Late in the 23rd century of our human ancestors, magic once again reclaimed its intriguing hold on mankind's life. Gates opened between our world and that of the Faye, causing a new cycle of magic to begin on earth. Creatures of legend and myth were once again seen in the lands of the mortals. Faeries and dragons again roamed the lands of man. Many men and women devoted their lives to magic and the harnessing of its power and potential. Some did it to help their fellow man, others did it for money or simple curiosity, but most did it for the power it promised. Their greed and insidious desire for more and more power was to inevitably lead to something terrible. That terrible thing occurred on April 7, 2289.
April 7, 2289, the fateful day that changed everything. A group of magi dedicated to the pursuit of acquiring as much magical knowledge as possible stumbled upon an ancient magical text. Within the age old pages were incantations for opening gates to the faerie world. They had hoped that by opening these gates they would be able to increase their magical prowess a hundred fold. They were meddling with things they could not possibly comprehend. Their failed magical attempts did open a gate to the realms of the Faye, but that was only the beginning. Such a rift cannot exist for very long without having detrimental effects on both worlds. The magi made their fatal error by weaving magical wards preventing the gate from closing itself. The initial destruction was astounding. The magical energies released as the rift grew larger and larger tore the earth apart. The entire planet was swallowed up by the fury. The lands of the Faye did not fare well either; a great deal of the magic that made up their realm was corrupted by the rift. Many of them died, something almost unknown to the immortal Faye, and the few mortals that survived would never be the same again.
Almost the entire human race was wiped out during the Reckoning. The few that survived faced a world that was completely foreign to them. The earth that had been was gone. Small pockets remained, but it was only a fraction of what it had been. These pockets, now known as the True Realms, proved to be the only areas outside the sinister cover of the Faerie Mists. The Mists were something new to humans, and being the home of the Faye it was something they feared. These True Realms displaced areas of the faerie lands, causing much disruption. Our earth and the faeire realm once existed within the same physical boundaries, split by different dimensions. The cataclysm forced the two dimensions into one. The humans that were left alive struggled daily for survival. Part of that struggle was dealing with the faeries.
There came a time shortly after the Reckoning that the two surviving sides began to place the blame. The humans that still lived blamed the Faye and their accursed magic for the catastrophe. The Faye, of course, blamed the humans for their meddling and lack of proper respect for the great power of magic. It all started as arguments, both sides trying to avoid the other whenever possible. Soon it escalated, minor conflicts quickly turned into all out war. While the humans were greatly outnumbered, the faeries were divided. Many of the denizens of the faerie lands refused to get involved, or simply weren't interested. The Sidhe took up the banner of war, using the elves as their soldiers. The war was long and bloody, lasting over 100 years, but eventually the humans were driven into hiding. Truth be told, a small faction in the Selie Court, the ruling body of the Sidhe, took pity on the humans. They realized that the point had been made and they wanted no part in the genocide of any race. They slowly persuaded their colleagues to let the remaining mortals be. Many would view this act of mercy as a great mistake in the centuries to come.
As the years progressed, mankind began to evolve and adapt to his new environs. Within a thousand years of the Reckoning there were no pure blooded humans left. The natural magic of the land warped the mundane humans. New races emerged from the ashes of man. Some were similar like the Anuir or Andurans, while others were crossbreeds with faerie folk, like the Rygars, Karanesti, and Druga. All still shared their common heritage, but most of the new races kept primarily to themselves. As the centuries began to blend one into the other the human race was all but forgotten. The new descendants of man still clung to the True Realms upon which their ancestors had lived, many shunning the Mists as unknown realms. It would be quite a while before they began to venture forth into the Mists, once again encountering the faeries in larger numbers and discovering that there were numerous True Realms, many filled with other descendants of mankind.
With the new races beginning to grow in numbers, they needed to expand. Until this point the different True Realms were isolated from each other. Then the first of the Mistrunners began to appear. Mistrunning is the skill of not only traversing the Mists, but also manipulating it. The Faye generally possess this as an inborn ability, but the mortal races needed to learn its secrets. Some Faye taught the eager mortals, even though the Selie Court had misgivings about mortals knowing the secrets of the Mists. They felt it would strip the Faye of a distinct advantage. Where the mortals couldn't find teachers they taught themselves, using their old human instinct for survival and adaptation. With this new found skill, mortals could travel the Mists and encounter new True Realms and begin an age of expansion and prosperity.
With their courage increasing, the mortal races journeyed into the swirling Mists, exploring it and finding new lands and unlocking new magic. It was during this time of rebirth and reconstruction that a kingdom took root. Bragun Dor was a militaristic land, favoring might and power over anything else. They slowly began to bring other True Realms under their control, increasing their reach and control. In a matter of decades they soon controlled all of the known True Realms. With no mortal races left to conquer it wasn't long before the greedy warlords of Bragun Dor turned their eyes elsewhere. For reasons unknown even to this day the Faye never suspected what was about to happen. They had grown too complacent in their dealings with the mortal races. They had become accustomed to letting the mortals do as they wished so long as they didn't encroach upon the faerie realms. When the first mortal armies marched into the deep Mists it was a horrific time.
