Smoke choked the skies, and She erupted at His touch. He began dipping His finger into the molten lava, swirling it in tiny circles. Each ripple of water circulated to cool the lava and turn it into a base of land. Soon, the lava and sea became just the right size, pleasing Him: It was no longer just a tiny, overlooked stretch of beach; it was now a masterpiece. Delighted with His first creation, He released a small gust of wind from his lips and covered the newly expanded isle with white sands.

Before He brought His hand back into the skies, He finished with a placement of a smattering of lush foliage and jungles, and blessed this isle for all who would eventually inhabit His land.

The newly dethroned ex-Master of the Gods, Ezeel, the Darkened God of Vengeance and Hatred, looked on from his Cage of Exile. Hissing, he broke free of his chains and barriers, and raced down to the island with his leathery wings and cursed it: "Any and all who come to this land shall feel Mine Wrath". A wicked grin etched his hollowed features as he chose a glorious, inviting waterfall: He cursed its natural, crisp waters to carry Madness and instill a desire for the taste of human and elven flesh to any who drank from it. He then began a wild dash across the skies, taking under his wings all he could carry of the diseased, deranged and other outcasted misfits of society who worshipped him, depositing them unto Khlamar's gem. Ezeel's legend also credits him with the creation of the Ogre and Dragon races.

Bahyrah, Khlamar's mother, the reigning Goddess of beauty and innocence, gasped as she bore witness to this. Dispatching her armies to recapture Ezeel, she hurriedly began to try to minimize, or at least counteract, Ezeel's damage, by sprinkling a rain of potions and herbs to soothe the madness. She also added the animal life, as companions to the misfits, to allow them friendly beasts as protectors and pets both, as well as wild animals for food. She made it rain for many days and nights, but as we have learned through time, she could not fully stop the evil. No one God or Goddess could: This would have disrupted a natural balance.

Bahyrah's swift action brought the attentions of a rival goddess, and She and was not about to sit idly. Ezeel's daughter, Cryptia, the absconded goddess of corruption and pain, sought to retaliate. She created plagues and nightmares, as well as scorpions, poisonous snakes and the sharks of the waters. She is also, as legend tells, the one who created dwarves and Giants, sending them to the Isle to prey upon the other species.

The frenzy of work by the Gods and Goddesses piqued the curiosity of the final Goddess: Vaellara, goddess of mischief, happiness, and love, and she too was inspired to do something: But rather than choose a side of Dark or Light, she did what she could do best: She used some of her magic to add gorgeous, unique flowers, as well as some more whimsical-looking plants. She also created some of the most unusual, beloved species: The manatees, egrets and seals are said to be "Her Children." Giggling joyfully, she painted the isle with her brilliant palette: The waters a shocking blue. Enhancing the pure whiteness of the sand. The skies purple and vivid pink at night: That's all Vaellara's work. Legend also credits her as Creators of the fae and mer races.

Ezeel was not recaptured.

Centuries after Khlamar created His Isle, a young cartographer out on excursion, Lord Axalon Carazzi, discovered the lush, tropical island. Axalon was sent out by his brother, fully funded by his wealthy brother, Sir Alterio Carazzi, to find a more suitable place for the family's home and livelihoods. After a perfunctory exploration, Axalon found and claimed the island in the name of the House of Carazzi. Its location near the main channels of the ocean making for fairly rapid transportation by ship, weather permitting, to nearly any Mainland.

He explored a bit further and found not only freshwater springs, but the natural fruits and foods of the Island, as well as the animals to be hunted. What he didn't see was the ones watching him: The wild, native elves, who have the uncanny ability to blend with the foliage and conduct their surveillance unnoticed.

Axalon's return to the mainland with this news led to the family and chosen friends packing what they could carry, to set sail and begin anew. The moment Sir Knight Alterio Carazzi II's feet into the sand, he knew instinctively, "This is the place." A smile played over his features as he set his young daughter down to let her run a stretch of beach. As her giggles commingled with the sound of crashing surf and cries of the gulls, he looked to the bluffs and knew he'd have his manor built right where he saw the sun setting. The colonization began, perhaps prematurely; certainly something so picturesque and "perfect" had to be too good to be true.

And it was. Oh, how it was.

Hidden threats lurked, as well as those more obvious that went unnoticed in the glee, excitement, desperation and pure hope that -this- would be a 'forever' home; from the Sharken beasts, to disease, to the corrupt Silver Seaport Auxiliary Guard, from the darkness of greed and evils that severed civil relations and shortened lives, to the Volcano that gave birth the the Isle reclaiming and effectively destroying the Isle, claiming the bulk of the natives and hundreds of citizens, everything befell these onetime believers, who risked it all, inspired by one man's word: That of Alterio Carazzi II. Those that escaped, did so only with their lives.

Broken and battered, the refugees drifted aimlessly. Many opted for uncertainty rather than returning to their homelands (if in fact their homelands still stood; fires, floods, plagues, civil unrest and other dangers were commonplace in these Dark Times and none went unscathed or without consequence.) Achethe, the birthplace of many, was gripped in the times of the rule of Emperor Narciso Vyras, and was not an option for many; had they returned, it would be to face certain death.

Many died upon the ships, having been weakened by the choking smoke and ash, or through illness, sharken attack, and others took their lives; they survived the initial devastation but could not live with what was left to survivors: Seeming nothingness. The population continued to thin, but the strongest made it, many to Sapphiredge, a colony inhabited by S'leer (a form of lizard-human), predators upon those of human and elven races, it was later, painfully, learned.

Conditions were hard on the ships, but were about to get harder, especially having been acclimated to Isle life; for some, it was idyllic, a paradise, where hardship could not reach them. For others, it was a mix of joy and pain, a balance struck; for others, mostly painful, but not as bad as it could've been. There was an insular quality about Crystal Shores life that even those who weren't prosperous, who never felt quite "at home", long for. This may be an aftereffect of surviving the disaster: A longing for what never was quite as the mind recalls. A nostalgia, an ache, a yearning for what never can be reclaimed.