[EMPIRE!] A World-Building Game of People & Discovery 2

[QuintonBeck]

End of Round Fifty

Any edits to actions in posts edited after the time of posting this one are considered not valid. (Excepting the OP, of course.)

[QuintonBeck]

Round Fifty: Begin the End!
Years 576-580 of the Common Calendar

Previous IC

The End

At the edges of the world, where the Great Waste touched the lands of mortals the great hordes of the Kazul crashed against the stony bulwarks of resistance. In Valasharix a mighty host met the Kazul threat in great force and forced from the deep desert dwelling creatures a victory, once more pushing them back from the lands of the east. The battle was sealed with the arrival of the Titan of Maos, whose pouring of everlava and true ice created such a toxic reaction that the shintouite of the Titan itself was dissolved and the great statue sunk to its waste in the pool before it stopped, creating a mighty image of Gareth and Humperdink standing as a portion of the Dragon Wall against the desert. The victory was celebrated in the weeks to follow but many who had commanded in the battle saw that the victory was not the end for the great Kazul mind had not been destroyed.

In the years to follow the Kazul hordes came again and again, years between their forays focused on building the Dragon Wall, an endless and harrying war of attrition that even the mighty Tzaltec Empire struggled to maintain. Seeking full control of the east the Tzaltec would in time attempt to annex the Sharix Republic, desperate to control what was perceived as a weak link into their own lands. The mighty empire of the dragon, bereft their founding father and struggling against a threat that refused to die would, in the decades to follow be reduced in might and size as the mountain home of the Saroc and the blue dragon became an infested and dark place filled only with Kazul and death. Though the expansion of the Kazul ended fifty years after it had begun the respite came too late for the Tzaltec Empire to maintain its opulent glory and across the empire factionalism and disunity, the greatest fear of the Teotlkan's of old, chipped away and splintered the mighty nation, leaving only a remnant of its once great past.

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In the west the Kazul hordes that fell upon Kanyat broke the line that had been formed there, though at great cost to themselves. The heroic sacrifice of the Free Knights left thousands of the desert insects dead but it was not enough to stem the tide and Kanyat, with its great cities of the Sphynks, grew swarmed with the insects of the deep desert. The Kazul would eventually make a push against Bastet, although the events in Kemuliaan and Alzeroth seemed to dissuade the desert creatures from going further.

In Alzeroth, the Collective met the armies of Kemuliaan who had arrived to stop the twisted miracle intending to open a portal to the Bale Realm. Unfortunately for the Red Pharaoh and his apparent allies in the Kazul they arrived too late to stop the Bale Rising and the undead pharaoh's army fought the Alzerites out of simple vengeance. The two armies clashed mightily as around them terrifying creatures from a realm locked away by the gods millenia prior spilled forth and headed into the Great Waste. When the Huroshan army arrived after a long delay acquiring the paperwork for passage from an Ashenian bureaucrat the land was devastated. There were no survivors save Nyllana Earthguard, who stood as a statue, her face strained and pulled as she held closed the Bale Realm's portal. To move her would be to open the world up to more horrors from that awful realm and so it was the Huroshans decided to split, some remaining in Alzeroth to attempt and rebuild and fight off any Bale creatures seeking to return as well as serving as guardians to the Avatar of Balance, now a lock point between Telluris and the Bale, and the rest returning to Hurosha to carry the news of what had transpired.

Kemuliaan itself would become an empty city, sands whispering through its empty streets, the populace fled save for the ancient and undead mummies who sat in their crypt beneath the city, and the single decrepit figure at the peak of the Ruby Tower. A trapped and haunted visage awaiting the return of those seeking fortune and power when the cycle began once more.

