The Complete History of Salderin

[GabrielAntihero]

This is the complete history of my world as told by a historian of it. I hope you enjoy it and please leave constructive criticism.

Salderin
By: Karn The Old

The Creation
Swirling through dimensional soup are worlds, each on its own plane of existence. One such world is Salderin. Some might argue that the only reason Salderin is exceptional is that some unseen force links it and Earth together. I however feel differently. Salderin is not a perfect world, its history is bloodstained and filled with hatred. But Salderin is not a dark place at its core, nor are the those who live there. Perhaps this will never be read for Salderin titters the edge of destruction, though if it is to be end, then I for one would like remember the beginning and all those who have made this history worth remembering, for an old goblin like me.

The First Era
Before the first era people wandered, gathering and hunting, simply trying to survive. Magic was most certainly around in this time as well. The people of this time struggled to survive but they led prosperous lives, not in gold but in time spent with their own.
Once farming spread across the landscape things moved much faster. Soon town stood where tents may have stood for a mere night. Populations also grew, as the struggle for survival diminished. This was especially true for the elves. This may come as a surprise to those who know elves, for today as we stand on the brink of a the fifth era very few elves have children. For a reason that no one knows, as the race of elves has aged the elves as a race have had fewer and fewer children. Perhaps this will change one day, or perhaps the elves are not a infallible as they seem, and they are doomed to extinction same as the rest of us. But, I am getting off topic.
The elfish population was growing rapidly, much more rapidly than their supplies. The elves already had much of their land tied into farming so the elfish king, Aeilvar, prayed to elfish god, Arven, for guidance. He reemerged from a prayer chamber three days later, and declared that elves would take over land for Arven and his people.
The first land they took was a large swath of land that belonged to centaurs. The centaurs one of few groups that was still nomadic, running from place to place hunting and gathering. By all accounts, they fought valiantly but were no match for elves who had superior numbers, technology, and understanding of magic. The centaurs surrendered after a few battles. The centaurs became the first subjects of the elfish empire. Emboldened by their success the elves continued to expand, soon owning all land that lay between Changeling’s Outcrop home of The Therianthropes, The Red Sands a large desert, and The Teeth of Tymir a mountain chain battled for by dwarfs against goblins and hobgoblins. Owning this much land was unheard of, but the elves had a taste for victory now.
A fair portion of their army marched south towards Changeling’s Outcrop, the home of the therianthropes. Changeling’s Outcrop is a piece of land the size of a large island that sticks out from the continent. It is naturally secluded due to it’s geography. On the eastern border of Changeling’s Outcrop is Gevro’s Swamp, a dense and dangerous place, with a large river. To the west is Grankil’s Teeth, a small chain of mountains with a large canyon, now known as Shadowdeath. The rest of Changeling’s Outcrop at the time that didn’t have a settlement was just dense forest. For a quick reference Gevro was a Were-Hawk who is accredited with founding Heatheria, the Therianthrope capital. Grankil is the therianthrope god, the great dragon who gave his life to bring light into existence, his body makes up the world according to the therianthropes. At this time therianthropes lived in a tribal society, dividing themselves by what kind of therianthrope they were. Skirmishes between tribes was not unusual and they rarely worked together. The only two universal rules were no fighting each other on the main road and Heatheria is neutral. Two rules which stand to this day. Some tribes did live outside of Changeling’s Outcrop and these tribes were almost instantly defeated by the elves. The survivors fled and warned the other Therianthropes of what was coming. Unknown to any involved was that what would come would be stuff of legend.

The elfish army was walking down the main road towards Heatheria. They had not encountered any resistance since the tribes outside of Changeling’s Outcrop. Then as they walked along a spot where the swamp was especially close to the forested road they saw the therianthrope army. The elves had them outnumbered ten to one so they decided to march directly at them. They should have realized that something was wrong when they noticed that more than one tribe was there, but they did not. As they marched shields facing forward there was a sudden roar from the swamp. Brush was thrown aside revealing several tunnels underneath, and therianthropes poured out of the swamp mere feet from the elves. The elves were cut down. Those that stood their ground were surprised and outnumbered. Some ran back down the road, they were the lucky ones. The rest tried to hide in the forest and ran into a second trap. The therianthropes had dug out a trench and built a mound alongside it. Therianthropes stood on top of the mound throwing javelins at the defenseless elves.
Of the 3000 or so elves that attacked The Therianthropes less than 200 returned. This resulted in the first peace treaty: The Treaty of Kurtruh, the town which was a disputed part of the treaty.
While campaigning a massive blow a dealt to the elves. In their capital, Alarian, Hobgoblins raided Al Miraskin, The Basket in the common tongue. They stole an artifact known as The Veil of Aeilvar, the first elfish woman. The Basket was a magical museum of sorts that housed artifacts. The Veil of Aeilvar was a powerful illusion inducing artifact.
