changed almost overnight with the arrival of the barbarian hordes of humans. The humans came like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, consuming everything in their path in a bacchanal dance of fire, plunder, and destruction. The face of Ardania would never be the same...

The true origins of humans are virtually unknown. Legends speak of a distant homeland, called Yggd. It is depicted as an idyllic and enigmatic land of plenty, where humans were treated like children by caretaker gods. For unknown reasons, the humans were cast down from the gods' favor and were exiled to fend for themselves in another world, which happened to be Ardania. It is virtually impossible to establish anything beyond sheer speculation as to where Yggd lay, to what extent it is myth and to what reality, and if it was part of Ardania or a totally different world altogether. Only a few ageless sages know that the humans emerged in Ardania from the Great Mists of the Southern Sea of Azra.

The invader humans had steel technology similar to the ambient one, had a common barbarian language, were a single if diverse tribe, and were led by great war-chiefs, called jarls. The jarls were supported and advised by potent clerics, who aided the human advance greatly with their powerful magic. Dressed in furs, iron-studded armor, and horned or spiked helms, protected by almond-shaped heavy iron-studded wooden shields, and wielding axes and heavy swords, the humans rowed their longboats with confidence and bravado. Intelligent, voracious, aggressive, and incorrigible, the humans steered their Grand Fleet north through Azra and first met the equally aggressive azrac pirates.

The inevitable conflict went badly for the azracs, who had become overconfident after centuries of apparent naval dominance in Ardania. After a few pitched naval battles and the human sacking of two major azrac ports, the cunning azrac opted for evasion instead of confrontation. Bearing glittering gifts of gold and gems, and even more glittering stories of elven treasure and grandeur, the emissaries of the azrac sultans managed to convince the jarl of the incredible loot that expected them in the fabled lands of Xendarra. Like a pack of wolves sensing the forthcoming kill, the jarls gathered their fleet and sailed eastward to the great relief and malign jubilance of the azrac. The azrac sultans had two reasons at once to be happy with the development - they had averted the danger to their own holdings while simultaneously hurting their long-standing naval economic rivals - the elves of