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The Deep Threat of the Hundred Seas would in later years by historians far removed from the events of the world be called a Bale creature, summoned by Huroshan hubris or perhaps the Watcher, a creature Huroshan texts spoke of attempting to recall from its dark realm. The descendants of the Makgrull survivors would write differently however, how on that day the diplomatic friendship of Praeclarus helped to ensure the undersea denizens would not be destroyed. The armies of Praeclarus, never known for combat, alongside the armies of the Tide King with its commander who would go on to become legend, aided by ships and forces from across the world even the daughters of the great beast known as the Watcher, sent in friendship to the undersea nation. The Deep Threat met these forces as playthings, and suffered unpleasant surprise as it was wounded and left bloodied in its attempt to swallow the Makgrull of Praeclarus as it had the Makgrull of the Waedyr. The forces were sent into retreat but the noble words of the Rex and the tactical mind of the Tide King combined with the support of nations abroad would eventually, over the course of the next two decades whittle down and kill the mighty ocean threat. While a mighty victory, its cost was high as Praeclarus was left broken, forced to coalesce in union with the Kingdom of the Glowing Tides and the independent nation of Diamonhead. While the Makgrull would live on the deathly empty waters of the Hundred Seas would never again be populated by any sizabe population.

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Across the northwest and northeast the deep winter taken by some as the Eternal Winter foretold in prophecy spread slowly across every land that held the Doctrine dear. Nobles and royals, many of whom fled to Sycia and the Holy States take their places in Sycia's shelters while others, either less zealous or simply desiring freedom, escape south into warmer lands. The poor and common folk of the Doctrinal lands die in the thousands and remaining clergy across the north declare them bearers of false gods and sinners against the glory of Yphinne. When these clergy and more also begin to die, frozen by the cold such sentiment ends and those that are able to find shelter hunker down while those left above are doomed to death. Across the world the effect of the long winter of the north would be felt, summers shortening and cooling, spring and fall days or a week at best, and the cold winds filling the lands forcing even those in Raaneka and the Islands to dress in more conservative and warm clothes. In the decades to follow the lands would eventually begin to warm, the ice and snow melting free and the descendants of those saved in the vaults of Sycia emerging to establish a new, unified empire of frost across nearly the entirety of the north, connecting east and west fully beneath one holy ruler.

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Along the eastern seaboard of the north central continent paranoia, fear, and darkness would come to dominate the politics of the Empire of Dusk. The fracturing of the Faedas Freehold, mightiest of the Empire's vassals, the dissolution of the Kingdom Caramel as a bulwark in the east and its people's retraction to the central continent where they would intermingle with the Tuvaak warriors, and the curse released by Kyria Varinel's death would be the Empire's undoing. Though it would last for a century more to come it was truly a shadow of its former self and conflict with its neighboring empires in Hurosha, Sobrida, and the Salterri Imperium's remnants would eventually contribute to its collapse into petty states, each claiming a mighty heritage and attempting to reforge that which had been lost.

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The Hurosha Empire suffered mightily in the eyes of the world for its opening of the Bale Realm, despite the partial success in dissuading Kazul invasion of the West, and alongside the secret keeping of the Daughters of the Watcher it became a pariah among the remaining nations. Embracing this the Emperors of Hurosha would pursue an aggressive military campaign against the remnants of the Seaborne Confederation and the Salterri Imperium through Celero for perceived responsibility in the massive deaths in Cuan caused by the felling of Crima from the sky. Still possessing a powerful army despite the weakness of much of the rest of the world these wars and skirmishes would prove devastating for all sides involved as the Sulvan Primarchy, Empire of Dusk became involved and uninvoled in passing, constant threat of Ashenian or Niskovian involvement often making itself known and keeping Sobrida removed. Lands shifted hands many times before a truce between the harried powers was drawn up, though not in time to save them from the weight of debt and death from the wars. The Hurosha Empire would in time collapse down to Kasumor, the cultural diversity that had so identified them, ultimately becoming their undoing.

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In the west the powers of Ashenia and Niskovia acted as they always had in the face of crisis, slowly. It was this measured pace that in many ways saved them from destruction and would ensure the two states maintained stable throughout the years to come despite the rashness of their vassals and the long winter in Ashenia. Eventually however these states too would collapse, destroyed by the forces of internal unrest and revolution. Nationalism and creeping ideals of democracy resuscitated by states along their borders eroding the power of the monarchies through violent bursts and slow wear and tear.

