Middle-Earth

In the Aeon of the Chapmion story series, Middle-Earth (also referred to as Earth or Midgard) is a homeworld of the Yggdrassil world-tree group and the setting in which between 60 and 70% of the total story series takes place. Home to a wide selection of both native and non-native mortal life, the planet has been the subject of intense intergalactic scrutiny, not all of it welcoming to the idea of a realm with biodiversity of its calibre.

As of Antiquity, it is the subject of Sargamon's Burning Crusade, a key objective in a wider effort to destroy all of Creation.

Background
During the Creation of the Universe, the positive, form-making magics of the Cosmos came together. At first, they were extremely chaotic, resulting in a wave of explosions that even triggered the formation of other planets. One such planet was the soon-to-be-named Middle-Earth, coming into being as part of a delayed chain reaction with other planets in the commonsphere.

When the Pantheon came into being, they blessed the planets of the Cosmos with their arcane magic, in a process known as the Ordering. Harmonising its unstable elements, the powers of the Cosmos synthesised and came together, turning balls of magic into actual planets. The Elementals ruled over the planet from the Primus plane, with their Avatars residing within Middle-Earth's core structure.

Still, this harmonisation was not enough for the planets, which were still relatively chaotic. Thus, the gods convened in the Holy Sanctuary of the High Heavens, when the traveller-god Aimar returned with an important discovery. He found that the planets were drifting about aimlessly, with no actual direction - which could cause them to collide. When pressed, he linked their directionless movement with the instability of the Cosmos. Meinolf, the inventor-god, proposed a solution - world trees, gigantic structure of cosmic ash that would house the planets and keep them stable. The roots of a world-tree would penetrate into the underlying fabric of the universe, stabilising matters. Thus, the trees were made, and the unruly Middle-Earth was placed inside Yggdrassil. A tentative calm settled over all of Creation.

Target of the Burning Crusade
After the Fall of the Pantheon, in which the rebellious Aesir, Sargamon, betrated the Pantheon and slaughtered its gods in hot blood, the cosmic keystones used to forge the supermagical Fusion Staff were lost, scattered. Sargamon declared the start of his bloodthirsty crusade, dispatching hordes of demons to every corner of the universe to find the stones, which would allow him to become a dark god and finally destroy all life before the void lords could corrupt it with their horrific shadow magic. Countless worlds have been seared in their search, but Middle-Earth is, in their eyes, the most likely container of the stones, thus being subject to several demon invasions - to no success. Many have fallen, either through death or demonic corruption, in the wake of the Crusade.

The Eternal Conflict's new location is Middle-Earth, as both angels and demons attempt to impose their respective wills on the mortal races of the world.

Black Empire and Sin War
The Princes of Hell entered Middle-Earth around antiquity, turning the elemental avatars into slaves and building themselves massive citadels on top of the supercontinent of Vigrith, all while their blight percolated the once-unspoiled ground. The Aesir noticed this corruption and resolved to act; the Aegis Council voted 4-2 to intervene and declared the Sin War against the Black Empire. The war was led by the Designates and their Prime Designate, who battled alongside the Aesir to defeat the Princes, killing Lucithel at the Hellfire Plateau and sending the elementals back to Primus.

Rise of mortals
Since the collapse of the Black Empire, various mortal races have had the chance to rule the embattled planet. Trolls, elves, smurfs, humans and orcs have all had the chance to rule as Middle-Earth's premier race, while the Legion has not stopped its conquests. Only time will tell the fate of the realm as it is torn both internally and externally.

Trivia

 * Middle-Earth is the title used for the setting of J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional works, including Lord of the Rings.
 * The Yggdrassil world-tree is based on Norse cosmology.
 * The Pantheon are based on a similarly-named group of travelling gods in Warcraft.
 * The High Heavens and Burning Hells, as well as the war between them (Eternal Conflict) is inspired by Diablo.