The Elves made a deal with the dwarfs who shared The Teeth of Tymir with the hobgoblins and goblins. Help fight a common enemy and then they’ll trade and both will make money. The first battle against the hobgoblins took place at Drun Voricos, Peak of Lookout in the common tongue. It was a natural chokepoint that the hobgoblins kept garrisoned to keep people from Drun Duradin, Peak of Iron, the hobgoblin city where they paid homage to Tymir, the hobgoblin god, exchanged plunder from raids, and fought for leadership when the time came. It was a hard battle but eventually Drun Voricos feel and Drun Duradin feel under siege. Drun Duradin is a hollowed out mountain and its peak has been replaced with a iron point. Inside of this point is pyre, such as all hobgoblin settlements possess. This fire is The Fire of War and they will fight to defend it. It symbolizes their devotion to Tymir and is where they burn their offerings to him. If conquered and their flame extinguished then the leader of the tribe will take their own life.
In the second era the flame of Durn Duradin mysteriously went out, and any who went inside never came out.
The elves and dwarfs were never able to effectively siege Drun Duradin due to the Hobgoblins attacking their rear and flanks with small groups that would come from hidden mountain passes. After over a year of no progress, the dwarfs gave up and the elves quickly followed suit. This was the end of the elfish campaign for hundreds of years, back to back large losses made them change their thinking.
A few hundred years passed uneventfully until the therianthropes were struck with a plague. It would either leave them in one form or kill them. There was a exodus of many therianthropes who feared that the plague would return. The werewolves and minotaurs fled west, while the Scorpion People fled to The Red Sands. Many of those who were infected and left in one form were cast out, for fear that they were still cursed with plague.
The elves saw a golden opportunity and attacked. There were three major battles all of which were won by the elves. The first was similar to last battle between the elves and therianthropes only this time the elves were ready and not surprised it was a difficult battle but won by the elves. The therianthrope army retreated to a bridge that needed to be crossed to move further. They left their best warriors there and the remainder of the army went back to Heatheria. The warriors were able to hold out for a couple days but then feel. The siege of Heatheria took a few months as the plague combined with already sustained casualty left the Therianthropes without many more options.
The elves now controlled all of the territory that they desired and let time pass. Hundreds of years passed with several races stuck in the iron fist of the elves. Then a prophecy was issued by the elven priestess Ayriena: The time of the Elf draws to an end. The end shall be swift like the sword, blinding as darkness, and searing as flame.
The Elfish emperor Arntil interpreted this to mean that the end would come at the hands of Scorpion People. The Scorpion People wore black plate armor, lived in the desert, and some used swords was his thought process. So Arntil sent nearly the entire elfish army into The Red Sands to eradicate The Scorpion People. But the elves were accustomed to forest and plains, not the desert. The Scorpion People had a massive advantage and slaughtered much of the army. It is said that there was so much blood that it turned to sand red, and The Red Sands got it’s name.
With so much of the elfish army sent to The Red Sands the occupied territories were left relatively undefended. One person who noticed this was Salverus, a were-dragon. He was the leader of a secret rebellion group that tried to do small acts of sabotage against the elves, in Heatheria. One day while walking down the elfish district he killed two elves who were guarding the house of a elfish noble. Salverus claimed that they attacked him though since he was the only surviving witness the truth died with him. After he was a arrested riots soon began, many of which were started by members of the group he was a part of. Elves fled the city or were killed and Salverus was freed. He led the people of Heatheria and marched north. Every tribe, village, camp, city, town he came across more joined his rag tag army. Soon they reached the first of the two larges elven cities. The older of the two Alarian. The newer city Illtherium was a few days to the north.
Salverus’s inner council urged him not to attack the city that the army would fall before either of the cities. Salverus sought help. He found as many dragons as he could and made deals with them to join his cause, promising them that they would be treated as kings, and paid as such. He also tracked down the exiled therianthropes and offered them an olive branch which nearly all of them grasped with glee.
Alarian became an example of the power of this alliance. The city was nearly razed to the ground by dragon fire. The elves all surrendered and were brought before Salverus. Though not the entirety of the attack was dragon fire. The ground attack was led by two members of Salverus’s council known, The General and The Yioj. The General was a skilled fighter and leader of a group of The Dragon People called The Council who in turn ruled The Dragon People who worshipped Grankil. The Yioj was chosen out of a group of The Dragon People who passed a series of challenges, this group’s society revolved around science and magic. As time flowed on it would erode the relationship between these groups further and further away, so much so that it would devolve into outright civil war. Though that shall be important later.
The elfish government runs on a mixture of a council and king. There are five kinds of elves, four are allowed a seat on the council. They are the Power Elves, The Plant Elves, The Animal Elves, The Strength Elves. Each kind of elf has a representative on the council. The council choses one of it’s members who is then promoted to king. Another elf of their kind is promoted to fill their seat. This council makes the decisions for the elves but the king’s vote counts as two. The elfish king is nearly always a Power Elf or a Strength Elf.
The Elfish King had died in the attack of Alarian, to the sword of one of Salverus’s inner council. So only 4 of the 5 council members were brought before Salverus. He demanded all of them to bend the knee. Three of them did, the only exception being The Power Elf representative, Alarcon.
There are a several accounts of what happened next, but the most plausabile one is also the most recounted so is probably the closest to fact.
