In the time before time, the Land of Eem had no name. It was a lawless place of uncharted wilderness, ruled by ravenous beasts, pitiless warlords, witches, and dragons. The first of the creatures called folk struggled to survive, living in perpetual fear of who next would ravage, plunder, and demand tribute. Indeed, it was a wasteland and evil things held sway. It was a time of sorcery and swords, cursed by hardship and cruelty.
Spawned into existence from the swell of all the world’s misery, the monster Gordak was born of churning, primordial chaos that lurched from the boiling deep of the world’s core. A titan of hunger and destruction, Gordak the Progenitor attempted to devour the world by spawning her children. These were the first ogres, the greatest among them: Kurgonn the Mountain Eater, Oomek the Sea Drinker, and Golo the Gargantuan. These monsters nearly destroyed the world. It was not until folk united their numbers and marshaled an army that the reign of Gordak and her children ended.
Over the course of centuries the world healed. Forests grew tall, rivers ran clean, and villages speckled the countryside. The time of monsters was over, and a new kind of realm emerged. Made up of united clans and villages, common folk banded together under the name Hamarung and built a great kingdom. Structure, order, and dominance over the natural world paved the way for marvels of engineering, monuments, and conquest until an empire was born. Yet despite their great success, the Hamarung Empire left a trail of mortal enemies in their wake as empires do, and in time they would meet their greatest foe: the Serpents of Sarpath.
The snake-lords known as sarpathi were at first allied with the Hamarung Empire, but some grew jealous of the Empire’s prosperity. They believed that the sarpathi, and their god Ehk—the many-headed serpent monster of ages past—should be the inheritors of a new world. A cult devoted to Ehk soon rose in power and influence, eliminating any sarpathi that disagreed with their fanatical belief that the world should be remade in the shadow of their terrible god. Now in control of the entire Sarpath Empire, only one obstacle remained: Hamarung. But Hamarung was mighty, too mighty to overthrow through force of arms. And so, Cult of Ehk zealots set out to destroy the fabled empire from within. Sowing discord and selling promises, the cultists became false allies and spread a secret poison of political discord and corruption. Soon the Hamarung Empire was plagued by political infighting, greed, and misfortune.
When it was discovered by Hamarung that the Cult of Ehk had been their secret enemy for over a century, war broke out on a scale not seen for a thousand years. It is said that in the end the sarpathi were outmatched, but did not accept defeat quietly. From the depths of the world, the serpent god Ehk opened their seven eyes and the cities of Hamarung were swallowed by a great chasm. When the eyes of Ehk finally closed, all that remained was a great bridge that stretched over the wound in the earth, known today as the Canyons of Pim. In the end, both the kingdoms of Hamarung and Sarpath were shattered and the scattered fragments of their histories vanished into the annals of myth.
Legends tell of lonely stars who fell from the night sky to bring magic to the world. The largest star cut through clouds and impacted the earth with a brilliant flash of light. A dancing fire blazed for days, until all that remained were smoldering embers. But the star’s embers would not darken for they were glad, and instead grew brighter and never stopped shining. This light became known by the people as the eem of the embers, a gift from the stars that would spark an age of magic and harmony.
The new magic brought untold promises. But with so much power to be gained, those who would covet it soon followed. Magic became both a prize and a weapon. Wizards, witches, magicians, and sorcerers hoarded it like gold and used it to build their own oppressive fiefdoms. In time, petty hedge wizards became tyrants. Cataclysmic war consumed the land as wizards fought to rule over each other. It was not until a band of just sorcerers formed an alliance that the most wicked despots were defeated. Only then, and after much strife, was the land made free again.
After the turmoil of the Wizard Wars, the emerging cultures throughout the land—now referred to as Eem—rallied around symbols that represented the promise of a new age. The first leaders adopted banners of Star and Flame to rally people, protect them, and spread a message of cooperation, community, and honor. The stars represented the Falling Stars of legend, while the Flames represented the stars’ burning light. These became synonymous with: hope, progress, good magic, and civilization.
