Timeline of Xeen

...And there was the Great Nothingness, called the Void. Then a chaotic substance appeared, capable of supporting life, and from that moment, time began to be counted. But the substance was mindless and could not create; it merely tossed and turned within the Great Nothingness. Gradually, from these stirrings, Water came forth, endowed with life, and from the Water emerged the elementals, and then the Lords of the Water Element, the strongest of whom was Acwalandar. They ruled the world without rival, commanding their vassals. Then, out of nowhere, a new power appeared — the element of Air. The sudden attack by hordes of air elementals led by Lord Shalwend marked the beginning of a war that lasted more than a hundred years, and neither side could overpower the other. Then, the wise Acwalandar decided to use the most destructive force and created Fire. The fire elementals were dissatisfied with the rule of Water, but they hated Air even more. Alas, they were few in number, so for eighty years they served Water, destroying the air elementals. Eventually, the leader of the Fire forces, Lord Pyrannaste, finally dared to rise up against Acwalandar. A new equilibrium emerged — Fire could destroy any one of the opposing elements, but not two at once, and the global conflict devolved into minor skirmishes. This continued for another fifty years. All the elements had almost reconciled themselves to this balance when suddenly a new power appeared (and again out of nowhere — a trend among the elements): Earth. The earth elementals, nearly as strong as their fiery brethren and no less numerous than the hordes of Air, instantly shattered the balance. All three “old” elements were forced to unite against a common enemy, but the leader of the Earth Lords, Gralkor the Cruel, devised a cunning plan: from the bodies of their servants and fallen comrades, the Earth Lords created a massive planet — CRON. For a long time, Cron served as an impregnable bastion of Earth. Then, the political and military successes of the elements shifted events away from Cron, and the battles moved to other places in the Great Nothingness...
While the battles of the mighty elemental forces raged, weak mortal creatures (who many years later would be called the “Ancients”) began to gather in small flocks on the forgotten Cron. They bothered no one, just minding their own business... The distant battles of these primates were reflected in cataclysms which gradually (fully consistent with the theory of natural selection) hardened them, but most importantly — filled the world of Cron with magical energies. These insignificant creatures lived, bred, drank beer, and eventually became completely arrogant: they decided to take over both CRON and the Void — claiming they were the coolest. In short, they pushed their luck too far and finally attracted the attention of the Elements. The Lords realized that things were getting dangerous and decided to wipe the mortals from the face of Cron (and the Void along with it). To this end, they declared a brief truce and proceeded with the execution... But they hit a snag — the Ancients proved to be strong (their boasting wasn't for nothing, it seems). The best spellcasters gathered on one island (later called the Isle of the Ancients) and created a weapon of immense power, capable of subjugating or destroying all elemental creatures. Much time was spent in constant attempts to upgrade it, and many beta-testers of the weapon died agonizing deaths or quietly departed for the Netherworld, until finally, Kalohn appeared. “Dumb-and-fearless” — weak in magic, but a brave warrior who tested the weapon and managed to survive. And that weapon was in the form of a sphere with four legs — one for each Element, upon which the ball was mounted.
Kalohn climbed the highest mountain of Cron and challenged the four Lords of each Element to a fight. They fought for a long time, caused great destruction, and even left a crater in place of the mountain (later called The Dead Zone), but Kalohn, armed with the glowing orange sphere, defeated the Lords and scattered the Elements to the four corners of the Void (they are now called elemental planes), formed barriers to prevent them from escaping, and placed the legs of the sphere in each of the elemental planes in the order of their appearance — Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. And he kept the ball for himself... After all these events, the elementals of the Elements calmed down and the lives of mortals entered a relatively peaceful phase. Their civilization gradually evolved and reached such a high level of development that they began to give life to seemingly dead planets. To create life, the Ancients required suitable worlds upon which they created favorable conditions for mortals, and when such worlds could not be found, the Ancients simply broke off pieces of Cron and placed them in a chosen corner of the universe. This is how the planets Terra and Xeen came to be.
There are a couple more points from the history of Cron that should be known. First, who are the Kreegans? The Kreegans are an ancient civilization that emerged in the universe almost simultaneously with the Ancients and have their own designs on habitable planets. These cheerful fellows with hooves and horns arrive at a planet, build a base based on a ship, quickly organize a genocide of the local population, and live for their own pleasure. The story of their arrival on Xeen is known from Might and Magic VI: Mandate of Haven.
Second, where did the dragons come from? After the ignominious defeat of the elemental Lords, Acwalandar created the first dragon to destroy Kalohn. He quickly brushed up on his magic, whipped up a huge, strong, and fast creature, and endowed it with the most powerful weapon (guess what, he-he: naturally, fire!). The dragon fulfilled its task, but died along with Kalohn; however, the idea of such “pets” appealed to Acwalandar. One problem — all other dragons created by the Water Lord refused to obey their creator. Soon, Acwalandar ceased his creative experiments. But a considerable population of dragons settled across Cron...