Prologue:
The End of the World
Faction Reports
Anmari Collective
Captain Jurus Stayne, along with his friend Mage-Consular Minn Hyreth, had lead a joint experiment to raise a new type of warrior, in hopes of saving their homeland, the Anmari Kingdom, from total destruction from its allies and enemies and the magics they wielded. Unfortunately the magic they sought contain was turned into a destructive force that destroyed the world they lived in. They were set adrift, until suddenly they found both their tower and themselves on solid ground once more. Now, they find themselves in a new world, forced to carve out a new legacy for their proud nation.
Conclave of Alim
The Mage Wars have destroyed the fabric of time and reality. So much, that things stopped making sense, something that the inhabitants of Tower soon realized. As a part of one of the many mage regiments recruited by various empires, as they were surrounded and littered by fire and magic. Then there was a flash of light and they were somewhere else. As the arch-mage of this tower, the leader decided that this new world would be theirs to claim, and made it extremely clear that he would be the absolute ruler of this tower and its inhabitants. All that stood was the tall spire of the Tower. It could be seen for miles around by whatever creatures managed somehow to live by. Of course, the mages, being mages, are not typically very friendly.
Crimson Dragons
Dragon Prince Elan Mael is no prince at all, far from it, however his men insist on calling him 'Prince' or 'Lord' and eventually they came up with 'Dragon Prince' after the banners Elan uses as his personal standard on the field. Elan was something of a rogue before the Mages War, albeit a rogue with a brilliant tactical mind that had achieved fame on the battlefield as a mercenary. During the war he contracted with the Dragon Empire, led by a childhood friend of his who had risen from simple farmhand to Emperor. He is a gambler at heart and often takes extreme chances that often pay off; his luck is so great that his motto is "Its time to toss the dice" and his men boast he could gamble with the God of Darkness and win. Although a gambler and a rogue, Elan can rightly be called Righteous and Just with an immovable sense of morality. He is decidedly against losing men, so much so that if he faces long odds and wins, he will consider it a personal defeat for him to lose even one good soldier. Because of this, should a contract ever put his men at undue risk that was not known beforehand, the contract is always refunded and his men are always gotten out of danger. Now, he is in a place where he cannot withdraw his men from harm, as there seems to be nowhere safe left to go.
Das Großoccitanian Reich
As the world as we knew it fell apart in a firestorm of death and destruction, ripping apart the very earth on which the inhabitants of this world stood upon, it was the young emperor Hanz Von Lubt-Sigmaringen whom realized that it would be the end of his realm as he knew it. He had exhausted all resources, and his armies were all but being slaughtered left and right to the vile and grotesque horrors of rampaging mages and opposing nations. So, in his desperation, he fled, along with his royal kaiserliche guard, to the abandoned Imperial Fortress of "Reikland", where the emperor observed the end of his empire, and of civilization itself. Fleeing citizens came along, seeking refuge within the mighty fort, and together the emperor and his new "subjects" scurried around the underground dungeons, ever-watchful for the smoke to clear. However, one day there was an earthquake like none other. The very walls of this reinforced structure was shivering and cracking with ominous magical sparks. When the emperor and the others ran up to the surface to see what was happening, they found themselves in a new, unexplored land. A foreign land. However, all signs of the mage wars had disappeared, and the survivors stretched out to form a new empire. An empire which would dominate this new world and eradicate any traces of the uncontrollable plague which is magic.
Followers of Orbaes
Father Urgale is one of the remaining heads of the Church of Orbaes as many bishoprics and religious settlements fall due the Magic War. Before the War, Urgale was just a simple scribe coming from humble farming family. At the age of 28 Urgale was sworn into priesthood and due to to his humble nature was very popular among the masses. From there he became a well-respected and was reward a settlement to guide the flock of Orbaes. His humble nature ended after witnessing the horrors that magic has done to the world. The War opened his mind making him believe that this was Orbaes punishment to mankind for using magic and also mankind greed, lust, and envy. Now Father Urgale’s new mission is to sharped mankind for the better. The Church of Orbaes was a national religion in the Sorantol Empire. The people of Sorantol believe Orbaes is the True God that made the world. He is depict in the Holy texts of Orbaes that were give to Orbaes first follower Tergala as a God that punish the wicked and deliver the faithful to the Gates of Metarost. There were numerous settlements dedicated to Orbaes but that all changed when nations started going to wars disregarding the Church warning and became victims in the wars as settlements were bombard/raided/burned. Now, the war is over and the Followers find themselves in a land that needs a healing aid.
