""North of blood but south of veins,
ol' 'Kona's where you go,
when all you've got are empty reins,
and you've been exiled 'gainst the status quo"
--Just another nobody.
So you've ran. There's a bounty on your head in Sylastra and the Imperium knows your face and will hunt you from here to the edge of the Defiled Land. What's more, just by existing with certain demonic affiliations bans you from
Jeria , and that job last year with the Black Roses saw you rob the Arcanists... so not there either. What is left? You pour over a map, crossing off location after location, leaving nothing but nowhere... and that is just where you'll go.
The Fakona Frontier, named through legal classification in Alcorin records, is a swath of land just too far from any developed civilization to attract vistors, and just dangerous enough to ward off casual colonists and ruin-divers. However, after crossing north over the Bleeding Divide (a.k.a. the Rift of the Uncrowned) or south over the Vein, one can be sure they will not be followed.
The land offers no culture of its own, at least, not for civilized folk. It hosted the last gasp of the Avernal dominions, and it was here that the First Jeriec Empire was defeated at long last, though the demon-kings spit forth from blood-tunnels might disagree on ever having lost. Only most foolhardy travellers journeyed into the land for most of history, as the combination of maddened spirits from Abalos, teeming sentinels leftover from the kingdoms of necromancy in Phaedran, as well as the seemingly unending demons and Avernal children coming from the Voth Remnants together outweighed any possible gain.
Fakona changed, however, through the Erini colony of Alcorion sparked a slow change in this equation. In what is today owned by the thespian-kings of Sylastra, there was once an Erini mining colony, taking the blood of the earth from the Bleeding Divide to create Obsidian Galena. The colony grew to be a grand resort and place of meditation, and long after the
Burning of Erinion, the scattered descendants of that colony spread through west Fakona. Sycor, Alcor, Cervan, and Aku all share cultural and linguistic origins in the Erini, and so the languages overlap frequently.
The Burning caused a sharp divide between the east and west, however, splitting the far outposts and miners and travellers across the mountains from the magistrates and culture of Alcorion. Today, there is no love lost between Sylastra and the remnants of Old Sycoraxa.
The Badlands of Sycoraxa in west Fakona hosted a unique and short-lived kingdom that burned bright, but only as long as a match... Yet, it changed Fakona forever.
Sycoraxa was an old kingdom of collectives bound together by the Reis by the name of Sycorax, though he played the role of general and quartermaster more than king. Sycorax spread from the Cabal's Divide all the way to the east coast of Evandyr... but this was only possible due to one architectural creation. The Grand Vein of Sycorax.
The Cabal's Divide, a mountain range at the northwestern edge of Fakona, receives rain from Nodokyashi year round, yet in ages past it simply ran into Blood-Tunnels of Avernus and drained uselessly into hell. The Grand Vein was a opalescent aqueduct running hundreds of miles, creating a river where there was none and simultaneously; a wall. Across the waters of memory the undead of Phaedran could not tread, nor could wandering beasts and bandits of the Forgotten Kingdoms in the Reivant. In effect, the Grand Vein defined the border of the Reivant and Fakona, and reduced the great dangers of the land to one; the demons in the south.
Reis Sycorax died after the construction of La Villia Blanca, a grand fortress at the eastern end of the Grand Vein, and it would only be a couple decades before the kingdom dissolved. Nonetheless, this construction set the stage for Fakona to be both arable and survivable.
In the late 390s, a kingdom known as Fallen Sycor took the name of Sycoraxa, with a new capital in Aragama. It, too, was short lived, as it turned against itself after the fall of the New Kingdoms of Phaedran to Tharsis, under the pressure of numerous refugees. Tharsis would march on Aragama to destroy it and open the sea lane for trade, but the coastal kingdom destroyed itself, first. The Reis was killed, or perhaps ran away in the night. Many claimed he was a demon, others say a demon killed the Reis and ran. Whatever the case, factions found themselves at eachothers' throats, and those that survived easily surrendered to Tharsis.
The Mala have found only chains where they grasp blindly for salvation, and yet, the kingdom they built at the sky's first light shines, still.
