Long ago, in a faraway land called Urtistan, there was a great and wide desert. Nothing in this desert survived without the will of the lords. Things always died and things always burned. Very few could ever survive, but then came a small group of people. They came to the desert tired and beaten. The desert did not offer them refuge instead it tried to get rid of them as deserts do, but these people, these wonderful people, fought back and after many years began a life. As the flowing form of time passed the small group began to grow. Branching off and making the desert more hospitable. People kept growing and the small city kept expanding. Eventually the group became a large mass and having seen this, the masters of the group decided upon expanding to the ultimate form. A massive city, large enough to rival that of emperor cities would be constructed. Upon the empty desert wastes did the Masters and their soldiers descend. There was no war to have, no people to fight, no cities to conquer so the Masters decreed the land suitable and began construction.
It 78 years and countless innovations but the Masters and their armies of soldiers and workers finished it. Standing alone in the empty desert, with no enemies and no rivals stood a mighty city of Peace and Humanity. And so it was to stay for years to come. In that time, the groups of humans that lived there began to expand their thoughts. They thought of new technology and ways of life. Created chapels and palaces, Skyscrapers, Schools, Institutes of Science and life. In all this time, however, they never thought to meet others. Certainly members of the city traveled to the city of knowledge or further but the whole of the cities populations never left their city. Time passed and the people grew. Science increased, knowledge increased, and people grew up smarter.
Eventually a large clock tower was constructed in the dead center of the massive city. With its creation, however, it was decided that it needed someone to keep it running. Soon after the construction was completed a child was born. His parents were clockmakers and the child, born of honest heart and mind, showed great interest in the ideas of time and space. His name was Zilean. At a young age he was sent to the clock tower to be its soul and janitor. From the top of the clock tower he was able to see the city for all that it was, and it was beautiful. Watching the clock taught him about time. He learned through the basic educational system, of course, but the clock was his true teacher. It taught him what he really wanted to know. With the never ending tick-tock of the Clock always going in his head, he began to bond with the clock tower. When he reached the teenage years he began experimenting with clocks. Learning all he could about them. No one bothered him, no one visited him, and he learned all he wanted and all he needed from the clock and solitude. The solitude made him smart and the knowledge of time made him wise. Though he was always alone, he never blamed the city below. Instead, he loved them. He realized that because they sent him here, he was able to learn more than anyone else. Time was his prison and his companion. In his later years he began experimenting with Temporal Magic. He wanted to know if it would allow him to see into all the futures so he could truly know time.
Around this time Urtistan fell under a terrible set of circumstances. Slowly the group of Dark-Knights began working their way towards the Massive city. They had trained for this but had never expected such loss or such death. The war began to rage into the city, destroying anything in its path. Nothing survived, expect the clock tower. The Knights knew of the sorcerer that inhabited the large tower, of his magical powers over time. So they left him alone, like everyone else. He was left alone and the Dark-Knights raged on through the city. Burning and killing everyone they saw.
Zilean had heard the sounds of war but at the time his mind had been vacant, gone from the real world. Traveling through all of time and seeing all that could be seen. When his mind had returned he ran to tell the masters of what terrible things were to come. Unfortunately, it was too late. When he raced out of the clock tower he fell into an unknown land. It was his city, but it had changed. Ash and scorch marks ran along everything. Few builds remained standing, any that did would only stay like that for a little while longer, until the next storm.
Zilean retreated back into the tower. Alone, he stood and looked out at the now destroyed city. He looked at all the landmarks now burned that he had seen only weeks ago. Just as the height of his realization hit, that he was the last remaining human in the city, a great light surrounded his body. His mind flashed through all of his childhood then before his life then even further. Back to the beginning of the city. To the original Masters and their armies of builders.
A few weeks passed and his mind finally returned to his body. When he awoke he noticed something strange, he had survived weeks without food or water. Using his vast knowledge of time he began to search for the name of this disease. After weeks of searching he found out about an institute that could help, possibly even cure him, The Institute Of War. Home to a group of legends throughout time. Putting it in his mind to travel there he only took what he needed. His robes and the cities clock. With these two he traveled to the Institute.
When he arrived he was processed and told the name of his disease, Chrono-Displasia. The disease granted him immortality but caused his mind to travel without warning through any point in time from the past to the present. The institute told him of the cure. The Institutes powerful summing magic. They offered him the cure, he gladly accepted.
Though the disease would cause him to see random points in time, sometimes that of the old city with its thousands of people, he never wanted to give up the immortality or power of time. With this in mind he became a champion for the League and began a new quest, Searching for a way to bring back his city and people. Lonely is the path of an immortal Lord of Time. No one knows this better than the lord Zilean and even though his life is sad he always pushes forward. HE does this because he saw something one day, though he will never say what, it is believed he saw a future for himself and his kind. This knowledge will always stay in his mind and with it, he will never give up.