The Chronicles - Fatherdale

«...Reason is flexible. Honour is fiction and glory is worthless. Only the Chronicles sustain the consistency of our world. The Chronicles of Time, lead by the Heroes who have the knowledge. Led by the Heroes who have the fear.

We are the true Heroes, and there are not many of us left.

In southern kingdoms, we are known as The Worshipers Without God. True, our Gods have left us and now we worship only by pain, death and destruction until Ragnarok, the final battle of all worlds, breaks free on the Funeral Plain.

Educated rulers of the west prefer the name of Kriegshunden since they believe we dwell in time of wars. I wonder if they ever thought we might be those ones who lay them afire.

The tribes of Siberia call us Deti Smerti, The Sacred Children of Death, and they are closer to truth then anyone else. After all, the very fact of our existence defies death, so it must have a special affection for our kind... But we hold no joy in it. We know no joy since the day our beloved Gods have gone to another time, locked in the eternal struggle with the Unknown from the stars. And that was a long, such a long time ago…

No matter how we try, no matter how we fight, one thing never changes: all across the continents, we are held in contempt for the whole world, and there is no peace once we are discovered.

No mortal can grasp our tragedy and we seek no compassion for our own immortality — never did and never will do, for our faith in our Gods is so clear it denies all and any sacrifice. While mortals. We hold no sympathy for them, for they can forget. Forget, while we have every second of time burnt into our screaming minds.

Though we wear different faces and speak different languages, we still remember. Every word, every deed, every expression and every drop of the water of life. For us, the War of Heavens never ended. For us, there is no escape — only the Chronicles to keep us sane and the hope to see the Crimson Citadel before the Funeral Plain becomes the chessboard of Fate.

One day in future, we will reach our Gods and face the enemy at their side, like the true Heroes always did. One day will be the day of Ragnarok. One day we will be given our last mercy. The last mercy for the last Heroes: death...»

THE HEROES

Heroes, the ancient race once created by Gods to help them rule the world of the wild, do possess their own kind of immortality, but are still vulnerable: made to be the middle men in between their masters and the warrior riders of the wild kingdoms, they can read the way of wisdom, yet are still affected by human emotions.

After a physical death, Heroes are reborn in new bodies which then slowly accumulate previous memories and restore original identities. They can perfect unmatched skills, gain immerse knowledge and rule mortal tribes, but their twenty-year rebirth periods and exposure to physical destruction makes Heroes vulnerable enough to eliminate any thought of a riot against their godly masters.

THE CAPTURED SPIRITS

The last series of supernatural battles lead across all of the three continents long before what we call «the civilized ages» signified the dawn of Times of Magic — the core of many dimensions was battered and the magical powers have started to drain until totally disappearing from the face of this world. The only remaining bits of magic were the «captured spirits» — powerful artifacts created by Gods for their own, higher purposes.

Where the magic has gone, the Gods have followed on the trail of their Enemy from the stars, leaving behind only Heroes and artifacts scattered across the young world among their former dominions.

The spirits captured within such artifacts have their own personality and the backside of their magical powers is the will of the spirit, weak enough for the gods but dangerous in their strength when compared to the personality of the Heroes. A master of such artifact is constantly hearing the singing voice of the spirit and not a single Hero can resist it for a long time: still these sources of danger hold great power and will always attract those with a taste for it.

THE UNIONS

The heroes who survived the hectic final days of Times of Magic and witnessed the exodus of their masters found themselves free, and for the first time they had to select their own way of existence.

Different groups have selected different ways: there was the old way of wisdom, the simple way of sword, the dark way of destruction, the open way of exploration and many, many other.

Some have started endless travel through the Frontier Lands, some have gone mad looking for answers on the express of perpetual death, some have indulged in holy wars and only a few of the Heroes seemed to remain untouched by the changes. These strong-spirited warriors made eleven Unions, many of them more than just secret, and in a collective effort dedicated their endless lives to the particular goal of their choice.

THE LEGEND OF GOREN

Centuries passed and the wild kingdoms have come a long way in the evolution, shaped by their own blood and occasional leadership of a true Hero. Having conquered the world, slain the toughest opponents and captured the richest treasures, these lone warriors were looking for further control over the destiny of the young world, and it necessarily meant more power.

An ancient legend of the Hero turned God once again was spoken aloud and endlessly repeated along the shores of four oceans: it told a story of their own brother who has captured and mastered a small artifact with a weak spirit, then used its help to obtain control over stronger items until the amount of accumulated power made him truly divine and he was able to turn himself into a God.

Though many claimed to know this Hero personally, he was nowhere to be found. It was said that he followed the destiny of their master race and preferred to join Ragnarok on their side as soon as he mastered the streams of time, denying the pointless existence of the mortal world.

THE KEEPERS

The legend of Goren did revive hope and belief, and more than a few lone Heroes have spent their endless lifetimes looking for traces of barred and forgotten artifacts. But one of the oldest and strongest unions, The Keepers, has been long prepared for this moment and the only remaining signs of the former powerful items were the deserted towers of the Keeps and Citadels.

Even before the reappearance of the legend, the Keepers have been undertaking bold experiments with the artifacts in the search of ultimate understanding of their nature, and the results so far have been warning: of all known spirits, none was subject to heroes' control. After a lengthy debate they decided to hide them until a safe solution would be found, for in wrong hands (and especially in the hands of mortals) such spirits could be devastating.