Barnabus' History Lesson
In the spirit of patriotism and in anticipation of the upcoming coronation festival, today’s history lecture will be on the history of Eterna Province, in particular the history of the Royal family and their importance in allowing our country and the Alliance to flourish.
As you may or may not know, it is the year 1847 of the Second Era. This marks 1847 years since the end of a great cataclysmic event, known as ‘The Sundering’ or ‘The Void Years’, which brought the First Era to a close.
Why do we separate these two eras? Why was this event so momentous enough to warrant such acknowledgement in calendar years? Because the Sundering fundamentally changed the world. Historians today can list a handful of theories as to what exactly constitutes a ‘world-changing’ event, and not everyone can agree on all of them. But from the Academy’s perspective one thing was clear:
For you see, what remains of the First Era in our world today are nothing but myths, legends, threadbare records, ruins, and scarred landscapes. What sort of event can destroy the world so utterly? What sort of event can completely and irrevocably change the sociopolitical, economic, environmental and magical landscape of the world, then systematically destroy all records and history of what happened? The answer is simple: there was a war.
Her divine heritage is theorised from her many feats achieved during her rule over the new Eterna kingdom. For example, she penned the Celestine Codex, the founding document of Eterna and a compilation of all knowledge she had on the First Era. She is told to have ‘acuity of events to come’. A sort of precognitive accuracy in her decisions that led to Eterna avoiding natural disasters, further wars or economic ruin. Her memory is said to have been perfect in clarity, and her charisma was such to sway nations.
The first thing Celestine did after stabilising her new kingdom was to beg alliance from all the other empires of Galoria at the time-- some of which were ruled by ancient dragons. Not only did Celestine forge the concept of the Galorian Alliance, her power and influence was such that the dragons soon bent their knee to her. It is unknown how she achieved this feat, especially considering her opponents were dragons… it could have been diplomacy or war. From then onward Celestine established the laws of the Alliance. Common tongue was to be used by all nations. Trade was encouraged, and most critically-- she established the official Pantheon of the twelve gods we worship to this day, with Enoreth as its leader. What’s notable is that at the time, only those twelve gods were permitted worship within Galoria. Other deities were outlawed, and paying tribute to them was punishable by law. Not that this law had much reach in the sparsely populated landscape of the early Second Era, but it held true in many cities. It is only in 1105, a thousand years later, was this law was abolished. However remnants of it do remain in taxation exemptions regarding religious institutions. Which brings us to modern day. Throughout these 1847 years, it has been absolute tradition that the monarch of Eterna is a woman. A legacy of queens. This all changed when 15 years ago, our previous queen Alexandra fell in battle, and her husband was stricken of the Grey Plague. Their only daughter, 6 at the time, was unfit to rule-- and so since then, Eterna has been guided by the fair hand of the Eternan Council. In two days, the Heir Apparent, her majesty Princess Rosetta of Eterna will turn 21 years old. She will ascend to the throne and become the new Queen. We historians look forward to this, as it will bring an end to the current 15-year period of no monarch.
Origin of the Royal Family
It is said that in the direct aftermath of the war there was much chaos. The danger was gone, but it left behind a void. Nobody knew what to do. All their memories were erased. Then from the ashes rose a single woman, who will be known as St. Celestine. Celestine claimed to retain her memory from before the war, and used this knowledge to reconstruct society. She did so with such efficiency that the people soon chose her as their leader. The reclaimed battlefield became the Eterna Province, and Celestine was the first Queen. Now, there are many theories on just who Celestine was. Some say she was a chosen cleric of Enoreth, and his property of time had allowed her to keep her memory. Others theorise she was a lesser god or demigod, either a relative or lover of Enoreth’s. Some speculate she was a direct avatar of Enoreth herself.Her divine heritage is theorised from her many feats achieved during her rule over the new Eterna kingdom. For example, she penned the Celestine Codex, the founding document of Eterna and a compilation of all knowledge she had on the First Era. She is told to have ‘acuity of events to come’. A sort of precognitive accuracy in her decisions that led to Eterna avoiding natural disasters, further wars or economic ruin. Her memory is said to have been perfect in clarity, and her charisma was such to sway nations.
The first thing Celestine did after stabilising her new kingdom was to beg alliance from all the other empires of Galoria at the time-- some of which were ruled by ancient dragons. Not only did Celestine forge the concept of the Galorian Alliance, her power and influence was such that the dragons soon bent their knee to her. It is unknown how she achieved this feat, especially considering her opponents were dragons… it could have been diplomacy or war. From then onward Celestine established the laws of the Alliance. Common tongue was to be used by all nations. Trade was encouraged, and most critically-- she established the official Pantheon of the twelve gods we worship to this day, with Enoreth as its leader. What’s notable is that at the time, only those twelve gods were permitted worship within Galoria. Other deities were outlawed, and paying tribute to them was punishable by law. Not that this law had much reach in the sparsely populated landscape of the early Second Era, but it held true in many cities. It is only in 1105, a thousand years later, was this law was abolished. However remnants of it do remain in taxation exemptions regarding religious institutions. Which brings us to modern day. Throughout these 1847 years, it has been absolute tradition that the monarch of Eterna is a woman. A legacy of queens. This all changed when 15 years ago, our previous queen Alexandra fell in battle, and her husband was stricken of the Grey Plague. Their only daughter, 6 at the time, was unfit to rule-- and so since then, Eterna has been guided by the fair hand of the Eternan Council. In two days, the Heir Apparent, her majesty Princess Rosetta of Eterna will turn 21 years old. She will ascend to the throne and become the new Queen. We historians look forward to this, as it will bring an end to the current 15-year period of no monarch.
Regarding the Sundering
What you see of the First Era, ruins.. Places like the Silent City up north, or the Feygate Ruins in east Aldheim, or Volendiir mines to the south along the Sapphire coast. A long time ago, these were once populous cities. A great battle, large enough to consume all of Galoria-- and even the rest of the Plane, broke out-- and it was all destroyed. Not only that, but a great magical force was involved-- A great amount of planar energy was lost in that war, breaking the Kaleidos away from the scope. Like plucking a petal from a flower. Most mysteriously of all, nobody can remember what happened. Records of war were destroyed en masse, but not only that-- The elves who were around at the time recalled waking up and remembering nothing about what had happened…. Or so it is claimed. Remember, it has been over 1800 years and even we scholars are prone to error from time to time.You mentioned Dragons?
Dragons are majestic, magical creatures of great power and lifespan. A dragon can live for several thousand years, and they get stronger with age. A dragon that has amassed a considerable amount of territory for itself is called a Great Dragon. It is rumoured that Great Dragons ruled great stretches of Galoria in ancient times, and that Celestine persuaded them to join the Alliance. How much of this is apocrypha or simple fiction to glorify Celestine is unknown, however it is true that the Great dragons did step down from their positions of rulership between the First and Second eras-- Galoria as we know it is ruled by mortal races today. So thus, this question comes to mind: if the Sundering is such a mystery, why don’t historians simply seek out these Great Dragons and ask them what happened? Well, the problem is twofold: one, we don’t even know if the Great Dragons recall the Sundering either. Two, dragons operate on their own political systems amongst each other, of which the mortal races are not often a part of. This is doubly so for Great Dragons. To approach a Great Dragon or call its name is considered a challenge or a front, to say nothing of the effort of tracking down a Great Dragon in the first place. There are only a handful of Great Dragons with names recorded by the mortal race: they are Kotoha, Pyrene and Lofnir. There may be more Great Dragons, there may be less. These are the ones we know, and even so they are mentioned in the Codex only. We do not know if there is a way to contact these Dragons, or even if they are still alive.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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