For those of you following along at home, the campaign I'm running on here (Realms of Syonia- plug, plug) is based in the same world as the novel/collection of short stories I'm working on named The Book of Thorne, which follows the adventures of Kriegar Thorne and his companion/sidekick, an exiled Winter Court Faerie, Yves.
The prologue to (possibly) the series and (more likely) campaign setting I'm posting here, and a little later, I'll post a little background about Thorne and Yves and their adventures. Read and critique if you please, Innmates!

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Prologue - Prelude for Syonia
They say the elves named the world "Syonia."

The elder races, Dwarves and Elves, existed for long before memory. Some say they were created with the world, images of the Old Gods, flesh incarnations of Their time was a time
of wonder, an age of magic.

It was in this into that time that men came into being. The elves, noble creatues they were, embraced the younger
race as brothers. When it was discovered the creatures held an innate ability for magic, the elven magi began to teach them of their ways.

Alas, the humans, short-lived and greedy, began to twist the pure elven magic into darker and darker directions. They formed an empire of magic, guarded by magi who commanded the fury of nature, spirit, and darker magics, blasphemous to the high elves who trained them.

Eventually, the high human magi, pursuing more and more power, began to war one with another, and into the fray the elves joined, brother against brother. The mighty armies clashed for generations until the two most powerful magi met on the battlefield. Each mortally wounded, they channeled the last of their energies into a great burst of pure power. When the powers met, the resulting eruption of magic ripped the very would asunder, creating what we know as The Rift.

The world as they knew it was lost as the energy leveled human and elven city alike, leaving little but rubble and death behind. The ones that remained, homelands lost, began to wander. Years passed, ages lost to time itself.

Eventually, the humans crossed the Eastern
Mountans through what came to be known as Messerschneide, the Knife Edge. The men beheld a land of forests, lakes, mountains, and a beauty they believed had been lost. Building a grand city on a lake, they settled there and named the land after a great hero. They named it Helmsgaard, and once again, humanity began to flourish. The memory of
the old lands, the old magic, and the bond of friendship with the elves was all but lost. Heroes and cities rose and fell, until now. Now is a time befitting to embrace a New Age. Only the bravest stand ready. It's a time of new heroes, new legends. It is the time, once again, of the Realms of Syonia.


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Note: Worked this up tonight and am currently deciding whether I like it or not, so it may change.