SolCraft Lore

Chapter One: The Bear

Before the time of humans, the lands of middle earth were known as Solania. It was once the kind of place that you only see in fantasy books or movies. A land where Dwarfs, Elves and monsters roamed and magic was a part of everyday life. A world abundant of magical resources that provided power, wealth and prosperity to those in possession of it.

Fast forwarding to our present day, to the time of man, where there are no traces left of the ancient civilisations of Solania. It makes one question as to why, not even a single trinket or artifact remains. At this present day the thought of a land such as Solania is deemed as “fantasy or fiction”, that is until now. This is the day when Ivan Artreu, a poor hunter from the village of Muneria made a discovery that would change history as we know it, and here’s how it all went down.

Ivan the hunter had recently taken on a contract from concerned villagers to track and kill a bear that had been attacking villagers and ravaging their food caches. they had stored for the coming winter. Ivan has wasted no time in fulfilling his contract and has spent the last 6 nights tracking the ravenous bear that has been terrorizing villagers at night. He has discovered tracks that lead into what looks like a cave mouth at the base of the mountain. With limited visibility Ivan lights up his torch with fire and cautiously enters the cave. In one hand he holds the torch and in the other he grips onto an axe. He can vaguely see a trail of what appears to be cartilage and bones from a recent kill and his heart starts to beat faster with his senses on high alert.

As he ventures further into the cave he sees the bear sleeping on top of a large platform like rock. As he approaches closer he begins to feel heat coming from the direction of where the bear rests.There is also a strange high frequency sound that almost appears to be vibrating through the cave ever so subtly.

Ivan approaches the bear with great caution, careful not to make a single sound, for if he should wake the beast there would be little to no chance of survival. He climbs the rock platform whilst holding his breath and gently lays down his torch. He grips the axe with both hands firmly. Ivan lines up the axe with the neck of the resting beast and with all his might he strikes down and hits the beast directly in the neck. The beast lets out a terrifying roar that could be heard echoing for miles into the hinterland. Ivan goes in for a final blow and strikes his axe again. His axe severs the head of the beast and hits the rock beneath it, chipping the surface of the rock.

All of a sudden a blinding light comes blaring out of where he hit the rock and an aurora of colored light fills the cave. The lights are like nothing Ivan has even seen before. With Ivan now overwhelmed with curiosity he places his hand over the blood covered rock at the source of the light. As soon as Ivan’s hand touches the stone the light consumes his entire body and light shoots out of his mouth and eyes. The light is so overpowering that Ivan passes out and falls flat on the rock.

Chapter Two: The Vision

Ivan wakes up some time later and he’s laying on top of the blood covered platform next to the slain beast. Rubbing his eyes he looks around wondering if the light he saw before he passed out was real or just an hallucination. Ivan bags up the head of the beast, grabs his torch and axe and heads back out of the cave. As Ivan exits the cave he is confused as it’s daytime now and he’s unsure how long he was passed out for. Ivan also notices that the terrain around the cave he entered now looks strange and different from what he remembers. Ivan shrugs off the differences and proceeds back towards the village. It’s now been a few hours and Ivan can’t seem to locate the track that leads back to the village. He proceeds to rely on his instincts by finding the river and following it south as he knows that the village is south of the river. A few more hours pass and Ivan is seeing no sign of his village.

The sun is starting to set and nightfall begins to approach. Ivan decides to take a rest and have some food and drink to restore his energy. As Ivan pours a cup of water and lays it to rest on a rock beside him, he notices his cup start to shake. Now the ground is also starting to shake and what sounds like an earthquake in the distance. Ivan looks to the horizon and sees what appears to be a large stampede of animals. Ivan grabs his items and jumps behind a bush and some trees peeping through anxiously wondering what is going on, there has never been a stampede of animals near in Muneria throughout Ivan’s entire life.

As the rumble of the earth gets louder Ivan witnesses something that takes his breath away. He sees thousands of Dwarf’s dressed in armor riding what appears to be giant war pigs traveling faster than any horse he had seen before. Ivan can’t believe what he has seen and is now beginning to realize that something may have happened when he was in the cave, something he can’t explain, something… magical.

He waits until the Dwarfs have passed before emerging from the bushes. He decides to go back to the cave and after hours of travel on foot he sees the entry and heads back in.

He heads up to the platform and inspects it cautiously. There is little to no light left emitting from the stone he picks up his axe and strikes the rock platform's surface. Some of the surface rock crumbles away and once again a light emits from the cracks of the rock.

This time the light appears to take a form and he can see what appears to be some sort of apparition. The apparition closes in on Ivan and touches his head. The apparition shows Ivan a vision. In the vision he can see a huge battle between Dwarfs, Elves and Orcs. He can see what appears to be a circle of Dark Wizards and witches that control the Orcs casting a spell. The circle of dark wizards and witches cast what appears to be a giant ball of dark magic into the earth cutting through the ground like butter heading towards the earth's core. The earth's surface begins to crack and Ivan comes to the realization that what he is now witnessing in this vision is the complete annihilation of the earth and all those who live on it.

Chapter Three: The Stones

The apparition begins to speak, “You have been chosen to save the ancient tribes of Solania. Only you can stop them from total annihilation.”

Ivan: But how? Apparition: You must warn them, they must not let the Orcs obtain all the Sol Stone or else their fates will be doomed.

Ivan: Why me?

Apparition: You are the last descendant of Solania, the ancient blood runs through your veins. For millennia your ancestors have fought off Orcs and Monsters from entering their lands. Only you possess the blood that enables you to travel through realms.

I had to send the bear to lead you here, it’s the only way I could show you that the fate of the ancient ones lies in your hands. The bear knew you were coming and he sacrificed himself on the rock so that I could speak to you today.

The apparition hands a set of 5 glowing rune stones and places them in the palm of Ivan’s hands.

Ivan: How could I possibly do this alone? I have only my axe and I’ve never fought a monster before, let alone an Orc.

Apparition : Take these runes with you. Each rune possesses a different magic to help you on your journey. . The blue one you must give to the King of the Dwarfs, tell him that you received them from me Faeriel he too will share the vision that you have witnessed today once he holds the stone. The other rune magic you must discover for yourself as each rune creates a new magic unique to the holder and binds to you for life.

I must go now, for the longer I remain in this realm the Morata (Dark Wizards and Witches) will feel my presence and seek me out, I can’t put you in that kind of danger.

I believe in you Ivan, I believe that you can change the fate of Solania

Farewell.

And thus Ivan knew from that day forward that it was his destiny to warn the dwarfs of the apparition's vision.

Last updated