Land of Tyre is divided by the Cleave a large gorge with sheer walls that is roughly 3 miles across and almost a mile deep. At the bottom is the fast running, rocky, and unnavigable river – the Balrush. The Cleave is connected at only its two narrowest points, by bridges built by a short-lived community of dwarf mages which arose during the Golden Age – nearly 10 generations ago. At this time the kingdom of the Gargoth dwarves were spreading rapidly in the Asgoth Mountains at the head of the Balrush. Gold, platinum, and other jewels and metals were being mined from the mountains making the land rich in trade and treasure. Dwarves historically were highly suspicious of magic, but a small number of families began to use their wealth to quietly bring in mages to experiment and teach their children magic. This was done in secret as families which experimented with magic were often ostracized and even attacked. As the dwarven magical community grew they focused their efforts on combining the deep dwarven knowledge of metal, stone and engineering with the arcane arts in hopes of making their activities accepted by others of their kind. During this process it was discovered that dwarf women were particularly adept at magic. While both men and women practiced, most the best magicians were dwarf women. Magical weapons and metal and stone artifacts began to appear in the area that far exceeded the power and intricacy of the few human produced ones. Many of the early efforts were flawed and unstable – even dangerous to their users in some instances. However, as skill increased so did the quality of the artifacts. The ruling clan of the dwarves, the Margoth clan, were highly traditional and resisted the experimentation with magic. As the abilities of the underground dwarf magicians grew the Margoth’s became worried that they could be used to overthrow the clan. Indeed the small dwarf magical communities were split with a small faction that did advocate for using their power to violently depose the “unenlightened” Margoth’s though the majority still wanted to convince them and the other dwarves peacefully of the advantages of magic. What happened next is shrouded in mystery. The Margoth’s claimed that the son favored to take over the clan, Gilodan, was attacked and killed by a cursed artifact and they used this attack as a rallying cry to wage war on families rumored to be using magic. Others claim that the attack was fabricated by the Margoths to preemptively strike out against their perceived enemies. Others said that the son himself was secretly learning magic and constructed the flawed artifact that killed him. In any event, his death led to the War of the Mountains, the only time that dwarves descended into civil war. Even rumors that a clan was practicing magic would make it a target of the powerful Margoth’s and their supporters. Families began to turn on families. Insinuation and rumor were used to settle old scores. The War of the Mountain devastated the race financially, demographically and socially. Today the dwarves are split into rivaling clans with little cooperation among them, fueled in part by the historic bad blood dating back to the war. Even many clans are still divided based on the accusations and internecine conflict during the war. The War of the Mountains is widely credited with the beginning of the end of the Golden Age.   During the war a small group of the most talented dwarf magicians fled the conflict in an attempt to save the magic of the race. Alone and in danger they turned to the human lords of Tyre for protection. In exchange for this protection as well as a last ditch effort to convince their people of the positive power of magic the dwarves proposed to use their craft to build a series of bridges over the mighty Cleave. They successfully completed two. The rich, fertile and resource rich land of the north had been highly sought after my many in the southern kingdom. However, the only way around the Cleave was either through a very dangerous pass through the dwarf kingdom who had little interest in letting humans pass, especially cheaply or sailing up the coast and going inland. All were expensive and kept the northern lands from being exploited, especially since the northern forest was wild and home to goblins and other more formidable creatures. After the completion of the two bridges two of the more powerful families conspired to gain control of the bridges, one taking the western bridge and the other the eastern one. To assure that their monopoly on passage was preserved, they had the dwarf mages murdered. This and the War of the Mountains effectively exterminated the dwarf mages, though there are always rumors among the dwarves that a few survived and continue to secretly practice the craft and pass it down to their daughters and occasionally sons. Rumors of new magical artifacts from these supposed underground wizards circulate and it is not uncommon for the rich (or desperate) to claim to have such artifacts. If it is true, these artifacts like the historical ones are relatively rare and those who own real ones, especially those with valuable powers, are wise not to boast.   The Taming of the North Following the Golden Age came what is referred to by historians as the Taming of the North or in more common speech simply the Taming. The northern land, having been cut-off by the Cleave on one side, the mostly impassable Asgoth Mountains on the east and the frigid, dangerous sea on the west had largely maintained its wild state. Goblins which had been systematically hunted to extinction in the Southland had settled in the dark, old forests of the north. Magical beasts from a long bygone age were rumored to still live in the forest and the northeastern hills of the Asgoth. However, humans and other southland races were highly incentivized to settle and exploit the land for some its more rare natural resources. Three were the most important. First, the woods of the north were made from a tree that grew only sparsely south of the Cleave, the black cedar. Black cedar, a rare hardwood, is highly prized for its strength, beauty, manipulability and magicians say its ability to be imprinted with magic properties. Compared to the