Chronicles of Valdoria

The elder gods had tried strength, cunning and mighty magic. None had brought an enduring peace. At last they conceived a new champion: not a perfect being without doubt, but one who would understand what it meant to stand between those who needed help and those who wished to harm them.

They named him Banor. He was courageous, burdened with responsibility and aware that courage without compassion could become another face of tyranny. Beside him came humankind, a people neither as mighty as dragons nor as long-lived as the ancient powers, yet gifted with the ability to learn and change.

The early humans found a scarred world. Their first shelters stood near the remains of forgotten civilisations. Beyond the firelight waited monsters, wandering dead and enemies who thought the newcomers easy prey. Survival required more than bravery: it demanded farms, walls, companions and promises that would be kept after battle.

Banor led his people against the servants of Urgith. Under his banner, scattered families learned to fight as one, heal their wounded and protect those who could not lift a weapon. Victory was not swift. Whole seasons were measured in the distance between one safe camp and the next.

The traditions of humankind tell of a terrible darkness rising against them and of the gods guarding powers too dangerous to leave in mortal hands. Whether all those tales are true, the oldest chroniclers agree on this: Banor never offered his people an easy future. He offered them a chance to build one.

Settlements became towns; watchfires became towers. The names of the dead were carved upon stones rather than forgotten beneath them. People began to trade, argue, sing, study and tell stories for reasons other than warning one another of danger.

Even then, the struggle was unfinished. The ancient foes were wounded rather than defeated, and mankind remained too few to hold every pass and coast. Banor looked upon the growing cities with pride, but he also understood their greatest weakness: a brave people can still be overwhelmed when there are not enough of them.