ge of Reconquest.
On the second day of the year 6667, Gothar called the fourteen Immortals back to him, and entrusted them with the
difficult task of bringing back peace and preserving harmony on Ganareth.
To reward the peoples of Ganareth for their heroic deeds, Gothar let the Immortals pass on their expertise to the
ones they considered as deserving. He laid his left hand on the forehead of each of the chosen ones.
Alenaek the Enchanter, Vahalken the Ranger, Shakaar the Shadow Knight, Oshyir the Monk, Nekresis the Necromancer, Miriador
the Paladin, Allouisus the Conjurer, Jezarael, the thief, Guerhoan the Cleric, Ellianor the Druid, Circeliane the Bard,
Arkorak the Warrior, Alzeria the Amazon and Skaarelius the Wizard went through the Great Corridor of the Gods, and, by
setting foot on Calder’s realm, marked the beginning of a new era.
The eighth realm resounded with the Dragons’ cries of pain and terror, as the blows inflicted on them by the Immortals
rained down. During the past centuries, they had forgotten what vulnerability and fear meant. The news of the arrival of
the Immortals spread like a terrible shock wave among Dragoon’s troops. All the Dragons throughout Ganareth were overcome
by doubt, since they had to fight against faceless enemies, as no one had ever seen the faces of the Immortals, except
their most faithful and closest disciples.
« Only when we have a face too, will we be able to gaze upon the Gods ».
For the first two years, the first disciples began their learning, but the fight against the Dragons was still unequal.
After the Beast had arrived, the force of magic had vanished, as well as the great powers it gave. Of course, the
constellations influenced the peoples of Ganareth; but, although they had observed the stars a lot, their knowledge on
the subject was too limited to enable them to understand how the constellations worked, or how to exploit their resources.
On the 69th day of the year 6669, the first Brave was born of the union of an Immortal with a Man. On Ganareth, harmony
was progressively restored, but the Immortals’ task was far from accomplished.
Victory remained an inaccessible dream for many peoples, until the 22nd day of the year 6688, the day when the Dwarves,
in their quarries, forged the first weapons endowed with a formidable magic power. During a fight, a moon crystal had
come off the sword of a Half-Elf, and, as a consequence, the weapon had suddenly lost all of its power. It cost the
Half-Elf his life, but that is how it was discovered that the power of these weapons derived from the moon crystals
inlaid in the steel they were made of.
On the 11th day of the year 6699, Gothar created the Fairies, small female flying creatures, and sent them throughout
the world, in order to found a new Alliance and to show the people of all races, equally, how the Mana could directly be
harnessed. These creatures of pure - constructive or destructive - magic miraculously managed to bring together the Elven
representatives of all ideological trends, as well as the representatives of all other races, the Gnomes included.
In the course of the centuries, the Elves had undergone profound mutations.
As they were deeply attached to nature the Elves practising traditional magic were called the Wood Elves. They were very
much the same as the Original Elves and lived in the heart of the deepest, most impenetrable forest.
The followers of constructive magic had grown markedly taller than the Original Elves, before the schism, and their skin
had become fair. They were called High-Elves. Among them were to be found the most fervent supporters of enchanting magic,
and the most talented disciples of Alenaek.
Those who had chosen to explore the ways of destructive magic were called Dark Elves. Their skin become darker, their eyes
had become red. They found in Necromancy a type of magic which was compatible with the magic they had been developing so
far and some of them became the most talented disciples of Nekresis. The other Elves were disconcerted by the changes
undergone by the Dark Elves and surprised to see that they were so much feared.
In spite of all their past differences of opinion, all the tensions and the quarrels that had grown between them, the
Elves decided to institute the Council of Sages.
On the 22nd day of the year 6822, the Council of Sages, prompted by the Fairies, decided to appoint two Elves - the Dark
Elf Vuuar and the High-Elf Elliak - to run a research programme on the moon stones and the moon crystals. It took them
eleven years of relentless labour to succeed in their research. In the early hours of the 2nd day of the year 6833, as
they were burning moon crystals in their secret laboratory, Vuuar and Elliak discovered the principle on which the Mana
fountains worked.
