As with many stories, least of all those that account for the history lost to the flow of time. The splashing of waves along the shore of an empire swelled and swallowed the Giants of Moor as centuries went on turning the once grand halls of gold and marble into dust and rubble. The tale of King Jarvlor and his two sons Othmoore and For-al is a troubling one, for the sons would never see their mighty empire, yet witness their father decay and wither attempting to save it.
The Founding of Moor
Jarvlor was a mighty Stormgiant, standing nearly four stories Fall, nearly a head taller than most others. They say the blood of the All-father Annam flowed through his veins, and that he could reach into the sky and pluck a dragon to the ground as they flew, as a child might grab a leaf floating on the breeze. Having been born into a time of war and strife with Dragons and their kin coming from the oasis nation of Drovaria, Jarvlor had dealt with ongoing skirmishes between the roaming clans of Giants for nearly a century giving him the respect and admiration of his clan, being ordained as a chieftain in name of the All-Father. Thus he drove his clan north, away from the warring tribes of Giants and the scrutiny of the dragon-kind. Going far north from the warm archipelagos of his home and into the ice-covered seas of the Expanse. Some say he was the first Frost Giant, others say he was born of the storm and froze his heart to save his people. Regardless of either, he showed no qualms with the cold and delivered dangerous blows of lightning to anyone who'd question his ruling.
Art, Magic, and the Usurpers.
Jarvlor ruled his people with a just hand made of steel. His righteous following of the All-Father and his teachings let no good deed go unawarded and no treachery go unpunished. The freedom of creation that the ice offered to the people of Moor ways to express creation unlike anywhere else on Loa Dea. Massive ice sculptures to heated clasps that could press out intricate ice designs and staggering works of art carved into the glaciers.
Hidden far in the north his kingdom grew, Massive glaciers were carved into impenetrable walls of ice to prevent the incursion of dragons and their kin into his realm, as giants and dragons have wagged many wars since the dawn of time. The islands of Oswary became known as the Frozen isles, with the giants cultivating and forming, through many magical means, glaciers homes, and keeps. The ice was carved, flattened, and secured in place to expand the kingdom above the waves. Not only conquering the frozen wastes but also the murky depths of the Expanse beneath them.
As the empire grew so did its need for land. Under the powerful magics of the Moorian shamans, the black waters of the expanse began to rise and freeze. Creating massive flat lands of ice several dozen meters thick capable of holding the weight of the civilization. These massive splots of ice grew steadily, not only outwards but also downward freezing the water of the sea beneath it unnatural cold creating a massive block of ice. Known as the Forming the Moor was complete and at its largest point covered nearly four hundred square miles of iced-sea land.
The Shamans did not stop there, they went as far as to surround the Moor with several layers of carved ice walls that prevented anyone from entering beyond the entrance of the dead south, known as the Shifting Homage. Several sheets of ice slid generously through the formed walls and blocked the door for six days at a time and only opened on the seventh for twelve hours before the sliding ice returned and blocked it for the next six days.
As the empire grew, so did questions of Jarvlors rule, unwed and several centuries old the one stout Giant, father of the Frost Giant, son of the Storm, and chosen by the All-Father was growing old and frail. Many of the Shamans of his kingdom began to gather followers, each one forming their own clans against his rule. Splintering the ice that they had formed as one clan into a broken struggle for power known as the Usurpers.
War
Among these traitors stood a cowardice shaman by the name of Andretal who stood alone among the usurper shamans. No clan to follow him and no namesake, he plotted with Jarvlor to remove the others shamans one by one. Through trickery and malice, he managed to guide the followers of Jarvlor against the Usurper Shamans into successful victories that sunk entire sections of the mighty empire. Over the course of a century, Jarvlor wed a woman Celvalea and birthed two infant sons.
The firstborn For-al was born to great power and his father's legacy was sown into him over several decades while the Usurpers war waged around them, The Moor had been reduced by half its size, the powerful walls that surrounded it all but sunk. The beautiful ice that covered the kingdom had returned beneath the waves, lost to Jarvlor. By the time his second son was born, the Usurpers had received either fled south or been executed by the twice-betrayer Andretal who was deemed as Jarvlors champion and gifted the Frozen Isles to him.
Celvalea gave birth to Second-Son Othmoore with many complications that led to a series of violent infections that eventually led to her death. Without the power of the shamans to save her, Jarvlor cursed the betrayers that still lived. This drove For-Al to resent his brother, being only a few decades old and still in his childlike demeanor, but stood with his father as they released Celvalea back to the sea. Nearly two decades later, the Usurper Wars had ended. Any giant-folk who remained loyal to Jarvlor slowly dwindled and traveled south away from the decaying empire. All but Andretal, who grew furious as his people left his lands blaming the King for allowing his new holdings to fall.
Final Betrayal
Jarvlor carved his wife's name, his sons' names, and the recognition of how he came to rule and how it came to fall, into a massive obelisk on top of Mount Moon. In his final words he spoke to Andretal, and his remaining kin, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's what you do with the time you're given. The All-father has blessed me with long life, and I plan to end it far from my home. I'll return to the place of my birth, and I leave what is left of my kingdom to my eldest. For he has the heart of a king, and I trust my second son to help him and mayhaps they shall rise this kingdom from the depths of the sea once more." without another word he beckoned to his assistants and was taken to the docks.
Jarvlor never made it to the south home he dreamed of, he never left the isles of Oswary again for in the midst of his speech to his sons Jarvlor was betrayed. Hearing the kingdom would be left to the spoiled children of a pitiful king, Andretal twice-betrayer saw an opportunity to seize what was left of the kingdom for his own, and in the night air, he took Jarvlors ax and beheaded him in his sleep. Jarvlor witnessed the rise and fall of his great snow kingdom. His life ended nearly six centuries after it began, his sons laid him out to sea, on a thin block of ice so he may drown with his kingdom and return to the All-Father and their mother. Andretal sent two of his loyal assassins to remove Othmoore and For-Al as well, but the two brothers were not so easily defeated. The brothers engaged with Andretals forces for nearly two decades and the last remaining giants of the Moor returned to war.
The Second Usurper War and the Fomorians
Andretal, thrice-betrayer led what followers he could against the brothers. Nearly three hundred strong against For-Al and Othmoores meager loyal subjects, it seemed that the Moor would fall.
While the battles were small, they destroyed what few holdings were left from the first Usurper war. The kingdom had hardly recovered and housed only a few hundred loyalists as many had fleed south during the first war. Andretal had secured all of the Isles and moved his forces onto Oswary when something strange happened, be it the will of the All-Father or perhaps something more sinister as a series of plagues began to spread across the Usurpers forces.
What came known to be known as the Ichor, this metabolic virus disrupted and corrupted the Usurpers' forces in an unholy manner. Creating what the rest of Loa Dena would know as the Fomorians, a cruel race of giants cursed to a painful existence. As the plague spread, the forces of the Usurper dwindled and Andretal himself grew inflicted with the plague. In their weakened state, the Usurpers retreated south to the hinterlands of Wumanok, permanently scarred and unwelcome in the realm of giants.
This hollow victory was short-lived, as only a handful of Loyalists remained. The royal brothers gathered their loyalists, standing only a few dozen strong, divided out their fathers' wealth among them, and told them to seek futures with the other clans and not to speak of the Moor ever again. To let the wars of their families dwindle and die and return to the sea, much like their kingdom of ice.
