This is a D&D Campaign ran by my friend, Nick. He has created a game setting based on Pirates of the Dark Water.
“Before the creation of now, there was nothing but darkness. The world was filled with demons, fiends, and monsters. They ruled over all and had their fill of the land. Then one day a light shown through the dark and illuminated the world for the first time. The light was strong and banished the evil forever from the land. With the monstrosities gone, the light saw that the land was fertile and brought forth all manners of life to the world.”
– Creation myth, as told by the clerics of Pelor
“The darkness comes and spreads forth over the waters and the lands. Its destructive presence cannot be stopped. All shall be consumed, and the Dark Lord will be brought forth once again.”
– Prophecy of the End of the World, as told by the clerics of Nerull
“The first dragons were not like the ones today. Their powers and abilities were more. But like all creatures their fall from grace came too, and the chromatic dragons were born.”
–Fall of the Dragons, followers of Tiamat
“The Eight Legendary Warriors came from all walks of life and all races. They traveled together to save the world. But in the end they sacrificed their lives to save the world.”
-Lines told by the clerics of Pelor
History
Before the dawn, this world was barren and void of life. Then a light shone brightly and from it new life crept forward, spreading across the lands, water and air, but darkness still covered the lands. For this new light was the light of evil and these new creatures were demons and devils of the worst kind. For thousands of years that was the rule of the world, and the rulers became restless and in fighting between the brutes started. The battles raged for centuries and threatened to tear the world apart, and then the second light appeared in the heavens and they arrived.
Their true name has been lost over the millenniums; we call them the Ancients now. Their home was dying so they went out to search for a new world and when they came to this one they saw the chaos brought on by the fiends and decided to save the planet before it was destroyed. They decided to send down an army of beasts to slaughter the smaller demons before banishing the larger ones themselves. Using metals they had present, they created five dragons made of iron, copper, nickel, lead, and tin. For a thousand days and nights the dragons fought and killed demons, and the Ancients thought they had found a means to end the rule of these foul creatures. But they did not count on the larger demons being so much stronger. They started to feed corruption into their creations turning them against their masters. With the corruption growing in them, the dragons became tarnished, nickel turning green, iron red with rust, copper to blue, the lead became black, and the tin brittle white. Time passed and the Ancients decided to try again with dragons, but this time they used more precious metals, gold, bronze, brass, silver and copper again, they noticed that the copper dragons resisted the corruption the longest before turning. The Ancients imbued the new dragons with power to fight their brethren and the horde of demons. This new battle raged for years, but a successful beach head was claimed.
The claimed land brought hope to the Ancients, now with a small piece of land they could begin to claim this world for themselves and drive the fiends from it. Using their new dragons and the massive power at their disposal, the Ancients managed to drive the demons from the land forever. Over the centuries the Ancients rebuilt their civilization and populated the land, air, and seas with new life. As time passed, the world became alive and the Ancients flourished, building cities and making discoveries, but this utopia was not meant to last. One demon found a way back to the world and terrorized its inhabitants. Again the Ancients were forced to exercise this fiend, and were successful. More time passed and the same demon returned and the Ancients removed it again, this would continue for more years to come, but how this creature would keep on returning would elude the Ancients for some time. To combat the threat and to protect that which was created, an army was formed. New races were made to fight off the demon; giants, elementals, and other beasts were added to the army of dragons. Even with these forces, the fiend made short work of them, forcing his way past them and killing hundreds of Ancients.
With the loss of so many of their brethren, a new plan was forged to free their new home from the threat of this monster. Preparations were made three fold, an artifact was created to destroy the evil forever, but this device needed time and energy to fulfill the task. The second part was the creation of new races to take over the fight when the time would come, so the races that live on Achaia today were made. First were the elves, clever and long lived, next came the dwarves strong and brave. Half-lings, opportunistic and capable were made next, the fourth were the gnomes, who were tricky and skillful. The orcs were next to be born, honor bound and fierce, and finally humans joined the ranks, adaptable and dependable.
Time of Unrest
The Legendary Warriors were the ones to bring and end to the Time of Unrest and bring peace to the world. It is rumored that their spirits now inhabit the armors they wore that are lost through out the planet. Over one thousands years ago the planet was in turmoil, a great evil threatened to consume the entire world and ravaged the people and lands. The great evil fed off the dark emotions of the warring people. This evil crept over the oceans and the land, covering and swallowing everything. And in this time of need, eight heroes emerged to bring order to the world. These heroes traveled the world and found a way to subdue the evil, but not destroy it. This task had its cost, all but one of the heroes died. The last hero took the tools used to defeat the evil and hid them around the globe, so that future generations would be prepared should the evil return. The Legendary Warriors were:
- Scaleron the Wise
- Mondo the Strong
- Skarra the Healer
- Wolgar of the Mountains
- Voldo of the Sea
- Almeria the Powerful
- Vadania of the Woods
- Azreal the Fair
“Eight warriors of light stood tall before the darkness.
One fiend of dark gathered power to devour.
Seven friends died to destroy the dark.
One survivor wandered the world to prepare for the return.”
– Legend of the Eight Warriors
Evil grows stronger everyday.
As the darkness spreads, the light finds less ground to hold.
Good is being swallowed as the hearts of the mortal races grow cold.
Only a few individuals can save the world.
Find the power to vanquish this evil from the planet, save the many races, save yourselves.
– Words of a wise sage.
Behind the Spine, the night sky grew bright like the rising day.
A loud noise could be heard over the oceans.
The once fertile land became a dessert.
All matter of new beasts appeared and magics became unpredictable.
This once good land became the Badlands.
– Glasben Leafsong, Elven historian, creation of the Badlands
Magic is a science and an art.
– Urza Headmaster of the Tolarian Academy
One cleric that hates dragons, and one bronze dragon that hates humans, found themselves bonded through ancient magic. Learned that their hate was fueled by ignorance and learned to accept and love each other. Instead of breaking the bond they stayed joined. Learning to do the same with others, the Dragon Warriors were born.
– Short abridged history of the Dragon Warriors
Alusair Farstrider 