Shannara - the distant past
In Earth's distant future long after civilization as we know it was destroyed in a chemical and nuclear holocaust called the Great Wars, the world has reverted to a medieval state and magic has reemerged to supplement science as humans live among other races.
Age of Faerie
At the beginning of time, in what was known as the "Age of Faerie", the Earth was inhabited only by Faerie creatures; most or all wielded magic. Like any power (be it wealth, technology, or physical strength), magic was used by some for good and some for evil. For example, the Elves used their magic to care for the earth, while the hateful Demons used theirs to dominate and destroy. When the Demons tried to eradicate the rival Elves altogether, the Elves proved victorious by creating a magical prison called the Forbidding, to which they banished the Demons. The Forbidding locked the demons away in an alternate universe from which they could not attack the Elves. The integrity of the prison was upheld by a magical tree known as the Ellcrys. As long as the Ellcrys lived, the Demons would remain locked away.
Age of Man
Thousands of years later, the age of man came into being. The Elves still existed, but quickly found themselves few in numbers compared to the quickly growing human race and decided to go into hiding. Thousands of years passed while man and science ruled. The Elves and their magic remained hidden, as memories of their existence become nothing more than “Fairy Tales”.
The Great Wars
Sometime in the early 22nd century, mankind all but destroyed itself through nuclear, biological, and chemical holocaust. The nations of man were destroyed, and the environment and climate in many places was made entirely barren.
Birth of the Four Lands and The First Council
After an extremely long amount of time, the Earth had more or less recovered from the cataclysm of the Great Wars. Except for the ruins of man’s greatest cities and monuments, the world as everyone had known it had disappeared. New races appeared, genetically mutated by radiation from the Great Wars. These mutant human races were given names from man's ancient fairy tales: Troll, Dwarf, and Gnome. The surviving Elves also appeared from their concealment, now that the threat from the quickly multiplying men was gone. Unfortunately, chaos ensued as the four races each tried to declare their power over the other.
Fearing that the chaos would lead to the end for all of them, a group of learned men and women from all the races formed the Druid Council. Under the order of the Druids, the earth was divided up into the Four Lands, one territory for each race. The Druids then sought out all the information they could on the arts, sciences, and history of the Old World, attempting to understand what had brought about such a terrible apocalypse, so that they might learn from those mistakes and bring lasting peace and order to the land. As time progressed, the council’s plan seemed to be working and they hoped that, in time, all that was known of the Old World would eventually exist again. However, several powerful members of the Druids became convinced that magic, not science, should be the guiding force of the new world, and that it was their destiny as Elves and magic-wielders to shape the future of the races. These Elves left the Druids to form their own group, consisting of all races and led by a Druid named Brona, who took with him the Ildatch, a book of unparalleled evil power that once belonged to the Demon leader in the Age of Faerie.
The Wars of the Races
After years of growing his power, Brona, who had become known as the "Warlock Lord", orchestrated a rebellion against the Druids. Started by Men attacking out of the Southland at Brona's urging, the rebellion soon widened into what became known as the First War of the Races, with Men against all the races that were supported by the Druids—mainly the Elves and the Dwarves. Eventually, the combined power of the Council crushed the humans, but the Warlock Lord escaped to rebuild his legion, leaving the human countries to rebuild their shattered lives. Indirectly, this war led to the isolationist policy of the men of the deep Southland.
Once he recovered, the Warlock Lord and his armies returned twice more (in the Second War of the Races and the Third War of the Races) in the space of a century with years of peace in between (the equivalent of the World Wars during the time of man), until finally the Warlock
Lord was killed.