white pines, aspens, ironwood and other species that dominate the south. The few black cedars that did grow south of the Cleave were overharvested long ago. Many of the old forts and homes made of these trees are highly prized as they could not be replicated with modern woods. The second resource available in the north were gemstones which were far more plentiful in the Northern Asgoths than south of the Cleave. Dwarves would sometimes send parties through Helmut’s pass into the North in search of gemstone mines. This was a highly dangerous endeavor and while a few families became wealthy, “striking northern stone” is the saying among the dwarves, many lost generations of family in such escapades. Concerted efforts by dwarves to expand north of the pass in numbers were always rebuffed by a combination of goblins, defending their last remaining safe havens, the inhospitable winters, and every so often rumored run ins with beasts that some believe extinct. The stories told of survivors of these attacks are often chalked up to exaggeration and the families not wanting to admit that expeditions failed due to the much despised goblins or hunger or other mishaps. The third resource was discovered once the coast was settled. The cold northern sea is home to an orca, called the coryn. The coryn produces an oil which burns both clean in smell, brightly, and for a long duration. Corynthian oil quickly became the other great resource of the North. The family who discovered it is among the most wealthy in the land, though they do not now hold a monopoly on its procurement. Hunting coryn is dangerous, risky work. The animal is completely resistant to magic (its blood and oil are ingredients to magic resistance potions). Even so there is concern that it could be hunted to extinction. The northern government controls licenses to hunt the animal though it is not uncommon for pirates cum poachers to try and flaunt the rules. The use of the black cedar is required to build the boats strong and big enough to hunt the creatures.   The Taming was originally controlled by the two families who took control of the bridges though pushing the goblins back and holding them at bay required bringing in many troops to defend the settlements and towns. The Goblin Wars were a series of long running conflicts over control of the eastern forest. After much fighting humans were only able to keep a limited foothold in the eastern forest, expanding more rapidly along the coast. They controlled a few key routes into the mineral rich mountains and held a line into the forest that allowed them to run timber operations. The goblins retreated into the eastern forest and general equilibrium was reached with even a small amount of trade between goblins and southlanders but the border lands along the forest remained dangerous. Goblins would often raid timber crews or especially mining caravans returning from the hills with gems and gold. However, a thriving set of towns and villages grew up around these mining and timber routes which kept pushing further into the forest.   One of the other important outcomes of the Taming was the founding of the northern school of magic. The wild and old magic of the northern woods provided inspiration and raw materials for a new form of magic to appear. One that was more powerful than that practiced in the south. An outpost for magical research and training was established after the Goblin Wars in Urda, a fortress and town built deep in the northern forest. Urdan magicians played a major role in the third great epoch of Tyre – The Unification and War of Magic.   The Unification and the War of the Three Great Magics These two events happened so rapidly and were so intertwined that they are almost always spoken of together. Shortly after the Taming the two controlling families extended their control of Tyre through a series of intermarriages between their sons and daughters. The eldest pairing became the defacto King and Queen of Tyre and their first child, a daughter, was declared the first Queen by Divine Right. This was referred to as the Unification. North and South Tyre were ruled by a single family. The two generations of unification were used highly effectively. An army and guard were established, a unified set of courts and laws instituted, trade routes built, and institutions of learning and magic created. It was successful for two reasons. First, the newly discovered resources allowed rapid expansion and economic growth which the ruling family wisely made sure was shared broadly, allowing many families to improve their standard of living and a class of rich landowners and bourgeoisie to arise through initiative and hard work. The second was that they effectively used the Goblin Wars to create a single national identity while allowing autonomy among the races and provinces which avoided unnecessary power struggles. They were even successful in including the dwarves of Asgoths, Halflings, and even the Elves of the southern forest into a coalition tied together with their economic interdependence and trade. While the Elves, Halflings, and even the fractured Dwarves were still officially recognized as independent of Tyre, they operated more as federated states with travel and trade across the borders. Elves, Dwarves and Halflings were all required to send a certain number of soldiers and other public servants into the service of the Tyre government. So while the races still stick largely with their own, some more than others, enough were scattered throughout the country, especially among the rich and powerful classes to hold it together. It seemed as if Tyre was on the verge of another Golden Era.   