Ages of Solan

The Defining
In the beginning, there was nothing but the roiling chaos of the elemental planes. At the point where each plane met was a nexus of magic so powerful it gave sentient shape to the elements themselves. These primordial Titans, filled with overwhelming elemental energy, battled with each other constantly. In the wake of these clashes the material plane slowly emerged, accidental order created in the wake of chaos.

The allure of the newly created material plane soon grew too great for some to resist. These powerful beings—now simply called ‘Gods’—came from an origin unknown, but all shared a similar goal: take a role in shaping this new world. Some, such as Kelemvor, Midnight, and Cyric, explored the world in wonder for a time. Others, such as Tharizdun and Kord, sought the limits of their power and achievements in this new world.

After a time the gods began to try to shape this new world, imbuing it with their own vision, from taming parts of the land to creating mortal races. All of these efforts, though, were quickly stomped out, both metaphorically and, unfortunately, quite literally. While the titans roamed, no god could gain a permanent hold on the Prime Material Plane. Many gods gave in, finding that the effort was not worth the power invested, while others persisted. They tried numerous methods to wrest control from the primordial titans, yet all failed, for the Gods worked alone. Then, the triumvirate of Kelemvor, Midnight, and Cyric, working together as they were among the closest of the gods, managed a small victory over the elemental chaos of the titans. In the wake of this success, Cyric proposed that they each seek out others to join together in this endeavor. Thus was the Prime Pantheon formed, with each new member seeking out others.

This war raged for an indeterminate amount of time; some legends claimed it only lasted a few years, while others claimed it was nearly an eternity. Though the newly formed pantheon began to make progress, it was not without casualties. The only fallen god to be remembered by name is Io, the father of dragons. Defending his newborn creations alongside the gods Tyr and Selune, Io was so enraged by the wanton slaughter that he attempted to duel with the ancient Titan of Air. So powerful was Io in his rage that he managed to wound the Titan, and it is said the pieces of the titan that fell are what first gave the dragons their gift of flight, allowing them to flee the battle. Io, though, was not so lucky. As Tyr lost his hand and Selune moved to save the wounded god, the Titan struck a blow which sundered Io, dividing both his mind and body into two: the twin dragon gods known as Bahamut and Tiamat.

This defeat discouraged the Prime Pantheon, for Io had been among the most powerful of their number. Fearing his own death, Cyric turned to Asmodeus and offered him a deal. Although suspicious, the desperate pantheon agreed to welcome Asmodeus into their ranks, and the tides were once again reversed. With Asmodeus turning many of the servants of the Titans against them, even their own lieutenants, the Prime Pantheon was triumphant. Even this victory came at a cost however, as the seed of ambition and selfishness that had been planted in Cyric blossomed into treachery. Attempting to steal the power of the Titans for himself, he was defeated and driven off, but not without irreparably damaging their alliance. With the fall of the Titans, the material plane of Solan—their accidental creation—began to settle. Both the Prime Pantheon and deities which had newly arrived or hidden from the Titans began the work of shaping Solan to match their vision. The gods took the last vestiges of the primal energy and imbued the world with their works, from shining silver and shimmering silkworms to wild wheatfields and winding wood. As the land began to settle into its final form and the last of the native mortal races were born, the gods chose to stay and watch over what became of their creation.