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Firelung became an epidemic in Celero and all its holdings with outcroppings of its presence making themselves known across the world, Hurosha protected by immunity, and outbreaks quickly controlled by the Salterri kept these two nations strong but elsewhere its presence was a herald of doom for the region. For twenty years the lives of many were defined by the horrific disease, or more accurately, curse and hundreds of thousands died. Eventually it seemed to burn out but its existence had crippled Celero which in turn damaged the might of the Salterri ,already crumbling with the loss of the Confederation. The last laugh of Stuyvesant, a parody of the Lord of Fire and his presence in the lands of the Celerese.

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In the south the Salterri Imperium, robbed of its Qzare by his cowardice, his cruelty, or perhaps his simple curiosity and left in the hands of an aging matriarch it was only a matter of time before disputes over the heir to the Silver Throne became violent. Nevertheless the Imperium shambled on for a century more but in time the Silver Mandate fell to the wolves and with threats external and internal nipping at the Imperium's heels, combined with the influx of non-Salterri refugees from other lands the mighty empire that had once struck fear and awe into the heart of half an entire continent collapsed. Distant holdings grew isolated and Sobrida, long claiming succesorship to the Imperium, sought to bring in outlying provinces before the devolved into barbarism. To the Imperium's south its daughter empire the Caercian Consortium followed much as its parent had, splitting into distinct kingdoms ruled independently with only homage paid to the Consul and the Qzare, titles that had lost all might and meaning once held by their bearers.

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With the devastation in the north and the east, and the absence of immediate threat to Sobrida, it takes advantage of the power vacuum to cement its position. Unchallenged in its naval and seaborne supremacy it establishes dominance over the Dappled Sea and trading posts further afield as well as overtures in the north, strengthening the position of Aloren and seeking enticement of the Heartwaste Holds. Niemida expands aggressively first in Esuma and then conquering the lost Kell lands alongside Zosimus and his heirs. Eventually however as the southern empire grows and stretches thin it replicates the mistakes of the Salterri before it, overextending and collapsing, forced to give greater and greater autonomy to the lands under its jurisdiction.

Tumeland and Trinacria are the first to go, while Farridon splinters into its component duchies and ultimately into individual tribes and shires. Vennland is divided between those who want to preserve the union with Jarrland at any cost, those who want to assert their own claim to the crown, and those who want to pursue independence; Tempestia reverts to its casual insularism without meaningful central government; Discordia falls into civil war between lords only held from conflict by foreign imposition of authority. Jarrland itself becomes a battleground, fought over by all who wish to claim succession to the old empire, a land at the mercy of a cavalcade of pretenders and petty kings, until the legacy of the Jarrow kings is all but lost and their achievements no more than a distant memory many refuse to believe is even true.

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The Kingdom of the Isles, a loyal vassal to the crown of Jarrow, loses itself in the study of its history, uncovering an origin among the giants and searching ever more for an explanation to their origin. As Sobrida wanes the spriggans remain buried in their studies and when their empire collapses they follow soon after, a whispering wind through the branches of the trees.

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The Kingdom of Mularuhm beneath the great south stands for centuries to come, outlasting its liege in Sobrida and many more besides but the might and length of Mularuhm's rule leaves little impact on the world above, and even in the world below the happenings of the underdark remain quiet, known only to those select few who rule it.

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And so the great nations of Telluris, forged in the blood of war, the parchment of diplomacy, the cog of invention, and the belief of spirit would end and evolve into something new. The world had been changed, drastically and everlasting by their presence, and legacies dotted the landscape from east to west and north to south. Kings, commoners, and fools from every land with names long remembered even after their passing. And though Telluris would breath no more with the fullness of life that she had once held it was only so that another world might experience itself fullness of might, guile, wit, spirit, and a healthy dose of fated luck. An age that would be known for the powers of its people, its rulers, and its Empires!