Spurred on by the legends of the first war and the stories of wholesale slaughter of their ancestors at the hands of the faeries, the new mortal races showed no mercy and spared no quarter with the Faye they encountered. Pleased with their initial victories, the leaders of the mortal armies were flushed with overconfidence, certain that victory would come as easily as the conquest of the True Realms. They greatly underestimated both the size of the faerie lands and the population. Many of the Faye who never took part in the first Retribution War found themselves the focus of attack by the mortals. The Sidhe soon found many allies among the faerie folk, and even a few of the mortal races. True Realms at the edges of the bloodstained kingdom of Bragun Dor took up open revolt against their masters. The wars of conquest had drained the lands severely and many longed for peace. Some True Realms even openly welcomed the armies of elves that marched upon them, much to the surprise of both the warlords of Bragun Dor and the Sidhe. With these new allies and strongholds in the mortal lands, the kingdom of Bragun Dor soon found itself on the defensive. With each passing year they lost ground, either to the advancing Sidhe armies or the revolt of its own people. Caedmonst, the True Realm home of Bragun Dor was soon besieged. Hundreds of thousands of Faye collided with the strongholds of Caedmonst and thousands more mortals joined in the fray, helping to overthrow the tyrannical warlords that had stolen their homes so many years ago. The siege lasted only three days. With such a vast force standing before them, many Bragun Dor soldiers deserted, some even joining the attackers. Even so, the deaths on both sides were astounding. Over a million lay dead on the battlefields and the realm of Caedmonst was utterly destroyed, left a desolate and barren wasteland.
After the Second Retribution War, the Sidhe were more wary of the mortal races than ever before. Even though many mortals took up arms with the Faye, many in the Selie Court mistrusted them. This lead to one of their biggest mistakes. The Sidhe decided to leave elvish militias in all the mortal lands. Day to day governing was left in the hands of the mortals, but they were not allowed to have military forces. At this time many Faye immigrated into the True Realms. At first things were fine, both races existed peacefully together, always under the watchful eye of the Selie Court. This peace lasted for nearly five hundred years.
As the years went by, and more and more Faye began to live with the mortals in the True Realms, society began to shift. The mortals began to feel like second class citizens. Not being able to raise their own militia and in many cases being judged more harshly for crimes than the Faye were, many began to murmur of rebellion. Many of the Faye were guilty of discrimination against the mortals, committing crimes against them and almost never being found guilty in the Sidhe run courts, if they were charged at all. The Faye had the law on their side and few mortals felt they were treated fairly. The turning point was the trial of a charismatic merchant named Tavish, who had been arrested for murder. His shop had been burglarized by a group of elvish rogues and his wife stumbled upon the thieves in the act. She was killed without a second thought. A dozen eyewitnesses and overwhelming phsyical evidence failed to bring a conviction of the elves, minor nobles of the Seelie Court. Tavish took justice into his own hands, and hunted down the elves one by one. Tavish was executed at the end of a short, brutal trial. As his body was being paraded about the main square as a deterence to others, the spark of rebellion grew into a raging inferno.
While the mortal races were lacking in military training, they did have money. Among the Faye lived some unscrupulous tribes, orcs and trolls that would fight for pay. The mortals, with the aide of these mercenaries were able to throw the elvish armies from their lands. The Selie Court, quickly realized the mistake they made so many years before and conceded the True Reams to the mortals. The revolution was short and the causalities on both sides were light. While some considered this time to be the third of the Retribution Wars, it was minuscule in comparison.
Soon after the revolution, a young man by the name of Baerd founded a trading post which he dubbed Wayfarers Way. Situated within a short distance of numerous magical gates, it quickly began to grow and flourish. The town grew into a city and the city into a metropolis. Baerd set up a council to rule the city. One member of each of the major mortal races was chosen to lead the council, plus a representative from the Seelie Court. They established Wayfarers Way as neutral ground, where the differences between mortals and Faye can be worked out peacefully and hopefully avoid another conflict. It seems to have worked, at least so far.
The revolution that once again set the mortals to their own destiny is hundreds of years in the past. On rare occasions the spark of war will flare up between the mortals and the Faye, but never anything of major significance. Both sides enjoy a cease-fire and have been at relative peace for decades now. It is well known that both sides still engage in certain under the table activities, yet neither side desires another war. Secretive groups are at work, on both sides, that wish to engage in one more act of the Retirbution Wars, and this time make the verdict final for the loser. However, most of those living today care little about the bloodshed of the past, and they are content to live their lives from day to day. For most it is a struggle just to do that. They don't have the time to worry about what the Faye are up to, and most wouldn't understand if they did know. The Faye have kept mostly to their Mists, and the mortals are too busy bickering amongst themselves, just as their human ancestors did so many centuries ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.