EMPIRE! Pre-history Thread

[Zap Dynamic]

Well, the Frosten already explicitly do that, kinda. They don't literally melt or anything, but they retain and absorb heat so well that their skin is cold to the touch. This would be a bad thing in, say, Raaneka.

Hahahaha, yeah... Shrinkage is a sin among the Raaneki!

Briefly:

Raaneka doesn't remember this, but they dye their skin because around 900 BCE they were a race with exotically-colored hair and skin (every color of the rainbow... only their hair has crazy colors now). These Ancient Raaneki were part of a large empire that I've been calling the Imperial Regency... I've been assuming they were the masters of this empire, but this is all rough draft. Maybe a connection to the Fae empire? Maybe *the* Fae empire?

Even more distant in history, I've been brainstorming a connection with Genivana (specifically the Mawans), and an even older heritage with the Islanders. Details are all tweakable for the foreseeable future.

[QuintonBeck]

Nyroth Timeline

Undetermined Years Pre CE - Nyroth is a member state to the lost Fae Kingdom and the primary means of interaction with the lizardfolk kingdom in Idinica

20 BCE - With fracturing unity within the fae kingdom the Nyroth province breaks away and begins or continues a previously resolved (texts are unclear) war with the lizardfolk of Idinica.

10 BCE - Nyroth province is successful in defeating some portion of the lizardfolk and captures a large number as slaves, brought back to the continent of Atlantica to serve as laborers.

0 BCE/CE - The official dissolution of the fae kingdom and the great Cataclysm forces the Nyroth province to cut itself off from the outside world.

5 CE - Construction of forts at the major passageways into Nyroth begins, focusing on the north and south borders as the Barli Mountain range protects them from the east

30 CE - Construction of the Fort System of Nyroth concludes

50 CE - A great rebellion of lizardfolk prompts an intense redoubling of efforts to keep the lizardfolk tame and loyal and rebellious lizardfolk slaves are conscripted and pressed into service to explore the unknown. None ever return and stability is soon restored.

80 CE - A human noble whose family name has been scrubbed from texts attempts to declare himself king of Nyroth, he is struck down by his fellow noble houses and rule by noble counsel is restored.

120 CE - All lizardfolk begin to be required to serve mandatory military service though they are not sent into the unknown to die, serving instead as peace keepers and martial arm for the will of the nobles.

150 CE - A noble lord, Gaius Lilin, a prominent ginger farmer secretly trains his lizardfolk slaves as warriors and successfully overthrows the Nyrothian counsel and establishes himself as king of Nyroth. To cement his claim he passes a series of laws releasing the lizardfolk slaves from their masters, binding them instead to the less strict and more evenhanded discipline of the new royal government. Better treatment and fairer laws attract the lizardfolk populace and in this way rebellion amongst the the other noble houses are few.

187 CE - Gaius Lilin dies and his only child, his daughter Callista takes the throne. She further alters the laws of Nyroth, proclaiming that the eldest daughter of the Queen shall be the heir ahead of any brothers she may have.

220 CE - The Nyroth Fort System, having fallen into disrepair, sees less and less use and being stationed there becomes a punishment for lizardfolk soldiers found to be incapable.

300 CE - Lord of Fire moderates from the force occupying Celero move south into Nyroth and begin to preach of the Lord of Fire which takes root among the common human population.

330 - After centuries of diplomatic silence Nyrothian diplomats and explorers begin to reach out and learn more of the nations around them.

360 CE - Absorbed by Khan Dyamus Ignato into the Ignato Empire

[BladeofObliviom]

On the Berapi in general:

With regards to the Berapi, my personal theories are two. The first being that they're aligned with the energies of the scientific universe and thus you have heat-related berapi (fire and frost), light (light and darkness), electromagnetic (lightning) and even gravitic berapi.

The second being they're aligned with some divine force, which is why all berapi seem to be deeply religious. (Fire berapi with the Lord of Fire, frost berapi with Yphine, etc.)

Personally, I do like the idea of a Berapi being tied to the scientific universe; having gravitational beings sounds interesting. But, perhaps "Berapi" isn't necessarily just a race; it could be a form of transcendence. As one becomes more and more religious, they may perform certain rites to gain the traits of their god, while losing certain others. For example, frosten Berapi could have a strong endurance to cold, but react badly to open flames and heat.

Being able to turn into a spirit/element aligned race seems pretty magical for the current setting. Maybe a leader could do it if they wanted to and had the Faith/Luck score to pull it off, but in general I feel it's a tad magical for current things.

So, having thought about it just a bit, I think I actually prefer the Scientific Universe hypothesis; at the very least, it's significantly more interesting than pulling out all of that same four-elements Aristotelian Alchemy nonsense for the ten-trillionth time in a fantasy setting, even if it's directly attached to separate gods this time. On the other hand, these ideas aren't actually mutually exclusive. Maybe the various gods-in-nonexistent-limbo that themselves cover aspects of the Scientific Universe even have their own Berapi variants out there somewhere? I wouldn't be surprised if somebody had a sun-god around here, after all. Or if the Nyrothi actually stole the "Lords of Night and Knowledge" religion from the Darklings by accident.

I'm still not keen on the transcendence concept, though; it feels a little bit too Arthur C. Clarke for this particular world, in my humble opinion. Unless that monolith that fell in Solus happens to be pitch-black and 1 ft x 4 ft x 9 ft.


(If we really need Earth/Water/Air Berapi for whatever reason we can call upon the power of the Solid/Liquid/Gas combo. )



On the Tieflings:

I liked the idea of refluffing the Tieflings as a type of berapi the first time you brought it up. In order to keep them similar to the dnd version, at least visually, perhaps they could have horns and hooves of stone or gems? Cave adaptation could lend to an affinity for the dark on top of that.

It should probably be noted that technically, you were the one who brought it up the first time.

That said, the Dark affinity is also to my liking, especially with the scientific universe hypothesis up above, where the earth affinity doesn't work as well.

In regards to the tieflings I had been thinking since they weren't explicitly described in their nation post as anything overly demonic or non-human they might simply be humans who took to calling themselves tieflings for some reason or another, perhaps after some city named Tief or some such. (Maybe an underground city similar to Hrathan in Hrathan-Tuor thus relating them to the speculative eastern continental human empire of ages gone by) Obviously they could be earthen Berapi as well. I'm thinking with their enigmatic culture and the probability that tortor may not be returning it will fall to the claimant of the region to decide what they truly are beyond the veil of mystery.

This is also a plausible answer, if perhaps a somewhat boring one.

"Wait, you guys actually thought we were sent by Angels? No, no, I said that we're from Los Angeles. The City. In California."



On the Beastfolk and Minotaurs in particular:

I like the idea that the minotaurs are herd based and thus migrated wholly and completely together. Plus it allows them to be related to the other beastfolk races just greatly separated. Though, considering their hybrids with a herbivore animal it may be that they had a different origin entirely from the carnivorous/omnivorous beastfolk of the east. (Beasts in the East, how did I only just now notice that)

It also has a practicality argument behind it: Unlike cats and wolves and even rats, Cattle don't like cold weather so much. They're mammals and thus warm-blooded, but they don't have thick coats of fur like the aforementioned groups do to keep them warm. A mass migration south might have been the only way for them to stay warm and have enough green fields to graze in as the North froze.

