Before the kingdoms rose, two titans walked the world. Vaerun, later called the Keeper of Embers, and Malakor. They were friends. Together they discovered that the First Flame is neither a god nor a gift. It is a law of the world that lets matter remember, change and answer to will.
Vaerun wanted to share that knowledge. He taught humans, dwarves and elves how to light forges, how to bind oaths and how to build cities that last for centuries. He believed freedom was worth the risk.
Malakor watched over a single kingdom in a valley full of orchards. He loved it more than anything. When its people used the Flame carelessly and burned together with their orchards, something in him broke.
"You gave them a fire they do not understand," he told Vaerun. "Every choice is a chance for disaster. If nothing changes, nothing can go wrong."
Since then Malakor has worn a crown that never moves. His magic does not destroy. It stops. A river turns to crystal under his touch, a bird freezes in flight, a person stops dreaming. Malakor calls this mercy.
Vaerun still asks himself whether he could have stopped him. One of his own decisions, centuries ago, helped cause the catastrophe he does not like to talk about. Titans are not infallible.
They say that where oaths were once broken, magic gathers like water in a hollow. Perhaps that is why both of them are searching the same ruins today.
A legend of the world of Crownforge. Game features are described with their status on the other pages.
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