Stop the Press! This Isn't Right!
If you're seeing this box, it's because Shauna is currently working on this page. Formatting, links, and grammar may not work correctly until it is complete. If you have any immediate concerns, message me on Discord.
|
The Age of Mortals
At this point mortals were split into two groups. Those living on Novitas and those living on the remnants of Vargainen. Unbeknownst to anyone, Vargainen was devastated but it did survive the Sundering. The land was no longer a lush green paradise, it rapidly turned to desert and magic faded from the land leaving those living there with many new challenges to face. For more on this see the section on Vargainen later in this book.
Meanwhile on Novitas the people were in shock. One moment they had been fighting for their lives and the next moment they found themselves in an almost literal paradise. The Sept hadn’t had time to change anything in their homes, everything was just as they had left it. Plant life flourished here, animals were plentiful, magic was rich, no battle had ever touched this soil.
The conflict was not something everyone could abandon immediately. Some of it followed and the forces of the Dark Three were largely pushed out into the wild places. The goblins were the most intelligent of all the goblinoid species, some had even fought on the side of the Sept in the Gods’ War but with the evacuation of Vargainen being so scattered, many people arrived on Novitas surrounded by complete strangers. Even those goblins who fought on the side of the Sept were unwelcome at best, hunted at worst. They fled, eventually finding refuge in the extreme northwest past the Shadowgate and Windfall Mountains in a place where permafrost had created a large glacier. There no one was interested in pursuing them. In time the goblins became known as the snow goblins, differentiating them from the other goblinoid species that roamed the wilds looking for prey.
Most of the other people settled right where they arrived. They had plentiful food and water, there were powerful artifacts of the gods and in some cases whole structures built by the Sept available to them. Many had no idea where their loved ones were or for that matter if they were even still alive. Exploration took time, trade routes took longer still to establish.
In the north between the Windfall and Daggertop Mountains the land wasn’t quite as hospitable as elsewhere. Here the people settled into tribes and they became known as the Dellindanar. Dellindanar didn’t last, the tribes simply weren’t unified enough. In time they came to be known as Dellins. Today the area is called the Dellin Tribelands or simply the Dell.
To the northeast a group of elves found a prebuilt fortress city created by the Knight. Inside it they found the Knight’s plan for a “perfect” society. Following those plans they dubbed the fortress city Evenanessa and their nation became Evenandra
In the center of the continent a mixture of Elves and Humans discovered a great library tower belonging to the Scholar. They formed the city-state of Nalbendel and they more than any others kept knowledge of what came before alive.
West of Nalbendel, north of the Thunderguard Mountains, south of the Shadowgate Mountains a nearly entirely human nation was formed known as Quaradar.
To the west of the Shadowgate Mountains was a nature preserve of the Elemental. This pristine forest was warded to keep all others out, and it remained that way for over a thousand years.
In the Southwest brown dragons had already established themselves well before the arrival of other mortals on Novitas. While the Sept were busy on Vargainen, Draconus’ children had settled there. The Thunderguard Mountains were the home of their Draconic Empire, populated by reptiles given humanoid form by the dragons. These reptilians lived as a slave workforce for their dragon overlords.
Many earthkin arrived in this same vicinity, presumably brought by the Craftsman. The dragons didn’t like visitors disrupting what they had established and the earthkin sought to protect themselves by delving underground. There they found another great forge of the Craftsman. Upon hearing of this the earthkin all over the continent made the dangerous journey to join them, and in time the Kingdom of Terra was formed.
In the south a great fortress built by the Soldier and stocked with magical weapons was found. Garan Draisson, a great hero in the War of the Gods, took the largely human remnants of the legion he had there and formed Civenopolis, capital of what would become the Civen Empire. Other city-states formed nearby but in the following centuries each was conquered eventually.
To the southeast, another major human nation rose known as Adecia it was said to be the home of the Mother and though she had no fortress, citadel, library or forge many said her presence was felt in the tranquility of the region and the legend of healing waters in the mountains there. Perhaps this is why in the first thousand years of inhabiting the continent Civen never attacked Adecia.
No one ever found any domain claimed by the Stranger. Some think this is because she has always resided at the Well. Others claim that her duties shepherding the dead kept her on Vargainen more than her brethren. Another popular theory is that as the aspect of peace she found it wherever she traveled and had no need of a sanctuary.
For a thousand years there was relative peace. Only Civen expanded through conquest until its borders were the Draconic Empire, Quaradar, and Nalbendel to the north and Adecia to the east. Unable to defeat the Dragons, unwilling to test themselves against the magical prowess of Nalbendel, unwilling to attack Quaradar because the geography would leave them exposed, they stopped their growth. Many considered Adecia to be their next conquest but the people of Adecia deterred this with unmatched diplomacy.
Upheaval
In the first millennium of the New Land (NL) the absence of the gods became increasingly felt by the people living on Novitas. Without their presence magic began to diminish in power. Magics that had previously been accessible became more and more difficult to perform. Great artifacts stopped working. Game was hunted to a point it was harder to find, and the land didn’t grow quite as bountiful. Famine and disease became progressively more common.
It is believed that in 985 NL the Elemental herself decided to wipe out the Snow Goblins who had taken refuge near her sanctuary. A gigantic blizzard slammed their lands which few were prepared for. To make matters worse the Elemental ensured that the land there would never know any season but winter. Thousands froze to death and starved, thousands more tried to flee south. Many fled to the south so desperate they hoped those who had cast them out would take pity. The humans of Quaradar and the citizens of Nalbendel were not willing to offer aid. They saw the horde of refugees as an army and they turned them away with force. In shame and sorrow they returned to their cold land, angry. For shelter they dug out the great city of Fissure and they organized themselves into the nation of Gersh where they vowed to never ask others for help again.
The diminishing magic had more of an impact on the dragons than they were willing to admit. In the centuries since the departure of the gods the dragons had begun a slow transformation into bipedal creatures who were dubbed drakes. It caught everyone by surprise when the reptilian people rose up and overthrew both the dragons and the drakes in 992 NL. Unaware of just how successful this uprising was, the reptilians fled the ruins of the Draconic Empire fearful of reprisal from the dragons. Charging to the northeast, the reptilian horde came upon Quaradar first. Caught by complete surprise with their border defenses facing the Snow Goblins to the north, their civilization fell rapidly. By 995 Quaradar was gone, its refugees were able to escape by ship. They sailed to Civen to warn them of what was coming, but Civen had no interest in providing all of them shelter. Most ultimately resettled in Adacia.
After the destruction of Quaradar the reptillian forces, now armed and provisioned, still desired more land. They had no interest in the cold north and so they headed south towards Nalbendel and Civen. Each nation prepared for the onslaught independently. The sieges lasted a full decade until reptillian losses were finally severe enough to break their forces. In 1005 NL the reptillian horde was finally broken, its forces scattered, they hid away in the unsettled parts of the land where they remain to this day. Gersh, Terra and Nalbendel each annexed portions of what had once been Quaradar.
Categories:
|
|
|
