Of Times Forgotten...

Long before the Age of Enlightenment, before a cataclysm reshaped our world, before a Stranger drove Mondain from the land, before Lord British came and established the virtues, Sosaria lived in an Age of Chaos. It was an age far different from the Britannia of today. It was an age where city-states were sparsely placed bastions of civilization in an otherwise savage realm. Creatures of childhood myth walked the world, and profane arts were learned and lost.

In that age, the elves of legend still called Sosaria their home. They lived a peaceful existence, forming small villages around their sacred trees, which they nurtured and cared for. Transformed by magic, these trees became something mystical, embodying spirits within them and harnessing magics of their own. These everlasting trees formed the social center for the elves, as well as providing a mystic link to the earth they both cared so much for. Life in the regions surrounding the elven glades was simple, and the elves protected the nature all around them. There were some that interacted with the men in their cities, and some of these were of the greatest renown. But these were not typical of the rest of their race, who only raised up arms when the orcs encroached upon their territories.

It was during this age that a great evil came to the land. In the southern regions of Sosaria, twenty-four human sorcerers had raised a temple devoted to the study of dark magics — Necromancy and Daemonology, among others. Taught on the Isle of Fire, they were schooled in forbidden rituals by a balron named Baal’morda (which, literally translated, means “The Lord of the Dead”). The hellspawn taught these twenty-four innumerable secrets, and fed their lust for power.

But one ritual would stand out above all the others that were taught. It was to become the crowning mark of the twenty-four. Forging blades from the rib-bones of his predecessor (for Baal’morda was not the first Lord of the Dead, nor may he be the last), he gave each sorcerer an enchanted weapon, which contained a cursed ability. The weapon reached out to the magical essence of any creature it pierced, perverting it into a corrupted essence, turning that victim into a conduit wherewith the sorcerers could siphon life, and thereby increase their own power and longevity.

Using this ritual was not without cost, however. The twisted mana provided by the bone-blade slowly warped their own essence, making them unable to use normal magic, and twisting their life-force. As a result, both their longevity and the ability to wield magic would rely on their ability to “feed” from the life essence of others. And thus the cycle began: both armed with and enslaved by their dark knowledge, the Scions of Baal’morda went out at the command of master in order that they might feed... and in turn, render nourishment back to their dark lord.

And so it was that they made their way into the world, to wield their dark magic against the peoples of Sosaria.