Ansalon is a continent on the world of Krynn and the main setting for this game.

Ansalon lies in Krynn's southern hemisphere. The far south of the continent is a frigid glacier known as Icewall while the northernmost spots of Nordmar are home to tropical jungles.

Originally many areas that are now islands such Southern and Northern Ergoth and Mithas and Kothas were part of the mainland but four centuries ago a great disaster known as the Cataclysm shook the world. The Kingpriest, the ruler of the theocratic empire of Istar in eastern Ansalon had so angered the gods that they sent a fiery mountain down on the city, sinking many lands and changing the face of the world. After this event the gods turned from the mortal world for hundred of years until their return during the War of the Lance some sixty years ago.

Ansalon has changed even more recently. Thirty wo years ago in 383 AC (Alt Cataclius or "After the Cataclysm") the Chaos War erupted which saw the awesome power of the ancient god Chaos unleashed. After a devastating clash the other gods stalemated Chaos and stopped him destroying the world but only at the cost of their own departure. The mortals of Ansalon now found themselves left alone even more completely than after the first Cataclysm .

So devastating was the Chaos War and its aftermath that a new calendar was introduced with 384 AC becoming 1 SC (Secundus Cataclius or “Second Cataclysm”.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:45, Thu 11 May 2023.

The Dragon Overlords

The immediate aftermath of the Chaos War was hard for the people of Ansalon but they hardly had time to recover when a new and terrible threat was upon them.

Dragons both good and evil had played a pivotal role in the history of Krynn. The evil White, Black, Green, Blue and Red Dragons (or 'Chromatic Dragons' collectively) served the goddess Takhisis in her many attempts to take over the world. The noble Brass, Copper, Bronze, Silver and Gold Dragons (or 'Metallic Dragons' collectively) had been loyal the good god Paladine and had always opposed her.

The dragons of Ansalon were every bit as lost and upset by the departure of the gods as the humans, elves and other two-legged peoples. When rumours began to appear of the appearance of an unknown red dragon, larger and more powerful than any yet known many chromatic dragons dared hope it was Takhisis returning.

They were fatally wrong.

Malystryx the Red was an enormous dragon from some unknown land across the eastern ocean. When she arrived in Ansalon in 1 SC she began a reign of terror not just against the local humans and kender but against her fellow dragons, dozens of whom were slaughtered by the titanic creature. Through some alien magic Malystryx (or Malys as she is also called) was able to draw power from the slain dragons to shape the very lands around her, turning the fertile forests and hills of Balifor and Kendermore into a region of volcanoes and ash desert known as the Desolation.

Other dragon overlords appeared over the next few years. Khellendros the Blue ('the Storm over Krynn') took over much of northern Solamnia, creating the desert like Blue Wastes. Onysablet the Black ('Sable') conquered the eastern shores of the New Sea, turning much of it into the vast New Swamp. Gellidus the White invaded Southern Ergoth, turning that large temperate island frigid and beset by gales. Beryllinthranox the Green ('Beryl') conquered the elven forest kingdom of Qualinesti and began increasing the spread of the forests into what had once been plains.

Eventually the Dragon Overlords declared an end to the Dragon Purge. The weaker surviving chromatic dragons now serve the Overlords as minions while the surviving metallics remain in hiding. More than half of Ansalon lies uneasily under draconic rule, the inhabitants forced to pay tithes and live on the sufferance of their immense masters.

New Magic

With the turmoil going on in the world the Silvanesti elves withdrew into their forests kingom in south eastern Ansalon and through some unknown means created a great magical shield sealing them off from the rest of the world. Those Silvanesti who had not made it back home in time suddenly found themselves stranded in the outer world.

The great heroine of the War of the Lance Goldmoon discovered the powers of mysticism. She founded a great sanctuary known as the Citadel of Light on the island of Schallsea to teach the newly discovered art. Though Goldmoon herself strictly forbade practice of the darker side of mysticism such as necromancy others proved less scrupulous and soon the Knights of Takhisis and others had mystics of their own.

The discovery of a new arcane magic took longer. After the Chaos War the three Orders of High Sorcery - the White Robed Wizards, the Red Robed Wizards and the Black Robed wizards - still existed and many of their members still lived but none had any power. The wizards suffered another blow soon after the Chaos War when the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas vanished leaving just one Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth, this one at least still protected by it's enchanted forest.

Eventually the magic of Sorcery was discovered. Palin Majere, nephew of the famed archmage Rastlin Majere met with the mysterious Shadow Sorcerer and an equally enigmatic figure known as the Master of the Tower and formally dissolved the Orders of High Sorcery. A new Academy of Sorcery was built near the town of Solace to study the new Art.

As with mysticism soon others found their way to sorcery including some of the Knights of Takhisis and many independents.

Both mysticism and sorcery have quickly become established across Ansalon. Though in many ways they lack the sheer power of the old divine magic of the gods or the arcane magic of the three moons they are also easier to learn and in some ways more flexible in their casting.

Abanasinia is a peninsula on the south-western side of the New Sea. To it's north across the water is Solamnia, to it's east the island of Schallsea and to it's west across the Straits of Algoni is the big island of Southern Ergoth.

Abanasinia proper is bordered by the extensive forests of Qualinesti, the kingdom of the Qualinesti Elves, now under the dominion of the green dragon overlord Beryllinthranox. It is most known as a land of plains and grasslands with warm summers and cool winters but it is in fact quite varied with many hills and even mountains, small lakes and woodlands including the eerie and haunted Darken Wood. The population is mostly human composed of the original nomadic inhabitants of tribal plains barbarians like the Qué-Han and the Qué-Shu along with the settlements from elsewhere in Ansalon founded by various refugees fleeing the disasters of the Cataclysm four centuries before. There are also smaller communities of Hill Dwarves and a growing number of Elven refugees fleeing Beryl's rule.

The biggest town in Abanasinia is Haven which is also the unofficial capital but the most famous is Solace, a large village or small town where the houses are actually built into the towering vallenwood trees. Solace was the original home of the Heroes of the Lance who saved Ansalon from Takhisis's tyranny sixty years before and is now known as the location of the Tomb of the Last Heroes (where many of those who gave their lives in the Chaos War are honoured), a headquarters for the Legion of Steel and Palin Majere's newly established Academy of Sorcery.

The most famous location in Solace itself is the Inn of the Last Home, now run by the long retired Heroes of the Lance Caramon and Tika Majere.