"It is imperative that the Catalyst be acquired and converted to our cause, or failing that, eliminated entirely." - Mossar Khal, High Inquisitor of the Stone Prophecy Dynasty
Among the planets in the Orion constellation a highly advanced race of beings rebelled against their maker and fled the punishment that they believed was coming. During their long exile, they flourished, and devised technology which was powered by the magnetic field of their newfound home world. It was also discovered that individuals of a specific range of attunements could receive, focus, and direct this energy. Before long it powered every aspect of their technology. In some worlds, this power was called magic.
As the eons passed, they depleted their world's source of magic, and they looked to other worlds. They found one in a remote corner of a small galaxy. At a great cost of their world's remaining power, they built an hyperspace portal to that other world, and transported a small contingent of their people to that new world. After some failed attempts, they established a colony and began construction of a device whereby they could draw that world's magic for transmission to their own world.
When the inhabitants of the Pellorean continent witnessed the arrival of this strange new race, they called them the Stone Prophets because of the great wonders they built from the very living rock of the earth, and because it was said that they possessed a system of mathematics whereby they could make accurate predictions of future events. The keepers of the great forest of Melloren, an ancient race of elves, viewed the Stone Prophets with distrust.
The Stone Prophets established embassies throughout continent, and the Men of the East eagerly sought to learn their crafts. A few centuries after their arrival, the entire continent erupted in a devastating conflict now known as the Desolation. The elven kingdoms were decimated, and even among the dragons only a relative few survived, for among the wonders built by the Stone Prophets were living machines of war. The machines were called foebreakers, and they caused great destruction throughout the land. The events of those tragic times did not all pass into legend, for the wounds left behind by war and hatred remain fresh, poisoned continually by unwavering malice.
On the brink of a complete victory over the elven kingdoms, the Stone Prophets suddenly vanished from the world. Their great embassies of stone fell into ruin, but their great capital in the jungles of Arrenor stands to this day. According to legend, deep within that ancient city is a relic of untold power which the Stone Prophets left behind to limit the use of magic for all time. It was, in fact, the Stone Prophets’ means of harvesting magic for their own world, and its effects were soon felt throughout the land. As the centuries passed it came to be known as the Fetters of Wizardry.
The elven kingdoms were now in ruins. Seeing the opportunity for conquest, the Harkad Empire sent its armies across the mountains to invade the great forest of Melloren. Centuries of murder, pillage and enslavement ensued, and gave rise to the rechaizo, half-elven children of the enslaved, dispossessed and impoverished, while the population of the elves dwindled to a mere remnant. Much of the eastern forest was hewed down, and several minor kingdoms arose in the Borderlands.
Though the Stone Prophets had seemingly vanished, they continued to exert their influence on the world. They left behind a number of their own to manipulate events to the advantage of their enterprise. They elves soon detected their presence, and called them tomach’nar, which is to say, demon kings. With the passage of time, the tomach'nar aged, but did not die. Instead, they withered and faded until all that remained was their spirit, twisted and misshapen by the cruelty of their deeds. The elves regard them as demons, and often seek to destroy them when possible, but those who practice the darker arts revere them as gods.
It was unknown to the Stone Prophets that the planet they had so callously exploited had been also determined to serve as the place in which they would at last be judged for their crimes, and that their endless machinations only hastened that judgment. Thus in all this the Tomach'nar never forsook their ancient purpose, nor did they forget the predictions made through their mathematics. Among these predictions was that three distinct individuals of great power would be born. The first of these they called the Exponent, an individual who would one day break the outer casing of Fetters, and whose attunement would be such that it would increase the efficiency of the device, creating a permanent supply of power while no longer harming the planet.
The second individual they named the Balance, whose attunement would ensure that the Exponent's power could be controlled. Similarly, among the elves there is a prophecy of someone known as the Balance, of whom it is said that he will one day restore all things. This, as you may suspect, is not a coincidence.
The third individual they referred to as the Catalyst. The Catalyst’s decisions, it was surmised, could have lasting, even historical significant consequences. It was the intent of the Stone Prophets that all three individuals would be controlled by the tomach'nar. This is the tale of what happened when the Catalyst, whom they thought they would so easily control, unknowingly eluded their grasp.