Alarcon and Salverus stared at each other for several seconds. Then Salverus drew his sword and told Alarcon to bend the knee again. Alarcon simply stood stoicly, acting as if Salverus wasn’t even there. Salverus spoke softly, You make your dicesion as if you were blind to all the burning city behiend, blind to the dead elves in side, and blind to sword in my hand…so be blind. Salverus’s sword moved in a flash and slashed Alarcon’s face. Alarcon feel to the ground hands over his face. Standing over Alarcon, Salverus issued his first decree: Any Power Elf who follows Alarcon can join him the join him the darkness, and are to be blinded. The Elves were horrified and as were many of the Therianthropes but they followed orders, and Salverus got his message across: I’m in charge in now, don’t mess with me.
And so the prophecy was fulfilled, The time of the elf was over, it had been ended by swift therianthropes swords, searing dragon fire, and the blinding of The Power Elves. Thus began the second era: The Reign of Dragons.
The Second Era: The Reign of Dragons
Salverus immediately moved north into Illthillium the other major elfish city, since it had not sustained the massive damage that Alarian had. This would prove to be biggest mistake. For in Alarian as you may remember was home to Al Miraskin, or The Basket. Salverus did not know about The Basket and this ignorance would hurt him.
When he was in Illthillum an elf in an attempt to curry favor with Salverus told him of The Basket. Salverus was furious but also terrified. He sent a dragon to fly to Alarain and tell the soldiers there to raid The Basket. However, The Basket was not unguarded.
The Basket was protected by a group known as The Lords. There were 8 in all, they were, no they are the most powerful magic users in existence. Some may say Murhon is more powerful but collectively The Lords are more powerful, I believe. The Artifacts inside were extremely powerful, such as The Vase of Magic a vase that could absorb magic when it flared up and held massive amounts. A massive cold core that was kept inside a containment spell. The therianthropes attacked The Basket.
Two of The Lords were caught off guard and slayed within seconds. The Lords barred the doors and began a ritual, to ensure that the artifacts within would not fall into Salverus’s hands. To speed up the ritual they began pulling away wards. This allowed the therianthropes to break through the doors. The therianthropes charged The Lords who were in the middle of the room kneeling.
One of the Lords was killed by an arrow then the ground began to shake violently, and there was a explosion that boomed as if a thousand dragons had roared. The therianthropes looked outside and it was if Grankil himself was furious. A mountain spewed fire and smoke that raced towards the city. The therianthropes fled as The Lords continued to chant. Once the dust had settled several days a therianthrope force investigated the ruins. Nothing in the city was alive and due to the ash people began to call it The White City. When they arrived to Al Miraskin they saw the figures of The Lords which crumbled into dust when someone touched them. Then five people glowed with energy and exploded. We may not have known what had happened if one the therians in the group hadn’t had experience with ghost.
The way that ghost work on Salderin isn’t the way that people from Earth believe they do. You see there are several ways to access magic in Salderin: Artifacts, natural spellcasting ability (which is the most common), magical powers, and emotions. Emotions are the rarest way to tap into magic but also the most powerful. Spellcasters use emotions all the time but under rare circumstances someone who is not a spellcaster can tap into magic with extreme emotions, similar to a mother on Earth lifting a car off her child it’s superhuman, rare, and never on command but possible. Ghost are created when someone channels magic often times with their emotions (these are the most powerful ghost and the most notable) into themselves as they die, they can anchor themselves to the material world but they feel the emotion that they channeled with (if that is how they channeled the magic into themselves). The Lords already were very powerful spellcasters and this was amplified by their hatred of the therianthropes for what they had done to their fellow elves. Then when the artifacts of Al Miraskin were destroyed their magic was not. Magic is an energy it can be tapped into by some but not most. When you tap into you morph it so that it suits the task that you want. If you tap into magic as a spellcaster and wish for fire you turn the magic into that. Though similar to a wire that conducts electricity on Earth pulling to much magic into yourself can cause you to burn out and die.
With this knowledge they were able to piece together the final moments of The Lords. The lava overtook Al Miraksin destroying the artifacts just before killing the Lords. As The Lords died the very air was filled with unbelievable amounts of magic from the destroyed artifacts. They tapped into this with their hatred and natural spellcasting ability and became ghost. But they were not ordinary ghost they had absorbed a amount of magic that never been seen before, and in the thousands of years since has only been seen once more. The five remaining Lords tried to possess some of the therains, but The Lords had so much magic in them that they instantly overloaded the therians, killing them.
Spectral figures were seen for a second screaming in pain throughout the city for the next several days but soon it stopped and The Lords were quickly forgotten about, though not gone.
The Lords were not the only thing that absorbed the magic or the destroyed artifacts however. There was a section of twisted material, that was a mostly metal, but there was a small amount of stone and crystal as well. From this the three most powerful objects were made. The Crystal of Life, a crystal that around the length a forearm and about half a wide. When touched any wounds would be healed, any ailments, people would seem to be a few years younger if they touched it long enough.
The second was The Trident of Death which was made from the metal and it could kill anything struck by it, or it’s blast.
