A warm fragrant breeze blows through the central palace garden causing the old sorsian’s beard to play like a puppet over a large leather bound book in his lap. With a flick of his finger the unwilling beard quickly forms itself into a long uniform braid, causing a low gasp from behind an organgian bush to the right of the old mage.

The young boys look at each other with wide eyes ready to run but not wanting to be the first to vacate their hiding spot. “Throw it!” one of the boys says to another. With a good bit of hesitation the boy lofts the large orange fruit towards the old man as the others peer out to watch the results.

In midair the fruit burst into pieces revealing a blue dove which flutters down landing on the sorcian’s shoulder as the bush sheltering the boys vanishes. With yelps, the lads run for the path leading out of the garden in confused flight. All vanish but one. Remaining fixed where the bush once was, a small boy watches the old man whose gaze has not lifted from the pages of his book.

Everyone knows the old sorcian must be crazy. Even the elder order keeps their distance. All except the sorcian king Fallon Siveon who seems to honor the old mage’s advise, to the disgust of his court advisors, above all else. It is said that he is as old as any being on Tridoria, even as old as the ancient dragon like Derigons of Mt. Nemeton. The young sorcian squires find him amusing and revel in daring one another to play pranks on the old man, which are always countered with a prank of his own to send the culprits fleeing.

But this time one has stayed. “What do you want boy?” the old man’s voice booms as he keeps his focus on his studies. “Speak up I say or be off with you and your pranks, surely there is somewhere else on this great floating city that you would rather be than in the company of an old man.”

Timidly the young boy stands and addresses the sorcian. “I am told you have great knowledge of this world we live and I wish to learn its history.” “You are a squire of the sorcian order”, replies the old man, “surely your elder teachers have enough knowledge to wet your appetite”. “They teach of our sorsian and magen history, accomplishments and traditions but only speak intermittently of the races and world beyond our lands” answers the boy. “That sounds like those narrow visioned fools, concerned only with that which is five paces beyond their noses”, gruffs the old man.

Finally raising his eyes to meet the boy the old sorcian holds him in his gaze for what seems an eternity before speaking. “Well come over here boy and I will tell you the history of this great world we live within so that you may pass along what you learn to others of your generation. For what I am about to tell you should never be forgotten or we might find ourselves repeating the same mistakes of our forefathers.” With that the boy whose nerves have settled somewhat walks slowly forward and sits before the old sorcian.

“Tridoria,” began the old man, “is a very old and mystical world. In the beginning when Tridoria was young and civilization had just begun a powerful ancient stone was discovered in the depths of an underground lake called Llynbala. This lake, believed to be the origin of all life, was located in a lush oasis in the center of the great desert continent of Sandros. The ancient Tridorians built their first city around Llynbala and erected a great temple above the lake to house the Ancient Stone after it was discovered.

Not long after the stone was placed in the newly built temple, Tridoria experienced a total eclipse of its three moons. During the eclipse there was great unrest in the sky, land and sea and the ancient stone fractured into three separate parts. Each new stone bore the symbol of one of the dominant elements of Tridoria: air, earth and water. This division of the great stone was the first sign of Tridoria’s transformation into a world of three distinct realms with each stone embodying the power and essence of the realm it represented.

The three stones were watched over by the monks of the temple of Tridoria for many centuries while the newly formed realms evolved. Over time the three realms grew more independent from one another flourishing as their races and territories became developed and civilized. But with this growth and independence came greed and arrogance. With a mounting lust for power each domain began to strive for dominance over the other. It was not long before the three realms could no longer bear their stones of power being kept together in the Temple or Tridoria were they might fall into one of the hands of their adversary. So after hundreds of years of the stones being watched over by the Tridorian Monks they were finally separated, each stone being taken away by the races of its realm to be hidden under the watchful eyes of its leaders.

With this final act of separation the relations between the three regions diminished. Admits rising border disputes and increasing hostilities, conflict seemed inevitable and the Great Realm Wars began.