The Age of Storms
An age where mortals are just being created, establishing cultures, and beginning to found civilizations, and where those hardier species whose creation occurred early in The Defining, namely Dragons and Giants, reigned. Though the conflict between them begat the end of both empires, the glory and power of those first empires have never been equaled since. The Giants of Kolhourn built colossal fortresses as intimidating and majestic as the peaks they occupied, cities so large and beautiful they appeared to be living storms extending from the ground towards the sky, and immense palaces of splendor and beneath the earth, where rivers of lava illuminated the streets. The Draconic Starflights constructed roosts for hundreds of dragons of all kinds, within enormous trees whose branches contained entire ecosystems, in crystal caverns whose constant song made mortals weep, and radiant spires in the sky made of floating stone and metal. However, amidst these achievements, envy and lust for power caused the two empires to clash. This time of unprecedented glory and triumph for the Elder Races and their respective pantheons was also one of obsession and conflict for the rest of the divines. As the Prime Pantheon splintered into their own spheres and grew obsessed with their own projects, the myriad lesser deities struggled for influence as their followers and creations were dominated by the Elder Races. Discontent with the seeming abandonment of the lesser races and rising tide of evil in the arrogant Giants of Kolhoun and greedy Star Flights, Lathander sought to remould the world without the influence of the evil divines. The Morninglord gathered a coalition of lesser deities to his cause, but was unable to convince the Prime Pantheon to cleanse their ranks, igniting a war in the Astral Sea. With the death of many lesser deities and the grievous wounding of Midnight, Lathander, Helm, and Selune, the Godswar caused the Divine Charter to be enacted by the Prime Pantheon, restricting both direct action on the material plane and direct conflict between gods. As the Gods began their own battles, too distracted to intervene, a conflict of ancient leviathans was ignited. Though the realm of the Giants was that which lay beneath, and that of the Dragons was the sky, they met in the valleys and the peaks, the plains and the jungles, the forests and the tundra. Vassal armies were conscripted and slaves incited to rise in rebellion as the world fell under the cloud of war. The legacy of the Leviathan War was a diminished and dwindling race of Giants and isolated and solitary dragons as both were splintered into the Ordning and the Metallic, Jewel, and Chromatic flights respectively. Never again have either species reached the heights of their ancestors, nor has such a terrible war been wrought. A few colossal ruins remain... a testament to the lost glory of the Elder Races.

The Age of Power
In the wake of the fallen empires of the Elder Races, the first truly powerful civilizations of Dwarves, Elves, Dragonborn, and Lizardfolk began to arise. These first nations contended against each other for the territories and relics of Giants and Dragons, as the Ordning divided the former, and the civil war between Metallic and Chromatic dragons left them weakened and distracted.

In the hills of Arkanos and woods of eastern Castia, the Elven Realm of Lyranil found power in alliances among the Fey, using their teachings to master and bind some elementals to service. In the savannah of Indoria and mountains of southern Castia, the Dwarven Republic of Vharum rose on the foundation of golems, powerful construct servants whose secrets they gleaned from the deepest vaults of the giants. In the canyons and vales of Rakshavim the Dragonborn Kingdom of Bul'qara convinced some dragons to bond with warriors and mages, creating the first and last order of Dragonriders. In the swamps and jungles of Akeyi, the Lizardfolk Federation of Serasza expanded rapidly using blood sacrifices and forbidden magics to breed strange and monstrous creatures to serve them. Lastly, claiming Castia from the conflict between Lyranil and Vharum, the Orc Empire of Khatran used an unparalleled knowledge of the constellations to bind the very stars themselves into service in god-forges, changing the night sky forever and crafting unparalleled tools and weapons to shape their destiny.

As these mortal empires warred between themselves and others for the land, resources, and relics of the Elder Races’, they gathered other races to them as vassals and protectorates, mimicking the Elder Races, if more kindly. As generations passed, the eastern empires began to focus on consolidating power rather than growing it, becoming more occupied with threats such as rebellions, eldritch cults, and hordes of goblinoids and other so called “savages”. Meanwhile, the western empires of Bul’qara and Serasza became even more proud and ambitious, seeking to rule the whole world. Both were in reaction to a change sweeping over the land. One could feel it in the air. This golden age was coming to an end.

