Prologue

It was a new world, a golden age. Humans not only bit into the magical fruit of enlightenment, but had mastered the tools of artifice as well. With such tools at their disposal, the world was theirs to claim. With their dominion all but assured, the other races came to enjoy their wonders.

First came the elves, their kingdoms now in ruin, they left the dying forests to take part in mankind's renewal. Then the Lamias left their distant isles, and the Wolfkin journeyed from the northern fjords. Even the vampires, long isolated in their fortress keeps, decided to take part in the new age of technology, and wonder. The only ones who refused mankind's offer were the Redevers, who kept to their mountain strongholds.

For a time the blessings of artifice, and magisterium, spread across the globe. Great cities rose from the bedrock of ancient earth, each containing wonders that reached the very skies. Like celestial beings, great arches of light were cast from the tallest city spires, binding them to great stations in the lower atmosphere.

The stars were within their reach.

And then they all came crashing down.

There are many stories as to how it happened. Some believe the Redevers opened the forbidden archives of ancient magic, and set loose a tempest to consume the world. Others believe it was a divine punishment, a doom long promised for any who dared challenge the domain of god. There are some who who go even further, telling stories of how the winds of magic were born, not from the golden fruits, but from beyond the boundaries of reality itself. Those boundaries were bent, and broken for far too long, allowing the nether to leak through, and distort natural law.

The great storms tore open the skies, and a never ending gale brought down the old world.

The golden age was dead.

All progress was lost.

Desperate to survive, humans, elves, lamia, wolfkin, and even vampires fled to hastily built communes in the corners of the world, where the storms were less severe. The city of Voxsturm is just one of these communes, built deep in the canyon gorge, where magical barriers could be raised.

For reasons unknown, the only peoples to somehow survive without the help of human ingenuity, were the Redevers, who's strongholds remained high in the mountains, above the worst of the storms.

It was only inevitable that these two civilizations would clash.