Historical epochs of Dreamland

The universe is boundless, and within it there exist an infinite number of worlds and parallel realities. In one of those worlds -- the one called Earth -- was created the world of Diku, from which grew hundreds of ROM and Anatolia worlds.

Varda and Leo, the Supreme Gods of our world, created it from the Void as a mirror reflection of the Anatolia worlds. Since then our world has changed beyond recognition, and its history spans many millennia and several epochs.

FIRST EPOCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the dawn of time the world was young and full of Chaos. Varda and Leo tirelessly wove and developed the fabric of our reality, painstakingly ordering Chaos and creating life from the void. In their work the Supreme Gods were aided by the pantheon of the first Immortals of our world, among them Tananda and Corvin (later known as Dwarkin), Glorund and NoFate. Varda created the first sapient race, the elves, and after them came humans and several others -- yet many millennia remained before the coming of the numerous races that exist today.

Along the freshly made roads of Thera wandered dozens of young heroes: the first archmage Shalafi, Susanin, the necromancer Burzum, the warrior Miyamoto who later became the Hunter, the ranger Allanon, and the legendary leader of the Invaders, the Dark Lord Satan. Timidly and uncertainly, the first heroes began to learn the Paths of this world, balancing one another.

But the balance was soon broken. Strangers from other worlds and realities, such as the Forgotten Dungeon, began to enter the Dreamworld. With their coming the First Epoch ends and the Second begins. Almost no chronicles of the First Epoch have survived, but memory of those times is still alive.

SECOND EPOCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legendary gods and heroes without number passed through the Dreamworld in this epoch. Many generations were raised on the tales and legends of those days. Those legends have taken firm root in the culture and chronicles of the living -- an adventurer interested in history can read them in the Book of Legends, kept in the library of Midgaard on Elm Street.

Heroes of that time could carry skills from past lives through rebirth, gaining truly terrible power. Echoes of the Great Wars of this epoch can still be heard, and the earth still remembers the oceans of blood spilled then.

The Order of Knights under kings Razer and Silvan, together with their loyal cardinal Rjak, battled the mighty Cabal of Invaders. The dark knight Hauzer led the armies of Darkness in the conquest of the world, and fighting in the front ranks were the legendary cleric of Darkness Krauss and the strangler Derini, the warrior Fiorine and her brother, necromancer Reistlyn.

Archmage Shalafi Mihail and anti-paladin Shur held back the assault of the mad Battlerager clan under the command of the famous warriors Sherhan and Eirenar. As a counterbalance to the bloody killers who preyed on children and adolescents, the faction of the Three of the Forest arose -- Zaleshanin, Zverodral, and Teelak, who later became immortal.

The pantheon of Immortals was joined by several new celestials, but great Tananda, wearied of the tedious battles, left the world. Our world lost a piece of its soul forever with her departure. Freed from the burden of Chaos, the god Dwarkin set about realising his vision of a perfect world populated by ideal heroes -- the Universals. The Second Epoch ends with their coming and the Great Cataclysm, which wiped every living thing from the face of Thera.

NB: At present no Universals remain, and one can read about them in a small cave in Midgaard -- the last monument to their former glory.

THIRD EPOCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The arrival of the Universals utterly shattered the centuries-old balance of power. It was a time of chaos and uncertainty, the destruction of the old order and the renewal of the Paths.

The young warrior Branwen becomes Queen of the Knights, and the calculating thief Harran leads the Cabal of Invaders. Dissatisfied with the new strategy of the leadership, the bloodthirsty Mephisto leaves the Cabal and creates a new clan, the Ghosts, gathering all the maniacs and killers who survived the Cataclysm. Order in the half- destroyed world is helped along by the young ranger Galen, who heads the Order of Rulers and rewrites the legal code into its current form.

Many heroes of the Second Epoch, dissatisfied with the changes, leave the Dreamworld, and some are reborn from the ashes as Immortals. The mighty warrior Sherhan becomes the god Turlok, the winged Fiorine becomes the ghost dragoness Taiphoen and withdraws into oblivion for a long time. Even the old gods shed their old guises and change names: Dwarkin, weighed down by the heavy lot of the Universals, retreats into the forests under the name Corvin, and his loyal comrade Teelak becomes Tirna, patron of outcasts. Finally, the young satyress Ruffina joins the celestial pantheon, and with her arrival the Fourth Epoch begins.

FOURTH EPOCH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (the rest of the page is torn out at the root) In the corner you notice a small, hasty signature: 'I'll finish it soon. Ruffina.'