AC2:The History of Dereth
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The History of Dereth
Players enter the game among the first adventurers to leave their underground shelters and engage with the world at large. Humans, Lugians, and Tumeroks have spent the past ten generations waiting for precisely this moment. But to understand your role in this harsh new world, it's necessary to first look back on the past. Throughout the Shelter Era, scribes recorded those events surrounding the Devastation of Dereth, carefully passing this information from generation to generation.
The time has now come to learn your common history.
The Golden Age
Centuries ago, Dereth experienced a Golden Age preceding the devastating events that would drive the player races from the homes and reshape the face of the world. The beginning of this Golden Age was marked by the first true alliance between the Humans, Lugians, and Tumeroks. However, peace was not to last.
The Battle of Kings
Despite this alliance, other powerful factions persisted throughout the world. Principal figures within these factions included the wizard Asheron, the demonic Bael'Zharon, and the mysterious Virindi figure known as the Imperator; these three figures are the Fallen Kings of the game's title. According to lore, Asheron fought for the good of the land against Bael'Zharon, who stood in league with dark Shadow forces. The Imperator worked to maintain the balance of power between the two (if not to shift it toward the Virindi themselves).
Animosities between these sides eventually overwhelmed the balance and erupted into the Battle of Kings, culminating in the horrific Devastation. Strong chaos magic ripped apart the land, and the loathsome Nemesis races began to emerge and gain strength. Many presume that one of the Kingdoms unleashed the Devastation as a deliberate attack, with an accusing eye cast to the chaotic Shadow forces. But we cannot be sure…
The Devastation
As soon as the Devastation began to wash over the land, Asheron created magical shelters for the player races to take refuge within. Nevertheless, the player races fought valiantly against the combined horrors of the Devastation and the onslaught of the Nemesis. After months of nightmarish bloodshed and loss of life, however, the last remnants of the Humans, Lugians, and Tumeroks retreated into the shelters.
The Shelter Era
Ten generations (around three hundred years) passed within the shelters. Every generation, a few brave scouts attempted to leave in order to learn more about what was taking place in the world above. For ten generations, none returned. Until now.
New Dereth Era
Asheron's Call 2 begins in New Dereth Year 1, the timeline established for this era. As the players, you represent the first wave of adventurers finally able to leave the shelters. Scouts report that the world of Dereth has dramatically altered, with the main isle broken into three principal continents. Across these continents roam dreadful creatures, including the monstrous Nemesis races. Yet while the world is still dangerous and untamed, things have settled down enough for organized reclamation efforts to begin. According to scattered reports, none of the three Fallen Kings have been met since the Devastation. Still, players have begun aligning themselves into three Kingdoms—the Order of Dereth, Shadow Kingdoms, and the Dominion—under the chosen ideology of their original Kings.
Additionally, other scouts have discovered the first in a series of fortified Vaults, thought to hold important keys to the past and sources of power needed to cleanse the land of the remnants of the Devastation. The Drudge Nemesis race controls much of the first continent, the Human homeland of Osteth, and initial battle with them has revealed that many hold mystic Glyphs which allow access to the Vaults.
It would seem that opportunities exist to battle the Nemeses, learn more of the past, and reclaim the very world. You have left the shelters. The reclamation of Dereth now falls upon your shoulders.