After nearly ten thousand years, Lyranil collapsed as civil war engulfed their people. The western provinces, mostly inhabited by the elven subrace known as “dark elves” had grown independent and proud. When Lyranil began to make an alliance with Vharum, they were loathe to share power, and attempted a coup. Though they killed the queen, the incensed population refused to kneel to them, and the priesthood of Corellon rallied behind her son. As the conflict raged ever greater atrocities were committed by the so called “dark elves” in an attempt to cow the easterners and end the conflict swiftly. As the decades passed by without an end to the rising tide of bloodshed, and the Sun Prince’s victory drew near, the desperate dark elves turned to other powers. Tempted by promises of power and pleasure overwhelming, they had made pacts with demons and other beings with such infernal beings in their service. Bolstered by demonic hordes and fell magic, they slaughtered the Sun Prince’s host and razed his province as well as the capital. Although at this point Corellon intervened and banished the dark elves into the Underdark, it was too late, Lyranil’s unity had been shattered. Individual cities, villages, and provinces saw to their own protection as orc raids and fell beasts took their toll. The woods provided refuge against the monsters left behind by their fell kin, and those handful of citadels where lords and ladies of the light elves had survived isolated themselves behind arcane protections.

Vharum was the next to fall. As their lost kin returned in the form of the Duergar, they did so enslaved by the Ilithids. The so-called “Mind-Flayers” psionics were able to destroy the arcane fabric which allowed golems to receive the commands of the dwarves, and so they were stripped of their most potent weapon. Still fighting a desperate battle against colossal odds, the last remaining dwarven holds did not learn for centuries what had caused this onslaught to suddenly cease, and were too busy defending against the tide of Goblinoids which replaced them to wonder. The duergar had betrayed their masters on the eve of complete victory, and began to establish their own kingdoms and cities, focusing on establishing sanctuary in the Underdark before they began to plot revenge on those who abandoned them to slavery.

Though Lyranil and Vharum had found alliance with each other, and thus a time of peace, prior to their collapse, Bul'qara and Serasza coveted the territories and riches of each other. Each bled the other dry in a war that spanned thousands of years, using their nearly unparalleled power to devastate the other, even breaking parts of Akeyi away from the mainland. As the center of the Serasza Federation changed themselves more drastically to face their foes, rural provinces began to slip away, and slave races began to rebel, fracturing them from within. Meanwhile, many of the dragons of Bul'qara became weary, and began to resent their servitude. They, and a populace that had been bled nearly to the bone by endless war, moved to splinter the kingdom into component clans. The enraged rulers and most vengeful, zealous soldiers of each nation began furious, last ditch assaults on the capitals of the other. They believed they would at least destroy their foes before they were crushed from within. Ultimately their fates were decided by internal conflict rather than external ones, with an army of former slaves slaughtering the Seraszan Hierarchs and leaving only their severed heads to meet the invading soldiers. In Bulqara, Dahriq, their last queen, formally abdicated before the watchful eyes of the commander of the Dragonknights. Centuries of bloody power struggles wracked both former empires’ territories, even into the next Age.

And finally... the Khatran Empire fell. They had risen in the aftermath of Lyranil and the last days of Vharum, collecting territory and people from both, but were not able to avoid the fate of their predecessors. The Khatran Empire officially began when Mirrash the Brave had all the orcish tribes of Castia swear fealty to her as the Dura-Khan. She had not only won them over through displays of both strength and honor, but also coordinated them across an entire continent. Such a feat earned the attention of the orcish goddess Khatrah, and Mirrash, who was already exceptional among mortals, became her Chosen. Soon after that, Mirrash devised a strategy to strengthen her rule: she formally courted Malthad Indor, a clever and resourceful human from across Karden's Spine, who had managed to unify most of the human tribes across the Khara desert. Malthad agreed to marry Mirrash and join her empire; and was also instrumental in incorporating the non-orcish races of the empire.

