Elves, dwarves, and gnomes from distant worlds entered Formaria through the Gyre Gates, discovering the dormant technologies left behind by the ancient Formarians.

They spread quickly across Yeggardania and Ravinica—one a lush paradise of forests and rivers, the other a vast heartland of fertile fields and open plains.

This era became known as the Golden Age of the Aeserin.

Yet the Gates carried more than travellers. Constant passage invited demonic incursions, though the Aeserin, fortified by skilled exorcists, held the threats at bay.

It was during this flourishing age that the Elves forged the goblin race, creating them as living adversaries to temper and train their armies.

The Aeserin continued to push outward through the Gyre Gates, unaware that every crossing fed the rising tide of demonic incursions. South of Elliptica, they encountered the Fenn, the humanoid-reptilian race who drew their power from the Aeturnum and whose sorcery was steeped in darkness.
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To the Fenn, the Gyre Gates were an abomination, strengthening demons with every use. When Aeserin explorers stepped through one of these portals, the Fenn struck without warning, slaughtering the expedition before its members could speak.
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Seizing the opportunity, the Fenn turned the Gates against Aetraya and launched an invasion. In desperation, the Aeserin summoned more of their kindred from distant worlds. But each arrival only worsened the problem, widening the rifts and calling forth ever more demons. Soon the Aeserin found themselves beset on all sides, hounded by demonic assaults, harried by goblin raids, and pressed hard by the relentless Fenn.

Driven from Celmyr and Ravinica, the Aeserin retreated into the deep forests of Yeggardania, where they encountered the wandering human tribes. United by necessity, elves and humans combined their sorcery and unleashed a force so great that it reshaped the world itself, driving all peoples—Aeserin, Fenn, and human alike—into the safety of the underground realms where the Aeserin's newfound technologies won out against the Fenn.

The techno-barbarian tribes of humanity, led by the warrior-king Redcrosse, fled the Old World as demonic incursions consumed their homelands.

Along the way, a faction who feared and rejected all sorcery broke away from the main host, journeying north to settle in the harsh reaches that would become Fiondagaard, where they kept to themselves and shunned the wider world.

Redcrosse and the remaining tribes crossed into Aetraya to find a continent already ablaze with war. The Fenn were pressing hard upon Ravincia, demons prowled land, and the last remnants of elves, dwarves, and gnomes were fighting for their survival.

Humanity joined the struggle without hesitation. United under Redcrosse, they helped drive the Fenn from Formaria and shattered the momentum of the invading host.

In the aftermath of the war, the tribes spread outward, settling the lands of Celmyr, Ravinica, and the underground refuge of Formaria alongside the surviving Aeserin peoples.

Due to overuse of the Gyre Gates, and with the Aeserin diminished and humanity stretched thin, demons spilled freely into Aetraya, roaming unchecked across the land.

From captured Fenn, the allied races finally learned the truth: every use of the Gyre Gates fed the incursions, empowering the very beings they fought to repel. As demonic threats mounted, Aeturnic creatures also slipped into the world, bringing further ruin in their wake.

The allied peoples were being crushed from all sides. In these desperate years, Redcrosse sought a legacy strong enough to outlive him. With the sorcery of Andrew Velgavin, he forged the Scions, beings of extraordinary power who would become the first of the royal houses.

They were made to carry Redcrosse’s strength into an age he would not survive. But even the Scions could not stem the tide. Humanity and the Aeserin stood on the brink of collapse, their armies shattered and their havens failing. At last, united by necessity, they made a single, irrevocable decision. The Gyre Gates had to be destroyed.

With the guidance of their exorcists, the Aeserin shattered the Gyre Gates, cutting off the passage the Fenn had used to wage their war. The effect was immediate: demonic incursions dwindled to nothing, vanishing almost overnight.
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Yet victory carried a price. The destruction of the Gates severed the flow of gyranic power, leaving both humanity and the Aeserin weakened and without one of their greatest weapons.

