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Basic Info
Dark Ages is an online role-playing game
set in a fantasy world of faeries and magic.
Dark Ages allows you the player to create
your own characters choosing their name,
gender, hairstyle, hair color, and path.
You can battle monsters as a mighty Warrior,
protect and heal as a Priest, use powerful
magic as a Wizard, use the devious skills
of a Rogue, or discover virtue and power
with martial arts as a Monk. Once immersed
in the world of Dark Ages, you can partake
on quests, discover new lands, defeat powerful
monsters, collect rare items and much more.
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GAME PLAY/STORY
There were no ill-stars during the days
or nights of Hy-brasyl. Fruits were plentiful,
and fulfilling, and beasts and men alike
followed their nature.
Elements were unchained. The elements danced
out escapades on the night sky, or buffeted
young souls on sweet zephyrs, waves, rising
hills, or warm gushes of harmless fire.
Humanity lived in harmony with all that
was. Whether out of goodness, or lack of
need, no one was tempted to lose his soul
for wont of power.
Elders heard an angelic voice when it was
their time. They parted from Hy-brasyl fondly;
without regret. Who could regret the golden
streets, towers, or unspoiled fruits and
meats. On their hill, or in their home,
they awaited with a patience known today
only in Aosda. Death came gently, creeping
as a slow, silky sheet over their eyes.
The elders simply slipped beneath the waves
of Hy-brasyl and drifted on fond memories
in Grinneal.
A millenium passed. Some would say it was
too short; yet it was the memory to last
through all the ages. A man was found in
the street, dead, cold. He had lived across
the river Cionta. Hy-brasyl mourned his
death, but wondered why he had died suddenly,
violently, with a pale look across his face.
Thus began the investigation into the nature
of the world. Elements were no longer partners
for play and imagination, but were tools
for discovery. Those that began the discipline,
though, found no peace in the answer. Human
magic was born; along with it men gained
a fatal glimpse of the nature of things
outside the local harmony.
Hy-brasyl split. People horded nature;
for the power found therein. A few harnessed
magic and ruled thereby. The new rulers
ground stones into potions and advanced
the art of war into more deadly swords.
Agricultural flourished for the purpose
of supporting armed assault; all to horde
the power locked in the elements.
The first ill-star was recorded. A star
was seen streaking the sky, and it was noted
as a herald of doom. Perhaps such stars
had scribed the sky before, yet never was
one watched intently for signs of good or
ill fortune for one?s neighbor. Hideous
altars were built toward the stars and toward
the north, Kadath, where it is said resided
the worldly home of the Gods.
Priests arose and foolishly succoured those
of Kadath. Fulfilling their own prophecy
of doom, men acquired, for the first time,
the notice of that which dwells in Kadath.
The priests whose prayers toward dark north
were answered, went mad. Others may have,
we shall never know, for they disappeared
into the dark north forever. Wise men left
Hy-brasyl, now corrupt, avoiding the corrupt
men and the things with which they dealt.
Meanwhile, the magician?s balance of nature
was destroyed. Elements were employed to
war with others. Air, Water, Earth, and
Fire assaulted neighbors. Thus, Hy-brasyl
drowned. Shadows crossed over the day, and
all became as night. People turned to look
but could not find light of day or star.
A rumble emerged, as waves climbed higher,
the water flooding the streets, the cities,
and the tallest towers.
Only the fastest that fled the drowning
city survived. They scored the land with
their labor. Some stumbled onto or sought
out the wise men who had left earlier. The
people ignored the cause of chaos and sought
the comfort that was Hy-brasyl in its glory.
A few of the less wise of the men became
kings. Three lasting civilizations were
born. Finach, presently known as Mileth.
Sarnath, presently known as Gear Inbhir,
and Niara. Crusades against neighbors arose,
from which only the few in power or seclusion
escaped toil, disease and death. Conquest
became their religion. Elemental magic scattered
the mountains and rained stardust on the
heads of enemies.
Out of an obscene understanding of the
elements was wrought a fifth element: darkness.
From it, atrocious creatures were born.
Some which died or vanished with only a
lingering sense remaining, and others that
the foolish summoner would wish that they
had vanished. Their towns, too, would be
eaten by the monstrocities.
Magic outside of the King?s courts was
generally prohibited thereafter. Kings,
however, used the magic in their wars and
in the imposition and sustenance of their
luxury. The creatures became threats to
neighboring enemies and internal opponents
that challenged the throne.