Free Reach of Zlatokraina
Before the Mage War, Vakula was just a village smith assistant in Dikanka steading. When the magic catastrophe started to tear the reality apart, Vakula, along with other farmers, headed to the nearby Dikanka Potion Brewery, hoping to find cover from the cataclysm under the protection of local alcomancers (masters of creating magically-charged alcohol). Little did they know the Potion Brewery was being evacuated under the order of Zlatokrainian Hospodar (High Lord). Stuck in the empty brewery, the refugees hid in a magically sealed expired potion warehouse, which must’ve saved their lives. However, abandoned by legitimate authorities, they quickly fell victims of a brutal power grab by some of the countryside thieves and hoodlums. Taken hostage by the village thugs and stuck inside a badly lit warehouse, Vakula and a couple of his friends decided to spend their time at the favorite Zlatokrainian hobby: heavy drinking. At some point, the supply of their gorilka vodka ran out, and Vakula and his drinking buddies decided that the party must go on. The only source of alcohol left were the dangerous high-power potions stored in boxes with skull-and-bones labels – but not like such dangers could ever stop a bunch of drunkards. The results of the drinking game were bizarre to say the least: one of the drinkers had his nose detach itself from the rest of the body and turn into a strangely looking nosy midget; the other boozer found his eyelashes growing insanely fast and eventually becoming so heavy that he couldn’t open his eyes anymore; as for Vakula himself, his potion brew seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever.
Panicky prayers and loud swearing of Vakula’s drinking buddies attracted the attention of the thugs, and soon the hammered village smith found himself in a big trouble. He said some words that shouldn’t have been said, and half a dozen thugs were about to stab the young idiot to death to make an example of him, but to Vakula’s surprise one of the thugs slipped on a vodka puddle and fell on his knife. The other goon stumbled on his dying comrade’s body and broke his neck against a stool. The fight that ensued quickly led to the death of the remaining four bandits from an accident that involved an untied shoe, an oil lamp, a swallowed button, a rope, a broom, and a bitten cucumber. Before Vakula knew it, he found himself praised as a hero and a liberator of the village folk. As his intoxication receded, Vakula realized that the expired magic vodka he’d drank was a luck potion which effect was increased rather than decreased due to its defect. When the cataclysm was over and the only surviving people of Zlatokraina left the Dikanka Potion Brewery to the brave new world, it was the lucky fool Vakula Gogol who led them as their village headman.
Institute of the Arcane
Of all the Magic Universities across Gensin, the Institute of the Arcane was the most... eccentric. It was noted for taking in those researchers and students too dangerous, too driven, or too sociopathic for anywhere else. Sure, occasionally a student disappeared from the halls once in a while and came back as an eight foot fly-man monster glowing with thaumaturgic radiation, but that was just the price of progress and nothing the swift application of Gulir Resplendent Fireball couldn't fix. All this contributed to making the Institute of the Arcane a well-known and impressive institute of research - if only because every time somebody read something that came out of there, their response was "By the Gods, what the hell is wrong with you people?" Then the Mage Wars happened. The Institue of the Arcane joined in, mostly because it seemed like something to do, and joined with the Fireball lobbing and the unsummoning entire cities and whatnot. They were then surprised to find that despite multiple direct hits and attacks, they survived - and in the absence of anyone else, that means they win. It’s a Mage's world now, and you're just living in it.
Knights of Ynys Gaer
The Order of the Knights was one of the most powerful institutions of the old Empire of Westernesse. Usually their primary duty was the protection of his Imperial Majesty, but they were also put into great use in warfare, as these became increasingly frequent. When the Great War was beginning, the Emperor sent most of the Knights to the front, where they were later killed. The remainder of the Order, including their new young Lord Commander, stayed behind in a attempt to evacuate the capital and save the Emperor.
The Emperor's plan was to evacuate all the riches of the capital to a distant province to the south, Ynys Gaer, also known as Citadel Island. When the Great Destruction occurred, the imperial fleet was already approaching the coast, but few survived. The large galley of the emperor sank along with many other vessels. Many treasures have been lost, and many lives were swallowed by the sea... It is believed that millions attempted the failed crossing, and not even the bodies arrived at the seashore, lost forever amid the magical chaos.
