Galnéath is the southern land of Arthenos. It was home to the largest city of Arthenos, Olvathin, before the Rhufein Empire claimed is as their own
Capital City, which is now its name. It was a land of small settlements and lands, but after the great hero of man (insert name) came and joined all the lands together. He brought them together with words against a common enemy: the lich (insert name). He could not be killed; he could only be imprisoned. Many lives were lost but, in the end, they succeeded and brought forth the greatest empire ever seen in the world.
The Foundation of Olvathin
The great city of Olvathin was founded, not by
Human, but by
Elvallìn, when they came into the world of Arthenos. Its founder was the great Altvallìn family
House Thefiel. They ruled Olvathin from the beginning of historic accounts. It was one of the first settlements the Elvallìn founded. Their economy was flourishing and at some point in time they became the largest city in the land.
But after the ‘War of Two Brothers’, the Elvallìn could not sustain their economy because of their lack of people. So, they opened their city for other races to help in the economy. It didn’t take long before the Elvallìn became a small minority.
When the war between
Altvallìn and
Mrakvallìn ended, some Mrakvallìn didn’t want to go underground. They took refuge in the slums of Olvathin. They were stigmatized. The Altvallìn wanted to make sure the other races accepted them, but the other races couldn’t forgive the Mrakvallìn for enslaving so many of them. The Altvallìn themselves were too few in numbers to have a great influence in the power games of the city. The Mrakvallìn were never accepted in Olvathin since then.
The Rise of the Rhufein Empire
The greatest Empire ever created is the
Rhufein Empire, which is still prominent today, be it in a smaller number. A history of Galnéath is actually a history of the Rhufein Empire. It was founded
Eradin Rhufein, the first Emperor. The many villages and cities were all governed by their own jarl or warlord. But many villages became a ruin without any indication of a famine or internal struggle. People became scared. It was said an evil wizard was kidnapping people for his evil ritual, taking souls wherever he went.
A small boy named Eradin Rhufein came from the city of
Solum. He had fled the city after the Lich
Heriotza attacked it. The people upon hearing it was a lich that was stealing people in the south made a deal with the undead wizard and would give him a number of souls every year, if he stopped his rampage. The Lich agreed.
Eradin could never just stand by how innocent children were sent to the south to die, or worse. He had seen worse. He vowed to destroy the Lich. When he became old enough to be sent to the Lich, he volunteered to go with the others. Nobody knows how he did it, but Eradin came back with the heart of the Lich. The Lich was under his control. The Lich had to do whatever he said. Eradin was chosen as the king of Galnéath, but he founded something new. Kingdoms were not built to last, but Empires were. Thus, he became the first Emperor of Arthenos taking the lastname Rhufein, having a Lich under his control.
The Expansion of the Empire
Using the deadly Lich that he had under their control, they went on towards other lands and took them for their own. First the Rhufein Empire took the land of Kaednar. Kaednar fell easily since most people thought the rumors of the Rhufein Empire having a Lich under their control were too ridiculous to believe. But the Sultan of Kaednar had to lay down his scepter for the might of the Empire and became the first land to be annexed by the Rhufein Empire.
The second land was the land of Yaren. As the central land of Arthenos it had great strategic value. They were better prepared than Kaednar, but even they fell to their feet. The Lich destroyed whole villages. Nowadays there are still spots where it is said the foul magic of the Lich still resides.
The final land the Rhufein Empire conquered was the land of Ferwell. Ferwell had great warriors with a great sense of honor. They learned about the Lich after Kaednar was conquered and they were better prepared. They fought the Lich and the then unknown wizard
Caleb of Halent could imprison the Lich inside a magical object. But even with the Lich defeated, the armies of Ferwell suffered a great loss. Ferwell had to surrender to the Rhufein Empire but Caleb had stopped the further expansion of the Rhufein Empire.
The province of Serana and Helfell were spared from the aggressive expansion of the Rhufein Empire. Still, the northern provinces would battle often with what they called ‘the terror of the south’. The Rhufein Empire had relied too much on their pet Lich for battle. This all changed when emperor
Eran I of Olvathin created a military regime and used a new system where people would get a plot of land if they enlisted in the army. With this new military strength, the empire was able to maintain a strong position in the world for centuries.
The onslaught of the Dragons
After the conquest of four provinces, the Rhufein Empire ceased expansion and now focused on keeping order within its borders. It was emperor Eran I of Olvathin who created a new system of electing emperors. Before it was done just by birth. But Eran I couldn’t have children (it is believed this was a curse inflicted upon him) and so he needed another way of passing down his legacy. That’s how the tradition of adoption came to be.
The emperor selects an heir from wherever he wants and who he believes will be the most capable successor. Emperorship was now selected by competence instead of birth and because of this regulation there were centuries of peace, stability and wealth.
