The History of the galaxy...

 

There is much that is unknown in the galaxy, especially the truth of the galaxy's origins.  However, much can be seen through the artifacts and remnants left behind by previous civilizations.

 

Age of Genesis

Long ago, in an age long since lost to history, there were great and powerful wars that engulfed the galaxy in its entirety, leaving tens of millions of worlds lifeless, and trillions of lives lost in the cataclysmic battles.  These were the times of an age when titanic gods roamed the galaxy, an age known as the War of the Stars, an age known only in myth and legend.  Little is known of this long forgotten age, but the history of this period will be told here, pieced together painstakingly over the centuries by countless scholars from many worlds and races.

 

In the beginning, there was only the powers of light and darkness, forever intertwined with each other, for one could not survive without the other.  The Darkness could not grow without the Light, and the Light would stagnate without the Darkness.  This is a truth that has been passed down since time immemorial, representing the never ending conflict between the two.  Then came the Primordial Gods, both of Light and Darkness that understood the need for balance.  The Primordial Gods would toil for countless eons creating the universe from the fires of Creation itself, the ultimate source of power in the entire universe.  The Primordial Gods spread stars, planets and more into the vast expanse of the once empty universe, seeding ideal worlds with life of all shapes, sizes and abilities.  For a time, all was well as the Primordial Gods worked in harmony to create balance, but as in all things, at times, one side becomes greater than the other.

 

One of the Primordial Gods of Darkness discovered the powers of the opposite of Creation, the energies of Chaos.  Corrupted by these foul energies, the Primordial God began a war against his brethren, corrupting many of them in the process.  This Primordial God would come to be known as Sho'vothar the Destroyer, and it became his goal to destroy everything and bring about the Realm of Chaos, a realm of death and decay.  At first his attacks pushed back the Uncorrupted Primordials until the intervention of the Primordial Dragon Gods who had been given domain over the galaxies that would come to be known as the Dragonstar and Milky Way galaxies.  With their arrival, the Uncorrupted became organized, and the war became even.

 

The war dragged on for countless more millenia until Sho'vothar was finally cornered with his few remaining followers in the Dragonstar Galaxy.  The final climactic battle resulted in the deaths of most of the remaining Primordial Gods, both Uncorrupted and Corrupted.  Only the Dragon Gods and a few other Uncorrupted remained as Sho'vothar lay defeated before them, with only a few of his followers left.  The Dragon Gods and the remaining Uncorrupted took Sho'vothar to the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, and there, surrounded by the chaotic and lethal forces within the heart of the galaxy, Sho'vothar and his remaining followers were sealed away in a prison world, hopefully to never be released again, but as in all things, even the best laid plans could be undone.  Four of the Uncorrupted chose to stay and become the guardians of the prison world, becoming part of the seal binding Sho'vothar and the Uncorrupted itself, and as long as they lived, Sho'vothar would never be free.

 

The Dragon Gods retreated back to the Dragonstar galaxy, and finished their work of seeding life on the worlds of their galaxy.  Then their energies exhausted from both their work and the war, they retreated to the heart of the Dragonstar galaxy to rest and recover their energies.  In time, they would eventually be forgotten by almost every world, except for a single world, but that is a story for another time, and so ends the Age of Genesis, and the Age of the War of the Stars begins.

 

Age of the War of the Stars

The Primordial Gods had vanished into history, forgotten as new races emerged from their worlds, gaining new, younger gods formed from the collective consciousness of their followers as their minds influenced the flows of magic within the galaxy.  Many races rose to prominence during this time the most powerful of which were the Mir’runian Enclave and the Kran’raethi Empire.  Both these powerful races ruled their respective halves of the galaxy after centuries of expansion, absorbing lesser races into their respective empires, though there couldn’t be more differences between them.

 

The Mir’runian Enclave treated the younger races as equals, uplifting them when they were ready to join them among the stars.  Sharing knowledge, technology, and culture, the Mir’runian ruled worlds were centers of knowledge, learning and peace.  It was a golden age for the Mir’runians and their subjects, a time when there was harmony and peace among the races of their territories.  Unfortunately, these times of peace would not last, for war inevitably always follows peace in a never ending cycle.

 

In the Kran’raethi Empire, things were the polar opposite as the Kran’raethi brutally slaughtered and subjugated the lesser races, incorporating them as slaves, fit only to serve the Kran’raethi war machine.  Unlike the Mir’runian controlled worlds, Kran’raethi worlds were dismal, dirty and heavily industrialized, but there was no stopping the fact that the Kran’raethi Empire was on the decline, unable to maintain its ravenous appetite with half the galaxy.   The Kran’raethi emperor and his closest advisors decided that it was time to add the Mir’runians to their empire.  Plans for war then began to take shape in the deepest depths of Kran’tera, the Kran’raethi homeworld.

 

The first blow against the Mir’runians came unannounced and unexpected on a small border world whose name has been lost to history.  the Mir’runian were startled at first but quickly organized and called to their own powerful war fleets, intent on defending their territory and protecting the younger races under their care.  Soon enough, the Mir’runians had pushed the Kran’raethi out of their territory, though both sides had suffered heavy casualties in the fighting.  It had turned into a stalemate as the Kran’raethi reeled from the unexpected resistance, and the Mir’runian mourned their dead and fortified their borders.  The War of the Stars had begun.

