When the creators made the world, they sought to create a land without the evils and sorrows their kind had endured before reaching what they thought was enlightenment. It was to this end, that the plane was crafted with the ability to use markings to influence the energies of nature. There were the runes of the Elements. Elements such as the Earth, and the water. But the creators knew it would take more than that for their world to prosper.
To That end, they made runes to influence every part of existence. The Earth could then be made fertile and malleable to the desires of those who tilled it; the water could be made pure. The basic building blocks of life could be encouraged to grow and evolve. It was through these runes that all matter and life on the plane were created.
For a time, all was well. The land prospered, and people thrived as they discovered that even in their cold, snowy part of the world they could do well for themselves. It was an accident that they discovered the power of the runes. The creator's gift was meant to be the world, not the ability to change it.
At first, the people used the runes to make their world better. They could live in lands they never dreamed of. This was how, over the centuries, they came to live solely in Winter's Heart. The snow afforded them more protection from the creatures of the land, and thanks to the runes they were able to grow food in areas that were safe from the ravages of the cold.
Perhaps it was an accident that the creator gave man greed and malice. Noone knows for certain. But there came a time when some men decided to use the power of the runes for their own gain rather than the good of all. They researched the powers of the runes, discovering magiks that even the creators couldn't have concieved.
With time, Man learned how to even use the runes on people. They could be bathed in their power to give them the abilities to manipulate the elements. But, they could also be used to influence the demeanor of man. There were those bred to be subserviant, those that were bred to be warriors.
It was because of this that, in a way, 3 classes of man existed. The nobles, who merely had their power due to their birthright or their skills at the runic arts, the 'Bred,' those manipulated since before birth by man to serve a purpose, and the commoners, who could only force themselves to be content with toiling under the oppressive hand of the nobles.
This was known by all. Everyone had to know their place and live within it. What was not known, however, was that man's course though time had been altered by their abuse of the arts, and the time would come where the lines between the classes blurred, having effects that would forever change their world...
