Chapter 1: Interlude - The Chaotic Era
Prophets foretell of its coming. Historians record its passing. But the only ones who can fully understand it are those who have survived its reign… and they are often few and far between.
The so-called Chaotic Era stemmed from the erosion of royal power, that final vestige of the Elmoreden Empire. With each passing year, the king and his court saw their sphere of control shrink further. They could still influence fashion, but ultimately little else. Nor could the ecclesiastical rulers, no matter how full their temple treasuries. The world had simply become too large, too fragmented, too diverse for any single group to dictate the course of events. That was the nature of the chaos that permeated the age.
It was the Battle for Giran Castle that finally showed the truth of a world turned upside down: even an unknown adventurer of common birth could aspire to — and attain — the power hitherto reserved for nobles. Groups of adventurers, bound together as clans, demonstrated their ability to dominate local and regional affairs, particularly when they harnessed the power of the castle.
Chapter 2: Interlude - Protection Against Darkness
The clans became numerous, but most were politically naïve. Shadowy cabals sought to manipulate them in order to advance their own agendas, sparking widespread conflict and disorder. Like a shadow creeping across a darkening room, chaos spread inexorably across the land. Strange new monsters appeared to wreak destruction, and ancient terrors were reawakened.
But as the clans grew stronger, they also grew wiser. They threw off the controlling influence of the cabals and asserted, consciously and intentionally, their own power to shape events. New Heroes and Noblesse gained positions of power and leadership within the clans, imparting a higher moral standard.
Once the bane of villagers and townspeople, the clans gradually became their protectors against the forces of darkness. As their power waxed, even foes like Antharas, the terror of Giran, and Valakas, the lord of Goddard, fled before them.
Once merely the hirelings of lords, the clans had eventually supplanted their masters. Authority was no longer an accident of birth, but the result of merit. Power resided with those who could not only grasp it, but hold it. History had pronounced its verdict... or had it?
Chapter 3: Interlude - The Giran Reunification
The fact is that other, less visible forces were also at play. A new spirit of cooperation between the Five Races – Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs – began to grow, particularly following a secret meeting between the elders of each race.
This “Giran Reunification” occurred thanks to the efforts of a mysterious woman in blue, who gathered the elders together and revealed to them the existence of a sixth race, as well as powerful primitive creatures dwelling on a remote island who had somehow survived the ancient War of the Gods.
Faced with new opportunities and potential new threats, the elders began to covertly assist the clans with potent new mass-produced weapons and key strategic information.
Far from the final result, the clans were to be the building blocks of a new Golden Age, one that blended the best attributes of each of the races: the wisdom of the Elves, the strength of the Orcs, the cleverness of the Dwarves, the knowledge of the Dark Elves, and the versatility of the Humans.
Whether that Golden Age has yet been achieved is a topic for another day…
- The Chaotic Throne
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