" We cry for a distant place

we cry high for a vanished race

we sing this song at the end

a song for a distant land "

 

Tempus Fugit bards

 

The oldest of all this world`s tales talks about the primary habitants of Near World, called the goldmen. These men were the race chosen by the true God to populate the world at it`s birth. They were almost perfect: Had golden skin that shone with the sun; Invulnerability to all kinds of disease and poison; The ability to fly as an giant eagle; Better reflexes and higher intelligence. And that`s just some of their talents.

Well, these men had a wonderful life, with no evil, no violence, no war. Though they still had to eat to survive. But it wasn`t a problem, because they didn`t have to bother with hunting animals, nor planting crops. Their beloved God created a group of seven emissaries to give them all the food they needed. These emissaries worked hard to bring the food. Each day of the week was given to one of the emissaries to work, while the rest rested from their work. So, on any given day of the week the goldmen had only to ask the day`s emissary to bring all the food they wanted.

Years passed, glorious years of peace and tranquility for the goldmen. But, oneday one of the emissaries started to feel very tired from its life as a slave of these men. This emissary started to hate his creator and decided to try to steal the God`s throne as the king of everything.

This emissary made his own diabolical plan, that started out with a simple comment made to one of the proud goldmen, while delivering their day`s food:

"_You think you are the most perfect beings in the world, don`t you? Well, I have to say that another race exists here, and they are much more powerful and wise than you. They are called the crystalmen."

From then on the goldmen, with all their pride, started to be more suspicious of their creator. As time passed, more and more of then started to refuse their God, feeling very envious about these crystalmen that the evil emissary invented. This mutiny became so widespread that the goldmen started to plan a rebellion, a dastardly revolution against the most powerful of the gods! It was all that the evil emissary wanted.

But God was upset by these puny traitors, and sent a revenge with no mercy against the goldmen: A cloud of infernal fire that flew all around the lands, burning and destroying everything in it`s path. That was the sad end of the race known as the goldmen.

God didn`t forget his evil emissary, and condemned him to stay in the dead world for all the eternity! That emissary, locked in an infernal world, started to sleep... But time passed, a long, long time, and the world awoke from its punishment with renewed fauna and flora. It was the time of the new races' births, life found its way again.

Unfortunately, it was not the end of the evil emissary. He would wake up someday and start the most devastating war that the world has seen. Now he known as the Balrog, the most dreaded demon alive!

The Red War

It was a peaceful time and the wise king Andallon was ruler over all the known lands. The capital of this great kingdom was the great city of Torannia, where the noblest paladins shared seats with the wisest magicians at Andallon`s round table. There were no known monsters nor wars between the races. But, oneday, strange things started to happen.

The skies began to appear as the petals of a red rose and weird, evil creatures walked the lands, killing everyone in sight. The king started to worry about these strange happenings and called upon his loremaster, Meldor the Sage, to explain these things.

Meldor studied hard with his royal followers for long years, and he finally found the answer... By talking with the entities and gods of nature, Meldor discovered all the truth about these monsters, and worst of all: He also discovered that the evil emissary of the ancient tales was very real, and was awakening again to destroy all civilization!

Once this news spread throughout the lands, everyone started to mistrust all strangers, to the point where all the races began to get upset with each other. The bright union of the world was broken and various wars broke out between the men of Torannia, the dwarves of the Rotunn Mountains, the elves of Mahul Maakh and the Orcs of the Barren Mountains.

While all the lands were being rent apart by these pointless wars, the Balrog finally woke from his eternal sleep to destroy the now fragile known civilization. But a mighty hero, a savior sent by the mercy gods, defeated this evil incarnation. The man known as Galtar Karan finally killed the Balrog after years of painful wars and endless disgrace. He wielded the artifact called the Sword of Eternal Fire, a sword made by the demons in the distant lands of Dordread, a sword that is also known as KaranBlade!

After the defeat of the Balrog, legend says that all the demons that plagued the world burned in their own fire and the sky started to shine blue again. Galtar rebuilt the world as the new king, and the Balrog, seriously injured, escaped to Dordread and began his long sleep again.

That`s what the legend says, but now we know that these tales were the very truth. And the Balrog awakening again. God give us his mercy when this beast starts to walk our lands again.

Just to finish: Some say that the Glory Ruins, just west of Talantha, are the ruins of the legendary city of Torannia. And these ruins might have, deep inside them, the so called KaranBlade! This city might be our only hope to defeat the Balrog, but, who will wield the sword this time?

Tellius Tolken, Loremaster of Talantha

I will tell you what the Holy Codex in fact is... It was written a long time ago, in the years of disgrace that the races suffered during the Red War. While the union of our world was falling apart because of the lack of trust between the races, a man, a glorious man, walked the lands. This man, Sananda the Consoler, was sent by the true God, who never forgot his children, to bring the unique truth known in the heavens and to disclose the reason that the Red War had to happen...

Born from the sacred waters of the Peace River, Sananda reached a farmer`s house in a cradle of vines that flowed above the water... He grew up as a normal farm boy, until he reached his torn age. From this day on the once farm boy started a revolution in all the concepts of the known world.

