The Nature of the Island

Scholars disagree on the nature of Thain and its formation.  Some believe it a mere island, formed through natural processes.  Others believe it to be a living entity, some unknown and unknowable god who’s heart beats at the center of the isle.

What is known to Thain by its residents for certain is that the magical power within the heart of Thain is real.  It manifests on the surface in a range of forms.  Magma hotter than the hottest flames rises from within the ground.  Crystals formed on the island may reflect other times and places in ways that should be impossible.  Magical light rains from the stars, warring against a strange darkness that rises from within the earth.  All of these forces are seen as the work of the Isle’s Heart, though whether it is truly an entity or merely a set of colliding natural forces is anyone’s guess.  

To some, these elemental forces from within the island are referred to by such names as the “Blood of Thain.”  Others speak of them as paths to power, dangerous yet lucrative means by which mortals might profit from plundering Thain’s innate magic.  The isle offers no answers to these questions, though those who delve too deeply beneath the surface have rarely been known to return.

 

The exact location of Thain is not ‘important’ – though it was once envisioned as near the Sword Coast, we are now setting-agnostic towards other D&D realms.  Future stories may explore other islands or regions within the Thain setting, but it is safe to operate under the assumption that it is possible to sail to Thain from wherever you might have come.  Your reasons for landing here might be a shipwreck, a strange dream, or perhaps you are merely seeking fortune and power.  The nature of the island will surely become more clear the more you choose to explore.

First Age – The Age of High Magic

None now live who remember the first moments of Thain, even among the most ancient creatures.  In the first days of its life, the island is said to have been filled with flame, a fire that gradually burned out in the years that followed to allow the original forests and wilds to grow. The paths of Thain’s blood, freshly formed, were barely contained beneath the surface of the island, and their power came more easily to the surface.

Yet rumors persist of Thain’s early days, a mix of hearsay and imagination.  In this time, Thain’s first denizens were born, and its first invaders soon arrived.  The titans, powerful figures from above, descended from the stars onto this newly formed land, claiming rulership over the land and shaping the magma into mountains and stones.  The first of the phoenixes formed within the flame, acting as ancient guardians for the island.  The elves arrived on their white ships, sailing from faraway lands in search of a new home.  And mysterious avian creatures called kenku watched from their hidden places within the woods – creatures many now believe to be Thain’s first true natives, formed from the magic of the island itself.

 

In these early days, magic is said to have flowed freely.  Many were born as sorcerers, and their powers were far greater than those of the sorcerers born today.  The elves founded their great civilization of Greenvale in the south, using their powerful magic to shape and protect the trees.  Humans and dwarves formed more primitive civilizations in the north, many of them left cowering under the awe-inspiring rule of the titans and their servants.

 

Yet the magic of Thain proved too much for its early denizens.  Wars were fought with the cataclysmic power sorcerers wielded, wars that laid waste to cities and tore open the land.  As these wars escalated, they would tear through the fabric of the world itself, tearing a rift in the fabric of reality that threatened the destruction of every civilization.  The mages of the time were forced to come together to seal this rift, and in doing so, to seal Thain’s greatest magic away.  This horrifying event was known as the First Cataclysm, and marked the end of the first age.

Second Age – The Age of High Civilization

After the rifts were sealed, the island became calmer for a time. Much of the powerful magic that marked the first age had been used in the sealing of the rifts, and those civilizations that remained were tired of war, after their own near-destruction. The civilizations of Thain largely sought peace, seeking to gain prosperity and stability over raw power.

 

If the first age is marked by cataclysmic magic, the second is marked by a more gradual rise of technology and civilization. The largest and most powerful city was Vongottstein, a shining human city that guided the land, pioneering such developments as constructs and sewage systems.

 

In the modern day, most “old technology” that might be found in the ruins of Thain is second age technology – great marvels that no one now remembers how to build.  The Second Age also saw the rise of the first knightly orders – the Empyrean Order the Knights of Vongottstein and Karistad, the Blood Guard.

 

Karistad, a gothic-inspired city of the north, was built upon the Drakamyre mountain and rose to rival Vongottstein through a series of dangerous choices. The Empyrean Order held a fortress city within the northern lands past the mountains, now called the Wastes. Civilizations warred and rivaled with one another, but these were mortal wars. Wars that saw kings rise and heroes fall.  These cities found their faith in the “gods” – powerful deific figures who would manifest into mortal forms to walk among humanity.  Andarus, the Lord of Light, was the greatest among these new gods, and he was worshipped heavily within Vongottstein at the height of its power, with temples built in his name.

 

Yet this age of prosperity was not to last. Over time, the Abyss would make its presence known once again – unable to directly pass through the sealed rift, the Riftstones began to form. Riftstones are material protrusions of the Abyss into Thain, the raw essence of chaos and madness forcing its way into the world. These riftstones poisoned the land and the minds of those who carried them, the rifts that sealed the Abyss weakened, and once more demons began to pour into the world. This is known as the Second Cataclysm, and led to the destruction of the most powerful civilizations Thain had ever known – the human city of Vongottstein, and the elven realms of the Greenwood. This second cataclysm only reached its end when Andarus split the skies and sent a celestial host to Thain’s aid, which led to the demons being shackled once more.