 

Millennia passed, and the War of the Stars continued as the Kran’raethi and the Mir’runian fought brutal battle after brutal battle.  In the wake of their battles countless worlds were left lifeless and barren of life.  Where there had once been graceful and beautiful spires and center’s of learning, only rubble and death remained.  The younger races had all but been wiped out in the fighting, too few to carry on their races as they waited for the end of the war, knowing that when the war ended, it would be thousands, possibly even hundreds of thousands of years before life returned to the galaxy.  Then the unexpected happened, and the war came to its final conclusion.

 

The Kran’raethi had finally gained the upper hand against the Mir’runians, and were closing in on their last stronghold intent on wiping the Mir’runians out.  The Mir’runians knew that their time was over, and accepted that they would die out.  They were unwilling to leave the galaxy in the hands of the Kran`raethi however, and so they activated a weapon that they had sealed away, one so great and terrible that they had hoped to never use it.  It used a mysterious energy force that permeated the entire galaxy, but was centered on the very heart of the galaxy, though no one had ever returned from that place.  In a shockwave that covered the entire galaxy, all life was wiped out, leaving the galaxy barren.  The Mir’runians had planned for this however, and had left repositories of their knowledge scattered throughout their half of the galaxy well before the start of the war.  They knew that one day, life would return to the galaxy, and their knowledge and ideals would be inherited by new races.  They couldn’t have known just how right they were as millions of years passed, their repositories destroyed by time through the passing millennia as natural events destroyed all but one of these repositories.  It was a world that had garnered little interest to either the Mir’runians or the Kran’raethi, despite its proximity to the heart of the galaxy.  The Mir’runians had placed a repository here with the hope that a race would be born of this world to inherit their will and ideals.

 

Age of Dragons

Millions of years passed as the galaxy slowly recovered from the aftermath of the War of the Stars.  The war had been devastating, and there were worlds that would never fully recover, the effects of the war still visible on their surfaces.  In the heart of the galaxy, the Primordial Dragon Gods continued their sleep, unaware of the events that had taken place in the galaxy.  However, part of the Dragon Gods knew of what happened, and their sub-conscience drifted out into the galaxy.  Working slowly, the Dragon Gods physical forms started spreading life through the galaxy once again.  This time, magic would be a greater part of life, the very same energy used to create the weapon that destroyed all life in the galaxy.

 

Many years passed before the Dragon Gods physical forms began to see the fruits of their labor.  On countless worlds, barren and lifeless wastelands gave way to verdant and untamed forests, swamps, oceans and more.  Then emerged the first sentient life forms, taking shape after the very gods that created them, the first dragons had appeared.  Though sentient, they had yet to evolve to the point where one day they would be revered and even feared.  These proto-dragons set about helping their gods, coming in many shapes, forms, and abilities.  Over time, the proto-dragons became more defined, intelligent and powerful, soon taking on their final evolved form.  However, there was a growing rift between the dragons, where there had once been harmony.  This event would become the defining moment of the Age of Dragons.

 

Years had passed and new young races had finally begun to emerge, the first of the younger races to emerge were the eladrin elves of Caledon Prime, and the delriki elves of Umbra.   The eladrin steadily built an empire that would last for thousands of years, even as the dwarves, nord, and other young races appeared.  They were largely unaware of the growing rift between the dragons as the young races continued to develop, bringing new cultural ideas and experiences with them.  The dragons had noticed these aspects of the younger races, but were unable to agree on whether to rule them, or guide them.  It was an issue that would lead to the current state of the dragons.

 

There were three factions that had risen among the dragons, though their appearance and abilities varied from world to world, their colors remained largely the same.  The Metallic dragons wanted to guide and protect the younger races, while the Chromatic wanted to rule the younger races, considering them to be inferior to dragons, but the third faction was more neutral and simply wanted to observe the younger races, only intervening if there was a dire threat to all races.  In the end, the Gem dragons as they were called won in the end, though the Metallic’s would be able to interact with the younger races as they desired.  The Chromatics were allowed to rule the younger races only if in their territory.  This agreement became known as the Assembly of Dragons, and since that time, the strongest and wisest of dragons meet in secret locations on their worlds to ensure that war does not happen between dragons, though fights between single dragons were not forbidden.

 

It was during the disagreements between the dragons that events occurred on their respective worlds, especially the worlds ofCaledon Prime, Umbra, Intai'sei, and Akkadia, homeworlds of many of the races that would one day become galactic powers.  On Caledon Prime, the eladrin kingdom of Silverin had fractured and dissolved as the eladrin split into different sub-races until the eladrin themselves were gone.  The delriki of Umbra had conquered and subjugated the other native races of their world and made them slaves to their will, while on Intai'sei, war had broken out between the many nations there.  On Akkadia, plague and disease was devastating the population, causing hysteria, panic, and paranoia as the dragons struggled to hold back the plague.

 

On Caledon, the dragons were helping a young hero defeat a dark warlord who had been corrupted by the corrupting power of a mysterious shard that would become known as a Shard of Darkness, though it was in truth a shard of Sho`vothar.  On Intai'sei, the dragons were under attack by the young Intai'sei, who had been blinded by religious zealotry preached by a mad man who seemed wise to the people at the time, in the end, the Intai'sei dragons were forced to flee, taking refuge with their Caledonian kin who willingly took them in. 

 

Please keep in mind that this is not a complete history as of yet, but it will be completed as soon as possible.