In the land of Noam, there were magical and majestic creatures who lived together peacefully. Pixies frolicked amidst buttercups and junipers. The giggles of elven children could be heard as they chased one another through the thick forest. Dragons and griffins wheeled through the air. The dwarves’ beards wagged as they nodded sagely alongside the hooting astrids. There was a pure, green atmosphere that filled the land with happiness and peace.

Unfortunately, this pristine environment was not to last.

    One fateful day, a capsized ship washed ashore. There was one survivor. The survivor was a brilliant scientist and adventurer named Henry Richardson. Not unlike the state of his vessel, he was broken and battered in mind, body, and spirit.  He now lay upon the beach,  oblivious to his surroundings. Pitying him, the elves took him in and nurtured him back to health.  Despite their efforts, only his body could be saved.  Much to everyone’s misfortune, they could not save his mind.

    In his corrupted state, he believed that the elves had attacked his ship and killed everyone--but him--capturing him; just to be able to torture him for information since he was a top secret scientist.

    Ranting and raving, he fled from the elves to the only volcano on the island: Mt. Noli. Cackling, he declared that no one would get any information from him as he dove into the volcano headfirst, where the inhabitants of the island believed him to have perished.

    Mysteriously, a few years after the incident, a few young dragons and griffins started disappearing. The incidents were passed off as foolish younglings being dared to do crazy things--as young ones often do--and dying, or getting lost in their attempt to complete their ridiculous dare.

    Then, elves began to vanish as well. Elves are known for their strict parenting, and no elf would accept a dare, no matter what; they were above that. By this time, the amount of disappearances were becoming vast and many were starting to worry.

    A young elf named Fanglyr, along with a dragon named Drake, and a griffin named Gruffr went on a quest to find out what was wrong. They suspected the evil to have originated from the volcano. Ever since the mad survivor had dived into the mouth, it had spewed lava and flaming rocks from its opening. The trio climbed through a crack in the volcano which led to a tunnel. As they traveled down the tunnel, they were attacked by monstrous creatures they had never encountered before. Escaping peril within but mere inches, they went deeper and deeper into the volcano, ending their long winding trek at the heart of the volcano.

    There they found Henry Richardson.

When he had gone into the volcano, he had discovered an evil spirit, which fed him until he was consumed throughout with black magic. To suit his changed mind, he changed his name to Rathgor.

He started capturing dragons and griffins, dissecting, mutating, and combining them to create different species which he trained to be his minions. He also started capturing elves, which became his elite soldiers. Because of the black magic that had consumed him, he was now an evil sorcerer and was able to twist the minds of the species he created to do as he commanded.

By the time Fanglyr, Drake, and Gruffr discovered him, he had amassed a humongous army. The trio tried to stop him, but they were too few. Fanglyr and Drake were killed and Gruffr was fatally injured. Miraculously escaping the volcano, Gruffr warned the elves before he, too, died.

Although they were warned, the dragons, griffins, and elves were defeated and almost wiped out. The pixies disappeared into hollows of trees and were rarely seen again. The elves fled to the forest. The dragons and griffins flew to caves, cliffs, and the tops of high trees, but because they were so large, they were frequently killed and a dragon or griffin sighting was even rarer than a pixie sighting. Many magical creatures were never seen again as Rathgor placed his mutants throughout the corrupt land.

Victorious,  Rathgor renamed the land Terror, for that is what he instilled.