On Ages and Imperialism:
The most immediate threat to the City-States and for that matter, the Wild Elf Confederacy, is The Orc Tribes of the Imperial Rider, the only true empire left in the realm. The Wyrm Kingdoms were the last great empire, but collapsed after the Age of Wyrms and thus began the Rule of Man. The Wyrm Kingdoms were ruled by Dragons. The dragons selected elf champion riders and taught them the secrets of iron and magic. The dragons taught the humans to worship them as gods. Their most devout worshippers became Clerics (they were called Dragon-Priests) who were granted spells and special abilities above those of mere mortals by the dragons. The orcs were recognized by the dragons as the realms greatest warriors. From them, the dragons raised their great armies which were led by orc generals. The Elf Champion-Riders, the Dragon-Priests and the Orc Generals served the dragons, and ruled over the bulk of humans, orcs, halflings and dwarves (there are no records indicating that the Darkling Ways existed during this age). Their rule lasted for 8,000 years, then a civil war broke out amongst the kingdoms. The specifics are vague, but it seems that during the last 2,000 years of the Age of Dragons, a sub-age called the Age of Enlightened Alignment occurred first amongst the humans then later spread to the other species.
It was during this sub-age, that mankind and a number of elves, stopped worshipping their Dragon Lords, and discovered the Paths of Alignment. Human Philosopher-Theologians (who later called themselves Clerics) wrote the Paths of Alignment, and started the three ethos: Law, Chaos and Neutrality. At the same time as this renaissance, the Dragon Lords -- against the wishes of their Elf Riders, taught magic to the first humans, birthing the magic-users. These two things were the beginning of the end for the Dragon Lords.
The Dragons quickly saw the danger of the Philosopher-Theologians, and outlawed them, declaring that they all must be executed. This outraged their human subjects, who in turn looked to their own magic-users for help. A resistance was born, led by the magic-users and the Clerics of Alignment. It grew and snowballed until the dwarfs, halflings, and even rogue elves and orcs faught against their dragon masters. An internal strife was also started amongst the Elf Riders. Legend says that even the Vampyre Clans of the Desert Sands joined forces against the Kingdom of the Wyrms.
At the end of this bloody struggle, the great dragons were either slain or driven to the north. The Orc Generals were defeated, their vast armies broken and chased west. The Dragon-Priests were captured and died in flames, the same fate they had wrought upon the Clerics of Alignment. Near the end of the war, the Riders turned against each other and only one rider survived the onslaught: Balthar the Betrayer (in some way, Balthar started the struggle within the Riders, again the specifics are lost). At the end, only Balthar remained, he fled west and the age of The Rule of Man began.
Elf, dwarf and human went their separate ways. The elves quickly recovered and formed the Wild Elf Confederacy. They are a loosely tied confederacy that claim the forests for themselves and are isolationist to the extreme. The dwarves returned to their mountains and their respective clans, no change occurred for them. Halflings, as ever just sought to blend into human society, and/or remain isolated. The changes for humans were just beginning
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