Many years ago, in a distant land, people lived in a kingdom of Myrtana.
It was a thriving kingdom, the granaries were full year after year, and the mines yielded good copper, bronze, and ore so that no one had to suffer poverty.
Priests of the gods stood above everyone, and their power and influence were great. The gods were good towards the people.
At the top stood Innos, the god of the Sun and the law, who was worshiped as the first and highest god and whose priests were Mages Of Fire.
The Mages Of The Circle Of Water were priests of the god Adanos, who ensures the balance between good and evil.
Only the god of darkness and death, Beliar, had no priests ordained, as his powers were of a dark nature.
The cities prospered, scholars and magicians shared their knowledge of the world, the stars, and magic.
But where there is contentment and security, envy and distrust soon grow. Wicked men enrich themselves with the fruits of labor of the weak, and spread suspicion and fear among them.
Soon the neighboring realms wanted to claim Myrtana's treasures for themselves. Above all, the realm of Varant.
Armies of horsemen came over the hills of the kingdom, ships of dark wood drew up on the horizon and hoisted the flags of battle.
The armies of Myrtana went out to defend their homeland.
It was war.
The King's Armada sank ship after ship, but suffered great losses themselves in the process.
The battles on land were fought swiftly and with great ferocity from the start, as the both sides demanded victory.
But no matter how many battles Myrtana's men won, the news reached them immediately that the Varantian cavalry was invading the country again elsewhere.
The war, whose end was soon longed for, dragged on from skirmish to battle and lasted many moons.
Many men who set out to make a name for themselves, to earn their living, or simply to defend their homeland soon found themselves with their faces in the dirt.
They came in thousands and fell in thousands.
King Rhotbar was not satisfied just with protecting the country's borders.
In order to defeat the enemy once and for all, he and his men advanced deep into the lands of Varant, conquered counties, villages and cities.
And whatever his troops could not hold, they burned to the ground.
The war lasted more than four solstices.
Rhotbar's great strategy, and that of his general, the interplay of army and magic, helped him to stand at the gates of the capital of Varant on an autumn day.
As if suddely awakened and seeing the enemy army camping in front of their city, Varantians surrendered.
The gates were opened, weapons surrendered, and King Rhotbar rode battle-scarred into the city with the dignity of a true ruler, with his army following.
The city was not plundered, the men and women not taken into captivity.
King Rhotbar had the ruler of Varant hanged, appointed a new governor and council, and returned to Myrtana.
He had earned recognition for his greatness, but the price he paid was high.
Many men, sons, fathers and brothers had sacrificed their lives for this victory.
In addition, supplies were running low and winter was just around the corner.
There was hunger and despair in many places.
That winter King Rhotbar died, weakened and consumed by the battle wounds.
His son, Rhotbar II, took the scepter in silence, without ceremony or celebration, and summoned his priests, advisers, and the scholars.
Together they developed plans to bring the empire back to the level of prosperity of the great days of his father.
But when the winter was over, the next danger threatened the kingdom.
Orc hordes from the North swept across the borders, plundered villages and estates.
King dispatched the army again, had borders fortified and sent defensive troops into the contested lands.
Numerous battles again claimed many lives.
They were small, brief skirmishes with no victors, but King Rhotbar knew that the orcs were strong enough to wage a long war against Myrtana.
He had fewer and fewer soldiers left, and few weapons left at their disposal. He needed ore to make a new arsenal.
The situation was bad all over the country, and especially in the mining towns.
Thieves and deserters were a menace and many prisoners escaped from the mines.
Above all, the city of Khorinis, one of the main suppliers of the ore, was too important for the king to not intervene.
Because in the mines of Khorinis the prisoners dug a special, rare ore.
Magic Ore. This ore, when melted properly, makes any blade indestructible and gives it a sharpness and hardness which no armor can withstand.
The king summoned the twelve most powerful mages of the realm, six from the Circle Of Water and six from the Circle Of Fire.
He ordered them to erect a Magic Barrier around the Khorinis Mining Colony to stop the numerous escape attempts by the convicts.
A barrier that would let all life in but not out.
Together, the Twelve Mages developed a magic formula for it.
When the formula was ready, the Twelve Mages set out to create the Barrier.
With the help of five magic Focus Stones, which they set up according to a ritual pattern, they focused their power and uttered the incantation.
Lightning flashed in the sky and dark clouds gathered, as the streams of magic merged like in a hurricane.
The sky turned black and a rising rumble suddenly erupted in exploding thunder.
And then it was there.
Over a vast area, much larger than previously planned, the Barrier stretched across the land like a gigantic dome.
The mages were dismayed to find themselves trapped within it.
The prisoners took advantage of the opportunity and killed the guards trapped with them.
They left the mages unscathed, on the one hand for fear of their powers, on the other hand because they quickly realized that without their help they would never be able to escape.
Gomez, the leader of the uprising who first attacked the guards, now led the prisoners moving from cells into the guard houses.
But their joy of victory soon gave way to concerns about food and survival.
The prisoners knew that they depended on the supplies and goods from the Empire. Just like the king needed their Magic Ore.
So they quickly came up with a plan that initially satisfied both sides.
In return for deliveries of The Ore, king kept providing the supplies so that the convicts could survive.
But not all the prisoners wanted to continue working for the king.
One of them said it out loud and left the camp. His name was Lee. Some men followed him.
They established their own camp near another mine, which they simply called the "New Camp".
At Lee's side stood the Mages of Water, who searched for a way to destroy the barrier.
Together New Camp members stockpiled the ore from their mine, which the mages used for research on finding the way out.
The Mages of Fire stayed with Gomez in the Old Camp.
Thus the mages were represented in both camps and also kept the prisoners from killing each other.
With the supplies from the king, the survival of the convicts was secured and Gomez appointed the strongest inmates as his guard and soon he ruled his own empire.
All his subjects were prisoners, and while many were toiling in the mines, Gomez collected more and more goods from the king. Very soon wine, good food and books of magic joined the list of traded goods.
Many moons had passed when a man in the prison colony began to proclaim his new visions of freedom.
He called himself Y'Berion, the Enlightened One, and his words were of deep faith and power.
With a band of followers they left to the swamps, where they set up their own camp.
Their strange powers were soon reported, of magic and incantations unknown even to the mages.
And this camp also kept growing.
They lived from the cultivation of Swamp Weed, the smoke of which was desired because it gave people pleasant dreams.
They traded this herb with the Old Camp and lived modest but content lives.
The kingdom, meanwhile, was gradually recovering from the wounds of the past.
Wheat thrived in the fields and new trade treaties were made.
Only the Barrier was reminder of the failure of all attempts to destroy it.
And then the orcs came again.
Like a storm, they swept across the land, crushing the king's armies and killing everyone who fell into their hands.
So King Rhotbar II prepared for the war again and every man was sent to the frontier.
In those days, anyone found guilty of any crime, no matter how small, was taken to the mining colony of Khorinis.
The fire burned day and night in the smelters and the hammering in the forges could be heard constantly.
Today, another convict is being brought to the mine.
This convict is you.
Just another prisoner who will be confined within the barrier for the rest of their life.
At least that's what they think...