Lore of the Reflected Worlds:

The Dead Gods:

• It is said that the Beings we call the Dead Gods, were not Gods at all, but were just Beings of energy. They evolved through the chance convergence of Grim and Radiant energy, two different forces. Each random melding of Grim and Radiant energy created a new consciousness. After a time, each consciousness grew self aware. This continued over eons until all the large pools of energy were used. These new Beings eventually discovered each other. Their nature was made of energy, and they existed in what we now call the spirit world. By human standards they were extremely powerful, but they were not Gods. For by definition Gods cannot die, and yet these Beings eventually perished, torn asunder by the results of their own pride.

  The Creation of the World:

  In time these Beings discovered how to harness the very powers that created them, Grim and Radiant energy. They decided that they were great and all powerful. So they set out to create something new by design unlike the chance of their creation. After eons of planning, and imagination, they created the first physical place in existence. They called it the World. It was their finest work of art. To make it work they started by designing a great crystal. Into the Crystal of Creation they poured all of their plans, their order of the new universe, the very rules that made this physical place exist… and much of themselves. They wanted this to be the most wonderful creation of all time, so they poured their own nature of Grim and Radiant energy into all they created. And before they were ruined, they touched greatness for a moment as they sparked new kinds of life, animal and plant. But this wasn’t enough for them, so they pushed more of their own Radiant and Grim power from within to create a physical reflection of themselves… a kind of melding of animal and their own consciousness, a new kind of life that they called humans. And when they were through, they were much reduced, for this had taken a lot of their very beings to create.

  The Forming of Elixir and Chaos:

  The Beings decided to give their creatures a gift, and so they discovered how to convert Radiant energy into a physical substance they dubbed Elixir, a power the physical humans could use to build, heal, create and much more. But to separate and create Elixir, Grim energy was released… and in the World they had created this Grim energy became a new and free roaming physical substance… Chaos. They converted too much of their Radiant energy into Elixir and poured it into their World, and all the while they were also creating vast amounts of Chaos. They considered the Chaos harmless and thought that it would dissipate. They didn’t realize this physical manifestation of Grim energy was a new power. At first much of the Chaos seeped into the depths of the earth and there in the dark it pooled.

  Three of the Beings became aware of this pool of Chaos. Their names are now shrouded in myth and gloom. But while still untainted, these three wondered what they might create with this pure pool of Chaos. They thought to surprise their fellow Beings with a wondrous new creation. They delved into this pool of Chaos and pulled much of it within themselves, converting it back into Grim energy. This unbalanced the Grim and Radiant power within these three Beings, far beyond anything any of the Beings had ever experienced. They did not see this unbalance of Grim energy as evil, and they were right, for Grim energy is not evil unto itself. But that much Grim energy without the counterbalance of Radiant energy unbalanced their minds. Or in other terms, it drove them insane. Yet they were unaware that their minds were twisted, filled with the unbalanced Grim power. They began to form something new out of pure Chaos, a vastly different race of creatures. To keep their work hidden from their fellow Beings they went into the dark recesses of the World and there they created a new realm, the Darkhalls. This Grim place was outside the Creation Crystals rules, and there they fashioned new creatures made of pure Chaos. But the three creators did not see their creations as unbalanced, or understand their flawed and one sided nature. These new beings were fueled only by the needs of their Grim nature. But by then the three creator’s minds were also unbalanced. So they reveled in their flawed and Grim creations. Because these three Beings had been corrupted by Grim power they were later known as the Corrupted Three.

  The Creation of Demons and the Formation of the Grim Spirits:

  Due to the Grim nature of the Corrupted Three, they learned to lie and to hide their Grim nature from their fellows. Their new creations of Chaos had a dread sentience… and they fed on death and Radiant power. These new types of Grim beings are what we now in general call Demons. The Corrupted Three thought the Demons would serve them forever. But the most powerful of those they had created with pure Chaos took control of the lesser creatures and eventually turned them all on the Corrupted Three. Like a Black Widow on her husband, the Demon Lords sent their horde of Grim creatures to attack their creators. The demons tore into the remaining Radiant energy still within the Corrupted Three. The Radiant energy was like a nectar that the demon’s one sided nature craved to consume. The Corrupted Three’s Radiant side was consumed completely. What remained of their sentience was torn and shredded. The largest portion of the shredded sentience fled the World into the empty darkness of the Universe to fester and plot. But the many smaller pieces escaped into the World. These became spirits which roamed the spirit world and attached themselves to grim places and objects in the World. These Grim spirits continue to corrupt the world with their malice to this day.