Before the rise of Fallen Sycor, and into long history, the Kaidathi rose from the blood of the earth and began to construct and improve war. War on the beasts of the land to tame it, or war against fellow man to gain dominion, it mattered not. At their city of Vandarran, they took slaves of all they found, from those fleeing the
flooding of the Reivant, to those sailing as far as they might to escape both the Burning and the Void Nights. They burned all they could in their engines in the name of production and progress, be it coal or bodies.
Vandarran would cease its slavery only when it became inferior to mechanical production, though it required a numerous wars to solidify this fact in the minds of the people. The largest group of the enslaved peoples would later be known as the Mala, or the Malaegeoni, and through both escaping captivity and allying with the Kaidathi that took their side, large numbers escaped and found themselves in a Fakona far, far different than the stories told. It was, in fact, now possible to live there, thanks to Sycorax.
The Mala took refuge with Sycoraxa and Fallen Sycor, but it was not until the Vandarran Interregnum in 613 AB that caused Vandarran to collapse and the Mala be freed. The city of Malaegeon was formed, beyond the skies of eternal smoke, as a holy Sultanate. There, led by a faith of light and serenity that names fire fickle compared to the true forms of luminance, they have existed since. Their problems did not end there, however.
None cross Nocturne. None pry the old bones from the tombs of the earthbones, nor the spires of hungering pride. However, the Black Sands offers much wider Fakona does not in terms of rare resources... and dangers.
Nocturne. The seas of fine sands so dark that in the dead of night they blend perfectly with the sky above. Stars above, stone below. It was here, in this still, humming land that Avernus' truth was finally slain, and yet, the whispers of the sin-eater and First Deceiver remain.
While the Grand Vein of Sycorax splits the north, little saved the struggling hamlets of Fakona from what rose from the subterranean, as demons crawl their way to the surface to earn the honor of the God-King... and hidden in the Uncrowned, remnants of the First Jeriec Empire. In the Remnants of Voth, deep in Nocturne, obelisks are constructed with the truths of Avernus... and some dare listen.
It would take many years for the threats there to reach the Anarch's Run in the east, home to Malaegeon and Aragama, and yet in 726 the slowly growing villages in the remnants of Old Sycoraxa found a common purpose in finding the hole that spews forth evil and plugging it. They would do little to cooperate, but as the Mala faith of light spread to the west, they found purpose greater than blood and bones, and threw themselves at the problem, stubborn as ever.
Many would die, and they would achieve small victories, but it was Sultan Li Viann of Zeiran that rallied her people to the Darkshard Crusades (738-743). These battles destroyed minor avernal children domains in the broken karsts of Darkshard, now known as the Dark Shards of Sultan Viaan for these crusades. At the conclusion, the Citadel of the Colossus was erected in the west, at the edge of Nocturne. With a vague alliance between the two far ends of Fakona, the Korizán Rangers were formed, separate from both, as a force of wandering witch-hunters and demon-slayers.
The Lords of the Source were forgotten for millennia, but through holy tablets and divine visions, the Suisôn was created.
Following the fall of Reivanta, in ages long past, tombs were sealed forevermore by the dead within. None would pilfer the crypts most holy, not even the grand necrotic pharohs of Kharneth. In 512 AB, however, citizens of Tharsis, Aragama, and those struggling to survive elsewhere in Fakona and unlucky enough to not have a way to escape the region entirely, were drawn to Suisôn.
A scrap of land whose purpose was only to bind the east and the west of the Grand Vein, Suisôn had seen the Grand Vein collapse, and the Al'khair Marches flood north Fakona with the beasts of Phaedran once again. Suisôn, however, also housed ancient pyramids of the Forgotten Kingdoms of old, untouched through the ages. As the holy and chosen were beckoned across the land, they were given the truths of old, and performed great miracles, rising oases and towers where there was just broken earth.
These monarchs, and their descendants, took the name of the Source Kings of Suisôn, and created the only lasting civilization in Fakona. However, they refused to take part in the Darkshard Crusades and the construction of the Citadel of the Colossus, despite benefiting from its protection. All sides began to accuse eachother of paganism, or traffiking in unsavory powers and black magics or false gods. By 750 AB, the alliances that beat back the demons fell apart, and the Korizán Rangers stood alone.
What is lost is soon found.
What is deep is close at hand.
What is far is yet within.
What is seen is only mirrors.
What is true is no longer.
Follow the lanterns,
and find the Heart That Beats Backwards.
