Greater River Region
Located up in the northern part of Valash, this wet and well traveled region is sandwiched between Roche Profund Mountains & the Cradling Range. Said to be the birthplace of life on Stelair this place is littered with ancient ruins that still peak from beneath the surface. Though much of its past lay deeper beneath the land. The first races to have inhabited the area were the Garuda and the now extinct Revic. Early on these two races did not get along with Revic insistent on their own expansion despite the Garuda's protests. It was not surprising when the Revic forced the other nature protective race to flee Valash in a brutal but quick war. For centuries this region was the center of the Revic Republic.
After the Forgotten War and the extinction of the Revic, the area was taken control by 6 dragon warlords. Gorga the Red, Margix the Blue, Cythis the White, Logarath the Green, Myra the Green, Juthnar the Black. Without the Revic and their influence here, the lands devoid of intelligent life. Allowing nature to reclaim the area and heal the scars created by the extinct race. The dragon warlords, being without actual subjects, treated the lands more as their personal hunting and playgrounds and did little to hinder natures regrowth. Eventually peoples did migrate to these empty lands. Logarath the Green accepted a tribe of Garuda into his borders, and many of the other warlords allowed fleeing bands of Humans from the Leaf Lands to settle. As the territory became inhabited once again, the 5 Guardian Dragons began their flight across the world.
These dragons sought to put an end to the despotic habits of their kind and bring them under the control of the Draconic Empire. The River Reaches didn't change much during this time. As the rest of the warlords fought tooth and nail for their territories. The 6 in the region didn't offer resistance. Instead, actively joining the empire in order to pawn off the growing responsibilities of their multiplying subjects. During the time of the Draconic Empire, the Humans of the region faced a rush of Dragonborn settlers and military forces that quickly forced them into crowded conditions. Even with the technological advances they brought with them, the Humans. It was this that caused most of the resentment to the Draconic Empire and also what motivated them to join the fight during the Dragon Wars. When the Humans of southern Valash began to revolt against the empire, the races of the River Reaches offered their quiet support. Smuggling Kelsh warriors in and supplies out. Little war touched the region itself and its people exited the war with hardly any war wounds. The local governing dragons and Dragonborn withdrawing to the islands of Azle, but not before destroying much of their infrastructure in spite against the locals.
Now mostly left to their own devices, the Humans thrived. They had taken to the river laden lands and had gained an expertise in using them for food, transportation, and entertainment. Eventually city-states under the leadership of influential families formed around major river forks. As they grew and acquired more territory tensions grew between the states. Squabbles turned into arguments, arguments into fights, and fights into conflict as the noble leaders of the city-states grew hostile. Being left mostly untouched during the recent Dragon Wars, the locals were not feeling the war weariness the rest of Stelair was. During the infighting many noble families found themselves destroyed, their power stripped of them. The bloodshed only stopped when a merchant family, the Traback's, used their expansive fleet of ships to blockade Lake Coureh and cause the remaining families to come talk at for peace. Those talks ended up creating the River Kingdoms. 5 noble families, Houses Mivani, Galt, Tyman, Holden, Luven, all under the leadership of the new Traback Royal family.
This new era of cooperation and inter-territorial collaboration created a boon to all the inhabitants of the region. Becoming home to many trading companies that operated in Broken Sea. With a blossoming relationship with the Korvick Alliance, the River Kingdoms became a major supplier of raw materials for the Gnomes of Gnam, the new settlements on Molor, the newly formed Kelsh Empire, and even the Leaf Lands to the east. As time continued and technology advanced, the economical pressure of airships began to be felt throughout the land. The people of the River Reaches, being comfortable in their ways for so long, held onto their sailing ways and refused to abandoned their sea ships. Going so far as to ban airship travel through their lands, something only enforced by hired griffon riders from the Korvick Alliance. Nevertheless the rest of the world embraced this new form of travel and the River Reaches began to feel the strain. House Mivani managed to stay strong by finding an easier trade route to the eastern elves, however this only drew internal conflict as they kept this secret to themselves. Putting them into a brief war with House Tyman over the trade route. The prosperity devolving once again into conflict, almost a foreboding precursor to what was to come.
The Chaos War was funnily enough what prevented full out war to engulf the region. With the armies of Chaos ripping through the world, King Alexand Traback rallied the houses to the worlds defense. Though conscripting hundreds of soldiers, the River Kingdom's true usefulness to the war was their craftsmen and mundane healers. Helping to build defenses throughout northern Valash and healing wounded soldiers in a time when the arcane was in flux. Although the closest to the instigating Kelsh Empire, again the River Reaches did not suffer many direct consequences. The Kelsh didn't commit many forces to invade the territory. More content with seizing port cities to cut them off from the rest of world. Complemented by occasional raids and airship bombings, the River Kingdom forces didn't see much actual combat. Content with defending the River Reaches and sending material aid where they could. Only sending soldiers abroad to the Battle of Godsfall.
Again after the war the River Reaches found themselves mostly untouched. Their largest cities still gleaming and internal trade still supported the peoples lifestyles. With the rest of the world reeling from the Chaos War, it seemed it would be the River Kingdoms who would help bring the world to its feet again. However, not 10 years after the war, when expeditions to the west were set to take sail, two great fires took the cities Bayfront and Fort Promise. Crippling them and the exploratory fleets. Later the same year King Alexand was assassinated and the rest of the royal family disappeared overnight. Some were found, dead, in back allies or floating in Lake Coureh. Others never were found. With their deaths the noble houses immediately went to each others throats. Suspicion and fear gripping all of them as they questioned who would be next and who would make the first move. After years of almost a sort of cold war between the city-states with no one making a move fear began to subside to suffering. During the time, the Traback Division, trade had been halted between the city-states. Slowly all the noble houses and their people began to feel the ache of the lack of food and goods. Eventually they all began trading with each other again to relieve the shortages, but with trust replaced with caution and suspicion.
