Andrian
2015-01-16, 08:33 PM
I've had an idea for awhile that it would be interesting to see how a fantasy setting like those found in DnD would progress technologically to the point of reaching something like a Star Trek-esque level of space travel. I tried this awhile ago, but I felt like my attempt was rather ham-fisted and childish, starting with an end product and working backward. This time, I want to do it right. As I am most familiar with Pathfinder, any references to spells and the like that I make will come from there, though this discussion would really work with any DnD or similar setting.
Here is the goal: To create a rough but plausible history that takes a relatively generic fantasy world, including the usual mix of races, classes, and magic, all the way to the point where faster-than-light interstellar travel is a regular occurrence.
Here are some guidelines:
Magic and technology should be integrated somehow. This could be accomplished through advances in magic, allowing more and more complicated enchantments to accomplish the same tasks as technology normally would in a sci-fi setting, or it could be accomplished with a primarily standard progression of technology, with magic helping to fill in some of the gaps where technology is insufficient. The former works better if electronics and magic don't play well together, and thus magical machines can only be complex mechanisms with heavy enchantments. This would allow for a split between technological and magical lines of thinking, possibly leading to conflict and interference. The latter works better if electronics and magic do not interfere with each other, and would allow for a simpler, more standardized play experience for an adventuring party (the technologist's gadgetry won't mess up the wizard's ability to cast spells and vice versa).
The technology and culture should flow naturally from the history. So, we're starting with a medieval fantasy realm full of elves, goblins, dragons, and possibly even demons. How would such a world progress over millennia? Would advances in magic and technology be driven by war when there's pressure to outdo the other side, or only arise in times of peace when there's time to explore freely without the social and economic strains of conflict? Obviously, it will be some of both, since advances in mobility and communication occur under both conditions, while advances in weaponry and defense generally require at least the threat of conflict to motivate them. We also should consider the fact that not all races are created equal. Some are more intelligent or creative, some are more attuned to the arcane or the divine, and many of them have lifespans that differ widely from that of humans. These factors will all influence who develops which technologies and magics. Long-lived races can study and become unsurpassable experts in certain fields, and with their prolonged youth, could probably accomplish a great deal more in their lifetimes than we are accustomed to. On the other hand, these long-livers might create a strong cultural inertia, being uncomfortable with having too much change too fast, and thus refuse to contribute to the rise of new ideas. Also consider whether certain races would be able to compete in the long run with the others. Which would be able to adapt to the changing environment best?
The world must be reasonable, given its starting conditions. If, in this world, elves are immortal, or at the very least live for thousands of years, then their reproductive rate will be highly important to their survival as a species. If they reproduce at roughly the same rate as humans, but remain fertile for much longer periods of time, as is usually the case in fantasy worlds, elves will rapidly become the dominant race, at least numerically, and will probably out-compete humans and other races for territory and resources. If, on the other hand, their reproductive rate is so slow that this does not happen, then a single war or disease would leave a wound that would be difficult to recover from. The same is true of all the sentient races. If they are going to survive, they have to be able to reproductively compete with all the other living races or go extinct. Also, unless there are cultural taboos or nearly insurmountable geographical separation, any races capable of interbreeding will begin to homogenize. It starts with half-elves and half-orcs, and it never stops. You'll end up with quarter orcs and 7/16th elves. Eventually, you'll end up with a single race that shares all the same basic characteristics, with only minor differences. In a world where only those three races can interbreed, eventually there will be a race of pointy-eared, green-brown skinned versatile humanoids with talents for the arcane and an inborn savagery.
Technology will not follow the same path it did in our world. Your standard fantasy world already has a lot of things we in the modern age still lack. Teleportation, hoverboards, smart matter, and sentient machines are often part of a medieval fantasy universe. Imagine how the world would progress given this fact. Wands of Dimension Door or Overland Flight might replace cars, boats, and planes as means of daily transportation. Mending would enable useful or precious items to last for centuries and eliminate repair shops. Use Magic Device would probably become as common a skill as using a computer. Magic items would be in high demand, and people would save up to get them. In other words, your standard fantasy world would not remain medieval for very long. It's already in the Renaissance, and all it would take is some enterprising businesspeople to turn a medieval fantasy world into something that more closely resembles the modern day, just by making better use of the resources already available. Seriously, just look at the lists of cantrips, orisons and 1st-level spells, and you'll see what I mean.
So, taking all these things into account, I'm going to try taking my first stab at this, and see what you guys think. I welcome any constructive suggestions, critiques, or comments.
Starting Conditions:
Major Races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Halflings, Gnomes. All have similar lifespans and reproductive cycles. Though they can interbreed, their offspring are infertile hybrids, thus keeping the races separate. The only exception are the Gnomes and Halflings, who can produce viable offspring.
Magic and Technology: Integrate Smoothly
Rough History:
The Age of Meetings
The world began with the races being largely separate in their ancestral territories. Over time, they expanded and began to encounter members of the other races.
The humans broke apart into many factions, opposing each other at every turn, and were eventually absorbed by the other nations, either through peaceful integration or conquest.
The orcs and goblins found in each other kindred spirits, and formed alliances which eventually resulted in the cunning goblins taking over the major economic and political administrative positions, and the more brutish, powerful orcs becoming a class of warriors and laborers. They are not well-liked by the other races and often find themselves at war with them.
The elves are insular, trying to keep to themselves as much as possible, sticking to their long-standing traditions and way of life as long as they can.
The dwarves welcome a large number of humans, and the two races integrate almost immediately. The dwarven nations have the highest concentration of humans, and become an industrial powerhouse, especially when it comes to weapons and armaments. They form alliances with the gnomish nation, though there is a friendly rivalry between them to develop better technology.
Early on, the halflings find themselves caught between a nation of humans and the orc-goblin conglomerate which are at war. The peaceful halflings wish to remain neutral in the conflict, but neither side is happy with this, and they lay waste to the halflings, and the survivors flee. The gnomes offer them asylum, and the two races of short people intermingle, eventually becoming indistinguishable from each other, and come to be known simply as gnomes.
The gnomish nation joined in alliance with the dwarves to serve as a deterrent against being drawn into the war between the humans and orcs, and a trade of technology begins so that both nations can bolster their defenses. Gunpowder is discovered independently by both gnomes and dwarves at roughly the same time.
The elves still have the most advanced magic, and when they eventually come into conflict with the dwarves, their arcane abilities prove to be formidable. Though the gnomes would be amenable to learning from the elves, their alliance with the dwarves prevents this. The elves are at first receptive to the nearby factions of humans, with whom they share some of their arcane secrets, but are then appalled with the flippant way the humans use their new abilities. The elves and humans go to war, and the humans are conquered.
With all human factions successfully neutralized, a relative peace formed, with only occasional border skirmishes between the elves, the orc/goblin nation, and the dwarf/gnome alliance. During this time, the orcs and goblins begin researching magic and technology, often sending in spies to steal information from the other nations.
The Rise of the Drow
With their common enemies pretty much at bay, relations between the dwarves and gnomes deteriorate somewhat. Though still trade partners and allies, they no longer freely exchange information, and a major rivalry between the two begins, as each tries to outdo the other. The dwarves begin to integrate divine magic into their craftsmanship and focus primarily on developing heavy armaments and defenses. Holy cannons become a standard part of dwarven defenses. The gnomes focus more on personal armaments, developing the first personal firearms. More talented with arcane magic than the dwarves, they begin to develop many new useful, yet mundane items.
The elves, meanwhile, overconfident from their success in rebuffing the dwarves and conquering the humans, become rather complacent, and are unconcerned when they learn that the other factions are developing new toys and dabbling in powers they know little of. Instead, they begin to focus on developing great architecture, often integrating arcane magic into the designs, producing some of the most beautiful and impressive buildings in the world. The humans they have captured are dispersed throughout the realm and are treated as second-class citizens.
Suddenly, disaster strikes when a powerful human necromancer arises amidst the ranks of the dwarves and threatens to bury all four nations under hordes of undead. The dwarves lose several key cities and their ability to communicate with the gnomes is severely hampered. Though their weaponry is particularly effective against the undead, it is not enough to make up for the unexpected assault. The gnomes manage to mount a fairly successful defense, but are tied down and are unable to launch a counter-offensive to save the dwarves. Desperate, the dwarves turn to the elves for help, but are rebuffed. This further widens the gap between the two races. Fortunately, the necromancer grew overconfident, and began to attack the orc/goblin civilization. This proved to be a fatal mistake, and the orcs came down on the undead hordes like a hammer. This took the pressure off the dwarves and the gnomes, who managed to push back, and the necromancer was eventually defeated.
Following this, the dwarves and gnomes offered friendship to the orcs and goblins. The orcs accepted, but only on the condition that any originally dwarf or gnome territory that they had taken in the war would remain under their control. This further infuriated many of the elves, who felt that friendship with the orcs and goblins was vile and wicked. The dwarves replied that the orcs had proven to be better friends than the elves, and there the matter stood.
