Sardan

In the south-western region of the Great Sea lies the mysterious continent of Sardan. Enveloped in a shroud of mist, few outsiders have ever stepped foot on the soil of this land and returned home to tell the tale, which gives anyone and anything even loosely connected to it a certain air of exoticness. As such, goods and people from Sardan are extremely rare outside of this land and will often be the center of attention, regardless of where they find themselves. Perhaps the lack of information about the continent is partially perpetrated by its natives due to the innate isolationist tendencies which most of them share.

Geography

The Ageless Jungle covers most of the northern shore of Sardan. The vast green expanse lies on a similar latitude to the Exile Isles further east across the Great Sea and shares their tropical climate. Much of the once primal rainforest has been tamed by the tabaxi who call it their home (the pantera and the tigerians, primarily), however it can still pose a deadly threat to the under-prepared. The great river T'Shala leads into the sea at the northern edge of the main landmass, being the source of life and sustenance for most of the jungle's inhabitants. Within the river's delta, dwelling upon the island Ashkar lies the ancient troll nation of Zangar, thought by many to be one of the oldest civilizations in the entire world. Further south, the Ageless Jungle eases into the Great Plains, which are home to the more nomadic and less tropical tabaxian tribes (such as the leonin). Together, the catfolk of the jungle and plains form the Tabaxi Republics, a democratic nation built upon the tribal traditions which have served as the guidelines for the tabaxian society since times immemorial. The streaks of grasslands are nourished by the great rivers T'Shala, running from the south east, and T'Hurna from the south west. Upon their conflux lies the capital city of the Republics, Vaermanere. The Great Plains soon begin to rise into highlands, eventually fully ascending into the Ebony Mountains, dubbed for their abundance of the coveted mineral. These mountains are the native region to the once proud gnomes, who brave the arctic conditions of their homeland with clever use of technology and architecture. Their nation, the Albaric Federation, was recently vassalized by the Republics, leaving many gnomes concerned for the future of their kin. Some of the more cold resistant tabaxi tribes also find their home among the dark peaks. The mountain ranges of the Ebony Mountains offer some of the most magical sights in the entire world, as chunks of rock and dirt often float hundreds of feet above ground, lifted by magical anomalies left in the aftermath of the War of Sundering. Beware however, for reports tell of giants and dragons who make their homes upon these bizarre landmarks, being drawn here by the latent arcane energy found in such places, as well as the promise of isolation from those who may pose a threat.

