History

The First Age: The Age of Friendship

Each race has their own legends on how Xentaria was created; how their gods were the ones that shaped the continents and formed the oceans, rivers and mountains. Truth is, no one really knows how it came into existence, but most historians agree on one thing: it started around 3283 years ago; a time that is considered the year 0 by most calendars. The dominant species during these times were Humans, Dwarves, Orcs, Aarakocra, and the Yuan-ti who seemed to adapt best to the mountain ranges, rivers, and forests the world provided back then. Since written texts in this era are as rare as a pretty goblin, not much is known about the history, culture and civilisation. The first major historical event, however, was the opening of the gates between the Xentarian plane and the Feywild, which is estimated to have taken place in the year 650. No one knows how it happend, but within a century hundreds of magical, mythical creatures arrived in Xentaria. Centaurs, fairies, dragons and the Elves started roaming the land and changing the distribution of power within the world. The Dwarves seemed to get along well with the new elvish arrivals and bonds of friendship were formed. In the following years, a big jump in magical, technological, and cultural development took place. All of that, however, was halted by the arrival of demons and elementals at the beginning of the second age.

The Second Age: The Age of Ice and Fire

The arrival of two mighty demigods in the year 1213 changed the world forever and started the ‘wars of ice and fire’ that would last for over a millennium. Dornoth, a demon lord from the deepest depths of the Abyss, and Iseria, the frozen genie of the elemental plane, chose this world as their new battleground. They raised armies of demons and elementals and fought for domination without any concern for the rest of the species living in this world. The mostly peaceful world was hit hard and unaware. Weaker races like Gnomes, Halflings, and Firbolgs were nearly wiped out immediately. The Dwarves started building tunnels and cities underground to escape the battles of fire and ice. Some of the Elves joined them while others fled to the western continent of Madara, where the fighting wasn’t as fierce. The Aarakocra hid deep in the eastern mountains, while the Yuan-ti tried to keep safe in their jungle temples. Only the Orcs and the Humans stayed on the open surface. The demon lord Dornoth offered power and riches to many Humans in exchange for their services and many accepted this offer. Those who didn’t were killed or enslaved. The Orcs on the other hand showed resistance, but were quickly captured and indoctrinated by the mighty demigoddess Iseria and were used as a tool for her war against the demons. During the next centuries war dominated Xentaria. The Dwarves, safe from the initial fighting, started to build what today is known as the ‘Way of the Depths’, a gigantic tunnel system that ranged through the whole world and even crossed continents. But when the demigods found out about their intricate underground system, they, too, wanted to use it for their troop movement. Iseria sent most of her troops into the underground cities of the dwarves, who now had to fight a terrible battle they never wanted to fight. Many, if not most, of the cities were lost and routes were destroyed, never to be rebuilt.

The world was split into two halves: the icy north, infested by elementals and Orcs, and the fiery south, captured by demons and Humans. The middle of Xentaria became home to endless violence and battles... at least until the beginning of the Third Age.

The Third Age: The Age of Revenge

It was the dragons who were the first to show real resistance in the year 1852. These mighty creatures initially appeared in the first age, but had purposefully stayed hidden and out of sight for most of the second age. In the chaos of another never-ending battle, they suddenly emerged from the ground, the oceans, the lakes, and the mountains, followed by armies of humanoid lizards, which later became known as the Dragonborn. They attacked both elementals and demons alike with such fierceness that for the first time in centuries the war between ice and fire was halted and shifted towards these mighty worms. Historians believe that the following ‘three party war’, as it is called today, was what gave the lesser races the opportunity to fight back. This, and their pact with the dragons. Thirteen heroes from different races emerged all over the world. These thirteen heroes became stronger and stronger, fighting initially in smaller groups, but soon grew to leading armies of their races against the hordes of demons and elementals. These heroes, or as they later were called ‘the new gods’, made pacts with the mightiest of the dragons. They started riding them into battles and slowly but surely drove their enemies back - the demons to the south, and the elementals to the north. Gaining ground, the leader of the dragons, Mextragon, opened a gate to the Feywild with the help of the heroes to allow more dragons to come into this world to help fight. Iseria soon appeared to be defeated and retreated far into the north, so the focus of the fight shifted to the south and to Dornoth. In ‘the battle of the desert’ the heroes managed to defeat the demon lord and ban him from this world. In the meanwhile, however, Iseria managed to steal herself through the portal to the Feywild and started to corrupt it with her dark icy magic, an event later known as ‘the fission’. The portal to the fairy world collapsed and trapped the demigoddess there, but not without first creating considerable damage to all the creatures connected to the Feywild. The dragons lost their ability to cast their supernatural magic and became shadows of what they used to be. Some hid back in the mountains and lakes of the world, while others became angry at their loss of power and started to blame the mortals. The elves lost their connection as well. While their lives previously spanned for many hundreds of years, now they began to develop a strange illness that drove them mad once they reached 150 years of age. This disease was later called the ‘elven lunacy’. But the war was over; the demigods were defeated and the heroes emerged victorious. And so began the fourth age.

The Fourth Age: The Age of Heroes

People say the year 2599 was the beginning of the age of heroes. With the end of the long war and the disappearance of most of the dragons the armies of dragonborn were shattered and leaderless. All other races that fought in the wars, like Elves, Dwarves and Humans were also deeply hurt and needed to rebuild. The century-long influence of the demons and elementals in this world however left their mark. In the south a mixed race of Humans and demons emerged, called the Tieflings. In the north, elemental humanoids called the Genasi were the reminders of the wars. The Orcs, no longer enslaved by Iseria, shook free of their former masters and found a new home in the north east, in a country named Karagon. They never truly recovered from this influence though and so Orcs (and to a lesser degree Half-orcs) are still heavily affected by the element of water or ice. The Dwarves, who had been almost completely driven out of their ‘Way of the Depths’, tried to rebuild the underground cities but the damage was done. Elementals and other wild and magical creatures had infested the deep roads and made it impossible to reconquer the underground. The thirteen heroes were celebrated from there on out as the saviours of the world and became risen gods in the following centuries after their deaths. They were called the new gods, each embodying certain abilities and traits. The world was divided into five kingdoms: Dornoth, the Cascian Empire, Karogon, Vultai and Iseria. The fourth age is ongoing - no historian has made any claims that the age is over or that a new age is in sight.