The Story of Terra

I am Élan Shaw, son of Élan Shaw. I am a chronicler, like my father before me, and his father before him, and I will tell you the world as you should know it. It is common knowledge that history is written by the victor. Thus the burden of recording the truth falls to those who stand apart. We take no sides, cast no blame, and set down events as they happen, so they are never forgotten.


Terra is the true name of the world, blown upon the wind and whispered in the ears of the first children she nourished. This name has been forgotten and replaced by men, but her anger has caused them to remember it once more. Through out the ages mankind has not been alone. They have been accompanied by those they call The Others. Elves, dwarves, fey, and many more creatures as varied as the clouds in the sky, but they collectively call themselves The Children of Terra. Mankind broke his bonds to Terra in order to embrace progress and innovation. The Children remained in her embrace to draw upon her energy, Manna, to power their magic. This was the first division. Magic now had a rival, technology. As time passed and technology grew in sophistication and power, man's reliance upon magic dwindled, as did his connection to Terra.

For millennia there was peace between Man and Other, and unexpected blessing of their mutual arrogance. Others saw humans as an infantile race of those who were both short lived and short sighted, and kept themselves apart. Mankind chose to focus on his own destiny and ignored the existence of Others in all but the stories they told. Humans and Others were both content to leave one another to their own devices. Man brutalized man in one war after another for reasons of: religion, race, creed, and nation; while Other waged quiet wars of political maneuverings with few open conflicts, to gain position in the Courts of Light and Shadow that bound them all as one. That all changed during the second great war of Mankind, when the consequences of one decision changed the world and the course of history.

Technology had grown to a point where its potential rivaled magic, Mankind called it the Atomic Age. As with all things, it was used to violent ends and a terrible weapon was created. One nation used this weapon to deal a decisive blow against its enemy and end the war, but they did not stop there. A second weapon was deployed against the defeated nation to prove there was no hope of resistance. In the second flash of light that turned night into day, poisoning Terra as it burned life from her, human were not the only ones killed. As they had done during Man's first great war, The Others pulled their numbers together, took refuge behind magical barriers, and waited out the war as if it were a passing storm. One of these sanctuaries was hidden near the second city targeted by Man's weapon. The blast was so powerful that it destroyed the magical barriers, and everything they protected.

Enraged at Mankind's ignorant attack against not only them, but Terra herself, the Courts of Light and Shadow convened. For different reasons, two ruling bodies that were in constant opposition found common ground. The Court of Shadow sought revenge against Mankind for the countless lives ended. The Court of Light saw Mankind's irresponsible use of such power as a danger to both Terra and her Children. Unanimously both agreed, and declared war on Mankind. Orders were dispensed the world over, and as a unified force The Children of Terra informed humans of their transgression and attacked. It was the beginning a war that became known as the Great Conflagration.

Pit against a common enemy they did not understand, humans forgot their differences. Remnants of nations rose up to join those that had destroyed them, and old enemies forged new alliances to fight an enemy that had always been hidden among them. Taken by surprise, the initial loss of human life was staggering, but humans rallied and fought back using their superior numbers to their advantage. Territories were claimed and lines were drawn across which battles would be fought for over centuries to come. Generations were born and died knowing only a world embroiled in a drawn out war that did not end, so they marked time on both sides by its mutual beginnings. The first year of the war became known as 1 AC, After Conflagration.

In the 212 years that followed, The Others made advancements in magical warfare, pushing humans to the brink of defeat early on. Humans scrambled through what was left of their past for knowledge about their enemy, their strengths and their weaknesses. Through his desperation, Man rediscovered this connection to Terra and Magic. Even though new to this old power, humans learned quickly. Some rediscovered old roots and chose to nurture them, while others embraced Manna as something to be applied to improve their existing technology. The result was a resurgence of hope for Mankind, and a lasting stalemate.

Each side continued to grow in power, using the pauses in conflict to devise methods of dealing a decisive blow that their enemy would not survive, and each attempt was more devastating than the last. This vicious cycle continued until Terra herself could no longer endure the war and ended it. The constant abuse of war had finally caused the planet to come apart at the seams. The ground shook and opened, seas rose and consumed the land, mountains crumbled, and forests burned. Manna, Terra's life blood and source of magic, erupted in storms that raged across the land, killing Human and Other alike.

In a matter of days Terra accomplished what her quarreling children could not after two centuries. She put an end to the war. Both sides were decimated, the world that they knew was shattered, and they gained a mutual understanding. Terra was the victim of their war and without her there could be no victor. Mutually assured destruction was the only future war would bring. Begrudgingly both sides agreed to an uneasy peace so they could rebuild. It began a Dark Renaissance in which everyone struggled to survive Enlightenment.

The year is 222 AC, ten years after the Enlightenment, the global cataclysm that ended the war. The survivors of Mankind and Other, driven by scarce resources, have huddled themselves into great cities built from the remnants of what was destroyed. Even after a decade the pains of war and disaster are still felt. Old hatreds refuse to die, while younger generations try to coexist. People who knew only war, must now find new purpose or hold to the past. The ashes of the old world are scavenged for the means to build a new one, all the while Terra continues to rumble in anger.

.