The hideous creatures prospered under foolish
reigns. These creatures were different from
monsters known to the world. There was no
orc or goblin that gripped the mind, and
tore it like these beings did. The dubhaimid,
as the were fearfully called, went through
maddening motions, as if dancing to an obscene
god. The dubhaim knew the secrets of life
and death; which meant death for all mortal
races. They created and stocked the underworld,
land of terror and darkness. This was nothing
like the final resting place, Grinneal of
Hy-brasyl. Souls screamed without rest in
the underworld of the dubhaimid.
Perhaps they screamed too loudly, or perhaps
the thoughts of the living were too strong.
The eighth aeon of Temuair was known. Wise
men described it by the being that was born:
Chadul, the ruler of the third realm: the
underworld. The wise returned to the worship
of Danaan, goddess of the light.
A war rose up of light and darkness, the
armies amassed under Danaan or Chadul. Danaan
convinced the other beings aid to her, and
Chadul was defeated in three days. Chadul
was held at bay at the darkness. Not without
casualties. The mortal world was ravaged
by hail, earthquakes, floods, fire, and
the fingers of the dubhaimid.
The beings realized what was done and wept
for mortality. Mortal spirits wandered the
land, and slipped into the darkness of Chadul?s
realm. Darkness spread.
Survivors gathered and balkanized. The
wisdom wars should have taught them did
not survive. Hungry for a memory of Hy-brasyl
glory, without the discipline to its creation
in their heart, they used more of the darkness
for conquest. Lord Tenes arose from them,
forming a foolish alliance with six other
lords and one inhuman thing. They called
their alliance the League of Darkness.
They formed a pact called the Anaman. It
was a foolish agreement between themselves
and an agent of otherworldly chaos. They
gained a thousand-year lifespan and the
unification of Temuair. The pact was not
purely evil. It allowed fresh souls to escape
the realm of Chadul.
The League and outsiders divided Temuair
into ten kingdoms, beginning the Dark Ages.
Kings and Lords were tired of war. They
gathered to try to create a pact of peace.
They could not agree, out of greed. Tenes,
though, got what he wanted.
A new lord stood against Tenes: Ainmeal.
Ainmeal worshipped Danaan, and had the favor
of the goddess. He swept through battle
gracefully. Though not of the courtly upbringing
of Tenes, Ainmeal exceeded in grace of wit
and temperament. The sidh, the faerie races,
were said to converse and aid Ainmeal in
battle. A glow stood about him in battle.
And a woe befell his adversaries.
The kings? magic power and armies came
from ancient civilizations, and the territories
they founded their kingdoms upon. No one
wanted to give up their territory. Ainmeal
gathered with three kings to found the new
capital, Loures on the great plain: Ardmagh.
Tenes, the ruler of the city, and his allies
went to war. His notable allies were: Suomi,
Massai, Feasgar, and Glaic. Allies dominated
the beginning of the war. Ainmeal, however,
did not back down. Ainmeal divided the allies
against each other. Then Suomi joined Ainmeal?s
forces, ending the war. Now Loures ruled
the empire, and Ainmeal was King of Ardmagh.
Originally, Ainmeal renamed Loures, to
erase the memory of it?s previous reign,
but it soon regained it?s older name when
he left the throne to his son. Loures had
achieved its might and craftsmanship from
the artisans that had worked under Tenes,
not Ainmeal. When Ainmeal?s son died, a
shaman-empress was elected. This lineage
was a puppet to the spirit that had existed
before Ainmeal.
?Twas not till the fourth empress, Ealagad,
the "Steel Swan," took power.
She gathered the other nine kings. She was
stronger than the dubhaimid. The dubhaimid
dreamt of resurrection. It created many
hideous monsters; which sought the ancient
civilization: Aosda.
Seven beings led the spirits of Aosda to
Temuair. These beings were determined to
protect mortals. Thus they began the 100
years war against Darkness, for the sake
of the light, and to complete the unfinished
empire. It was the Shadows War.
Those united under Ealagad suffered defeat
in the form of plagues of madness until
magicians of Rucesion discovered the sixth
element: light. The creatures of darkness,
the dubhaimid, were defeated after another
generation of war. Rich towns filled their
streets with lamps containing a tear of
this element to keep the darkness at bay.
Yet, every light casts a shadow. ...
(Excerpted from Seanchas Temuair, Vol.
1, in the Library of Loures)
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