One successor,
Artvald I, the Flaming Breath, made a deal with a
Balaur settlement in order to achieve draconic magic. With it he could wage war at sea against the most northern-east kingdoms. But it also awakened the terrible rage of
Zoron, The Red Fury. Zoron was a legendary dragon, said to be one of the first Red dragons to have ever existed and was believed to be slain by the old hero
Olaf Twin-Axe . This turned out to be a myth. Zoron was just put into a magical slumber, but now for some reason he had awoken.
Artvald I claimed the title of ‘the Flaming Breath, the Dragon Emperor’ and became mad with power. His magic left dangerous side-effects. Whenever he would cast a spell, there was the possibility of ‘wild magic’; magic which couldn’t be controlled and had potentially dangerous side-effects. Artvald I did not care about these side-effects and ruled peacefully yet without remorse for his civilians.
Then the dragons attacked the city of Mediolanum and further the Elvallìn city of
Melvillon. Mediolanum was completely wiped out. The fire breath of the dragons created a huge crater, which later filled with water and is now called the Dragon’s Bay. The town of
Dragon’s Bridge was founded on the ruins of Mediolanum.
Why the two cities were attacked is unknown. The motivation of dragons is sometimes impenetrable to foresee. Enough death was caused already and filled with hubris, emperor Artvald I tried to trick Zoron. They met in Olvathin to talk peace. Artvald I used a spell to banish Zoron to another dimension. His court wizards tried to talk him out of it. It wouldn’t work against an ancient legendary like Zoron, the Red Fury. But Artvald I didn’t listen, he saw himself on the same level as the dragon. The other wizards made preparations for a cataclysm, and luckily, they did or there would have been even more deaths.
Artvald I cast the Supreme Banishment spell on Zoron, but his body became strained. Wild magic seeped from Artvald I and he couldn’t control it anymore. He had to release all the pent-up energy the banishment spell gathered. The screams of Artvald I could be heard from miles away. The magical energy exploded and nearly two thirds of Olvathin was destroyed in the process.
The wizards had been able to save a third of the city, but everyone else died or lost their homes. Artvald I was gone, they didn’t even find a strand of hair. Zoron was also gone. No one knew where he went, at least a huge dragon would leave something behind. But as with Artvald I they couldn’t find anything.
The city was rebuilt and became Capital City, it was rebuilt grander than before. A new emperor,
Cyril I, the Builder, was chosen. Since then, there were laws installed against certain practices of magic and only a few people were allowed to practice magic. Born sorcerers were hunted and either slain or held captive so they could be used for the benefit of the empire. The whole onslaught of the dragons destabilized the empire and gave the chance for an uprising.
The Uprising of Ferwell
The Rhufein Empire was weakening. After the destruction that the dragons brought to the land of Galnéath, keeping the peace became harder and harder. This unrest gave way to a more repressive regime. The new Emperor,
Aran II the Lightbringer, installed workcamps in Ferwell and Kaednar in order to ensure their cooperation and obedience.
But as with all oppressive regimes, this didn’t last. A young man named
Barthos of
Mor , saw his father taken away in front of his eyes, while his mother was raped and killed. He vowed revenge on the Empire and everything it stood for. He had worked as a smith together with his father, but now left everything and traveled around Ferwell.
After a long absence, gaining power and competence, Barthos came back to free the oppressed people. Camp by camp he would come in and kill every minion of the Empire. Before long, he had an army of his own. He became legendary. So legendary even, that the Elvallìn of
Khaj'Ro took notice of him and to bind the two people together Barthos married the Elvallìn
Mirina, daughter of the king of Khaj’Ro,
Radin of the Bright Moon, who was an Fel’in Fae.
With the power of the fey races and the humans combined, the Empire was driven out of Ferwell. At the same time, a revolution broke out in Galnéath and Aran II the Lightbringer was killed by his own people. The new regime installed a new leader and tried to stabilise the regions. The only thing which could make it worse was a plague. Which is exactly what happened.
The Plague
The plague came after Ferwell liberated itself and because of this Ferwell was spared from the plague. Since they were disconnected from the Empire, trade also declined and with it the spread of the virus.
The other lands of the Rhufein Empire weren’t so lucky. We’ll talk in detail about the plague in the respective lands. In Galnéath, which was the seat of the Empire, things became even more unstable. Civilians became restless and agitated. They had had oppression forced upon them and now a plague which killed them in the thousands. They demanded change.
Elgast I, the Dancing Star, was emperor during this time. He hired some covenant of sorcerers to stop the plague. Only the plague was put in place by those exact sorcerers in order to destabilize the empire and shift the balances of the world.
This ensued into a quest to destroy every sorcerer of the Covenant and save the province of Galnéath from the plague. After a long tribulation the Covenant was destroyed, but with it also the balance of the Empire and it crumbled into many parts. Galnéath was the only land the Rhufein Empire controlled directly. Kaednar was taken by a group of religious extremists and installed their own law of God there.
Yaren rebelled as well and established a kingdom under the rule of
Friedrich Trier. Galnéath was now for the first time since the long reign of the empire in an underdog position. Yet they vowed to return to power once again and they might just succeed.
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