Also, using Bovines as soldiers makes a degree of sense. After all, these Genetic Engineers of Faedas were clearly engineering races toward specific purposes: The Catfolk are very agile and light on their feet by nature, at least if Felix of Felitora can be taken at his word, which makes them ideal for ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, scouting, and a lot of supportive combat roles other than the front lines. The Sympol have demonstrated quite a lot of skill at making good use of scant resources, sheer survivability, shock operations, and simply breeding fast enough to be good grunts. Minotaurs would have a somewhat different role, as ideal frontline troops: They've got a lot of strength and mass, a sort of herd mentality that helps them be comfortably close to one another without impeding, and enough height/leverage that they could probably break a similar line used by human opponents without too much trouble.

This also means that they'd mainly be used during larger field battles rather than minor skirmishes, which means that they're being deployed in large numbers and rations can start to become an issue. Herbivorous rations tend to keep better than Meat-based ones, especially if the culture in question knows how to freeze-dry, so that's actually a plus.



On an only-slightly-related note, I had a kooky idea! What if the Drakeborn were actually Faedas' (failed) "first try" to imitate the Lizardfolk, since Ark's written description of "bred with dragons" flies in the face of canon anyway? They might superficially resemble the Lizardfolk, but have been otherwise inadequate (whether by low population growth or by low adaptability) and abandoned only for most of them to die when the land started freezing over? It would explain why they're so far away from the rest of the Reptilian variants, and seem to be geographically limited to less than a third of Felitora's population rather than all over the place like the normal Lizardfolk are.

(Actually, ALL of Ark's race backstories for the Felitorans don't have any basis in the setting. Except for the Wolfborn, which are stated to be related to Werewolves. The Catborn can at least be rationally reasoned to just be the same thing as the Catfolk of Sycia and in two of my recent colonial acquisitions, but the Bearborn and Drakeborn as-written have no excuse.)


On Humanity's Origins and Spread

Yeah... The Ashenites don't share a recent common origin with those of the South.

*Snipped Ashenite History Wall-of-text*

Given the Islanders tendency to sleep with anything that has appropriately matching parts, it isn't impossible.

Where I was going was that the Islanders and the Quill are really one people. At some point, they interbred with 'something' along the lines of elemental spirits (earth air fire water), thus being the basis for their faith. But that caused genetic diversity. THe Quill were noted to abandon malformed infants. So it is possible that at some point in their history, they drove the 'unpure' out and those cast offs became the Islanders, hence giving them their cultural background of taking in anyone willing to join them.

So, I was doing some thinking about humanity in this setting, and having the Salterri Lands be the birthplace of humanity kind of makes less sense the more you think about it. Yeah, it works for Genivana and Woodwind (and Crima by extension), as well as most of the other human nations of the Southern parts of the world, but if one looks at the Northwest, things start to get a little weird.

Just to start, where did the Quill come from? The artist's rendition of a typical Quill depicts them as being very dark-skinned, drastically different from the Ashenians and Bordeusi to the North. I'll get into my own theory later, but it's not quite consistent with the Salterri origin narrative.

For another thing, let's look at the Ashenite Lands! Ashenia is the furthest North and East, and populated by people that are, ethnically-speaking, basically European. Hazaria is to the south of Ashenia itself, but still east of the rest of their Colonies, and its people are described as strongly resembling the Ashenians. The interesting part of this comes in when you look at Ashenia's third colony in Kyaralath, whose peoples are described as being "neither light nor dark-skinned", which still isn't dark but is darker than white. Angan Anvale, the final colony, is a bit further south than Kyaralath and west of Hazaria, and to date has no description for its people. However, Hartigan Biûrkahâd, who is at least a representative of them, is described as having "burnt brown skin" in the same sentence that first mentions the symptoms of the pusdeath before it started to spread.

Based on the Salterri origin model, the proto-Salterri colonists would have had to travel northwest and then northeast and settle as they went, which would logically result in a concentration of darker-skinned people in the southern part of the continent and lighter-skinned people in the north. Instead, though, we get darker-skinned people in the west and lighter-skinned people in the east, which doesn't seem consistent with the model. Now, there is perhaps one way to reconcile this: What if the proto-Salterri colonists simply gave the Lizardfolk lands a wide berth, and circled around through Cassia and Solus to Angan Anvale instead of going through Alydaxis and Scla`ca? It seems good at a glance, but doesn't hold up when one actually looks at Cassia and Solus. Both regions are populated by largely olive-skinned people, which would be lighter than both Biûrkahâd's coloration and the Salterri standard, which makes them a poor fit for a missing link between the two.


So, what gives? If the Westerners didn't come from the Salterri lands, where did they come from? Well, regardless of whether you actually asked, I'm going to propose my own theory.

I formulated this idea just today, when I read Hartigan Biûrkahâd's claim that the Pusdeath came from somewhere in the West. Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Pusdeath has more than a superficial similarity to the infamous Black Plague that ravaged the real world during the Medieval period. What not everybody knows, though, is that the Black Plague wasn't a spontaneous thing that popped up in Europe, but a disease that originated in or near China and traveled down the Silk Road.

What I believe is that the actual birthplace of Humanity, or at least the next step in tracking down the true birthplace, is West of the known map, somewhere near the Equator, quite possibly on the shores of Telluris' Ocean-inverted China. The humans that would populate most of the West and eventually reach Celero and Bordeux would have traveled this way, largely over land, and themselves have been split into countless ethnicities along the way to adapt better to their environment or simply due to regional magic influence. The humans that eventually became the Salterri Imperium, on the other hand, would have sailed far to the East (possibly fleeing the Cataclysm?) and eventually landed upon the shores of Region 36, near their "Gates of Salted Earth and Molten Sea", and forged a new empire from there, first pushing Westward to secure the peninsula and then growing into the Central continent like a Cancer (and eventually spreading their genetic material toward Faedas, as in the previous Salterri model).

Along the way, some of the ships were caught in one of the deadly Central Sea Hurricanes and blown way off-course, eventually landing in Tar. These would become the Quill, and would retain their traits uncharacteristic of the rest of the Region due to their Xenophobia (and go on to accidentally create the Jeweled Isles with their castoffs, as mentioned by Murgen).


Coincidentally, the idea of the Salterri having directly spread into and invaded much of their territory on the Central Continent ALSO helps reconcile some of our other troubles regarding the Origins of the Orcs. In my theory, the Orcish Origins lie somewhere far to the south, and the Salterri expansion over the course of the last few centuries drove most of the Orcs back to their southern homelands, leaving Grmanhil stranded with the other Northerners.



Thoughts? Questions? Massive holes I really should have spotted earlier?

[Tychris1]

If you want the Sympol belief on how they came to be (And by extension the rest of the world) then look no further!

Essentially, everything came from the Forest of Bones. At the heart of it is some kind of dark abyss, a gaping black maw that just spews out monsters at an erratic rate. They come in all shapes and sizes and normally kill each other on arrival. However, some monsters survive, or even run off before the fighting starts. The Sympol are actually a breed of monster spawned from the Forest of Bones that survived their bloody birth and drifted away from their home turf. However, they are deeply built and lust for combat, and thus they stayed near the Forest of Bones. Slowly they evolved over time into the beasts you see today. Humans are just weak, malformed monsters who ran so far away from the Forest that they didn't live through generations of violence, and thus evolved wrong.

