An Excerpt from “Why We Won"

We did not lose — especially NOT to those tree huggers from the Feron Isles. Still, a close Fifth was not the First place of which the Elves boasted. The Blessing bestowed upon them was incomparable. To think Aru would bequeath those introverts with such long life was an affront to our ancestry. WE, the proud dwarven clerics of The Spirespine Mountains of Eldruent-Vangruldear who helmed the innovation of Regeneration, deserved such a prize! All they did was put a horn on a horse…

For the next two-hundred years, at every Beltine Market, every Masque, those pine-scented Feronites would brag endlessly of their paltry victory. No matter! We would forge ahead. Though the frustration at our ‘misstep’ was palpable for two centuries, at least we weren’t those simpering wretches from Svalden! HA! Producing a spell that Inflicts Wounds instead of curing them… how does an entire continent (however small) mess up that badly? They definitely needed the Fountain of Healing given to them. Too bad it froze over almost immediately and is barely functional — though they’re probably happy last place didn’t constitute a more disastrous ‘prize.’

That Age of Innervation ended when I was 234 years old, and the next Competition began, as usual, with the resounding beauty of The Aurora. The Age of Wonders had begun and, by Daglir, was Eldruent-Vangruldear ready. We built The Greatest Dimaryp with our cumulative generational resolve, earning us First place and the Divine Favor that came with it for the next two-hundred years, befit of our prodigious skill.

~ Rangrim Mountaincarver, Eldurent-Vangruldearan Architect and Anthropologist writing on the transition from The Age of Innervation to The Age of Wonders in his book “Why We Won,” 149 BCA (Before Current Age)