  The War of the Demons and the Gods:

  Then the Demons discovered the other Beings, the ones who had not been unbalanced. They attacked and fed on the Being’s Radiant energy, which was a banquet of unprecedented power to them. Unaware of this threat and weakened in power from their efforts of creation, the Beings were overwhelmed by this sudden and unexpected attack. Weakened from what they had given of themselves to create the World, they were sorely hurt in the opening skirmish. They were not used to war, because up until now they had no enemies. To counter the attack of the demons they tried one last ditch effort, and used all their Grim power in an attempt to destroy the demons. But this was their undoing, for they lost the balance of their Radiant and Grim minds. Without the balance of their Grim side, their Radiance could not be contained and what was left of the Beings was torn apart. Each small remaining Radiant piece became a spirit that wandered the world, with varying amounts of sentience and memory. In time these remnants became individual Radiant spirits that forgot their beginnings. Although they had been much reduced, they were at times still powerful sources of power. Each supreme consciousness that had come together through random chance over eons to form one of the Beings… was undone, scattered as pale shadows of their former glory throughout the World that they had created.

  Without the Beings to continue to feed their hunger, the insatiable demon horde turned on the creations of the now Dead Gods. They began to feed on the Radiant side of the humans.

  What once was a world of peace was now permeated with the Grim power of the Demons and the spirits of the Corrupted Three. It took many years, and many lives before balance was restored.

  The Time of Darkness:

  We call this period the time of Darkness. Scholars believe that this was a time when there was no order and demons ran amok through the world. Scarce human groups banded together in small enclaves and tried to hide from the minions of the hellish Darkhalls. By night, demons came up out of the darkness to feed on human suffering. There was no art, no society, no enjoyment, just survival. It is unknown how long humans toiled under this blanket of nightly death and destruction. It went on until a lone grieving human whose family had been killed by demon hordes crept into the heart of darkness to exact revenge. Peran Tremora went down into the realm of the demons, the Darkhalls. He reached the Creation Crystal where the demons had hidden it away since taking it from the Dead Gods. Peran knew of the crystal, for legend said that the Dead Gods created this crystal to make the one World.

  The Creation of the Reflected Worlds:

  In great grief for his slain family Peran did not care if he lived or died. He just wanted to destroy the demons forever, no matter what the cost. He prepared to end all things and destroy the world. Peran took his great hammer and smashed the Creation Crystal into thousands of shards. He thought he could destroy the crystal, and therefore the World, and with it all demons. But the demon realm was not part of the World, and when his hammer struck, it did not bring an end to the World. Instead, something very strange happened; the crystal shattered into thousands of equally shaped smaller, but geometrically exact, duplicates of the original great shape. And out in the empty places of darkness, new worlds appeared. In each facet of every crystal there was a reflection of the original World. And for each facet there was a complete mirrored version of the original World. We now call these the Reflected Worlds.

  The Beginning of the Sorcerers:

  When the crystal shattered some of the Radiant and Grim power that had been contained within the Crystal was released and entered Peran Tremora. All humans had a touch of Grim and Radiant energy which made up their soul, but Peran absorbed massive amounts. As the two powers entered his body in this great quantity, the first human sorcerer was born. As he looked into the geometric structure of the crystals his eyes saw duplicate reflections on the facets of each shape. In wonder he reached out and touched one facet, and was transported to that reflection of the World. He was the first human to enter the Darkhalls and escape… but not the last.
  

