Adventures in the World of Wearth

Players Notes for the Adventurers in Wearth Campaign

In the distant past the world of Wearth was a much better place, all the sages agree on this. The cities of humanity rose in tall spires toward the skies. Single cities holding more people than entire nations contain now. The distant Marklabs, as the people on this time were known, had magic’s that allowed them to fly through the air and their knowledge of metalworking surpasses even that of the Dwarves today. Their days were filled with leisure and none went hungry. Humankind were the undisputed masters of the world.

The Coming of the Elves

Then came the Dark Days of the coming of the Elves to Wearth. Evil Dark Elves opened a portal from the Elvish Homeland to Wearth. Black Skinned Dark Elves and their goblinoid and monster minions poured into Wearth. The ancient Marklabs tried to resist, using great magic’s and horrific weapons against the Elvish invaders. These had seeming little effect against the Dark Elves. Soon the Dark Elves controlled the entire world, sending slaves and raw materials back to their homeland. All seemed lost, these were dark times for humanity.

The Uttermost War

After untold years of misery salvation came in the form of Shining Elves determined to free humanity from the grip of their Evil Cousins. These Shining Elves came through with their Fey troops and waged war to stop the pillaging of the Dark Elves. The once bright and shining world of Wearth soon became a battleground between the Elves. Humans were mere pawns in the fight between the Elvish forces.

Some of the Elves began to teach humans the rudiments of Sorcery and Magic so that they could fight the Dark Elves better. Soon Humans learned how to open Gates between the worlds themselves. They looked to summon allies in their battles during the Uttermost War. During this time the first of the Dwarvish nations came to Wearth with the promise of new homelands in the mountains of Wearth. Humanity had their first non-elvish allies in the Uttermost War. The early Human Sorcerers also looked for other allies, calling forth and opening the way for the Powers (or gods as they are sometimes called) to come to their aid.

The Uttermost War lasted for over a thousand years. Finally a band of Human Sorcerers devised what was called "The Great Spell", which sealed off the gates to the Elvish Homeland forever. Alone, without support from their Homeland, the Dark Elves were beaten back to the continent of Ghinor by the Shining Elves along with the Humans and their Dwarvish allies. The world was left devastated in their wake, whatever was left of human civilization was now ruin. Both the Dark Elves and the Shining Elves were seriously reduced in power and numbers. Human society was little more than nomad barbarians.

The Rule of the Sorcerer Kings

With the Dark Elves beaten and keeping to the continent of Ghinor and the Shining Elves themselves seriously reduced in power and numbers there was no force left to gather the scattered remnants of humanity back together. From this vacuum rose those special few who had learned the art of Sorcery from the Elves during the Uttermost War, these powerful Sorcerers set themselves up as Kings and divided the lands of Wearth to rule as they liked.

These Sorcerer Kings grew to be a chaotic and evil bunch of rulers, grinding the remaining humans down as vassals to their power. They researched great spells and magical artifacts and used these in battle against the ravaging hoards of monsters left behind from the Uttermost War. They also used these magics against each other in wars for power and territory. They used their knowledge of Gates to summon forth Demonic Powers to aid them in their conquests. They created strange and fell beasts and creatures and experimented with powers that man was Not Meant to Know. What little was left from the Golden Age of the Marklabs was soon ground under foot by the vast magics hurled by the Sorcerer Kings against their fellows.

The Shining Elves seeing the evil that the Sorcerer Kings were doing withdrew to the mighty forests in the north in disgust with the whole of Humankind, vowing to have no more to do with such a race.

For a thousand years the Sorcerer Kings ruled, setting up vast centers of power. And so humanity toiled under their Rule. Soon though one of the mightiest of the Sorcerer Kings broke ranks and began to teach the working of magic as a learned art that could be taught to anyone with intelligence enough to work magic. This Sorcerer King, known as Zaphod the Mighty, created the first of the Human Wizards. No longer was magic the province of those with inborn talent.

Soon a coalition of good aligned people challenged and brought down the Sorcerer Kings. These battles lasted for over a hundred years as one after another of the Sorcerer Kings was brought down by the forces of Good. The last battle of this long war was fought in the Valley of the Ancients where the last of the Sorcerer Kings was finally conquered. The resulting battle left a permanent cloud shrouding the Valley. The coalition of Good withdrew to the Isles of the Blest to maintain a permanent watch on Ghinor.

