The League is the alliance of trolls and goblins that flowed down from the hills some hundred years ago, beginning the Mithril War. It has been mainly unwarlike since they were beaten soundly some 80 years ago, mostly due to the powers of the demimages of Balath, a small secluded monastary of sorts atop an eirie in the Dale of the Titan Eagles. It is the most advanced college of magic anywhere in Asterland or beyond. The group is a sect of mages that are familiar with the history of their world, the hidden secrets of the haulocause era and the origins of the monsters. Most of what mankind knows nowadays about their beginnings is pure myth and lies. It was decided some years ago by the historians of the time that history must never repeat itself.

The remnants of this era are the Seekers, or Seekers of Knowledge. They are all that remain of the original humans that roamed the earth. The drow are the only surviving native elves, which took to the tunnels at the time of the great winter. The high elves took to the skies in their spelljammer craft, but many died of the radiation. The elves returned centuries later as the great winter was at its worst, though the radiation, or the 'killing feel' as it is called had subsided. Their legend had it that after a time the killing feel would go away to harm other planets. The years were counted on tribal 'yin sticks,' long blue staffs with 200 gems in them. Each year at the springtime of their home planet, another gem was crushed, symbolizing the time left until they could return to their home world to inhabit it once more. Upon their return they had gained in magical power, which was stored in huge crystals that they brought with them on their exodus home. There was a number of sages entrusted with the knowledge that one day they would go home. The lifespan of an elf is about 150 years, so it was known the few alive at the time of the 'flight' as it was called, would live to see their return.

The world that they arrived at was the 'old sphere' the original home of the elves in 'silkspace', this section of the galaxy, that which is reachable by spelljammer. Silkspace is a group of some thirty two solar systems which are within 2 light years of one another. Between them is a gas cloud and the system is somwhat like the pliedes, or seven sisters of our own galaxy, though on a larger scale. The systems have a complex orbit around one another which is non planar, or not two dimensional. Travel by spelljamming is so far impossible beyond silkspace.

After their return in the 'exodus', the elves faced severe hardships of a bitter winter that never quite ended. Springtime was about a month long as was summer and fall, the other 14 months lost in darkness and cold. This was the first thing to be repaired. The 'springsingers,' the sages with the knowledge and ability to channel the stored magic from the crystals funneled the labors of the past two centuries into warming the planet and bringing things into their natural state again. It was sworn that technology should never again rule the earth save the same catastrophe should occur that destroyed entire nations and brought heartache to many. The springsingers are allied with the Seekers, which share the secrets of the ages.

The monsters of the League are those that remember the horrors of the great winter as well. It is passed down from one generation to the next as reason for the hatred for the mannish races. They blame them for what happened, forgetting that they too were once part of them. Their hideous forms as contrasted with the beautiful elves stir up this hatred from time to time. Many of the trolls are very intellegent, their ancient ancestors the great elves, which were left behind by the spacefaring high elves. These elves were a race of tall, well built dwarves, almost giants. They were seven to eight feet tall and very intellegent. They loved the sea and the lakes of the forest and could not bear to leave their home for the stars.

The goblins were once halflings, twisted in form and shape. The orcs were hobbits, of which some survived the great winter in the small town of Pip, much of which was underground. The hobbits that survived were saved by a time portal into the future. They stepped through the portal to present day Pip, finding the ruins of their former home. They only arrived two years ago, and will not tell of their origins. They have made peace with the League, but are not allies, choosing their independence. The Seraph granted them this, feeling joy in those that were once so much a part of them. The hobbits had been peaceloving folk and have a strong dislike for humans and high elves, which were the major players in the apocalypse. Few remember what the fight was all about, but those that do say that the elves had grown powerful in their kingdoms of steel and glass, as had the humans. The elves preferred powerful magic where the humans preferred technology. A terrible battle was waged in which an exchange of power the likes of which had never been seen in all Jera, or the world. The high elves won the first exchanges, attacking from their spelljamming ships. The humans bought out a traitor amonst the elves which could teleport. He delivered the newly discovered nuclear devices in each major city of the high elves, unknown to the elves. One Brittle Castledrop a mage of the high elves discovered what had happened through scrying shortly before they were due to go off. The high elves took to the skies with as many of their people as they could carry, attacking the cities of the humans with fiery magic and destruction, tearing the fabric of the local planar space in the process. This is part of what harmed the planet. The tear extended to the elemental plane of ice, which over time sucked the heat from the planet. The elves realized all too late what had happened and fled to silkspace, viewing the fiery destruction of their cities as they left.

