The Storyteller begins...

SECTION 1: Preamble.

About a century ago, a mage named Gilmor made a great discovery. Gilmor lived in the old homeworld, called Drakmark, after its principal empire. Some of the allied kingdoms surrounding Drakmark were Thorander, Larsander and Donnerheim. Ones associated with particular species were: Kelonde (Humans), Harad-Ram (the country of the Dwarves, essentially almost all a massive mountain range) and Carandor (the Elven nation).

SECTION 2: The Old Storyteller’s first story.

An accounting of a story of the exodus from Drakmark, told by the old storyteller whom some call Fjäril:

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The storyteller looks at his young audience. For once, they are still and listening to his words. He draws breath to tell them of the background of this beautiful world.

"Right. Glorwing is a young world, you know. It was discovered about a hundred years ago by a young mage, called Gilmor. The mage was trying to make a love-spell when he accidentally created a rift in the fabric of space and time. This might teach you all something about not messing with love-spells.

Anyway, Gilmor reported this to the proper authorities. After the initial confusion, it was decided to send an expedition to explore this new world. The expedition was diplomatically selected from all the peoples of the kingdom: Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Half-Orcs and Humans. Even a Gnome or two joined.

Alas, as soon as the expedition entered the rift, it closed. Despite desperate attempts to open the rift again, nothing worked. The rift seems to be closed forever. After a time of great despair and sadness, the expedition accepted their sorry fate with surprisingly good grace and began to explore the lands of Glorwing.

After a while the portals were found. None knows who made these, but they allow us to travel swiftly across the lands. The portals all lead to the same place, called the Standing Stones. The Standing Stones is a strange place, anchored somewhere else in time and space. No one has managed to solve the riddle of the portals and the Standing Stones, despite years of trying. Perhaps one of you youngsters will be the one to solve this mystery?

Now, a hundred years have passed. This great Capitol, the city of Port Sunrise stands proudly as a testament to the initiative, drive and skill, which we all possess. Different families have settled in several places, building villages like Crescent Bay, Eagle's Nest and all the others.

But still, much remains to be explored. So go forth, my young ones, go forth unto this world and explore! But, be careful, there are strange beings afoot. Not all of them are friendly. *ahem* Actually, none of them are friendly, as a matter of fact."

The old storyteller falls silent.

SECTION 3: Arrival, the Stones, spread.

When the new immigrants arrived, they were somewhat to the south of present Port Sunrise, and made their way, camping, in that direction. The city site was chosen for a variety of reasons: natural resources, the harbour—and the Portal Stone. At that time, it was obviously magically-potent, but not functional. However, when the Rift closed, the Portal became usable—obviously, there had been some magical interference from the Rift that had kept the Portal from working.

Once the first few brave souls went through the portal, the Stones were found, but the settlers cautiously decided not to investigate the other portals until they could do so from a position of strength and safety.

So, the town, later city, of Port Sunrise began to grow, and the huge amount of hard work that entailed kept the population busy for many months. During that time, the first King of what was later to be the Kingdom of Glorwing came into power: King Victor Lumens I.
It was he who decided that the Stones portals should be systematically explored from east to west. Only when a group of settlers had been at least established in a decent palisade, would the next portal be checked. That was the official plan, but it is quite possible that some enterprising, adventurous or just plain selfish individuals may have made quick jaunts through some of the portals. Since to do that was illegal, they kept it to themselves or to a friendly few, if they did.
Crescent Bay’s portal was the last traversed, although a new Portal has very recently “grown” at the Stones, much to the interest of adventurers and scholars alike.

This was the story as it was originally told. Much has happened since then.

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