Many thousands of years ago, before the Time of Chaos, before the fathers of the Elves and Dwarfs knew of speech or song, the world was visited by a race of travellers. Elven legends dimly recall them as the Old Ones. They came from beyond the stars by means of an inter-dimensional gateway which they created above the north pole of the world. Their silver craft brought the Old Ones to the world where they discovered the ancestors of the Elves and Dwarfs, and secretly nurtured them, teaching them the arts of civilisation, though to what end remains a mystery.

THE MASTERY OF THE OLD ONES

The Old Ones built fabulous cities and temples away from the areas inhabited by the growing races of the world. They raised their cities in the lands known today as Lustria, on the western continent, in the warm equatorial regions which best suited their alien metabolism. They were the masters of the world in those days, and perhaps the masters of the universe too. Their technical skills were unthinkably advanced, their command of sorcery unparalleled. Indeed, such was their knowledge that to them magic and science were as one, blended into a single galaxy-spanning arcane technology. Their polar gateway was a device crafted from this technology, a portal between the very dimensions.

THE FALL OF THE OLD ONES

It is impossible to say what terrible disaster overtook the Old Ones and destroyed the ordered world which they had created. Their gateway, the source of all their arcane power, collapsed onto the northern pole creating a region of seething energy, a wasteland saturated in magical power, an open door into the dimension of daemons and gods. This disaster initiated the Time of Chaos and unleashed new and horrifying gods into the world. It made the Realm of Chaos where Daemons and other things too mind-destroying to consider dwell to this day.

The Old Ones and their deeds were forgotten. Their children, the Dwarfs and Elves who they had placed on the ladder of civilisation, survived the Time of Chaos and began to develop in their own fashion. Man, the Old Ones' newest and most vulnerable protege, was left to learn by contact with the older races, remembering nothing of their ancient contacts. In Lustria, the cities and temples of the Old Ones gradually fell into ruin.

THE SURVIVORS

Although the Old Ones were gone, the lands of Lustria were not completely emptied of intelligent life. For the Old Ones did not come to the world entirely alone. They brought with them their slaves and servants. Of these creatures, the most intelligent were the Slann. The Slann were the organisers and builders, the scientist-sorcerers whose endeavours built the cities of Lustria and moulded the world into a shape commanded by their masters. It was the Slann Mage Lords who built the polar gateways and whose spells maintained its integrity. It was the Slann who moved the whole world closer to the sun to warm it, and who changed the shape of the lands to create hydro-atmospheric stability. The Slann were second only in understanding to the Old Ones themselves.

THE SLANN

From the beginning, the Slann were few in number and since those days their number has dwindled. Their knowledge, the inheritance of the Old Ones, has gradually been forgotten leaving a memory of greatness and much superstition. Still, even today, the Slann are the greatest wizards of the world. Though they do not possess the power of their ancestors, they are more potent than the greatest of the Elven mages.

The Old Ones relied upon the intelligence and sorcerous abilities of the Slann, but they never used the creatures as warriors. Their bloated toad-like bodies left them sluggish and vulnerable, and lacking in aggression if not in cold-blooded malice. For their warriors the Old Ones chose another race, though whether they brought these soldiers to the world or whether they found them and adapted them is not clear.

Lustria - The New World.

Perhaps the Saurus, as these reptiles are called, were the first race cultivated by the Old Ones, an ancient race that never quite developed to a stage satisfactory to the Old Ones. Saurus are brutish creatures with slow minds that register little except a simple, single-minded savagery. They can use straightforward weapons but are unable to master more complex devices. In terms of protecting the cities and temples of Lustria however, they were just what the Old Ones needed.

SKINKS

The need for a more physically adaptable as well as mentally agile workforce led the Old Ones to create a smaller race of Lizardmen called Skinks. These were weaker than Saurus, but capable of far more tasks. They formed the mass workforce of the Old Ones as they do the Slann today. Although physically weak compared to the massive Saurus, they are competent archers and riders.

In addition to the Slann, Saurus and Skinks, the Old Ones created or adapted many other creatures of reptilian origin which they put to use either as workers, beasts of burden or as warriors. The creatures called Cold Ones were made as riding beasts to carry Skinks. The gigantic Kroxigors were made as construction slaves, capable of carrying and placing massive boulders. Creatures of the air were made that could ride the wind, and the Old Ones also fashioned huge monsters that were used to carry heavy burdens over long distances.

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