Kingdom of Acoria

Phadria, before the story begins (2500-2000)
Phadria long ago was a unified land. In the beginning as with many of the virgin grounds of Caelos the gods made it their mission to create their new home; to truly make it theirs. What made Phadria special were its 4 Rivers, which met in the heart of the continent. These Rivers were named after the 4 founding houses of Phadrus:
• Occidensa (West to East) • Oriensa (East to West) • Austerensa (South to North) • Boreansa (North to South)
Some 2500 years ago the gods, Melora, Kord, Lolth and Corellon made their home in these lands. Corellon took to the west, Lolth to the North, Melora to the East, and Kord to the South. For 500 years there was peace, there was hope, life and love in the land of four rivers. It was to this place that Corellon brought his affectionate followers, the Eternal Elves, his Eladrin from his home of The Feywilds. He wanted them to embrace the beauty and difficulty of what it meant to make something of their own, and after having spent millennia in The Feywilds, he thought it time for them to make this wish a reality. Lolth being Corellon’s closest friend and lover, asked if she could take some of his children and have them do the same in the north, and of course he obliged her, trusting her intentions to be pure. This was the last decision Corellon made in the mortal realms that would reflect such love or desire to cooperate, as it nearly became his undoing.
While Kord and Merlora had brought their own followers, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Humans and the like, Corellon urged his children to move closer with them and to collaborate in the hopes that united they could fashion a world unlike that which has ever been. This, though initially tense, Kord and Melora urged their followers to accept the Eladrin despite their eccentricities. Unbeknownst to them all, Lolth had begun her machinations in the deep north of Phadria (Auron on the map) beyond the Traitor’s Expanse (The small bit of land separating Auron and Phadria). It was her plan all along to come with Corellon to this new land and to corrupt and break everything he sought out to create, for she was jealous. She was jealous of all the love and attention he poured on these “contemptable little things” and she referred to his Eladrin. And so it was her will and mission to take the segment of the population she did and to twist, torture, and mold them into her worshippers that they might one day break this new world and she could at last be all that was left for her lover to witness. Out of these generations of perversion and torture arose the first Drow of Caelos, truly a dark day for all.
Eventually, Corellon came to find out what his lover had been up to in the northern wilds of Phadria, but it was too late to stop what she had done. It was during a festival that was celebrated on the day of each solar cycle when the elves came from The Feywilds, that Lolth thought it most appropriate to make her treachery known. As Corellon began to speak and the crowds of his children crowded around the amphitheater to listen to their creator, from the ground rose great spiders, larger than even a horse and atop those spiders were a twisted visage of the Eladrin, their skin black as pitch and their eyes dark as the torture their souls endured under The Treacherous One. Blood was shed, curses hurled along with magic that devastated the land and its denizens. If not for Melora and Kord The Lady of Treason would have struck Corellon down and she’d have won. Through their combined efforts, the Drow were pushed north and Lolth was dragged back to the Astral Sea where she underwent judgement and sentencing to the Abyss where she resides still now.
This battle shattered parts of the world and caused such great misery and death that the 3 gods decided it best for them to leave this world freer of their influence, and they also returned to their domains. Many of the surviving Eladrin returned to their native home of the Feywilds but 4 families, those named after the 4 rivers, chose to remain. Though breeding between other races has essentially diminished their blood greatly, to this day the descendants of one of these 4 great families sit upon the throne of Phadria, and the Drow still oppose them, having made a “Dark Union” in the north at that very time, when they aren’t fighting amongst themselves.