When light fails and fire turns to ashes cold, one requires another source of warmth and sustenance. The Lampades of Nocturne discovered one, in a stranger light. Their tradition claws at ancient history, and none in civilized spaces know just how far back it goes, perhaps to Drenlok Voth itself. It changed, however, when the Lampades came together. Covens melted into cohesive bargain, and gave themselves to a hollow light long lost in the sands of Nocturne.
Machines, Devils, Stones, Light. It was found these things have one concept in common, one that they would use in rites atop towers newly formed to perform rituals greater than any since the days where the earth was made bare to the wills of titans. Occultists were hunted as black magic practitioners throughout all of Fakona's history, only fleeing here to escape persecution elsewhere... or break the occult rules of those in
Elysia 恵 幸. The Lampades were no different, and regarded as a great sign of the end times. The Source Kings blamed Malaegeon for what followed, and the reverse.
The Heralds of Voth rose in 777, the First Jeriec Empire reborn with demons conquered and the truth of Avernus restored, or so they said. Their battles were bloody and without survivors, tearing through Nocturne and spilling forth into the badlands and Darkshard alike. It was simply too much ground for too few rangers to cover, and yet, a strange thing was discovered.
The witchhunter and ranger Rigo Saaveda followed the Voth-worshippers for seven days and seven nights. It is said that at times he wore the face of a fallen gnoll, coated with balm so it would not dissolve, and walked among them. Some say he seducded the Witch-king's daughters, some say he outran a dozen razor demons and flew away on a dragonscribe for a mount. The truth is lost, but likely far less dramatic. Through this observation, he saw the simple truth that the feared and hated black magic of the newly formed Lampades was, in fact, also hated and feared by the Heralds of Voth. In short, they were not responsible, and so the lesser of two evils.
Rigo Saaveda came to them openly, speaking on level terms, and despite their predisposition of wariness and fear, both sides found a common ground. Black magic might not be so bad after all. A ritual was planned, one that would turn the tides. With materials gathered from places near impossible to reach by occultism alone by the Rangers, and the tower of the Ephen magnifying their rituals, the very world shook and ruptured, carving a wall of stone a thousand feet high and throwing hundreds of marauding Heralds to their death.
And so the Lampade Fracture was formed, and the first Witchfinders of the Korizán Rangers named.
If Fakona is the frontier, the Fel is its harshest test.
Fakona would see true growth from minute hamlets for the first time in history following the defeat of the Heralds of Voth, allowing it to finally be put on the map in the wider world, though its population would never compare to any civilized area. Wars would be fought between the Source Kings and Malaegeon. Malaegon would overthrow its own government every other year. Somebody would kill the mayor in the badlands often enough to keep it in the papers in perpetuity. And everything would reset time and time again.
Yet, in 857, when contact was made between Vandarran and the
Bay of Evandyr, causing the
House Min'ekari to rupture, this formula changed. With the discovery of new magic in the north, as well as the Identity Crisis of 860, this sparked new interest in Fakona, and far fewer ethical rules on such curiosity, thanks to a collapsing government. The new split House Min'ekari began funding massive initiatives of resource gathering, production, and cooperation.
Vandarran previously focused their sales south, west, and north... certainly not as far as Old Sycoraxa or New Alcorin. Yet, with the northern dwarves' eye for diplomacy and commerce, the cooperation proved fruitful. It was through this that meaningful contact was also made between the former Erini colony at Alcorion and the north, though no possible trade could be conducted between them... despite the great hunger for it.
And so the South Line Lightning Rail was created by the rebel Min'ekari, funded with money stolen from the Bay and Golryon during the Identity Crisis, and arms deals with Cospia, Elysia, and Jeria that then skyrocketed during the
War of Manifest Mythopeia. From 868-903 the SLR was constructed, finishing a lengthy path from Sylastra to Malaegeon, Vandarran, and Aragama. This directly influenced the actions of New Alcorin, and scholars of history attribute its buildup for war leading to the Liara Imperium takeover as a direct consequence of the SLR construction and Vandarran arms trade.
Fakona is the edge of the world, with holy light and black magic creatures, with wandslinging spellguns and regolith cannons, with endless revolution in the east and a broken soul in the west.
If you head down there, you'd better have a damn good reason.
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