The "Big Picture"
Long ago, the gods and the dragons were of equal power. Where the gods used their powers to create a playground and fill it with friends and distractions, the dragons used it to corrupt and to claim dominion over. This led to conflict and the war was devastating- so much so that the highest of the gods and the great creator, Ao, intervened and meted out punishment to all parties. The dozen gods were banished to their mortal realm as Avatars, with their powers diminished and only limited access to their sphere's power. The five dragons were each imprisoned across the mortal realm, put to sleep for eternity, and the avatars would guard against those that would threaten the development of their world.
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| by Pavel Atanazov |
Ages passed and knowledge of these "god-dragons" passed from all but the elves, and the even some of the Avatars began to forget their missions and meddled in the affairs of mortals. While they never influenced major events, they nonetheless enjoyed their friends and took for granted that this existance wasn't supposed to be a vacation. Eventually, certain of these avatars forgot their oaths altogether and hatched plans that caused big problems. The avatar of knowledge, disguised as a rogue named Pete, stole a Wand of Cosmic Forces from the avatar of trade and luck. He then hid it in a place that was later found by a human and used to escalate a war with the goblins. When Pete tried to intervene, the wand disappeared and he was killed. His final curse was the knowledge of the artifact and its hiding place shall be lost to the world. Another avatar that slipped from the path was the avatar of magic, disguised as a mercenary named Mikel. He went to the oracles and received a prophecy that led him to relations with an elf to create another avatar that would prevent a war between the Fey and Shadow Realms. Instead, it led to his death by some adventurers and the fall of the Feywild to the Shadow Dragon Lord.
Even with the machinations of the avatars, waxing more ignorant to their true purposes, the world still continued. Eventually, the humans spread and began colonizing the lands abandoned by nature and the elves. Dragons (the lesser kind that men speak of) had warred with the elves even as their kind slowly died away for both sides. The dwarfs long retreated west under the mountains and set up ancestral trade agreements anywhere they could. Society advanced until the world was filled with legends and wanderers. Today, a few groups of adventurers range the surface of the world, trying to solve the mysteries of their age and enrich themselves while doing it. One group, in particular, has a unique perspective as they go through their journey. Equally, they will be the cause of the end of their world and the force that will defeat it.