Also, that's some really nice theorycrafting you got there! I'm not sold on it (As I have my own, Sympol based theory) but it certainly looks like you put a good bit of time and effort into it! Maybe you should do the same for Chimant

[QuintonBeck]

I like it Blade, very interesting and awesome stuff. The origins and purposes of the beast races are especially nice and fitting. As for the origin of humanity, I like the idea that they may have a long time past come from the far west and it does make more logical sense. One thing of note though, what of the humans living in the eastern continent, namely Maos, the Guilderene colony? Equally a question, the origin of the lighter skinned humans in Salterri lands, specifically those of Salteirre, where did they come from? Why, if they came with the proto-Salterri, would they not be of a similar racial makeup as those that went on to establish Woodwind/Aloren/Genivana? And the eternal question, what about Hrathan-Tuor? Where did those people come from being lighter skinned and blonde unlike any neighboring nations? Alright, I think it's time for a break down of the human regions by ethnicity.

Light Skinned Humans
(Region 2) Celero - "fair of skin and hair, of slightly taller than average human height, but lean for their size"
(Region 3) Nyroth - I think at this point it may be fair to consider the non-lizardfolk inhabitants of Nyroth non-human and in fact fae of a similar strain to those in the HW
(Region 4) Kasumor - "They are not very tanned due to living near the mountains and tend to have big eyes in comparison to their more southern counterparts" Again, with the mention of strong fae influence it may be a matter of fact that these are not humans at all, but simply a mutt mix of fae blood of the Cloudiz and HW variety
(Region 10) Hrathan-Tuor "The inhabitants of Hrathan are generally pale with dark colored hair, because they spend most of their lives underground. Those that live above the city, in Tuor, and elsewhere in the region are blonde and tan. The extended, intertwined family that includes most of the guild masters has a much larger than normal percentage of red hair, leading the Hrathanesse to view red hair as more attractive and a sign of prosperity" (Could be Mawa influence in regards to the red hair)
(Region 12) Qarimos - "majority of those from the eastern badlands have dusky skin, dark hair, and brown eyes, while the ones in the mountains are paler, with eyes tending towards green, and lighter hair; those who live in the tundra have characteristics of both in about equal measure."
(Region 16) Pryonia - "The people in this land are fair skinned, dark haired, and relatively short."
(Region 16B) Gaile-Noiret - "The Galie are short, slightly stunted, pale skinned, shaggy and very strong" (Might not be human or entirely human)
(Region 20) Bordeux - "The people of Bordeux are typically red-haired and tall."
(Region 22) Ashenia - "Their hair is usually black, though varying shades of dark brown show up from time to time, particularly in Eseda. In contrast, their eyes tend to be either grey or blue and their skin pale, though it darkens slightly with exposure to the sun."
(Region 28) Hazaria - "Their hair has a roughly equal chance of being black or dark brown. Like their northern neighbours, they have a tendency towards blue eyes but theirs tend to be so dark a blue as to be almost black."
(Region 32) Selyra - "The Selyvites have narrow eyes, and light hair, and freckles." (Putting them in light due to the mention of freckles but it could be brown or dark)
(Region 35) Salteire - "Generally pale with a reddish hue, these ruddy folk usually have reddish blonde hair which seems almost golden in the sun."

Brown Skinned Humans
(Region 7) Calorum - "The people have a Mediterranean complexion and most have black hair, although brown haired people are also common"
(Region 11) Raaneka - Not described in the nation post explicitly but they've been referred to as tanned with dark hair generally I believe.
(Region 12) Qarimos - "The Sea People are tall, thin and olive skinned even when the sun does not darken them further."
(Region 13) Lyradis - "the citizens of Lyradis a thicker build, tanned skin, and higher constitution. Generally hair color is of a brown or black color, and eyes are generally greens and browns." (Could fall under Dark Skin rather than brown. This would fit match similar narratives with relation to their origin to the south)
(Region 26) Cassia - "olive-toned skin and darkened hair and eye colors. However, one notable difference is what appears to be similar to a mane around their neck. This mane, made up of short hair running around their neck and tapering off down their spine, silvers with age and is a status symbol among them." (Mane could be related to the mawa?)
(Region 40) Solus - "They typically have black hair and an olive-skinned complexion, though occasionally brown or even red hair is seen."
(Region 44) Kyraleth - "skin that is neither light nor dark and hair that is brown in various shades. Their eyes are usually a copper colour. Of note however, is that their blood is poisonous to most other creatures by virtue of a colourless copper bearing substance in their blood." (Perhaps speaks to a not quite human heritage)

Dark Skinned Humans
(Region 6) Woodwind - "Dark skinned and tall with sharp features; Most have brown eyes though some are born with green"
(Region 8) Aloren - "Tall, dark skin, dark hair with sharp features akin to their Woodwind relatives." (Previously undefined, added by me a while ago to attempt and match the flow)
(Region 9) Genivana - "They are tall and dark of skin and complexion, though red hair is not unheard of."
(Region 23) Crima - "The Cree tend toward being of average height and lean but healthy. Most of them are dark-haired, but lighter shades have been known to turn up here and there. Long days under the hot sun with little shade have left them fairly dark-skinned, but exceptions are common. There is an unusually high population of green-eyed people, though most Cree have brown or hazel eyes."
(Region 24) Tar - "All Quill have dark hair and skin tones ranging from chestnut brown to ebony (bottom bar ). Most have brown, black or gray eyes, but one may occasionally find blue, green, red and even violet among them. "
(Region 25) Jeweled Cities - " Islanders are tall but broad chested, with dark hair, eyes and skin. Some have more exotic colored eyes and hair. They bear a strong resemblance to the Woodland people, with some Cremar influences seen in hair and eyes."
(Region 53) Maos - "Often dark-skinned from the power of the sun, they are small and lithe"
(Region 62) Jarrs - "tall, slender and swarthy people"

Undefined
(Region 14) Guilder - "there are citizens of every type and description, even some who are not entirely human."
(Region 43) Angan Anvale - "Predominantly human with a trace of fae blood."

So the big exceptions to geographical implication would be Hrathan-Tuor, Salteire, and any others I missed aside from those two.

[Lord_Burch]

Swarthy means dark-skinned, although it could mean tanned skin as well.

Remind me, who are the mawa?

[QuintonBeck]

Swarthy means dark-skinned, although it could mean tanned skin as well.

Remind me, who are the mawa?

That's what I meant, didn't know whether to put them in dark or brown.

Mawa are sentient orangutans from Region 9 more or less.

[BladeofObliviom]

So the big exceptions to geographical implication would be Hrathan-Tuor, Salteire, and any others I missed aside from those two.

Swarthy just means Dark-skinned, so the Jarrs fit in pretty well with the Salterri phenotype.

The rest of it I think we might be able to figure out, though. Note that the travel over land and population of the Northwest would have to take place waaaaay before the proto-Salterri start building their empire in order to make sense with the histories of Bordeux and Ashenia, so we have a decent timeframe in which most of that region was either wilderness or under Mawa/Faedas/Orcish control.

So, uh, maybe the proto-Celerese set up some trade outposts in the areas that would become Hrathan-Tuor and Saltierre, a la Phoenicia? Mawa influence can probably cover the rest of the inconsistencies. *Nodnod*

As for the Eastern Humans, I'm not so sure. If I come up with a satisfying response, I'll tell you, but until then the Fae did it.

[zabbarot]

Swarthy means dark-skinned, although it could mean tanned skin as well.

Remind me, who are the mawa?

Mawa make up a bit less than 2/5ths of the population of Genivana. About the same about is human, and the rest are genimawa (mixed). Mawa are basically anthro-orangutans, because I figured Genivana was in a junglish area and orangutans are my favorite ape after people The royal family of Genivana is all genimawa of varying degrees. That's where the bit about their feet comes from.