The elves began to have their own troubles, however. A plague begins to affect them, which cannot be cured either by arcane or divine magic. Half of those affected die, and those that survive are very different. Their skin begins to darken, and their hair turns a pale silver. More than this, they seem to be overcome with a savage bloodlust. Those affected by this blight become known as the drow. Amongst the healthy elves, many of the younger members of the society suggest turning to the other nations for help, while their elders are resistant to this idea. Eventually, a group of young elves, fed up with the establishment and afraid of contracting the plague, leave the elven nation and seek asylum with the dwarves. The dwarves refuse, still sore over the injustice they suffered when under assault by the undead. The fugitives set sail for new lands, and are not seen or heard from again for over a century. The elves that stay are unable to stand up to the drow plague, and those that do not die in the plague or turn to drow themselves are slain by their tainted brothers.
The plague does not affect the other races, and so the humans of the elf kingdom decide to take this opportunity to try to break free of their elven oppression. It is a bad decision, and the drow show no mercy, easily overpowering the rebels and then torturing them to death.
The drow plague is very alarming to the other three nations, and they immediately mobilize for war. The goblins acquire gunpowder from the gnomes and invent rocketry and enchanted warheads. The dwarves and gnomes co-discover long-distance magical communication, which they employ first as a means of battlefield and strategic coordination. The orcs and goblins engage the drow, feeling that the best defense is a good offense, but they find the drow to be an incredibly tough nut to crack, despite their reduced numbers and the human uprising. The plague seems to have magnified their arcane powers, and the drow hold their own. The dwarves and gnomes decide to join the orcs, yet still the drow manage to hold them back. Eventually, the other nations have to settle for containing the drow within their borders, because the casualties from direct assaults are unsustainable.
The drow, unfettered by the traditionalism they once held so dear, now begin an arms race with the surrounding nations, developing arcane weapons of incredible power and stripping their lands of natural resources unsustainably. The gnomes invent airships and submarine warships. The dwarves develop heavy, armored mobile artillery capable of delivering either wide-area magical effects or devastating barrages of explosive power and able to resist many attacks, both physical and magical. The goblins begin to integrate technology and magic into battle armor, allowing the orc hordes to close with the drow mages. They also modified the gnomish idea of personal firearms and adapted it to personal artillery, outfitting their soldiers with spell-boosted rocket launchers and early automatic weapons.
Eventually, an uneasy truce began, with the orcs and dwarves maintaining a strong military presence at the border, and the drow responding in kind. Under their influence, the once beautiful elven lands became twisted and blackened with dark magic. The progress of the other three nations began to take its toll on the land, as well. Though many spells existed to help mitigate these effects, eventually, small amounts of pollution began to add up, and the natural resources began to dwindle. The orcs and goblins were most destructive, clear-cutting forests and not using the same magical safeguards and cleaning techniques as the dwarves and gnomes.
The Age of Strife and the Return of the Elves
After several decades of relative stasis, with each nation making new developments in weapons, armor, communication, and transportation, something changed to upset the balance of power. A human ascended to the throne of the dwarf nation. He believed that the only way to progress was to expand - not into the territories of the other nations, but out into the unexplored areas beyond the main continent. He sent small fleets of airships in several directions, searching for new lands to colonize. One of these expeditions came back, having discovered a new land. Though the dwarves tried to keep their discovery secret, a race to colonize the new continent began, but this also led to a three-way war between the dwarves and gnomes, the drow, and the orcs/goblins. Each faction wanted to keep the others from colonizing, and so many sea and air battles ensued. Leaving for the newly discovered world became extremely dangerous, and soon no civilians wanted to even try it. Only the bravest of adventurers, eager for gold and glory, would attempt it, and many of them died. Still, others prevailed, returning home with stories of grand adventures and valuable natural resources.
Another technology race began for some way of getting past enemy patrols unseen. This resulted in a series of better and better invisibility and camouflage devices, all of which were being countered by better and better detection methods. The drow eventually came out on top, developing a meld of magic and technology that could render large objects entirely invisible to all means of detection, both magical and technological, and soon the drow held a strong foothold on the new continent.
The gnomes took a different approach to the problem, and began a secret project nicknamed Eagle. The project appropriated some of the greatest minds from throughout the dwarven and gnomish nations, enticed by the promise of groundbreaking research and universal acclaim. Only the highest levels of the gnomish and dwarven governments were aware of the project, which took place in a massive underground bunker warded from divination and using the best stealth technology. Security was extremely tight, and hundreds of people practically vanished for the duration of the project.
Despite the best efforts of the orcs/goblins and drow to discover what Project Eagle was, the dwarves and gnomes were able to successfully guard their secret for 6 years before somehow word began to get out. Project Eagle was an attempt to build a mass teleportation device, capable of transporting entire armies across great distances.
This immediately led to an all-out war, with both the orc/goblin nation and the drow attempting to gain possession of the research. The orc armies began a march to the sea, splitting the gnomes and the dwarves. The dwarves found themselves surrounded and cut off from their more tech-savvy allies. Meanwhile, the gnomes were trapped between the orcs and the sea, separated from the military powerhouse that had protected them for so long. They both would surely have been defeated, were it not for the conjunction of two fortunate events.
The first of these events was political strife within the drow nation, particularly between the colonies and the mainland. A civil war broke out, dividing the drow and diverting attention and resources away from the main war. This allowed the dwarves to launch a counter-offensive into drow territory. The mainland drow government collapsed under this attack from both within and without, and they were banished from the main continent.
The second event, which occurred just as the drow civil war began, was the return of the elves. They had discovered an archipelago of fertile, tropical islands, and had flourished during their time apart from the mainland. Their seers had predicted the war, and a fleet of elven ships arrived on the gnomish coast, offering an alliance in exchange for technology and favorable trading agreements. The gnomes accepted without hesitation, and with the assistance of the elves were able to fight back against the orc hordes, pushing them back beyond their previous borders and reclaiming their overland connection to the dwarves. The orcs, who up to this point had never lost any large amount of territory in a war, were taken off-guard by the assault, and their goblin leaders began to sue for peace. Though this infuriated many of the high-ranking orc generals, the decision had the support of the populace, and a treaty was signed.
The Age of Peace
During their absence, elven research had been far more focused on the arcane arts, and more on technology useful during peace. They had faced starvation and crowding during the past century, and so they had developed new methods of agriculture - spells for improving soil, enchantments for farming tools to speed up labor, potions for speeding the growth an improving the nutritive value of food, and many other useful advances. Elven cuisine became famous throughout the world. Their art and fashion were also much sought-after, especially with access to the furs of previously unknown creatures and the discovery of new fragrant spices. The elves also had access to a special silk which could only be farmed on their archipelago, which was lighter, stronger, and more comfortable than the giant spider silk used on the mainland.
With the drow far away and uninterested with affairs on the continent for the time being and a relative peace elsewhere throughout the world, an age of trade and exploration began. A new small continent was discovered by the elves, and they and their allies successfully established colonies. Their relations with the dwarves had improved significantly. Time had healed many of the old wounds, and the elven assistance during a key point in the war did much to establish a friendship between the two races.
The goblins and orcs began to suffer heavily during this period. The prolonged period of warfare, capped off by a disheartening defeat and a loss of territory, resulted in an economic crash which caused famine and hard times. Though the warlike creatures had never been on friendly terms with the other races, they now developed a hatred for them. It was this hatred more than anything that kept the nation from collapsing into anarchy.
Strife did begin to build, however, between the orcs and the goblins. The orcs blamed their defeat on the goblin-run government, and demanded that they step down in favor of a new, charismatic orc leader. A large number of goblins decided they would try to regain their honor through innovation, and began a secret project of their own, named Project Gearhead. Though this project sucked up a lot of the already scarce resources, it was kept a secret even from the government, and was run entirely by a society of goblin researchers, who became more and more secretive as time went on.
The period of trade and friendship between the elves, gnomes, and dwarves, however, produced a period of economic prosperity and innovation. The elves were quick to adopt the gnomish technology, and began to add their own improvements. There was also a lot of immigration between the countries, and it was not long before the populations of the three nations began to be harder and harder to distinguish
The elves were the first to combine wand and firearm technologies to produce the arcane gun, which was more efficient than the old methods of enchanting either weapons or ammunition individually. They developed an interface whereby even those untrained in the use of magic devices could plug a wand into the weapon and the ammunition would automatically be enchanted with various effects, depending upon the wands used. This made weapon enchantments significantly less expensive. The dwarves paid a handsome sum for the secret of this technology, and immediately adapted it for use with melee weapons, armor, shields, and heavy artillery.
The addition of elves to Project Eagle was a godsend, and soon the project was complete. The device they built was the size of a building, immensely complicated, prone to malfunctions, was a huge drain of both arcane and electrical power, and could only function for ten minutes once a day, but it worked. As a public demonstration, the team opened a portal to transport three hundred immigrants to one of the colonies. They arrived in perfect condition less than 50 feet from the designated location.