The First Age – The Golden Age:

• Thus began the First Age… also known as the Golden Age, for there were no demons on any of the Reflected Worlds… but one. The entrances to the Darkhalls only existed on the original World. The demons were not duplicated by the shattering of the crystals for they were not creations of the Crystal. They were unaware of the thousands of Reflected Worlds where duplicate creations of the one World existed. Every human, all animals and each thing were reflected in each of these worlds, except one human and the Demons. The small amount of Radiant and Grim power in humans was much diluted, except for Peran Tremora. The first Sorcerer was not in the World when it was duplicated, he was in the Darkhalls with the Demons. He was infused from the shattered crystal with far more Radiant and Grim power than any other human had ever contained, and it was not diluted. Forever more he and his descendants were never duplicated across the Reflected Worlds, though all other humans were as new children were born. Any human born of Peran’s descent received much Grim and Radiant power. It was said that they were ‘of the Blood’. All the Reflected Worlds were strangely connected, and as the majority went, so went all, except for those descended of the Blood and those of the Darkhalls.

  Peran eventually discovered more about his new powers and the magical things he could do when they were used properly. He had the very power of the Dead Gods… though not as strong. His heirs also received this power and eventually discovered how to separate Chaos and Elixir from matter, and the many uses for the two substances. They discovered the duality of Grim and Radiant power, and how too much use of one or the other alone could lead to death and destruction, or insanity. They learned to contact the spirits; strange sentient beings attached to many parts of the world, earth, air, fire, wind, and more… both Grim and Radiant. Eventually they discovered how to infuse mirrors and crystals with the power of Chaos and Elixir, their magically enhanced reflections allowed them to open portals to other Reflected Worlds. The use of Grim and Radiant energy became known as sorcery, and great cities were built with the power of sorcery. Human settlements expanded and great knowledge was accumulated. Art evolved with the advent of civilization. There was a balance in the Reflected Worlds that has not been seen since in all the ages. The Portals allowed knowledge to spread easily to all the Reflections, but that is how the Golden First Age finally came to an end… for eventually a Sorcerer opened a portal to the one World. There the demons still ruled. The Reflected Worlds were revealed, and the demons discovered whole new sources of humans to feed upon.

The Second Age – The Demon / Sorcerer Wars:

• The Second Age is also known as the Demon / Sorcerer Wars. No longer were humans the simple life force food for demons. Descendants of Peran Tremora had the power of sorcery and they used it to fight back. The war between humans and demons waged for more than a thousand years. The humans had spread their sorcerer’s power across most of the Reflected Worlds before the war started. The humans had superior numbers because the Demons could not breed and with time more of those of the Blood were born. Individually, the Demon Lords, Demons and Fiends of the Darkhalls were more powerful, even the least of the demon realm, the Imps… could still hold their own against many humans. However, they were overwhelmed when enough sorcerers used their powers together.

  The Melding of the Verduren:

  It was during the Second age that the eldest of the new free races was created. They were the first humans to change their form and in many cases, make it permanent. In an effort to hide themselves from the marauding demons they used their strong powers of Chaos and Elixir to meld themselves with plants. The melding allowed them to blend themselves into the wild and hinder detection by demons seeking humans to feed upon. Their bodies and skin mimicked the foliage around them, and even their temperaments came to be tied to the way of plants, calm even in the face of a storm. These folk eventually came to forge their own society, and the race came to be known as the verduren.

  The Demons Retreat:

  Eventually the war went poorly for the demons, partly due to the emergence of the verduren. The demons retreated to the place where their kind was most comfortable, in the realm of the Darkhalls, accessed from their original world. There the surviving demons crouched in the darkness licking their wounds and plotting their revenge. Most pathways were sealed by the humans and verduren to keep them contained. The Demon / Sorcerer War came to an end. The verduren vowed to keep watch on the known exits from the Darkhalls, and their patience is that of a willow tree.

  The war was over, and demons were seldom seen in the Reflected Worlds. They occasionally managed to sneak past the verduren for a nocturnal foray through secret portals into the human worlds, for night was when the verduren were weakest. But for the most part the remaining demons kept underground and waited for their chance… waited for humans to make a mistake. They bided their time and dreamed of new ways to use their Grim power to once again turn humans into their food source, and a way came. They discovered human forgetfulness and their need to worship something greater than themselves. The demons twisted this to their own Grim ends.

The Third Age – The Time of Folly:

• The third age is known as the time of folly. It was not a golden age, even though Demons seemed to be defeated, in fact, it became a second age of Darkness. Humans had paid a terrible toll to defeat the demon hordes. Most of the great cities of the First Age had been destroyed. There were only ruins left to echo the greatness of the Golden Age. Human populations had been nearly destroyed. The great storehouses of knowledge had been mostly burned or lost. Humans nearly returned to barbarism in the two hundred years that followed their victory over the demon hordes.

