History: Part 1

Era of Song

Gaia created the world and seeded all forms of life such as humans, dwarves, halflings and animals. The mortals of the world would fashion their own gods, with the magicks of this newborn world manifesting the pantheon of gods. Some time in the Era of Song, the gods would begin to fight each other in the mortal world over their domains, starting the Godswar. It is unknown how long the war would last, however Rexen, the most powerful god would end the war, leaving all the pantheon weakened. Gaia was appalled at the destruction that was caused and would plan to remove the gods.

More monstrous creatures such as goblinoids, dragons and giants would be created later as Gaia would become angry with the gods and civilisations for changing her world. Gaia would create orcs, goblins, giants, cyclopes, gorgons, chimerae, trolls and dragons deep below the surface of the earth and set them on a warpath, culminating in The Ending. After The Ending, the pantheon would find out that Gaia had created these monsters and sent them up to the surface and so would lull Gaia to sleep, spending large amounts of their power to do so. In modern times Gaia is asleep but in her slumber she can still form pacts with warlocks and occasionally births monsters in the deep.

The Godswar

The Godswar occurred during the Era of Song. After the gods had been created they began to take different parts of the world as their domain, changing the landscapes and gaining mortal followers. The gods were young and full of hubris, with only Rexen staying outside of the world, watching over it. The gods would begin to squabble with each other, with the chaotic and lawful gods fighting for each other’s domains. Drukknath would embolden Lochor, who was squabbling with Myrmidonna over the lordship of the seas. Both gods would attack Myrmidonna, with both their followers and celestial agents. Following this, the other gods would get involved siding with their natures of either chaos or law. Other godlike entities such as The Golden Spirit and Kinsei did not get involved in the war, except to defend Heping from any armies of mortals or celestials.

On the chaotic side would be Lochor, Naur, Ogon, Nen and Tumulus led by Drukknath. The lawful side consisted of Vedaudur, Strid and Haudh led by Myrmidonna. Although the lawful side had less gods, Myrmidonna was one of the strongest, unleashing the terror of all of the vast seas of the world, and Haudh unleashed his legions of dead from the Underworld. 

The war lasted for an unknown amount of time but would bring devastation to the land and peoples of the fledgling world. Eventually Rexen stepped in and used his mantle as Overgod to force a peace between the gods. Rexen would convince the gods to create their own planes away from each other, to allow the world to recover. However, as punishment for the initial squabble Lochor and Myrmidonna were forced to share their realm.

Early Days

Great empires of faith and magic rose; The Harmony in Heping, The Imperrex in Latys, and Yjellen in Old Yjellan. Other smaller cultures such as the Sunlanders, Freedlanders, Steppens, Noydani, Krygen Drow in the underdark following the Joining, Skomi Dwarves were present but were not anywhere near the scale of the large empires. 

The War of the Wilds

Most events during the Early Days have been lost to time however a number of events are still known to learned scholars. One such event was the War of the Wilds. The Panna Realm was flourishing during the Early Days, expanding across all of the Frearden Forest. The creatures of Panna came into contact with the Steppens, humans of the Freedlands. At this time both groups were mostly nomadic, hunting across the forests and plains of the Freedlands and Frearden Forest. The Steppens had not formed their unified clandom yet, however following the war their clans united under a high king. The war began as hunters from both sides ranged into the other’s domain. Upon coming into contact with the minotaurs, satyrs and centaurs ranging onto their plains, the Steppens began hunting them, viewing them as beasts to be eaten. The Pannans were hunted by vast groups of Steppens, and survivors brought back word of ruthless humans killing their kind back to the Pannans in the forest. The Steppens ignited the rage of the forest and hordes of minotaurs and satyrs poured onto the Freedland plains, wiping out Steppen camps. The Steppens were pushed to the northern side of Lake Moir. The Steppens were saved by the black dragon Raucanthire who was travelling the continent at the time. He saw the Pannans raging across the Freedlands and believed them to be creatures birthed by Gaia. Jealous of Gaia’s control over lesser creatures he attacked, aiding the Steppens in their fight against the Pannans, pushing them back to the forest. Following this, Raucanthire left, believing he had done enough. Pannan Dryads met with Steppen clan leaders and agreed to a peace deal. Both sides were weary of war, and agreed to stay away from each other’s domains.

The Joining

Midway into the Early Days, new species would enter the world. In Elfhame two species resided: elves and gnomes. At this point elves were a nasty species and held the gnomes in servitude. A time would come when some elves stopped worshipping the Archfey and would begin to worship an old one known as Anagenissi. This would cause a civil war, with the elves following Anagenissi suffering heavy losses. Anagenissi granted them power to open portals to the world, causing them to end up in the Shadows Beneath where they set up a confederation. Some gnomes followed them and would end up worshipping Anagenissi. The old one of rebirth and her followers cemented their union in a ritual, making the worshippers take on the likeness of the old one, with greyer hues of skin and white hair; Drow and Deep Gnomes. The cleric who made this accord was named Krygen and so the confederation was named after him.

The other elves in Elfhame would manage to create portals later, leading them to transport many of themselves to the surface of the world. They would go in roving bands, not unified armies, attacking Yjellanders, Imperrex, Harmony, and the Clandoms. Over time some would make peace and join the human societies while others went back to Elfhame and some would make a home for themselves in the forests in the south west of The Freedlands, known as Edhellen.

The War of Honour and Gold

In the Current Era, the Sunlands and The Harmony are distant from each other, cut off by the Po Jia Expanse in the centre of Heping. They generally only come into contact through sea trade routes. However, before The Ending, the two nations were in constant contact with each other. The Harmony expanded eastward rapidly and came to the mountain border of the Sunlands. The Sunlander claimed dominion over the mountain ranges, acting as a natural border for them. However, The Harmony encroached on the mountains, finding and claiming a number of gold deposits. The Emperor at the time had a love for gold and wanted to bring more of it back to the capital and sent Harmonic Legions to forcefully take the deposit areas. The Sunlanders were furious at the encroachment on their claimed territory and sent armies to clash with The Harmony. The mountain ranges descended into a land of constant skirmishes and battles. The Sunlanders knew their way around the mountain ranges and took advantage of the slow and orderly legions filling into the valleys between the mountains. The Harmony took heavy casualties however as one legion was shattered, another two would take its place. Both sides would eventually be ground down with the constant war. When the Emperor of The Harmony was assassinated during a coup from his younger brother, the war slowed down and eventually both sides made a peace deal.