The World in 1250 AC

The old wars are not over. They have merely changed their shape.

The current Turn is Waxing. The Ley brighten, and the world moves away from the long darkness of Obscura. The seasons are gentler than they were in the deepest years of Shadow, though the ancient cycle continues and no Magister mistakes a favorable age for permanent peace.

The Ddraig and Drakeri remain strongest in the volcanic mountains of Claen Gael. The Sídhe hold their own ancient lands. Humanity dominates Brydd and the great eastern reaches, while trade, diplomacy, suspicion, and old grievance bind all peoples together whether they wish it or not.

Relations between humans and the Elder Races remain uneasy. Commerce and embassies exist, as do friendships and blood ties, but old fears endure. Travelers brought legends of monstrous dragons from Earth. Murian traditions remember the collateral horrors of ancient wars. The Church of Ceros has often taught distrust of magic. And the Shadow has never required armies alone when rumors, fear, and division serve just as well.

The last notable conflict between the western peoples and Carthmoor was the Salt War, fought little more than a lifetime ago by human reckoning. Its peace still holds.

Beyond the known lands, much remains uncounted. Humans sometimes speak of the Elder Races as dwindling remnants of a vanished age. The Magisters advise caution with such assumptions. Aereth is vast, and neither map nor census has ever contained all that lives upon her.

Nor has the Shadow vanished.

Ys still stands.

The Drakhmar still endures.

And when the Ley darkens again, the world will remember why the first Ddraig became guardians.