However, this changed with the next generation. The Queen was unfortunate to have two children born closely together. Growing up in wealth and status and removed from the struggles of building the kingdom the young woman and man were always in danger of the “ruler’s curse”. Both showed exceptional aptitude and flourished under the education afforded them. Both looked to be rulers in the making. When the queen died suddenly of a strange illness succession was pushed much faster than expected. It was decided that the older child, Princess Calbrari and the younger son Prince Baan would each administer one half the kingdom. Calibrari being the oldest chose the more refined and populated south. Baan, displeased somewhat, went North. The two leaders along with a council were supposed to rule jointly. However, the leaders soon came at odds over economic, military and social policy. One of the biggest disputes was in regards to the development of magic, which was still rudimentary. Baan, influenced by the new mages of the North pushed for a magic controlled by the elite and focused on large scale applications, many of them military in nature. This was in part due to the greater threats in the North as well as the desire to continue expanding into the goblin held forests which had proved intractable by other military means. They argued, not unreasonably, that as this powerful form of magic developed it would be dangerous to stability and society to have magic being shared without strict controls.   Calibrari influenced by the more traditional mages of the south advocated for a less powerful but more refined magic suited towards more mundane and economic tasks, though it was not hard to create some personal level military applications. She also felt that such magic should be broadly shared arguing that if magic were more widespread it wouldn’t pose any particular threat. She also argued that large scale and dangerous magic could be discouraged and contained through strong internal controls and norms enforced by the mages themselves. The debate escalated and both rulers began pouring resources into magical research in an effort to prove the superiority and feasibility of their visions. Mages took sides with many traveling North or South to receive training and join efforts based on their personal beliefs. The magic camps became more and more dogmatic hoarding their secrets and innovations through strict guilds and codes so as not to let their knowledge pass to the other side. This slowed and fractured research even further. The strong paradigms adopted by the two sides made magical knowledge and practice diverge dramatically from one another until it almost became impossible for a mage from one kingdom to understand or learn spells rooted in the other philosophy. Two separate magical languages had been created.   Finally tensions between the two kingdom escalated to the point that armies were raised on either side in anticipation of the others aggression. As the societies became more militarized agitation for actions began to build. Some small incidences on either side of the Cleave spurred on by one of the hottest summers on record began to snowball. Finally, fearing that the other side was preparing to move to control the all important bridges troops were mobilized. The southern kingdom moved to gain control of both the bridges in a coordinated maneuver. The Battle of the Bridges marked the official beginning of the war. Even though the South had moved first, the North had been planning a similar move and quickly responded. The South took the Eastern Arch and looked to also have hold of the Western Arch when a group of Northern Mages appeared and unleashed what the first of the “Great Magicks” sending fireballs of enormous size hurling across the arch. No one had ever seen or even conceived of magic of that scale. This included the Northern mages themselves who most believe lost control of the spell. It began to heat the metal in the Arch to such a degree it started to melt and twist threatening the destroy the very wonder they were trying control. Many think that had the arches themselves not been magic built it would have collapsed instantly. However, it held and when the spell was spent the Southern army had been decimated. The Northern Army rushed across the bridge and took the towers on the other side.   In the North this battle was seen as a vindication for the Wild Magic and it was widely believed that with such power they could impose their will on the South. The South was indeed frightened and its army was in danger of breaking. Many thought it was only a matter of time before the Western Arch would be lost to similar tactics. However, what wasn’t known was that the majority of the mages responsible for the First Magick had died casting the spell, being consumed by the blast. A few survived and even most of those were badly maimed. Nonetheless, two more similar attempts were to be made during the war.   The second attempt, a repeat of the newly named Dragon Fire spell at the Western Arch was foiled by a brilliant and daring tactic from the South. Southern mages who were at the Eastern Arch observed that the spell appeared to work as a normal, if large fire, burning oxygen in a chain reaction in the general direction indicated by the casting mages. The fire they reasoned began at a small point and expanded. If deprived of oxygen at the point of origin, the chain reaction might be stopped in its tracks. This might be accomplished by a modification of a rather simple ‘bottle’ spell used provide air-tight seals for long trips and voyages. Three mages gifted in the subtle magic of disguise and camouflage were sent over the wall of the Western Arch. Because the Dragon Fire spell took a number of mages to work and had to be cast near the Arch two of the mages were able to successfully place themselves within range of the Wild Magic spell casters. As the spell was cast one of the two mages successfully cast a bottle spell directed at the origin of the Wild Magic. As the fire began to spread from its initial point it came across the vacuum and the reaction stopped. Not understanding what was happening the Wild mages redoubled their efforts unleashing a force of magic in their efforts that they were unable to control. Those present still disagree on what happened. Some say there was an explosion that blew the mages apart. Others swear they saw a vortex open and the mages being sucked into it. The Southern mages like to speculate that the powerful magic they unleashed interacted with the simple bottle spell and literally caused the Wild mages to be turned inside out and collapse in on themselves.   