Long ago in ages past,  Rangrim the Conqueror laid waste to the Kingdoms of Baltun. The dwarven strongholds in the mountains of Mimfjell spent decades preparing quietly. The miners delved deep into the core of the crust searching for something. A wise sage, Master Asprit Pemcage, visited the Dvorak City telling of the depths of greed seeping from Rangrim's kingdom. A warning that was not heeded. Rangrim's engineers dreamt of new machines capable of boring through the mantle with unimaginable speed and ferocity pushing the empire into strange new layers never before excavated. Jewels, diamonds, and compounds emerged in droves from the depths. Trade to the neighboring kingdoms flourished ushering in wealth to all corners of the dwarven kingdoms. In cities throughout Baltun, Dwarven goods where prolific forming the basis for much of societies progress. A basis for dependency. 

The most precious items were reserved for handpicked bastions across the kingdom. Willing conspirators who stood to gain everything from their partnerships. A calculated purchase from the dwarves capturing allegiances in the hearts of Baltun's courts. One by one the monarchies weakened inching Rangrim closer to toal control. On the eave of the Hollow's festival the Dwarven plan swung into action with devastating effect. Swirling outwards from the heart of Dwarvendom they laid waste to any kingdom in their path. Strange machines and weapons of war toppled palaces, burned villages, and destroyed any resistance met. Maelstroms of energy and blue light flooded the land until Rangrim posessed all living creatures between the Westfront and the Verdant Isles. This was Dwarven rule.

For centuries, the bloodline of Rangrim strangled the people's of Baltun through unrelenting domination. Deep within the mountains they bore further. On the fringes of the empire they rose up. On both fronts a fracture shook the land. The drills stalled and the free people's reclaimed their title through an uprising toppling the emperor from his golden thrown. Within days, the cultures of the world were liberated from the dwarven conquest ushering in a new era. A new world. Baltun'ia.

Republics where formed and anti-monarchist sentiments fueled the people's voice establishing governments based on the old ways with new protections. The land was free. The dwarves where forgiven, to an extent. Reprimands and restitutions were laid out, leaving a once powerful people, shattered and shamed. A new age began with renewed peace.

Cities were built, trade flourished. Baltun'ia blossomed seeking out beyond its borders and inviting traders from beyond the waters and fertile plains of the westfront. Humans ventured east arriving of the shores of baltun'ia bringing new concepts, customs, and religions. These visitors established colonies in the west establishing a new precious in the Baltun'ian lands, new rifts, new neighbors. These colonies shifted to settlements then to citizens until the ships stopped. Humans stayed and contact to the far lands ceased. This new life spread across the land cementing human contact to all corners of the continent.

Baltun'ia and its inhabitants welcomed in the fourth age. Peace was maintained and war became a distant memory, a myth. Scholars discussed history and government in academic courts replacing armies with rhetoric.

Until one day, in the middle of Felenthor (the fourth month), a rift formed. A deep rumble from beneath the mantle split the center of the continent amitting a burst of blue light into the sky that could be seen across all corners of the land. A gash left in the center of Baltun'ia an odd ripples extending to the borders followed in its wake.

Machines, once dormant began to awaken. Creatures capable of thought and reasoning. Able to cast magic like the elves and invent like the gnomes. They could speak, draw, play music, study, and commit crimes. Eventually these automatons were accepted into the world by most but not all.

Not only were these machines brought to life but other strange occurences began fluttering through the lands. Magic, a common controlled practice, began experiencing ripples of interference. Spellcasters left magicless, spells producing the opposite effect, and even mundane magic with the capability to cause devaststing and damaging effects. The magic became wild. Some blame the machines, others the gnomes for their insesent tinkering, and some still claim the dwarves falling back to their old ways.

Whatever the cause, Baltun'ia is still coming to grasps with these new revelations. New prejudices and politics are forming, new peoples banding together for both good and evil. This is where our story begins in a Baltun'ia burgeoning with change ripe for adventurers to make a name for themselves. The question I ask of you:

What songs will be sung of you and your adventurers travelers?