Utha was the first of his kind: the masters of the Flows. Power was in their hands, and the shaping of the lands was for them an easy task. The world was yet young and warm with red-hot rock that ran like rivers across the steppes. Utha and his people were wise and sought to temper the wild earth and still her uneasiness. But there were those among the masters, led by a woman, Kadaena (I. “the slayer”), who sought to disrupt their ways, and there arose a great conflict. This was the First Era.

Lydek Terisonen
2267 Third Era (of Ire)

The written history in Kulthea is ancient. The presence of magical energy, and some immortal beings have greatly extended the written history of Kulthea, spanning a period of over 100,000 years. While the majority of inhabitants may only know the last 100 or 1000 years, or even the whole of the Third Era (6000 years) there are still many legends and myths of the earlier ages. There are also some who had lived them. This brief history of Kulthea focuses on the continent of Emer.

PEOPLE and INFORMATION

The intelligent races living on the world are myriad and varied. Most are isolated from each other by barriers: mountain ranges, broad seas, and the invisible ramparts of Essænce. Races are thus frequently unaware of each other’s existence. As one might expect, geographical knowledge varies tremendously, depending on the environment, education and location of the inhabitant concerned. Your average man-on-the-street in Eidolon knows far more about politics of a kingdom a thousand miles away than a peasant would living ten miles distant.In general, though, it is important to keep in mind that on Kulthea communication travels only as fast as it can be hand-carried. While a Navigator could be hired to transport a courier (they will not carry messages themselves) this process gets expensive rather quickly. Few would be willing to pay thousands of gold pieces for Navigator courier services, even if delivery is instantaneous. Other spell-users could transport themselves and messages instantly from one point to another, but they are not that common, and most would at least pretend to have something better to do than launch a career as a pricey mail service.As a result, news travels slowly. A king could be assassinated, and it might be weeks before a neighboring monarch learned of the tragedy. Wars could be fought and lost before potential allies can be alerted. True, the ruling powers of a country will be better informed than the populace, and the art of sending spies into other countries is one well-known to most governments. Most information - aside form hand-delivered documents sent by one aristocrat to another - is by word-of mouth, carried on the many ships that sail the turbulent oceans or on the caravans and barges that cross the lands. Naturally there is some distortion.

THE FIRST ERA

The text at the top is an excerpt from the annals of one of the great Loremasters, Lydek Terisonen. These fragmented tales are the only certain information (if they are even that) available from the First Era. The annals of that Era recall the Lords of Essænce and the conflict which arose between them over the forming of the World. Definitive knowledge of the events of the First Era is scanty as there is nearly no records, they were most likely destroyed in the final cataclysm, an upheaval which set the lands in the shapes which have changed little since.

It is believed that the Lords of Essænce were as men in their natural form but were able to assume any shape they desired at will, for they held awesome powers over the Essænce. Old legends tell that there were two groups of Lords, one led by Ûtha and the other, who called Kadæna their mistress. These two orders existed for quite some time unaware of each other, gathering power and followers.

After thousands of years, Kadæna and her followers developed the power to shape the land, and they began to modify their environment as they saw fit. It was not long before this came to the attention of Ûtha, for Kadæna’s idea of a fit environment was a land tortured by earthquakes and cut by rivers of lava. After many years of unsuccessfully attempting to control Kadæna’s whimsical destruction indirectly, Ûtha decided that the only way that the World would survive was through the death of Kadæna and the obliteration of her order. Thus it was that the two met, each with the strongest of their kind. The ensuing struggle was one that shook the World to its core. Continents sank; lands long under the seas were thrust up again. Entire races were destroyed by flames and tidal waves. It is said that the battle lasted for an entire year. At the end, when the great smokes and plumes of steam began to clear, every man and woman of each order was slain. Now the only users of Essænce are pale shadows of the powers which once walked the land. Thus ended the First Era.

THE SECOND ERA

The Second Era dawned with the slow healing of the lands and the gradual dispersal and condensation of the mile-high clouds of steam - mists generated from the evaporation of much of the waters of the ocean in the great fires and explosions each Order had cast upon the other. Slowly, plantlife began to grow again on the new lands as they were cleansed by rains. Animal life recovered and multiplied. The levels of the sea rose, and lands which had been connected were sundered by new waterways. The few peoples who had survived the cataclysm were without order or civilization, barely clinging to life itself. Though this was a tranquil period for the earth compared to the time of the battles of the Lords of Essænce, the planet groaned and sighed as it settled into its new form. Winds and tides suddenly shifted; the orbits of the moons were unstable, and the Flows of Essænce were ever-changing, making travel anywhere perilous. The duration of this period is uncertain, but the Loremasters say that it lasted for perhaps one hundred thousand years. It was in the last two thousand years of the Era that sudden and startling changes began to take place.

THE APPEARANCE OF THE LOREMASTERS

Without fanfare or apparent synergy (though all at approximately the same time), Loremasters appeared across the Shadow World. They wore many guises, spoke every tongue, and held knowledge critical to the survival of these infant peoples. No one but the Loremasters themselves know from where they came, or indeed how many there were; Loremasters will not speak of their origins. There is no doubt, however, that they are unmatched masters of the Essænce. It is rumored that the Loremasters are immortal even as were the first Lords of Essænce, or as the rustic Elven-kind are now, but this too is not known for certain. Loremasters tend to wander from place to place.

Under the tutelage of the Loremasters, civilizations flourished. Peoples learned the ways of language, agriculture, and the working of stones and metals. They developed the calendar in use today. Centuries elapsed, and Loremasters came and went from various lands, always available to teach. It is entirely possible that these teachers were not different generations of Loremasters but the same group, circulating through the widely seperated lands and only returning to places that they had been after many hundreds of years.

THE WARS OF DOMINION

In year 6450 in the years counted after the founding of the College of Loremasters (later known as the Second Era), the feared harbinger of the final darkness arrived: the Comet appeared in the sky, its red tail ablaze. Sa’kain grew brighter and more sullen, until it passed most closely to Kulthea. On that day, the world was torn asunder. The earth cracked and from great wounds poured armies of hideous creatures, a giant wave of unspeakable minions of darkness. Portals opened and disgorge awful monstrosities from the Outer Planes and beyond. Captained by Ordainers and other lord demons, the Black Host sweeps across the lands, destroying everything in their path. At the van were the dark gods, somehow gaining material forms on Kulthea. The Loremasters and even the historically neutral Navigators took up arms and attempted to defend a few strongholds. But it was a hopeless struggle. Then the Lords of Orhan descended to face the Dark Gods and their minions. One by one the evil masters were captured and forced off of Kulthea. Then Sa’kain passed, and the Portals were sealed again. Much was lost in the conflict; many lands laid waste and valued leaders lay slain.

THE THIRD ERA

While the land had been cleansed, it suffered grievously under the tortures of the reign of the dark gods. For many places on Kulthea no civilization existed beyond a handful of sheltered enclaves. The last millennium has been another period of decline in most lands, with warfare increasing and natural disaster claiming many lives. Areas suffer droughts, floods, and devastating storms. Societies which previously interacted draw away from each other in fear of contamination.