In the beginning there was the world, barren and formless. To this world came the great spirits who disliked what they saw so caused great mountains to rise forth and oceans to form. They shaped and molded the world until they were happy with their work and gave it the breath of life. Great forests grew and the land was populated with a myriad of beasts. Proud of their creation the spirits decided something was missing, so they created the first sentient life - the Elves and the Dwarves. The Elves lived in great realms in the forest, and were at one with the trees and beasts there, while the Dwarves made their home deep in the mountains where they quarried ores and precious gems.

It is not known when the race of Men appeared on this world, tho it is thought another spirit had bought them here from a distant land. Whatever their origin, the Men quickly multiplied and spread, creating cities and realms of their own as they did so. Their interaction with the Elves and Dwarves was little, tho some members of the older races took it upon themselves to teach the race of Men in some of their ways - primarily metallurgy and construction. Under this tutiledge Men quickly advanced technologically, until they had covered most of the land. It looked like a Golden Age was approaching for all three races when a great cataclysm occured, unforseen by even the wisest of Elves. Sudden techtonic activity caused the sudden formation of a great mountain range, severing the eastern third of the world of Men from the rest. The land to the East of the range was black and sulpherous as volcanoes appeared where there had been none before. This land was called Mordor, "the land of death".

This was a great blow to the Men, now cut off from their eastern and southern cousins, but there was little they could do. The land east of the mountain range was inhospitable, and none could survive there for long. It was for this reason that all hope was abandoned of ever regaining contact with their lost kin. They were far from lost however for their cities were far from the newborn volcanoes. Their cultures continued to grow and flourish, albeit without the further influence of the Elves and Dwarves, some even descending into barbarism. The peoples of these lands were outraged at being abandoned so readily by their kin and vowed to have their revenge - eventually.

Meanwhile, another great event shook the world of Men. A fierce warlord named Sauron raised an army and marched on the volcanic plateau. There he constructed a great fortress that was able to withstand the ravages of that dark land. He drew mercenaries, brigands and cutthroats to his banner and with them waged war on the world of Men. The war was long and bitter, and eventually Sauron was driven back into Mordor. His army was broken and he had but a few hundred warriors remaining. It was thought that Sauron had been beaten, but in reality he had retreated to lick his wounds and plot even greater schemes.

It was not long after his defeat that Sauron was visited by a mysterious traveller, who offered his vast knowledge and skills to the Lord of Mordor. Sauron leapt at the chance but didn't realise the nature by which he would receive the knowledge. Ever since the visit of the traveller - who was never heard of again - Sauron was changed, mostly only in subtle ways but changed nonetheless. He certainly gained much knowledge from the traveller but in return became more and more withdrawn leaving his head servants, fierce veterans named the Nazgul, in charge of his regrowing armies. It was during this time of withdrawl that Sauron began to experiment on Elves captured during incursions into their lands. The end result was quite different from the fairness and beauty of the Elves. It was an ugly and disfigured race, great in strength yet low in intellect. Sauron named these creatures Orcs. The Orcs were deadly warriors, yet proved to have one weakness - sunlight. This did not pose much of a problem in the lands of Mordor as they were perpetually shrouded in a volcanic haze, but outside these lands the Orcs were only effective during the night. This dismayed Sauron only slightly as he had plans for a better, stronger breed of Orc that was more capable during the day. It was these Orcs he named the Uruk-Hai.

As Sauron's armies swelled with great numbers of Orcs and Uruk-Hai, he sent riders to the East and to the South in an effort to gather support from the Men there. Tho hesitant at first, these men soon rallied under Sauron's banner and great hosts flocked to his fortress in Mordor. With them they bought their own breed of weapons and warfare - the gigantic Oliphants that roam the southern plains and the Men ride into battle. It was not to be long before Sauron had raised an army that could march on the World of Men, Elves and Dwarves and destroy it utterly.

All was not lost however. Not long after the defeat of Sauron, two mysterious travellers also appeared in the lands of Men. They claimed to be men of great power and magical ability, one was named Saruman and the other Gandalf. Together they were referred to as wizards by Men. They were also very wise and were able to counsel the leaders of men in ways that were beyond even the skill of the Elves and Dwarves. They informed the Men of Saurons deeds and the creation of the Orcs and Uruk-Hai and warned that an attack would be imminent and all would be lost if preparations were not made. Thus work began on fortifying the cities of Men closest to Mordor. During this time, Saruman, wiser of the two wizards, was gifted the tower of Orthanc by the Men so he might use it as a base of operations. Little did the Men know that Saruman's mind had become corrupted by Sauron, and the Lord of Mordor used him to breed an army of Orcs and Uruk-Hai in the depths of the tower.

Gandalf chose not to establish a home base and instead travelled the lands warning of the impending war. It was during these travels he discovered the lands of the Hobbits. A race of little people, living in the far west of the continent in rural bliss. Somehow the rest of the world had missed them, and they had managed to get by for many hundreds of years now. Where they came from was not certain, but they were at a technological level where they were not far behind the lands of Men. Gandalf was immediatly enthralled by the Hobbits, and redoubled his efforts to prepare all the lands for the oncoming war. Some of the Hobbits were of the adventurous sort and some even accompanied Gandalf on his travels....