Mirrash and Malthad brought order and peace to most of Castia and Indoria for many years, until Tharizdun deceived Corellon and Leira into attacking most of the orcish pantheon. With Khatrah and Yurtrus seemingly dead and the rest of the pantheon in disarray, Corellon's doppelganger assassins struck, slaying both Mirrash and Malthad, who refused to leave his wife's side. Though the imperial children survived, with Gavrash Two-Worlds lost in the Feywild, the Empire split between the full-blooded orc heirs from before her marriage. Her daughters Gruuma and Nirraskh fought a bloody civil war while Uthram, her youngest son, fled the continent with a vision of doom. With Nirraskh's victory and Gruuma's exile, the orcish people were scattered across the world. Deceived by Tharizdun and seeking to reclaim the glory of her mother, Nirraskh attempted to access the Earth Titan's prison, believing it to be the key to reigniting the God-forges. Despite the intervention of the Fatebreakers, even the brief amount of power unleashed devastated Castia and created The Warp, which both summoned and created monsters and also twisted hundreds and hundreds of miles of land, turning the Forbidden Vale into what is now known as The Warped Lands. With this, the fall of the last Great Empire, the Age of Power ended.

The Age of Mists
As the Warp devoured the last of the Great Mortal Empires, an age of regression and slow recovery began. Without the protection of the vast armies of the past, many cities fell to hordes of emboldened marauders. Power hungry factions fought over precious resources in an attempt to fill the power vacuum, and civilizations rose and fell repeatedly over the ruins of their ancestors. Originating from the Warp, but spreading until it covered all of Solan, came a fine mist of gleaming bronze that clouded minds and divination magic. This wandering mist that caused the corruption of memory came to be known as The Fade, and even though its initial form dissipated in a scant few years, remnants lingered throughout the entire age. These remnants, believed to hide in the Shadowfell, would venture forth on occasion to roam Solan and consume the memories of mortals once more. The gods, immune to The Fade, sought to be a force of cohesion and unity during the first century, serving as a conduit between their communities scattered throughout the world. Deities of order, from Helm to Asmodeous, strove to rebuild the shattered world in their vision. However, their churches and cults were not immune to the corruption and fear that was sweeping over a world beset on all sides by monsters. Bloody schisms among their followers over cultural differences and devastating religious wars caused them to cease direct communication, or even acknowledging requests from their servants for knowledge of far places.

Even nations that survived the chaos and constant threats of annihilations such as Fyris or Teyrna have incomplete or conflicting histories. Fyris' knowledge is splintered and hoarded between various factions and powers, with lies and propaganda filling public histories to the point that it's almost impossible to sift through the competing versions, while Teyrna and many other nations have undergone so many transfers of power with coups and new dynasties that their histories have been burned clean or rewritten half a dozen times. While records of some events are found in many places, their versions and positions in time vary so widely that modern historians can only conjecture that such events did happen, with few details as to how they happened, and the ever present threat of The Fade causes doubt of even the most detailed single accounts. It is a rare event indeed that broke through the isolation of the Age of Mists to be vividly and coherently recorded across the world of Solan.

The Spellplague is the most notable of these events. The Elder races, both Giants and Dragons, had magic imbued into their very blood at their creation. These two veins of magic were distinct from that of other mortals, and from each other. Draconic magic was fierce and chaotic, often causing unintended consequences until a dragon was experienced and intelligent enough to predict its whims. Giant magic was stable and ordered, almost impossible to reverse. A giant’s reckless curse might last for a thousand years, and even though their civilizations fell millenia ago, their magic still remained. When Aman cursed his people and they fell under the Ordning, so too did their magic become bound to the language of runes, limited in scope and power, no longer able to shape the mountains and shake the seas with mere spoken words. Yet draconic magic roamed free until now.

Soon after the Warp, on the continent of Rakshavim, amidst the warring clans descended from the Kingdom of Bul’qara, a dragon matriarch named Ynivir the Blood Queen rose to power. Claiming the birthright of dragonkind was to lead the lesser races to the peace they so clearly could not achieve on their own, the gold and black hybrid Ynivir was the most powerful dragon mage in generations. She united many independents from both chromatic and metallic dragonflights under her banner, but a madness growing in her mind began to sow doubt in the few Dragonriders that answered her call. Early in her rise, the god Cyric offered her power and glory, if she would only help him strike against Midnight...

