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Fyr is the sun. Fyr used to be part of a binary system with another star called Maki. Fyr’s human worshippers considered Fyr and Maki rivals. Powerful magic users created an artifact intended to drive Maki away. It succeeded, but not in the way they had hoped. Maki was furious not only at humanity’s attempts to banish it, but also at its twin’s unwillingness to stop them. Maki left, but not without taking revenge on those who angered him. Fyr’s human worshippers were warped into what are now called Orcs. This event triggered a chaotic era of struggle between the Orcs and an alliance of non-humans and humans who had never worshipped Fyr. The large human empire that had occupied the large majority of the land in Alemic fractured into a number of nations. The Orcs were driven into the desert between Alemic and Oraya, as well as past the mountains of Eralta.

Maki is still visible in the night sky as a red star. To most races, it appears about as bright as most other stars, but Orcs see it as being much brighter. They experience a sharp headache whenever they lay eyes on it, along with a surge of anger. Half-Orcs are affected by this to a degree, but not nearly as much as pure Orcs.

These events are ancient history, and although they are fairly well known among those with an adequate education in history, the creation of the artifact that triggered them is only known to a select few.

The artifact was powered partly by the magic from the River Brahm, and partly by a powerful black dragon, Leonard’s ancient ancestor. The party will (probably) encounter the artifact in its original location, the ruins it inhabits unearthed by a mining operation near the split of the river. When Leonard comes into the vicinity of the artifact (or maybe touches it?) his ancestral magic will kickstart it into action, inadvertently "waking" Maki and sending him on a direct course to Oberon, the planet of our setting.

The Order of Iryth is an order of monks that resides in the mountains/highlands surrounding High Lake Brahm. The order was originally established to serve as stewards of world knowledge, but their role grew to include the collection and curation of knowledge. They sometimes decide that knowledge is simply too dangerous or disruptive to be available to the general public. When this happens, they place evidence of this information into a pond in/around their mission. Every full moon, Iryth passes directly over High Lake Brahm, as well as over the pond. Iryth takes this information and judges its threat level herself. If she deems it dangerous as well, this knowledge is purged from the minds of everyone except those who have drunk from the pond.