Storyline

[jwallstone]

So I've been playing and enjoying this game quite a bit, and am now starting to go through the Land of the Dead. I'm a little fuzzy on the overall storyline though, since there are so many different characters and quests going on. I do read through all the conversations, but it can be hard to keep track of and to make the connections. Also, it probably doesn't help that I don't play in large chunks of time, but rather an hour or two here or there.

I can remember individual quests and stuff, but it doesn't fit together for me. For example, the king sends the hero to the Freedom Isles for dwarven maps, but what were those for? There's some misunderstanding between the humans and dwarves orchestrated by some duke or something, but who was he again? It sounded like we had heard about him at some previous point. Why did we have to go to the Elven lands? And who is this Karador guy, I mean what's his story? He's mentioned by Enemen, but are there other references or more backstory to him? On a tangent, who's this Fandor guy who made the Obelisks?

Can anyone give a short little summary of the overall plot up to this point? Any help is much appreciated.