After weeks of prevarication, the Council of Sages entrusted them with the task of inventing six smelting furnaces,
which would enable them to reproduce, on a larger scale, the same reaction they had obtained during their previous
experiments. The construction of six Mana fountains then started; Vuuar and Elliac were supervising it and volunteers
from all races closely guarded the building site.
On the second day of the year 6844, the six Mana fountains were filled with raw moon crystals and the six smelting furnaces
were lit at the same time. The first results did not meet their expectations, as no fountain that day achieved
full-scale production. Yet, there was a positive sign in Gothar’s realm: the walls of the Wahl appeared to be lined
again in golden and sunny shades.
The Council of Sages held another meeting and, in spite of the poor results obtained so far, voted to carry on the research.
Ten more years of doubts and sufferings passed until a Gnome, named Paamel, proved there were two types of crystals.
Like Vuuar and Elliak, Paamel had been trying to find another way to extract the Mana from the crystals. He had been
carrying out experiments on the basis of complex distillation processes. During one of these experiments with
millidistilled water, he noticed that some crystals were becoming darker while some others were becoming lighter.
That day was the 24th of the year 6854. The machine was called hydrapteron and was used, from then on, to distinguish
the Dark crystals from the Light ones. Encouraged by this major discovery, Vuuar and Elliak resumed their work with even
more determination.
On the 33rd day of the year 6866, Vuuar decided to concentrate on Dark crystals, out of which he obtained the best results.
In his opinion, Dark crystals were more appropriate to a magic based on Necromancy. But Elliak, on the contrary, was
obtaining noticeably better results with Light crystals. Both Elves went on quarrelling bitterly, which roused previous
antagonisms.
In the year 6886, the Sprites produced before the Council of Sages the first sketches of maps recording the location of the galleries which had spread underground throughout the mainland realms. The Council asked them to complete this map by noting down the nature of the crystals that were to be found underground.
In the year 6898, the map was completed and it showed that the crystals were not distributed evenly everywhere; obviously the Dark crystals were mostly in the North, while the Light crystals were mostly in the South.
Through the years, the nature of the moon crystals had been considerably altered by Dragoon’s breath, either by his
inspirations or by his expirations .
Therefore, the fountains built in the North of Ganareth were supplied with Dark crystals by Vuuar, and those built in the
South supplied with Dark crystals by Elliac.
By the 24th day of the year 8000, a whole network of Mana fountains had been set up in the different territories. The
magic power collected by the fountains fantastically spread throughout the ether and started influencing the world and
the different peoples inhabiting it. The Mana flux emanating from the fountains was too powerful to be staunched, or
even approached by the Dragons.
Boosted by this flux, the magic powers of the people grew ever greater, as well as their strength. The Gods regained their former influence and commanded respect again.
The Dark Elves went back to dwell in their caves and began to worship Calder.
Hel was revered by the High-Elves, who used constructive magic, and kept excellent relationships with Men.
The Wood Elves, who had remained faithful to Neutra, went on revering her fervently and found again a certain harmony,
thanks to their powerful magic.
The Sprites remained faithful to the Goddess Ysatis and continued to offer their prayers to her from the deep ends of
their galleries.
Although they had not been so true to Hydra in the past, the Gnomes, cousins of the Sprites, continued to adore her.
The Dwarves became fervent worshippers of Agnar again, who endowed them with strength and courage.
Malecta was revered by the sturdy Half-Trolls, sort of animal-like warriors, always ready to fight, and reputed
to be extremely ferocious.
The Half-Orcs began worshipping Zephyr.
The Braves, highly influential people, rather naturally pragmatic, were to believe in Aesir.
As to the Men, they chose to revere the God they wanted, except some of them who chose to become agnostic.
The Half-Elves enjoyed the same religious freedom as the Men.
The wars of reconquest started then and lasted 888 years.