History

Whilst Sardan may be one of the four major landmasses of the known world, there is little information concerning its existence prior to the settling of the trolls of Zangar upon Ashkar, sometime during the First Era. During those times, the Ageless Jungle was young and fierce, forming the heart of the giant primordial continent, with the recently arriving trolls creating a pacifistic and secluded tribal society. This arrangement of affairs changed little throughout the turbulent Second Era, with most of the conflict surrounding the ascension of new deities evading the Zangari. However, the troll civilization had matured, cementing themselves as verdant and tranquil protectors of the jungle, ruled by a council of elders. This was all changed upon the brink of the Second Era. With the Sundering came continental drift, and much of the jungle was either flat-out destroyed, or overcharged with perilous magic. It was the Zangari trolls who were then tasked by the gods to nourish the Jungle back to health, their species being by Ellyrion, the chief god of the Green Pantheon himself. Since then, the Zangari have lived committed to their god-given purpose of healing their homeland, expanding slowly into the Jungle in order to ensure its restoration, but maintaining Ashkar as their only larger city. Within their capital, they had also constructed the Great Archive of Ashkar, which would eventually become the greatest source of knowledge in the entire world, being fuelled and maintained by Zangari trolls who would travel far and wide in search of knowledge, only to return the recording of it to their homeland. Such journeys would sometimes span decades or, in rarer cases, even centuries, as the vast records of the world began to completely exhaust the nearby surroundings of the troll nation, forcing the travelling hermits further away from their homeland in order to find new information. Sometime during the early Third Era, two major species had surfaced upon Sardan. In the north, the feline tabaxi tribes had begun to set apart their differences, finding common ground in their worship of the Many, a deity comprised of the shared experiences of all great tabaxi of the past. Their clans, once consumed by animosity, slowly started building upon their similarities in order to put a stop the the needless violence they had been consumed by. In the south, the industrious gnomes had developed technological marvels on par with the most advanced pre-Sundering civilizations and used them to seize dominance over the greenskin tribes inhabiting the mountains and hills, creating small, self-sufficient city states and establishing trading networks between one another. Eventually, the clans of the tabaxi united under the banner of the Tabaxi Republics, allowing each tribe to maintain their way of life while becoming a much stronger unified state, capable of exerting its power over the other inhabitants of the continent and pushing the peaceful trolls out of the Ageless Jungle, more or less restricting them to their island homeland. While each clan was still ruled by a chieftain, that chieftain was elected by a majority of the adult members of each respective clan and would represent their interests in the Moot, a gathering of chieftains dedicated to making decisions upon matters pertaining to the Republics as a whole. The gnome city-states had quickly realized that the resources which their lands held were likely to be a point of contention between them the newly formed Republics, and had begun to prepare a contingency plan in case the Republics were to declare war upon them. The progenitor of this plan, Albaric Festerfloss, united the 11 city-states into the Albaric Federation, in hopes of dissuading the Tabaxi from attacking the gnomes. However, this strategy turned out to only work for a limited amount of time, as the first War for Sardanian Supremacy broke out in 566 T. E. This conflict marks the beginning of a string of wars between the two nations, which had found its conclusion only two centuries ago. While the first war was won decisively by the Republics, who as a result claimed a significant portion of the Ebony Mountains for themselves, the Federation had already prepared a counter-offensive, which saw them deploying warforged, constructs powered by soul energy on the front lines. These warforged became an instrument of revenge for the gnomes, who would return the atrocities commit upon them tenfold during the Second War for Sardanian Supremacy. The metal soldiers felt no pain and more then made up for the gnome's lack of strength and manpower in combat, utterly crushing the tabaxian defences. As the Second War ended, the gnomes not only regained their lost lands, but also claimed a sizable portion of the Great Plains for their Federation. Of course, the catfolk chieftains only suffered this loss with grinding fangs. However, the Moot leaders knew that the Republics could not attempt to reclaim what was lost without finding a way to combat the warforged effectively. While alchemical fire and bombs were an option, most of the materials needed to create such devices were monopolized by the gnomes themselves, perhaps aware of the threat these resources could pose to their metallic enforcers. On the other hand, the gnomes saw an opportunity to further strike at the reeling tabaxi defences, unaware of what would ultimately cause their defeat in the next upcoming war. When the Third War for Sardanian supremacy broke out, the Republics once again found themselves pushed back by the steel legions of the Federation. The seemingly unstoppable warforged march through day and night without the need for rest or respite, committed purely to wiping out the tabaxi with ruthless force. With the Republics backed into a corner, an emergency Moot meeting was interrupted by an armed group of panterans who called themselves Reavers. These Reavers claimed to possess the skills necessary in order to turn the tide of war in favor of the tabaxi. Seeing their forces stretched thin, the chieftains unanimously voted to include the newly surfaced Reavers into their armies, and while some remained skeptical of their claims, no chieftain could afford to turn down a surge of able-bodied and trained warriors into their ranks at such dire times. What none of them realized however, was the unique advantage the Reavers held when combating the warforged. Perhaps time had washed away the pain that the Reavers once sowed upon their adversaries before their order was abolished as a part of the accord, establishing the Republics. The sacred order, founded by the legendary panteran warrior Salaxsh, attacked the soul of the enemy alongside their physical shell, allowing them to surpass even the best suit of armor with a few well placed strikes. It was this skill alone which allowed them to triumph over the warforged as the steel automatons did not possess the reasoning necessary to figure out an effective strategy to combat the ferocious Reavers. Before long, the warforged were largely destroyed, and the gnomes found themselves at the mercy of the feline humanoids once more. This time however, the Moot knew better than to settle with a piece of land and war subsidiaries. The armies of the Republics did not stop until they reached the capital of the Federation, Albarigrad. There, the technocratic government of the gnomes was forced to surrender, becoming vassals under the Republics, as well as completely dismantling and destroying their foundries capable of warforged mass-production. The blueprints to warforged production became a closely guarded secret of the Moot and the Reavers cemented their position as a "secret police" of sorts, tracking down dangerous individuals and terrorists alike. This arrangement of affairs has lasted for approximately three generations, with many gnomes losing hope of recovering their sovereignty and instead migrating overseas to find purpose.

Alternative Name(s)

The Far Continent, Land of Mists

Type

Continent

Location under

Atalaya

Included Organizations