Few remember all those who gathered at the former capital of Garudrak in their final defiance, but there are records of at least a dozen races there, from stoic tortle monks to shifter ranger companies and kenku militias, and even some races thought to have died out since such as the shardminds. The last of the Dragonriders, their shining host flanked by red dragons too proud to serve Ynivir, bronze dragons who defied her domination, and even an elder sapphire dragon who ventured forth to put this young upstart in her place. Yet the Blood Queen’s armies overshadowed them to the degree that some few feared she had stolen the sun. This was merely Cyric’s presence showing itself however. The kaleidoscopic dragon hosts were blindingly beautiful, while the dragonborn legions shook the earth with their march, and the joyful song of the kobold commando companies could be heard from miles away.

In the midst of a battle worthy of an older age, Ynivir’s madness revealed itself in full as she unleashed her power against friend and foe alike, tearing the magic of her fellow dragons free of their will and sending it racing on the wind to fulfill her pact with Cyric. As the still wounded Midnight struggled to control the chaos of her new domain, mages felt their magic turn against them as blue firestorms consumed the forests around the city, the ground tore open and consumed thousands, while warriors felt their armor and weapons come to life around them. In desperation, the surviving Dragonriders, regardless of initial allegiance, fought their way to the Blood Queen and with the aid of the elder sapphire dragon called the wild magic around them into themselves, binding it to both dragon and rider, to their flesh and to their souls, that even in death they could guide and control this magic. The eldest of their orders took in the magic surrounding the capital, using their well honed strength of will to prevent the damage already done from spreading, even as the city became a gleaming silver ruin. The veterans chased the corruption of the weave down throughout Rakshavim and Akeyi, their combat prowess needed to survive the remnants of Ynivir’s forces. The youngest, barely blooded by this war, spent the next centuries chasing down the echoes in the far continents of the East and the Arctic, from Auroria and Volskad to Indoria and Arkanos. They would add no more  to their number, for the Blood Queen had changed draconic magic forever. Some of the refugees of Garudrak would become the Dragonmarked Houses, traces of the old dragon magic hiding in their bloodlines.

While the Spellplague shook the world, other major events had powerful impacts on single continents. The Rift War in Arkanos ravaged the continent just after their conquest by orcs fleeing the fallen Khatran Empire. It took the united peoples of the entire continent to drive the Daelkyr into the Far Realm once more, and the eternal vigil of the Azure Wardens of Jaghai is all that prevents that horror from being unleashed on Solan again. The Drowning of the Damned sank an entire island off the coast of Akeyi into the ocean of Kur'ancas, cursing it to the modern day. The now named Sea of Specters is still haunted by ghost ships and the restless undead are a constant threat for the few sailors bold enough to risk the voyage. The Voyage of Tears brought the Ondonti to Volskad and started a slow shift in the tide, away from Auril’s cold grasp and towards freedom and hope. Gavrash, the half-orc prince of Mirrash and Malthad, returned from the Feywild to found the Indorian Empire which slowly expanded until it held a third of the continent which bears its name. And finally, the Everblight’s Birth is held by some to have heralded the slow death of Rakshavim. Dozens of nations fell or fled as the blight grew, slowly and relentlessly, until it had claimed most of the western coast of the continent

The Age of Wings
The Age of Wings began with Ioun’s dissolution of the last remnants of The Fade, starting a new calendar as the scholarship of history restarted, and enabling a rush of new discovery and innovation. With the fear of The Fade gone, and a new generation of heroes rising to face the horrors beyond their walls, now civilizations are finally expanding rather than rebuilding. New inventions such as the printing press and airships have enabled travel and communication in novel ways that have reignited trade and diplomacy throughout Solan. A new wave of explorers is rediscovering the lost places of the world, and the light of civilization once more beckons in challenge to the horrors of the dark and in inspiration to the enlightened.