[Morph Bark]

Are you sure you got the description for Qarimosi from Qarimos? It sounds exactly like the Heartwastelander description, and I don't recall Qarimos having tundra.

[Zap Dynamic]

Are you sure you got the description for Qarimosi from Qarimos? It sounds exactly like the Heartwastelander description, and I don't recall Qarimos having tundra.

That wasn't from the Qarimos post. There wasn't much there until I posted an update today:

And in the harbors of Melytis, long rival of princely Qarta in the Glass Hills, who could gaze at Raaneki and Qarimosi together and not find semblance? Though the sea’s bounty did make its people taller, and the Raaneki had hair in many strange colors, still the same flash of the eye, the same olive flesh! The tongue of the sea folk rolled like the tide. Raaneki twisted like vines upon a trellis, yet even here there was kinship. Long sundered, they welcomed each other as brothers and sisters.

I picture them being pretty middle eastern/indian subcontinent, so I guess that'd be brown skinned? Note that the Raaneki have wild hair colors (I can think of purple, blue, green, red, and orange off the top of my head) and are shorter than Qarimosi. Qarimosi no longer exhibit any traits from their mixture with the Sea People, but I think I'm going to make every Qarimosi eye a different shade of blue.

[QuintonBeck]

Are you sure you got the description for Qarimosi from Qarimos? It sounds exactly like the Heartwastelander description, and I don't recall Qarimos having tundra.

Right you are, must have gotten mixed up. Fixed it now with what was put there by avr.

I guess the general theme for humans is dark in the south, brown in the middle, and light at the top, specifically the northwest. Now just to explain the exceptions. I suppose proto-Celerese or another light human could be responsible for HT and Salteire but that seems pretty far fetched and far flung. I'm still thinking could be some lighter human influence from the east, though the Maos colony is dark skinned, but they could be from the south and migrated up and east.

[BladeofObliviom]

I'm still thinking could be some lighter human influence from the east, though the Maos colony is dark skinned, but they could be from the south and migrated up and east.

I'm actually unsure why I didn't think of this already! After all, assuming that the world is still round, humans could very easily come into the East by traveling westward as well...

Hrathan-Tuor and Salteire are still oddities, of course, but at least we have an explanation for the rest.

(Also, don't forget that as one goes further south of the Equator, most people would tend to tan less simply because of the way UV works. It's a lesser factor than Genetics, but it is there and can alter said genetics over a longer period of time.)




Anyway, another question, this time on the subject of Faedas! We figure that they created the Beastfolk (and probably the Golem-people that Hurosha recently annexed too), but WHY? Why would they need so many super-soldier programs, especially if they were already more or less dominant in their regions and humans weren't a serious threat yet?

Were they oppressive and constantly under threat of Rebellion? Were the Orcs steadily pushing North and gaining ground? Was "Faedas" simply a scattered mess consisting of hundreds of different principalities bound together in name only, like the HRE? Was there some other ancient empire that they were scared of composed of Lizardfolk or Mawa or something?

Discuss!

[zabbarot]

Anyway, another question, this time on the subject of Faedas! We figure that they created the Beastfolk (and probably the Golem-people that Hurosha recently annexed too), but WHY? Why would they need so many super-soldier programs, especially if they were already more or less dominant in their regions and humans weren't a serious threat yet?

Were they oppressive and constantly under threat of Rebellion? Were the Orcs steadily pushing North and gaining ground? Was "Faedas" simply a scattered mess consisting of hundreds of different principalities bound together in name only, like the HRE? Was there some other ancient empire that they were scared of composed of Lizardfolk or Mawa or something?

Discuss!

I honestly really want there to be more orcs farther south. So I like the idea that massive orc Waaaagh! forcing the fae to create super soldiers. On the other hand we know very little about the fae other than that they're mostly gone but maybe used to be everywhere. Could it be possible that the creation of the beast folk wasn't necessarily on purpose, or even their fault?

Tychris put forth the Sympol theory that all races came from the Bone Gate and fought and destroyed each other. There could be some truth to that. I imagine that there was magic at some point in pre-history. Possibly the same cataclysm that took magic created these races in some sort of magic anomaly. They could have literally all been spit out of one place and fought and destroyed Faedas. The Sympol won out and conquered the original capital grinding all memory of it to dust to rebuild their own nation, while simultaneously driving the other beastfolk out.

The magic cataclysm could even be something Faedas caused, but that's just too much of the Icarus style heavy handed Aesop for me.

[QuintonBeck]

I'm actually unsure why I didn't think of this already! After all, assuming that the world is still round, humans could very easily come into the East by traveling westward as well...

Hrathan-Tuor and Salteire are still oddities, of course, but at least we have an explanation for the rest.

(Also, don't forget that as one goes further south of the Equator, most people would tend to tan less simply because of the way UV works. It's a lesser factor than Genetics, but it is there and can alter said genetics over a longer period of time.)




Anyway, another question, this time on the subject of Faedas! We figure that they created the Beastfolk (and probably the Golem-people that Hurosha recently annexed too), but WHY? Why would they need so many super-soldier programs, especially if they were already more or less dominant in their regions and humans weren't a serious threat yet?

Were they oppressive and constantly under threat of Rebellion? Were the Orcs steadily pushing North and gaining ground? Was "Faedas" simply a scattered mess consisting of hundreds of different principalities bound together in name only, like the HRE? Was there some other ancient empire that they were scared of composed of Lizardfolk or Mawa or something?

Discuss!

We're of similar thought regarding the origin of the Mineral-Men of Hurosha and a similar question at the end too.

It was a conjecture of mine that there might have been an underground empire Faedas was in conflict with, thus making the breeding of cat-folk and rat-folk with their superior night vision make more sense and perhaps explaining the dislike between the mineral-men and the dwarves beyond just "the dwarves tried to harvest them"

I also figured a conjunction of wars could be an issue as well, conflict with a lizardfolk empire to the west coupled with an underground threat would certainly warrant ratcheted up military pursuits. Equally, the thought that Faedas was in fact a very faction oriented group with clear divides would also explain issues. In my Nyroth post it's clear that the people of that province were still looking to go to war with the lizardfolk despite that seemingly having been resolved by the majority ruling of Faedas and when it finally fell they latched onto the chance to attack those that Faedas had declared to be off limits. It may be that Faedas was not even a duo-monarchy as speculated by my Aloren scholar, but in fact some form of federation or highly divided government with one overarching name and face for outsiders to see but a highly divisive and split inner working. Perhaps even a civil war, or the threat of it, within Faedas was something that contributed to the various super solider programs.

As for the orcs, I still feel that largely they originate not from the south of Atlantica but in the east in Pacifica and that they arrived on Atlantica only shortly before the humans did as well. They're mainly concentrated on that side of the continent and even then, rather lightly compared to humanity, perhaps the true concentration of orcish population lies still undiscovered to the east. Furthermore, I might say that the orcs, if indeed from the east, might have been a large enough force in the past to have had contact with the light skinned humans of our west and that perhaps the people of HT and Salteirre were those captured by the orcs and brought to Atlantica as slaves, eventually breaking free of their own volition or through the assistance of the rising human population of proto-Salterri.

[Zap Dynamic]

Was "Faedas" simply a scattered mess consisting of hundreds of different principalities bound together in name only, like the HRE?