In the vacuum that followed, the Aeturnum and its rulers—the Lords of the Eternal Hunt—found their moment to rise. Freed from the constant struggle against demons, and emboldened by the waning strength of mortals, they pushed further into the world.

Aeturnic creatures stirred across Yeggardania and beyond, trolls, ogres, and other beings shaped by the shadowed realm. Meanwhile, the goblins, left unchecked for decades, multiplied and spread, adding yet another threat to a land already splintering.

Thus began the Age of Darkness, an era defined by failing kingdoms, rising horrors, and the slow, relentless advance of the Aeturnum.

As the Age of Darkness deepened, the Lords of the Eternal Hunt pushed fully into the mortal world, each seeking dominion over Aetraya and over one another.

Their assaults tore through kingdoms already weakened by war and sorcery. Redcrosse and his Scions rose to meet them. In a campaign marked by ruin and sacrifice, they confronted the great Lords—Volkor, Lokul, Duessa, the Changeling, and the mad creature known as the Jester.

One by one, these gods of darkness were brought low. Only the Changeling escaped their reach, vanishing into legend. But the victories came at a terrible cost. In the final battle, Redcrosse fell to Volkor, giving his life to end the monster’s reign.

Some claimed they were birthed by the Fenn; others whispered they had been resurrected or reshaped by Aeturnic sorcery. Whatever the truth, their coming marked one of the darkest chapters in mortal history.

With most of the Aeturnic Lords banished or slain, the world entered a rare and fragile peace. The Aeserin and humanity—now united as the Fromryr—set themselves to rebuilding what the long ages of war had broken.

They resettled the lands of Ravinica and Celmyr, restoring fields, cities, and the great routes between them. In the quiet that followed, they uncovered still more of the Formarians’ legacy: hidden ships, slumbering Constructii, and relics whose purposes had been forgotten.

Hope returned, and for a time the world seemed poised to rise once more. Yet the peace was brief. Shadows lingered beneath the surface, and the Age that followed would not endure.

Centuries after their first defeat, the Fenn returned. Having rebuilt their strength in the depths of the Aeturnum, they swept into Aetraya through the jungles of Elliptica with a single purpose: to wipe out the Fromryr once and for all.

Their renewed assault shattered the outer kingdoms, driving the Celmyrians, Ravinicans, and the Fromryr back toward the underground refuge of Formaria. The war grew desperate. In the chaos, Lucienn Moranthi sought a forbidden power hidden within Elliptica’s heart.

He returned at the head of the Mirrovinjin—his creations of terrible might—and with them he broke the Fenn advance. But victory came at a cost. Ordered by his father to destroy the Mirrovinjin, Lucienn defied him. Conflict erupted between Lucienn and the Fromryr, ending only when he was forced to retreat to the distant realm of Nexoria.

There, consumed by bitterness, Aeturnic influence, and a hunger for unending life, Lucienn lost himself to madness and darkness. Many witch hunter parties were sent to Nexoria to kill or capture the prince, but few returned and those that did saw no sign of Lucienn Moranthi.

In the generations that followed, a period of relative peace and renewal settled over the land. As the Aeserin and humanity rebuilt their shattered realms, new powers began to rise. Great houses emerged from the growing settlements, claiming ancient lineages and shaping the politics of the age.

Amid this shifting landscape, the Ecclessius was born. At first a unifying spiritual order, it steadily expanded its authority as the centuries passed. With the Aeserin’s numbers dwindling and humanity’s population growing swiftly, the balance of power changed and tensions between the houses soon erupted into the first Fromryian civil wars.

Seeking to prevent the realm from tearing itself apart, the Ecclessius stepped in, positioning itself as the mediator and moral arbiter of Formaria. In time, it became the de facto ruler of the underground kingdoms, wielding influence greater than any house alone.

Beyond Formaria, conflict flared as well. Ravinica and Fiondagaard clashed in a series of brutal wars that spread across generations, neither side able to secure lasting victory. The stalemates only deepened the divide, setting the stage for the centuries of rivalry that followed.

Something stirs in the abyss. Old forces reawaken. New schemes are hatched. A Tale of the Fromryr begins.