Krynn

Krynn is the fictional world of the Dragonlance setting.

Creation

Takhisis, the head god of evil, duped her brothers into condoning the creation of the World of Krynn, which was forged by Reorx. Once the world was created, Chaos, father of the Gods, spread his influence amongst them and caused the gods to go to war. Paladine created the elves, Takhisis created the Ogres, and Gilean created the humans. Paladine, the head god of good, gave the souls physical bodies. Gilean, head god of neutrality, gave the gift of free will to while Takhisis cursed the races with mortality. Reorx shared his knowledge of metal forging with humans; however they did not honour him for sharing their new skill. Reorx cursed these humans by making them as short as him, and stripped them of their skill but leaving their desire to invent, which created Gnomes. The Graygem, which contained Chaos himself, fell to Krynn due to the gnomes meddling. A wizard named Gargath found the Graygem and took it to his castle. The gnomes followed him there and went to war for the gem. During the battle the wild magic of Chaos warped the Gnomes into the other races of Krynn. That is how the Kender, Dwarves, Minotaurs, etc came to be.

Krynn's Sky

There are three moons on the planet of Krynn, and each is the face of one of the gods of magic. They chose not to put themselves in stars or planets, but to be as close to Krynn as possible so as to watch it. Wizards of High Sorcery draw power from these moons and their respective gods. The moons are the white moon Solinari, representing the god of good magic, the red moon Lunitari, representing the goddess of neutral magic, and the black moon Nuitari, representing the god of evil magic. Nuitari as a moon is little known; it can only be seen by those who use it for their magic. Most people believe in only two moons, Solinari and Lunitari.

The other gods are represented in the sky by constellations. When the gods walk on earth their constellations disappear from the sky.

During the three decades between the Second Cataclysm and the War of Souls, the sky was different and there was also only one moon and no godly constellations, because Takhisis stole the world from the other gods and took it to a different part of the universe.

Lands

The most well known land mass of Krynn is Ansalon, a continent far to the south and the main setting of the novels. The continent is surrounded by ocean on the north, east, and west sides, and on the south by the huge mass of Icereach, a frigid and mostly unexplored wasteland. Ansalon was once a single intact continent, but the Cataclysm shattered the continent, sinking the northeastern section of it and sending many chunks of Ansalon scattering as islands, including the once great Empire of Ergoth, which was not only separated from the mainland, but split into two. North of Ansalon is the Dragon Isles, the home of the metallic dragons. Far to the east is the island Ithin'carthia, homeland of the blue-skinned "brutes", or Tarmaks first introduced in Dragons of Summer Flame. To the north and east of Ansalon is Taladas, once the home of the very evil nation of Aurim, the "Anti-Istar". The Cataclysm melted the land where Aurim was, leaving a giant lake of molten rock. Far to the north and west of Ansalon is the mysterious Adlatum. The subterranean continent of Chorane lies deep under the surface of Icereach, and little is known about this underground land.

History

The majority of the history of Krynn is actually the history of Ansalon, as it is the most well-known continent. The history of Krynn is measured in the following time periods: PC, or Prae Cataclius, meaning before the Cataclysm, AC, or Alt Cataclius, meaning after the Cataclysm, and SC, or Secundus Cataclius, the time period after the Chaos War. It is also divided into five Ages, the Age of Starbirth, the Age of Dreams, the Age of Might, the Age of Despair, and the Age of Mortals. The Age of Starbirth saw the creation of the world and the formation of the first races.

The Age of Dreams contains the First Dragon War, fought by the elves under Silvanos Goldeneye against the evil dragons. The elves prevailed against the evil dragons using magical stones that were lost after the war. Kender, minotaurs, and dwarves begin to settle, however the dwarves disturb the magical stones and unleash the evil dragons again. This begins the Second Dragon War, which is ended by the great power of several mages, however this power scars the land of Ansalon. These mages learn the law of magic and form the Wizards of High Sorcery and the Towers of High Sorcery. After this war, the Kinslayer War is fought, and Qualinesti is founded. Later, the Rose Rebellion is led against the Empire of Ergoth and Solamnia is founded by Vinas Solamnus. In addition, Istar is founded in this Age. The Third Dragon War erupts, leading to the great sacrifice by Huma Dragonbane to keep Takhisis away from the world.

The Age of Might sees the rise of Istar. Paladine holds great stock in the relatively new nation. Istar grows and begins trading, growing stronger and stronger until it is a major world power. Istar fights with several nations in protest to their growing power. The Kingpriest begins rulership of Istar and declares itself the moral center of the world. Istar begins to lose sight of the balance between good and evil and tries to eradicate evil in the world. Mages are persecuted by the Kingpriest, and they are forced to retreat to the Tower of Wayreth. Soon, the Kingpriest demands from the gods the power they gave to Huma Dragonbane in hopes of destroying all evil. The gods grow angry and they hurl a fiery mountain at Ansalon, an event known as the Cataclysm.

The Age of Despair is a time of famine and of evil. Nations descend into squalor, and the Knights of Solamnia become a dishonored group. Takhisis readies herself to launch the War of the Lance upon Ansalon. When the War of the Lance erupts, the Heroes of the Lance fight back against Takhisis, leading to the defeat of her armies at several fronts and her total defeat at Neraka when Berem, the Everman and the secret to either Takhisis's final defeat or success, is allowed to die. After the War, Raistlin Majere begins his plans to ascend to godhood and this culminates in the destruction of Palanthas. Also, the Knights of Takhisis are formed by Ariakan. The Chaos War erupts and in its terrible wake the Age of Mortals begins.

The Age of Mortals sees the appearance of the Dragon Overlords, a group of incredibly large and powerful dragons who take control of the lands of Ansalon. With the loss of traditional arcane and clerical magic, Palin Majere establishes sorcery and Goldmoon establishes Mysticism. Years later, the War of Souls comes to Ansalon where it is discover Takhisis stole the world from the other gods in order to become the sole god. Several Overlords die during this time, including Malys the Red, the greatest of the Overlords, and Beryl the Green, the ruler of Qualinesti and the areas around it, and Khellendros the Blue, ruler of the lands around Solamnia. Takhisis herself is killed because she has been stripped of her immortality, and Paladine also descends into mortality. At the current time setting of the novels, the world of Krynn is still reeling from the War of Souls.

Religion

There are seven Gods and Goddesses for each alignment of good, evil, and neutral, including the three gods of magic.

There are also several "other" gods, worshipped by barbarian clans. They are usually one of the true gods being worshipped under a different identity. An example of this is in Khur where they worship the Condor Lord. The symbol of Sargonas is a condor and he is the god of vengeance. They do not realize they follow the same god as the minotaurs.

References

* "Amber and Ashes"
* "The Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles"
* "The Annotated Dragonlance Legends"
* "Dragons of a Fallen Sun"
* "Dragons of a Lost Star"
* "Dragons of Summer Flame"
* "Dragons of a Vanished Moon"
* "The Legend of Huma"
* "Night of Blood"
* "Tasslehoff's Map Pouch, "The Continent of Ansalon" map"
* "Towers of High Sorcery"