In the previous Age, the Hellfire Era, the world was in chaos. A devil, reincarnated from another world it was said, enslaved the demonic clans and used them as weapons to wage war against all others. Many races fell before them and were added to the Demonbane's armies. Giants, elves, gnomes, orcs, beastkin, humans, all forced to their knees and then driven by his black magic to assault those who fought back. But finally, the Demonbane was slain.
The heavenly races, seeing their brothers and sisters the demons turned into monsters, could bear it no longer. They created a coalition with the free races who remained, the dwarves, goblins, djinn, and even the last few of the dragons. Together they forged the items that would destroy the Demonbane. With dwarven steel, heated by dragonfire and enchanted by the djinn's innate magics, and forged into a brutal, yet effective form designed by goblin ingenuity, and quenched in the holy blood of angels, a vicious blade, the Tyrant Reaper, was forged, as was a fearsome suit of armor, the Final Aegis.
Wielded by a Hero with the blood of both dragons and angels, the Aegis and Reaper were terrifyingly powerful. The Demonbane's armies were shattered, and the Demonbane himself, slain, body destroyed by the Reaper and soul sealed within the Aegis, before both items and the Demonbane's soul were destroyed in a magic ritual. So fierce was the Demonbane's evil, that shattering his soul nearly shattered the world in turn. The many races were all reduced to shadows of their former selves, in both number and as people. The demon clans suffered especially. So long warped and enslaved by the Demonbane, their minds and bodies were twisted. Some became monstrous, or feral. Others minds had grown so warped they began to emulate the Demonbane, trying to become "Demon Kings" and conquer the world. But the explosion of wild magics from the Demonbane's destruction had another effect. A portion of the power that had made him so terrifying, the "System", became a part of the world and everyone in it. And areas of the world dense with uncontrolled magic formed "dungeons" that allowed who or whatever controlled it to create life and items solely with magic. With these changes, the new world was one of chaos, death, adventure and woe. People young and old seek out dungeons to enhance their level and acquire new powers and abilities, and for some, their adventures could reshape the future almost as drastically as the Demonbane's death. Others simply sought their own pleasures and powers. This, my friends, is the Age of Chaos.