Chronicles of Camdairon- Prologue

In the early ages of the world, there were many kingdoms ruled by many kings, some were wise and merciful, others were greedy and ruthless. In the northern edges of the continent of Camdairon the kingdoms of Astvaria and Lotharis were bitter neighbors. The Astvarian king, Aemon Lothril was a young and power hungry man while his rival king Uthred Vareaxe was a man wise in his old age and only sought to protect his people. Astvaria was a small yet wealthy nation founded in the mountains of Ygralk. Its mines ran deep into the earth and provided the wealth of the nation through priceless gems and ores most rare to the world and found only in the mountains of Ygralk. However, its people were ever so jealous of their Lotharian neighbors who plowed fertile fields and hunted game in lush warm forests. Aemon would gaze from his tower at the top of his keep at Cair Theored and look down at the wide green lands and dreamed of conquering them, of feeling the warmth of fertile soil and not the cold loveless touch of stone beneath his feet, but the Lotharian army was a force thrice his size and renowned for having defeated the Sveigarian invasion which had seen so many other kingdoms fall under its sword. Aemon needed men and so he began to gather an army of mercenaries and other master-less men to prepare for an invasion of Lotharis.

One day a man versed in the ways of magic approached King Aemon and told the king he could give him anything he desired in return, the mage would receive tribute and some land of his own in the mountains. The king laughed at the young mage’s request and had him thrown out of his hall. That night the mage appeared to the king shrouded by a dark mist and the mage summoned forth a demon from Halgrath, the realm of the damned. The demon put its sword to the king’s throat and the mage repeated his offer. Seeing this power, the king agreed and soon King Aemon had legions of demons at his command and he had even gained immortality through his blood pact with the mage who called himself Maelfar the Black for his black robe made out of the hide of fire drakes. It was through this blood magic that Aemon could command his legions of demons.

The days began to grow short and dark, as the sun began to fade, as if turning its face away from the tragedy that was about to take place. With his army, King Aemon invaded Lotharis and on the fields of Vladalis, He fought the Lotharian army. For 3 days, the two armies clashed and tens of thousands of men died, yet in the end the army of Lotharis was no match for the demons of Halgrath and they were all slaughtered, along with King Uthred’s two sons, the princes Ragnar and Svein who both fell to the sword of King Aemon. Within days the major cities of Lotharis had fallen and its people were put to the swords of King Aemon’s armies. The rape and pillage of Lotharis had turned its once green fields red with blood. When He finally reached the capital city of Hal Volantis, the King’s newly appointed advisor and right hand; Maelfar summoned forth the grand demon Alghair. The great demon burned the city as the legions of damned spirits slaughtered every soul within its walls. Lotharis was no more. King Aemon relished in his victory over his rival, but with his new found power came a sense of greed that he could not control, and he set loose his armies on all of Camdairon and in the years that followed he began to work the dark arts himself and eventually turned on Maelfar.

The armies of the two men fought on the slopes of Maelfar’s fortress at Minas Maithrar in old Lotharis. There the armies of demons and men fought and bled, a battle even deadlier than the epic battle against the Princes Ragnar and Svein on the fields of Ghaethrath. At the height of the battle, Aemon and Maelfar fought against each other, both using powerful magic but Maelfar proved himself to be the better of two. In an act of desperation Aemon put every ounce of strength and summoned a beam of dark energy so strong that he could not contain it and in the blink of an eye, the world was blinded by a bright white light which then exploded in a wave of hot fire, destroying everything in its path. The fire spread through all of Lotharis and even to the northernmost edges of Astvaria leaving all of northern Camdairon a burning wasteland. King Aemon and Maelfar were destroyed along with their armies. The enemies of Camdairon were no more. Soon years began to pass, and years became decades and decades became centuries. 4,000 years later in the 7th age of Camdairon, dark clouds began to form in the northern most edge of the dry wasteland. A new dark power was rising in the north.