I like this as a picture of a late-period, decadent empire. Even if the Faedas empire wasn't like this the whole time, it'd be a nice position for its demise.

I honestly really want there to be more orcs farther south.

Could we shoehorn orcs into the Berapi diaspora? It seems like most of the humanoid-non-humans are connected to them in one way or another. Maybe they're the dross of berapi experimentation? Not aligned with anything specifically, but mutated beyond humanity?

[Lord_Burch]

My theory is that there were at least two great fae kingdoms; one in the central continent, and one west beyond the current map. Thus, each was creating soldiers to combat the other; the elves of my region 70 are a direct result of this: they are made to be fast and have keener senses than humans.

[BladeofObliviom]

Okay, so there are a lot of ideas being thrown around that I'm not touching at the moment because I'm kinda busy, but I had another idea that I thought I'd share. We already have what might be Darkness Berapi in the form of the Tieflings, but where are the Light Berapi that must exist to balance them out?

Today, something occurred to me.

The Ice Wall in the far east is apparently Burning Hot, and blocks access further east. Okay. Also, a bit to the South, there's a sudden shift to Desert.

What if a large part of Pacifica, in our East and their West, is actually a desert ruled by The Empire of the Rising Sun? Besides being a pun based on RL Japan's huge Pacific Empire during World War II, it would be ruled by Light Berapi, worship a Sun God, perhaps more like Nergal than Pelor, and have some Mesopotamian/Ancient Egyptian/Japanese flair to it.

(On a side note, I can't think of a single fictional culture in media that actually blends those. That's not to say one doesn't exist, but it's certainly not common.)

This also ties in pretty well with Burch's idea of a second Fae empire further West, so there's that. They'd probably have to be Central-north, somewhere around the latitude of Nyroth or Angan Anvale, to avoid conflicting with the Human origins in the West though.


Might as well get more confusing contradictory discussion going, right?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

My basic thought is that the Orcs are Earth Berapi, and the Merfolk possbily Water Berapi. What do you folks think?

[zabbarot]

One more thought on Berapi, so far we have suggested traditional elemental Berapi and natural law berapi(physics) with some divine tie. What if Berapi actually correspond directly with a gods' domains. Then we could have some esoteric 'elementals' like war berapi or prowess berapi.

[Lord_Burch]

One more thought on Berapi, so far we have suggested traditional elemental Berapi and natural law berapi(physics) with some divine tie. What if Berapi actually correspond directly with a gods' domains. Then we could have some esoteric 'elementals' like war berapi or prowess berapi.

At that point, though, there's conceiveably a god for everything and anything. If Berapi could basically be anything we want them to be, there would end up being an extreme surplus of them.

[Morph Bark]

One more thought on Berapi, so far we have suggested traditional elemental Berapi and natural law berapi(physics) with some divine tie. What if Berapi actually correspond directly with a gods' domains. Then we could have some esoteric 'elementals' like war berapi or prowess berapi.

That would bring it back to the idea of everyone either being capable of becoming berapi or every race being some form of berapi.

Also, the natural law Berapi were a separate idea from the divine influence Berapi idea.

[zabbarot]

At that point, though, there's conceivably a god for everything and anything. If Berapi could basically be anything we want them to be, there would end up being an extreme surplus of them.

There could be an extreme surplus of them. It depends on what people write up. I would add a corollary to my idea. Berapi only form from the most predominant or recognized portfolios. Which explains the majority of the ones we've seen matching up with traditional elements. These things are common to all places.

Edit:

That would bring it back to the idea of everyone either being capable of becoming berapi or every race being some form of berapi.

Also, the natural law Berapi were a separate idea from the divine influence Berapi idea.

Ah, yeah I guess it could. I just like esoteric elementals. Once upon a time I was in a party that got lost in the Elemental Plane of Surprise. It was amazings. Also awful because literally everything there could sneak attack you. : |

And I got the theories muddled up, my bad.

[BladeofObliviom]

I honestly really want there to be more orcs farther south. So I like the idea that massive orc Waaaagh! forcing the fae to create super soldiers. On the other hand we know very little about the fae other than that they're mostly gone but maybe used to be everywhere. Could it be possible that the creation of the beast folk wasn't necessarily on purpose, or even their fault?

Tychris put forth the Sympol theory that all races came from the Bone Gate and fought and destroyed each other. There could be some truth to that. I imagine that there was magic at some point in pre-history. Possibly the same cataclysm that took magic created these races in some sort of magic anomaly. They could have literally all been spit out of one place and fought and destroyed Faedas. The Sympol won out and conquered the original capital grinding all memory of it to dust to rebuild their own nation, while simultaneously driving the other beastfolk out.

The magic cataclysm could even be something Faedas caused, but that's just too much of the Icarus style heavy handed Aesop for me.

I'm fond of the Orcs from the South (east?) hypothesis myself, but I'm not really sold on the Sympol Forest of Bones theory. It's almost certainly propaganda, since it basically claims that Sympol are the master race. If there's a grain of truth to it, it probably doesn't have much to do with the Sentient races. I'd buy that it was a major source of nightmarish horrible monsters in the rest of the world though, since they tend to populate regions that are close to Sympolemou and are less common as you go further away.

We're of similar thought regarding the origin of the Mineral-Men of Hurosha and a similar question at the end too.

It was a conjecture of mine that there might have been an underground empire Faedas was in conflict with, thus making the breeding of cat-folk and rat-folk with their superior night vision make more sense and perhaps explaining the dislike between the mineral-men and the dwarves beyond just "the dwarves tried to harvest them"

I also figured a conjunction of wars could be an issue as well, conflict with a lizardfolk empire to the west coupled with an underground threat would certainly warrant ratcheted up military pursuits. Equally, the thought that Faedas was in fact a very faction oriented group with clear divides would also explain issues. In my Nyroth post it's clear that the people of that province were still looking to go to war with the lizardfolk despite that seemingly having been resolved by the majority ruling of Faedas and when it finally fell they latched onto the chance to attack those that Faedas had declared to be off limits. It may be that Faedas was not even a duo-monarchy as speculated by my Aloren scholar, but in fact some form of federation or highly divided government with one overarching name and face for outsiders to see but a highly divisive and split inner working. Perhaps even a civil war, or the threat of it, within Faedas was something that contributed to the various super soldier programs.

Based on this, maybe the answer to my question should just be "All of the Above". Threats from EVERYWHERE AT ONCE warrant military spending in basically all cases, you know?

As for the orcs, I still feel that largely they originate not from the south of Atlantica but in the east in Pacifica and that they arrived on Atlantica only shortly before the humans did as well. They're mainly concentrated on that side of the continent and even then, rather lightly compared to humanity, perhaps the true concentration of orcish population lies still undiscovered to the east. Furthermore, I might say that the orcs, if indeed from the east, might have been a large enough force in the past to have had contact with the light skinned humans of our west and that perhaps the people of HT and Salteirre were those captured by the orcs and brought to Atlantica as slaves, eventually breaking free of their own volition or through the assistance of the rising human population of proto-Salterri.

This also makes a degree of sense. I don't have much more to say about it, so this is filler.

Could we shoehorn orcs into the Berapi diaspora? It seems like most of the humanoid-non-humans are connected to them in one way or another. Maybe they're the dross of berapi experimentation? Not aligned with anything specifically, but mutated beyond humanity?

This explanation feels wrong to me. The Berapi are widespread enough that I doubt they were part of a single mutation-based program, and adding Orcs into that diaspora only makes it less plausible.