The final one was made from the leftover scraps: The Power Stone. When someone touched they first felt excoriating pain and it would be stuck the body part that they touched it with. If they survived then they would a power. The emperors would use this as a sort of rite of passage until, Salivergras attempted it and died. As such the tradition ended.
Time marched forward nevertheless and as did the armies of Salverus. Salverus himself did not live to see it but his son and heir Xisivion finished what his father started and took over all of the continent except for the relatively unknown land that was west of the Great River. In honor of his father he did two things. First he began construction on the greatest city the world would ever see, this city was built around Illthillum, and then he gave that world a name, one based off of his father’s whom he considered to be the greatest to ever walk the newly christened world of: Salderin.
Xisivion would not live to see the city completed nor would his son, Salyviers, but his grandson, Salvictus, would be the one to complete it. When completed none could argue that it was the home of emperors. The streets were wide enough that dragons could walk shoulder to shoulder with ease. Dragons could fly through the gates wings spread wide. Not all of the buildings were built to accompidate dragons but most did. The Emperor’s place was built over the over elfish palace and as a final jab at the elves the sacred alter of Al Miraskin was place at the top of the palace (The alter had enough wards on it that it survived).
The palace was in the shape of a massive golden dragon taking off from a the thousand of steps that it took to reach it. It’s said that sight of palace was visable from even beyond the city, which was said to have taken a day to walk from one end to the other (with no foot traffic).
Emperors came and went but not much of note on a world wide scale happed in that time. There was a minor rebellion by a group of Scorpion People who quickly surrendered. Hobgoblins kept blocking trade with the dwarfs and raiding those who settled to close to The Teeth of Tymir. While it wasn’t successful at eradicating them as was the goal it did drive them west of The Great River. That event was overseen by Salven. His successor Salvar dared to go west of The Great River as well. There they encountered werewolves and minotaurs who had made a home away from the other therianthropes all those years ago. Also there were giants (who were generally peaceful and found comfort in the sea), Gargoyles (Who were locked in a battle for The Blood Mountains with hobgoblins and goblins), and Centaurs (Who had migrated to escape the elves). All quickly recognized the power of The Were-Dragons and bent the knee (the gargoyles only did so to get assistance).
The Were-Dragons now had control of all of Salderin and there was no external threats left, so of course the empire fell apart from the inside.
The society in the empire had slowly been changing so that were-dragons were pushed higher and higher up the social ladder. It reached a point that even dragons were pushed down the ladder in place of were-dragons. Eventually The Yioj, the leader of the Nonthro Dragon People demanded equality or that his people and the dragons would leave the empire. The emperor, Slavenius flew into a rage and would have sentenced the Yioj to death if not for the fact that he knew the Yioj was a powerful magic user and had a army. So he exiled the dragons and all of The Dragon People not just the Nonthro, to a sliver of land between the Blood Mountains and the Pale Sea. This was important because the Nonthro and Vur Basivaluns were in a constant state of agigation towards the other since the first Yioj and first General were on Salverus’s council thousands of years ago.
The next empeor, Santhil, was much more reasonable (this is when he is only around 25 in human years). He offered The Dragon People and dragons all land west of the Great River in exchange that they would be allies, he also gave them the Power Stone, The Trident of Death, and The Crystal of Life as a further peace offering. This was accepted and The Dragon People and dragons ruled over the giants, hobgoblins, goblins, centaurs, elves (many surviors had migrated there), dwarfs (the three weakest clans moved to the Blood Mountions in a bid to gain power), werewolves, and minotaurs.
But while Santhil was able to appease The Dragon People and dragons he wasn’t able to appease his fellow therianthropes. The Therianthropes rose up against The Were-Dragons killing them all (a company of were-dragons did disappear some months but they were assumed dead as well).
Things transformed quickly due to the fall of the Were-Dragons. West of The Great River is the Therianthrope empire which quickly shrunk to no longer include the Red Sands and the land east of it. Though they quickly ran into a problem, they did not have the numbers to truly have an iron grip on their lands. So over the thousand years that this era lasted more and more land was slowly given back to indigenous people namely the elves who were finding that that fewer and fewer children were born every year. It seemed that their overpopulation problem solved itself, it may have several thousand years but Arven answered the prayer.
Meanwhile on the other side of The Great River war was brewing. Tempers had reached a boiling point between the Nonthro and Vur Basivaluns. Nearly none of either knew that rivalry was started over a sword that the leaders of both laid claim to thousands of years ago. Though I believe it is because the first General and the first Yioj were like brothers when the first Yioj claimed to have been the one to struck down the elfish king. The General called it a lie and a total betrayal of his trust.
For some clarification both The General and The Yioj are titles. A Yioj is chosen by election from a group of Nonthro (literally the nothing it was given to them by the Vur Basivaluns who mocked that they don’t believe in Grankil. The Nonthro took it as a complement and it stuck) who pass a series of trials, most of them magical. The Vur Basivaluns (literally The Believers) have a very different society. Their society is dominated by rules that apply to all of them. They are run by a group of twenty eight of The Believers none of which have names just titles. This group is called The Council and made up of 7 Privates, 6 Corporals, 5 Sergeants, 4 Colonels, 3 Captains, 2 Commanders, and 1 General. They had names but they give up their identities when they join The Council, they even wear mask that never take off. The idea is that if you don’t have an identity then you can’t be selfish, and you only serve the people. The Council tend to be best fighters of all of them, though the society still works.