The Long War
When word of this success reached the orcs, they began to fear an invasion. If the already powerful gnomes, dwarves, and elves had the ability to transport so many troops across such a far distance without warning, it could spell doom for them. In desperation, they sent an envoy to the drow, bearing news of Project Eagle's success and requesting aid in an attempt to sabotage the project and steal the technology. The drow agreed, and a stealth team was sent to destroy the teleporter, which was located in the gnomish capital. Their mission was to permanently disable the device and either steal or destroy the plans. The drow stealth technology allowed a team of mixed orc, goblin, and drow to drop in entirely by surprise, overwhelming the security and planting explosives around the device before any alarm was raised. They had more trouble when it came to the plans, however. Once the alarm was raised, an entire military base descended upon the covert team, and escaping with the plans seemed a nearly impossible task. The drow attempted to double-cross the orcs and goblins, leaving them to hold back the enemy while they escaped, but the orcs had predicted this eventuality and strapped themselves with arcane explosives, which they detonated, killing the orcs, the drow, and a large number of the defenders that had tried to stop them. The explosive charges on the teleporter itself caused massive destruction, leaving a crater and sending huge chunks of debris flying, setting fires and causing numerous casualties. This incident became known as Flash Night, since what most civilians nearby saw were bright flashes that awoke them from their sleep.
In the wake of the Flash Night tragedy, the gnomes, dwarves, and elves declared all-out war on the orcs and drow. The three began to call themselves the Shining Alliance, a name which rallied the people and raised morale. The general battle strategy was to neutralize the orcs first, since they were the easiest to hit, then turn attention toward the drow. This plan suited the drow nicely, and their invisible airships dropped bombs on all the major dwarven, elven, and gnomish cities. Despite the massive destruction this caused, especially to the gnomes and elves, whose above-ground architecture was especially vulnerable to bombing, the Alliance launched a devastating offensive against the orcs.
It was at this time that the goblins unveiled Phase 1 of Project Gearhead - a new type of mechanized battle suit which provided superior protection, especially against magic, and would increase the strength, speed, and agility of the wearer significantly. The suits were also equipped with rockets that could provide a short boost in mobility during magically-assisted aerial combat, which was by now a standard battle tactic used by all sides. The new battle suits proved to be effective, and the Shining Alliance advance stalled.
The drow, preferring to wait for the Alliance to come to them, refused to send troops to aid the orcs. Still, their bombing raids were becoming a major problem to the Alliance, and efforts were made to find some way to punch through the drow stealth technology.
Project Eagle was restarted. Though several key researchers and much of the original plans had been destroyed on Flash Night, copies of much of the research still existed. The project was moved to dwarven territory, where less damage was being taken from the raids, and a new teleportation device was soon under construction.
It was the elves who finally cracked the drow stealth problem. They managed to create a new kind of highly-luminous scanning beam that would temporarily disrupt the stealth magic. Though the devices were large and used a lot of energy, they were effective in countering the bombing raids. The drow begin taking casualties from the air raids and their effectiveness is significantly reduced. Despite shooting down a number of drow ships, no one is ever able to recover a working stealth drive, as they are designed to self-destruct if they fall into enemy hands.
With the drow's stealth abilities at least partially neutralized, a new race in communications technologies begins. Information becomes key to countering any drow offensives, since the detectors cannot be run continually. At first, radio is more secure than most magical means of communication, since magical means of tapping into communications have been well-known for a long time. However, the drawbacks of radio are soon exploited. Both sides begin turning to encryption to help hide their presence. Another weakness in drow stealth technology is discovered, in that any time a stealthed ship attempts to communicate with the outside world, the location of the transmission, whether magical or technological, can be found. This forces the drow to maintain strict silence while stealthed, which makes navigating in formation and avoiding midair collisions with other stealthed ships very difficult.
In conjunction with the rise in communications technology, the gnomes begin working on building devices for storing, displaying, and transmitting information. Troubled by the events of Flash Night, they want to devise a way to ensure that the destruction of information will be nearly impossible. The computer is born. The use of enchantment allows these devices to be relatively small - about the size of a large suitcase - and they are able to transmit information wirelessly to one another from the beginning by employing enchantments.
The orcs and goblins are beginning to suffer from lack of numbers. The long war is beginning to strain their resources, and their leaders are uncertain as to how much longer they can hold out. Then Project Gearhead releases Phase 2: fully functional mass-produced automaton soldiers. Though a rushed job and prone to malfunctions, they help to make up the numbers, and the orcs actually begin to push back, regaining lost territory which they badly need in order to maintain production of these constructs.
Things begin to turn bad for the Shining Alliance when the drow unleash a new weapon: a bomb that raises undead. Drow bombing raids become truly horrific, with those killed in the attacks immediately rising again to attack their friends, family, and comrades. Infrastructure begins to break down in the wake of the devastation.
The Alliance, battered and war-weary, sues for peace. The orcs, who have suffered the most, agree. The drow kill the ambassadors sent to them and return their mutilated corpses to the Alliance. Outraged, the Shining Alliance attempts to land forces on the shores of drow territory, but they lose many ships both in the air and at sea as they run into the drow's brutal defensive networks. The tide of the battle turns when Project Eagle's second teleporter is finished, smaller, more efficient, and with a longer portal duration. Alliance forces are marched directly into the drow capital and force an immediate surrender. The terms of the surrender are steep, requiring the demilitarization of the drow nation, that a tribute be paid regularly to Alliance nations, and that they hand over their cloaking and other military technology. Anticipating that their cloaking technology would be demanded should they lose the war, the drow have orders for all cloaking devices to be destroyed, all plans to be burned, and all major scientists killed in the event that the government comes under duress. The Alliance fails to gain access to the technology, and the near-perfect cloaking device is lost.
Many high-ranking drow political and military leaders are put on trial for war crimes, found guilty, and executed. The alliance passes a resolution banning the use of the undead in warfare, and forces the drow to sign it. The orcs are approached and also agree to the resolution, despite the protests of some of their human and goblin citizens.
Reaching to the Stars
In many ways, the war devastated the entire world, and it takes almost a decade for prosperity to return. The Shining Alliance recovers most quickly, refining and duplicating their teleportation technology for domestic use. Though initially more expensive than roads, these devices soon pay dividends in reduced travel times for goods and people. The gnomes develop a communication network for transmitting stored data, further increasing their productivity. Initially, this network is reserved for only military and scientific use, but it does speed the production of new technologies and aid in the coordination of miliatary operations.
During these years, the dragons, which had nearly been hunted to extinction by this point, begin a great migration to the southern pole. A team of explorers, led by a famous human war hero from the gnomish nation, follow and document this mass exodus. They report that, under the effects of a magical aurora, the dragons had undergone a transformation and taken to the skies, flying higher than any airship could go, and disappeared into the heavens. Dragons are never seen on the planet again.
This event sparks an unprecedented interest in reaching the stars. The Shining Alliance begins to run experiments attempting to use teleportation to reach beyond the atmosphere. Though initially quite dangerous, they eventually devise a method which involves sealing the item to be transported in an airtight compartment before opening the portal. Still, most of these early unmanned experiments simply fall directly to earth as soon as they make it through the portal.
The goblins take a different approach to the problem of leaving the atmosphere. Experts in rocketry, they develop the first synthetic device to achieve orbit. Not to be outdone, the gnomes steal this technology and adapt it for use with the Project Eagle teleporter. A female gnome is the first sentient being in space, though only for fifteen minutes. Teleportation is used to retrieve her safely, and she becomes an instant celebrity.
The dwarves and elves are surprised when the gnomes refuse to share their findings regarding space travel. With their emerging data network, high-speed infrastructure, and advanced technology, the gnomes begin to grow wealthy.
The drow, despite their infrastructure remaining largely intact, are under a great economic strain due to the tribute and sudden power vacuum created by the war. A number of rebel leaders, unhappy with the leaders appointed by the Alliance, begin to raise armies, and the country descends into chaos.
The Shining Alliance, unhappy at losing the drow tribute to the civil war and concerned that the drow might end up becoming a threat should the nation fall into the wrong hands, send peacekeeping forces to stabilize the country. This results in a complicated guerrilla action in which the Alliance suffers heavy losses. Battered and demoralized, the Alliance withdraws, leaving the drow to their own devices.
The goblins soon manage to put Ora Mund, a human into space, achieving two full orbits and a safe return to earth, though just barely, as a malfunction during the landing process caused the craft to break apart. The pilot is unharmed, however, and he also becomes famous. Realizing that their space program will continue to lag behind without a data network like that of the gnomes, the goblins begin work on a high-speed data network, announcing that in two years, their network will service all of the orc/goblin territory and will be faster than the gnomish data network.
The gnomes begin to step up their own network development. Up to this point, the network has only been available to researchers and the military, but now the data network is opened up to civilians. Though businesses and consumers see the potential, adoption is slow due to high initial costs, and the it takes nearly a decade for the economy to show strong benefits from this network expansion.
The goblins open the data network to civilians early, using heavy advertising campaigns and nationalistic rhetoric to sell the idea and obtain backing. Their efforts pay off, and the goblin network expands rapidly. This bolsters the orcish economy, which continues to feed the expansion of the network. The goblins partly meet their goal. Within two years, their network does span the entire orc/goblin territory, but its performance is not quite what had been promised. Still, the government touts this as a victory, and expansion of the network continues.
Meanwhile, the space race continues in earnest. The gnomes begin a series of experiments to determine the effects of magic in space. They discover that many spells, particularly arcane spells, do not work as predicted under low-gravity conditions, and are puzzled by this.
