"Long ago, at the end of the last great Ice Age, there arose in the North a powerful queen. Her name was Juliana, and her ambition was to extend her realm to all the regions of the known world. To this end, she gathered an army and she bore a son, and named him Nekron. And him she tutored in the black arts and in the powers of the mind. And when Nekron came of age and attained mastery of those powers, together they seized control of the region of ice. And from their castle, called Icepeak, they sent a giant glacier rumbling southward. No village or people could stand against its relentless onslaught. And so the remnants of humanity fled South and huddled for warmth among the volcanoes of a mountain region ruled by a generous King named Jarol, from his fortress which men call Firekeep. And still Nekron pushed the ice ever southward into the temperate zone toward Firekeep. And no one dared guess of the outcome of a meeting on the field of battle between fire and ice."