Orbon

Once there was an era peace and progress, once there was unity and stability, once there was reason and fairness upon the world. This era had long since passed on this world. The era of peace ended through the events of the Great Cataclysm and has become naught but a distant memory. They say it was a war fought between the mortal races using arcane magic and devices long forgotten. Others claim it was a conflict between the gods and the demons of the abyss. More still, state that it was hubris that brought the world into such devastation. Regardless of the matter, the result is the same; An apocalyptic surge of energies sorcerous, divine, demonic, and eldritch engulfed the world. The oceans writhed and boiled, the ground churned and ruptured, the skies burned and fell. It is only by the will of the Gods that any life from the previous era managed to survive.   Thousands of years have long passed since then. Millennia of hardship and strife as the survivors fought against all odds and against each other for survival. Knowledge and wisdom have long dispersed and regressed across the planet. Starting from scratch, the mortal races have gone through the eras of hardship and suffering. Heroes and villains rose and fell through the ages, their deeds inspiring others to rise. It is only in the recent times have the races have begun to recover and heal from their eons of war. Alliances are being formed through shared interest and commonality. The beginnings of empire are evident among the nations. Exchange of goods and ideas have allowed for progress for revival and restoration. The spark of ambition drives the flames of expansion as the people of the world work to reconquer the tainted wilderness and settle the dark frontier. The light of civilization burns brightly to drive back the darkness and restore order to the world.   The light of civilization burns, and it illuminates not just the wilds beyond the walls but also the banners that fly over them. The many banners of the many different cultures and nations. Each proclaiming themselves in the right and the only true way. Each refusing to believe themselves possessing any significant flaws. Each looking upon the others as rivals, competitors, and foes. Even as they eye each other with distrust and scheming, there are many more who act and plot their downfall. Those who see the conquest and taming of this savage new world as either a path to weakness and corruption or as the road that leads to the same cataclysm that nearly ended the world. Other still deliberately serve the darkness of their own hearts or of the abyss, and look upon the potential conflicts with greedy eyes and malevolent spirits. In this era of proposed peace and progress which promises stability, it may only take one wrong move to spark upheaval and begin the descent into the fires of war.