The goblins attempt longer and longer missions, perfecting their launch and re-entry techniques. As their data network expands, they are able to coordinate more efficiently with other researchers. This ability to rapidly transmit information speeds development on their spacecraft.
The gnomes begin to run into problems. Though they do have some immigrants from other nations who are able to work on the space program, without the full force of the other nations' research teams, their progress is not as rapid as they would like. The dwarves' mastery of metallurgy and divine magic and talent for improving upon the designs of others are sorely missed, and the elves' skill with arcane magic, enchantment, and textiles would be a serious boon to the project. The goblins' success with rocketry and the fact that their information technology is rapidly catching up alarm them. They decide to bring the other Alliance nations in on the project.
The Rise of Emblem
With the rise of data networks and their introduction to the public, a new problem arises - hacking. Government infiltrators and freelancers with an eye for profit begin to cut through the security in both networks, stealing technologies. When plans for the long-range teleporter are hacked, the Alliance threatens military action on anyone who attempts to build one of the devices. The drow and the orcs pay handsome sums for the plans, and begin to build teleporters in secret. The Alliance manages to get their hands on plans for the goblin rockets, but claims it was an independent discovery when the goblins find the gnomes using a modified version of it.
Datanet security improves at an exponential rate, and soon the leaks are mostly plugged up. Still, the damage has been done, and much of the world's secret technology is no longer secret. The world seems to be teetering on the brink of another great war.
Disaster is averted, however, when a new faction begins to arise from within the Shining Alliance. A large organization of humans, under the leadership of a woman named Irina Kiasa, begin to call for international peace. Kiasa and her supporters argue that all nations would be better off with a free exchange of information, and that another war will only serve to harm everyone. This philosophy spreads rapidly, especially among the humans, who have been largely marginalized during their diaspora. This influence is strongest amongst the gnomes and the dwarves, where the human populations are highest, and has almost no effect upon the drow nation, where the few humans that live amongst them are uneducated slaves. The elves are most affected by the movement in their universities, since even though their human populations are low, many students of various races study within their borders. Many humans living with the orcs and goblins join the movement when the famous Ora Mund, the first person to orbit the planet, comes out in support of them.
Kiasa's group begins to call themselves Emblem, and they begin a campaign of sharing information across borders, believing that the technological disparities and subterfuge between the nations is the cause of war. This infuriates the governments of the nations they inhabit, and many Emblem members are imprisoned. This persecution serves only to add to the movement's momentum, and the governments soon realize their efforts to quash Emblem by force will prove futile.
A world conference is held to deal with this incident, with members of Emblem given seats, though their delegations are smaller than those from the nations. An invitation is sent to the drow leaders who had been set up by the Shining Alliance, but nothing is ever heard from them. Their seats remain empty at the conference. Though outnumbered, the Emblem diplomats are forceful and persuasive. Kiasa leads the delegation, and her opening presentation is firm, showing the strength of her resolve, while at the same time urging peace and cooperation between the nations. She sways a powerful minority of the delegates to her side, especially among the orc/goblin delegation.
As the conference continues, it becomes apparent that Kiasa and the other Emblem delegates do not intend to back down. More and more delegates are swayed to the Emblem position, and the goblin/orc delegation changes its official position and begins to support Kiasa. The Alliance members are more reluctant, not wanting to surrender much of their superior technology to an ancient enemy. The elves are most sympathetic to Kiasa's cause, and this may have had something to do with their country's distance from the orc/goblin nation.
It isn't until the orcs and goblins point out that the Alliance has nothing to gain from opposing Emblem while they support it that the tide turns. Realizing that, with Emblem on their side, the orcs and goblins would have a significant advantage in any armed conflict, the Shining Alliance delegates agree to discuss terms for an exchange of information. Though none of the nations are comfortable with a totally free exchange of ideas, they do make large concessions. Both sides agree to combine their efforts on the space program, which involves officially divulging many of their most prized secret technologies, many of which had already been compromised anyway. The elves and dwarves are also to be brought in on the project. Many wonder whether the orcs and goblins will join the Shining Alliance.
In the wake of Emblem's victory, humans throughout the world begin to feel a strong sense of racial kinship and pride. As the goblin and gnome datanets are combined, and datanet access becomes more and more common, a new human culture begins to arise organically. They begin to develop unique styles of dress and mannerisms that differ from those of their parent countries.
The quest to reach the stars accelerates rapidly. By combining the superior rocketry of the goblins with the teleportation method of reaching high altitudes, the researchers are able to achieve more stable orbits with less rocket fuel. The elves and dwarves also contribute, developing new techniques, engineering better and better equipment, refining theories, and participating in the experiments.
Arcane and divine magic theories undergo serious revamps to account for the new data they are gathering from space. This leads to the development of a unifying theory that connects arcane magic and physics. Mechanical processes can now generate arcane effects, allowing for the mechanization of enchantments. Divine magic remains mysterious and no connection to arcane magic or mundane physics can be established. However, adjustments to the theories do enable the creation of enchantments that work equally well on the ground and in space.
The Great Setback
At last, the drow civil war ends with one of the rebel leaders assuming power. With the technology for long-distance teleportation already leaked, the military heads begin to fear that the drow may launch an assault at any time. The elves commission a research team to discover a defense to counter the teleporters. Devices similar to the teleporters are soon developed which can prevent teleportation within a limited range. However, energy consumption makes these unfeasable for continued use over a wide area. Vital targets such as government buildings and military installations are protected, but this comes with a drawback, since these devices also block teleportation out of an area.
When the drow attacks do come, they are devastating. Rather than launching direct assaults on the Shining Alliance and their new friends in the orc/goblin nation, they instead spend months sending infiltrators disguised as Emblem members to major cities throughout the world. At a pre-arranged time, these infiltrators execute simultaneous bombings of bridges, buildings, and power plants before disappearing, returning home through pre-arranged teleportation portals. Thousands of people, most of them civilians, are killed in the attacks.
Though most of the drow escape, a few do not make their rendezvous or are caught before they can flee the scene. When questioned, they implicate Emblem in a conspiracy to use the confusion to launch a military campaign. There is a public outrage, and many Emblem members and sympathizers are arrested. Irina Kiasa manages to escape and goes into hiding. At the same time, the nations mobilize for war against the drow, intending to wipe them out for good this time. The rhetoric from government officials is strong and inflammatory, and the whole world seems to be in a wild frenzy of rage in the wake of the tragedy.
The head of the drow government insists that it is not behind the attacks, and that the bombers are members of a rebel insurgency. The other nations are not convinced, and it is not long before war is officially declared. In light of this, the goblins and orcs join the Shining Alliance, and massive armies descend upon the drow nation, thirsty for revenge.
The war is brutal. The Shining Alliance makes no distinction between soldiers and civilians, and neither do the drow. The war centers around teleport points, since these strategic bottlenecks allow armies from both sides to appear virtually out of thin air. The drow are significantly outnumbered, but they have no scruples. They break the centuries-old agreement against the use of undead, they unleash chemical weapons, and they burn hundreds of acres of farmland.
The space travel and rocketry research takes a much darker turn. Once a beacon of exploration, it is now turned to the task of destroying the drow. A very simple plan is devised to accomplish this goal - large boulders will be dropped from orbital altitudes, with trajectories to hit the major drow cities and military bases. This plan is known as Project Meteor.
Many scientists speak out against Project Meteor, arguing that it will wreck the ecosystem and potentially cause a mass extinction. Emblem hackers learn of the plan, and soon Irina Kiasa begins an underground netcast where she exposes the plan and urges everyone not to allow the plan to go forward. This has an unforseen consequence, and the drow immediately implement Project Meteor themselves, targeting the Gnomish and Elven capitals.
Had the drow's plan succeeded, nearly all life on the planet would almost certainly have been wiped out. However, a group of conscripted adventurers who had been taking part of the war discover the plan before it is put into effect. They capture the drow teleporter before any further boulders can be launched, then use it to catch the falling meteors and send them shooting off into space. They barely escape the drow counterattack, destroying the teleporter in the process, and become instant heroes.
These newly-minted heroes throw their support behind Kiasa, and urge their government leaders to work with Emblem, releasing those who have been imprisoned, but the officials refuse. The heroes try to push the issue, and are put on trial for treason. This causes an outrage, which Kiasa fuels. People of all races flock to Emblem's cause, and soon there is talk of revolt.
Despite their desperate tactics, the drow find themselves outnumbered by the Alliance forces. Their losses are unsustainable, and the Alliance manages to capture nearly all of the drow teleport points. Defeated, they scatter, disappearing into the wilds and going into hiding.
This happens just as the Emblem revolt begins. Fed up with the current government policies and recent decisions, coupled with the nearly disastrous Project Meteor, Kiasa and her supporters decide that the only way to create peace is to topple the regimes that have been responsible for so much bloodshed. The first shots are fired as Emblem rebels attack prisons where Emblem members are being held. During this assault, they free the heroes responsible for saving the planet, and they join Emblem's side.
Emblem's rhetoric is powerful and convincing, and as time goes on, more and more Shining Alliance citizens begin to flock to their side. Soldiers desert their armies and take up arms against their own comrades. The fighting is uncoordinated, confused, and half-hearted. It becomes hard to tell friend from foe, and allegiances shift rapidly. Within three months, the orc/goblin government leaders willingly step down. Nearly half their government had already joined Emblem anyway, and they decided there was more honor in admitting defeat and ceasing hostilities. One by one, the other nations follow suit, giving up their sovereignty and uniting under Emblem's banner.
