The Arrival started when a tear in the dimension’s spatial continuity suddenly opened up right on the surface of the planet now-called Gateway. Completely out of nowhere, an anomaly of swirling colors appeared and destroyed all life within miles of its’ location. Part of a technological race walked through like they had a purpose there.

The newcomers, called the Enlightened, had no idea where they were. Since they had no idea where they were, they also had no idea about how they would get back. They traveled for awhile, trying to find a way back to where they came from, but eventually built cities, far off from the place where they arrived. They became accustomed to the new world and settled down.

Years later, the rift came roaring back. Another group of people came through, but these were not from the same place as the Enlightened. They did not have the technology of the Enlightened, but some of them had control over the art of magic. They were not as startled as the Enlightened, as a spell cast against them by a powerful necromancer had thrown them into Gateway by accident. This group later came to be called the Empowered.

The Empowered, knowing they could not do much about their situation, settled closer to the rift than the Enlightened. Neither group had any knowledge of each other for a time. They both continued to grow.

Finally, the Empowered encountered the Enlightened on an exploration mission. Believing this to be a place where the evil resided, the Empowered immediately declared war on the Enlightened. The Enlightened had no choice but to fight back, and with the technology they brought with them, victory seemed all but assured.

The war was not as one sided as the Enlightened first thought. When they first brought their technology to bear against the Empowered, they discovered that the magic employed by the Empowered caused many of their machines to malfunction. The war continued on for quite some time, neither side gaining the advantage.

A generation later, the leaders of what remained of the Empowered questioned the purpose of the war. They did not see this world as a prison, like their parents did. All they saw was the cost of the war - many deaths and much poverty. They called a halt to all aggression by their people and proposed a peace treaty.

The Enlightened, as vanquished by the war as the Empowered, graciously accepted the peace treaty. They also launched a counter-proposal. They wished a city to be built close to the rift in case anyone else came through. A city to welcome new people, in hopes of preventing another war. This city was to be built using philosophies of both peoples, combining magic with technology.

All other cities eventually took the same policy, so all cities became dynamic. The ideal of peace did not last forever though. Since the Arrival, there have been many wars on Gateway, with no few kingdoms emerging and with many faces of leadership.