The Azul Empire of Man
After the fall of the Alvenorian Dominion, the human races of Calendehl, long subjugated, were left to govern themselves for the first time.
Having lived under the oppressive rule of the elves for so long, the humans saw it as their rightful destiny to rise to the levels of prosperity that the elves once enjoyed.
Modeling themselves after the elven empire, the Azul Empire of Man was born. By resettling the abandoned cities of Thalor and mastering the ancient magical arts once developed by the elves, the empire flourished for almost 600 years.
History
Founded from the ashes of the Alvenorian Dominion, the men and women of the Azul Empire sought to create a new empire akin to what they had known for millennia.
High-elven knowledge held near-religious significance. While the high-elves themselves were not revered, emulating their empire became the ultimate goal. The humans of Azul were convinced that the Reckoning was a temporary lapse in judgment by the elves, who had forgotten the tenets of the most sophisticated civilization. As a superior race, they believed humans would never commit such a damning error, and that their empire would endure for eternity.
It was here that humans first learned the ancient ways of wizardry, founding the School of Ravenholdt atop an old elven fortress as the center of human arcane learning in 232 AR.
The empire stood for many centuries, growing, flourishing, and expanding. However, as with all things that grow too quickly, the foundations upon which the empire was built were not meant to last. Infighting, corruption, and greed began to plague the empire in its final century. Along with this greed came an insatiable thirst for more arcane power, with many believing the elves had not been foolish to defy divine authority, but simply lacked the strength to succeed.
Disbandment
The fall of the Azul Empire was marked by its catastrophic attempt to harness the magical Tempest Storms that raged within the Tempest Wastes and the Everbright Scar. Drawing upon the forbidden knowledge once wielded by the high-elves to reshape the world, the Council of Ravenholdt, under the orders of the Imperial Authority, embarked on a reckless ritual.
Yet, divine laws were never meant to be circumvented. The wizards of Azul lacked the strength and control needed to contain the Tempest Storm. Their efforts backfired disastrously, unleashing the storm from the confines of the Everbright Wasteland. The unleashed tempest crackled with wild arcane energy, obliterating everything in its path.
The ritual’s failure unleashed an arcane storm of unprecedented ferocity, reducing cities to rubble and rendering fertile lands into barren desolation. Ravenholdt itself suffered immense destruction before the storm surged southward through the Middenland Pass and finally westward, dissipating over the sea.
The storm left a permanent scar across Calendehl. Its path is marked by ruins and wastelands that, even to this day, resist all efforts at revitalization.
This act of hubris by the Azulian Authority became the final straw for a populace already weary of imperial overreach. Uprisings broke out across the empire, plunging it into a ten-year civil war that ultimately brought the Azul Empire to its knees.
In the war’s aftermath, the victorious factions vowed that the idea of empire itself was inherently flawed. Never again would they allow the rise of such centralized power, marking the end of the Azul Empire and the beginning of a fractured age for Calendehl.
Demography and Population
The Azul Empire was created by humans for humans. While it allowed other races, especially the minor races to dwell within its domains with realtively equal rights, the governing structures were held by humans and the prosperity as a race was of upmost importance.
Territories
At its peak, the Azul Empire reached accross half of Calendehl. From the Lowlands in the South all the way up North to the southern borders of the Tempest Wastes and far over to the Western Coasts of the Gulf of Aden.
DISBANDED/DISSOLVED
1 AR - 484 AR
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Capital
Alternative Names
Empire of Man / the Failed Empire
Predecessor Organization
Government System
Kratocracy
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Location
Related Species
Comments