The Land of Eem flourished and the middle-kingdoms thrived. City-states of spectacular beauty rose as beacons of prosperity and peace. Among them were Lionen, the Hidden City, nestled within the embrace of Far Forest. Kril, the City of Stars, where wizards dreamed up marvels of magic and science. And Roog, City of Smiths where the sound hammers on anvils rang for miles. Yet, greatest of all was Epoli (ep-oh-lee), a burgeoning metropolis crowned by golden spires that glittered in the light beside the crashing sea.
Long ago, in a time immemorial, gnomes lived in harmony with all living things. Yet during dark times, gnomes stood steadfast to guard against threats to the natural world. They toiled, fought, and wandered like protective nomads, bringing harmony to animals and helping things grow. Folk were happy and the wilderness thrived. None took more than they needed, and all gave back more than they took. The eldest gnomes decided that after long centuries of service, gnomes had earned a rest. And so the city of Mirth was built as a sanctuary for gnomes, as well as any other folk who wished to find peace.
The great and terrible dragons of a bygone age found themselves diminishing. With the rise of Epoli, dragons no longer ravaged and extorted lands unchallenged. Heroes took to gilded steeds, while wizards conjured mighty spells. Together they vanquished the cruelest and most destructive dragons. In time their numbers dwindled and those that wished to persist in this new age, returned to the deep to slumber. Many in their cynical minds thought to outlast their enemies in Epoli, waiting for a time when they may return and rule as they did when the world was a wasteland.
The influence of Epoli led to the founding of an empire that ruled unchallenged and prosperous for generations. At its height, Epoli was the center of culture, innovation, magic, art, music, and scholarly pursuits. From the golden towers a council of wizards provided guidance to rulers in diplomacy, economy, and war. For though Epoli governed over a peaceful Eem, many threats existed at their borders, including rival kingdoms like Felmog. In all, however, the Golden City reigned over a happy, diverse realm of many folk and cultures who cooperated eagerly and generously to make their world better.
No greater legends surround the fabled city of Epoli than the harrowing tales of the Last Empress. Coming into her crown as a mere child, she was gifted with great natural wisdom and magic ability. Under the tutelage of an immensely powerful Sorcerer, the Empress flourished and Epoli grew in wealth and influence. But a secret burned coldly behind the Sorcerer’s eyes; all the Empress’s life, he endeavored to manipulate her to serve his own ends. When the truth was finally uncovered, a great arcane battle ensued between the child Empress and the Sorcerer. Outmatched by his own pupil, the Sorcerer was utterly defeated, his physical being destroyed.
A fiend without equal crept into the histories of Eem like a whispering shadow. A powerful master of necromancy, the Gloom King rose from obscurity and committed unthinkable acts of witchcraft and foul magic to found a kingdom built on living death. A mysterious gloom, for which its king was named, blanketed the Northlands, its tendrils of mist clawing southward over the forgotten corpse of old Hamarung toward Epoli and the Middle-Kingdoms.
Fueled by unrelenting hatred, the Gloom King gathered an army in his hidden realm and waged war on Epoli and the Land of Eem. Skeletons shambled under black banners and liches cackled atop black stone palanquins, while fiends held court over conquered cities. Valiant were the defenders of Epoli, but the Gloom King’s legions were too many and unrelenting. The city of Epoli was destroyed utterly, leaving behind nothing but a smoldering ruin. Courage gave way to dread and all the world went on to live in a ghost story.
With Epoli lost and the Middle-Kingdoms in peril, the land was cursed, covered in gloom, and filled with monstrous creatures and restless dead. Among the survivors of the calamity was a farmer called Hado, who boldly led a great many people to safety in distant lands, where even the memory of the Gloom King could not yet reach them. There the refugees founded a new, reclusive culture built upon the principles of Epoli.
At the pinnacle of the Gloom King’s victory, a heroic band of wizards led by the exiled Empress herself, set forth to seek out and challenge the Gloom King. With the aid of powerful relics over a harrowing journey, the Gloom King was broken and defeated, but not without the brave Empress and her companions sacrificing much to do so. Few know the truth of this tale, fewer still remember the sacrifice.
