The Definitive World History
 
                                   by

                             Balzedok Tribel
                      Master Historian and Narrator

	Earliest recorded history shows scattered tribes across the
countryside. Northern tribes were nomadic, hunting animals in the tundra
and heading south during the winter. The mountain tribes of the mid-
latitude were stationary, setting up a complex network of caves and above
ground dwellings. Forest dwellers in the south made their homes high in
the trees. The plains dwellers were often seen as the same as northern
dwellers but there were distinct differences in the ways they had to
adapt to their environment.
	This was the age of the dawn of man. It was a time when mankind
was fighting for survival in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Solitary
humans could not exist, they had to form groups for protection and so the
landscape was spotted with hundreds of various clans. Every clan had
warriors for protection and occasionally to support the clan's interests
with the applied use of force. However, at this time clan vs. clan battles
were few and far between. The real dangers came from the various beasts
which roamed the countryside. Many did not pose much danger to the large
group. However, there were a few large animals and some beasts that
attacked en masse which could annihalate a clan if it was not well
protected.
	The groups managed to hang on, but barely. Several thousand years
passed and eventually the clans grew in size. With larger populus came more
social structuring and while years before all effort was centered on
protection and gathering food, more people allowed for the development
of intelligent thought. Inventions were created that allowed for better 
defense of the clans. Medicine men emerged, and are seen as the fathers of 
the magic in the world today. Using chants and regeants, these medicine men 
were able to bend the flows of power to their will. While much of their magic
was mere trickery of the senses, it is said that some had developed the
beginnings of magic.
	Of course, with this greater stability came the desire to expand.
Tribes began to clash in bloody feuds. Many a clan was torn down until
it could not protect itself from the creatures of the land. Clans that had
existed for centuries were wiped from the face of the land. Thus began the
age of shadows.
	It is said that during this age a dark shadow descended across the
lands, affecting men's minds. Hatred between clans grew. many would attack
other clans, slaughtering the men and raping the women. The captured
children would be raised in the attacking clan to become warriors for
their new clan. Weak clans would be wiped out as the stronger ones fought
for domination. There are even rumors that some of the clans used dark magic
to recruit the beasts of the land to fight for them.
	While clan fighting raged in the south and east, a man named Rysnor
the Longbrow of the Lochlor clan emerged as the nothern dominant power.
Using intimidation and an ability to influence that some say was driven
by magic, he was able to unite several clans into a federation of sorts.
Those who refused he fought, eventually defeating them. The men were
slaughtered to a one and the children were raised by the Lochlor clan.
Those who joined peacefully were accepted into the clan. 
	Since the tribes lacked cohesion, they were no match against the 
size and power of the Lochlor federation. Rysnor's armies swept south 
through the plains, absorbing any clans it came upon into the federation.
Word about the army spread fast through the land. It seemed unstoppable
and clan after clan was absorbed into the federation. Eventually the
armies had absorbed all clans in the southern forests and most mountainous
clans.
	A monarchy system was set up in the federation. Those who had
supported Rysnor during his conquest were made lords to rule over sections
of the land. The era was great for the upper class, but the lower classes
were as poor as could be. While Rysnor was a great military mind and knew
how to manipulate and dominate through use of force, he did not know how
to run a nation. Arrogant and stubborn, he drove his lords to pay high
prices to him. His lords did so, but at the expense of the commoners. For
decades the people were worked, with the food scraps for compensation.
Plague often spread through the peasant class. When an army was needed,
the peasant males were forced to take up arms and fight.
	The iron fisted rule of Rysnor kept the lower classes down and the
upper classes wealthy and happy. Eventually, small uprisings erupted in a
few lands. These were dealt with swiftly and with great force. In his
deteriorating health, Rysnor was becoming even less tolerant. When a town
on the coast named Caitin revolted and killed the local royalty, Rysnor 
sent and army to recapture the town. It was taken back in a huge and 
bloody seige. Every inhabitant of the town was killed, and the buildings 
set ablaze. This did stop the revolts, however, it had other reprocussions. 
Underground societies formed in the eastern mountains and southeastern 
forest. Rebel men trained for battle and old men from the clan wars helped teach 
fighting techniques. Through the study of the fighting arts, a warrior 
discipline formed. From other lands across the great desert, techniques 
were learned and taught to the insurgents. Armed with skills of stealth, 
surprise, and a fighting skill and technique not seen before, these men 
attacked the forces of the federation in quick deadly strikes. 
	Soldiers spoke of shadows that delivered silent death in the night.
Often soldiers would fall dead, the assailent never seen. Those who were
able to raise their swords to defend themselves would find themselves
quickly outmatched in a flurry of steel. This infuriated Rysnor, who
started to take is vengence against the lower class. For every soldier that
was killed, 2 peasants would be executed. This did not have the effect
he had hoped for. The peasants, already suffering, became enraged. The
underground movement grew strong with support. Frequent uprisings scared
the lords who had no desire to die. One of the lords arranged a 
coup against the absolute rule Rysnor held against the land. The plan
was discovered through a traitorous advisor to the lord and that lord
was quickly put to death.
	The word of this event spread even though an attempt was made to
keep it silent. Fearing for his life, Rysnor increased his personal guard.
It did not help, as the shadow warriors took the palace silently one night.
Quietly all guards were killed and Rysnor's throat cut while he slept. His
family was not spared, each of them killed in their sleep.
	As the lords learned of the assasination, many fled. Some dressed
as peasants and tried to live in the land. Those who stayed were killed by
their own subjects as the peasant riots spread througout the land. Chaos
ruled and those responsible for several hundred years of tyranny
were killed in large numbers, along with many innocents who happened to be
in the wrong place at the wrong time.
	Eventually the leaders of the insurgencies emerged and took
control of the land. The head of the insurgent movement, a man named Delmar,
tried to regain order in the land. He appointed insurgency leaders to 
oversee the sectors of the nation, and created the council of the lords
which would meet once a year to discuss national matters. Many feared that
he would turn out to be just like Rysnor. Their fears turned out to be
unwarrented. Delmar spent much of Rysnor's fortune creating prosperity. He
set up shops in the cities and improved farms to help feed the general
populus. Under the leadership of Delmar, the land emerged from the Age of
Shadows and into the Age of the Intellect.
	An intellect himself, Delmar loved to read and study. He gave
funding for such intellectual studies as boatmanship, improvements in
ironworkings, astronomy, and other various improvements for society. He
sent an expedition into the mountains to seek out the old magicians. During
the clan wars the medicine men had been nearly wiped out. Those who existed
lived hidden in the mountains where they practiced their art. This
fascinated Delmar, so he sent the expedition to try to bring word of the
mystical and ancient practice to the rest of the land. He set up a walled
fortress in the mountains to study and develop magicians and the magical
arts.
	The warriors were turned into knights to protect the cities and
commerce routes of the land. A center was also created to study the
warrior's art and and produce more warriors for the nation. The age of
the intellect was a prosperous time for the land, developing many of the
warrior's and mage's skills that we have today. 
	Centuries went by and the society developed. All look back on the
age of the intellect as a good period in history. However, every society
produces its dregs and the self-seekers began to emerge. Magic, which was
used primarily for intellectual or beneficial purposes, began to be used
for selfish means. A few people began vrying for power, sometimes forcibly,
sometimes peacefully. Corruption emerged in society and with it, the heroes
emerged, fighting off one evil after another. The changing face of the
land plunged it into the age of heroes, which we find ourselves immersed in
today.