However, a few vessels, including 'Sun Wind', the personal galley of Tristan, survived the disaster, arriving on the coast, where they soon found the ancient fortress of Faecaer. The place had been built long ago, as an outpost of the empire, but soon the fortress lost its strategic value and was donated to the Order, which used the place to store their archives and celebrate solemn occasions, acting like a second home to Order, whose headquarters were in the capital. Once they arrived, Tristan installed his men in the fortress and made the necessary repairs without taking time to investigate the rest of the island, or the fate of its people.
Maig'ir zalin ra'si
Long ago the Magi were the high guard to a great Elven Empire. Their skill in the way of magic and the sword was unmatched. Practitioners of the elven martial art known as zalin, the Magi combined their martial and magical prowess into a fluid, melodic, and beautiful battle dance fusing spells with swords, and amplifying their own martial abilities. However, as this Elven Empire grew old and decadent, the Magi grew weary, their brethren were growing weak, decadence, corruption, ecstasy and sloth. Finally the Magi could no longer consider themselves part of this goddessless, destructive, and evil society. The Magi fled, taking their families and a few friends, and creating a new society and hiding away from the rest of the world for centuries, the Population grew, and everyone born into the society were trained from birth in the art of zalin in order to preserve their traditions and culture. And so the Magi hid, and grew, and trained, Empires rose and fell around them, eons passed, until finally the Gensin was destroyed in a holocaust of corrupted, and dark magic. With the world rebuilt with raw and untapped magic the Magi can feel it is their time to return to the world and to be its guides, and to prevent another sundering.
Pelgia
Pelgia was one of the nations that existed before the cataclysm. For generations, it was known as the place where the greatest soldiers were made, and during the great conflicts, Pelgia found itself being courted on both sides, desperate for Pelgian soldiers to fight for them. In the last conflict, Pelgia, following the advice of its own mages, entered the war for its own bid for domination. Though Pelgia won many great victories, the devastation that hit the homeland was incalculable, and thousands lost their lives. The capital, Athlat, was burned in a horrible sneak attack by enemy mages, and with that, the war for Pelgia ended. Disillusioned, the knights of Pelgia marched to one of its fortresses in the northwest that would be defensible. Swearing absolute loyalty to the new Emperor Gandenfel, the new Pelgia is a bastion of intolerance for the evils of magicka and the lesser races, and is determined to mold the land into a place where humans can live, free from the dark shadows of mages. The shattering of the world has led to the fortress being transported to a new and unfamiliar land, from which the empire could be reborn.
Prohibitionists
Distraught by impending doomsday, the commoners of Essa Kayle’s village revolted against their aristocratic leader, a mage privileged with the title ‘Master’ of the local fort and nearby village, who continued to support the Mage Wars. With over half the men of the village dead or at war, the women and remaining town elders and children marched toward the fort, where they slaughtered the Master and his guards – just as the world was torn asunder. The townspeople of mostly women hence forswore that magic would be their eternal enemy, issuing a permanent prohibition on use of magic, before burning the late mage’s library of spell books.
Shu State
After the destruction of the 'Great War', as this last conflict is known in Shu, all civilization was destroyed. However, the small community of Shu managed to survive the destruction. The King of the Zhang State, a Kingdom that once stretched across the land, fled to Shu and became its King, establishing the Shu state. The war could have been conducted from there, before the world itself was shattered in the fighting. With the world destroyed and Shu in a different place, the course of destiny seems unclear.
Starborn Walkers
As the burning diaphanous filaments that represented the end of all things ripped through the very fabric of the world, the mage wars ground to a shuddering stop. The Imperial Starborn Legion were facing off against an army of the Snow Walkers of Hundergarth, Mages who cloacked themselves in winter, when the sky ripped itself apart. The two armies, though initially convinced that the other had used some powerful curse, quickly came to the realization that something worse was happening. The Mages of the armies holding back the unmaking as much as they could, the armies worked together to evacuate the small city over which both had been fighting. Norton, a regional academy town of the Empire, went from being a strategic imperative to a liability, and Scholars, Farmers, Soldiers, and Mages alike formed a procession, shrouded by a crackling dome of protective energy, towards the Barrow of the Masked-Kings, which loomed in a mountain high above the city. In the dark stone passageways and palatial throne rooms, they weathered the hellish storms of magic. Finally, everything grew quiet, and, carefully cracking open the Barrow’s Doors, they saw a world outside entirely unlike the one they had known. Realizing that they would have to stick together to survive, the newly formed Starborn Walkers elected one of their own as leader.
