Soon, our union of kingdoms will march forth to conquer the Primordials or die trying. It will be the largest alliance of human races that has ever been attempted, all for the sole pursuit of ridding our world of this threat. Yet we were not the first men to attempt such a grand feat. Over a century ago, a union of sapien kingdoms took up the mantle of war against the Primordials. They acted as we do now, rousing a massive army, one whose number was unmatched in previous history, to march upon the monsters’ blighted lands. Even so long ago, our forefathers saw the calamity that was upon them and bravely chose to fight.

  History is cruel though and victory would elude them. The First Crusade was a monumental failure. Of the half a million brave heroes who marched forth into battle, only a sad few handful returned. With those soldiers came tales of horror and death. These poor, broken men spoke of lands even more blighted and strange than what plagued our own. They told of the terrible, nightmarish creatures that they had all faced and fought. None who returned from the First Crusade were unchanged by their experience, and the sorrow of their failure was held steadfastly within their hearts until their dying days.

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  Yet, all was not lost. Though the First Crusade had ultimately failed, those tragic heroes gave us the weapon that would allow the united armies of this Second Crusade a chance at victory. For during their years of constant, never-ending battle, the soldiers of the First Crusade discovered the enemy's weakness. These courageous men, through their sacrifice and failure, found the one thing that could harm a Primordial's invincible flesh: the starstones.

  ~Excerpt from King Vardin of Ispara's notes, given to officers of the Second Crusade.