Battlemaster 1991 By: Mirrorsoft

Storyline:

BATTLEMASTER: The Age of Conflict

Not much is known about the creation of the world. The best we have to go on is the ancient book of Atan, passed down through thousands of generations, whispering to us the secrets of the Legend of Creation. This is its story.

The Four Lords of Creation shaped the world from the random dynamics of time and space. This we know, thanks to the chronicles written by Aran, the first king and potentate of all Magic. It was he who possessed the Keystone of Life set deep into a golden crown. With it he determined the flux of Magical power. He was the chronicler of this world's past, and his chapters are known as the Age of Peace.

Just before his death--after all of his kind had died--he crafted a final entry into the Book of Aran and placed it in a crystal case to protect his words from the scars of time. In a final act of despair, he shattered his crown with the Keystone of Life, splitting it into uncountable shards, left behind in his Tower.

All life ended for a time, but as things go, life returned to our planet, four races led by four kins, wearing crowns bearing the main shards of the splintered Keystone of Life. Each had a queen at his side; all wandered from Aran's Tower to build their kingdoms and weave their own tapestry in the world. And in time, other dark and nameless creatures crept from the cauldrons, bearing the tiny shards of the Keystone that created them, following the kings into a new world.

Four races developed and prospered: Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Orcs. As time passed, the four territories crossed, and their differences spilled out of the shadows. The Elves are a natural people, loving sunlight and forest shade--a tall, fair and elegant species, always vigilant against attack. They have one skill on their side--a knowledge of Magic. They protect their culture with the double-edged sword of defense and art. Theirs is the first great empire, sprawling the central forest of Aldarien and the vast tree belt of the Southlands.

The Dwarves, too, are a solitary race. They are short and stocky, and few in number. As creatures of habit--mainly miners, builders and smiths--their psyche is governed by a desire to delve forever deeper for the magical core metal of the world. They are a disparate, hostile people, going wherever the mining is good, given to territorial defense. Their main settlements are close to the Tower, the place now known as Naugarth, the Dwarf realm.

Men are the Land's farmers. They breed quickly because their lifespan is short, and this makes them more desperate than most. They rejected the power of Magic long, long ago, choosing instead the path of science. They have always been an expansionist species and they soon spread their corruption into the Great Plain and east into Hardor.

Finally, this world hosts Orcs. These creatures, as has been well recorded elsewhere, are warriors--efficient fighting machines who live and die by sword and statecraft, craving power and glory. An Orc runs from battle when it calculates that the odds are against it.

So, the world was divided among the races. The Elves ruled the forests, the Dwarves held the underworld, Men ploughed the plains and the Orcs held sway over the wastes and mountains. The Age of Conflict begins.

After many years of interracial conflict had devastated the land and its inhabitants, the Watcher came and settled in Aran's Tower. From warring and poverty, all four races have slowly declined, their economies and towns crumbling in unison. Once there were great cities here; now there are villages and settlements. Once there were huge nations; now there are dwindling rows of stragglers. Once there were empires; now there are memories.

No one knows from where the Watcher came. Or why. Perhaps he was an emissary from the Lords of Creation-- a restorer of balance. He has withdrawn the gift of Magic--wizards have no power, and the only sorcery in the land emanates from artifacts fashioned before he arrived. It is a time for union: to this end, he has cast a spell of apathy upon the four kings, and spoken this prophecy:

    "Where there is chaos, there will be order;
    where discord, harmony will flourish. From
    the south will come a hero to conquer the land
    and unite the crowns. Where there were
    fragments, there will be a whole. Then will a
    new age begin."

The land awaits its hero.

--From the Genesis Battlemaster instruction manual.