The saga of Dodorik #

You are a member of the druidic Circle known as the Guardians of the Ancient Leaf. Your circle has always watched over the natural world, protecting it from corruption. You lived deep within the forest of Solin, a place once vibrant with life. You became an apprentice to the master of the circle and in time you became the leader whilst your master retired and now advises you.

Twenty years ago a cataclysm known as the Shadowing struck. Portals to the realm of shadow tore open across the world, unleashing undead horrors. Cities fell. Forests withered. Plants shrank and died. Animals, unable to survive without the plants they depended on, perished, only to rise again as undead mockeries. Twisted beings of darkness, known simply as shadows, stalked the land. The Shadowing lasted only three weeks, but those weeks were enough to scar the world.

Your circle fought tirelessly against the undead, nurturing the trees and plants so they would not vanish completely. When the three weeks ended the world returned to something resembling normalcy. The great heroes Iros Redface, Loka the Awakened, Escanor the Eternal, and their companions managed to close a massive rift, stopping the catastrophe. But the rift did not seal entirely. A tiny crack remained, and from it corruption seeped into the world. Abominations appeared, alien forms not meant for this plane. Animals mutated into ravenous, destructive beasts.

Your circle quarantined the area and guarded it from the rest of the forest and the plains beyond. Then the Empire came. They burned whole stretches of forest to fuel their war machines and persecuted your people for their magic. Anyone with the gift of magic was executed. You became the guardian of your circle, protecting what remained of your land and its creatures from the Empire and from the corrupted monstrosities that still prowled near the rift.

Years passed. Days ago the rift was closed completely. Your master told you that Loka had returned to finish what she started, and once the rift sealed, the Empire left Solin. They marched east to wage war, and rumors spread that they were fighting the ancient order known as the Wardens of the nights vigil, protectors of the world against corruption.

Your master then gave you a final task. She told you to seek out the band of heroes who aided Loka in closing the rifts. She said they possess power akin to your own, and that with them you may help bring down the Empire and safeguard the world from a greater threat that has not yet revealed itself.

While tracking down the heroes, you discovered that some of them had once been prisoners who escaped from the great colosseum of Tarantis, a desert city built like a jewel beside the only river for miles. After their escape they were taken in by the city’s resistance and soon found themselves fighting against the Empire.

On the day they broke free, a massive crystal erupted from beneath the colosseum. Corruption burst outward from it, spreading through the streets and twisting the city in the same way you once witnessed in your homeland. You recognized the creatures immediately—warped monstrosities, shadow-tainted abominations, and horrors that should never walk the mortal world. The same corruption you quarantined in Solin had somehow manifested here.

More heroes joined their cause as the threat grew. In time you learned that they had even managed to rescue the Awakened known as Loka, a goliath whose power resembled your own, though far greater in scale. With Loka’s return and with many allies at their side, including magma dragons, they shattered the colossal crystal, sealed every remaining rift on the continent—including the one in your forest—and drove the Empire out of Tarantis.

So the reason the rift in your homeland finally closed is because Loka sealed every rift across the continent. And the reason the Empire left your forest was not mercy or retreat but because they marched to wage war against the Wardens and against Tarantis.