“The First Age was a time of peace and prosperity. When our ancestors crossed the Wavle ot Althenwen, or Destiny Ocean, hoping for reprieve from the original country across the ocean, Valta, where we were in bondage, they found Arches, then called Fraela.

It was a beautiful land, full of nature and wonder. They found a spot on the coast and began to make a place for themselves by the seashore.

They were only just building settlements, however, when the place turned out to be less uninhabited than they had hoped. The forests, which dominated most of the continent at the time, were themselves dominated by the fey.

They were led by the scalfangra – wolf men. The natives believed that the settlers were there to destroy them, and war began. Wulfa was a strong nation, and the colonists, new to the area and weak in both number and strength, stood no chance. They surrendered to the Wulfans, sparking the beginning of the famously brief Wulfan Age.

Only a month passed before the colonists were given their own land to govern themselves, as the Wulfans believed in freedom and disliked conquest.

The immigrants, the first Undulians, called their new world Ba Unduel, meaning United Beginning in their native tongue. This was the Golden Age, also called the First Age, which is technically inaccurate, being after the Wulfan Age, but a generally accepted name.

A thousand years passed in peace and prosperity. Ba Unduel and Wulfa alike grew. Indeed, Ba Unduel became so large that the end of the Golden Age was almost welcome.

The Shattered Age was the time when Ba Unduel split up. The people began to fight amongst themselves. The Wulfans, still unquestionably the stronger force, stood by and watched for years. Indeed, nearly a century passed until Wulfa grew impatient, wondering where the end was.

Finally, a Wulfan city was razed to the ground, suspected of containing refugees from the war, and Wulfa was forced to react. Striking quickly and decisively, Wulfa conquered the colonists once again.

Admittedly, our books are a little shy about how often Wulfa has intervened over the course of history. Regardless, Wulfa reconquered the colonists easily after such a long war. The Wulfans nearly kept the colonists under their thumb this time, but again, their hatred of conquest won over. The Wulfans split the colonists up into four dominant areas: Agor, Haflinor, Frarius, and Undul, with Undul as the capital. The New Golden Age continued for another five hundred years until it was ended by the Age of Crusades.

The Age of Crusades was not a good time for anyone. The Unduli had become wealthy in the capital, being by far the richest region on the continent. Haflinor and Frarius had immense military power, and Agor had developed isolationism as a political doctrine, meaning they pretty much just wanted everyone to leave them alone. It is believed, however, that they were secretly developing their control over dark magic, modeled off of the native tribes on the Island of Peril, who worshiped the Demon King.

The Unduli were jealous of their power, not wanting anyone else to have the power to take it. Haflinor and Frarius were in desperate need of a fight, as their armies had nothing to do. Agor… Agor just kind of watched the proceedings.

This aggression and greed were a volatile mixture that was eventually turned on Wulfa, which at the time dominated over two thirds of the continent. With almost no warning, three armies were launched at Wulfa’s border. One from Frarius, one from Haflinor, and one from Undul. Six cities were captured in the onslaught. Agor was a latecomer, its navy ravaging twomore cities on the southern coast.

Wulfa retaliated, but with much more force than the Undulians were prepared for. The army that Wulfa employed was both bizarre and deadly, with scalfangra at the head of the force, but also giant eagles and centaurs. Wood giants and stone giants and trolls, goblins and cave dwellers and treants and hydras. There were even a couple of dragons, enormous shadows that blotted out the sun, like a cloud passing over.

The Undulians were pushed back, sudden doubt falling over them. They were able to hold four of the cities, courtesy of the magics of the Agorians, the mighty walls and battle machines of the Haflins, and the sheer might and zeal of the numerous Frarians.

By this point, civic unrest had spread throughout the empire. In Agor and Haflinor especially, there were protestations of the war. The Unduli were all either rich and comfortable in their estates or too cripplingly poor to pose any problem for their leaders. This led to very minor protests that were immediately squashed.

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The Frarians had absolutely zero problem with the war. As a whole, they loved a good fight and saw little problem with picking one for no better reason than for the sake of the fight itself. They had a lot of brawls.

In Agor and Haflinor, however, most of the populace opposed the war. Agor had developed a culture of keeping away from foreign affairs, and Haflinor was very fractured. They mainly were split between pacifism and the bloodlust of the Frarians. As such, Agor’s and Haflinor’s contributions to the war had begun to dry up.

