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The Age of Sorrow The story of Akrage must begin at some point, being an elf, I chose to begin my story with the Day of Light. The Day of Light occurred around 9000 years ago and is the day that the Elves, for unknown reasons, left the underworld city of Magareth and began their lives as surface dwellers. There are very few myths about Magareth and even fewer facts. It is known that the Elves did not leave the city willingly, and only a few dozen survived the escape. For almost a thousand years, the elves struggled with their new environment, and slowly, over many generations learned to adapt to forest life. In the year 1031, the elves made contact with the Halflings to the North for the first time. Nobody knows why it took a thousand years for this encounter to occur, but most assume it is because of the general timidness of the Halflings and the severe struggles of the Elves which kept them isolated in the center of the great forest. The day of this meeting is still celebrated every year in Halmack. Thus ended the age of Sorrow. The Age of Prosperity The Halflings are responsible for the next era in Elven history, The Age of Prosperity. For the next 4000 years, the elves thrived thanks to farming, house building, and hunting techniques taught by Halflings. The Elves also met the two other civilized races during this time, the Gnomes and the Dwarves. While bitter enemies to each other, the dwarves and gnomes quickly developed great friendships with the Elves. To this day, the only thing preventing a terrible war between the Gnomes and Dwarves are the Elves and the Halflings in Hope Valley. The Age of Humanity The Age of Prosperity ended as abruptly as it began. In the year 5280, the humans came. Never before seen in Akrage, the humans landed by the hundreds in the swamps to the south. They quickly set up encampments and began marching northward. A week after their landing, they invaded the first Elven city of Maharai. The elves had lived thousands of years without war; most weaponry was designed for hunting forest animals and was no match for the war machine of the humans. The humans quickly drove the elves completely out of forest, only a small fraction of the elf population survived. Most of the refugee elves fled to Halmack to live with the Halflings. The Dwarfs and Gnomes, at opposite ends of the peninsula prepared for war, while the Halflings in Halmack prepared for an inevitable invasion. As the Humans began the short march north to Malhack, the Gnomes and Dwarfs attacked from both sides. The humans were forced to retreat to the forest. For 200 years a stalemate continued; the humans unable to march northwards and the elves, halflings, gnomes and dwarves unable to penetrate the forest. Then they died… nobody knows why, but on one fateful day, the Dwarves again tested the human defenses, and to their surprise found little resistance. The Dwarves quickly marched through the forest to the Capital city of Telshehar and found only dead or sickly humans along the way. The closer they got to Telshehar, the less living humans they could find. When they reached the city, they found it completely void of life except for the children. Unfortunately, none of the Dwarves that originally freed Telshehar survived either. Myth has it that the humans had unblocked the passageway to the ancient city of Magareth and released a curse. When the Elves finally arrived, they found hundreds of dead human bodies and the passageway to Magareth hastily blocked. Nobody is sure if the humans or the dwarves blocked it, but whomever did, did not survive to tell the tale. The Age of Harmony The elves quickly moved back to their cities and began the cleanup. The strange ailment that affected the humans and the dwarf liberators was never seen again. The elves rebuilt their major cities and avoided the few abandoned human settlements in the forest, allowing them over years to decay to rubble. While very few adult humans survived, the human children were unaffected by the strange ailment. Both the dwarves and elves took the humans as slaves. Rumor has it that some children did manage to escape, and to this day, free humans eek out an existence in the swamps to the west of the forest. Most humans, however, are born slaves and die slaves. And that leads us to the modern era, almost 3000 years have passed since the Great Liberation. The Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings have all lived a peaceful coexistence in Akrage... Until suddenly, without warning or provacation, an undead army from the north overran the halfling villages of Gareb Sans and Hope Sans. Neither of the halfling villages had any defenses since the desert to the north expands beyond hope of travel. The unrelenting hordes of undead were able to overrun the halfling villages in a matter of hours. Reports from the battles claim that minutes after dying, the halflings would rise from the dead and join the attackers. Pale humans on horseback also are part of the invasion, but only appear well after the battle is decided. The Elven armies quickly organized and marched north to help the Halflings defend the city of Halmack. The undead legions began the slow march south, but unexplainable stopped less then a day from the halfling capital. The undead, numbering in the tens of thousands, have stood silently for over two years, only coming to 'life' to repel periodic attacks from the elves, dwarves or gnomes. Rarely a spy will make it all the way to one of the captured cities and report that the undead behavior is the same there, and the pale humans are no longer present. And that is our condition today. The entire Elven army is located on the northern side of Halmack awaiting the renewal of the attack. Both the reason for the invasion, and the reason for the pause, is a mystery… And so began, The Age of Shadows. So here we are, nearly three years later. The Shadow army still menacingly close to Halmack, the entire elven army living in encampments far to the north. The political wind at home has shifted, the King has 'retired' and given the throne to Prince Aramafea. A kingdom accustumed to being led by a mighty warrior, now finds itself under the control of a young, weak politician. Telshehar is in decline, the lack of a military presence has allowed the bad elements of society to grab power. Already the entire north side of town is under the control of three warlords. The only thing keeping them from taking more of the city is their hatred of each other. Creatures that normally hide deep in the forest, now find it safe to harrass our citizens. Many people openly criticize the new King, calling him weak, stating it is time to bring the soldiers back home. How long will we guard the halflings? When is our debt to them repayed? Recently King Aramafea made a stunning declaration… Any slave or prisoner that volunteers to serve the King shall be granted full freedom and pardon from crimes committed. No slave owner may prevent his slaves from volunteering, and no prisoner will be refused. And this is the world you wake up to... finally, at last, a chance for freedom. |