[SPI Advertisement c1978] SWORDS AND SORCERY Quest and Conquest in the Age of Magic - Separate Army and Quest Game, plus Role-Playing Version - Full Background History and Characters - Professionally Illustrated by Tim Kirk The Valley of the Great Sword is a much warred over area on a small planet in a trinary system many lightyears and eons removed from Terra. Superficially, there is no great difference between this highly prized region and any other coveted area that nations have fought over since time immemorial. But the Valley, and indeed the whole planet, guards a secret so valuable that few off-planet visitors that have visited that remote corner of the galaxy have all been mercilessly killed. For the Valley is an area of great magicks, where technology has all but disappeared. Long ago in the Age of the Great Upheaval (which not even the oldest of the denizens of the Valley can recall), the Council of Wizards abolished all weapons that were more advance than those used in Earth's Middle Ages. This was because (most scholars have it) mages could be killed by long range weapons before they could employ their defensive spells, and greatly feared the advent of mass-produced technology. But the population of that world trusted mages no more than you and I, and there followed a series of great wars which succeeded in devastating all areas of the planet with the exception of the Valley (called Ararlve by the ancients). A great meeting was held at the Altar of the Elder Gods, and its purpose was to determine whether the Human race should be allowed to survive. The Dragons, The Swamp-Creatures and the Spiders all vociferously argued for the extermination of all mortals, as they greatly feared the return of wizards who would be able to challenge their power. But the Elves and Dwarrows who are kin to Man showed mercy, and the meeting finally resolved that mortals would forever be excluded from the Valley. Grisha, then the greatest among Dragons, prophesied that the Elves and Dwarrows would meet their doom at the hands of Men. This so enraged Gwaimallion Elflord that he joined Grisha in mortal combat and slew him on the spot. As Grisha died he pronounced his deathcurse upon Elves and Dwarrows, My prophecy shall come true within three Ages! It was a shaken group of creatures who adjourned the great meeting. But none would for get Grisha's curse, and many sought to destroy Men in any way possible. Even some of the Elves and Dwarrows, fearful of the prophecy, sought to kill Men wherever they might be found. But the human race is a hardy one, and is not so easy to eliminate. For an entire Age, Men throughout the planet barely survived, running from their many oppressors. But when the Second Age dawned, the other races began to accept Men, and rudimentary civilizations developed. Since the beginning of recorded time, all races have shown equal adeptness at handling manna, the energy from which all magic emanates. But only the race of Man can create power items, which are great storehouses of manna. And with these power items the race of Man evolves superhumans adept at handling the items. It is this chain of events that all other races fear, for a united human race can defeat all other inhabitants of the world combined once they reach this stage. And so, at the beginning of the Third Age A.U. (After the Upheaval), the race of Man began to dominate once again. The reappearance of Wizards and the conquest of half the world occurred in less than one century. The Elder Races recognized this threat for what it was, but they were unable to co-operate amongst each other due to age-old differences. The situation became dire when the various nations coalesced into the Second Empire. Soon all lands but the Valley were Human-controlled. The Valley, root of the most powerful magic, from which the power of Man stemmed, now ironically provided refuge from Man. The Valley could not be tamed by Man, and in its own de

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