Both sides forced subjects to fight for them and in what was a long, bloody war that accomplished nothing.
A few hundred more years passed and the same thing happened, except this time when they went to force their subjects to fight for them, their subjects fought them instead, and this opened the way to the third era.
The Third Era: Heroes, Founders, and Gifts
The first to rebel were the werewolves. They were led by Tamauck a sell sword who was the leader of a clan. Because he was a sell sword no one listened to him when the heads of clans would gather, mostly for petty issues the only issue of real significance that was discussed was whether or not to rejoin the other therianthropes. Tamauck was wise enough to know that they would never be treated as equals as they were thousands of years ago, though what appeals to me to me the most about him is that he seized a opportunity. When a village was destroyed by Hobgoblin he volunteered to bring them justice. The other clan heads told him he could try but that it was pointless to attack hobgoblins. The next clan meeting he brought over two dozen hobgoblin heads. This gave him respect, which gave him a voice. He used this rally the werewolves against the Dragon People. He is even said to have a killed Kivor, a god, though this is likely a tall tale (mainly because Kivor was just a powerful creature and not a god, most likely). Once he was leader he went to gargoyles and forged a treaty of ice and stone that last to this day.
The second to lead a charge was Harnthro of The Minotaurs. He was a runt for a minotaur be he outworked everyone and was the first leader that they all followed.
The third to rebel were the blood elves. Humans call them vampires and that is likely where the idea of vampires comes from but the blood elves are quite different. They are like elves in every way except rather than life magic they deal with fire magic and death magic. When they drink blood they are more powerful for a time but they do not need it to survive. They were led by a blood elf named Virkomain. He got power in a simple way, he a powerful speaker and ruthlessly killed those who got in his way. If the stories are to be believed he was shepherd in his early years, but all of his sheep were stolen and devoured by hobgoblins. So he survived a harsh winter homeless and penniless in a small village. When that village was being raided by hobgoblins he killed them (There are hundreds of versions of this story. One says he killed a few hobgoblins and they took him to sell him and he was rescued. Then on the other end of the spectrum he killed 1000 hobgoblins with his bare hands while wreathed in a massive flame avatar and channeling Sathar, the blood elf god of death.) The villagers made him the leader of their village and it was all he needed.
As leader of village he could challenge other heads of villages. He took over villages through a mixture of slander campaigns and single combat. There is a famous moment that may or may not have happened but it is a often told story by blood elves. Virkomain had just taken over his second village and someone asked him how he would connect the villages. So he walked over to the leader house and ripped away a stone. He threw the stone on the ground and simply said, “I will build a road”. And he did he build a road that connected all the villages. Merchants used it with glee, which caused bandits to use it with glee, which caused Virkomain to kill them. Once all of the Blood Elves were under his control they called him Lac Hiejdismor or The Leader. It became the title of all Blood Elf rulers to follow (Their leaders are determined the same way that the Yioj is).
He did not like the Dragon People but he feared them and did not want to rebel unless others did, and once two nations were rebelling he joined them.

While all of the Founders have dark parts to their stories the only one to challenge Virkomain for the title of most brutal was the Hobgoblin founder Dar’Ven. He was a exile from his now extinct tribe because his father was chief and killed, he would have been as well if he had not run, he was a boy at the time. In the chase he lost his left eye.
He settled down in a village and took a very similar path as Virkomain. He took over tribe after tribe through simple single combat. As he took over village after village his reputation grew and he was given the name, The One-Eyed Destroyer. He set laws that dissuaded fighting among hobgoblins, but didn’t ban. He turned hobgoblins from a barbaric society to a group of warriors mighty warriors feared all across Salderin. When he led the hobgoblins against The Dragon People it opened the floodgates and all of the other nations flocked to the rebellion.
Narth of gargoyles who allied themselves with the werewolves. He is one of the few founders that didn’t come into power because of the war he was in power before it.
The Centaurs did not want to rebel but their leader Inyantas a merchant who had clawed his way to the top though in a less dramatic fashion knew there would be power vacuum when the Dragon People fell and he wanted a chance to fill it.
Dwarfs and Giants chose not to rebel believing it wasn’t their problem.
As for us goblins we are a cautious breed. Though what happened next I know quite well, after all I was there. I was the goblin leader at this time and still am. I will not reveal in this story how I am still alive it’s better to remain a mystery. Anyways I joined forces with the others and we marched on The Dragon People.
The dragon that worked directly with The Dragon People had been gradually decreasing over the years and The Dragon people found themselves without allies. The Believers made peace with us sending a treaty, which we accepted. The Nonthro however had a different idea. They sent a deal. They kept a certain amount of land and held what they called the Trail of Gifts, where they would bestow magical gifts upon our species. I took an oath to not tell how they did this and I have no interest in sharing what the goblin gift was so I shall tell the rest.