Here is the goal: To create a rough but plausible history that takes a relatively generic fantasy world, including the usual mix of races, classes, and magic, all the way to the point where faster-than-light interstellar travel is a regular occurrence.
Here are some guidelines:
Magic and technology should be integrated somehow. This could be accomplished through advances in magic, allowing more and more complicated enchantments to accomplish the same tasks as technology normally would in a sci-fi setting, or it could be accomplished with a primarily standard progression of technology, with magic helping to fill in some of the gaps where technology is insufficient. The former works better if electronics and magic don't play well together, and thus magical machines can only be complex mechanisms with heavy enchantments. This would allow for a split between technological and magical lines of thinking, possibly leading to conflict and interference. The latter works better if electronics and magic do not interfere with each other, and would allow for a simpler, more standardized play experience for an adventuring party (the technologist's gadgetry won't mess up the wizard's ability to cast spells and vice versa).
The technology and culture should flow naturally from the history. So, we're starting with a medieval fantasy realm full of elves, goblins, dragons, and possibly even demons. How would such a world progress over millennia? Would advances in magic and technology be driven by war when there's pressure to outdo the other side, or only arise in times of peace when there's time to explore freely without the social and economic strains of conflict? Obviously, it will be some of both, since advances in mobility and communication occur under both conditions, while advances in weaponry and defense generally require at least the threat of conflict to motivate them. We also should consider the fact that not all races are created equal. Some are more intelligent or creative, some are more attuned to the arcane or the divine, and many of them have lifespans that differ widely from that of humans. These factors will all influence who develops which technologies and magics. Long-lived races can study and become unsurpassable experts in certain fields, and with their prolonged youth, could probably accomplish a great deal more in their lifetimes than we are accustomed to. On the other hand, these long-livers might create a strong cultural inertia, being uncomfortable with having too much change too fast, and thus refuse to contribute to the rise of new ideas. Also consider whether certain races would be able to compete in the long run with the others. Which would be able to adapt to the changing environment best?
The world must be reasonable, given its starting conditions. If, in this world, elves are immortal, or at the very least live for thousands of years, then their reproductive rate will be highly important to their survival as a species. If they reproduce at roughly the same rate as humans, but remain fertile for much longer periods of time, as is usually the case in fantasy worlds, elves will rapidly become the dominant race, at least numerically, and will probably out-compete humans and other races for territory and resources. If, on the other hand, their reproductive rate is so slow that this does not happen, then a single war or disease would leave a wound that would be difficult to recover from. The same is true of all the sentient races. If they are going to survive, they have to be able to reproductively compete with all the other living races or go extinct. Also, unless there are cultural taboos or nearly insurmountable geographical separation, any races capable of interbreeding will begin to homogenize. It starts with half-elves and half-orcs, and it never stops. You'll end up with quarter orcs and 7/16th elves. Eventually, you'll end up with a single race that shares all the same basic characteristics, with only minor differences. In a world where only those three races can interbreed, eventually there will be a race of pointy-eared, green-brown skinned versatile humanoids with talents for the arcane and an inborn savagery.
Technology will not follow the same path it did in our world. Your standard fantasy world already has a lot of things we in the modern age still lack. Teleportation, hoverboards, smart matter, and sentient machines are often part of a medieval fantasy universe. Imagine how the world would progress given this fact. Wands of Dimension Door or Overland Flight might replace cars, boats, and planes as means of daily transportation. Mending would enable useful or precious items to last for centuries and eliminate repair shops. Use Magic Device would probably become as common a skill as using a computer. Magic items would be in high demand, and people would save up to get them. In other words, your standard fantasy world would not remain medieval for very long. It's already in the Renaissance, and all it would take is some enterprising businesspeople to turn a medieval fantasy world into something that more closely resembles the modern day, just by making better use of the resources already available. Seriously, just look at the lists of cantrips, orisons and 1st-level spells, and you'll see what I mean.
So, taking all these things into account, I'm going to try taking my first stab at this, and see what you guys think. I welcome any constructive suggestions, critiques, or comments.
Starting Conditions:
Major Races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Halflings, Gnomes. All have similar lifespans and reproductive cycles. Though they can interbreed, their offspring are infertile hybrids, thus keeping the races separate. The only exception are the Gnomes and Halflings, who can produce viable offspring.
Magic and Technology: Integrate Smoothly
Rough History:
The Age of Meetings
The world began with the races being largely separate in their ancestral territories. Over time, they expanded and began to encounter members of the other races.
The humans broke apart into many factions, opposing each other at every turn, and were eventually absorbed by the other nations, either through peaceful integration or conquest.
The orcs and goblins found in each other kindred spirits, and formed alliances which eventually resulted in the cunning goblins taking over the major economic and political administrative positions, and the more brutish, powerful orcs becoming a class of warriors and laborers. They are not well-liked by the other races and often find themselves at war with them.
The elves are insular, trying to keep to themselves as much as possible, sticking to their long-standing traditions and way of life as long as they can.
The dwarves welcome a large number of humans, and the two races integrate almost immediately. The dwarven nations have the highest concentration of humans, and become an industrial powerhouse, especially when it comes to weapons and armaments. They form alliances with the gnomish nation, though there is a friendly rivalry between them to develop better technology.
Early on, the halflings find themselves caught between a nation of humans and the orc-goblin conglomerate which are at war. The peaceful halflings wish to remain neutral in the conflict, but neither side is happy with this, and they lay waste to the halflings, and the survivors flee. The gnomes offer them asylum, and the two races of short people intermingle, eventually becoming indistinguishable from each other, and come to be known simply as gnomes.
The gnomish nation joined in alliance with the dwarves to serve as a deterrent against being drawn into the war between the humans and orcs, and a trade of technology begins so that both nations can bolster their defenses. Gunpowder is discovered independently by both gnomes and dwarves at roughly the same time.
The elves still have the most advanced magic, and when they eventually come into conflict with the dwarves, their arcane abilities prove to be formidable. Though the gnomes would be amenable to learning from the elves, their alliance with the dwarves prevents this. The elves are at first receptive to the nearby factions of humans, with whom they share some of their arcane secrets, but are then appalled with the flippant way the humans use their new abilities. The elves and humans go to war, and the humans are conquered.
With all human factions successfully neutralized, a relative peace formed, with only occasional border skirmishes between the elves, the orc/goblin nation, and the dwarf/gnome alliance. During this time, the orcs and goblins begin researching magic and technology, often sending in spies to steal information from the other nations.
The Rise of the Drow
With their common enemies pretty much at bay, relations between the dwarves and gnomes deteriorate somewhat. Though still trade partners and allies, they no longer freely exchange information, and a major rivalry between the two begins, as each tries to outdo the other. The dwarves begin to integrate divine magic into their craftsmanship and focus primarily on developing heavy armaments and defenses. Holy cannons become a standard part of dwarven defenses. The gnomes focus more on personal armaments, developing the first personal firearms. More talented with arcane magic than the dwarves, they begin to develop many new useful, yet mundane items.
The elves, meanwhile, overconfident from their success in rebuffing the dwarves and conquering the humans, become rather complacent, and are unconcerned when they learn that the other factions are developing new toys and dabbling in powers they know little of. Instead, they begin to focus on developing great architecture, often integrating arcane magic into the designs, producing some of the most beautiful and impressive buildings in the world. The humans they have captured are dispersed throughout the realm and are treated as second-class citizens.
Suddenly, disaster strikes when a powerful human necromancer arises amidst the ranks of the dwarves and threatens to bury all four nations under hordes of undead. The dwarves lose several key cities and their ability to communicate with the gnomes is severely hampered. Though their weaponry is particularly effective against the undead, it is not enough to make up for the unexpected assault. The gnomes manage to mount a fairly successful defense, but are tied down and are unable to launch a counter-offensive to save the dwarves. Desperate, the dwarves turn to the elves for help, but are rebuffed. This further widens the gap between the two races. Fortunately, the necromancer grew overconfident, and began to attack the orc/goblin civilization. This proved to be a fatal mistake, and the orcs came down on the undead hordes like a hammer. This took the pressure off the dwarves and the gnomes, who managed to push back, and the necromancer was eventually defeated.
Following this, the dwarves and gnomes offered friendship to the orcs and goblins. The orcs accepted, but only on the condition that any originally dwarf or gnome territory that they had taken in the war would remain under their control. This further infuriated many of the elves, who felt that friendship with the orcs and goblins was vile and wicked. The dwarves replied that the orcs had proven to be better friends than the elves, and there the matter stood.
The elves began to have their own troubles, however. A plague begins to affect them, which cannot be cured either by arcane or divine magic. Half of those affected die, and those that survive are very different. Their skin begins to darken, and their hair turns a pale silver. More than this, they seem to be overcome with a savage bloodlust. Those affected by this blight become known as the drow. Amongst the healthy elves, many of the younger members of the society suggest turning to the other nations for help, while their elders are resistant to this idea. Eventually, a group of young elves, fed up with the establishment and afraid of contracting the plague, leave the elven nation and seek asylum with the dwarves. The dwarves refuse, still sore over the injustice they suffered when under assault by the undead. The fugitives set sail for new lands, and are not seen or heard from again for over a century. The elves that stay are unable to stand up to the drow plague, and those that do not die in the plague or turn to drow themselves are slain by their tainted brothers.
