Lorebook

'You're too young to remember, but once our village knew of a wider world, of cities, of creat colossi-not like Shaundaukul--blessings be on him--but many times taller and more terrible. That all changed about twenty years ago.

'The terrasque had ravaged much of the lands around us, and we knew that the webway would shift as the world changed around us. We were lucky enough that our navigator, Belen, was here at home, and we prayed that he would stay out the terrasque's ravage so that we might find the new rutter to civilization.'

'A year later he set out with the best protection we could give him, and the proudest weavecrystal the few dwarves stranded here could scrape from the ground. We never heard from him again.'

'Truly, all our village had to trade was grain and pottery to the world, and as time passes faster in the villages there is always more than enough grain and pottery to feed the cities. At least, this is was we assumed, as no one came looking for us from any of the nearby towns.'

'Twenty years have passed, and we are running out of metal. The winter months are harder to weather as we have no salt. And worse, our colossus has cracked. Shaundakul's arm may fall and shatter any day if powerful magic is not found to restore him. We certainly cannot call again on him to defend us from the reavers as we did five years ago.'

'But the young navigator, that the monks have been training, he is come of age. He has the gift, and with luck we will again contact civilization. We send our best and brightest to protect him from the wild--we send you.'

Beware the wilderness. Over every hillside there are monsters, reavers. Travellers may fight you simply to take your weavecrystal. Or, they may simply want to know the way back to our village. This could be a boon or a great bane; we are secret to the world and not subject to any overlords or emperors. Perhaps it is better that way; it is for you to decide who is friend and who is foe--you are our ambassador.

Good luck, and godspeed.