Dar’Ven took a gift but no one knows what. Virkomain and Tumauck wrestled for fire. Virkomain won and Tumacuk took ice instead. I took a gift for the goblins which I shall not share. Harnthro took Earth magic and Inyantas took life magic, perhaps it was due to his closeness with the elves. The Elves who had joined the rebellion at the very end were given the Power Stone, the Centaurs were given The Crystal of Life and The Dragon People kept the Trident of Death. But there was peace and it seemed more magic in the world than had ever been there before.
Then he came.
The Third Era: Murhon & The Great War
Once a year we would meet at the mountaintop where The Trial of Gifts took place and discuss rules for all of us. We called it the Gathering. It would either be cordial or devolve into bickering over petty disputes but every once in a while something happens there that causes semic changes in our world. For those wondering the only ones invited to The Gathering were: Elves, Blood Elves, Giants, Werewolves, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Dwarfs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins. The therianthropes and many other species stayed to themselves on the west side of The Great River. Things have peaceful there for a long time, but even that’s changing now. But back to the history.
The Gathering started out the same as any other but devolved into arguing faster than any had before. Suddenly I got an idea what if everyone that stood in front of me squabbling wasn’t a leader, what if we had one unified leader. I almost didn’t say anything but as The Gathering was winding down I spoke up and asked, “What if we had one leader”.
They all looked at me as if I were senile, perhaps I was though it certainly doesn’t change what happened. I made it up as I talked though with every word it made even more sense to me. I talked of a world where we are not fighting because we always have some fair, just, and unbiased to ask. The Yioj spoke first, he raised a problem. I figured that was the end of it but then Garcan the gargoyle overseer came up with a solution. Before I knew we were arguing about what his name would be. Why it was a him by default I’ll know, perhaps a female would have been better. Finally Madolance, the werewolf king came up with a name: Murhon.
We all agreed and we began divvying up task to be completed, I felt as if I were walking on air. His armor was what was made first. The Dwarfs poured gold into a cast and the werewolves place a cold core in the gold. For those who don’t know dwarfish gold is sterner stuff then regular gold and a great deal lighter, which is why it is often reserved for kings. A Cold Core is the result of when ice is exposed to magic. A crystal that can range from the size of a grain of rice to the size of castle is the result. It makes everything around it colder and if placed in ice the ice is hardened to the point that steel cannot cut it, and it cuts steel quite easily. The werewolves use this process for their elite soldiers which double as the Kings Guard. The result of all this was golden armor that no weapon was able to harm.
The hobgoblins gave him skin of iron, which the elves morphed into handsome features.
The Gargoyles made a crown of stone that would last forever, as stone does they said.
The Blood Elves enchanted one of gauntlets to be a source of endless fire.
The Minotaurs gave him bones of earth.
The Giants made him an enchanted cloak that they called The Stormwind. It gave him the power to summon winds and lightning while wearing it.
Centaurs cut away a fist sized piece of the Crystal of Life and with powerful spellcasters placed it in his chest and brought him to life.
Then to cement his power, The Dragon People placed The Trident of Death in his hand.
Murhon was put into a school where he was taught history and everything we thought he need to know, he surpassed his teachers when it came to magic in a few years and he power only continued to grow. We were all worried that the other leaders would attempt to corrupt him, but it was an ancient threat that would corrupt him.
The Lords from thousands of years ago were somehow linked to The Crystal of Life, The Power Stone, and The Trident of Death. Murhon possessing the Trident and part of The Crystal drew them to him. They would whisper in his ear and over the years slowly turned him against us. At least this is what I believe. Other believe Murhon went mad.
For after sixty years of his rule and peace to a level that we had never known before Murhon called us to palace.
His Palace was in Middle Market, a city that was ruled by none but enforced by all so it was neutral. It seemed the best place, after all he was neutral as well. Or so we thought.
When all of the leaders had arrived Murhon, who was wearing his armor which was not unusual, took off The Stone Crown and crushed it in his hand. Then he spoke his voice full of malice that I didn’t was possible for him to have.
“You have used me for sixty years. Now I will kill you for it”.
He summon a sphere of magical energy and threw it at us. He several leaders in a few seconds, the werewolf king Tarnack, the giant king Wengal, the centaur king had died a few months prior so the advisor to the king who was a child went instead and died instead. The Gargoyle Judge (gargoyles are led by committee but The Judge the leader of the committee) went because part of being The Judge (again a title because they are actually a judge is representing Gargoyles at the gathering which this was considered an extension of. The Judge died though and the gargoyles put his underling in charge until a new one was chosen. Nearly all of the other leaders were seriously injured, only The Hiejdismor seemed to get away with only cuts and bruises.
We all declare war on Murhon who had fled north towards land that was unoccupied due to the fact that it was a giant marsh.
He slaughtered close to a million on his way out of Middle Market. He was tracked to the marsh where all the forces that could mustered in such a short had gathered to meet him. He began slaughtering them left and right only stopping when talked down by The Yioj. At one point he drove the Trident of Death into the ground and began to raise the dead of the battle. This caused such a burst of magic that multiple things happened.