  The Coming of the Prophet:

  It was then that the Prophet came to the poor and destitute human settlements. He spoke of the Returning Gods, and how they alone could raise humans back to glory. He spoke of how it was the humans themselves that brought the demons down upon them because they had tried to attain the power of the Gods… through the use of sorcery. In their decadence and pride, they had forsaken the Gods and thought themselves the creators. He told of how the Gods were not dead… and would soon return. And he told of how the humans could help. He told them that they must discover the true names of the Gods, for only then could they return. And as each was found, those people who found them must worship and obey that god above all other gods before prosperity would return to their lands. In so doing he divided the humans, for each settlement discovered a different god’s name, and they soon fought against their fellow humans for the supremacy of their god.

  The Wars of Religion:

  Great Quests ensued as the people of the Second Age sought the names of the Gods in deep and dark places. The more difficult the quest, the greater the name discovered, and therefore the greater the god they discovered. And find the names of the Returning Gods they did, for they were placed there to be found, and they were secretly the names of Demon Lords. Great religions formed, each following the name of a different ‘god’. Wars ensued as the worshipers of one ‘god’ fought the worshipers of another. And when enough worshipers followed a god’s name, that terrible god issued forth with powers of death and destruction at his fingertips. Gods with names like: Anapocolis, Deserges, Sufernal, Garos, and Elopayne. Each was more terrible in their wrath, each fake god reveled in the pain and destruction of their rival’s humans, and they fed.

  The Enhancement of the Waerian:

  But one group of humans did not believe, and they sought to escape the ‘gods’ and their destructive religions. They sought a place to hide from the insanity gripping their fellows, and found it in the depths of watery places. Those amongst them descended from Peran’s blood used their powers to give them enhancements in breathing underwater, handling the cold, and methods to move in this new medium. Yet the changes were not so sweeping that they could not return to land when necessary. And so they became cold blooded creatures of both earth and water, and they called themselves the waerians. At home above or below the waves, they developed scales for skin, lidded eyes, neck gills, webbed fingers and toes. The waerians developed a great pride as the only beings to never trust the Returning Gods, and in latter days tended to be aloof among other free folk. Waerians were confidant in their superiority and inner strength of character.

  The Returning Gods were but Demons pretending to be Gods. Humans came willingly to these false gods and sacrificed their own kind or captured humans from their enemy factions. Human sorcerers used their powers to alter their fellow humans into new forms to please their ‘god’. New races where created out of human stock. Converts to a god’s name could be transformed into the new race so that they could be different from the ‘heathens’ of another ‘god’. This separated the humans even more, and prejudice was rampant. No longer could humans unite to defeat the Demon Hordes. Yet, only one of these newly created religious races survived to prosper in future, the Gargoyles.

  The Rise of the Enchantress:

  In the end it was the Grim nature of the Demons that was their downfall. Not all humans believed and these non-believers set out to expose the ‘gods’ lack of true divine power. The idea that true gods could be this wrathful, terrible and cruel, and that they would condone war, human sacrifice and suffering was too much to believe. An underground movement began, led by a direct branch of the Tremora bloodline. One Sorceress, who was strong in the Blood, came forth and they called her the Enchantress.

  She had gathered and trained many of those powerful in sorcery to become her loyal personal Heroes. They took on one of the most powerful cults, and when things went poorly for the demon, he called forth his minions from the Darkhalls and the truth was exposed to the Enchantress. These ‘gods’ were demons. During that great battle with the hordes of demons the Enchantress was captured and taken deep into the depths of the Darkhalls, there to become the food of Demon Lords as they tortured her powerful spirit for eternity.

  The Fallen Heroes and the Darkhalls:

  But the Enchantress’ heroes followed even into that unholy place. To this day songs are sung of the heroic battles that her heroes fought. They were the first human force to ever penetrate the Darkhalls. Many heroes fell, yet they fought their way deep into the Darkhalls until they found their mistress. More fell, as the demons threw themselves at the invading humans, but the Enchantress was taken back from the darkness. Those that died to save her left their spirits in the Darkhalls. They became known as the Fallen Heroes, and their legend has endured through the ages, for since that time no human army has dared to enter the Darkhalls.

