Chapter Six "The Great War starts – year 950 of the 4th Age – The Legend of Cnaiur"

The Arch-Devil Thur'uzuul awakes his legions in the City of Deceit, far to the north. With fear and promises of carnage, he unites the goblinoid and orc tribes. A huge horde sweeps on the lands of humans. The Arch-Angel Dumah awakes from the Golden Spire in the Alabaster Desert, and summons forth his angelic host, far to the south. The celestial armies prepare to engage their nemesis, occupying human lands for their own protection.

The shattered empire of Aduria is one of the last realms still free from heavenly or hellish domination, but also finds itself in the middle of the struggle. Emperor Exerus Thorion XXXIV is surrounded on all sides. From the east, a barbaric horde invades the Empire in this moment of weakness. Exerus, knowing he cannot hope to defeat Heaven and Hell, turns his attention to this more natural menace.

On the Field of Valor, Exerus leads his imperial legions to confront the barbaric horde, led by Cnaiur, son of Koah, the most violent of Men. In the middle of the battle, Exerus finds Cnaiur, and challenges him. Exerus is a warrior and general of many battles, but Cnaiur is more similar to the avatar of the god of War, than to a mere mortal. Ready to die, Exerus shouts a last battle cry, an invocation to Athun to accept him in his Valhalla, and raises his Hammer high to the sky. Recognizing the name of his patron God, Cnaiur holds his hand. He realizes that Exerus wields the Hammer of Athun, and bends the knee to him.

Exerus, after seeing the courage and murderous power of the barbarians, takes them under his reign, and unites the two armies. Exerus and Cnaiur fight together on both fronts, killing angels and devils with no regard for allegiances. As legend has it, they only know one day of peace in 25 years of war. Such was their friendship, that Exerus gifted his own daughter, Lavinia, to Cnaiur, to have her as bride, linking their blood together.

* * *

On the Day of Doom, on the Field of Strife, Thur'uzuul himself leads the last of his fiendish armies to crush the Empire once and for all. The Holy Dumah, righteously enraged by the pride of Men, prepares to do the same. Exerus and Cnaiur stand side by side. "Athun came to me last night, old friend, with a dark omen" said Exerus. Cnaiur nodded, for Athun had visited also him the previous night "Only one of us will survive the battle". "I leave you my Empire, Cnaiur, son of Koah, lead them to victory in the name of Athun" was the oath of Exerus. "I leave you my immortal Soul, Exerus, Most Noble of Men, keep it safe until we meet again" was the oath of Cnaiur.

With heavy hearts, they charged into the enemy lines. Not Heaven, nor Hell could stand their fury, and for the first time angels and devils tasted what clutches the hearts of men from the day we're born, until we die. Fear. Men died, their screams mixed to those of their celestial and fiendish opponents. On one side of the battle, Dumah managed to surprise Exerus, and hold him with his golden fail, while Thur'uzuul pierced the heart of the Emperor with Soulreaper, his devilish sword.

As his corpse fell to the ground, a roar exploded from the battlefield. Cnaiur came charging into them, engaging them both. Snatching the Hammer of Athun from Exerus's cold hands, he stood ready. "Your soul is doomed, mortal" said Dumah, with a sad smile. "Your soul is mine, mortal" said Thur'uzuul, with a grin. "I have no Soul, fools" said Cnaiur bitterly, his face a stoic mask without expression. Thur'uzuul had conquered layers of the infernal realms, and claimed millions of souls. And Dumah had fought countless battles, and always been victorious. But they had never met a mortal like Cnaiur... or was he really a mortal? On that day, they really believed he was Athun, fallen from the Divine Realms to put an end to their existence. Everything they had, they threw at him. Holy and unholy powers, magic, claws, horns, steel, rage, fury.

And he took all the blows, and many said he looked like a living dead, his wounds too many and too deep for a mortal to still stand. But he stood... and he fought back. Each blow, was a thunder. Each hit, a lighting strike. As Thur'uzuul bent the knee on the ground, and Dumah was about to regain his footing, Cnaiur cleaved them both, screaming with Fury. "I am Cnaiur, Bane of the Gods!" And Heaven and Hell surrendered to Men. Dumah and Thur'uzuul swore on their immortal souls and existence to never again raise their banners against him, and to seal their oath, each of them gifted him with his own most beloved daughter. "Surely, no Devil nor Angel can bring you down, Cnaiur the Unnatural" lamented Thur'uzuul." Indeed, only one with your own blood, mixed with the power of heaven and hell, could attempt such a feat" agreed Dumah.

* * *

Cnaiur returned to the Capital with Aeris, daughter of Dumah, and Nar’Herix, daughter of Thur'uzuul. On a fateful night, when the rage possessed him, and the grief for the loss of his friend Exerus could not be contained, he took them both. And nine months later, on the same night, each of them gave birth to a child. One angel, one devil, in their veins flowed the blood of Cnaiur, and the blood of his most hated enemies.

Chapter Five "The Age of Men - Men vs Men"

The Drow take this opportunity to perform the Dark Ritual. Huge black Monoliths arise from the ground, and a dark cloud covers the Lands of the Great Races. Those Kingdoms that have advanced magical knowledge, manage to lift their lands above the dark cloud.

The land below, the Darklands, is ruled by Drow, Tiefling, Orcs. Human settlement outside of the levitated lands suffer under the oppression of evil, or struggle to remain independent.
The world falls into a Dark Age.