First the marsh was cursed and any who die there are cursed to become a servant of Murhon or perhaps the wielder of The Trident, though no one could ever take it from him.
Second the magic went into nearby creatures and made them magical. This resulted in things like the Nilshar, snakes that breath toxic gas. It also resulted races being created, this races as a group would be known as the Murhonions.
The third is it caused a tear between worlds, and portals would begin to open connecting Earth and Salderin.
Murhon exiled himself and stayed in swamp. All the Murhonions stayed with him except for the Anthurins who wished to join us. I managed to convince the other leaders with the help the Yioj that we should take them in. They helped us build The Union Wall, a wall that went from The Pale Sea to The Great River blocking off Murhon and Cursed Lands. (Author’s Note: This has been part of my lore since before I knew GoT existed)


A few hundred years passes with the occasional squabble but then something happened that had never happened before. There was a fight at a Gathering, an emergency gathering at that to address what should be done about humans entering Salderin.
The Hiejdismor had insulted the family of Clear Ice, the Werewolf King. So Clear Ice attack him. The Hiejdismor had wanted this I believe, The Blood Elves need land and now he had a reason to take some. He also was public about his want to incorporate humans into Salderin and kick out several races to west of The Great River.
Sides were taken right at The Gathering, Blood Elves, Giants, Hobgoblins, Elves, and Minotaurs on one side. Werewolves, Gargoyles, Goblins, Anthurins, Dwarfs, Centaurs, and The Believers on the other. The Yioj and The Nonthro stayed neutral. And thus began The Great War.
The first attack was on Inyantas (Yes that is name of the centaur capital, with the exception of the gargoyles, capital cities are named after The Founders.) The Blood Elf side had already had an army amassed furthering my belief that they wanted this war. The Centaurs put up a good fight but they fighting essentially just with the troops of Inyantas. The Blood Elves told the Centaur King, Barthal, to move his people west of The Great River or die. So the Centaurs fled.
During the battle the elves turned on the blood elves. So the blood elves chased their kin back to The Great Forest and lit it ablaze. The elves scattered, many went west of The Great River others went to The Dragon People for sanctuary.

The Blood Elves then attack the gargoyle capital, which at this time was called Narth after their founder, but what would transpire there gave gargoyles a new hero. The gargoyle Judge, who was named Scrack, knew that his people couldn’t win. So he took his best troops and stood on the bridge that led to city. They held off, The Blood Elves and their allies for four days, mostly because of their greatest weapon, Medusa’s Whip, a whip that turns those who it strikes into stone.
But they fell and Clear Ice flew into a rage. Scrack was like a brother to him so he took all the troops they had and marched on Virkomain. The force that had been left to defend the city was not enough to stop them. Clear Ice lit the city ablaze saying, “It may not hurt the Blood Elves, but it’ll hurt their homes, their crops, and their animals”.
While watching Virkomain burn a raven arrived, Tamauck was under siege.
Clear Ice drove his troops at the hardest pace possible to get back to Tamauck. When he arrived though the Blood Elves had already broken through. Clear Ice’s concern went to his family, his wife, his son and daughter, and his newborn grandson.
He ran through the palace which was filled with stone statues and he knew that when Scrack fell Medusa’s Whip was given to the Hiejdismor.
He heard a scream coming from the nursery. He ran there and saw his family all turned to stone with the exception of his daughter and grandson.
The Hiejdismor turned to Clear Ice, and told him “Today your line ends”.
Clear Ice roared and attack. The Hiejdismor attacked him with Medusa’s Whip but Clear Ice sliced of The Hiejdismor’s hand and the whip fell to the ground. The Hiejdismor cried out in pain as Clear Ice saw his wife, son, and daughter-in-law frozen in stone before him.
Clear Ice picked up his sword and brought in down on The Hiejdismor, they say that it nearly cut The Hiejdismor in half. With the death of its instigator The Great War came to an end, and as did millions of lives.
And for what? Humans were here to stay now, as they took up occupancy in Centaur territory. Dwarfs, Centaurs, and Elves had been driven out, and The Blood Elves now had more territory.
I wish I could claim that this ended Salderin’s bloodshed but it did not. Not very long later one of The Dragon People, a Nonthro, had gone mad because of The Lords. People said he was talking to people when no one was there and called them My Lords. He created a spell that allowed him to manipulated DNA and he created several monstrosities that now wander Salderin. That seventy years ago.
Then twenty-three years ago the founder of a group called The World Jumpers, they would go to Earth and bring things back to here to protect them from humans, went mad. His name was Valcuren. He reemerged from exile and brought with him a group of a few hundred humans all armed with guns. One of the most illegal things that someone can do is bring technology from Earth to Salderin. We have no want of it, and no need it. It cannot bring anything good so it is illegal. Therefore for the first time since Murhon we all rallied against one enemy and slaughtered them.