The plague does not affect the other races, and so the humans of the elf kingdom decide to take this opportunity to try to break free of their elven oppression. It is a bad decision, and the drow show no mercy, easily overpowering the rebels and then torturing them to death.
The drow plague is very alarming to the other three nations, and they immediately mobilize for war. The goblins acquire gunpowder from the gnomes and invent rocketry and enchanted warheads. The dwarves and gnomes co-discover long-distance magical communication, which they employ first as a means of battlefield and strategic coordination. The orcs and goblins engage the drow, feeling that the best defense is a good offense, but they find the drow to be an incredibly tough nut to crack, despite their reduced numbers and the human uprising. The plague seems to have magnified their arcane powers, and the drow hold their own. The dwarves and gnomes decide to join the orcs, yet still the drow manage to hold them back. Eventually, the other nations have to settle for containing the drow within their borders, because the casualties from direct assaults are unsustainable.
The drow, unfettered by the traditionalism they once held so dear, now begin an arms race with the surrounding nations, developing arcane weapons of incredible power and stripping their lands of natural resources unsustainably. The gnomes invent airships and submarine warships. The dwarves develop heavy, armored mobile artillery capable of delivering either wide-area magical effects or devastating barrages of explosive power and able to resist many attacks, both physical and magical. The goblins begin to integrate technology and magic into battle armor, allowing the orc hordes to close with the drow mages. They also modified the gnomish idea of personal firearms and adapted it to personal artillery, outfitting their soldiers with spell-boosted rocket launchers and early automatic weapons.
Eventually, an uneasy truce began, with the orcs and dwarves maintaining a strong military presence at the border, and the drow responding in kind. Under their influence, the once beautiful elven lands became twisted and blackened with dark magic. The progress of the other three nations began to take its toll on the land, as well. Though many spells existed to help mitigate these effects, eventually, small amounts of pollution began to add up, and the natural resources began to dwindle. The orcs and goblins were most destructive, clear-cutting forests and not using the same magical safeguards and cleaning techniques as the dwarves and gnomes.
The Age of Strife and the Return of the Elves
After several decades of relative stasis, with each nation making new developments in weapons, armor, communication, and transportation, something changed to upset the balance of power. A human ascended to the throne of the dwarf nation. He believed that the only way to progress was to expand - not into the territories of the other nations, but out into the unexplored areas beyond the main continent. He sent small fleets of airships in several directions, searching for new lands to colonize. One of these expeditions came back, having discovered a new land. Though the dwarves tried to keep their discovery secret, a race to colonize the new continent began, but this also led to a three-way war between the dwarves and gnomes, the drow, and the orcs/goblins. Each faction wanted to keep the others from colonizing, and so many sea and air battles ensued. Leaving for the newly discovered world became extremely dangerous, and soon no civilians wanted to even try it. Only the bravest of adventurers, eager for gold and glory, would attempt it, and many of them died. Still, others prevailed, returning home with stories of grand adventures and valuable natural resources.
Another technology race began for some way of getting past enemy patrols unseen. This resulted in a series of better and better invisibility and camouflage devices, all of which were being countered by better and better detection methods. The drow eventually came out on top, developing a meld of magic and technology that could render large objects entirely invisible to all means of detection, both magical and technological, and soon the drow held a strong foothold on the new continent.
The gnomes took a different approach to the problem, and began a secret project nicknamed Eagle. The project appropriated some of the greatest minds from throughout the dwarven and gnomish nations, enticed by the promise of groundbreaking research and universal acclaim. Only the highest levels of the gnomish and dwarven governments were aware of the project, which took place in a massive underground bunker warded from divination and using the best stealth technology. Security was extremely tight, and hundreds of people practically vanished for the duration of the project.
Despite the best efforts of the orcs/goblins and drow to discover what Project Eagle was, the dwarves and gnomes were able to successfully guard their secret for 6 years before somehow word began to get out. Project Eagle was an attempt to build a mass teleportation device, capable of transporting entire armies across great distances.
This immediately led to an all-out war, with both the orc/goblin nation and the drow attempting to gain possession of the research. The orc armies began a march to the sea, splitting the gnomes and the dwarves. The dwarves found themselves surrounded and cut off from their more tech-savvy allies. Meanwhile, the gnomes were trapped between the orcs and the sea, separated from the military powerhouse that had protected them for so long. They both would surely have been defeated, were it not for the conjunction of two fortunate events.
The first of these events was political strife within the drow nation, particularly between the colonies and the mainland. A civil war broke out, dividing the drow and diverting attention and resources away from the main war. This allowed the dwarves to launch a counter-offensive into drow territory. The mainland drow government collapsed under this attack from both within and without, and they were banished from the main continent.
The second event, which occurred just as the drow civil war began, was the return of the elves. They had discovered an archipelago of fertile, tropical islands, and had flourished during their time apart from the mainland. Their seers had predicted the war, and a fleet of elven ships arrived on the gnomish coast, offering an alliance in exchange for technology and favorable trading agreements. The gnomes accepted without hesitation, and with the assistance of the elves were able to fight back against the orc hordes, pushing them back beyond their previous borders and reclaiming their overland connection to the dwarves. The orcs, who up to this point had never lost any large amount of territory in a war, were taken off-guard by the assault, and their goblin leaders began to sue for peace. Though this infuriated many of the high-ranking orc generals, the decision had the support of the populace, and a treaty was signed.
The Age of Peace
During their absence, elven research had been far more focused on the arcane arts, and more on technology useful during peace. They had faced starvation and crowding during the past century, and so they had developed new methods of agriculture - spells for improving soil, enchantments for farming tools to speed up labor, potions for speeding the growth an improving the nutritive value of food, and many other useful advances. Elven cuisine became famous throughout the world. Their art and fashion were also much sought-after, especially with access to the furs of previously unknown creatures and the discovery of new fragrant spices. The elves also had access to a special silk which could only be farmed on their archipelago, which was lighter, stronger, and more comfortable than the giant spider silk used on the mainland.
With the drow far away and uninterested with affairs on the continent for the time being and a relative peace elsewhere throughout the world, an age of trade and exploration began. A new small continent was discovered by the elves, and they and their allies successfully established colonies. Their relations with the dwarves had improved significantly. Time had healed many of the old wounds, and the elven assistance during a key point in the war did much to establish a friendship between the two races.
The goblins and orcs began to suffer heavily during this period. The prolonged period of warfare, capped off by a disheartening defeat and a loss of territory, resulted in an economic crash which caused famine and hard times. Though the warlike creatures had never been on friendly terms with the other races, they now developed a hatred for them. It was this hatred more than anything that kept the nation from collapsing into anarchy.
Strife did begin to build, however, between the orcs and the goblins. The orcs blamed their defeat on the goblin-run government, and demanded that they step down in favor of a new, charismatic orc leader. A large number of goblins decided they would try to regain their honor through innovation, and began a secret project of their own, named Project Gearhead. Though this project sucked up a lot of the already scarce resources, it was kept a secret even from the government, and was run entirely by a society of goblin researchers, who became more and more secretive as time went on.
The period of trade and friendship between the elves, gnomes, and dwarves, however, produced a period of economic prosperity and innovation. The elves were quick to adopt the gnomish technology, and began to add their own improvements. There was also a lot of immigration between the countries, and it was not long before the populations of the three nations began to be harder and harder to distinguish
The elves were the first to combine wand and firearm technologies to produce the arcane gun, which was more efficient than the old methods of enchanting either weapons or ammunition individually. They developed an interface whereby even those untrained in the use of magic devices could plug a wand into the weapon and the ammunition would automatically be enchanted with various effects, depending upon the wands used. This made weapon enchantments significantly less expensive. The dwarves paid a handsome sum for the secret of this technology, and immediately adapted it for use with melee weapons, armor, shields, and heavy artillery.
The addition of elves to Project Eagle was a godsend, and soon the project was complete. The device they built was the size of a building, immensely complicated, prone to malfunctions, was a huge drain of both arcane and electrical power, and could only function for ten minutes once a day, but it worked. As a public demonstration, the team opened a portal to transport three hundred immigrants to one of the colonies. They arrived in perfect condition less than 50 feet from the designated location.
The Long War
When word of this success reached the orcs, they began to fear an invasion. If the already powerful gnomes, dwarves, and elves had the ability to transport so many troops across such a far distance without warning, it could spell doom for them. In desperation, they sent an envoy to the drow, bearing news of Project Eagle's success and requesting aid in an attempt to sabotage the project and steal the technology. The drow agreed, and a stealth team was sent to destroy the teleporter, which was located in the gnomish capital. Their mission was to permanently disable the device and either steal or destroy the plans. The drow stealth technology allowed a team of mixed orc, goblin, and drow to drop in entirely by surprise, overwhelming the security and planting explosives around the device before any alarm was raised. They had more trouble when it came to the plans, however. Once the alarm was raised, an entire military base descended upon the covert team, and escaping with the plans seemed a nearly impossible task. The drow attempted to double-cross the orcs and goblins, leaving them to hold back the enemy while they escaped, but the orcs had predicted this eventuality and strapped themselves with arcane explosives, which they detonated, killing the orcs, the drow, and a large number of the defenders that had tried to stop them. The explosive charges on the teleporter itself caused massive destruction, leaving a crater and sending huge chunks of debris flying, setting fires and causing numerous casualties. This incident became known as Flash Night, since what most civilians nearby saw were bright flashes that awoke them from their sleep.