Generations passed and the gloom receded. The evil things that haunted the shadows slowly vanished into myth and the remaining folk began to rebuild their lives. The Lost Days were quiet days, with little history outside of the oral traditions of storytellers like bards. In this time, those that were left behind from Hado’s journey lived simply, by the plow and the sword.
The common folk of Bogswain were predominantly boggarts. A people known for cultivation and craftsmanship, boggarts were actually the distant cousins of the goblins, but those who specifically chose to live above ground. Preferring rich and bountiful bogs, boggarts developed a parallel culture to goblins, one that thrived by passing down the traditions of hand-trades like farming, carpentry, and tinkering.
For generations, both peasant and noble alike lived in a constant state of conflict with the remnants of the Gloom King. This chiseled the Felmog people into hardy folk that thrived in battle and valued hard-living, perseverance, and martial prowess. In time, their culture grew into a structured feudal society of countships that struggled with each other for power. Civil wars between noble houses and orders of knights were commonplace, and alliances were fickle. House Khasadar and the Order of the Black Candle prevailed as the most powerful faction. And though many orders and houses swore fealty to Khasadar, the prime orders of Cloven Tongue and Iron Sun often challenge the Black Candle for control over Felmog to this day.
Despite the chaos gripping the Land of Eem, goblins thrived in the Underlands. One goblin kingdom in particular, ruled by King Graag Gargoon, sought to expand their reach and return to the surface. Offering the promise of progress and prosperity, Gargoon employed thousands of folk in Bogswain to expand his own vision of an industrial future wherein the wild wilderness of Eem would be tamed for the benefit of the king’s treasury. But in a span of just a few years, the people of Bogswain took Gargoon’s self-aggrandizing vision and turned it on its head. Instead of enriching the coffers of the king, they filled their own pockets, giving rise to a legion of tycoons—goblins, boggarts, boggles, bogrils and wugs alike—all vying to outdo each other in trade and industry. The most ambitious tycoons built huge companies to mine, clearcut, and harvest the land’s resources at an alarming rate. And in the process, they unearthed relics and treasures from the previous Ages of Eem. These discoveries created a boom in dungeoneering, a new kind of profession. And while some endeavored to explore the mysteries of lost worlds and preserve history, the great majority followed greedier pursuits like treasure hunting and tomb raiding to fill the coffers of their corporate masters.
The beautiful land of Bogswain quickly disappeared, its natural resources devoured by industry and its blue skies clouded by smoke. The Mucklands, as it was now called, became the playground of the wealthiest and most powerful tycoons. The corporations cared little for anything beyond profits, building an entire economy around dungeoneering, mining, deforestation, and the production and sale of cheaply made goods. The Big Three rose to the top of the food chain and have remained ever since: Subterranean Pits and Lairs LLC, Krog & Sons Inc., and Unassailable Co. Common folk lost touch with their roots as craftspeople, and found themselves working long hours in factories for poor wages in polluted towns and cities.
Shrym had long been a perilous place. Historically a wasteland lorded over by monsters and plagued by deadly creatures, shrym culture lived in fear, deep underground. This fear and sense of survival sparked a defiant push for innovation. Over time, the shrym of Shrym achieved incredible feats of engineering, inventing mechanical devices of sputter and spark that vastly improved their quality of life. When the tycoons of the Dungeon Era came knocking, the shryms were told to develop new devices and machines for faster and more efficient expansion. Shrym sold to the tycoons without question, and the sudden influx in demand launched the sputter-work revolution, as more and more amazing and autonomous machines developed. These mechanical marvels drove Shrym into the spotlight as the technological center of the world.
With most of the world out for its own interests and the Dungeon Era booming, common folk have long forgotten the dire history of Eem’s most perilous foe. But the Gloom King has returned, sounding a trumpet for fiends of all kinds to crawl from their shadowy hideaways to pursue wickedness. Yet all is not lost. Amongst the people of Eem there are those that would challenge the darkness, inspired by the deeds of gallant knights and bard’s tales of griffon-hearted champions who dare to fight for a better world.
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