  The Wrath of the Gargoyles:

  Returned from where no one could return, the Enchantress exposed the Demon Garos to his followers. The humans that had worshiped Garos had even changed their bodies to mimic that of their God. They were called the gargoyles. When the Enchantress showed them the truth the gargoyles threw down their false God, and exposed him to the rest of the world as a Demon Lord. Great was their anger when they learned of the demons deception. But other human factions that still followed other demons derided the gargoyles for their lack of vision and true faith. They told the gargoyles to join them and follow a true god. Feeling the betrayal of their faith as a permanent brand, the gargoyles went forth with zeal to expose the other false Gods. In their righteous anger the gargoyles set out to prove that they were not the only ones deceived. They went to war against any humans that continued to follow a ‘false god’. As each of the Demon Lords was exposed they fled back to the Darkhalls. Thus ended the Third Age.

The Fourth Age – The Citadel of Sorcery:

• Throwing down their false Gods was not easy, as human fought human. Only the verduren and the waerians stayed free of the deception. Those who eventually believed that they had been betrayed by demons battled those who still believed in their demon gods to the bitter end. The war ended when all the Demon Lords withdrew from the places of light and once again crept back into the Darkhalls. Human populations were again vastly reduced. But now, besides humans and verdurens there were two new races, the waerians and the gargoyles. For what had been done could not be completely undone. Of the other religious races, none survived. Many slew themselves in mass suicides, while others fought fanatically until they were wiped out to the last creature. The gargoyles survived as the first to throw down their false god. Their form became synonymous with protection against demons, and was used in statuary and decoration in new structures to ward off Grim spirits and demons.

  The Building of the Citadel

  It was the Enchantress who convinced the first Gargoyles to throw down their God, and that same Enchantress now won the confidence of the war shocked humans. With the gargoyles at her command, and the support of the waerians and verduren, the Enchantress took charge. She began organizing the remaining people to guard against the return of the demons. She also started the rebuilding process of the vastly weakened Reflected Worlds. As a symbol for the future she built the Citadel of Sorcery on the one world where the doors to the Darkhalls existed. It was the bastion against the demonic hordes. From there she planned to ward the demons and bring back a Golden age, to seek out the old knowledge where it still existed, and keep the demons from deceiving humans ever again.

  The Enchantress eventually married and had many children who were all boys. Each of them became a powerful sorcerer of the Blood. Finally she gave birth to a daughter. Her daughter became The Sorceress, and was destined to become known as the Eyes of Darkness. In the end, the Enchantress’ children were her downfall, and of what became of the Enchantress much knowledge is lost. She suddenly disappeared, her temple in the Citadel was destroyed, and all memory of her name and face were erased from the minds of all beings. Her dreams of a second golden age fell with her and the world was cast into darkness and eventually the Citadel came to be ruled by her daughter, the Grim sorceress, the Eyes of Darkness.

The Fifth Age – The Coming of Morphael:

• Under the new rule of the Eyes of Darkness, the Reflected Worlds fell further and further into chaos, anarchy and corruption. The Eyes of Darkness ruled through fear, and she did nothing to protect those outside her city, the Citadel of Sorcery. The worlds splintered, and there was much evil rampant in the lands. But there was a new power brewing; a being named Morphael. He created a new kind of army in secret, using undiscovered Reflections. There he took man and beast, dead and alive and through some fell power he changed them into horrible beings created from his twisted imagination. But he did all this in secret. The sorcerers of the Citadel had no warning of this impending peril.

  And when the time was right, when the people blamed the Eyes of Darkness for destroying all cooperation between people of the Reflected Worlds… Morphael revealed himself and struck like a war hammer into unprotected flesh. It was a blow unforeseen by the Citadel, and Morphael’s united armies of creatures marched across the lands, gobbling up little kingdoms, dictatorships and feudal lords. It was easy, for the Reflected Worlds no longer had a unified system of government to withstand the might of Morphael’s armies.

