History of Geron

Through the ages, many explorers have attempted to plumb the furthest depths of the worldtrees, traveling deep into the belly of the earth. While many of these paths lead into hellish depths that would bake would-be explorers alive, a few break out into structures that appear to have been created long ago by the first creatures who arrived here from Akashar, the Shixul. Known as the City, it is thought that from here the Elders conducted their experiments that led to the rise of life on Geron, seeded from the stock of their failing world. Accounts of this time are merely legend even to the creatures who descend from the elders, with various accounts stating that the Elders were sent to Geron as a punishment or that they were intrepid explorers in service to their masters.

The Constant Rains Interregnum is a 'missing' interregnum that separates the most ancient of ruins in the Archea from the Cthar ruins found in the Age of Skittering Beasts. Some event seems to have destroyed any trace of this era's geology, which was then crushed beneath millions of years ice and snow. The winter ice would eventually relinquish, birthing the world of Hamashal that would persist until the Sharad Moon Interregnum.

The Cthar proliferate as the apex society in what is now called the Immortal Forest, an ancient proto-forest habitat that existed before the concepts of decay and rot came to be. The Immortal Forest was mostly comprised of strange and ancient fungal and ooze-born creatures as well as the very first proto-insects which crawled, jumped and hopped out of the sea. The Cthar themselves live primarily in lagoons and grottos which they isolated from the ocean with simple rock walls, creating warm pools often fed by thermal vents in which they could farm algae and other oozes on [[[ with which they can easily farm for algae. As the Cthar evolve, they begin to build their own burrows in what is now the Charnel Pools. These ant-nest like structures are used for storage of the Cthar young, as well as pets and livestock. Strange and organic stone-like formations are common within the Pools and the Forest, built by the Cthar with the cement they naturally produce for encasing their clutches. This durable waterproof material stands to this day, carved into ornate and wild patterns made by Cthar claw and mouth parts. Much of the Ctharian Cycle seems surprisingly intact thought to have been preserved by the noxious spirits common to that level of the Archaea.

The Great Rot was one of the most impactful lesser interregnums in terms of the severity of it's climate and destruction, laying waste to Geron's first civilization, the Cthar. The remains of Cthar show signs of a sudden cold snap that dried up the First World's rivers and inland seas, leaving a swampy environment which seems to have brought with it a great petrification of life.

Evidence of the Gir-Kla seems almost completely confined to the complex writings and inscriptions they left within the lowest levels of the Worldtree. These mysterious people were later worshipped and revered by the Thadrians and the Chiwan. Similarities between the Gir-Kla and the Chiwan script and language have lead some to believe that the Gir-Kla are completely fictional, leading this Archaea to be widely known as the 'False Cycle'. While recovered Gir-Kla scripts contain Chiwan characters and symbols, the context and meaning of the content is elusive. The disappearance of the Gir-Kla is dramatic and apocalyptic in Chiwan belief systems, with the Chiwan believing the Gir-Kla committed mass suicide to free their souls in advance of the Early Unmaking, an event which appears to have destroyed much of the surface of Geron.

The Ebokan interlopers first appeared around this time from a distant and still unknown Land Beyond, appearing first in Hamashal's west equatorial region of Cycathil. Parts of Cycathil can now be found Tawantisuyu, Shewar, Texcala, Ythill and western Ixgal. [[[ through members of a sophisticated but socially regressive civilization who enslaved and tortured lesser races for entertainment. The Ebokan warred with the Gir-Kla and the Elders indiscriminatly, primarily through the use of enslaved T'Chak and Cthar populations. The Ebokan prefer to live primarily underground and are thought to have lived somewhere beneath Tawantisuyu. The Ebokan were known to be powerful necromancers and fleshwarpers, notorious for their 'living statues' designed for the edification of the Ebokan royals. Such creations are brought to life through rituals which are well documented in vast subterranean galleries of unsettling reliefs believed to have been carved at the height of the Ebokan reign.

The trunks of the great world-trees can be found here, as well as the juvile Dyen-Beji. The Dyen-Beji are Outsiders who are responsible for creating the great basalt towers and their accompanying shafts and roots into the Archaea called 'the World Trees'. The appearance of these structures coincides with evidence of widespread calamity which appears to have decimated the Cthar, Gir-Kla and the Ebokani. The Dyen-Beji archaea is particularly conspicuous because the basalt structures which define this Archaea are prevalent throughout Geron today, though people have a tendency to bury or otherwise seal them. The thick walls of the basalt towers provide a sturdy point of ingress for expeditionaries interested in exploring the archaea of early cycles, and it isn't particularly unusual to find the shafts recently excavated by unknown creatures. The Age of Blasting Cinders concluded with a massive lake of fiery lava burning down much of Hilgar.

