HISTORY OF MOONSHADOW

   Eleven thousand years before the rise of the UDC, Thame was a world split among its many inhabitant factions.  Each of the races were at war with each other, courtesy of the various deities who favored their "chosen" race that they gave life to.  In the heavens and outer planes the gods and goddesses constantly battled over who was superior and this continual warfare spilled over into Thame.  Millions died over the course of eleven thousand years of bloodshed and barbarianism.  Civilizations rose and fell, ancient secrets were lost, spell books and the essence of magic were all but destroyed with the constant burning of buildings and structures captured during raids, and many innocent beings were forced into a life of suffrage and torment.  The life expectancy of any given newborn was around 25 to 30 years.  They were almost guaranteed death on a battlefield in some meaningless part of the world.
   Bloodlust often blinds the intelligence, and it took the dwarves of Thame roughly ten thousand years to realize this.  Under a banner of truce, the various dwarven races came together and hashed out an alliance with each other.  Any one dwarf caught killing another dwarf was immediately put to death by impalement.  Thus the disciplined backbone of the UDC was formed.  With their newfound strength, the dwarves took the world by storm.  For the next seven hundred years they caused genocidal destruction to the kingdoms, cities, and villages of the other races.  Humans, elves, gnomes, halflings, and kender all fled south with hopes of survival.  The only two races to make it were the humans and elves.
   Brought face to face with no where to go, the survivors had to act quickly.  Within one week of meeting in the southern most part of the continent of Tymber, they had formed their own alliance and readily agreed to help each other in any way possible.  The elves were crafters of fine steel and made wondrous things of what little magic was left.  They also knew how to hunt and live off the land.  Humans were bigger and stronger and could do back breaking work all day that would kill most elves within a week.  They also were not afraid of change and adapted quickly to new situations.  Together, these two races buried old feelings of hate and brought forth a show of force that, in the first time since the forming of the UDC, was able to hold its own when dwarves would try to invade and attack.
   Inevitably, humans and elves had offspring together.  Thus half elves were born into Moonshadow.  It was predetermined which race would take in the newborn and trained in the ways of warfare or magic.
A grand scheme of knighthood was formed, a wizards' tower was constructed where those in the art of magic could study and grow in skill, temples were formed where priests could pray and lead by faith, soldiering barracks were created for everyday training of the men-at-arms, and even a thieves guild was formed and those employed within were often called upon as scouts, spies, or assassins.  Things were starting to come around for the better between humans and elves.  Then after 30,000 years of being dormant, the dragons awoke...