Religions and Churches rise as mankind looks for salvation.
Great warlords arise.
The greatest of them becomes the first Emperor, at his sides the Grand Council of Wizards and the One Church of Athun.

Eventually, the Empire falls into decadence, and shatters. Many Marches declare indipendence

Chapter Four "3rd Era - The Age of Magic - Wizards vs Sorcerers"

But Humans make the difference.

The Drow are pushed back into the Underdark, with their servants.

The alliance of Humans, Eladrin, and all the good races strenghtens.

Great kingdoms of all races grow and fall, while the evil races retire in the deserts, and the swamps, and the glaciers, and all those lands shunned by the winners.
The Dragons, and their Dragonborn allies, settle in the world, The Great Dragon Kingdoms are founded.

A Age of Magic. Eladrin wizards rival the power of the Dragons and their children. Life is made easy by the astonishing magical breakthroughs of the fey. Dragons live in peace, ruling through their mortal servants in the Dragon Kingdoms, tithing the rest of the world.
Fey and Humans of great magical knowledge unite under one banner.

Tired of the dominion of the Wyrmlords sorcerors, the Wizards declare indipendence. War erupts.
The Grand Council of Wizards unleashes its full power on the Wyrmlords. The world is covered by magical fire.

Chapter Three "The Arrival of Men"

Across the Great Sea, huge ships appear on the horizon. On them are the First of Men.
Barbarians they are, with no knowledge of Arcane magic, yet with great potential.
They bring with them Athun, their religion, their Warrior God.

They seem to share many characteristic of the other races. The mix of them, makes them a very adaptable race.
They settle on the continent, avoiding the evil races.
The eladrin notice their potential, and their divine powers so similar to those of the Drow, and take them under their protection.

Humans learn magic from the eladrin, hunting from the elves, mining from the dwarves, science from the gnomes, farming from the halfings.
They are quick learners, and are driven to excel by the shortness of their lives.
They build in the open, with magic and engineering.
They build villages, and communities, and towns, on the edge of the forests of the elves, or under the great mountains of the dwarves.

The Drow notice the rising power of the Humans. Sure to be able to crush the good races, they bring the fight to the humans.
The good races rebel, and join the armies of the humans. The Drow are quite sure they can crush goodness once again.
But Humans aren't GOOD. They are not bound by the honor of the good races, and fight with cunning and tricks.

They show the cruelty of the orcs, the stealth of the goblins, the strenght of the giants.
Their God pushes them to excel, for Athun is not only the God of War, but first and mostly the god of Victory.The Evil Dragons join the fray, good Dragons do the same. The world is again scorched by Dragonfire.

Chapter Two "2nd Era - The Age of Dragons - Good Dragons vs Evil Dragons (the birth of the Great Races)"

Dragons fight for dominion over the world. The world is scorched by Dragonfire. The destruction is such, that the Dragons decide to create a servant race, less powerful then they are, in order to decide the fate of the world without destroying it.
The Dragonborn are born.

To bolster their numbers, guided by Sorcery, those allied with the good dragons retire in the most ancient forest, and from the Great Tree of Life the first Eladrin are born.
Those allied with the Evil Dragons retire in the barren deserts, and from a vulcanic rift in the deepest ice the Orcs are born.

The Evil dragons enslave the orcs, and use them as a start to create more horrible humanoid races (giants, goblinoids, lizardfolk etc.)

The Good Dragons teach the Eladrin the rudiments of Magic through Sorcery.
The eladrin approach Magic in a different way, creating Wizardry.

The Evil Dragons foster their humanoid armies in their territories, in the bogs, the swamps, the glaciers, the deserts, and the basalt plains, preparing to attack the eladrin. The Orcs breed fast, and their force seems overwhelming for the Eladrin.

As they created the eladrin from the Great Tree, the Good Dragons and the Dragonborn create new races from the wonders of the world, in order to fight the rising power of the Orcs.

From the forests, spawn elves, stealthy hunters and trackers.
From the mountains, spawn dwarves, hardy fighters and miners.
From the hills, spawn gnomes, cunning librarians and lore-masters.
From the plains, spawn halfings, quick of fingers, and expert farmers.
The great armies of the good races fight against evil hordes of orcs, goblins, giants.

Both armies achieve victories and losses, the war lasts for a millenia.
From the deep Underdark, the Drow arise to join the evil races.
The Drow change the sorts of battle.

Powerful in their magic as the Eladrin, evil as the Orcs, the Drow conquer the good races.
Eladrin retire in the forests of the world, protected by their magic. The other races, good and evil, are enslaved by the Drow.

The culture of the Drow rises, and they come to believe to be the Chosen of the World. They erect great temples to the Spider Queen, claiming to possess divine powers.

The world lingers in Darkness.

Chapter One "1st Era - The Age of the Divine - Celestials vs Fiends"

Heaven and Hell battle for dominance. From this war, the World (Tyrrah) is born. The great power of the Outsiders generates a Cataclysmic event that shuts down the connection with Heaven and Hell. The essence of Hell is sent deep underground, creating the Underdark.

The essence of Heaven is shot to the sky, eventually falling as rain on the worlds, creating great seas.

The combined power of the Outsiders, mixed with the very earth of the world, generates the Dragons.

Cut off from their Divine Realms, Celestials and Fiends gradually degenerate into Devas and Tieflings, humanoid races blessed with Heavenly or Hellish powers.

The greatest of the Immortal Outsiders linger and rule their race.

Celestials retire in a Oasis kingdom deep in the south, while Fiends rule the coldest reaches of the north.