It's said that above the great ocean of lava and fire in Hilgar and the appearance of the second moon of Sharad in the choking black skies of Anthakar signalled the birth of the new world of Hamashal. The arrival of Sharad and the fires of Hilgar wiped out most of the creatures who lived in theEdrarmarian Krixt, bringing about the Adersharinian Krixt. At the end of this interregnum, a period of excessive rains lasting two million years brought significant change and led to the unusual traditions and architecture of the Age of Drifting Temples.

A rich and resplendent civilization of Thragn arose from the cataclysms and floods of the Sharad Moon Interregnum. Their ruins are commonplace throughout this level of the Archaea, though they vary in styling somewhat from region to region. Such was the magnitude of Thragn advancements that their most revered places were floating cities whose crumbling forms would later dot Geron. The Thragn are known to have subjugated several lesser civilizations such as early relatives of the Duab, and they had extensive slave trade hubs connected by remarkably well preserved roadways. Near the end of the Thragnian cycle, large Duab monuments begin to appear off the coast of Thragn settlements. These structures lack any sort of clear markings and vary in structure and appearance. It has been proposed that they are underwater cisterns or stadiums of some kind used for breeding Duab slaves. The stories of the Duab say that the society of the Thragn, brought low by a period of ongoing war, developed into two radical factions; those who believed that their mastery of the arcane could be used to achieve total personal freedom, and those who believed that powerful magic could be used to create a stable society free of illness. They are said to have wiped eachother out with a powerful disease that only affected their own kind.

A series of tribal Elduathi kingdoms expand onto what is now part of Geron's surface world after a period of extreme inland flooding. The Elduathi architecture is typified by its large stone temples built partially in and partially out of shallow waterways in what were marshes, rivers and large lagoons. These temples were built with monolithic pieces whittled down with grinding and chipping to create very stylized and impressive reliefs. It is thought that these structures served as ceremonial access points to the surface world. Propositions as to their purpose vary. Many of these temples are thought to have taken generations to build. scholars believe that the depictions of Shi'Xul and Thragn-like creatures towards the top of many of these ruins indicate a resurgence of Thragn or Shi'Xul influence late in the seventh cycle, and the two parties are often represented in conflict. This is a period which coincides with increasingly elaborate and unhinged architecture which does not seem to serve a clear purpose within the society or religion of the Elduathi. The most prominent of these strange sites appear to be built on top of the remains of Thragn floating temples.

The eighth cycle marks a period of rapid Elduathi recline and the return of the Shi'Xul in a new varied degree of shapes and forms for reasons which are unclear. The normally reserved and cloistered Shi'Xul civilization thought to have persisted in the Unknown City spreads across much of Geron, allowing their culture to manifest a period of profoundly beautiful architecture and artifice. The quality and extravagance of Shi'Xul architecture follows over the remaining cycles and a number of wondrous Shi'Xul cities appear to have been sealed up from the outside.

Significant remains of the Elduathi, Shi'xul and Brin civilization exist simultaneously in the ninth cycle. The dimensionally invasive Eankabi split many of these former civilizations of Geron into small fiefdoms of slaves. Individual Eankabi establish subterranean burrows and primitive excavation sites, compulsively searching for treasure suitable for their ornate webs which are designed to attract the females of their species. The Eankabi are unique in that the female of the species moves between realms, eventually returning to the prime material plane towards the end of her life to lay her eggs. The webs built by males attract the females to nascent dimensional doors within the architecture of the web itself, and once she lays the eggs the male both inseminates them and throws them into the territory of rival males. The eggs have a mottled, rock-like pattern and consistency that makes them very difficult to detect.

The Age of Silver Chambers is the age of the Chiwan, outsiders thought to have come from Athwei who subjugated and enslaved the Eankabi, herding them into vast slave dens where their silk could be harvested for powerful teleportation. The Chiwan went about uncovering the ruins and remains of Gir-Kla civilization. These former remains are gilt in a bizarre fashion, with the Chiwan constructing ornate chambers lined with a strange and lustrous metal which seems particularly impervious to attempts to remove it. The hive-like constructions of the Chiwan make these metallic structures particularly difficult to navigate, and would-be explorers refer to this network of caverns as 'The Squeeze'. While many of these sites are abandoned, the Chiwan themselves remain on Geron mostly in remote areas of Enkar.