Sananda preached throughout all the lands, healing all physical diseases, and aiding all that were mentally disturbed... Sananda said: "There`s no reason to this war, there`s no need to fear the Balrog, nor the God that sent him! This poor fallen emissary exists only to bring us back to the reason, the common love... He will surely not harm you, or any of your cities, as long as you stay united, as long as you love each other and stay united... But, if your world loses its union, God will have to act, and bring you once more to the right path."

Obviously, the puny people of the time didn`t trust Sananda`s words of wisdom and supreme love... But, fortunately for us, clerics and preachers, men and women followed Sananda throughout his travels, and wrote his thoughts in an immense book... This book is the Holy Codex, and it's now in the safety of Soldur`s libraries, to bring the truth of the unique wisdom and love to all who decide to follow the path of the true clerics, who pray to the only God that really exists!

And I`m not done yet... It`s a sad thing to do, but I have to tell you what happened to Sananda in those times: As he entered Torannia and preached to the population in a public square, he was caught by the guards and sent to prison. Following Meldor`s advice, the "not-so-wise" king Andallon condemned Sananda for inciting a rebellion against the king... Andallon gave two choices to Sananda, banishment from the civilized lands, or death by ingesting poison...

Of course Sananda had to follow his own preaching, and decided to die by poison... It was the saddest of all days, and this day sealed the destiny of our ancestors, because without the words of love and union to help the people of this time, the Balrog was free to bring his punishment to the lands. And the guiltiest man in all this tale was the loremaster of Torannia, Meldor, who incited the king to condemn Sananda... All that because he believed that the Balrog was really the evil one... But we all know that the evil isn`t outside, it`s inside our hearts, and we fight to contain it, and transform ourselves into holy people, the divine beings that we really are!

Eleanor, high priestess of Soldur

A long, long time ago, the angels of Heaven were disguised as demons in the depths of the Nine Hells... They were sent on an important mission by the high angels of war to forge a powerful sword that would be able to end the demoniac plague forever! That sword, forged in the kingdom of evil with holy steel, blessed by the True God, should have the power to poison, destroy, and slay all the demons and all vile beings that serve them!

But the angels were discovered by the demon lords just after finishing the forge for that holy blade... A long and bloody battle between the forces of evil and good took place, a battle that lasted centuries! The demons finally acheived victory after those many years, and the angels' bodies burned for eternity on the same forge that they used to make the weapon. The demon lords then searched for that powerful sword, to destroy it as fast as possible... But, they could not find it!

A strange creature, half-demon and half-fairy, named Mullog, stole the sword from under the eyes of both angels and demons, who were fighting each other... That agile rogue then ran away from the Nine Hells with the sword in his hands. Mullog finally reached a peaceful world after years of running... His long flight ended up on our world, and he lived very well until his death. Then the sword which carries the holy steel of God and the eternal fire from the depths of the Nine Hells was left somewhere on our world...

Neither the angels nor the demons gave up on their quest to find that artifact, and hence our world was invaded by the forces of good and evil. So our age of peace and tranquility ended forever, and the sages cried in all the lands...

Rudolph the Wise, polemic philosopher

One of my preferred tales is the history of how Mister Riggs, the legendary founder of Pravokia, settled the alliance between the gigantic eagles from the peaks of the Eagle Rocks and the common folks of the lands... In a very long time ago, one weak nestling from a noble family of eagles got lost from his parents during the winter, and ended up on a farm which were full of chickens. As the chickens saw the yet little nestling, they decided to take care of him, and the nestling then learned from the chickens everything that a chicken had to know.

But after a week, our dear Mr.Riggs was wandering by this farm, and saw the nestling of a giant eagle among the chickens. He called for the farm owner and told him that this "chicken" were an eagle, and that he must be free to fly again. He could not stay on the ground with the other chickens... He were an eagle, and he must flew again! Then the farmer took the nestling and climbed up to the roof of his house, then he dropped the eagle from some height and... The nestling had fallen to the ground, only opening his wings to avoid being hurt. The farmer said: "See? Its a chicken, not an eagle. So, it will stay with my other chickens..."

Mr.Riggs, being the great soul that we all know, decided to try again... This time he took the nestling into his pack, and left the farm with the farmer, going to the peak of a hill which was near the site. He then forced the nestling to look upon the bright sun, which was so beautiful on that given day that the angles were singing the sweetest melodies from the skies. Mr.Riggs then said to the young eagle: "Look, the sky is yours, its your home. Look how lucky you are! Now fly, fly back home, fly back to were you belong my dear..." And the nestling proved that he were an eagle, not a chicken. He flight so fast that he reached the horizon in a blink of an eye...

And when the nestling returned home, all the eagles made a party to celebrate. They invited Mr.Riggs to take a part, and since that day they promised to protect all the torannians and other civilized races from any kind of danger... That is a wonderful tale, but since we all know that today the same torannians who had saved the nestling are hunting them for gold, we cannot do anything but lament our ignorance.

Wick the Old, famous storyteller

3rd