From Caernest

Kaernest is a world thrown into an ice-age. Dragons have subjugated the races, and monsters stalk the wilderness. It was not always this way. Many races remember the times of 4 seasons, when harvests were plenty and the races were free.

1000 years ago, the Dragons came. Some say they had always been around, and were just coming out of hiding, but in either case, their arrival was trouble. There were many of them, thousands; and they warred against each other. The Dragon War lasted near a century, and the free races were caught in between; pawns of the wyrms. In the end the number of dragons was greatly diminished, but the remaining dragons were very powerful and had conquered the free races; enslaving them each to their own fashion. The Seven Laws were written, and the Age of Wyrms began.

With the dragons came the cold. The world froze over. Even the warmest climes saw snow and blizzards. The eastern Verdanni kingdoms began to die from the frost. The southern tundra soon was covered in glacier. The valleys between the snow capped mountains of the midlands soon became deep with snow and ice.

As if the climate that came with the dragons were not enough struggle, along came new monsters. The dragons created the Karganni; twisted beings, corrupted from each of the races with the blood of wyrms. These races became the tools and horrors of the dragons. Some were not so easily controlled and soon there were Karganni roaming the wild. There were also the Xak Kargoth. These monstrosities of horror and brutal might were creations of some nightmare.
Not only were monsters created by the dragons, but also a new race appeared. Few know much about their origin. One named Hume, and his followers came from another world. There were no dragons where they came from, but they knew horrors of other types. Where they came from, the dead can rise again and walk. They have voracious appetites for living flesh, and powers that aren't understood. Their world is falling to the undead and some consider a life under the servitude of the dragons to be preferable to life in fear of the walking dead. Occasionally gates between the two worlds can be found, and more of their kind sometimes come through and stay. Very few ever choose to return there. These people, who originally followed the one called "Hume" are now known here as "Humans".

Remnants of the Dragon War still carry on. Some wyrms still seek vengeance for actions against them, or to conquer new territories. Encouraged and sometimes even forced into conflict by the dragons, the races distrust and war against each other. Their greatest hope to defeat their masters was crushed as any chance for unity against the wyrms faded.

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