Age of Molten Stone

The earliest records, fragmented as they are, tell of a time referred to generally as the Age of Molten Stone. Information is scattered and difficult to come by, as the only records are found in the most ancient carvings of the Stone Scribes, or kept in the deepest recesses of the Arcane Vault at Ak-Arra.

From what information has been gathered, the world in those days was dominated by the ancient power of Giant and  Dragon kind. These two primordial forces, at war with each other, led their mortal servants into countless battles across a Vantowyn very different from the world of recorded History. In these oldest stories, it is said that across Vantowyn, molten rock flowed like water, and the earth was naught but desolate ash. The Dwarves served the ancient giants in those days, revering them as gods. The ancestors of modern Orcs and their kin also fought for these Elder Giants. Their perpetual foes were the mighty Dragonborn, brought forth by the blood of their draconic progenitors. Stories tell of these forces clashing for millennia, wreaking havoc upon the surface of Vantowyn. It is said that only the most remote places avoided this devastating conflict.

Countless millennia of war between them yielded little ground either way, until the appearance of the First Men. Called “The Shining Ones” in dwarvish histories, it is widely believed that these were the ancestors of the modern Human species. The histories describe how their very footsteps made the earth quake with an intensity previously unknown to the writers, and the like of which is never described again. The origins of these First Men are still shrouded in mystery. Some histories claim that the skies parted, and they rode onto the fields of battle on the backs of winged horses or giant eagles. Other claims imply that they simply appeared in a flash of light in the midst of battle. These accounts tend to wax a bit poetic, and so they are generally regarded as being somewhat exaggerated, but the fact remains that the arrival of the First Men in Vantowyn's historical account signals the end of this age.

The dwarven and draconic records agree upon the events from this point forward. The First Men were vigorous and peerless, and even the progenitor dragons fell before them. The titans of the earth broke beneath the great and terrible fury of the First Men, and the servants of both powers were pushed back to the corners of the world. The dwarves retreated into the Corrachan Mountains, and even in modern times, they are rarely found outside of that range. Orcs were pushed into what would eventually become the Andalan Mountains, and would never reforge their ancient bond with the dwarves of Corrachia. The dragonborn themselves became confined to a single city, on the floating island of Ak-Arra, in the Jirakos Mountains.

As the days of molten stone were brought to a close, the dragons were all dead or dormant, having hidden themselves away to sleep, and escape the wrath of the First Men. The giants too had been brought to their knees, and those who lived were bound to lives of solitude, exiled from the realm. Never again would they reign over mortals. And as quickly as the First Men had conquered the whole of Vantowyn, they withdrew. The age that followed is called The Winter of the World. Records indicate that for many generations, the fear of the First Men kept the world in a state of calm. Across much of the surface, the molten stone would cool, and the dwarves record with wonder the first time they appear to have seen snow on their mountain peaks.