  The Citadel’s Response:

  Soon the Citadel was in a panic; lands were being taken across all the Reflected Worlds. The Citadel had to scramble, and tried to organize that which they had made chaotic. It was difficult, for no one trusted the Eyes of Darkness. The sorceress had left them to their own anarchy, and now she wanted them to follow her orders. So the Citadel created a line of forts extending out into these wild and anarchy laden lands. The garrison of a nearby Citadel Imperial fort would come to the aid of anyone in trouble from Morphael’s forces, but they only came once. Afterward they offered a treaty where they were bound to help when called. In return the people would be required to give up 10% of their fighting age people to join the fort garrison. And unless the rulers of the people signed the treaty the fort would give them no further aid. Slowly… very slowly, some areas began to look to the Citadel garrisons for protection, but there is much yet still in anarchy. The forts do not extend everywhere and are only along the Imperial highways. Everywhere else Morphael’s creatures have moved into the wild areas between civilization and the protections of the Forts.

  And this is where the Reflected Worlds now stand. People do not trust The Eyes of Darkness, yet they are terrified of the armies of Morphael, for they take prisoners that are turned into more horrible creatures. There are uneasy alliances, and some protection by the Citadel forts for small towns and villages, yet much of the world is still held in the feudal system, and much evil is still about the lands. Ruin hangs in the balance. The war goes on, and Morphael’s forces continue to take captives and use them to create even more creatures to bend to his will. He works toward the day that his army is great enough to destroy the Citadel of Sorcery.

  The Creation of the Tyven:

  The fifth free race came to the Reflected Worlds through the machinations of Morphael. Master of creature creation, he made one race more clever than most, but Morphael made the mistake of combining the quick witted and clever fox with humans. He wanted a race with the ability to be his spies. He needed creatures that could move through the wilderness or back alleys with equal ability. Creatures that could be clever enough to spy and steal what they needed, yet strong enough to fight when cornered, and powerful enough with Chaos and Elixir to fight magic with magic. He called them his furry spies, but they called themselves the Tyven.

  But this breed was too clever to remain Morphael’s slaves forever. In secret they developed a society of their own… one that spoke truths hidden in sarcasm and wit in a secret language of their own. And when the time was right, all in one night they disappeared. Every last Tyven was gone… along with many objects that had belonged to Morphael and his minions. They set up their own villages in places far from his realms, and there they developed for years before coming back into contact with humans and the other free races. And though they do not like the policies of the Citadel, they truly hate Morphael and will temporarily help even the Eyes of Darkness if it means putting a thorn in Morphael’s saddle. In time their society branched out into more than the spies they had been bred to be, and castes emerged, like: warrior, mage and others.

  The Building of Morphael’s Fortress:

  Morphael was outraged when the Tyvens escaped and began to actively oppose him. He started the construction of a mighty fortress, one designed to keep his enemies out and his slaves within. This was a fortress of machine, rather than nature and magic. It was built of rusted iron and black steel, rather than of stone and wood. Smoke billowed from inside as his machines powered his fortress.

  In order to construct his mechanical fortress Morphael used his powers to create a new machine that could modify captive free folk into a breed he called his ‘builders’. The machine reduced their size so they could squeeze around gears, pulleys and counterweights, yet made them inordinately strong to lift heavy metal parts. The magic changed their eyes, making them larger so they could see in the dark recesses, and elongated the fingers of their small hands to make them more dexterous for manipulating small parts. He kept them under guard at all times, killing any of them that were not absolutely obedient. But their obedience was an illusion, for they only pretended to comply. The fact was that Morphael’s guards killed off the ones with the least ability to deceive them, while the ones who acted the most compliant, were the best deceivers.

  The Great Sabotage by the Jenemos:

  Then the captured slaves, some of whom Morphael had already altered into his builder race, began a great plot against him. They could not stop him from taking more of them and using his Grim magical machine to alter them into his builders. But they found a way to cheat him. They sought amongst their ranks until they identified those who were accident prone, or had abysmally bad luck, or just couldn’t pass up a practical joke, or were good saboteurs, basically, the undesirables of society… and had all of these misfits volunteer to go through Morphael’s alterations into his ‘mechanic’ race. The results were devastating. The worst mixture of these traits ran true as these new creatures bred. They called themselves the jenemos. And a day came when they banded together and sabotaged all his machines. Morphael’s great fortress came to a halt. Had the Citadel been ready, perhaps Morphael would have fallen that day, but they were not. After the great sabotage, the worst of the jenemos disappeared into the inner workings of the vast fortress. Morphael had the ones he could catch killed, and ordered the machine that made them destroyed… but it did him no good. The jenemos were master builders, and they had already constructed a second machine in secret, then smuggled it out piece by piece.

