Ethorian

Ethorian is the kingdom of the Unmade, the half-dead former humanoids of the former kingdoms of Bazish and Keesh. It encompasses the entire continent of Karpathia south of the River Bonn. The inhabitants of Ethorian are entirely Unmade. The Unmade will suffer no being not belonging to the Conciousness within the borders of their realm. It is a courageous soul indeed that would brave landing on the shores of Ethorian. The capital city of Ethorian is Ethoria, a large city surroundning the mountain fortress of Koolm. Ethoria sprung up seemingly overnight following the conquest of the dwarven kingdom of Bazish. The fortress of Koolm resides in that former dwarven kingdom, and is the central headquarters of the Unmade Purifiers.

Pre-Unmade

The Unmade can track their history back to the Coven of Ancients. This group of seven mages sought to distance themselves from the world of man that they found so corrupting. The Ancients settled in the country of Keech to the east of the dwarven citadel of Koolm. Quickly dissension arose. The Coven, an important group of wizard-philosophers, began teaching the then radical belief that there might be more than one God other than The AllFather; indeed, that there might be as many Gods as there were "universes"! They quickly became targets of monks of the Austeres. Legend says that the Coven were taken captive and suffered unspeakable torture but were able to free themselves by transcending to a new state of being.

First Regime: The Coven of the Transcended

The Coven had seen, firsthand, the beauty that was the Ether. So compelling was the sight that they taught that all life elsewhere was "a spontaneous outbreak," an "unguided mistake" that needed correction. The Natural State was death and what came afterward. The Coven and all the Unmade were also part of this "grand error," but having seen the truth, they were duty bound to remain until the known 'verse was swept clean of all Human life. Some years later, The Coven chose a successor. It was Oltovm the Builder, the officer who had laid the foundation of the Conversion to The Conciousness; the creator of the process to make the Unmade. Oltovm set out with the Coven to return to the Threshold. It was an arduous journey, months long. Some in their company wondered aloud if The Coven had ever seen the Threshold at all, and they started to doubt his word. But then it was found. Oltovm describes the Threshold as:

"Surrounded by great tidal forces of reality and chaos, treacherous to navigate near, but exotically beautiful, hinting at the dark wonders that lurk beyond."

Days were spent waiting for the tidal forces to ease, and then finally the Threshold opened. The Coven ordered all the Unmade except Oltovm to turn their backs as approach was made, and that forever established how a Unmade nears the open Threshold: aftward first. Indeed, no living Unmade except a Lord Marshall may cast his eyes upon the Ether. On the Threshold the men stood, the once and future Lord Marshalls, both now gazing into the beautiful strangeness of The Ether. What words passed between them was never recorded. But while Oltovm held his place, The Coven of Ancients strode into the Ether and were never seen again.

Second Regime: Oltovm the Builder

Intent on never losing his way to this remarkable place, Oltovm erected hidden navigational markers that would lead him back. Never again would anyone doubt its existence. Once the way was charted, Oltovm initiated the construction of a portal around the Threshold, forces that could resist the vortices of chaos and force open the Threshold on demand. A trusted officer was tasked with guarding the Threshold against marauding races. His name was never recorded, so he is simply referred to herein as the Guardian of the Ether. Said to be nearly nine feet tall, the Guardian and his legion of faithful will repel any non-Unmade who may make unauthorized approach to this most holy of places. During those times when the Threshold is opened to admit a Lord Marshall on pilgrimage, the Guardian and his warriors must turn their backs so as not to gaze upon the Ether. Early in the Second Regime there arose a controversy. How could procreation be tolerated in a faith devoted to non-life? The solution was to ban all breeding (though of course not the sex act itself). This prohibition led to the inevitable conclusion that the Faith would die out in one generation's time unless new converts could be found. The Faith was still great, but distances of space were greater. More converts with improved skills were needed. Now, Oltovm was no longer a young man, and the construction of the Threshold portal had occupied many of his years. Still, he became devoted to the idea of gifting the Unmade with the greatest army ever seen. The manpower needs were tremendous. The task of meeting that need fell to a fiery young commander full of the Faith, named Baylock. An ardent student of the teachings of The Coven, Baylock was admired even if some of his actions drew criticism. Among other things, he used unconventional means to subjugate all the races of Karpathia; strong backs and new resources were needed to build the armies, and Baylock delivered them at whip's end. Oltovm never saw First Ascension, the day the first Unmade legion arose. Instead, he chose his successor and then chose ritualistic suicide at the edge of the Threshold. Oltovm had told others it was "due time" for his ascension, and it is he who is now credited with this important distinction of being Unmade. Even while the Unmade covet death, there is a right and proper moment for any death. Unless a Unmade dies in "due time," he will be prohibited from entering the Ether.

