Galdor

More than a thousand years have passed since the Gravetorne were confined to the Nightlands behind the Signing Stones of the Rose Veil. The ruins of the old empires haunt the lands of the new, and with each generation, the horror of the Long Night slips further into myth and Legend. Only a few still know the secrets of the Signing Stones magi-tech, and even fewer how to keep the Veil in place.

Amid the ruin of the old world, the Dwarven-ruled Eisarn Empire has grown into the largest and most powerful Galdor has ever seen. Its naval dominance and iron grip on oceanborne commerce opposed only by the Pirate Princedoms. Its colonies and ambassadors found in every Kingdom and upstart empire, its Dwarven Lords have set their gaze upon.

The Kingdom of Deavonworth, once the last bastion of the mortal races against the Gravetorne Hosts, is a shadow of its former strength. Its noble past crumbled beneath the bootheels of those more concerned with political power and wealth. Amidst all that has been forgotten, a new age of exploration and discovery has dawned, an age of mercenaries, explorers, and treasure hunters. An age lost under the vast shadow of its own past darkness. For Monsters are ever hungry and patient, and the memories of mortals are ever fleeting.

The ancient Ajorian followed the movement of the planet, her sister moons, and the vast sea of stars using a complex calendar called the Ka’a Ssucek, or the Great Saurian Cycle. This ancient ceremonial calendar is divided into eight concentric circles, carved into sacred heart stones, painted in lacquers, and inset with gems. Read from the outermost ring, representing the eldest age, to the innermost circle, a reflection of the youngest; each cycle covering 6400 years. This calendar is not a countdown to some apocalypse, but a never-ending cyclical system that could continue for endless eons.

However, the eldest of the Ajorian High Priests warn that after the closing of any Eighth Cycle, a potential apocalyptic Ninth could dawn, and would mark the return of the Stillness and the coming end of all creation bound within The Great Wheel. As the last cycle came to an end, the peace the Council of Wyrms had fostered for an age shattered, and the Dragons once again warred with one another. Then came the Temptation of Lady Serene and the death of the Krommerian Empire at the hands of her Gravetorne, before Galdor plunged deep into the rule of the Vampire Lords and a thousand years of war known as Longest Night.

The Age of Dragons, which had lasted for nearly four Cycles, has come to an end. The ancient Elven Empire of Krommeria is a shattered husk, and the Ancient Temple-Cities of the Ajorian are lost to history as much as they have passed into barely remembered myth. The Balance, the eldest conflict for The Great Wheel, rests on a sword's edge. Is this a new age, an emerging Cycle that will see the Elvenborne races inherit and rebuild the world in their image? Or is it the first turnings of the Ninth Cycle, a grinding age of war as The Stillness awaits to swallow all back into itself?