With the North running short on advanced wild mages and a high profile defeat of the Dragon Fire to process, the war ground to a stalemate. A number of attempts were made to take the Arches at the cost of many lives on both sides. In a final, last ditch effort the North again relied on its mages. Frustrated and increasingly desperate to validate the Wild Magic, the northern mages turned to the experimental magic of one if its darkest members who had been experimenting with mass transformations. He has learned how to use Goblins to create a new beast, the Orc, that he hoped could be created in large numbers and controlled by the magic users as an army which would required no human lives. He had succeeded in creating a number of Orcs, but they were very difficult to control being mean and vicious even to their owners. It was twisted and bad magic, but the pressure was so great the mages decided to take the risk. Taking the spell, they used their knowledge of magic to “scale it up”, a dangerous process that usually takes years (and sometimes the lives of many magic users) to accomplish with any certainty. The day they cast the spell is now known as the Day of Darkness.   The spell succeeded in creating a horde of Orcs from Goblins that had been mercilessly rounded up. In theory Orcs were not able to reproduce, limiting their danger. In theory, they were supposed to be controlled by the mages. Neither came to pass. The Orcs proved unmanageable, killing the mages and quickly disappearing into the Northern woods, wreaking havoc as they went. Goblins, humans, whoever came in their path were destroyed. The Northern army had to be turned from war in the South to defend the south from the Orc Horde. The Orcs eventually settled in the woods, a consistent bane and threat wherever they went. They turned to picking off Goblins as they found this less dangerous than attacking humans. The Goblins, usually solitary creatures in poorly organized groups, banded together into larger bodies to protect themselves. The Orcs spread west and eventually came the Helmut’s Pass and crossed over into the Southern Asgoth mountains where the dwarves fought to hold them at bay. While successful from allowing the Orcs into their mountain retreats the dwarves could not ( some say did not try) stop the Orcs from moving through the pass to the south.   The Dark Forest of the south was one of the great seats of wealth as the soil was among the most rich and fertile in the realm. The oldest and some of the richest families in the kingdom maintained great estates that provided them fruit, agriculture, meat and game in the Forest. At the center of the forest was the Promenade, a land full of chateaus, refitted castles and villages of skilled artisans who serviced the estates. The Orc hoard spilled south to into the Dark Forest, causing devastation to everything in its path. Used to the protection of the mountains to the North, the Orc horde caught the estates of the Promenade by surprise. Efforts to send skilled knights and quickly raised mercenary armies to defend their lands came too late and the families found themselves driven out of their great homes. The Southern army recognizing the danger (and spurred by the politically powerful) was sent to root out the Orcs who estabilished themselves in the region. A long, drawn out war ensued. The army found the Orcs more organized than expected. A small set of powerful orc leaders had emerged that were able to unify the orcs against the Southern Army. Ultimately, the army was successful in stopping their advance along the banks of the Gilmarin River. However, they found they could not eradicate them. The powerful families dismayed at the loss of their lands (and for some a good part of their fortunes) kept pushing the government to retake the lands. However, the common people, weary of seeing their sons and daughters die for the lands of the rich and weary began to revolt. To avoid complete collapse in the South and fearing the North would regroup, the War for the Forest was ended. Forays into the forest continued to exact high costs between the Goblins and Orcs. The families, some quite wealthy were pushed out of their homes and castles. Villages were abandoned and ultimately the Dark Forest was left to Goblin and Orcs.   The orcs, separated in time and space from the Wild Magic that created them eventually settled down and the rampaging stopped. Many had been killed in the wars, especially the most crazy and violent of them. Those that remained while still ugly and vicious had enough sense and control to stop and some sort of normal social order began to emerge – though very little is known about orcish society.   Thus ended the War of the Three Great Magics. Both North and South Tyre had exhausted their treasure and a generation of men and women to the war. The strain caused the kingdoms to splinter into more loosely controlled municipalities who took their security into their own hands as the monarchy collapsed. The races as well retreated into their different strongholds and trust between them reached a new low, though they still had dealings with one another and in most cases the races moved throughout the land unhindered if they had business in other parts. Most non-humans drafted into the armies returned to their homelands but not all. There are villages and communities of dwarves, elves and Halflings living throughout southern and in some cases northern Tyre. They are generally referred to as Outlanders by their own peoples.   This is the world that our adventures inherit. Diverse, but divided with little security even along the main roads. It is dangerous, especially on its borders and along the main trade routes into the more remote areas such as the Asgoths or along the Northern Sea. There is always the hint of another war in the wind. People are trying to rebuild their lives and their fortunes where much is up for grabs. Many a ruined house finds itself selling it most valuable possessions to recapitalize their estates. Magic is largely unrefined or small of scale though the old magic of the Golden Era can still be found in rumored artifacts. The Northern and Dark Forests and the mountains are full of mystery and danger…and lost treasures for those willing to take the risk. Some are calling this new era the Age of the Adventurer.