sariloth had taken residence in the Underworld spread among the mortals in the land above. Many pilgrims, zealots and fools went to the Lord of Order to appease him and earn a place within his ranks. None returned to the mortal world. Sariloth’s Underworld dominion soon became known as the Halls of the Dead.

Sariloth’s might did attract three great mortal powers who could aid him. These beings were made his lieutenants. An evil and powerful Wizard named Roska was first to join. He pledged his heart to the Lord of Order in return for a kingdom. Sariloth took his gift and his allegiance, and tasked him to begin producing a means to sap Farr of its energies. Kaidar, the Dark Elf, was also welcomed into the ranks of the Lord of Order. A trickster and mover of shadow, Kaidar provided the stealth and deception that Sariloth so badly needed to hide his plan from Thorolis. A final agent was the Dragon, Irastikaan. Fiery in temper and breath, she protected the Plan by brute force, quickly putting down any mortal uprising against Sariloth.

Their plan was terrible and destructive. With the help of Roska’s disembodied heart, Sariloth created eight stones of great magical power. Called Tapstones, the agents quietly placed one in each of Farr’s kingdoms. Slowly, these stones drained the essence of their respective lands. The natural Elemental powers, the powers of the Mortals, and even the powers of the Spirits who protected the land were slowly siphoned away to Sariloth.

Though allies joined Sariloth, enemies also heard of his plans (no doubt thanks to the ever-present hand of Thorolis). Wildevarr, the center land of Farr, had three powerful animal spirits-- a Trinity of raging stallions-- who also used the energy of the land. However, unlike Sariloth, they used these riches to protect the natural essence of the land.

These spirit steeds fought blow for blow against Sariloth until the hidden Tapstone began to sap them as well. Their strength ebbing and very near defeat, the Steeds took a chance on Luck. As Tholis did to Saroth eons before, the Steeds gave in to Luck and allowed themselves to be consumed by the Wildevarr Tapstone.

They disappeared from Farr and were thought consumed. As Luck would have it, they were not destroyed. They resided within the Stone, as did all of the energy stolen from the land. Again, Luck played another card. The Wildevarr Tapstone, the first constructed by Roska, had a flaw in its crystal makeup (most likely the hatred Roska held in his awful heart). The Steeds attacked the crack, and with their combined effort, they pierced the stone. The rightful energy returned to Wildevarr, and the crystal was destroyed completely.

Weak