Third Regime: Naphemil the Navigator

Naphemil had risen fast in the military ranks, a young cartographer who helped lay the foundations for what we now call, simply, the Campaign: the plan to rid the known world of all humanoid life. Oltovm the Builder chose wisely when he named Naphemil as the leader of this epoch of the Unmade. Rather than leave the Threshold behind, Naphemil ordered the structure unearthed and entombed in a far larger structure, the Basilica. The first Unmade church would travel with the army, into which it would venture on Ascension Day; the day when the Unmade would take the world of Eldarr into the Ether. In the short years of the Third Regime, Unmade society did well at spreading the word of The Coven, gathering converts by the thousands and the Ascension of the Unmade Legions. The swell of new blood brought refinements in the conversion process. It was no longer enough to bow before the Lord Marshall and take an oath of fidelity. True purification was necessary. The pain-deadening act known in the modern era is a faint echo of The Coven's experience at the hands of the Austeres. Just as they were tortured to the point of non-feeling, new converts are put through a process that demonstrates how one kind of pain can deaden others; how pain can actually bring spiritual bliss. The office of "Purifier Principal" was created to oversee new conversions. Despite these gains, the Unmade faith began bleeding off numbers, as infighting among officers and natural attrition outpaced conversions. After the enormous expenditure of resource that marked the Second Regime, it seemed the faith was floundering. Some Unmade began to see Naphemil as more planner than leader, more strategist than warrior. He was, as Oltovm concluded, a good choice for the ascension period of Unmade history, but that period was now challenged by new realities. Naphemil was killed in a dispute with then-commander Baylock, and this unapologetic murder marked the first time that a Lord Marshall had been dethroned by violence. Debate raged as to whether Baylock was entitled to the post of Lord Marshal. Ultimately, the teachings of The Coven prevailed, as Baylock defended his act with The Coven's own words: "You keep what you kill." Baylock ascended to the throne of Lord Marshall, and all Unmade knelt before him. The society now knew two kinds of succession: appointment and murder.

