Long ago when Altyra was but a single province in the great Elven Empire which
controlled all the lands of Vetrandus in unity and peace the unholy worship of
Sadhakas arose in another distant province and the followers of such were struck
down and transformed into the twisted, and evil drow.  Though this took place at a
great distance from Altyra it was felt even there as a small cult of these evil
followers of Sadhakas had arisen on Altyra, though easily found once the curse was
applied to them they were not all aprehended and many fled into the eastern wilds
of the Altyran island.  This was the begining of the end as the human armies of
the Elves were sent out to crush this uprising were further twisted by the power
of Sadhakas and rose up and fouly slew the rulers of the Elven Empire.  These
humans then proceded to rampage across much of the land reeking destruction
everywhere they went, not just against the elves but also against those humans who
failed to join with them and the myriad of other races that had since come into
being.  In Altyra news of this was brought to the ears of the Elven ruler Dalivon
by the small hobbit race which had before now never been seen, but which seemed
peaceful enough and was welcomed by both the elvish and human populations. 
However hordes of gigantic beings followed the hobbits and they were not as
peacefull as their smaller cousins.  For several weeks a campaign of terror and
destruction was waged against the Altyrans by the giants, but in the end the
giants were forced to retreat into a local group of mountains close to the Dwarven
mining site of Altyra.  The Altyrans thought this must surely have been the
destruction the hobbits had warned of but were quickly informed by the hobbits
that this was not the case and that the giants themselves had merely been fleeing
from the true destruction which grew ever closer in the form of the rampaging
human forces of the now fallen Empire.  It was immediatly commanded that all the
greatest sages and mages come together in an attempt to find a way to stop the
raging human hordes before they could reach the Altyran lands and ravage and
destroy those lands as they had many of the others across the continent.  In this
the humans and elves agreed and worked in close quarters as the greatest minds of
both races came together to find a solution while the human armies engaged in
training elven volunteers to stand against the ever encroaching threat as the
humans on the shores of Vetrandus prepared to cross the narrow waters and assault
Altyra.  Then it was found... a way to forever end the threat of foreign assault
upon the Altyran lands, they would levitate the entire island itself into the
skies.  To do this would take time, time that was very short and would have to be
bought by the Altyran military on the field of battle.  So it was that the
greatest mages gathered their energies to create focal points of planar energy in
massive Spires made of the very fabric of the planes themselves.  Five such Spires
were created as the forces of Altyra left and fought the human armies on the high
seas... and were pushed back to the shores of Altyra.  And as the armies drew
closer and the fighting ever more intense the final knell of doom seemed to sound
for the Altyran people as the five Spires were not powerful enough to raise the
emense mass of the Island.  A single focal point was needed to amass and direct
the energies of the other five Spires, but the wielders of magic were exhausted
and could do no more than had already been done, it was not enough.  The many
people of Altyra knew their end was soon to come and so raised up in prayer to the
Gods asking for divine interference.  One God of little true power and few
followers heard their plea and used what energy he did have to create the sixth
and final Spire, but even this Gods energy was not enough to meld the five
existing Spires with the foreign divine energy flowing through the sixth Spire.  A
guide was needed, a link between the divine and the mortal, a conduit through
which the powers might flow and be directed to the proper places.  Thus it was
that Dalivon the great Druid and leader of the Altyran peoples came forward and
bonded himself to the final Spire so that his thoughts might guide and direct the
energies of the Spires to the proper places, through this bonding he gained life
eternal but in exchange he would never again be able to move very from the
location of the Spire.  As the island rose into the skies itself the battle
between the Altyrans and the invading human hordes was ended even as the first
human forces landed on the shores.  With the island levitated above and isolated
from the rest of the world the few human forces that had landed quickly
surrendered and joined with the Altyrans. 

For a few years all was peaceful, but then an attack came.  The Drow that had long
ago retreated into the eastern wilds and the lower caverns of the island where not
pleased to find themselves forced into the light by the levitation of the island
and the resultant collapse of their underground caverns and tunnels.  They were
enraged and attacked as such.  After the initial shock of being attacked wore off
it seemed as if they would easily be overcome by the superior and more numerous
Altyran forces, however the true horrow and power of the Drow was soon realized as
they called upon the powers and forces of death itself to raise the fallen of
their own and of their enemies.  With legions of dead rising to their side the
tide of battle quickly changed and it seemed inevitable that the Altyran forces
would fall.  Once again the Altyrans seemed on the brink of destruction and fell
to praying to the Gods for salvation and though a few minor Gods heard their cries
they were not able to halt the tide of the undead sufficiently.  In the end it was
the forces of the dwarves and surprisngly the gaints that turned the tide of
battle. For reasons of their own the dwarves and giants came out from their secure
mountain fortresses and caverns and waged war upon the drow and their undead
hordes.  Soon the battle was won for the moment at least.  Learning from the past
it was decreed that all those slain would be burned and their ashes scattered to
the wind that they may never be fouly raised to serve evil masters in death.  With
the defeat of the drow and their retreat into the eastern wilds once again, the
need for a means of halting any such future invasions became clear and so the
Altyrans approached the dwarves and requested the construction of a massive
fortress to block the only pass through the eastern mountains and in exchange
offered large tracts of land to the dwarves.  The dwarves agreed but needed more
man power and so recruited the giants for muscle and in turn promised the giants
some of the land that was to be given to the dwarves.  With the aid of the giants
the dwarves very shortly had the fortress constructed, which the Altyrans rapidly
moved into and had enchanted with many wondrous and powerful magics by the elven
mages on the island.  However the dwarves wanted their payment, and the humans
kept their end of their bargain by granting the dwarves all of the eastern lands
currently occupied by the drow.  The dwarves were enraged and prepared to take the
lands which were rightfully theirs through military conquest of the neighboring
human and elven lands.  Indeed they may have suceeded if it were not for the
crafty politics of the human leader, Jerodon, whom contacted the giants and asked
them where the lands the dwarves had promised them where.  Being reminded of this
the giants quickly moved and confronted the dwarves demanding their payment.  The
dwarves tried to explain the deceit and treachery commited by the humans and elves
but the giants could not understand why the dwarves did not simply take the
eastern lands granted to them and so saw the dwarves as having betrayed them and
attacked the dwarves.  While the dwarves where succesfull in the end and drove the
giants back into the upper reaches of the mountains there army was greatly
weakened and they were unable to press their claims against the humans and elves. 
In retaliation the dwarves instead refused to deal directly with the humans or
elves ever again and thus the hobbits stepped in as a middle man. 

In the years to come the elves isolated themselves mostly to the northern forest
regions as the humans took on many political and military controls, though the
three member races of the Altyran Empire were all to be treated equally.  Those
member races where the elves for magical guidance and maintaning the ballance of
the island and the Spires, the humans for creating and enforcing the common law,
and the Hobbits which quickly became known for their great trading abilities and
whom where the only ones that the dwarven miners would trade with. The giants
lived largely in peace in the upper mountain reaches forgetting most of what had
happened and though the dwarves did not directly blaim the giants for what had
happened they did continue to be wary around them lest the giants own mental
incapacity cause another disaster.