In order to understand the world in which our heroes live, we must investigate the happenings during the "Wrath of the Immortals".

The story takes place during what most time lines call "The Wrath of the Immortals." There are a number of notable changes that were made. I guess the driving force for the changes was that I didn't like the destruction of Alphatia, not for this campaign anyway. Leaving Alphatia on the map gave the Known World a Cold War feel. So, I broke up the events that transparied in the "Wrath of the Immortals" set, and the outcomes, to Thar's Darokin incursion and the fate of Alfheim, wound up in the heroes' hands.

In this version, the war between Alphatia and Thaytis is long over, and the world suffered what is known as "The Day without Magic". Throughout the war, the Alphatians had been kicking tail. The Thaytians had lost almost all major engagements, their holdings on the Isle of Dawn and Ochelea were in revolt, and Alphatian skyships were approaching the capital. The Thyatian Emperor was looking at the destruction of his once mighty nation.

Of course, the immortals had other plans. Unbeknownst to the best Alphatian spies, a Glantrian wizard had defeated a small group of adventures called "Etregan's Avengers," and went about his secret experiments. On a quest for immortality, he depleted the Great Sphere of Rad, and banished all magic from the Prime Material Plane. With the wizards powers gone, the heroes of "Etregan's Avengers" broke into to his otherwise impemiable tower, and stole the sphere away. It took them about 24 hours to take the sphere to a priest of Rafiel before the magic of the world could be returned.

On that particulair day, as you might suspect, the Alphatia got clobbered. The chaos was unequaled to anything in our own history. The Alphatian war machine dropped out of the sky and died. The war mages, regretting their 1d4 hit die, were systematically exterminated. The Nation of Alphatia lost control of it's subjects, and riots were widespread. The Capital was in turmoil. All the magically imprisoned creatures of the imperial zoo, now free, ran amuck in the streets. Law and order, as imposed by the magic-user's, ceased. Priestly magics continued to function and Alphaks protected Alphatia from complete annihilation. However, Alphatia's upper-hand in this war was completely reversed. Even though it the disaster lasted only one single day, Alphatia troops were on the run from Thaytian Legions and Heldanic Paladins. Finally, an uneasy peace was signed, and the empires went about extinguishing rebellions.

Thar's incursion into Darokin would not come about for another 5 years, and would be tied to the Dark Elves scheme to take Alfheim.