Cosmology

In the most ancient world, there were the Gods, the Dragons, and the Prime Evils. Many of the Gods were inherently good, and wished to preserve law, order, and justice in their world. The Prime Evils were, by nature, the antithesis of what the Gods represented. There was, inevitably, great and constant war between the two groups. The Dragons, mortal, but great creatures in their own right, were split between the sides. Many of the Metallic Dragons saw wisdom and prudence in the ways of the gods, and so, under the leadership of the wise king Io, sided with them. The Chromatic Dragons, however, sought for themselves the power and riches promised by the Prime Evils and, under the leadership of Io's daughter, Tiamet, the Dragon Queen, began to fight alongside the prime evils.

The Dawn Wars lasted many thousands of years, spawning stories of heroes and champions on all sides. It was not until learning of a plot made by the Chromatic Dragons in to kill Orcus- chief of the Prime Evils at the time- in order to crown Tiamet queen of the Prime Evils, did the war begin to shift. The Prime Evils exiled Tiamet and those loyal to her, and promised that she would remain a sworn enemy until she paid for her treachery with her life. So, having nowhere left to go, Tiamet returned to her brother, Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, and captain of the Metallic Dragon's fighting forces. Although Bahamut did not trust his sister, he eventually agreed to fight alongside the Chromatics in a final attempt to squelch the Prime Evils once and for all. So, with the combined power of the Gods, and both the Metallic and Chromatic Dragons, the Prime Evils were driven from the material plane and sentenced to live out the rest of their existence within the Nine Hells. For their loyalty and valor, the greatest of the Metallic Dragons were granted immortality and godhood by the Gods.

The alliance between the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons did not last much longer than that, and it was not long before Tiamet began waging war against the Metallic dragons, again, over control of the material plane. It was about this time that lesser beings- elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and many other types of mortals began to also inhabit the material plane- many of them were created by the Gods themselves. These mortal beings, seeing the great power controlled by the Dragons and the Gods, began to worship these entities and build entire civilizations around them.

Meanwhile, some of the Gods began to argue amongst themselves on whether or not the Dragons could be trusted with the power they had been granted. Some of the Gods made the argument that it was from Io that all the Chromatics had been birthed, so how could he or any of his children be trusted when such corruption and evil, like Tiamet, could come from his bloodline. In the end, Corellon, Talos, Kord, and Pelor revoked Lolth, Gruumsh, Malar and Bane their Godhood, and banished them from their presence. The exiled would go on to call themselves the New Gods, and their worshipers, who also became exiled from the presence of the followers of the Old Gods, migrated to the east. It would be between the followers of the Old Gods and the New Gods that many of the ancient wars were fought. Lolth would later abandon the New Gods in search of a greater power than what she could attain on the material plane.

In more modern times, much of the old world of A'orun has passed away in to disrepair or shadow. It has been many centuries since it seems the Old or New Gods have intervened directly with the affairs of their followers, although the devout still draw on the Gods as the source of their power. Mankind is the most prevalent occupant of the West Cities now. Outside of the West Cities, no other civilized areas are really known to most people. The most well-traveled and weathered explorers will talk about the islands south of the Shining Sea, or the desert oasis known as Soringrad to the south, or the grand construct past the Eastern Reaches known only as The Fence- although that seems to be more of a myth, as any road that far east is filled with enough wild terrors to kill a hundred good men. And make no mistake, the majority of A'orun is wild.

Throughout recent history there have been many who have sought to destroy the world and its inhabitance, some in the name of this or that God, this or that Evil, yet there were always those who raised up to defy those that sought only destruction; these are the Heroes of Old. There was the Elven princeling, Kel'var of The Light who stood alone against the armies of Halkrock the Defiler at the battle of the Twin Spires. There was also Kel'var's great grandaughter, the Half-Elf Marn'var who, with a single arrow, pierced through the heart of the dragon queen Tiemat while she slept in the Underdark. There is the story of the Dwarven hero Baalak, whose dual axes were said to be so large and heavy that not even the Goliath, Goliad the Shieldbreaker could wield even one of them. These and many more throughout history have been the bearers of hope and justice in a world that would otherwise be overcome by darkness and chaos.