I'm of the opinion that the Berapi were likely the "common men" of Faedas, a step below the "Noble" castes such as the Cloudiz and Heartwaste Fae, and thus a natural form of true fae rather than the results of experimentation. In this case, most generic Fey-blooded humans would have berapi blood down the line. Most of the exceptions to this rule would be humans from Kasumor or other places that had a higher concentration of "noble" Fae.


I think Orcs would be better as their own thing.

My basic thought is that the Orcs are Earth Berapi, and the Merfolk possbily Water Berapi. What do you folks think?

I disagree for reasons listed up above, and also because I prefer the scientific universe model of Berapi "mantling". If nothing else, they'd be solid and liquid Berapi to fit in with states of matter or something.

As for the Merfolk, I'd actually assumed that they were another strain of Cloudiz influence, having adapted entirely for the sea and largely bred out the more airborne parts of their anatomy.

There could be an extreme surplus of them. It depends on what people write up. I would add a corollary to my idea. Berapi only form from the most predominant or recognized portfolios. Which explains the majority of the ones we've seen matching up with traditional elements. These things are common to all places.

Edit: Ah, yeah I guess it could. I just like esoteric elementals. Once upon a time I was in a party that got lost in the Elemental Plane of Surprise. It was amazings. Also awful because literally everything there could sneak attack you.

At that point, though, there's conceiveably a god for everything and anything. If Berapi could basically be anything we want them to be, there would end up being an extreme surplus of them.

This is also a potential problem: While it's interesting to have a race with a high amount of diversity, at some point it becomes obnoxious. I think we should probably limit them to physical concepts like Hot and Cold, Light and Dark, and maybe states of matter. Esoteric Elementals are fun, but maybe we should leave those for the actual elementals rather than our fae-types?

[lt_murgen]

One thing we should be careful to address, or at least document, is the places where there are ruins. I honestly don't think there are many. But a significant absence of ruins means it is unlikely that there was an ancient empire that broke up- even if some histories speak of it.

[BladeofObliviom]

One thing we should be careful to address, or at least document, is the places where there are ruins. I honestly don't think there are many. But a significant absence of ruins means it is unlikely that there was an ancient empire that broke up- even if some histories speak of it.

After quickly going through the existing territories, these ones specifically mention ruins as being present in some form:

Celero (via Nature's Citadel; little else)
Kasumor (though most of them are still in use)
The Heartwaste (Still in use)
Qarimos
Ayava (Still in Use)
Pryonia (Once again, still in use)
Ashenia
Alydaxis
Glazfell

While this is admittedly a fairly meager turnout, and spread pretty well across the land, that's just the places that explicitly point it out in their writeup. There could easily be many more that simply do not have prominent ruins, or did not bother describing them in their terrain writeup because they had other landmarks to worry about, or ruins that were mistaken for natural features.

That said, I'm not really sure that your argument is convincing, especially in the case of the Fae Kingdoms. After all, Fae-type creatures are well-known in literature for building palaces and such out of nature with magic, and I'm not sure that they would leave ruins in all cases. After all, trees fall and rot, and the City of Lothlorien disappears after the elves leave. Ice Palaces melt unless they're in the Heartwaste. Wooden homes rot and disappear. Stone homes collapse and look like any other pile of rocks. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Lack of ruins is hardly a guarantee that no civilization ever existed there. Entropy has a way of erasing things, especially if cataclysmic events are involved.

[QuintonBeck]

And to continue the trend of Blade and I agreeing with one another I support Blade's latest theories and postulations. Also, Nyroth has a fort system lying in ruins.

[Logic]

I specifically left Nature's Citadel vague so it could be used later as needed. I envisioned it was probably a Stonehenge level ruin, but left it to be determined later. It is supposed to be evidence of a prior civilization, but nothing specific was intended.

[Zap Dynamic]

Toward the Dawn
Being a history of the Painted Lands and its people, from their earliest days to the current age.
Researched and illuminated by Deep Scholar Dezarajacarita
Published in year 392 of the Common Era

The Raaneki have a rich oral and written tradition, but this richness occupies an overall brief time in the annals of history. Accurate records are after all difficult to keep when they are recorded upon the bodies of the Painted Folk in the way of godana tattoos, to say nothing of the exaggeration of history that comes hand-in-hand with the gregarious and glory-driven nature of Raaneka and its people. There are many tales of ancient days in every town and village from the Miracle Pools to the Flower Lakes, but these tales are full of such hyperbole that they must be more of fiction than fact.

In the depths of Kevanubhadarz, called Flickerhall by the Raaneki, the gnomes of Ayavazarmanbuh-ja have maintained much more accurate records. The dark and coolness of our library has preserved many scrolls and tomes for centuries, and those records in danger of deterioration are often recreated by aspiring scholars in their final years of tutelage. Though much was lost in the Fall of the Imperial Regency and the Burning of Flickerhall, we have preserved what remains with skill and care.

We gnomes who live and see in near total darkness strive to light the world with knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, our most sacred word means “kindle excellence” in the common tongue. With this utterance, may we kindle wisdom within this humble work of mind and hand. May it bring understanding to a forgetful world, and may that understanding bring us ever closer to peace.

Astraniz

Record of Dates and Events

Spoiler: Mythic Origins (c. 2800-1530 BCE)

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• c. 2800 BCE - A small band of humans with many-colored hair arrive in modern Genivana, carried over the bosom of the Central Sea by outrigger canoes. They claim to have fled a magic island in the middle of the sea. They tell stories of monsters and hurricanes, and lament the death of most of their fellows. They call this new land the Widelands, and become known as Widelanders in legend and lore.
• c. 2300 BCE - A group of Widelanders fall out of favor in modern Genivana, and begin a migration east. They name themselves the Dawnseekers, for each morning they point their migration in the direction of the sunrise.
• c. 1850 BCE - The Dawnseeker movement settles by the Lyrian Ocean after a migration that lasts for nearly 500 years. They encounter a native people with many-colored skin, and eventually become one people with exotic skin and hair colors. Recognizing this, they call themselves the Ranak, the painted folk.

Spoiler: Imperial Regency (1530-462 BCE)

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• 1530 BCE - The Dawnseekers found the Imperial Regency in modern-day Raaneka. Their realm spreads over the following decades to include the modern regions of Qarimos, Lyradis, Grmanhil, and the Heartwaste. Their protectorates included cultures nearly 500 miles in every direction from their borders. It is said their conquest was spurred by their powerful magic and their invention of iron. The Painted Hills are said to be a product of this magic, and the Berrylands are considered to have been their most precious region. The combination of these two terrain features lead the Empire to christen the region Raaneka, the painted land.
• 530 BCE - The oldest extant Ayavan Chronicle in Flickerhall begins with "After 1000 years of rule, the Empire is without adversary, and the Emperor guides his people well." This is the origin for the Ayavan calendar, since older Chronicles were lost in the Fall of the Imperial Regency. In 392 of the common era, the Ayavan calendar year was 1922. Thus, it is known that the modern Ayavan calendar reckoning began 530 years before the common era.
• 462 BCE - The Imperial Regency collapses in fire and ruin, scattering the Ranek to the winds. The Glass Hills are said to have formed at this time as a result of colossal war. Flickerhall burns, and many Chronicles are lost. The Ranek live in exile as nomads for many generations, settling no where long and mingling with the people of the world in their travels. Nearly all cultural heritage is forgotten during this time. Their language changes, and they become the Raaneki.

