Welcome to a Dead World! Lorgath, the world that was is no more. Built by the gods to contain an ever hungry force whose sole purpose seems to be to unravel anything that does or can exist, perhaps it was always doomed. Known as Taint, this thing of non existence continues to haunt the peoples of the Hollow Lands to this day. Lorgath endured for centuries and centuries. The Age of Myth alone lasted thousands of years and we have almost no surviving records about the civilizations and peoples of that far flung time. But Taint is always present in the world and eventually both the hubris of the gods and the ambitions of their children will lead to three times of ruin. Of the first children, only the diminished Elves remain, stripped of their former Eldar nature and many living in self imposed exile for unforgivable sins. The Kaur Kawaros, or Giant peoples are forever cursed for their decadence, abuses and madness of ages past. The gentle Gnomes are gone, with only some of their works preserved. The wise sometimes ponder if their loss was the final wound that ended the world. Of the second children, the little halflings seemed to have shared the same fate as the gnomes at the end of the 3rd Cycle, with the final breaking of Lorgath. The Humans and Dwarven peoples do endure and offer some of the last vestiges of civilization in these shattered lands. In each of the 3 times of ruin, some of the gods would sacrifice themselves to keep Lorgath whole. In the final days of the Third Cycle, when Taint successfully corrupted the Goddess of Strife, they began the Breaking of the World. The last deity in the heavens, The God of Hope, refused to abandon his children and grandchildren even if Lorgath was going to be lost. He made a deal with the Four Giant Kings. These old tyrants were former Kaur Kawaros rulers who achieved a form of immortality through dark means and had dominated Lorgath for most of the First Cycle, before being cast into an undersea prison by the gods at the end of that period. The Kings battled the Taint corrupted goddess. The confrontation broke the world, but the Kings successfully trapped them in their old prison. The god of hope sacrificed himself so that some small part of physical existence might remain intact for the surviving children. Thus as Lorgath died, these remaining Hollow Lands endure. The wise sometimes ponder whether Hope’s last sacrifice was a gift or a curse. Taint still exists in these Lands and only the old Tyrants seem to have the knowledge and power to keep it at rest. A bargain is struck between the Giant Kings and the surviving kith. They will shoulder the burden that once belonged to the gods, but sacrifice is required. Every year 6,000 living souls must be offered as tribute, each nation having their quota. Lorgath is dead. No more cycles. It is the year 417 HL. The wise sometimes ponder if what little we have left is truly worth the suffering it takes to preserve it.