Corelad (Age of Expansion)

The Age of Archetus ended when a massive meteorite struck near Old Archetus, destroying half the city and drying the life-sustaining lake near the border. From the meteorite, the fey emerged, bringing lush forests to the crater and building a society apart from the suffering on the outside.   The survivors of Old Archetus were forced to leave the ruined city, starting a Great Displacement that plunged the world into poverty. A few survivors that managed to maintain some of their wealth banded together to form the Archetus Foundation, an industrial organization originally intended to employ victims of the Old Archetus disaster and stimulate the world economy.   Their success boosted the Archetus Foundation into a world power, with territory and wealth surpassing that of Old Archetus. The technological advances made by the Archetus Foundation's research teams improved the lives of everyone that got their hands on it. However, some saw the rise of the Archetus Foundation as the beginning of imperialism. Many villages were forced into joining Archetus against their wills, and subjugated people became nothing more than resources for many in power. Despite overall good intentions from the leaders of Archetus, they were heavy-handed in their expansion and the lack of oversight led to many of their appointed overseers exercising tyrannical control over their territory.   In the east, Archetus used its new technology to make contact with the aquatic races in the Gulf of Porrel, uniting the land and sea for the first time in history. With the assistance of the aquatic races, Archetus built Olean, a massive amphibious city that rivals Old Archetus in size. With allies in the sea, ocean exploration rose to prevalence, and the oceans gave and claimed countless fortunes.   Deeper in the mainland, enormous guilds formed to combat the growth of the Archetus Foundation. While the guilds saw each other as enemies, they knew that the foundation was the greater enemy, cooperating when the need arose. While most guilds arose from the alreayd wealthy, a few people and places came into great wealth through the formation of guilds. Formerly a small fishing village, the city of Rivermarch became a bustling center of trade because of the clever maneuvering of Eleven Marks, a trading guild that almost rivals Archetus in wealth.   Desperate for resources to fuel their ever-expanding machine, the Archetus Foundation turned to the meteorite that had destroyed Old Archetus. However, the meteorite possessed great natural power, bringing life to the three archfey and covering the crater in a dense magical forest. They fought back against Archetus' intrusion, crashing one of the invading airships and forcing Archetus to retreat and consider other options.