The Game

The Prologue

 

The lands of Jairon have known peace and prosperity for thousands of years. At the cornerstone of this relative peace was the White Tower and its great influence over the actions of all the races of Jairon. The White Tower was the sole destination for all individuals in Jairon to learn the craft of magic. At the center of the White Towers influence was the Five Powers, also known as the Circle of Five because of the tight bond that each of their members shared. Membership to the Five Powers was given only to the most power Wizard of each of the five races of Jairon. The Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Amazon races were each represented by a single member in the Circle.

During the many years Jairon had known peace this arraignment worked without flaw as the Circle of Five held the personal ambitions of the five races in check, that is until the Breaking. Currently the world of Jairon is in chaos and the White Tower is lost, the Tower's Wizards have fled and are aligning themselves with the various Kingdoms. These Kingdoms are sounding their War Horns and are beginning to call all of their Province Leaders into strategic council anticipating the need to guard their lands from enemy aggression and to take what land and wealth they can from their weaker neighbors...

The Breaking

 

The chain of events that are directly attributed to causing the Breaking remain a mystery but the results have left the world of Jairon in turmoil. The stories from those who claim to have been witness to the fall of the White Tower say that the 'Circle of Five' had been locked up for days in the upper most planning chamber. It was reported that they were trying to alter the effects of the drought that held the lands of Jairon in its dry vacuum. On the third day of their reclusion, storm clouds, not seen in over five years, began to appear sporadically throughout the land, bring with it the promise of new life. Soon after news of their success started pouring in, the White Tower was abuzz with celebration. Unfortunately, it was a short-lived celebration. It had been near a week that the Circle of Five first locked themselves into their chamber before a few of the Tower's upper-tier Wizards got up enough nerve to check and see why the they failed to emerge.. It was dangerous to disturb the sanctity of the Five Powers when they were weaving threads of magic into a complicated spell pattern. Any lapse in concentration could yield disappointing if not devastating results and it was not entirely unusual for Wizards to go without food or sleep for days-on-end when trying to weave the more intricate spells. But their apparent success was not difficult to see as the rains continued a steady downpour over the entire Realm. This was enough to instill confidence in the small group of Wizards that approached the door to the chamber room that held the Circle of Five. They climbed to the top of the largest tower, unlocked the room and causiously entered its the Five's santuary...

What those first Wizards saw upon entering the room, was spine chilling. The Flesh from each of the Five Wizards looked as if it had melted from their bones and mixed together in a pool near the center of the room. The smell that lingered in the air was so foul even a hog might of lost its lunch. What was even more amazing was that a faint light was visibly emanating from the pile of Wizard flesh as if there were some life force trapped in the ghastly mess. They say that the light source stayed within the tangled bodies for nearly a month, then suddenly without noticed it left the bodies and darted up toward the heavens, parting the rain clouds and allowing sunlight to shine directly upon the White Tower for the first time since the rain had started. The skies eventually cleared and the weather seemed to be back to normal.

The White Tower was devastated by their loss. Three of the original five members of the Circle of Five were among those who had perished. Only two new members had been replaced in the entire thousand years of the Tower's existence. Now Five new members had to be appointed to the circle by the entire congregates of the Tower where previously the task of selection was conducted by the remaining four members of the Circle.

This left the Tower in chaos, as anyone with even the slightest chance at being chosen found themselves working their alliances they had earned through reputation and respect from their peers. For those alliances they couldn't garner by honorable means they resorted to intimidation and bribery.

Eventually five new members were chosen from among thousands and after a few years things slowly started to feel like they might get back to how things were before the tragedy...or so it seemed to those from the outside, but those on the inside knew a completely different story. The bond of unity that the previous Five held was long gone and not for a moment did the new Five even approach the idea of unity. Distrust, deceit and envy seemed to be the standard for the newly elected Five. Each of the new Five powers each began to secretly advance their own ambition and influence in the world, but secretes in the White Tower were difficult.

The deceptions and distrust marked the middle of the end for the White Tower. Even for those Wizards within the White Tower the end happened much faster then any would of ever guessed. The Orcs Wizards were the first to break away from the Tower. Many thought that the Tower could continue on as before without the presences of the orcs. After all, the Orcs were innately limited in the power of Magic. But soon after the Orc Wizards departed, Jairon's most powerful magical race, the Elves, decided that they had had enough of the political bickering and backstabbing. After the Elves exodus, the Tower quickly lost its standing as the one source for law and order in Jairon. The White Tower was broken, and soon all remaining Wizards fled its shattered walls and return to their homelands in preparation for the great struggle that loomed on the horizon ...

Epilogue