In the wake of the Flash Night tragedy, the gnomes, dwarves, and elves declared all-out war on the orcs and drow. The three began to call themselves the Shining Alliance, a name which rallied the people and raised morale. The general battle strategy was to neutralize the orcs first, since they were the easiest to hit, then turn attention toward the drow. This plan suited the drow nicely, and their invisible airships dropped bombs on all the major dwarven, elven, and gnomish cities. Despite the massive destruction this caused, especially to the gnomes and elves, whose above-ground architecture was especially vulnerable to bombing, the Alliance launched a devastating offensive against the orcs.
It was at this time that the goblins unveiled Phase 1 of Project Gearhead - a new type of mechanized battle suit which provided superior protection, especially against magic, and would increase the strength, speed, and agility of the wearer significantly. The suits were also equipped with rockets that could provide a short boost in mobility during magically-assisted aerial combat, which was by now a standard battle tactic used by all sides. The new battle suits proved to be effective, and the Shining Alliance advance stalled.
The drow, preferring to wait for the Alliance to come to them, refused to send troops to aid the orcs. Still, their bombing raids were becoming a major problem to the Alliance, and efforts were made to find some way to punch through the drow stealth technology.
Project Eagle was restarted. Though several key researchers and much of the original plans had been destroyed on Flash Night, copies of much of the research still existed. The project was moved to dwarven territory, where less damage was being taken from the raids, and a new teleportation device was soon under construction.
It was the elves who finally cracked the drow stealth problem. They managed to create a new kind of highly-luminous scanning beam that would temporarily disrupt the stealth magic. Though the devices were large and used a lot of energy, they were effective in countering the bombing raids. The drow begin taking casualties from the air raids and their effectiveness is significantly reduced. Despite shooting down a number of drow ships, no one is ever able to recover a working stealth drive, as they are designed to self-destruct if they fall into enemy hands.
With the drow's stealth abilities at least partially neutralized, a new race in communications technologies begins. Information becomes key to countering any drow offensives, since the detectors cannot be run continually. At first, radio is more secure than most magical means of communication, since magical means of tapping into communications have been well-known for a long time. However, the drawbacks of radio are soon exploited. Both sides begin turning to encryption to help hide their presence. Another weakness in drow stealth technology is discovered, in that any time a stealthed ship attempts to communicate with the outside world, the location of the transmission, whether magical or technological, can be found. This forces the drow to maintain strict silence while stealthed, which makes navigating in formation and avoiding midair collisions with other stealthed ships very difficult.
In conjunction with the rise in communications technology, the gnomes begin working on building devices for storing, displaying, and transmitting information. Troubled by the events of Flash Night, they want to devise a way to ensure that the destruction of information will be nearly impossible. The computer is born. The use of enchantment allows these devices to be relatively small - about the size of a large suitcase - and they are able to transmit information wirelessly to one another from the beginning by employing enchantments.
The orcs and goblins are beginning to suffer from lack of numbers. The long war is beginning to strain their resources, and their leaders are uncertain as to how much longer they can hold out. Then Project Gearhead releases Phase 2: fully functional mass-produced automaton soldiers. Though a rushed job and prone to malfunctions, they help to make up the numbers, and the orcs actually begin to push back, regaining lost territory which they badly need in order to maintain production of these constructs.
Things begin to turn bad for the Shining Alliance when the drow unleash a new weapon: a bomb that raises undead. Drow bombing raids become truly horrific, with those killed in the attacks immediately rising again to attack their friends, family, and comrades. Infrastructure begins to break down in the wake of the devastation.
The Alliance, battered and war-weary, sues for peace. The orcs, who have suffered the most, agree. The drow kill the ambassadors sent to them and return their mutilated corpses to the Alliance. Outraged, the Shining Alliance attempts to land forces on the shores of drow territory, but they lose many ships both in the air and at sea as they run into the drow's brutal defensive networks. The tide of the battle turns when Project Eagle's second teleporter is finished, smaller, more efficient, and with a longer portal duration. Alliance forces are marched directly into the drow capital and force an immediate surrender. The terms of the surrender are steep, requiring the demilitarization of the drow nation, that a tribute be paid regularly to Alliance nations, and that they hand over their cloaking and other military technology. Anticipating that their cloaking technology would be demanded should they lose the war, the drow have orders for all cloaking devices to be destroyed, all plans to be burned, and all major scientists killed in the event that the government comes under duress. The Alliance fails to gain access to the technology, and the near-perfect cloaking device is lost.
Many high-ranking drow political and military leaders are put on trial for war crimes, found guilty, and executed. The alliance passes a resolution banning the use of the undead in warfare, and forces the drow to sign it. The orcs are approached and also agree to the resolution, despite the protests of some of their human and goblin citizens.
Reaching to the Stars
In many ways, the war devastated the entire world, and it takes almost a decade for prosperity to return. The Shining Alliance recovers most quickly, refining and duplicating their teleportation technology for domestic use. Though initially more expensive than roads, these devices soon pay dividends in reduced travel times for goods and people. The gnomes develop a communication network for transmitting stored data, further increasing their productivity. Initially, this network is reserved for only military and scientific use, but it does speed the production of new technologies and aid in the coordination of miliatary operations.
During these years, the dragons, which had nearly been hunted to extinction by this point, begin a great migration to the southern pole. A team of explorers, led by a famous human war hero from the gnomish nation, follow and document this mass exodus. They report that, under the effects of a magical aurora, the dragons had undergone a transformation and taken to the skies, flying higher than any airship could go, and disappeared into the heavens. Dragons are never seen on the planet again.
This event sparks an unprecedented interest in reaching the stars. The Shining Alliance begins to run experiments attempting to use teleportation to reach beyond the atmosphere. Though initially quite dangerous, they eventually devise a method which involves sealing the item to be transported in an airtight compartment before opening the portal. Still, most of these early unmanned experiments simply fall directly to earth as soon as they make it through the portal.
The goblins take a different approach to the problem of leaving the atmosphere. Experts in rocketry, they develop the first synthetic device to achieve orbit. Not to be outdone, the gnomes steal this technology and adapt it for use with the Project Eagle teleporter. A female gnome is the first sentient being in space, though only for fifteen minutes. Teleportation is used to retrieve her safely, and she becomes an instant celebrity.
The dwarves and elves are surprised when the gnomes refuse to share their findings regarding space travel. With their emerging data network, high-speed infrastructure, and advanced technology, the gnomes begin to grow wealthy.
The drow, despite their infrastructure remaining largely intact, are under a great economic strain due to the tribute and sudden power vacuum created by the war. A number of rebel leaders, unhappy with the leaders appointed by the Alliance, begin to raise armies, and the country descends into chaos.
The Shining Alliance, unhappy at losing the drow tribute to the civil war and concerned that the drow might end up becoming a threat should the nation fall into the wrong hands, send peacekeeping forces to stabilize the country. This results in a complicated guerrilla action in which the Alliance suffers heavy losses. Battered and demoralized, the Alliance withdraws, leaving the drow to their own devices.
The goblins soon manage to put Ora Mund, a human into space, achieving two full orbits and a safe return to earth, though just barely, as a malfunction during the landing process caused the craft to break apart. The pilot is unharmed, however, and he also becomes famous. Realizing that their space program will continue to lag behind without a data network like that of the gnomes, the goblins begin work on a high-speed data network, announcing that in two years, their network will service all of the orc/goblin territory and will be faster than the gnomish data network.
The gnomes begin to step up their own network development. Up to this point, the network has only been available to researchers and the military, but now the data network is opened up to civilians. Though businesses and consumers see the potential, adoption is slow due to high initial costs, and the it takes nearly a decade for the economy to show strong benefits from this network expansion.
The goblins open the data network to civilians early, using heavy advertising campaigns and nationalistic rhetoric to sell the idea and obtain backing. Their efforts pay off, and the goblin network expands rapidly. This bolsters the orcish economy, which continues to feed the expansion of the network. The goblins partly meet their goal. Within two years, their network does span the entire orc/goblin territory, but its performance is not quite what had been promised. Still, the government touts this as a victory, and expansion of the network continues.
Meanwhile, the space race continues in earnest. The gnomes begin a series of experiments to determine the effects of magic in space. They discover that many spells, particularly arcane spells, do not work as predicted under low-gravity conditions, and are puzzled by this.
The goblins attempt longer and longer missions, perfecting their launch and re-entry techniques. As their data network expands, they are able to coordinate more efficiently with other researchers. This ability to rapidly transmit information speeds development on their spacecraft.
