From the introduction: Another world… Another time… In the Age of Wonder. Eight hundred years ago the land was green; until the Crystal cracked. A single piece was lost, the shard of the Crystal. One race was split in two and the otherworldly urSkeks transformed into Skeksis and urRu. The urRu migrated into the Valley of the Stones and the Skeksis took control of the Castle of the Crystal. For a time there was peace; now the shadow of conflict covers the land.