Fourth Regime: Baylock the Brutal

Baylock was the last Lord Marshall born to being Unmade, and the first of the modern lord marshalls. During his regime, territorial subjugation became the norm. The plan that had served him well on Keesh was applied to new conquests on a grand scale. Baylock also taught that it was not enough to gain converts. Those who refused conversion should be ground to dust. Once again he relied for justification of his actions on the words of The Coven, who said to the last of the Austeres, "Convert, or fall forever." By all accounts, Baylock's regime would have met with unparalleled success had he not encountered the dwarven nation. This was another militarized and disciplined people, monotheistic and procreative but potent nonetheless. The dwarves, too, were seeking to expand their own fortunes, and when paths crossed, the kingdom of Bazish became the holy battlefield. An interesting though probably irrelevant footnote to the history of this particular conflict: there are suggestions (oral history only) that the angels were advising the dwarves in the course of this war. The dwarves had stout new weaponry and armor, some of it superior to the corresponding Unmade armament. Losses among the supporters of the Faith grew catastrophic. Officers complained that communications were not sufficiently secure, allowing the dwarves to know their moves in advance. Baylock's commanders advised retreat from the Bazish territory. If they could only swell the ranks by converting humanoids from across the Straits of Heredia, they could return to fight the dwarves anew, refreshed and strengthened. But Baylock the Brutal would have none of it, "They may count The AllFather on their side, but we count many Gods," Baylock is said to have bellowed. "It begins and ends here." Kryll was a technical officer in charge of an emerging order within the Unmade movement. He called it the Order of the Quasi-Dead. The "Purifiers" (as they are now known) began as monk-like ascetics who voluntarily deprived themselves of virtually all nourishment. Their goal was to slow down bodily function to the point where their existence walked the cusp between life and death. They were fragile yet powerful beings, as all bodily resources are devoted to mental pursuits. After years of overseeing the growth of this order, Kryll came forward to offer Baylock and the military the use of Quasi-Deads as telepathic conduits. Once the advantages promised by such a system were recognized, the offer was quickly accepted. A network of Quasi-Deads was hastened into service, with at least one installed into every centuria, a practice followed to this day. The Purifiers enjoyed quick success. At last, here was the incorruptible line of communication the military had been seeking. The impact of the Quasis began to be felt on the battlefield, as their point-to-point communications could not be intercepted by the dwarves, who had no equivalent resource. They were helping to turn the tide of war when something extraordinary occurred. Baylock died in an apparent accident off the coast of Bazish. Questions outnumbered answers. Who was now in charge? Would the commanders appoint a lord marshall from among their own ranks? Or would they fall to fighting one another even as they did battle with the dwarves ? The corpse of Baylock was dispatched to the Threshold. There, the Guardian floated the corpse in an open ark and sailed it into the Ether. As the corpse vanished, the Guardian, as he later swore before a congress of commanders, heard Baylock stir and speak. And with his final words, Baylock named a successor - Kryll.

Fifth Regime: Kryll

The Carthodox were overcome. Their false icons were burned or otherwise laid aside, their numbers purified, destroyed or fled to the Shield of Life. Though it had been predicted that the dwarves, being pious themselves, would never convert to becoming Unmade, a few dwarves did so with surprising readiness. Some would later become respected Unmade warriors, and many other documents chronicle their stories. Perhaps as an act of gratitude, Kryll overruled the Unmade prohibition on the raising of personal icons to erect a mountainous statue of Baylock the Brutal. It was left behind on the battlefield outside of Koolm, a reminder of the battles that Baylock prosecuted there. This was the first of the great Icons which would, in the next regime, take on greater import. Moreover, Kryll ordered statuary to grace the ancient interior of Koolm, including images of all the Lord Marshalls, past and present. Ever mindful of challenges from within the Faith, Kryll refined his Purifiers, creating the Order of the Quasi-Dead. This group was comprised of five highly evolved—toward death—individuals who could probe the minds of any individual. So powerful were they that, when grouped together, they could hemorrhage the brain of a resistant subject. Today, the "Greater Quasies" serve at the pleasure of the reigning lord marshall, while the "Lesser Quasies" fill both military and private communication needs. He also added the title High Purifier of the Unmade to the Lord Marshall. The dwarven weaponry, so formidable, was adopted by the Unmade Legions, making the Ethorian Army stronger than ever. The Unmade, a movement that had already absorbed two other countries, was poised to spread across Eldarr with new speed. Kryll's time ended unexpectedly. With no verbal announcement, he committed ritualistic suicide. Thankfully, a scroll was found near his corpse by a trusted officer, Zhylaw, and this succession document averted the rancorous in-fighting that marked the transition between the Fourth and Fifth Regimes.

Sixth Regime: Zhylaw the Last

The succession document named Zhylaw as the next Lord Marshall, but some questioned its validity. Rumor led to tribunal, and soon, a public debate ensued: some suggesting that Zhylaw was somehow complicit in the passing of Kryll. Zhylaw was promptly exonerated, and the perpetrators of these spiteful stories were hunted out and killed before due time. In an attempt to protect his reputation for the ages, Zhylaw had the succession document naming him Lord Marshall stored in the Unmade's most secure vaults in Koolm, under the tightest of guard. There it will remain, protected for all posterity. He created many Icons that served not only to be a memorial of the battle that took place where it landed but also to start that battle. The campaigns he led across the Karpathian continent often only had Conquest Icons remaining to remember the battles that took place.