Stonebeard Clan
Decline was slow for the dwarrow-folk. Like a mountain being worn away by the winds of time, or the slow cooling embers of the forge, time weathered them down. The mighty clans of old, bound together by oath and blood, had been created by the god of earth and stone, Kamin. And they sought Kamin through stone and cave and delf, which they might learn of him and serve him justly. And yet, they found themselves seemingly forsaken, cast aside by the gods, so that humans might take rule of the world. Driven back by the onslaught of this other race, the dwarves retreated into their dens and halls, that they might weather the storm of humanity. Slowly, the fires of the clans were extinguished as their societies languished. Discovered and destroyed by humanity, or simply losing the will or means to survive, the clans were worn away. And yet they survived. By the time of The Sundering, the Stonebeard clan had been whittled down and fractured. The city-fortress of Nututdun had no knowledge or word of what had become of their Lord or the rest of the realm. Indeed, they had little to look forward to but quiet, peaceful oblivion. And yet, the machinations of the gods had deigned to give the dwarves, to give the Stonebeards, an opportunity to once again participate in the affairs of the world. Carrying the honored traditions and knowledge of their ancestors, the Stonebeard Clan of Nututdun would light once again the forge of the dwarven race.
University of the Rose
The University of the Rose ultimate goals are the accumulation, development, and application of technology. The UotR was founded by a powerful merchant family many years ago and funded itself mainly through donations and the occasional deal with communities nearby. As the world fell into chaos all around it, the University of the Rose became lighthouse of knowledge in the stormy long night of mankind. With this, the University was forced to forego ultimate neutrality and intervene in local politics in order to secure her mission. The destruction of the world itself proved to be more than enough of a motivation to spur support for a more assertive mission in the new world that has been created.
Vinya Falas
The Vinya Falas hid from the eyes of man not in the forests, but on the high seas. A flotilla of ships masked by a web of magic sailed around the edges of the human empires, ever being forced to move as man expanded. They watched as humans destroyed the old world, but this new world would be theirs. The flotilla was beached, disassembled to create the Vinya Falas’ new home of Tranquility’s Landing. Men had stolen the world from them, then sacked and raped it. They will protect this new world from the ever gaping maw of man, and they would do so with fire, with steel, and with blood.
Windgard
The Winter Court had been ruled for ten thousand years by Auberon, a powerful mage and patriarch who kept the Unseelie under his tight grip. He forbid contact with the human race and confined the elven race to hidden valleys and woods where his powerful magic kept them concealed.
But Auberon's power was like stone, and though strong, easily shattered. Even his magic and influence could not conceal the elves from mortal eyes forever. Human mages discovered the Unseelie Court and forced it to open to the outside world. Nine mages battled Auberon and bound him with cold iron and silver, intending to use his power for their own purposes. Rather than submit, Auberon cursed the mages with a powerful mortal spell. While he was compelled to grant the mages long lives and great power, he turned them into monsters: Heliophages, beings devoid of light and joy. They would have long lives, but it would be a soulless existence. They would wield great power, but it would be dark and terrible, usable only for evil purposes.
Of course, the Heliophagii's first victims were the elves, who were driven from their homes and into the ongoing apocalypse. Many died, some wished they had. To escape the ravaging beasts, a band of elves fled across the land, into the mountains. Here they were hunted, but here, an elf maiden of great grace and beauty wooed and won the love of a powerful spirit, the Grey King, which drove off the Heliophagii and allowed the Sea Elves to establish a new settlement, Windgard, where they could rebuild their race.
It has been a long time since the elder folk walked the world. To most, they are little more than myths. But the blood that runs in their veins is magic itself, and the paths they tread are those that were carved by their ancesters, when the sun was young and the stars still came to earth.
And perhaps, it was not for the protection of the elves that Auberon kept them apart from humanity.
Market Prices
Food: 20 Gold for 1 Food
Water: 20 Gold for 1 Water
Lumber: 1 Gold for 1 Lumber
Ore: 1 Gold for 1 Ore
Magicka: 50 Gold for 1 Magicka
Swords: 20 Gold for 1 Sword
Spears: 20 Gold for 1 Spear
Crossbows: 30 Gold for 1 Crossbow
Horses: 50 Gold for 1 Horse
NPC Diplomacy
OOC
@Everblack: Sorry, but it was too late to change your zone by the time I saw your post.
Remember, kids, the first person to explore a zone gets to name it!
IMPORTANT: I would like to do Update 1 tomorrow afternoon if possible. Get those orders in, it is a weekend after all! If I can get a definite majority of orders by this time tomorrow, we will go ahead and do that update. Otherwise, I will definitely begin working on it Monday afternoon.
World Map
