The world of Katwan

A very long time ago, when humans were still living in migratory tribes and didn't even speak a proper language, elves and dwarves were the dominant races on the world of Katwan.

Always suspicious of each other, the respective nations eventually grew into massive empires. Huge advance in architecture, art, engineering and magic happened during the age know as "The Golden Millennia".

While never really at peace but under a constant state of tension, the two empires never openly went to a full war against each other, knowing the risk that would come if their powers unleashed in a full scale war. But with power, hunger for more power always come, and the urge to annihilate the supposed enemy once for all keep brewing.

There are no real records about who start it, and the answer change if you ask an elf or a dwarf - it was the massacre at the elvish city of Aerengon by dwarven machinery or the assassination of the High King Kahmal Stonecrown by an elvish commando - the truth is probably never to surface, nor will ever matter. Two civilizations, both with the ability to annihilate each other were at war.

Armies clashed and millions died during the Five Hundred Years War, with heroic and vile acts being done by both sides. When was clear that no side could prevail with cold steel and military strategy, magic start to be used heavily. Powerful mages were able to destroy entire cities, entire armies were be killed in the time need to recite a single spell.

The urge to find the next more powerful spell, in a constant show of force set a dangerous path. Both sides start to look into hidden secrets that were never supposed to be discovered. It was Shatar Sok, one of the most powerful of the Elven Archmages elite, who discovered the Void first. Feeling a powerful presence in the very fabric of the universe, something more powerful than magic itself, he was able to open a portal to channel this unknown energy. The first of many others know as Dark Conduits, this devices start to be used by other elves, and soon the dwarves learn how to create and use them too.

Dark Conduits would give powers even beyond magic - like the ability to alter the reality and time itself. Moreover everyone could use their powers: where magic was a powerful tool but would require a dedicated wizard or runemaster years when not centuries to learn the most potent spells, anyone with access to a Dark Conduit was able to alter the very fabric of spacetime with ease.

The destruction resulting from it was unimaginable. Landmass the size of nations would disappear in matter of hours, only to appears again in the sky days or months later. Mountains would crumble or be raised and crushed on the water causing waves of destruction.

The world become no more but an hellish and grotesque wasteland, ravaged by voidspawn - terrifying creatures made of shadow and hatred from the deep coldness of distant worlds, attracted by the unleashed power of the void. Shatar Sok, realizing he condemned the whole world by his actions, try a last act of redemption. He bring together the most powerful and wise elf and dwarf mages in a safe zone on the Elemental Plane in an attempt to stop the ongoing destruction. Those are know now as the Twelve Saints - the six dwarf and six elves whose names are unknown that saved the world from total destruction.

The Twelve Saints soon realized there was no way to destroy the Void, for it being a fundamental force of the universe, like magic or life. The Void itself is part of the universe and without it life too would not be able to exist. Under the guide of Shatar they used all their powers and life energy, sacrificing themselves to create a single being of immense power: the Voidkeeper. While unable to destroy the void, the mere presence of the Voidkeeper render the Void Conduits useless. No one would be able to use the Void powers until the Voidkeeper exist.

A new world is born

Twenty thousand years have passed from the Age of Insanity, that's how historians calls those dark times. No one know where the Voidkeeper is - some say it rest in the very center of the world as it become one with it, some say it stand in an invisible fortress, warded by the spirits of dead dwarves and elves - but it still protect Katwan and no one has been able to use the power of the Void so far.

The few dwarves and elves survivors swear to never repeat their mistakes, and seal that oath with the creation of the Wardens: an alliance of elves and dwarves dedicated to protect the world from the peril of the void. Now living in fortified city-states, having be almost on the verge of extinction and with newborns being a rarity for both races the Wardens Alliance is the only thing that allow them to still be considered an influential presence in the new world.

With elvish and dwarven empires collapsed, humans grove in strength from their small tribes and eventually start building nations and kingdoms and are now the most prosperous race in the world. They consider the Ages of Insanity a legend, an old myth, and the Wardens look upon them with distrust while the Camor Kingdoms and the Bahedian Republic - now the two largest factions on Katwan - grow and humans shows a worrisome desire for power.

The northern lands, once site of some of the most beautiful elven cities ever seen, and the region of Kreegh, once the house of many dwarven kings, are now wastelands inhabited by hordes of orcs, goblins, ogres and no one know what other fearsome creatures the Age of Insanity generated.

While the Void Conduits are now powerless, voidspawn has been trapped on Katwan and are still around - with some far and harsh regions of the world still ruled by the abominations.

The Silvanii - mysterious spirit-like creatures that start to appear after the coming of the Voidkeeper, have become more numerous than ever. Found in the deep woods and the most ancient forests, they are thought to be a manifestation of Katwan, a product of the world itself after the chaos that almost destroyed it. They tend to leave everyone alone as long no one enter their sacred groves, but no one really understand their intentions.

And for Shatar Sok himself, nobody know what his fate was. Two are the main schools of thought between the Wardens: some think his act of creating the Voidkeeper absolve him from any previous mistake, and some that his sins can never be forgiven, and actively keep researching the possibility he survived in order to bring him to justice.

While it has been a state of relative calm, the different factions has been constantly looking at each other suspiciously, with skirmish for borders territories or trivial excuses being the norm, Meanwhile whispers of strange events and bad omens begin to surface on far lands, forgotten names are being spoken and tensions arise day by day... The world may be at the beginning of a new era: if this will mean a new Golden Millennia or a new Age of Insanity, only time will tell...