Prologue - an excerpt from the ancient scriptures
An excerpt from the gospel of humanity's salvation, as told by Trykk v 10 - 23
Lord Ardus, King among the God's, looked down upon those who ruled in the world, and judged them wicked.
The largest and most wicked of the cities of the earth was Fon. It had been built on the sea where it was popular with traders, but Fon also derived great power from natural ley lines that channeled mystical energy from the earth.
The energy from these ley lines permeated all living things in Fon. The crops, the trees, and the livestock were all larger. The students were brighter, and the men were stronger.
In time, it came to pass that sorcerers arose among the people of Fon who used the energy to create marvels of all kinds. Rooms could be lit by glass bulbs with no fire, and machines could be made to work autonomously. There was no end to the wonders that sorcerers could perform for the wealthy and powerful. But also no end to the cruelty that it's people inflicted on each other.
And at this, Lord Ardus' anger moved him to action.
He poisoned Fon's air, and altered the course of the ley lines so their power flowed to the mountains to the west instead of to Fon.
In time, Lord Ardus began to worry that the ley lines' mountain location would be discovered, and so in Mount Regnum, at the center of the ley lines' course, he built himself a holy city on earth.
Lord Ardus then looked around at the kingdoms surrounding Fon. He could see there was still suffering - that people were not fit to rule.
And so he called down the Gods of the Heavens and assigned to each of them a kingdom on the continent.
Styrka, God of the Hunt, would rule in the Kingdom of Gale in the north. His blessings would ensure a bounty of food for the north, and trade goods for the continent.
Edurus, the God of Knowledge, would rule in the Kingdom of Erd. There, his blessings would embolden the pursuit and sharing of knowledge. Libraries and universities would strengthen the minds of the continent.
And so it would be in all of the many kingdoms on the continent. Each rich in it's own way, and each enriched by the others. Each Kingdom was ruled by a God of the Pantheon, and all of them together were ruled by Lord Ardus - The Emperor, and the God Among Gods.
A Golden Age for people was born when the Empire of Ardor was founded - a golden age with no end.
