The Kraeth are the descendants of those people that in ancient times occupied the lands that theEmpire now holds. Three thousand years earlier, the Empire rose in the south, and descended upon a peaceful, highly advanced race known as the Ka'Raeth'Ka. War had disappeared amongst the Ka'Raeth'Ka and the sudden invasion of the southerners slammed into their outlying provinces with devastating force. Before long, the Ka'Raeth'Ka had re-learned all they had forgotten of war and death, and a long series of epic battles took place between the fledgling Imperium and the Ka'Raeth'Ka. In the end, the Ka'Raeth'Ka's long history of peace was their downfall as they could not muster the knowledge and skill of combat intime to stem the tide of the invaders.

Slowly the Ka'Raeth'Ka were driven back, farther and farther north until the were pressed to the sea. In order to save their people, the shaman/rulers of the Ka'Raeth'Ka decided to cross the sea in search of a safer, better place. They found it in the form of a great northern island, a virtual paradise where they could live out their days. Upon their arrival, the greatest and most influential of the shamans had a great vision of the Ka'Raeth'Ka return to the mainland before his death.

Unfortunately, the surviving Ka'Raeth'Ka had grown hard and bitter from the war with the southerners. A large group of them, consisting ofseveralthousand warriors and shamans beacame a raiding force that harried the Imperial forces along the northern mountainous shore. These raids culminated in the siege of Caer Brannach, a northern Imperial city, that resulted in disastrous losses for the Ka'Raeth'Ka forces.

In retaliation, the Imperial sorcerers performed the greatest, and perhaps only, evil work of Art ever created by their number. A thousand sorcerers came together and melded their Art to freeze the sea between the Empire and the Ka'Raeth'Ka island. This work created a great glaciar that has persisted for two thousand years, circling the island completely with a towering wall of ice.

The remaining Ka'Raeth'Ka moved into the center of the island where they settled and lived the harsh life of hunter-gatherers, mourning the loss of their great civilization. As the years pressed on, the society began to resemble a warrior culture, as the surviving shamans vowed never to lose the defensive edge that allowed the Empire to throw them from their ancestral lands. The language changed in minor ways as well, the original name of the people shortening to the Kraeth, though the shamans continued to lead their people, passing down what traditions they could.

To this day, the Kraeth hold a prophecy that a girl will come and lead them back to the lands of their ancestors. Many of the shamans and chieftains who lead the Kraeth fear that this prophecy also heralds the eventual destruction of their people.