Monday, February 23, 2009

A Layman's History of Athanor

Long ago, Athanor was a watery world, dotted with small islands. The Ancients came to Athanor from a distant star, seeking a new home. The world they found was intially a great hope to them, and a source of precious water and life. But then they encountered something below, an ancient lurking malevolence, completely alien, that sought to usurp the invaders. Humanity struggled valiantly and won out, and the Blue Age that began in strife ended in prosperity.

As the seas retreated and the great Atmosphere Plants of the ancients reshaped the planet, the continents and lands emerged from the sea. Forests were planted and the great domed cities were founded across the land. The Ancients were prosperous, and learned to harness the materials and energies of the land. The Four Great Nations ruled in those days: the Empire of Aquila, the Theocracy of Turan, the Saal'Kesh confederation and the Witch-Kings of Ylum. While they ruled at first in peace, the four nations began to war with each other increasingly. The Green Age began in peace, but ended in warfare.

Terrible lances of fire, flying chariots, and towering War Gods were engaged in a war that scorched the earth and the seas, poisoned the air, and laid waste across all of Athanor. Some humans were reduced to barbarism, others called forth terrible magical powers, and pacts were made with things from the Great Beyond. All of civilization fell, and the voices of men from the stars beyond were never hear again.

It has been centuries, and what can survive has. The domed cities are abandoned or live as shadows of the past. Only five civilized nations survive, and most of the world is a wasteland. Most of the ways and history of the past are forgotten, and humanity survives as it must, on scraps of faded glory.

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