History of Man in Four Books: Introduction

By 3000ey the mighty Vyrum Empire had come to end. It’s last ruler, Io the Great, went into exile. The remaining Princes were pried out from behind their impregnable walls of stone and were led way in chains. The great alds were left abandoned and ripe for the taking.

The vassal rulers among the five races were left in uneasy peace. For 150 years they had known only war – first against the rise of the Old Ones and then, beginning even at the Battle of the Dry Rift, against each other. The eventual end of their conflicts is fixed as 2991ey. They did not end by treaty, but instead from a general unwillingness to fight any longer. Constant struggle had depleted the treasuries and armies of the Besnir. Their mighty Cavaliers -- guardians of peace and justice for seven centuries, were no more. Into this whimpering peace the human race came to the fore.

The rise of man was noted first by the Hierophants of the Continuum. They sent emissaries to each of the remaining Ranes reporting that the wild primitives who had long been in the shadows were now coalescing into bonafide tribes and putting down roots in permanent settlements. The humans were observed having ceremonies for their dead and though they had an unknown tongue, it was nonetheless language. At the Peace of Dovaris in 3024ey, the Grand Hierophant declared to all the assembled Besnir that the 7^th Age had begun. This was not a popular finding among them, and least of all the Urok – for they had long anticipated their own return to power.

In the Four Lands of Northrun, Southrun, Eastrun and Westrun the tribes of man slowly ascended.