There are many times in the history of the Palladium world where great heroes and villains have risen and fallen. The end of the Age of Chaos with the fall of the Old Ones, the Battle of the Gods that saw the rise of the Dragon Gods, the Time of a Thousand Magicks when magical energy was felt on every corner of the world, and finally the bloody Elf-Dwarf War. Although these events stretch across thousands of years, they all have one thing in common: they are legendary. The battles and wars fought during these periods have gone down in history, although the purification that followed the end of the Elf-Dwarf War destroyed most records of these ancient times, they still live on in stores told in taverns and great halls around the world.
Unfortunately, the last several thousand years have seen no world-shattering battles, no world changing events. Although there have been many risen and fallen empires and wars, both big and small, there has been little for real legends to come from. This may yet change with the fast approaching war between the Wolfen Empire and the Eastern Territories, but that war may be years away, or it could start tomorrow, the situation is that unstable. Unfortunately, until that time, you are invited into the past to see some of the legendary figures that came to prominence during the past. These legendary heroes, villains, items, and spells are still sung about today even though they lived thousands of years earlier in a time that is long forgotten. In fact, some of these stories have become so changed by time, that there is little relation between the legend and the figures it involves.
The legendary heroes, villains, items, and spells listed in this section can be used in many different ways. They can be included in a campaign as a regular hero, villain, or powerful item with no connection to the legend they are from. This method requires little more then just using the description of an NPC and getting a feel for playing it. A second method is setting a campaign, either small or large, in one of these legendary times. Maybe the PCs were transported or accidentally sent through time or maybe the GM has decided to play in this time. In either of these cases, the characters could witness how legends were formed from the actual events that occurred. A final method to introduce these powerful legends into a campaign would be to have one of the legends appear in the characters present time. Maybe the legend was placed in suspended animation like Selsesstissan, the former Gromek leader (described in Palladium Fantasy Book 6: The Island at the Edge of the World), or maybe some form of time travel was used to explain their sudden disappearance from their own time. It is easier to use a legendary item or spell in the modern world by simply have the spell or the item resurface, but bring the living legends into the modern world can be even more fun. As more and more people learn the legend's true identity, depending on who they were, they could attract followers, enemies, and the interest of entire empires. For example, imagine if the great Elf wizard Lictalon returned to the world of Palladium and what effects this would cause on the magic users of the world, as they sought to prove their superiority over the master wizard or sought to learn from him.