Primeval Akratia
Land of gods and ancestral home of Man, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling.
In the beginning, long before the Akran Imperium and long before even the invention of history, gods walked the land. Primeval deities, birthed through the faith and devotion of countless cultures and races scattered across Akratia, guided their people and provided peace for them. It was an antediluvian time before conflict or strife - a true paradise.
Reality abhors such order.
In time, simply shepherding their people grew tiresome, and the living gods alongside their heroic scions wandered afar, shaping the world to their whims and gathering fanatics before them. With such worshipers came power, with power came conflict, and through conflict was Death born on Akratia.
Drawn into violence, the first Gods fell beyond the Black Gates of Death, and the lords of creation felt fear. Such it was that the Veil was pierced, and the gods reached for power that had, even in their immortal youth, been long forbidden - that of Fate itself. Reality's answer to this carnal sin was immediate as god was severed from adherent, and the Age of Myth came to a close.
Rise of Akran
Severed from their followers, the gods of Akratia slowly faded away, their power wasted away through petty strife until only Vestiges remained. However their followers, shorn of their patron deities, flourished. Upon the ashes of the Age of Myth came an Age of Civilization. Tribes, Cities, and Kingdoms rose in the river valleys, mountain holds and deep forests of Akratia as Man, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling claimed the land for their own.
There was conflict between these Founding Races, of course. Civilization, after all, is a project of violence, but though many mortals of all kind fell through the Black Gates of Death, the continent was colonized - the dark places receded into the depths and mortal men and women proclaimed their mastery over nature. The pinnacle of this movement, of course, was Akran.
The empire that would rise to challenge Reality itself began in the City-State of Akran, near the center of Akratia and was, from the very beginning, composed of all four Founding Races. Its leadership emphasized a strength through unity and forged that unity through a self fulfilling faith in their own ingenuity and prowess. Spreading out from Akran, the fledgling Imperium conquered as many neighbors through diplomacy and economics as through military might.
A Golden Age
The Akran Imperium: masters of Akratia and heirs to the legacy of the gods themselves.
...
An ancient continent, ancestral home of Men, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings. In a time long past, these Founding Races came together and built a magnificent Empire - the Akran Imperium. Together, the four races colonized the continent, inflicting peace, prosperity, and 'progress' on the wild lands.
If only the Founding Races were content with mastery over the material world. In an age, now long past, at the very height of the Imperium, arcane magisters, holy archons, and alchemic geniuses came together to pierce the very veil of fate, committing a carnal sin against reality itself. The backlash swept across the Akran Imperium unleashing powerful and evil magics upon the land and, more destructively, imbuing certain individuals with the Spark. These Spark Blessed, as they were called then, were infused with incredible potential. In the beginning, they used this potential to fight back against the impending darkness, and were largely successful. That was only the beginning though.
In time, the true evil of the Spark was revealed. It was not only the good and righteous chosen by fate to become Spark Blessed - those of evil intent were just as likely to receive the mantle, and these men and women had little to hold them back. This new wave of Sparks spelled the downfall of Akran: the empire burned under the pressure of these impossibly powerful beings, dark creatures and magic swarmed over long-held borders, and those few that were capable fled west to the last safe place, far away from the continent - to the Sovereign Isles.
In the Sovereign Isles, the Founding Races were safe from the predations of the Spark, so long as any who were found with that potential were...
disposed of quickly enough. Since the fall of Akran, so long ago, knowledge of Akratia was lost, the continent itself faded into legend and its location relegated to only the most enigmatic legendariums.
However, it is a time of change in the Sovereign Isles. Sparks have become more common in the aging state. Summary execution seems to have done more to increase their emergence and the Pentarchy has struggled to find and dispose of them before they begin to gather a following. In a bid of desperation, the Sovereign Isles commissioned explorers to set out and relocate ancient Akratia, seeking a place to exile these disruptive forces.
They succeeded. Akratia, the Mythic Homeland, the Lost Continent was found, reduced to a wild state. Now, those found with the Spark are given a choice - summary execution or exile to Akratia's Edge to wield their potential where they cannot endanger society.
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