Prologue

Last Updated: 2018-11-2

 

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World History

 

The history of Siliar, as recorded by the elves, spans just less than 5000 years when this story begins. Set in Perandis Sheen, more specifically the eastern realms thereof, the events of the book revolve around the struggles for power in a world where stability had been recently sundered.

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Over the years of history, the greed of men had led to formation of many organizations that sought one way or another to control the lives of the people of Siliar—to rule them, most often, in a way as to increase their own wealth and power at the expense of those they tried to control. Over time these groups had vied for domination and for numerous seasons, they had varying degrees of success.

 

The people of Siliar discovered in themselves, access to a power they called magic. Over the centuries, with the help of the race of elves, who themselves were able users of the power, the men and women of Siliar developed many wonderful, but also terrible, uses for magic. One such use was to bring to Siliar races from other worlds as slaves to do their bidding. Where some thought no ill in the slavery of other races, others took exception and more than one war was fought for the liberation and freedom of these conscripts. Thus, control for the world of Siliar, even for small areas thereof, was contested through the ages by humans, elves, dwarves, baines, goblins, gralls, giants, and kobolds. And dragons.

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There was a period of time in the history where the pride and spite of one group of wizards and mages led to the introduction of the highly intelligent and magically powerful dragons into the world of Siliar with the thought their might could be used to subdue any who opposed them. Yet, the dragons had ambitions of their own and secretly waited until a time when their numbers were enough to turn on their would-be masters making slaves of them instead. Years of great struggle followed and the vast Dragon Gates were built by dragons to pour their kindred into Siliar. Hope for the other races seemed dismal as man, baine, goblin, elf, dwarf, giant, grall, and kobold, united as one for the only time in history, fought the might of the Dragon Lords, and sought to close the gates from which they came.

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It was, ironically, the smallest and least powerful of the races, the kobolds, whose natural ability at stealth and instinctive passion for collecting things — for gathering, as they call it — led to the closing of the Dragon Gates and the first hint of hope for victory. Knowing not what they were doing and forgotten to the chaos of the Dragon War, a party of Kobolds came upon an item that they fancied and “gathered it.” That item turned out to be the singular “shaping stone” that manifested the dragons’ magic power into a portal to the Dragon World. Without it, the portal could not be opened and in time, the combined efforts of the races prevailed.

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The few dragons that remained were scattered, as were the races that fought to defeat them. Quickly, the recollection of their cooperation faded and, displaced from former realms, the races again and thereafter struggled to control territory in which they could live in peace.

At last, in the year 4550, peace came to the continent of Perandis Sheen. A great leader of men and nations emerged with a pure heart and a convincing way. He set out to bring peace, at first to his own realm, then to the areas around it. From there he extended the realm far and wide. After many years of labor he was able to unite for the mutual good of all, the kingdoms that spanned all the lands of Perandis Sheen.

 

Recent History of Perandis Sheen

 

That peace was preserved for just over two-hundred years from 4657 until 4858, until the aftermath of a catastrophic series of geological events led to the fall of the Empire. In the years that followed, the struggles to master the realms of the former empire resulted in much conflict and pain. Finally, a lull fell over Perandis Sheen once more, divided by then into many small kingdoms that had exhausted many resources in securing themselves from the ill will of others.

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Perandis Sheen’s fall began with a tremendous earthquake to the east that was felt half a continent away. The earthquake was followed by seemingly endless volcanic eruptions that shook the very foundations of the land itself and blackened the sky with ash. Thousands upon thousands died in the initial disaster, but the days that followed were worse by far. Beyond those who died during the calamity many more followed in the first days afterwards. Unable to tend the dead, the living were stricken with disease and all manner of sickness resulting from the filth from the mounting carnage. So desperate was the cause that hundreds of dead across Perandis Sheen were buried in great mounds each day.

 

The summer which followed that dreadful spring was a disaster of enormous proportion, too; first the weather was too cold for the crops planted early, then the heavens poured forth rain in great quantity and rotted in the ground, those crops that had sprouted. The crops that year were all but lost, and famine ran rampant across all the lands of Siliar, foreshadowing the end for the glorious empire in Perandis Sheen.

 

The hard and difficult conditions left the people of the empire distraught, and they grew angry and violent. Seeking any means of subsistence, those yet strong took from the weak what they could. Those wicked oppressors, hunted and punished by the authorities, banded together and great wars broke out between the rebels and the empire. In other places, driven by greed or need, city attacked city, towns joined together to attack other towns and when all was finally settled, the empire had disintegrated. Smaller Kingdoms organized independently and what had once been a great empire, by some reckoning the greatest in Siliar history, was no more.

 

However, where those whose lives had been destroyed by the fall of the empire had by necessity been hasty in building kingdoms and convenient alliances, others in Siliar had spent the years since the fall of the Perandis Sheen Empire in 4860 watching from afar, weaving plans, and lying in wait for such chances that might come to them.