Long ago, it is said, humans ruled the world. They soared through the skies, ruled the land and the sea, and controlled beasts. Nothing is remembered from that time; nothing except that it existed and it ended. How it ended is not known exactly, but it is known that the beginning of the end was the arrival of The Matriarch. At that time, the center of human power laid in APEX. A city of alabaster walls, soaring domes, and wonderous powers. In their hubris, the m en of APEX drew the wrath of the gods. Sent unto the world was The Matriarch, the mother of dragons. She landed at APEX and destroyed it. To this day, the top section of this mountain is nothing but rubble and home to The Matriarch.

And from this blasted peak, her children spread. Though few in number, each was a force of nature and laid waste to the kingdoms of men. Woirse, each of these offspring gave rise to its own lineage of wyrms that infected the land and drove men to the borders of existence.

But every force has its opposition, and this was true of the Matriarch in excess. The first to pppose her was one of her own children: Aan'Lith'Anar, the White Terror. Not satisfied with his small share of the world, Anar set upon his own sister, Aan'Lath'Vilim, and ravaged her children to wrest control of it. Unwilling to strike at her brother, she appealed to The Matriarch. When the mother of dragons tried to bring Anar to heel, he rebeled further. In her anger at being refutted, The Matriarch lashed out at Anar and destroyed his form. Thinking the issue ended, she retreated to APEX. Little did she know that Anar's malign spirit persisted. Possessing a nearby human at the moment of his destruction, he managed to stay alive if weakened. For centuries, he hopped from host to host while his children grew small and wild and the world changed.

The next opposition came even as man was pushed to his last stronghold: Judas. A grandchild of The Matriarch, he was of the lineage of Aan'Lath'Grind, the Black Terror. But he, like his uncle had, craved more power than was alloted to him by his progenitor. And, being weaker by far than the Matriarch or the Black Terror, he turned to an unexpected ally: men. In man he found a canvas of pure potential. There was power in men that only wanted to be unlocked. So he unlocked it using a terrible ritual. This ritual required that he sacrifice even his own name, but it created three new races: Dragonkin, Elves, and Gnomes. Dragonkin were powerful warriors and resistant to the elemental attacks that dragons used. Elves had an affinity for tapping into the wild forces in the world and manipulating them. Gnomes were small, clever, and quick and made excellent scouts. Between these three races and the aid of a few of his own children, he carved out a territory. Not wanting to both its mother, Grind sought to end its rebellious offspring by itself. This proved difficult as he was the first dragon to discover the ability to change into a humanoid form. Thus able to hide among his troops, he was hidden from Grind and his brethren. Soon his own offspring showed signs of this ability as well. Now, it was not unheard of for dragons to pop out of his armies and ambush attackers. His empire grew and he became known only as the Dark General. The height of hs power came when he led an massive force in attack against his own father. Some say Grind was destroyed, others say that it was imprisioned, but all know that it was never seen again. From there, the Dark General's empire spread to cover all of Grind's former territory and began to press against those of his aunts and uncles. Suprisingly, no retribution came from The Matriarch in response to Grind's overthrow.

Shortly after this rise to power reached its zenith, the north exploded as well. Anar, having spent generations gathering and strengthening the humans that lived in his desolate lands, had shaped them into a hardy force of warriors. Each northman was a hulking behemoth of muscle and sinew with a nasty temper to match. Too, he had taught them how to tame and ride his near beastial descendants. This force of dragon riders started to centralize power in the north again. Finally, it descended in force upon the lands of Vilim again. This time she was pushed back and The MAtriarch would not come to her aid. In the end, Vilim fled across the eastern ocean, her offspring were hunted to near extinction or tamed, and the Frozen Kingdom was established. Of course, each successive king in the royal line was jus thost to Anar who saw no need for a new body now and relished his secretive status. Such that few know the true identity of the Frozen King.

And in this dangerous world ruled by Dragons, men persisted. At the fringe, clinging for dear life, and desperate, but they survived. Some came into service of the dragons and became known as Dragon-marked. Some risked the wrath of dragons to roam free. Most of these ranged in the north or the isles of the south-west. And, too, the three new races mingled with them.

Slowly but surely, the first three ages of the world of Metallion came to an end. The Age of Myth, The Age of Dragons, and The Age of Wars. The next age was known as the Age of Light and it was brought about by the arrival of the third and last opposition to The Matriarch: Othum the First God.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:55, Tue 26 July 2022.

It is unclear what vagueries of fate produced Othum. None are sure, but that the First God was born is true. He was born, grew up, grew old, and died. The gods lived long lives, as long as elves, but also died. What was unique about them was their ability to grant power to mortals who swore loyalty to them. Even the gods have never been able to explain how the ability works or how the prescripts of their faiths are laid out. too, the limits of each gods' power seemed wildly varied. Some claim is has to do with blood purity, others with clarity of purpose, and still others just fate. What remains true is that each god attracts a coterie of worshippers throughout their life, should they choose, and through certain rituals and prescripts are able to grant power or various types. each god grants only one type of power though: clerical might, questing might, or pact might.

What also remains true is that any god will eventually die. Some gods were able to set up dynasties in which a group or family of gods operated in unison and inherited their worshippers from one another through labyrinthine contracts. Others ruled like brief candles. Some few sought ways to extend their lives or nominate worthy successors. OThrs overthrew and absorbed the worship of their forebears. Whatever the method, as the bloodlines of the gods profligated, the types of religions did as well. These religions even spread into the Frozen Kingdom and Dark Empire

The end result was that the free humans of the world were now able to stand against the dragons. What fear of a dragon when the gods were on your side. In this age, the legions of the gods and the armies of the dragons fought a many-sided war. For not ever religion was an ally and not every dragon played well with its fellows. In one exchange, cults and entire families of gods would be wiped out. In another, an entire lineage of dragons would be cut off. It had become known that to kill the progenitor of a draconic line was to lower them into little more than beasts. As had happened with the white and green dragons. the next to fall was the blue progenitor. In a clash with the gods of the Schneider pantheon, the grandsire of all blue dragons was destroyed and annihilated. From then on, blue dragons were little mroe than large, violent sea serpents. Seeing their numbers slowly dwindling, the last two living scions of The Matriarch retreated from the world. Slowly, the forces of the gods pushed north once the red dragons fled the wars, the blues were brought low, and the blacks disappeared.

It seemed that men would finally, after thousands of years, reclaim the world. however, as is the case in metallion, this was ended by the interventions of The Matriarch. In a plan as twisted as it was complex the Dark General and Anar joined forces in cajoling her to intervene. Descending from APEX in a violent fury she decimated the forces of men. No god stood before her, no magic slowed her, and now weapons so much as scuffed her scales. Men were driven back into the south once more. The Dark General and Anar eagerly gobbled up the abandoned lands and capitalized on the retreat of men. Eventually, her wrath sated, The Matriarch retreated to her roost again and has not been heard from since.