Long ago, Terra was a peaceful land. It, like all such places, played home to the occasional band of rogues looking to cause a bit of trouble, but they passed quickly and left the residents of Terra again in peace. The land was forever green and prosperous, and times were good.

Slowly, however, the peace began to fade. With the coming of a stranger, whom the Terrans named El Loco, came a slow but evident change. More and more horses found themselves lured by his dark and mysterious ways, drawn to his intoxicating speech of purification, purging the weak from the land and leaving only the strong. He quickly developed a following, who made a name for themselves in wreaking havoc. Attacks, murders, kidnappings... the land plummetted quickly into war.

Terra War I, led by Loco and his small band as they stood up against the many detached and frightened herds of Terra, began on a fierce note. Feeding on the lights' unwillingness to ally themselves with one another to defend themselves and their neighbors. The destruction was great. But in the end, the light forces found their strength. United by a pony by the name of Brave, they lashed back in staggering numbers, and Loco's darks fled in defeat. For many years, the peace was restored.

The second war began, once again, with the return of El Loco. The scenario was much the same: he came, he intoxicated with words, he gained support. But the scale of his support, this time, was immense. All over the land horses gathered to do his bidding, or formed their own bands to immitate his, bringing destruction and death to the land. Everywhere one looked, innocent horses were dying. The lands were no longer safe to wander, to live in. The lights knew they had to act.

And they did.

But the darks acted first.

It began with the fire. Some of the most elite darks in Terra, after a carefully kept secret meeting, set out to destroy the Verdesh. They watched day and night, and at the first available thunderstorm, devised to set fire to the summer-dried grasses of Verdesh. The minute lightning struck home, they carried torches in all directions as far as they could go and spread the fire across the lands, driving the Verdesh herd into Sanmere. And, now with three herdlands occupying the woodlands, it was marked for attack.

The lights, of course, expected the attack on Sanmere, crowded as it was, and met it in great numbers. But El Loco, always crafty, had other plans. While the warring forces were kept occupied all over Terra with plans of assassinations targeting every major figurehead and threat on both sides, he and his most trusted servant set out alone to kill her father and the undisputed lord-figure of Terra: Sage Credence. They were met with little defiance, which they silenced easily... and Sage fell.

With Sage gone, the war erupted into a frenzy. Crazed horses, mad with power, at each other's throats... all wanting to fill the seat Sage Credence had left unoccupied. For six solid days the battles raged all over the continent. The newly fueled war claimed many lives, and may have continued indefinitely until the Terrans wiped themselves out. But this was not to be. The gods had other plans for them.

The minute the respected elder Sage Credence died, the gods burst into and uproar. All of them knew that a new leader must be found, but none could agree on who to choose. As their children fought below, so too did the gods fight above. Beautiful Arathne, goddess of spirit and self, believed that Poltergeist, the humble protector of the light forces should lead the land in Sage's stead. Noble Amon, god of destruction, was adamant that El Loco himself, who had proven his worth as a powerful leader, should take the throne. And on they bickered, for six days, while beneath them their subjects fell. At long last, on the seventh day, the touseled gods saw the destruction they caused, and put an end to the war.

And started another one.

With no god able to prevail over any other, each of the five took up a champion on earth to represent his or her ideals: Kulassin favoring the supreme superiority of the gods... Arathne, the power of free will... Lionas, the strength of the mind, and Amon, the strength of the fist. Poor Rhiadre, goddess of life, wanted no more than an end to the war. And each of these champions were given power over the lands and beings they commanded, encouraged to do their benefactor's bidding... to eliminate the factions of all other gods, to prove who was greatest, and to rule Terra at the high seat of Mt. Fira.

It is a dangerous and bloody place Terra has become.