For many years the wars raged on with no end in site until something dark and forgotten began to move unknowingly into the land. Taking advantage of the ongoing wars, the territory of Tierenous, a dark province of Tridoria that vowed no allegiance to any of the three realms, seized the opportunity to make its own move for dominance. This dark land of evil races and fowl creatures had always existed on Tridoria. Tierenous was a place that most inhabitants of the three realms did not venture. But while little attention was given to its inter happenings the three realms had always monitored its borders and made sure its races stayed contained within its dark lands. Now with the three realms immersed in their wars with one another, the legions of Tierenous under the leadership of the dark magen queen Savora began to creep out of their boundaries, threatening to cover the world in darkness.

The realm of Celdor was the first to fall. With precision and speed the realm stone of the sea was captured and its inhabitants placed into submission. Next the realm stone of Heilis was taken and the races of the sky fell to their knees. The armies of Tierrenous now set their eyes on their final conquest, the realm of Torren. Once the third and final realm stone of the land was captured the dark armies would have complete control over Tridoria and the kingdoms of Tierrenous would rule the world.

One by one the kingdoms of Torren fell until only the great city of Eldenkline remained. During the time when the realm stones had been removed from the Temple of Tridoria, the realm stone of Torren was taken to the great city of Eldenkline to ensure its safety. Now that the armies of Tierrenous were pressing in on the great city, Sir Serrig Gelderwin, a powerful knight and son of the king of Eldenkline, was given the task of protecting and keeping the stone safe.

As the walls of Eldenkline began to crumble under the weight of the dark armies, Sir Gelderwin and three of his most trusted knights escaped to the surrounding hills with the stone of Torren. With heavy hearts they turned away from the great city as the last of its defenses collapsed. In secrecy they began traveling towards the only place left were the final stand to protect the realm stone of Torren could take place. During his travel Sir Gelderwin dispatched two of his knights to each of the fallen realms to ask that those leaders willing to fight meet him at the Temple of Tridoria.

When Sir Gelderwin arrived at the Temple many surviving leaders of the three realms greeted him and were eager to hear his plan. A final pact was forged between the once warring domains to stand together and face the armies of Tierenous. In the ensuing battle the united realms fought by air and land within the great desert while by sea the realm of Celdor attacked the dark army’s reinforcements from behind. The armies of Tierenous were defeated and the stolen realm stones returned. What was left of the dark armies retreated back within the borders of Tierenous.

With the defeat of the armies of Tierenous and the end of the Great Realm wars, Sir Gelderwin was hailed as a hero by the three realms. Because of his gallantry, bravery and popularity throughout Tridoria, Sir Gelderwin was asked to become the first guardian of the realm stones. He was given many powers by the three realms including immortality. It was decided by all to place the three realm stones back in the care of the monks of Tridoria under the watchful eye of Sir Gelderwin.

Within the few years that the stones were kept at the Temple of Tridoria, several failed attempts were made by loyal subjects of Queen Savora to steel the realm stones. It was seen as to dangerous to keep the stones together and they were once again given back to the three domains to be hidden away. The realm stone of Torren was the only stone to remain under the guard of the Temple of Tridoria since the great city of Eldenkline had been destroyed during the wars.

To this day the races cultures and cities of the three realms have grown and evolved into wondrous places. There are still those whom wage war on one another and while trading between the realms is prosperous there are still many border disputes. But while remaining very independent from one another the realms have always remained united in one respect and that has been to not let Tierenous ever gain the power it once had over the world of Tridoria.”

The old sorcian took a deep breath and gazed out over the many distant silvery cities floating in the multicolored evening sky. “But what of the great Sir Gelderwin? Does he still watch over the realm stones? What about the dark magen queen Savora and her legions of Tierenous? What became of her?” exclaimed the young boy.

Glancing down into his wide eyes the old man could not help smiling at the boy’s youthful and eager nature. It reminded him of himself so long ago.

“Those are subjects for another time. It is getting late and your parents will worry soon if you are not home”, spoke the old man. Slowly getting up the boy wrinkles his brow in mild frustration and turns to walk towards the path home. “Besides that is enough rambling of an old crazy man for one day” the sorcian calls out. The boy turns and gives the old man a smile and then spinning around runs down the path out of site in the fading light.

Closing his book the old sorcian leans back against the ancient agrin tree whose roots have supported his old bones for many years and chuckles to himself as the last of the light fades away and the crickets begin to fill the evening air with their hypnotic tones.