Spoiler: Homeward Decline (c 463 BCE-c 136 CE)

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• c. 320 BCE - Raaneki exiles--greatly diminished in number and majesty--return to their old homeland after 150 years of homeless wandering. Genetic dispersion has eliminated their exotic skin and eye colors. Exotic hair coloring has become a rarity and a mark of greatness. They remain organized into their nomadic tribes, and are harried by constant feuds. Because of their diminished numbers, the homeward
• c. 250 BCE - A large group of Raaneki are expelled from the south of Raaneka by warfare and treachery. They migrate south of the Glass Hills, beyond which no Raaneki will travel due to ancient superstition. They call this land Karmos, which meant "to seek/desire" in ancient Raaneki. It was to be their homeland and their refuge from the barbarism of the north.
• c. 200 BCE - The oldest Qarimosi song, "The Rhyme of the Sea People," is attested to this time. It tells the tale of how the people of the land and the people of the sea joined together and made a new culture, the Sea Princes, with a new language, Qarimosi. These Sea Princes come to prosperity on the island of Stormgate, but remain devoted to the sea and thus reclusive from the mainland, save for a single port at modern-day Melytis. The song speaks of events thousands of years ago, but Ayavan scholarship has estimated that it could be no more than 500 years old.
• c. 42 BCE - After centuries of prosperity and peace, the Sea Princes of Stormgate are said to have grown decadent and fallen from glory. Melytis is beleaguered and destroyed by the Raaneki, who are still organized into tribes of raiders at this time. The Raaneki salvage enough Qarimosi ships to attack Stormgate itself. Overwhelmed, the Sea People return to the watery depths, never to return.
• c. 50 CE - The cities of Suri and Patara are founded. At this time, Raaneka is organized into a collection of petty lords squabbling for their territories and berry fields. Raiding beyond their borders has diminished since the Fall of the Sea Princes.

Spoiler: Unity and Progress (c 137-340 CE)

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• c. 137 CE - After 300 years of tribal bickering, an ambitious Raaneki couple, Sarvasresthi and Pahale, successfully unite all of Raaneka with a combination of peaceful offerings, exaggerated myths, and carnal politics. The Raaneki rejoice that an age of kindred bloodshed has ended, and name Sarvasresthi and Pahale the first Lady and Lord of Raaneka.
• 152 CE - The First Games are held in the lower berrylands, inviting all Raaneki to compete as a means to peacefully alleviate the restless energy of the Raaneki after nearly 400 years of petty squabbles. Lady Sarvasresthi and Lord Pahale abdicate the Twin Thrones at age 60 to lead lives of adventure.
• c. 155 CE - Sparked by the power vacuum left in the wake of the First Lady and Lord, the Raaneki are divided by civil war for the last time in their history. A more aggressive Lady and Lord rise to the Twin Thrones after two years of conflict, and channel the warlike nature of their people into a new age of Raaneki raiding. They strike out mainly to the west and north, knowing the southern regions to be made up of nomads with little worldly goods. Tales from other lands speak of tattooed wildfolk descending upon caravans and small villages, but tales do not speak of these Raaneki raiders as overly bloodthirsty.
• c. 158 CE - After the fall of the Sea Princes nearly 200 years before, the Qarimosi are little more than a loose collection of nomads. They have not lost touch with the sea, but they are a diminished people. Any magical or spiritual connection they once had has long since faded, and all written records of the time of the Sea Princes have been lost or destroyed.
• c. 160 CE - Oldest vintage in the Royal Vault, known as "The Raider Queen's Wine," is attested to this time. It is rumored to be the finest wine ever produced by Raaneki soil.
• 197 CE - With the advent of the Fourth Games, the Raaneki have grown prosperous and complacent in their homeland. The current Lady and Lord call for the end of Raaneki raiding into foreign lands and decree that the Raaneki should focus their efforts on the cultivation of wine. Travel beyond the borders still occurs, but Raaneka adopts a stance of general isolationism.
• c. 200 CE - Small groups of daring Lyradissians and Qarimosi begin to settle in Raaneka. They adopt Raaneki culture and customs within a generation or two. After a few years, most of the Lyradissians begin a mass migration north of the Painted Coast and out of the tales of Raaneka.
• c. 290 CE - By the year 392, the oldest living Raaneki historian has godana recounting history back to this date, when his grandfather was first tattooed. Records older than this are approximate, but some accuracy can be found using Ayavan scholarship.
• 300 CE - Aditi and Devdan's predecessors ascend to the Twin Thrones after the natural death of their parents. They rule for 41 years.
• 316 CE - Aditi is born in the city of Patara. Devdan is born in the city of Suri.
• 330 CE - Qarimos develops ocean-faring ship technology.
• 332 CE - The Thirteenth Games. After nearly 140 years of isolation, the rumor on everyone's lips is about the wide lands beyond Raaneka, and the treasures they hold. Aditi and Devdan turn 16 and choose lives of adventure.
• 337 CE - Satata, Aditi and Devdan’s lover and a relentless warrior, dies in battle against Pryonian forces. Aditi and Devdan are devastated, but this is the event that sets them on the path of leadership.

Spoiler: Raaneka’s Golden Age (341-Present)

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• 341 CE - Lady Aditi and Lord Devdan rise to the Twin Thrones of Raaneka after peaceful negotiations with the previous rulers. They implore all Raaneki with adventurous spirits to travel out into the world beyond their borders, and bring back any news or wisdom they find. In a break with tradition, they begin to record their decrees and deeds on parchment, rather than on their bodies. Dates are absolute from this point forward.
• 347 CE - The Fourteenth Games. Lady Aditi and Lord Devdan invite the wide world to the Games for the first time in history. This event becomes known around the world as the First Raaneki Games. During the course of the Games, Lyradis, Razdis, and Qarimos meet with Lady and Lord to form the Dawn League, an alliance devoted to mutual defense and advantageous trade relations.
• 358 CE - Construction begins on the Kindred Stadiums.
• 362 CE - The Second Raaneki Games. Lady Aditi and Lord Devdan abdicate the throne to their eldest son, Prince Ujval, and his wife, Princess Lomadi. Aditi and Devdan give the berundas as their final gift to the Raaneki, and leave at the age of 46 to live lives of adventure. They promise to return at Raaneka's greatest need.
• 376 CE - The Kindred Stadiums are complete after 18 years of construction, just in time for the Third Raaneki Games.
• 380 CE - Prince Tikta Satato discovers an ancient bond of blood between the Raaneki and Qarimosi peoples. They are reunited as one nation amid much revelry and joy.
• 381 CE - The Royal Council of Raaneka is formed, uniting the leadership of Raaneka and Qarimos. Later in the same year, Prince Tikta makes contact with the Dhanazarmanoms of Ayavazarmanbuh-ja. These “gnomes” consent to join the Council once it has been made clear that the Raaneki are indeed the descendants of the Ranek, masters of the gnomes in ancient days.
  Raaneki Heartwine is perfected by Ujval, now King of Raaneka. When the first vintage has matured, they test its quality against the Raider Queen's Wine. Heartwine is found to be vastly superior to this highly-lauded and ancient vintage. King Ujval loses his sight at the Triumvirate Grand Ball while witnessing the miracle of Shahidi Mkuu Shvedrishti Bright Eyes. This tragedy earns him the byname “Glorysight.”
  Ayavan scholars begin to research the history of the Raaneki.
• 383 CE - King Ujval Glorysight and Queen Lomadi Devdano contract the Pusdeath, and flee to the Raaneki wilderness to avoid spreading the plague. Anguri and Krama Adite rise to the Twin Thrones, promising glory as well as wisdom.
• 386 CE - The Royal Council announces the creation of the Raaneki Fellows, a force of adventurous investigators dedicated to plumbing the depths of any and all mysteries Telluris can devise. Their first task is to find the culprit of the Qarimosi Killings.

