Ix

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Much of the First Age is lost to the mists of the past. What is known is that it was a time when elves, dwarves and other non-human races were dominant. Those who lived in that era learned to control powerful magic forces and shaped the world to their will. Over time they grew mighty and discovered ways to shape the very fabric of reality. Many from that era eventually ascended to godhood becoming the pantheon worshiped by many even today. With so many powerful beings leaving the material plane the land was left bereft of it's most influential shapers a dark age descended on the world.   The Second Age was known as the Age of Man. It is known that this period lasted for several millennia and was dominated by humans who found the void of influence easy to fill. Most non-human races of Ix saw humankind as an arrogant people while forgetting the arrogance of their own forefathers. The people of the Second Age learned to control the primal forces of magic just as those before them, though lacking the finesse of their predecessors. It was as if the raw magic of the world had become more distant from reality than it was for those who first tapped into that reservoir of power. Old tomes and scholarly texts from the first age were found and studied until those of the Second Age began to unravel the secrets of ascension. Men and women once again looked to the heavens and dreamed of the power wielded by gods.   The exact events of the last days of the Second Age are unknown. It is believed that the Ixians of the Second Age brought war to the Gods of the First Age and were ultimately defeated. As punishment for their arrogance, the Gods plunged the world into ice. Winter came and lasted for uncounted millennia. As the world froze all life retreated beneath the surface. Many died in those first years of ice. The hardships brought to Ix were more than most could handle, many starved or were buried under rapid glaciation. Only a fraction of all life on Ix survived.   Eventually the glaciers began to recede exposing a landscape of ruins. Much of the Second Age was erased, scoured away from land and history. It has been at least 1500 years since the first people began to emerge from their subterranean realms and began to seed the world again. It has been a long, difficult path back to civilization during which savage wars have been fought, castles raised and sundered, empires slowly emerging from hard won victories. Today Ix is a smattering of small kingdoms separated by vast unexplored regions.