The Elder Aeon
There are many myths and legends about the time before humanity emerged.
At the dawn of time, myths tell of a time were aberrant entities ruled the world from the depths of the sea. This
Aboleth Empire fell when the gods emerged from the
Astral Plane and soon dragons and giants came to dominate the world.
Most humanoids were still primitive at this point of time.
The Time of Old Religion
Ten thousand years ago, with the onset of sedentary agriculture, humans came to have permanent settlements and founded the first proto-kingdoms. Over time, the sentient creatures of Erdos gradually moved away from the animistic Old Faith and turned towards the worship of the deities.
The
Stregoni arrived on Erdos sometime during this era and
elves descended from the moon as well.
The Time of Old Religion is named so for it was dominated by godly worship. Most of the various kingdoms and city states of that era where strictly theocratic. Gods taught magic to mortals, refering to
magis as the "Breath of Gods." They controlled the knowledge of magic and claimed that it could not exist for mortals without them.
This period ends with the Draewar and the creation of the stregoni.
Age of the Varn
The
Varn manifested on Erdos, seemingly out of nowhere. They were godlike in power and ability.
Their leaders were the charismatic
Khar Varn and the wise
Ovi Varn. Together with their brothers and sisters—
Varia, Enak, Blossus, Liria, Namara, Onia, Enader, Alturak, Arkos, and
Markust—they immediately set off in a global quest of altruism.
In many ways the Varn acted like a group of adventurers, but with godlike powers. They opposed theocracies, and promoted the knowledge that magic was a science, and not an element of the gods.
This led to conflicts against the priests of various churches and culminated to a limited skirmish between the Varn and a few divine avatars—one that the Varn emerged victorious. Because of that, the Varn erected the
Planar Seal, cutting off Erdos from all other planes of existence, and consequently blocking the gods from interfering. Divine magic ceased to exist overnight.
Though some mortals wanted to worship the Varn as gods, they did not hold themselves as such. Soon enough, they promoted the
Prime Discipline: the idea that no mortal should bow before a god and offer worship. The gods were to be respected, but nothing more, nothing less. In the span of a few short centuries, this philosophy came to dominate the belief systems of most Erdosians.
With the guidance of the Varn, mortal mages made staggering advancements in magic. At its height, the
Age of the Varn was a time of wonders, filled with magic and
mechana.
But it wouldn’t last forever.
War of the Varn
The Varn were never really saught to be the true masters of Erdos, but they had tremendous influence as advisors to all the rulers of the world. But over time, even that influence waned.
That had always been the Varnian intent: for mortals to evolve and walk on their own. But once they were successful, not all of them enjoyed the fruits of their labor.Craving true godhood, Khar Varn himself engineered strife between nations. His plan was to cause a great war, only to intervene and stop it, thus proving to mortals that they needed divine guidance after all.
However, Ovi Varn discovered this plot and attempted to stop him. Sadly, it only made things worse. A global war broke out between those who supported Khar and his bid for godhood (and the rewards they’d reap from him) and those defending the Prime Discipline. Even the rest of the Varn chose sides, with half of them aligning with Ovi, and the rest supporting Khar.
Thus began the
War of the Varn. It only lasted a decade, but by its end Erdos was a smoldering ruin. All Varn but Khar and Ovi had perished, and the two settled the outcome of the war in a duel. And Ovi Varn was the one who won.
Fall of the Varn
Ovi Varn saw that Erdos, a world he once strived to guide and protect, had been reduced to ruin. The Varn had failed. And so he decided that the world should be left alone. He lifted the Planar Seal, and departed to parts unknown, never to be heard of since.
With the Seal gone, the gods were free to spread their influence on the world once again. Priests returned to the fore, spreading hope and guidance. Slowly, the world begun a long journey for recovery.
The end of the War was also the end of the Age of the Varn. ‘
AV’ (short for
After Varn) became the standard designation to number years in the Erdosian Calendar, standardized by the
Iron Empire.
The Ashen Age
From the world’s ashes, new nations rose. Of them all, the one to influence the world’s history was the Kingdom of Mallenor, in south Athanor.
Ruled by a mighty warrior, Khaylen the Great, the Kingdom of Mallenor soon became the Empire of Athanor. And finally, in
55 AV, after conquering most of the world, it became the
Iron Empire. And Khaylen became forever known as
Imperium.
Age of Imperium
The Iron Empire was based on a system of meritocracy called the Merit of Authority. A type of extreme social darwinism where the strong ruled and the weak served. Khaylen himself assumed the title Imperium, the personification of Authority, and absolute master of all under his rule. He also claimed that he was the Champion of
Malthus, the tyrannical god of strength (and a patron to both orcs and humans). Because of that, he was rendered immortal.
