Asperyon

Year 431, 4th Era

From the lush forests of the Emerald Holds to the treachorous Osthys Coasts, the elves were happy to live beneath the shadow of the Skytowers without ever paying too much attention to what was above them.   The Highborn, first elvish denizens on the continent of Ash'arae, are long since gone and passed into myth - the remnants of their civilisation cannibalised to feed the many nations of their descendants as they adapt and spread across various environments. The godlike powers they once wielded are now nothing but superstitions, as the world recovers from centuries spent locked under ice and dragons establish their own domains with no one powerful enough to drive them off.   The Humans, breaking ground in lands much older than their arrival, now reap what their ancestors sowed in driving the dark elves underground as the Duermir have returned, bringing a war in the name of their Spider Queen that almost proved deadly enough to swallow a continent whole.   The end of the Carvejan Great War leaves the continent of Quel'marae home to two sides of a fractured empire - those who stayed to fight, and those who saw no shame in fleeing south for better prospects. These uncomfortable neighbours must now decide whether to reform into one state, united against resurging elvish influence, or keep their current, uneasy independence.   A greater threat (or opportunity) may still lie beneath the deserts, protected by the heat and sand and forgotten amidst the churn of societal progress...