The gnomes begin to run into problems. Though they do have some immigrants from other nations who are able to work on the space program, without the full force of the other nations' research teams, their progress is not as rapid as they would like. The dwarves' mastery of metallurgy and divine magic and talent for improving upon the designs of others are sorely missed, and the elves' skill with arcane magic, enchantment, and textiles would be a serious boon to the project. The goblins' success with rocketry and the fact that their information technology is rapidly catching up alarm them. They decide to bring the other Alliance nations in on the project.
The Rise of Emblem
With the rise of data networks and their introduction to the public, a new problem arises - hacking. Government infiltrators and freelancers with an eye for profit begin to cut through the security in both networks, stealing technologies. When plans for the long-range teleporter are hacked, the Alliance threatens military action on anyone who attempts to build one of the devices. The drow and the orcs pay handsome sums for the plans, and begin to build teleporters in secret. The Alliance manages to get their hands on plans for the goblin rockets, but claims it was an independent discovery when the goblins find the gnomes using a modified version of it.
Datanet security improves at an exponential rate, and soon the leaks are mostly plugged up. Still, the damage has been done, and much of the world's secret technology is no longer secret. The world seems to be teetering on the brink of another great war.
Disaster is averted, however, when a new faction begins to arise from within the Shining Alliance. A large organization of humans, under the leadership of a woman named Irina Kiasa, begin to call for international peace. Kiasa and her supporters argue that all nations would be better off with a free exchange of information, and that another war will only serve to harm everyone. This philosophy spreads rapidly, especially among the humans, who have been largely marginalized during their diaspora. This influence is strongest amongst the gnomes and the dwarves, where the human populations are highest, and has almost no effect upon the drow nation, where the few humans that live amongst them are uneducated slaves. The elves are most affected by the movement in their universities, since even though their human populations are low, many students of various races study within their borders. Many humans living with the orcs and goblins join the movement when the famous Ora Mund, the first person to orbit the planet, comes out in support of them.
Kiasa's group begins to call themselves Emblem, and they begin a campaign of sharing information across borders, believing that the technological disparities and subterfuge between the nations is the cause of war. This infuriates the governments of the nations they inhabit, and many Emblem members are imprisoned. This persecution serves only to add to the movement's momentum, and the governments soon realize their efforts to quash Emblem by force will prove futile.
A world conference is held to deal with this incident, with members of Emblem given seats, though their delegations are smaller than those from the nations. An invitation is sent to the drow leaders who had been set up by the Shining Alliance, but nothing is ever heard from them. Their seats remain empty at the conference. Though outnumbered, the Emblem diplomats are forceful and persuasive. Kiasa leads the delegation, and her opening presentation is firm, showing the strength of her resolve, while at the same time urging peace and cooperation between the nations. She sways a powerful minority of the delegates to her side, especially among the orc/goblin delegation.
As the conference continues, it becomes apparent that Kiasa and the other Emblem delegates do not intend to back down. More and more delegates are swayed to the Emblem position, and the goblin/orc delegation changes its official position and begins to support Kiasa. The Alliance members are more reluctant, not wanting to surrender much of their superior technology to an ancient enemy. The elves are most sympathetic to Kiasa's cause, and this may have had something to do with their country's distance from the orc/goblin nation.
It isn't until the orcs and goblins point out that the Alliance has nothing to gain from opposing Emblem while they support it that the tide turns. Realizing that, with Emblem on their side, the orcs and goblins would have a significant advantage in any armed conflict, the Shining Alliance delegates agree to discuss terms for an exchange of information. Though none of the nations are comfortable with a totally free exchange of ideas, they do make large concessions. Both sides agree to combine their efforts on the space program, which involves officially divulging many of their most prized secret technologies, many of which had already been compromised anyway. The elves and dwarves are also to be brought in on the project. Many wonder whether the orcs and goblins will join the Shining Alliance.
In the wake of Emblem's victory, humans throughout the world begin to feel a strong sense of racial kinship and pride. As the goblin and gnome datanets are combined, and datanet access becomes more and more common, a new human culture begins to arise organically. They begin to develop unique styles of dress and mannerisms that differ from those of their parent countries.
The quest to reach the stars accelerates rapidly. By combining the superior rocketry of the goblins with the teleportation method of reaching high altitudes, the researchers are able to achieve more stable orbits with less rocket fuel. The elves and dwarves also contribute, developing new techniques, engineering better and better equipment, refining theories, and participating in the experiments.
Arcane and divine magic theories undergo serious revamps to account for the new data they are gathering from space. This leads to the development of a unifying theory that connects arcane magic and physics. Mechanical processes can now generate arcane effects, allowing for the mechanization of enchantments. Divine magic remains mysterious and no connection to arcane magic or mundane physics can be established. However, adjustments to the theories do enable the creation of enchantments that work equally well on the ground and in space.
The Great Setback
At last, the drow civil war ends with one of the rebel leaders assuming power. With the technology for long-distance teleportation already leaked, the military heads begin to fear that the drow may launch an assault at any time. The elves commission a research team to discover a defense to counter the teleporters. Devices similar to the teleporters are soon developed which can prevent teleportation within a limited range. However, energy consumption makes these unfeasable for continued use over a wide area. Vital targets such as government buildings and military installations are protected, but this comes with a drawback, since these devices also block teleportation out of an area.
When the drow attacks do come, they are devastating. Rather than launching direct assaults on the Shining Alliance and their new friends in the orc/goblin nation, they instead spend months sending infiltrators disguised as Emblem members to major cities throughout the world. At a pre-arranged time, these infiltrators execute simultaneous bombings of bridges, buildings, and power plants before disappearing, returning home through pre-arranged teleportation portals. Thousands of people, most of them civilians, are killed in the attacks.
Though most of the drow escape, a few do not make their rendezvous or are caught before they can flee the scene. When questioned, they implicate Emblem in a conspiracy to use the confusion to launch a military campaign. There is a public outrage, and many Emblem members and sympathizers are arrested. Irina Kiasa manages to escape and goes into hiding. At the same time, the nations mobilize for war against the drow, intending to wipe them out for good this time. The rhetoric from government officials is strong and inflammatory, and the whole world seems to be in a wild frenzy of rage in the wake of the tragedy.
The head of the drow government insists that it is not behind the attacks, and that the bombers are members of a rebel insurgency. The other nations are not convinced, and it is not long before war is officially declared. In light of this, the goblins and orcs join the Shining Alliance, and massive armies descend upon the drow nation, thirsty for revenge.
The war is brutal. The Shining Alliance makes no distinction between soldiers and civilians, and neither do the drow. The war centers around teleport points, since these strategic bottlenecks allow armies from both sides to appear virtually out of thin air. The drow are significantly outnumbered, but they have no scruples. They break the centuries-old agreement against the use of undead, they unleash chemical weapons, and they burn hundreds of acres of farmland.
The space travel and rocketry research takes a much darker turn. Once a beacon of exploration, it is now turned to the task of destroying the drow. A very simple plan is devised to accomplish this goal - large boulders will be dropped from orbital altitudes, with trajectories to hit the major drow cities and military bases. This plan is known as Project Meteor.
Many scientists speak out against Project Meteor, arguing that it will wreck the ecosystem and potentially cause a mass extinction. Emblem hackers learn of the plan, and soon Irina Kiasa begins an underground netcast where she exposes the plan and urges everyone not to allow the plan to go forward. This has an unforseen consequence, and the drow immediately implement Project Meteor themselves, targeting the Gnomish and Elven capitals.
Had the drow's plan succeeded, nearly all life on the planet would almost certainly have been wiped out. However, a group of conscripted adventurers who had been taking part of the war discover the plan before it is put into effect. They capture the drow teleporter before any further boulders can be launched, then use it to catch the falling meteors and send them shooting off into space. They barely escape the drow counterattack, destroying the teleporter in the process, and become instant heroes.
These newly-minted heroes throw their support behind Kiasa, and urge their government leaders to work with Emblem, releasing those who have been imprisoned, but the officials refuse. The heroes try to push the issue, and are put on trial for treason. This causes an outrage, which Kiasa fuels. People of all races flock to Emblem's cause, and soon there is talk of revolt.
Despite their desperate tactics, the drow find themselves outnumbered by the Alliance forces. Their losses are unsustainable, and the Alliance manages to capture nearly all of the drow teleport points. Defeated, they scatter, disappearing into the wilds and going into hiding.
This happens just as the Emblem revolt begins. Fed up with the current government policies and recent decisions, coupled with the nearly disastrous Project Meteor, Kiasa and her supporters decide that the only way to create peace is to topple the regimes that have been responsible for so much bloodshed. The first shots are fired as Emblem rebels attack prisons where Emblem members are being held. During this assault, they free the heroes responsible for saving the planet, and they join Emblem's side.
Emblem's rhetoric is powerful and convincing, and as time goes on, more and more Shining Alliance citizens begin to flock to their side. Soldiers desert their armies and take up arms against their own comrades. The fighting is uncoordinated, confused, and half-hearted. It becomes hard to tell friend from foe, and allegiances shift rapidly. Within three months, the orc/goblin government leaders willingly step down. Nearly half their government had already joined Emblem anyway, and they decided there was more honor in admitting defeat and ceasing hostilities. One by one, the other nations follow suit, giving up their sovereignty and uniting under Emblem's banner.