The First Age
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Author: Harken
Date Added: 1/10/09
Last Modified: 1/10/09
First Age: Age of Aratar
Days of Aratar
Long ago before order claimed the realm of Aedolyn, its many races fought endlessly against each other. Outright war ensued for hundreds of years. What they fought over was what happened to be holy grounds for all the peoples of Aedolyn where a temple to long forgotten gods was said to have existed; control over this area was of the utmost importance. This area was called, in every tongue, Aratar. As the years went by, common knowledge of why Aratar was important began to fade, but the armies of the nations continued to fight just as their ancestors did whether they knew what it was they were fighting for or not.
In these early times the lands of Aedolyn held no resemblance to its present day geography. In fact, it was all one continent and consisted entirely of fields of green, endless forests, and meadows of wildflowers; it was Elysium. Aedolyn was perfect in every way until it was ravaged by greedy, power-hungry, and callous mortals who only thought of themselves and not of the lands. Over time, Aedolyn was warped into something much different and less pleasant than before. Its terrain seemed to cringe with disgust forming deep ravines and valleys, humid swamps, and arid deserts. The land around Aratar, due to the constant fighting, took the most damage; all life was expelled forming a vast uninhabitable wasteland. At last, the earth had reached its limit and could take no more abuse and it cried out for help.
The earth began to shake and tear apart unable to bear any more fighting. The earth itself summoned forth the ultimate power of Aedolyn, its creators. The Awakening of the Gods caused an unparallel force to be expelled from Aratar, it raced outward across the land in every direction. The mere power of this force broke apart the single continent of Aedolyn into three; the force pushed back the land forming a great circle of mountains and a flat wasteland around Aratar. The area around Aratar sunk back into the sea from whence it came taking thousands of troops of all races with it, effectively ending the wars that have raged since before anyone can remember. All that was left was a strait which was suspended hundreds of feet above sea level with a direct drop to the sea. The gods of Aedolyn had been awakened and they were saddened with that their perfect realm had become.
In a desperate attempt to salvage what was left of their paradise, the gods of Aedolyn blessed the mortals with the divine gift of magic. Magic was the ultimate power of the universe, the moderator of order and chaos, and was a blessing limited exclusively to the gods, it was with magic that the gods were able to create the world and its many races. Magic in the hands of mortals, however, could never reach the extent of the gods because power is proportional to the potential of its user, thus the potential of mortals is far below that of the gods. Nonetheless, this blessing was something very dangerous and risky on the part of the gods, they had been asleep for so long that they were unaware of the true greed of the denizens of their former paradise. The gods created five beautiful stone arches hidden across their realm, referred to as the Gates of Aedolyn, in which they imbued and sealed away their gift cautioning their subject to heed a powerful warning.
Within five gates rests the future of this land
A chance to return things to how they once were
Hope and prosperity you will command
If our warning you confer:
Sealed these gates must forever remain,
If it’s peace and order you wish to reign.
Unlocked these gates grant you our power,
Yet yield your realm for chaos to devour.
After administering their warning, the gods of Aedolyn sealed away the gift they had just granted the mortals within the gates and then they called upon the noble dragons of the realm to defend them, knowing that they could fully trust them when they were gone. These actions diminished all the power the Gods had left. Transferring magic to the mortal plane and locking it up eliminated all traces of these long forgotten Gods; they had sacrificed themselves for their world, or for what used to be their world. They had granted Aedolyn the greatest gift of all time, a second chance, and a guaranteed success as well; however they underestimated the absolute power of mortal greed.
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