- Prelude -

(SKIP FOR BEST EXPERIENCE)

Amidst the Age of Men, when this tale took place, the stories of Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and the such, as well as the Wizards and the Dark Lords, were diminished to near obscurity, mostly believed only by the most mystic of the world. And many once prosperous nations have become forgotten, even such lands as Gondor and Rivendell, as well as the terrible dark lands of Mordor; and names and the existences of such great men as King Theoden and King Aragorn have been lost to time. Even the old name of Earth, Arda, and its Creator, Eru Illuvatar, though the Creator is still worshipped in another form, was known no more.

All the Elves have either gone to the Undying Lands centuries past or have perished as a mortal as they remained on Earth; the Orcs and Goblins were hunted and slain by the descendants of men till there were none left ages before this tale; the Hobbits still walked the Earth invisible, though with dwindling numbers; and the Eagles and Wargs, and the terrible Mumakil have all died by men or by the changing climates. All the while, the Ents dwindled as Men rapidly overtook the lands, even those once sacred in previous ages, and felled its trees for their Kingdoms.

Men, now seemingly the lone race of the world, prospered and ruled the world as they saw fit. However, though Man ruled much of the Overworld, the same cannot be said for the world under, nor for the mines of the mountains which were impenetrable to men. For those who ruled there, though not as numerous as previous Ages, were the noble Dwarves, with lineages of old whose history still remembers the history of Ages past.

The Dwarves, disgusted by the growing corruption of mankind, even worse than in the previous ages, retreated to the depths of their mines and only rarely went outside, and even less to interact with the Men.

Now, not long before the tale unravels, two terrible happenings occurred, the collision of which would return to the memories of men and reshape the old myths of the creatures and races of Arda

First, the Queen of the Kingdom of Relinberg (a nation of not a large area), wife of King Rois of the house of Tencal, Sofinna, died in childbirth, giving birth to a remarkably pale and beautiful baby, despite her having no ill countenance (in fact, the contrary).

With the death of the now late Queen, the people of Relinberg mourned for two months, the King a year, all wearing black in honor of the peerless beauty and very beloved Mother of the Land, who was the Queen. In a bid to appease his growing loneliness, two years later King Rois found fancy with was betrothed once more to a mysterious woman of a beauty second only to Queen Sofinna in all of the Kingdom and the nations abroad. From whence she came from nor of her ancestry, only certain old men and women claimed knowledge of these things, but they refuse to reveal the information for they are truly terrible, the mere knowledge of which was wicked for the soul.

However the woman, now Queen Heindi of the house of Tencal, was a cruel woman who seized control of the politics of the land with her powers, and with her seductions and tongue that spewed sweet nothings to her husband, she lulled him into a state of weakness so she could do all that she desired. It is said by the knowing few that her deception and rise to power was due to her practice of the dark arts that only the most evil of Witches could know, and still even the more demonic to perform the rituals needed.

She would arrest citizens and nobles who went against her or those who caught her eye, and imprison them in the deepest dungeons of the castles, the punishments extended to even the youngest of citizens. Of what happens to those people one could only speculate, though it is believed, in hushed tones, that she would perform forbidden rituals and sacrifices on the unlucky victims to call upon and appease the hunger of the dark gods of unknown Ages to aid in her lust for power and beauty.

Not long after her rise to Queendom, the land of Relinberg, ruled by the King in name only, no longer shone in the happy citizenry but was engulfed in the gloom of their misery and fearfulness. Sadly, hunger and crimes, unlike before, no longer became a rare thing. The people of Relinberg, drenched in hopelessness, believed that no one could stop her but death, if such a thing would claim a Witch like her.

Second, within the complex of a mountain in another nation, seven Dwarves were proven guilty of their crimes and were exiled from the mountain Brek and were stripped of their house names, though they were allowed to bring with them their belongings. And the nation in which the mountain resided, the nation of Forn, a nation which neighbored Relinberg, also refused them hospitality as the tradesmen of Forn were in relation with the craftsmen and miners of the Dwarves of the Brek and followed some of their traditions.

The Dwarves were: the thieving two, the mute Depi and planner Deki; the traitorous attempted assassin of the Chief of the Dwarves Grunpir; the master forger Slepnir and his apprentice Thnezni; the rebel leader Hepni; and finally the mysterious rogue Balsfur, whose crime is known to be unforgiveable but had been forgotten due to a fire which burned all record pertaining to the criminal. The seven, forced out of their homeland, ventured onwards, and eventually snuck into the great woods of Relinberg and built a hut there. The Dwarves lived by mining and selling the rare metals of the Relinbergian mountain, Mystro, and eating of the meat they hunted in the woods.

And thus, the elements have been set, and now the tale may begin, with the events that led to the King of Relinberg's firstborn daughter, Aerin Tencal, otherwise more widely known by her people as Snow White.

After learning how Tolkien absolutely hated Disney's Snow White because of the disrespect of the Dwarves, this project had been on my mind for a LONG time. Sadly, I don't think I can upload too frequently and predictably for here, because of IRL stuff, but I hope you'll support me when I do. Have a nice day!