It was, however, a lie. Khaylen created a dynasty. His descendants, all known as Imperium, simply continued the ruse of pretending they were Khaylen, the First Imperium.
This lie was perpetuated for over a thousand years.
The Great Rebellion
There is no denying that the Iron Empire was instrumental in uniting and repairing the shattered world that Erdos had become. There was also no denying that it was a merciless, cruel place to live in. And as time marched on, it became more and more tyrannical.
Many rebellions sought to rectify that. All of them were drowned in blood.
That was until the diamond elf raessarai,
Kaenus Elang'Draeon and the stregoni prince
Damian Von Redlore, formed the
Black Rose Alliance in 1518 AV. It was the beginning of the
Great Rebellion.
The Black Rose rebels claimed victory after victory, until in
1526 AV, the Last Imperium was killed, and the Iron Empire was no more.
A New Era
In the wake of empire’s fall, the free people of Erdos divided up their Lands in kingdoms and city states. The
Hegemony of Dorianor was created in Limoch, with Kaenus himself as Hegemon.
In Athanor, Mallenor, the original Land of the Iron Empire was given to the orcs. Rechristened New Mallenor, it became a nation with a single mission: cast out the darkness of Malthus from the orcs, and pave a new destiny for the blackbloods.
Shadows of the Iron Empire lingered on, however. An organization called the
Sons of Imperium was created in Grosgant, gradually gaining much influence.
Recent Events
The Aboleth Invasion
Also known as the
Warp War. On 1736 AV, the
Aboleth Empire returned from the depths of the oceans and invaded the surface world. What made them even more deadly, was that they had a machine that enabled them to mind control all of Erdos' krakens.
This was made possible thanks to the efforts of their primary mortal agents; a cult known as
the Black Sun. Their leader,
Richter Von Héssel, a
stregoni warlock of the Old Ones, had acquired the means to cast a massive ritual that would open a permanent gateway to the
Far Outside.
Normally, this abolethic onslaught would have outright obliterated all nations of the surface, but their plan was flawed due to the interference of a now legendary party of adventurers:
the Fatebreakers. Thanks to their efforts, the nations of the world had the opportunity to unite against the aboleths and resist them long enough for the Fatebreakers to destroy the machine the aboleths were using to dominate the krakens.
While victory for the humanoids of Erdos seemed in their grasp, Richter managed to succesfully cast his ritual and open the Far Portal. The Guardian of Worlds would have to personally intervene to close the portal, but that would cause an implosion that would destroy the entire
solar system. The only way to prevent this, was if someone went to the Far Outside and close the gate from that side. The Fatebreakers went through the portal. Soon after, it collapsed harmlessly. Sadly, the adventurers never returned. They are immortalized as legends who sacrificed their lives to save the world.
The Blood Moon Crisis
On the First Kingsday of Alturak, 1738 AV, over the night-sky of the Land of Ranangard, a unique double full moon occured. The moons were red as blood, and a rain of blood followed soon after. This Blood Moon was visible from all over the world, but without the raid.
It was part of a massive ritual; the
Blood Moon Curse, which was centered on Ranangard and cast by a cult aptly named the
Cult of the Blood Moon. While the curse was in effect, the recently dead would rize as zombies.
The cultists that caused this were servants of
Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead. For their part, they had gathered the dark knowledge to cast this ritual from
Hredd, the Goddess of Winter and Death, who was manipulating both Orcus and the mortals of Ranangard in order to acquire absoulute control over the Death and Grave domains, and to establish her church on Erdos.
A group of adventurers known as the
Raven Swords, exposed Hredd's manipulations and expunged their church from Ranangard, though they did not manage completely obliterate her faith. They did however slay Orcus when he managed to enter Erdos. The demon prince is not dead (as he can only truly die if slain in the Abyss), but his defeat on Erdos is not something he will soon forget.
The Raven Swords also managed to lift the Blood Moon curse but there are still many undead left in Athanor due to the curse's influence.
Today
It's the
First Draesday of Namara, 1739 AV. It's the second month of Spring, and also the second month of the year. It's been nearly two years since the conclusion of the Aboleth Invasion, and mere weeks since the end of the Blood Moon crisis. The past four years have been hard for the continent of Athanor. The people look to the sky hoping for peace. Unfortunatelly, this is not in the cards.
The
MACHINE GODS campaign begins...
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