  For years after the great sabotage the inner workings of Morphael’s fortress would suddenly break down, or spew oil onto the workers, or start producing blunt arrows or some other mistake. Morphael brought in new human slaves to work his machines, but there were always rumors of little nasty creatures seen in the shadows just when something broke or did something unexpected. A program was started to wipe out the jenemos… but it didn’t work. They were too clever, and something bad always happened to those that hunted them in the dark recesses. Eventually, some of the jenemos escaped into the Reflected Worlds. They developed a nomadic society, preferring to be alone most of the time, keeping to dark places. They gather at certain times of the year in secret enclaves to trade and pass on their skills, stories and jokes. Most free folk shun their company, but there can be no doubt… when it comes to fighting Morphael, the jenemos reach new heights of mischief. They are the sixth and final race of free folk in the Reflected Worlds.

  The Return of the Fallen Heroes:

  Meanwhile, even with the setbacks of losing his spies, the tyven, and dealing with the sabotage of the jenemos, Morphael’s armies of other creatures continued to wreak havoc. The Citadel sought a new strategy to fight Morphael’s fell armies of horrid creatures. They found their answer in the past. When the Heroes had gone down into the Darkhalls to Rescue the Enchantress, many had fallen and had their spirits trapped. Their souls were held in torture for centuries of agony as payment for their audacity in attacking the demon clans, and worse, succeeding in taking away the prize, the Enchantress.

  These souls of the Fallen Heroes still had the full potential of the Blood, and with training, they could regain their amazing powers and abilities, if they could just be liberated from the Darkhalls. The children of the Enchantress, now Grim sorcerers of great power, were sent to retrieve these trapped souls and sneak them out of the Darkhalls. After rescue they were given new bodies, and sent to retrieve other souls of Fallen Heroes still trapped deep in the Darkhalls.

  So the sorcerers formed a new army of resurrected Fallen Heroes, based in their mother’s once wondrous city, the Citadel of Sorcery. The Eyes of Darkness sent the Fallen Heroes into the Reflected Worlds in small autonomous groups. Since each of them was strong in the power of the Blood they could wield Chaos and Elixir. Thus even a small team of the Fallen Heroes could take on quests of epic proportions and face the might of Morphael even when greatly outnumbered. The sorcerers of the Citadel used their power to bring their spirits back in new bodies, and to resurrect them each time they fell, for only those of the blood can be resurrected. In this way, they were like the demons; the sorcerers could not easily obtain more, and each Hero was more powerful than a host of the creatures that Morphael sent against the Citadel. But Morphael stole many bodies, converted them into horrible creatures and sent them back out into the Reflected Worlds to take on the Citadel’s forces and the Fallen Heroes.

  But each Fallen Hero the Citadel brought back took time to train, for their former memories were gone, only their powerful spirit could be retrieved from the Darkhalls. So at first the Citadel lost ground in the war while they trained and indoctrinate their new force. To speed up this process they trained some of those they resurrected to aid the Citadel in bringing back more lost Spirits of the Fallen Heroes. It was their job to find, resurrect and train other Fallen Heroes.

  During this time, Morphael made great strides and took much of the Reflected Worlds into his fell grasp. Slowly The Eyes of Darkness added to the Citadel army of Fallen Heroes, and this is where time finds itself… the dark sorcerers control the Citadel, and they have built garrison forts along some of the old Imperial highways. But vast portions of the ‘free’ lands are still in anarchy and chaos. The Fallen Heroes are sent into this wild land to bring order, to protect those loyal, to defeat the many pockets of evil and stop the incursions of Morphael’s forces and agents. The fate of the Reflected Worlds hangs in the balance between two powers of evil, one that would drag them into chaos and darkness, and one that would change all humans into monstrous slaves.

  Into this terrible time the Fallen Heroes return, and it is their task to save all the Reflected worlds from the evil of Morphael, and secretly, to bring down the evil sorcerers who control the Citadel of Sorcery. For the Fallen Heroes followed the Enchantress, and they live and remember her words: “All is not lost as long as one Hero is true… be the one.”