First Age

Millennia past, the continent of Ilarium was ruled by rampaging tribes of giants and terrorised by dragons. The other races moved between these, trying to build their own civilizations and avoid becoming enslaved. The dragons were not great in number but those who existed were divided roughly along two lines, the chromatics and the metallics. The metallic dragons fought amongst themselves for slaves and wealth, as well as with the chromatics. The chromatics left each other to their own designs, occasionally allying to fight off metallics. The giants and dragons also fought constantly, decimating any who got between them.
Some of the earlier settlements to be built include Mesifi, Terrán, Pandesh, and smaller elven outposts throughout the forests of Ilarium which stretched from the southern tip of the Mountains of Razdún to the Windbreakers. The elves grew in magic and strength until an elven king, Laren Vizdenial, united the elves and pushed back against the Giant Menace, exterminating entire tribes of the in-fighting giants and pushing them to the extremities of his new empire.
Laren Vizdenial gathered the strongest magicians from amongst his race. He was the strongest of the group which came to be called The Nine.¹ Between them, they crafted powerful magical artefacts, or led missions to recover artefacts from the enemy, and equipped themselves and their armies with the means to defend their race and, eventually, to attack. The Nine wielded the most powerful of these artefacts, the Azuli, which provided them incredible strength and abilities, whilst other powerful relics were given to elven generals to lead the attack against the tyranny of the giants and dragons.^{2, 3}
The elven empire of Vizden stretched from Razdún to Mesifi. The capital, Lathenial, was built deep in the heart of Harthelen. The Vizdania did not "conquer" other cities or races, which belonged in the most part to dragonborn and the dwarves, but rather used their power and magic to help shelter these settlements, coming to rule over them and form a satrapy. Those which did not wish to live under the Vizdania moved over the Windbreakers into the barbaric lands beyond, in a bid to create their own cities and forge a new destiny. Vizden itself was run as a series of dictatorships, and existed for millennia following the giant wars. Over the course of many centuries, the Vizdania became greedy and arrogant, driving the long-lived dwarves to action. A turning point in the sentiment of the dwarves and dragonborn was the treatment of their troops as disposable pawns in the defeat of Lich Lord Xerun as he made to invade over the Windbreakers with his horde of undead warriors.
The dwarves were the first to rise. Pockets of dissent cascaded until dwarven warriors in outposts all over the empire were in uprising. The Vizdenian troops sent to quell the disruptors only fuelled attitudes and soon dwarves all over were throwing off the shackles of authority the elves held over them. The Vizdania, accustomed to subservience, lashed out in rage and so began what is known simply as The Dwarven Rebellion. As the fighting spread, the dwarves released dragonborn who had suffered greatly in forced servitude to the elves and whom joined the fight with zeal. The eastern front was led by Nasros Galbraith out of Mesifi and the western uprising was led by Horlin Brinzdin and the rest of the House of Delg.
Vizden fell with the taking of its capital, Lathenial, in the heart of the ancient wood of Harthelen in the 7429th year of th First Age. Dwarves, worked to frenzy over the millennia of subjugation they had suffered, killed every inhabitant and animal within the city, tore down its walls and removed every trace of the city’s existence. They raided libraries throughout the fallen empire and struck all names and history to do with Lathenial from the record. No trace of the city remains and the only beings who know of its location and the more exact details of its existence are Alteryon, the silver dragon of Pandesh, and Torinn, the half-elf to whom Alteryon imparted the knowledge.

1: the same number of magic users who defeated Abyss in the Formation of the Planes, nine is a magically powerful number- USE FOR DRAGON-SUMMONING ILLITHID
2: COOL NAME FOR THE ENEMIES?
3: See article: the Artefacts of the Nine