The elves now want nothing to do with war and have made peace with the few humans that survived, calling a truce to their previous disputes. The seekers and high elves are now allies. The humans that came later are not originally from Jera. They are spacefaring pioneers from Oridia, one of the nearby systems of silkspace. They have grown in number quickly and have developed some technology of late. This technology along with the fact that they are not native to Jera has angered the Legion even more, especially as they have made friends with the elves, which all too soon are forgetting their promises to never let technology develop again. The seekers are worried as well. They try to stem the tide by kidnapping and 'deprogramming' the inventors of such items with forget spells, but the spirit of the times is for renaissance of science. Archeologists uncover more and more each day of their past, much of it kept to themselves. They are aware that many archeologists have disappeared without explaination and then found again with no knowledge of their former work or lives. They don't want this to happen to them, but this does not satiate their curiosity as to the origins of the world. The scientists as they call themselves argue that the traditional history of their people is untrue and the real truth ought to be given to the people once and for all. The sages live in the 'fortresses of the ancients' which are depositories of the real history of the people of Jera.

The Legion live in a kingdom of their own in the east and mountainous regions of Jera. They have learned to make a living by living off wild animals and raising herds of their own. Many have learned to live underground and be happy there. Great farms of fungus and mushrooms are their main source of food there as well as a variety of rock consuming herd animals that are native to the underground regions. It was much due to these that the Drow were able to survive the great winter. Called 'crunchers,' the stupid animals live belowground sucking the iron nutrients out of rocks that they crush to dust by banging rocks together. They are blue-green bipeds that have enough intellegence to eat and run from danger, but that is about it. The beasts are not mistreated as they are the lifeblood of the Drow society. They grow fat until they cannot support their own weight. It is then that they usually die of thier own when they can no longer move about and crunch rocks. Only then do the Drow harvest them. The Drow are not the evil creatures that they are made out to be by the elves and humans of Asterland. They are intolerent and very biased against those of Asterland, but are kind fathers and mothers and wish to live in peace for the most part.

Some bands of Drow, the "Retrib's", short for retributionists, are not of this mindset at all, and it is these groups that attack into Asterland on raids from time to time. Their culture is much like that of the American Indian, living off wild animals and posessing a strong code of honor. Their braves gain their status in the tribe by the amount of 'astos', or citizens of Asterland, that they kill in war raids. These raids come closer and closer to Brinn all the time.

Pip lies on the edge of the mountains just north of Dell. It is a happy place, partly due to the cheery nature of hobbits and partially from the love that they have for alcohol and spice consumption.

The town is built on the fertile hillside and in the evergreen forested valley below and is home of a few thousand hobbits. Indeed it is their safe haven. Stangers are not unwelcome to visit, but highly encouraged not to stay on a permanent basis. The charming city is always full of life and laughter, a strong contrast to many of the cities of Asterland. Children play in the streets and doors are seldom locked. The roads are of fine cobblestone and the houses of morter, those that are not built as burrows in the side of the hill. Fine food and dancing abound. It seems that there is not a care in the world for the hobbits. The trolls and goblins of the mountains leave them alone, not that they are lovers of the silly folk, but because they don't taste good to them and they have a little agreement where the hobbits supply spice and tobacco to the monsters in exchange for their safety. Thus the hobbits remain neutral to affairs of the humans and the goblins, but are protected by the goblins and trolls, seen as valuable resources much as slaves might be considered by some. All trade in the city is done in ounces of spice, but there are money changers which will exchange gold for spice at the rate of 10 gp/ounce. Thus prices can be easily calculated by taking the gp value of something and dividing by 10 to get the number of ounces that it would take of spice to buy the same item.

Spore is a reddish brown shiny powder, a naturally occuring halucinogen. It is harvested as dots on a type of mushroom that grows for the most part only in the region of which Pip is a part and in the Kirschwald Forest, cultivated by those in the hire of punkers. They are farmed in caves dug deep into the hillside. Many of the hobbits raise their own for personal use. It is water soluable, and is often added to drinks to give them 'punch.' The effects of inbibing spice is dependent upon the amount ingested. Typically an ounce is enough to put a barfull under the tables with the same effects as large amounts of alcohol consumed. It takes 1/10 of an ounce to make one drunk enough to stagger and fall. Twice that amount will cause the weakness to pass and hallucinations to begin. Three tenths of an ounce approaches deadly effects. Smaller doses serve to put one in a really good mood. Many of the hobbits have a constant buzz from the substance.