Meanwhile, in Wulfa, the armies of Ba Unduel had just begun to continue the push. They had made an unholy alliance with the Shuevek tribe of Peril, who were able to bend monsters to their will. Wulfa had a high population of magical creatures, but the monsters outnumbered them nearly ten to one in all but the most urban regions (urban being relative.)

Suddenly, the war effort was going much better than anticipated. The Wulfans were pushed and pushed until, finally, they were forced to negotiate surrender. Ba Unduel was allowed to keep most of Wulfa’s land in exchange for a blood oath that their armies would never again spill Wulfan blood unless provoked into action. This has been honored to this day.

The revenge of Wulfa was quick to come, however. It had been thought that the end of the war would bring an end to the protests, when in fact, the conflict devolved into outright civil war in both Agor and Haflinor.

In the Haflin Civil War, there were two sides. Those with the isolationism of the Agorians, who wanted peace, and those with the bloodlust of the Frarians, who wanted conquest.

These groups were called the Harmonists and the Conquistadors. They began with peaceful protests from only the Harmonists while the Conquistadors had been in Wulfa, then less peaceful protests, then riots.

The tipping point had been the raid at Saelig, where most of the Harmonists were gathered. That sparked a war that lasted two years, and had seven major battles: The Raid on Saelig, the Great Plains March, the Battle of Ker Hazen, the Siege of Castle Erisdor, The Charge of the Stone Warriors, The Darras Massacre, and the Battle of Kirisgar. In an incredibly ironic twist, the pacifists won their civil war.

Afterwards, Haflinor was divided. The losers, who had been called the Conquistadors, were given the north while the Harmonists, who had won, took the south.

By this point, Agor’s civil war was long since finished. The result was that the isolationists kept most of their territory, except for a minor area now known as Scorghi. It became the smallest of the Undulian provinces.

After this were a couple of centuries so uneventful that none of the historians could come up with a name for it, and they were simply known as the Pre-Elegrin Age.

Then rose a man named Elegeg. He was wickedness incarnate. No one knows who he was, or what led him to such evil. Indeed, all that is known is what happened. He conquered Agor, along with Scorghi, and then came for the others. As a whole, the Undulians held their own, with Haflinor being the strongest. Agor had more might than anyone realized, however.

By some black magic, a portal to the underworld had been opened beneath Bolkaad Deur, so massive as to be impossible to close, and so active as to completely captivate Agor under the rule of the Dead.

It was said that Elegeg had some means to control them, to rule over them. A certain gauntlet of souls, sword of might, and ring of eternity.

His war continued for years and years, until, finally, someone stole the sword of might. Without it, he lost control over the dead, although he could still control most of them within a certain area.

The gauntlet and ring, without the sword, were all but useless to him. He hid them far away, one deep in a place our records refer to only as ‘the catacombs’. The whereabouts of the ring are completely unknown.

The allies moved to capitalize on this weakness. Undul remained behind their borders, hiding rather than fighting, and their allies, Wulfa, Frarius, and Haflinor, protected them. A strategic move by the Great Triumvirate, the allied forces of Haflinor, Frarius, and Wulfa, was the thing that finally brought an end to the war. This was known as the battle of Occasus Solis, in which the tyrant king Elegeg finally fell. However, at the death of Elegeg, another tyrant king rose, and a war of attrition transpired.

This is known as the Age of Agor. It has lasted for nine hundred years, during which Agor has risen and been struck down, only to rise again.

“However, this age, unlike others, has no end in sight other than that which has been foretold.” Galvyn looked up at his father, Joseph Runar.

“What’s been foretold, Dad?” His father smiled down at his oldest son, who was only about twelve.

“The prophecy says this:

One day at Agor’s peak the son of Undul rises.

One day at Agor’s peak when all are in disguises.

The son of Ba Unduel, the king, Lord of all that is,

Will fight for Wulfa, Haflinor, and for Frarius.

Two lands have overstepped their bounds, two lands that stand apart.

Undul and Agor, the greatest from the start.

One day at Agor’s peak, the sun of Agor rises.

One day at Agor’s peak, when nothing wears disguises.”

Galvyn blinked. “That hardly clarifies much. I’d love it if the prophecies ever just said ‘Bad stuff happens, but then the world is saved, everyone dances, the end.’” Joseph laughed.

“Yes, but listen. This is important, Galvyn. When Agor’s might is overwhelming, and all is as good as lost, look for the Son of Ba Unduel. Only you can find him.” Galvyn frowned.

“Why me?” he asked.

“That will become clear as time passes. Now go play with your brother. It’s almost bedtime.”