Introduction

Ravings of the Crystal Prophet
Dear Reader: Within these scattered leaves are the collected observations, collected lore, and summary knowledge of our world. A world called Haze. It is a world of mystery. It is a world of magic. It is a world where many races, faiths, and political agendas lend themselves to shifting powers, vast wars, and intense uncertainty. Even the night sky is askew, its stars changing year after year, after year. It was this that first led me to begin investigating the nature of our world. Ours is a world with a forgotten, shared past that not even the eldest sages of the elves or ogres can recall what came before. It is a world without an origin. It is a world of lost peoples.  You, dear reader, are hearing the first echoes of a truth lost to the path. Dig deeper into these notes if you dare. Even now, they come for me. They will say I am a mad man. I will be led to be led to the catacombs, but they will not quiet my words. You have them now. This must not be forgotten or lost to all time! These letters will find their way to the people, and with them, the truth of Haze!

Haze is a young world, possessing precious few of its own truly legendary stories. It is a world only recently settled, with its first civilizations still settling on their boundaries and cultures still swirling and melting into something more permanent. Its hills and mountains have not yet been fully mined to great depths by the Dwarves. The Elves have not yet tamed or explored every forest. The oceans are still wild, and its depths unplumbed. It is a strange world with a drifting sky, three continents, and a strange, unknowable fog that encircles all of known creation. Those who have tried to set sail into the haze and made it back tell stories of strange, alien sights, seas where the ocean and stars reverse themselves, and darker, more dangerous things lurking in the dark. On the firmament stand a collection of nations, divided by politics, attitudes about magic, and religious orders who have not yet truly solidified their own doctrines. It is a world in flux, waiting for something definitive to give shape to its future history. Beneath it all are great mysteries and uncertainties, a shaded past, a lost history, and a looming shadow that if uncovered, could shape  the entire future of creation. Take up your tools, your bow, your blade, your book. Set out on the road, any road.  All are bound to lead to adventure and intrigue, and with the right blend of courage, skill, and wits you–yes, you–shall forge the legends to which future bards and skalds venerate in song and verse!