History and Lore

Centuries ago, the continent of Betelgeuse was the home of the Darandelle, a race of great magical prowess. Standing at roughly nine feet tall and of a willowy build, they were responsible for the creation of many artifacts of immense power. From the Focusing Crystals that amplified their power, storing it like an arcane battery for future use, to the fabled Philosopher's Stone: able to break the fundamental rules of alchemy and bring the dead back to life. And at the height of their great power, their own magics turned on them.

Some say it was punishment for their hubris, using the Philosopher's Stone to bring the dead back to life. Others claim that it was their use of the focusing crystals; that their magic was intensified to a point they could not control, and so it controlled them. And yet others still say it was the Elves, the only other sentient race on the continent at that time. Regardless of the cause, they were warped into tortured husks of what they once were; midnight black and of a temperament to attack anything that dare look at them.

And so they became the Endermen, a testament to their own sins.

Thus the Elves were left as the dominant species on the continent, living in their forest city of Miendienl. Possessing magic of their own and led by the king Aldarion Foreson, they destroyed the cities of the Darandelle. Using archaic magics, they hid away their relics, believing them to be cursed, twisted by the same magics that had warped Darandelle into what they had become. Over the years, they came to accept their solitude. In time they came to believe themselves the protectors of what magic remained, vowing to keep it pure. And when other races happened upon their grove, they welcomed them; teaching them what they knew.

And then came the race of man.

Crash landing in the desert nearby Miendienl, they arrived in great contraptions never before seen my the naturalistic elves. They salvaged the wreckage of their airships, and built a settlement in the desert, and traded with the elves for many years. The elves taught them of the Darandelle, and how to defend against the creatures they had become. They warned of werewolves and vampires, and other beasts of the night.

However, the humans soon found that they could not sustain themselves on the meager equipment they were able to craft from the remnants of their airships. They needed fuel. They needed metal. They needed a more permanent settlement than the one they had.

And so they began digging. They migrated to a large plain, and began to dig away at the earth. Ignoring the elves' request that they not tarnish the land, they dug. And what started out as a simple mine quickly escalated when they found a substance that had not been seen since the time of the Darandelle, a substance the elves had long since forgotten the name of. And so the humans named it for its appearance: redstone.

The elves warned that this stone was dangerous, that it may have been what led to the Darandelle's downfall. But the humans soon discovered its use; it could be used to power their machines and to facilitate alchemy. And so their mining took on a new fervor. Soon the peaceful field they had began digging in was turned to a massive strip mine. They built a massive drill fueled by coal. They built refineries and smelters and factories, until the air began to clog with smog and soot.

The Elves looked on in disgust. The vile humans had shown their true colors, ruining the land wherever they stepped. And so they attacked their village in the desert. They used their own alchemy to transmute the remaining machines to sand. They ran the humans out, and the humans fled. They ran to their mine, which the elves referred to only as The Pit.

And so the city of Legaria was founded: a last refuge for the displaced humans.

For a time the humans were in turmoil. They had no true home, no direction. And so it looked as if Man's presence on Betelgeuse would end only barely a decade after it began. Until one man stepped up and commanded the people's attention. He took control and established order. At the advice of another, he powered down the drill, re-purposing it as a walkway to traverse the fledgling city. He replaced their use of coal with the use of redstone and their own magic.

And so the house of Mindal became the royal house, and the house Casella the advisers to the king.

Many decades have passed; the two cities at war with only the ruined village in the desert as a neutral ground. There the citizens occasionally meet to barter with one another. Both cities search for the relics left by the Darandelle; the Miend to keep them from the Legarians, and the Legarians to study. The Miendienl to keep the Legarians from suffering the fate of the Darandelle, and the Legarians believing the Miend seek to use them to finally eradicate them.

Alright, here we go.

Eli wrote:Alright, here we go.

Hmmm. This could be interesting, ecspecially since my character is a human acustomed to elves, and not his own kind. I'm interested in how this will turn out for us.