The Known World

A dark age is ending. A new age is rising in its place. Great empires are forged, seekers of knowledge rebuild archives, and new science is discovered. Where will this knowledge lead? A new age of growth and prosperity for all? Domination by those who find ancient secrets first? Or perhaps a new age of oppression by the dark wizards who once ruled the world?   Much has been lost, and only a little is known from ages past. Some thousand years ago, a group of seven rulers known as the Witch-Kings arose. These powerful sorcerers ruled this continent with an iron fist. After half a millennium, the subjects of these tyrants rose up overthrew them. Upon victory, the newly freed made a great purge of books and learned people. Some records were preserved by the temple of Librisia, but most of the great wisdom and magical knowledge of the Witch-Kings is now lost. Perhaps some remains in the ancient fortresses and strongholds of the rulers, but few who enter those cursed places emerge alive.   What followed was a dark age of great chaos as wild bands of reavers roamed the land. Local leaders eventually began to build castles and walls to stop these raiders, and a system of feudal rule emerged. From these assortments of local rulers, larger nations began to form, and the countryside became safer. Towns and cities have grown, and a middle class of merchants and artisans has arisen.