 

Late in the second age, Nimmeril, one of the few remaining First Elves, traveled north with those loyal to her. She was determined to ensure that the elves would survive even if the south fell to the forces of the resurgent rift. They settled in the northern woods, and their lands became known as the Feywood. The other elves remained in the south under the rulership of Talyrenne, one of the daughters of their first queen Elisara.

 

This age is also marked by the endings of many of the creatures and magic that ruled the first age. The dragons gradually perished as the heroes of human civilizations hunted them to near-extinction. By the end of the second age, only a few dragons remained, Fhelkorn and Gzalmash being the most ancient of them. The titans disappeared into Thain’s past, vanishing under mysterious circumstances. The First Elves mostly faded away with time, gradually losing the power of High Magic until few alive remembered it. Many of the gods of Thain had been weakened by the ritual to end the second Cataclysm and perished, though the god of light Andarus and the god of darkness Zentarus were strong enough to survive. Meanwhile, humans, dwarves, and other races continued to prosper and thrive.

 

Third Age

With the end of the second cataclysm came the third age, and the civilizations of Thain that had nearly been destroyed were once more left to pick up the shattered pieces. Steinkreis was formed in the ruins of Vongottstein, and other cities (such as Hamley and Raven’s Watch) formed in the wake of what had come before. It can be assumed that the actual IG roleplay of Thain began midway through the third age, after these civilizations had had a little time to form.

 

The Iron City, a human city of devil-worshippers, was also founded during the Third Age, though they immediately put forth propaganda suggesting they took the city from the celestials in earlier times.

 

Syann, a descendent of the first elves, had come to rule over the southern elves following the Cataclysm.  He used  dark ritual to poison the elven woods, a ritual said to have empowered Syann with immortality  Syann’s daughter, Yu’syu, turned against her father and toward the light of her ancestors, urging those who would follow her to march to reclaim the lost elven city of Elisara, which is now known as Greenvale. Those remaining with Syann now inhabit what is known as the Poisonwood- though Syann himself is missing- some say dead, others insist he is in hiding. 

 

Andarus and Zentarus, the last of the gods, slew one another in a final war, creating the blighted wastes in the process. The last of the ancient dragons, Fhelkorn, was slain after he attempted to overthrow the village of Hamley. 

 

We come now towards the modern day.  Elven civilization is scattered, as the elves struggle not to be overtaken by the growing forces of savagery and mortality within their people.  Human civilization has likewise stagnated from its heights during the era of Vongottstein. Other races (such as the dwarves and halflings) keep to themselves and scratch out their livings in various ways. The ancient races of Thain have all but disappeared – the titans are fallen.  The kenku, the dragons, even the fiery phoenixes are no more now than whispers and rumor.

Recent History

In the days following the Shadow War, the island has rarely been long without conflict.  As the civilizations
established themselves, the island was wracked by wars:

The Kinswar – This war saw the city of Steinkreis, as well as its allies pitted against the forces of an ascendent Watch and the Iron City.  Nayritha, a powerful sorceress of the Watch, secured a fortress at the center of Crater Lake, and used the magic she found within to create dangerous beasts.  Steinkreis united the forces of the island against these beasts, and in time they were able to overthrow Nayritha, forcing her to retreat to the Watch.  She was subsequently overthrown and slain by the very monsters she had sought to lead, leaving the Watch in a state of disarray.

The Poisonwar – As the humans of the north fought the Kinswar, the southern elves also found themselves in conflict. The elven children of Syann who inhabitated the Poisonwood launched an unprovoked attack against their southern cousins in the city of Greenvale, leading to a war among the elves.  Poisonwood elf and Greenvale elf clashed for many months in what seemed to be a stalemate, until the elves of Greenvale utilized their greatest weapon.  The power of the last surviving phoenixes was channeled atop Greenvale’s tower, laying waste to the Poisonwoods and reducing them to a charred land of fire and ash.  The remaining elves of Poisonwood had little choice but to offer peace to Greenvale, settling along the western coast with most of their people and their lands reduced to ash.

The War of the Rift – The rift would return to the island one final time, seeking to rise in a third cataclysm that would destroy what civilization had been built.  Banishing the rift one last time meant closing the last planar portals, cutting the island off from the planes and leaving most planar denizens to experience mortality for the first time.  Though the rift and the planes remain banished, some speak of a plague that remains upon the land, its madness spreading through those creatures unfortunate enough to encounter it.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Now, the settlements of Thain find themselves at odds with one another.  With no great enemy to unite against, the decaying elves and decadent humans find themselves at odds.  Suspicion grows between the settlements, seeds of distrust waiting for its moment to bloom into full-on war.  And the monsters are ever at the gates, seeking to tear down what civilization remains.