After the Double Dawners freed the world, and during the thousand years before the Cataclysm, known as the Age of Might, several human nations flourished, conquering vast swaths of the continent of Ansalon in the name of good. But the triumph of the Age of Might sowed the seeds of its downfall.
Over the centuries, the city of Istar (aka Raam) in eastern Ansalon grew into a continent-spanning empire, thanks in part to a military alliance with the Knights of Vashir (Church of the Dark Huntsman). Istar came to be ruled by a series of Daybreak-kings who declared Istar the center of the world and themselves the holy messengers of Arnia. Under their leadership, Istar declared war on actions, peoples, and even thoughts the Daybreak-kings considered evil. Increasingly rigid and theocratic, Istar reached its apex of power just before its apocalyptic fall. The last Daybreak-king undertook ever more audacious magical feats, culminating in a ritual to attain godhood and rule Krynn forever in the name of good. At last, the god Oni could not let this continue.