Though just because that is all that happened in Salderin, does no mean it is all that will happen. We are on the brink of The Fifth Era. A half-elf is attempting to gathering The Power Stone, The Crystal of Life, and The Trident of Death for his own means. A group is attempting to stop him and perhaps they will succeed, perhaps they will perish. I hope they succeed and that Salderin isn’t plunged into darkness, because despite our best efforts this world is still something beautiful, though either way I’ll write about it. And with that I shall say farewell, and good days reader.

[aimlessPolymath]

Assorted and incomplete comments; commenting as I read through. I'm on mobile so I will not use quote boxes.
-"Salderin titters the edge of destruction,"
Titters-> teeters.
-"The people of this time struggled to survive but they led prosperous lives, not in gold but in time spent with their own."
This is an extremely non-academic turn of phase; it's also a value judgement, not an objective fact, so it would be left out.
-General comment: The level of religion, magic, and technology are unclear in general. The elvish civilization appears to be heavily theocratic, if their king chooses to pray for advice rather than consult advisors. Also, was the elven conquest the first war? Were they the first to have an army, period?
-"The first land they took was a large swath of land that belonged to centaurs. The centaurs one of few groups that was still nomadic, running from place to place hunting and gathering. "
The second half of the second sentence is entirely redundant and the first half can be merged with the first sentence. Additionally, it's not clear in what regard a group of nomads would own land. Can they not just travel away?
Other note: Honestly, the elves don't really need superior tech or magic if they can just get the first organized army together- it's very hard to get people to charge into an advancing spearwall.
-"Emboldened by their success the elves continued to expand, soon owning all land that lay between Changeling’s Outcrop home of The Therianthropes,"
My normal understanding of the were-X group is that it's an added affliction applied to other species, so I'm surprised they would have an entire region of land dedicated to them.
-General note: The commentary on therianthrope religion is essentially irrelevant to the history involved, and would be covered in a separate lecture. On the other hand, the elvish deity is extremely relevant to the First Era, and I would expect it to get at least a line.
-The geometry and numbers involved in the ambush of the elvish army is very unclear to me; is the entire elf army 3000 strong, i.e. that's what the entire population of the elves could support? How many therianthropes were there?
-"While campaigning a massive blow a dealt to the elves. In their capital, Alarian, Hobgoblins raided Al Miraskin, The Basket in the common tongue. They stole an artifact known as The Veil of Aeilvar, the first elfish woman. The Basket was a magical museum of sorts that housed artifacts. The Veil of Aeilvar was a powerful illusion inducing artifact."
Rephrased: While the army was reeling from this shock, another was soon to come: A raid by hobgoblins on the elvish capital, Alarian. The raiders stole the Veil of Aeilvar, an artifact with powers of illusion, from Al Miraskin("The Basket"), an elvish museum.
The translation note is not historically relevant, and I would consider discarding it entirely; similarly, the etymology of the name is essentially irrelevant to the lecture. A small glossary at the end would be appropriate for details; inserting them into the place where they first come up chronologically makes it hard to look them up later. That said, I'm surprised that raiders would attack the capital unless they considered themselves to already be at war- trading the risk of lost lives for a magic artifact you don't already intend to use is a hard sell to make unless the raiders are heavily motivated by duty. Did the hoboblins have any alliances with the civilizations the elves stomped on the way to Changeling's Outcrop?
-The Elves made a deal with the dwarfs who shared The Teeth of Tymir with the hobgoblins and goblins.
Unclear what the Teeth are; I assume a mountain range? Suggest rephasing: "In order to strike at the Teeth of Tymir, the mountain range where the goblins and hobgoblins lived, the elves allied with the Teeth's other inhabitants: the dwarves, promising military assistance and trade."
-It was a hard battle but eventually Drun Voricos feel and Drun Duradin feel under siege.
feel->fell
-Drun Duradin is a hollowed out mountain and its peak has been replaced with a iron point. Inside of this point is pyre, such as all hobgoblin settlements possess. This fire is The Fire of War and they will fight to defend it. It symbolizes their devotion to Tymir and is where they burn their offerings to him. If conquered and their flame extinguished then the leader of the tribe will take their own life.
In the second era the flame of Durn Duradin mysteriously went out, and any who went inside never came out.
Anthropology again- a cultural dissection of the hobgoblins would be interesting, but not necessarily appropriate in the middle of a military campaign. I'd reorganize and build a lecture on the individual cultures, rather than inserting it into the history lesson. The content itself is good- this just isn't the time.
-"The elves and dwarfs were never able to effectively siege Drun Duradin due to the Hobgoblins attacking their rear and flanks with small groups that would come from hidden mountain passes. "
A note on sieges: part of the point is to bottle up a city by controlling the entrances and exits, then starve out those inside. It sounds like they never really had a hope of controlling the entrances at all- but what do hobgoblins usually eat? It would be interesting if records from the hobgoblin side of this survived, to see whether they were ever truly pressed.
-"This was the end of the elfish campaign for hundreds of years, back to back large losses made them change their thinking."
i'm curious- was there any backlash on the king or the priesthood for pushing too hard for conquest? Additionally, did overpopulation stop being an issue?

I'm stopping there for tonight- will maybe do more later.