Phadria, the Empire of 4 rivers (2000-1348)
For the next 600 years, the battles between these factions waged on, The Twilight Union building black fortresses across the sea and sending incursions both above ground and underground at their foes, The Sangquinas Corellas, the 4 royal families of Phadrus. As every one of these attempts was buffeted, a member of the Blood Court (The Twilight Union’s governing body) Sylvis Xiltria created a group that focused less on fighting and more on infiltration. Though initially rebuffed as a coward and weakling, an aspect of Lolth was in attendance and made herself known. The aspect claimed Sylvis as her new mortal form and in this new body, she reaffirmed Sylvis’ initial ideas as she reminded them of how she had nearly overthrown her previous lover in the ancient days. Thus began the downfall of the Empire of 4 rivers.
Through years of infighting caused by the deception and trickery of the Moré Kambâ (Black Hand in Undercommon), the 4 families found themselves having a tremendous amount of division about how to rule this empire of theirs:
• The Occidensa moved to the west annexing their lands, and eventually becoming what is today The Zosin Alliance (1397). • The Oriensa (1362) moved east annexing their lands and becoming the Kingdom of Acoria themselves. • The Austernesa (1348) took their people moving southwest and founding the Kingdom of Aestrux. • The peoples of Kord that still live mostly in these lands moved to the southern peninsula of Phadria and founded several city-states, governing by rule of The Council of Three, or the three leaders of the three city-states. This hundred years of falling out significantly weakened the unity of the people and left them vulnerable to the attacks of what was unknown to them until now, as The Vogall Dominion.
Ai’duin Oriensa, The opposite of love is… (1362-1000)

The opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference.

The words rang throughout the court, as when a great bell is struck, drawing the attention of the most powerful people in the kingdom. King Sarismor Boreansa’s voice breaking the silence that stung the room,

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me, Ai'duin.

