Gaia

"We call it magic, Aether. Its a resource so precious, it has forever trust our world into perpetual conflict. I wish only that we would start asking ourselves; if something has so much power. How could we possibly claim dominion over it?"   Antius Ebris, Free Citys Scholar

 

A world born out of the Aether.

  At first, there was but a spark in the void. That spark grew into a fire from which 13 godly aspects emerged. They were Odin of War, Bahamut of Justice, Sylph of Wind, Ifrit of Fire, Phoenix of Life, Necron of Death, Titan of Earth and Stone, Ramuh of Thunder and Lightning, Leviathan of Water, Diablo of Darkness, Chronos of Time, Alexander of Light and last Duality, of Chaos and Order.   These were the first the primordials. They watched as the fire that birthed them flickered and died, leaving them but naught to do but wait. But out of the ashes rolled a single seed. This seed had a shell that would not crack, would not open no matter the force applied.   It simply lay dormant. The Water Serpant Leviathan, wished to nurture it. He put the seed in water, watching as his water began to seep into the shell. He then called upon her sister and brothers, among them Pheonix and Ifrit, the two primordials of Life and Fire. The Pheonix bestowed upon the seed a sliver of its power, forming the lifestream so that life may form inside. Ifrit warmed it with his flames. And lastly, they called upon Titan, the primordial being of earth and stone. Who made a plot of land from which the seed could grow. Thus they created Lifa, the tree of life.   Lifa would spire up into the void, and its fruits would be that of planets. The Primordials all coveted the planets, wishing to be its masters. Out of the 13 gods only five appeared willing to work together. Pheonix, Odin, Bahamut, Garuda and Alexander. They tried to persuade the others to see reason. To leave the new worlds to grow and develop without the heavy hand of divine intervention. But necron found that the newfound life was something that grew unchecked and he wanted to prune it. Ifrit found that these worlds did not pay enough respect to their gods, so he began to burn them. Sylph felt Ifrit was right, but his methods wrong and set to work making her worlds pray to and revere her. Leviathan simply made the oceans his domain and destroyed anyone who dared traverse them and disturb him. Titan was simply to angry and to violent, his rage crushing entire worlds as soon as his word was challenged by some simple mortal.   Ramuh chose to not take a side, having wisdom neither side possessed and Duality simply watched in amusement as their sisters and brothers were seduced by this power.   All this left world by world barren as in the end, the lifeforms were either to simple to understand the concept of gods. Or simply unable to do anything as primordial rage and divine power smited them. All for but one world. Gaia. The five gods who had opted not to intervene found themselves defenders of this last cosmic marble. Thus began the Primordial Conflict. The Five appointed champions among the lesser races, elevating them to demi-god status to fight along them. The conflict sundered continents apart and made the oceans boil. But in the end Diable, Leviathan, Necros, Sylph, Ifrit and Titan were all defeated. Their essence was locked in ethereal maze and sundered into several pieces, spread out so that they may never be found and brought back together. They named this place The Nexus, and its inhabitants immense power would end bleeding out into the material plane in the form of Aether.       The world of Gaia is place of great conflict, valiant heroism and political schemes. A world split between three large and diametrically opposed factions who all clamor after the power of the Aether, a mystical and powerful force that allows for the use of magic. Consisting of four large landmasses with vast and hostile oceans in between, each powerhouse has grown independently and gone their own path to greatness.     In the north, the Azurite Cohort have conquered their continent of Vi and united its people under the rule of the Dragon Slayer Empress, Katarina. Their dragon mounts and unparelleld military dicipline is seemingly unrivaled. On the the opposite end, in the south east, you have the Emirate of the Sun. Once a small but powerful, Sultanate, it grew to prevalence under the The Immortal Emir. A mystic figure who trough wealth and conquest united the desert dwelling Miqo'te and mercantile Lalafell factions.   Last but not least are the Free City State Union. A bastion of freethinkers and rebel souls, the union was first formed by the city states of Tzue-Lai and Androna. The Union covers the most landmass by far, encompassing the two smaller continents that together account for more then either the Azurite Cohort or the Sun Emirate. Unlike the two however, the Free States lack centralized governence, and act more or less independant from one another in most civil efforts. Largest of these citys is Tzue-Lai, that acts as the Unions unofficial capital and Androna, which is the largest airship manufacturer and the center of magi-tech development.  

 

A bounty of riches. The Evalian Expansion Wars.

  The three factions have long been at each others throat. Notably with the Emirate invading the southern coast of Minos and when the Azuritintians invaded North eastern Sundra, aiming to wrestle control over a number of portals leading down into the Nexus. The threes conflicts would blossom up once more over the discovery of Evalia, a massive continent that had been untraversable due to the monster infested seas around it. With the advent of skyships however, the bets were off. Each power strove to seize a part of the Evalian dream, finding it was full of Aether crystal, the chief component in magical technology and vital to mages everywhere.   The Evalian Expansion Wars cost all sides more then they were gaining, and a truce was eventually formed with each faction having to content with what little territory they had managed to seize or ally with.  

A time of uncertain peace.

  With the giants of the world licking their wounds, a fragile peace rest over the land. Each faction is finding trouble within their borders. The Miqo'te of the Sundra continent grow restless, speaking of omens in the sand. The Emirs closest ally among them having gone missing. The integration of the City of Lunaris into the Alliance is causing a shift in power away from the sitting regent. And In the North, the rumblings of a old, old enemy.