Hidden in the night sky, visible only to children and those who are children at heart, lies a special star. It always hovers just on the edge of the moon, a quiet, dim sort of star that can only be seen on the clearest of nights high in the mountains, and if you blink at the wrong moment, you'll miss its subtle shimmer.
On this star live many peoples, who look into their own night sky and wonder about the tiny blue moon that peaks over the shoulder of her big silver sister. They tell stories in the meadhalls and around the campfires about the strange people who live there, people who rise silver eagles through the sky and on carriages pulled by invisible but loudly rumbling horses, who build towers into the clouds out of that most illusive and precious of metals, Cold Iron. So the elders tell the young children, who listen with delight while their older siblings and parents chuckle and shake their heads.
It is now the 497th year of the reign of the Immortal Empress Khalena Talian, who rules the Galadin Empire from the Iron Throne in the great city of Qeiniren, but all is not well. Where for nearly five centuries, the Empress has protected and expanded the Realm of Man, now her strength wanes and enemies beset the Empire on all sides. Many kingdoms have fallen to rebell, brigand, and foul beast. Just two centuries ago, the kingdom of Sulrain was overrun by the Horde of the Red Claw. Only in the last generation has Daruk Revan, Hand of the Empress, managed to reclaim much of this fallen realm, building the city of Reven's Gate atop the ruins of fabled Kisariel. This city, called Raven's Gate by many, has become a haven for not only the adventurous, but the outcast, the desperate, and the rebel.
You have recently arrived in Raven's Gate seeking adventure. You are perhaps a Man of Galadan, or an Elf from Revelhall, a Dwarf from the Solace Mountains, or a Halfling of the valley, a Warrior, a Mage, a Cleric, or a footloose Rogue, seeking your fortune in the dangerous, unclaimed wilds beyond Raven's Gate. The way is dangerous, the road hard, but the lure of fame and riches calls you onward into a world of myth and Faerie, of the clash between Law and Chaos.
This is the world of Asryth.