Time is a strange thing, in how it seems to stretch and bend, a second able to last much longer than one normally perceives. Years before this argument between the patriarch’s of their families, Sarismor Boreansa and Ai’duin Oriensa were friends. With the Occidensa family breaking from the Empire and Korsivol still having the ability to weigh in on decisions was too much for Ai’duin and he was not satisfied with Sarismor’s answer to his problems with the Korsivol’s experiments; so, he decided to leave. He decided to try and carve out a piece of the world, where there could truly be people who lived justly, and didn’t mock what he felt was the most important aspects of their lives; their civility.
There was a range of mountains to the far southeast of the empire, where little settling had been done, and Ai’duin felt that this would be a good place to start his new kingdom. This new home would be a place where people could feel safe, protected, and they could pursue a life of peace and art, as Corellon had intended over a thousand years ago when he came to Phadria. The Oriensa patriarch knew that this new home would not come freely, that they would have to first fight for their right to peace, and so he instituted the Umbris Enclave, the oldest and most loyal servants to the Kings and Queens of Acoria to this day.
The agents of the Umbris Enclave were children plucked from the people at a very young age. Those who’d been orphaned due to war or to some other unfortunate circumstances, these kids were chosen to enter the sanctuary at an age where they were the most malleable. It had been the stark belief of the Oriensa that children were the backbone of any culture or society that was meant to last, and so their education and upbringing was truly a staple of society, and those to belonged to the Enclave were of no exception. They would train daily from a variety of specialties depending on the needs of the time in which they were born, assassins when required, diplomats when things were more peaceful, and certainly warriors if the time for true war had come. There are many countries and principalities across the planes that have such organizations, but there was something unique about the “education” of these children, and it was imperative that it begin at a young age, where most of their development physically was not finished. Nobody is entirely sure of what this difference is, but there is no question among those who’ve come into contact with these agents; they are to be either respected or feared, depending on your relationship with Acoria.
A blade in the dark, A knife to the heart (1000-500)
After a few hundred years of relative peace, the Enclave had begun churning out Shades as they were called and Acoria had swiftly risen to a level of power rivaling that of the other minor kingdoms of Phadria. Nobody was prepared when the first landing party of The Vogall Dominion came upon the shores of the Eastern Juniper Thicket. If it had not been for the Umbris’ presence in that side of the forest, then all of Acoria could have been destroyed in months. A group of Rangers (trainees in the process of becoming Shades), were running their normal array of survival practices within the forest along the shore when they saw the great wooden freighters carrying over hundreds of these beasts. 5 of these Rangers stayed so that one of them could return the news to the Enclave, days away from them yet. Some say the names of these 5 who gave their lives for the Kingdom have their names etched onto the Eben Wall, a place of great importance within the sanctuary. It was this moment, that sparked the war that would last 500 years, and lead to the death of over a hundred thousand across the continent.
Creatures of all sorts landed upon the shore that day, to make war against civilization itself. It was recorded that great hulking beasts of war known as Dracotaurs spewing varieties of the elements from their maws, destroyed much of the thicket on their march toward the capital and the Enclave. There were innumerable battles fought along the land of Acoria, but the most interesting thing to take note of in this time was Korsivol’s reaching out to his old rival Ai’duin. Due to the overwhelming forces and unfortunate circumstance he found himself in, Ai’duin agreed to allow Korsivol’s Chimeris Enclave Magi to construct a tower, under the watch of Chimera Illithor. This tower would allow for rapid movement across the continent and mass movement of forces if need be. The tower was instrumental in keeping all of Phadria safe and still stands to this day on the southern edge of Acoria’s lands, south of Oakenglen.
During the middle of the war, there was great enemy that cut their way through the southern part of the continent, into what is now the Broken Path. There was a town there dedicated to mining out the Adamantine inside of the mine. Commander Vaelor Cairieth of the unified command under King Ai’duin advised him that the fiendish monstrosity Doombringer ( ..\Creatures\Doombringer.jpg ) would be holed up in the mine there, and it would be their chance to end the conflict once and for all. Ai’duin believed very much that in moments like this where everything hung in the balance, the leader should be there with his people and assured by his commander, he went to the front line to see the conflict finished once and for all. Vaelor was an amazing strategist, but he was not omniscient, and had underestimated his opponent for the last time. In the gulch of the mine entrance as the allied military funneled in, the ground burst all around them, and an enemy that had been sighted hundreds of miles away and had only been reported of in Acoria, began sucking the soldiers into the ground to the mines below; it was an absolute slaughter. Both Commander Valeor and King Ai’duin perished that day at the hands of the Doombringer. Fortunately for them, Korsivol sent in a maniple of his Masked Legion to assist, though Vaelor thought it would be a mismanagement of resources as he had it handled. Utilizing a previously unknown ability and fearing for the safety of the eastern border, the entire maniple detonated at the mine site, burying most everyone there, including the Doombringer. There have been no attempts since this event to take back the town or reutilize the mine for fear that the ancient evils would be awoken again. Ai’duin’s daughter Val’caryn took the throne at the news of her father’s passing, and proceeded to help win the war in the years following her father’s death. That stretch of land is now known as Vaelor’s Folly named after the man who she felt killed her father in his arrogance.
A time for peace, a time for progress (500-present)
With the Doombringer “slain” in their lands, and the eastern shore properly defended against assaults from The Vogall Dominion, Val’caryn Oriensa decided that her father had spent enough time looking inward and that it was time to gain a wider view of the world. She also made some important changes to the Umbris Enclave’s structure though it was not recorded for public knowledge. It is known that she sent envoys across the continent and to The Glistening Isles as well. She also spent a great deal of time and money trying to understand how she’d have her kingdom keep up with the inter/intra-continental economy that had developed due to higher level magic (Teleportation Circles). Caesemir Dal’vora was a brilliant dwarven engineer who’d emigrated from Dhurn Boldir, the dwarven City-State to the south. His newest invention had caused great distress in his home and he’d been shunned for conceiving of such a thing as, “Dwarves were meant to stay on the ground, we don’t flit around like those elves.” It would also have required substantial magical resources, which was something that the dwarves were never ones to embrace, unless they were weapons; they certainly loved their weapons.
With the advent of these new machines, given the name Airships by Dal’vora, these creations began an incredible time of trade and prosperity for the people of Acoria. Being the progenitor of the things, he began his own organization called the Juniper Thicket Trading Company, fearing that there would be someone who’d take his inventions and make their own monopoly of them. Over the last 150 years, Airports have been constructed in several of the main cities of Phadria: • Claybeard Airport in Phadrus • Goldmane Airport in Zosennattia • Darkhorn Airport in Essan • Dal’vora Airport in Acoria
Additional Character Options from this Region
• Enclave Duelist (Fighting Style): You are a graduate of the Umbris Enclave, and part of your training there gives you a unique advantage in combat. When you are the only creature within 5-ft of another creature, your first attack on your turn has advantage.
• Enclave Assassin (Fighting Style): Once per turn, when you deal damage to a creature that is blinded, restrained, paralyzed, stunned, unconscious, incapacitated, you can deal additional damage equal to your primary attack modifier.