[Aedilred]

The History of the Jarrs

Note on contents:
Jarrland written history is awful, until the last fifty years when it rather abruptly becomes exceptionally good, thanks to a widespread improvement in literacy standards. The following can be pieced together from oral history and the stories told by bards and skalds. The genealogy of the kings appears to be fairly consistent, although there are some minor disagreements about names. The most common version has been used here.

The first date given in the foregoing is 342, as this is one of the earliest dates of an event other than a royal birth that can be properly verified from Jarrland sources. After that most dates are reasonably well-attested. It seems likely that Athelwygg the atheling fell from his horse somewhere between 317-319 and 318 is usually given as a compromise date.

Access to Salterri records might help to shore up some of the dates, assuming the Salterri kept detailed accounts of their activities in the region.

The Kingdom of Zhaira

The elvenking Aesa came through the mountains with his people, bringing with him the secrets of metalwork, of wood-carving and archery, of ship-building and cloth-making. He tamed the lions of the west and the horses of the north, and conquered all the lands between the mountains and the sea, which he called Zhaira.

King Aesa ruled wisely and well for many hundreds of years. He passed his crown to his son Aelfi. King Aelfi brought the light of the elves to the islands and his people travelled all over the southern oceans, trading, settling and bringing knowledge and prosperity.

Aelfi disappeared on a sea voyage to the far reaches of the south-east and was succeeded by his son Aelron. King Aelron added the mountains to his father's domain and wrote laws to govern the conduct of the people.

After a long reign Aelron was succeeded by his son Aelthsan. King Aelthsan built cities for the people to live in, and roads for them to travel on.

Aelthsan was followed by his son, Aelthuan del Zhaira. King Aelthuan's reign was troubled by war. Foreign invaders crossed the borders of the kingdom and brought strife to his people.

King Aelthsan fell in battle, and his crown was taken up by his son Aeluith. King Aeluith was beset by enemies from the start of his reign. He fought a long struggle against the invaders before abandoning the palaces of his fathers and fleeing into the hills.

After the Fall

For centuries the descendants of Zhaira lived in the hills in hiding. The crown passed from Aeluith to his son Aelfuin. Petty kings of the invaders rose and fell. Much knowledge was forgotten Many of the people of Zhaira drifted away from rule by the king. Other descendants of King Aesa set up rival halls against Aelfuin and his son Elthwyn. Even the name of the kingdom was forgotten and changed. The house of Del Zhaira became De Zhaira became Jaira became Jarrow.

Elthwyn's son Athelwyn was a weak king and was challenged by many rivals. Clan Delassa challenged the Jarrow with the help of warriors from the south and drove them out of much of their land.

Strong soldiers came from across the mountains. These were the Salterri. They had weapons of iron and armour of gold and conquered many clans. Athelwyn's son Alfrygg agreed to fight alongside the Salterri rather than be destroyed by them. Clans Delassa and Isling refused to bow to the Qzare. The Jarrow descended from their high hills and fell upon Clan Delassa, which was completely destroyed. Clan Isling fought for longer against the Salterri but eventually came to terms with them. The Salterri took tribute from the clans and left soldiers to protect their quarries and lumber yards, and departed the land.

The Salterri did not recognise the title of king. They called the clan chiefs lords as was their custom. Alfryg's son Lord Atheldyn had three sons, but the eldest, Athelwygg, fell from a horse, and his brother Lord Eldin inherited the lordship.

Reunification

Lord Eldin was a man of vision who sought to reunite the old kingdom. In 342 he married his niece, daughter of Athelwygg, to Lord Isling, and made an alliance with Clan Sunder. Together they sought to unite the clans under Eldin's banner. In 355 he married his son Alfwyr to a lady of Clan Dunnem and added them to his army. In 356 Lord Eldin choked on a sausage and his son Athelmark became lord.

Athelmark marched to the lands of the Horwik boat clan and added them to his banner, marrying the daughter of Lord Horwik. Together the army of Athelmark fought to conquer the remaining clans. By 360 Jarrland had been reunited under a single crown and Athelmark was crowned king on the Atteltor.

King Athelmark was recognised by the Salterri and by many other nations. In 381 the dwarves of Mularuhm recognised the claim of Jarrow over all the lands south of Discordia. From 393 his brother Alfwyr and son Athelmere established colonies in Vennland and in 406 brought that back under the Jarrow crown.

Spoiler: Out of character

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Obviously the above does not match up entirely neatly with the Lyradis history. This is intentional, given the unreliability of Jarrland sources. I see a couple of possibilities for resolution:

Lyradis might be one of the kingdoms that rose and fell during the reigns of Aeluith and Aelfuin, since it lasted a little over a hundred years about 250 years ago; within about five or six generations of the foundation of the new kingdom. That would match the Lyradis chronology by generation, although it would leave a question-mark over why the kings beforehand were so long-lived and subsequent ones have been less so.

Alternatively, Zhaira and Lyradis are one and the same. If this is the case, then either the Lyradis chronology is too short, or the Jarr chronology is far too long. Or possibly both. If the Lyradis chronology is accurate, I'm not sure whether the two hundred years between their departure and the point at which Jarrland history again becomes reliable is quite long enough to forget everything so completely. It also raises the question of where the elven blood in the Jarrs originates (assuming there is any in the first place and current appearance isn't just the result of several generations of selective breeding*), and why the names of the kingdom are different in each culture. Some ideas:

• The kings of Old Lyradis were elven all along. Since the royal family was believed lost at the time of the people's departure, this wasn't considered terribly relevant, and has subsequently been forgotten.
• Zhaira was the royal family's name for the kingdom; the common name was Lyradis.
• The Kells who conquered Lyradis were elves. Given that the Jarrs being direct successors of a Kell kingdom would leave little time for things to dissolve and be forgotten so completely, this would likely suggest that the Kells took over the country as an aristocracy and were subsequently absorbed into it. Legends and folklore have subsequently jumbled the traditions of the founding of the old kingdom with the arrival of the elves, when in fact the elves conquered the old kingdom and were conquered in turn by the Salterri.

*I figure by this point it doesn't actually matter. It can't be proven either way; the Jarrs believe it, they look a bit elf-y, are generally long-lived-ish and are now marrying elves again to shore up their credentials. So even if it wasn't true, it might as well be.

Spoiler: A speculative alternative chronology

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This assumes the "Zhaira=Lyradis" hypothesis, that the Old Lyradis chronology is accurate, and that the kings were long-lived on average, but not spectacularly so.

d.14 - Aesa
14 - 81 - Aelfi
81 - 113 - Aelron
113 - 136 - Aelthsan
136 - 151 - Aelthuan
151 - 159 - Aeluith
159 - 222 - Aelfuin
222 - 251 - Elthwyn
251 - 286 - Athelwyn
286 - 321 - Alfrygg
321 - 335 - Atheldyn
335 - 356 - Eldin
356 - 393 - Athelmark
393 - 396 - Alfwyr
396 - present - Athelmere