(Beginning DS2, probably won't finish it anytime soon but just posting what I had laying around in my papers.)

Memory of the Lords:

When the First Flame began to fade, Lord Gwyn commanded his fellow Lords to flee Anor Londo in fear of the approaching Dark. Gwyn's daughter, Gwynevere, was wed to the Lord of Flame, Flann, ruler of the distant kingdom of Hiede. The Lords took refuge in this great city, in wait for the Lord of Light to kindle the First Flame. All was prosperous, until the Flames faded yet again.

In the kingdom of Hiede; the Lords lived in the coastal city surrounding the great Tower of Flame, while humanity lived oppressed on the outskirts. Hiede Lords were catered to in their decorative halls as Gods, while humanity scratched out a living serving them. It was clear to see the injustice at play, and when the Flame did fade and the power of the Lords wane, mankind rose against those false Gods.

The kingdom of Hiede was torn in two, a civil war that ravaged the land. On the coast was the Lords and their faithful followers who remained strong in their new kingdom of Venn; and in the mainland was the rebels in their new kingdom of Alken. Although the Lords were weak, the fortifications of the Tower of Flame were strong. Heide Knights boast sturdy armor and light imbued weaponry, alongside giants suited in heavy brass armaments. Even as the flames faded, it took a madman to challenge the Lords, and Alken was founded by one such man.

The Mad Knight of Alken gained his title from his weapon of choice, the Ring of Blades, a serrated disk that severs the head of its victim. He gathered mercenaries from around the world and led them into combat against the Lords, but was never able to conquer Venn.

As time went on the two kingdoms of Alken & Venn lived in spite of one another, until the forbidden love of an Alken Prince and a Venn Princess, brought about the final conflict that tilted the war in Alken's favor. The Lords died off or fled, in fear of the rise of humanity. Now mankind controls the fate of their own destiny, or so it may seem to the blind few.

Alken and Venn ripped each other apart, and amidst their struggle rose the kingdom of Olaphis. The King of Olaphis brought prosperity back to the lands after the bloodshed of Alken & Venn. While Olaphis did flourish under the King's ambition, he grew paranoid of the approaching Dark and shunned his responsibility to rekindle the Flame. He became so paranoid of the thought of someone usurping him that he began imprisoning any threat in the Lost Bastille and thus he assumed the title of the Bastille Lord. He began by locking away the Undead, but as the King's paranoia grew, he began locking away his own subjects as well. He persecuted sorcerers, going as far as inviting them from distant lands just to trick them into a cell. A whole village was slaughtered because one inquisitive soul dabbled in the lost art of necromancy.

The King had gone thoroughly mad, and it was then that a resistance gathered and crushed the Bastille Lord. A peacekeeper from the desert lands of Jugo; an old warrior king from the fading lands of Alken; a warlord from the restless lands of Forossa, all led by the noble sovereign, Vendrick, under the united banner of Drangleic.