The Rise of the World Emperor

Following the Rule of the Sorcerer Kings Zaphod the Mighty, now in his extreme old age, decided to bring together the people of Wearth into a single nation. In the lands west of Atlantis he formed a great City State called Virdistan and declared himself World Emperor. In the following years the World Emperor slowly brought peace and civilization back to Wearth. During the next 500 years other great City States were founded, one to the north of Barbarian Atlantis and one in the Eastern continent across the Winedark Sea. These City States owed allegiance and paid tribute to the World Emperor in Virdistan. The common calendar dating starts with the year the City State of the World Emperor is founded, that being year 1 YE (Years of the Empire), this dating system is still used today in most of Wearth.

For two thousand years the World Emperor’s, all descended from Zaphod the Mighty did bring prosperity back to a world rocked by the Uttermost War and the Sorcerer King’s thousand year reign of cruelty.

The Great Slave Raids and the Decline of Empire

Over a thousand years after the founding of the City State of the World Emperor and two thousand years after the end of the Uttermost War the Dark Elves left their place of exile in Ghinor for the first time. In 1021 YE they poured forth in great magical ships, much to the surprise of everyone. This was the first of the "Great Slave raids" by the Dark Elves. Their huge black ships sailed the coastlines of Wearth uncontested. For almost a hundred years no place near the sea was safe, the Dark Elves would sail their black ships out and fill their holds with human captives, men, woman, and children. Whole villages would disappear overnight, leaving only ruins behind, it’s people never to be seen again. Many rumors of what the Dark Elves wanted human slaves for are talked about but no one knows for sure. They took only humans captive, slaying all other races. It is estimated that over 250,000 captives were taken during this time. After almost a hundred years of raiding they stopped as suddenly as they began. The last recorded raid in this wave was in 1115 YE.

After the first of the Great Slave Raids the power of the World Emperor started to decrease, partially because of it’s inability to stop the raids of the Dark Elves. Atlantis reverted back to a Barbarian state, the City State of Tarantis on the eastern continent broke away and declared it’s independence. The first of the Invincible Overlords comes to power in the City State of the Invincible Overlord. The Emperor loses direct control of the City State and even tribute becomes difficult to get. The World Emperor starts to pull troops and officials back inward in a process that takes several hundred years. One of the Emperor’s major Suzerain’s turns to evil in a big way, then revolts and breaks away. Meanwhile, the lands that are abandoned revert back to wilderness. Lenap reverts back to desert nomads, the Ament Tundra becomes overrun with goblinoid monsters.

In the year 2075 YE the second of the Great Slave Raids takes place, this one only lasted about 10 years and only about 50,000 humans were taken captive. This time the humans managed to fight back destroying several of the Dark Elves magical black ships.

500 years ago in the year 2580 YE, the third of the Great Slave Raids takes place, this time the Dark Elves avoid the more civilized areas. Concentrating mostly on the coastline of Barbarian Atlantis and Valon. No estimates of the number of people taken is known.

The Treachery of Iuz

At the same time as the first of the Great Slave Raids, one of the more powerful of the World Emperor’s Suzerains, who oversaw the Provinces to the south revolted and broke away from the Empire. Iuz was one of the greatest Sorcerers still alive, and ruled from his palace in the old Dark Elven city of Elfskeep. In an act of extreme treachery Iuz summoned forth fiends and demons and somehow found a method to raise himself to Demi Power status. His plan was, and still is, to take over the world and rule it as conqueror. His treachery prevented the World Emperor from being able to mount any kind of defense against the first of the Great Slave Raids.

Now the lands of Iuz stretch from the hills and jungles south of the Desert Lands to the plains of the Ament Tundra. His orc crewed ships raid along the coasts of the Empire and Barbarian Atlantis, his evil clerics constantly search for magical items to loot and send back to Iuz. His land is filled with slaves whipped into submission by humanoid creatures with demonic overseer’s. Iuz himself still rules from his Throne of Bone in Elfskeep.

Current year and start of campaign 3080 YE

In this, the current year, Wearth is a pretty mixed up state. The World Emperor still controls a huge portion and it’s affluence and traditions still are felt the world over. The World Empire has slowly turned from being a bastion of Good to a place where Law means everything. The City State of the Invincible Overlord controls from Barbarian Atlantis to the lands of the Northmen, it still pays Tribute to the World Emperor in Virdistan, but constantly tries to find the limits it can push. The City State of Tarantis controls most of the eastern continent, with the Kingdom of Karak an ever present influence. Iuz the Old remains with his demon armies ensconced in Elfskeep. The Shining Elves remain sequestered in the vast forests of the Elphand Lands while the Dark Elves of Ghinor seem content for now to remain in their place of exile. And as it has been for the last several thousand years orcs, goblinoids, and other monsters raid from both outside and from within the borders of civilization.

Page Last Updated Monday, July 08, 2002