A now extinct group of forebearers develop a partially aquatic underground civilization which is eventually destroyed by war with the Dyen-Beji. This extinct branch of humanoids establishes the Kingdom of Koth and ruins which would later be renamed Kazmora by the Gorn. The architecture and remains of this civilization would serve as the mythological and real foundation for the beliefs and traditions of later terrestrial civilizations. Almost all of Koth civilization was abruptly wiped out in a cataclysmic event known as the 'Great Burial' which covered the remains of Koth in a thick layer of preservative ash. It appears that some of the Koth survived this event by returning to the deep sea where their distant children now live as a the Quinok, while others went on to be the forefathers of the Skenmir.

The Dyen-Beji reigned with impunity over the survivors of the Great Burial and tunneled through the ruins of Koth, consuming and partially digesting metal equipment, coins and magical artifacts. This extensive network of middens remains choked with partially digested mounds of valuable metals and gems. For many ages, explorers thought that the Dyen-Beji were intelligent and had hoarded this treasure impulsively, but recent archaeological expeditions show that signs of intelligent, complex cilization in this cycle came from remnants of the Koth who fled to the surface after the Great Burial. It's now thought that the Dyen-Beji cast out these materials in a kind of pellet, much like an owl does with the bones of a mouse. Much of this level of the Archaea is now a confusing rat's nest of tunnels sometimes used by cultists and criminals attempting to flee justice from the surface world. Few of the creatures of the Archaea are comfortable in these former Dyen-Beji residences and will simply avoid the area.

Survivors of the Koth diaspora rekindle civilization in the region now known as Meru after discovering a massive Chiwan library built in the remains of an ancient World Tree. Avoided by the Dyen-Beji for unknown reasons, this so called 'Tower of Meru' became a legendary refuge within the mountains of Shambala from which Meru grew, well above the ice and snow that fell after the Great Burial. From this hidden place of safety, the Meru struck out across the great fields of ice which blanket much of Geron, eventually becoming the Turasi, Kymir and Jorians.

The kingdom of Shanabal was an isolated kingdom of Skenmir forebearers laid in the remote valleys of the barrier mountains. Much like Meru, Shanabal is very difficult to reach without using a long network of Dyen-Beji tunnels that connect Shanabal and Meru to Kazmora. As Shanabal's population grew and diversified, tribes of Shanabal hunters struck out further and further across the icy peaks of the Barriers to find new sources of food, creating small villages along the way. Eventually, these small villages grew into towns in their own right, pushing past the barrier into modern Majya and beyond. Eventually the kingdom of Shanabal would become too cumbersome to maintain as the center of empire and it would become a remote province of Thadria.

Shanabal hunters spread further and further across the icy peaks of Meru seeking new hunting grounds and brood territories, sewing the seeds of the future Thadrian state and pushing further and further from the relatively inaccessible Shanabal valleys. Migrating eastward along the temperature southern oceans over thousands of years, they eventually spread across the continent and reach the mist sea, following the prey-rich iceflows all the way into modern Tawantisuyu territory. Along with the expected settlement ruins, The Turasi built long-lasting stone towers of unknown purpose, with some scholars theorizing that these towers are designed to ward off young Dyen-Beji seeking new territories. Others believe the towers are an homeage to the Tree of Meru. Some of these towers remain on the surface in remote valleys of the barrier mountains. page revision: 1, last edited: 14 Aug 2020, 22:11 (421 days ago)

The Three Kings War

The Three Kings War ends with the victory of the Turasi of Thrask, and the fall of Thadria and old Meru. For their disobedience, the Fodran and the Gorn are restricted to slave-castes and treated as 'prisoners', while the Kymir, Shanabali and Ashkodesians flee Turasian Thrask or are executed. Central to Thrask is the idea that the emperor commands both the 'Serpent and the Tree' which together make 'The Yidras', a force of both knowledge and destruction. A bloody civil war between the Fodran and the Turasi spurred on by crackdowns on Fodran disobedience by the Thrask army ends in widescale rioting and the burning of Tower of Meru. There are debates as to whether this act summoned Ganderwa or whether the church of the Yidras was some how able to bring about a second Great Burial, but Thrask, Old Meru and Thadria fell to to the Dyen-Beji quickly. The Gorn who commonly worked Thrask's mines are said to have fled into the Archaea and took refuge in the ruins of Koth, which they rename Kazmora.

The Ashwinter Interregnum was caused by a massive supervolcano eruption called the Hadrachian Ashwinter which rained ash from the sky for an entire year, killing many people who didn't move underground. The ashes are thickest beneath the hichan modern Naabee territories where they are also accompanied by several feet of lava rock.

Emegal was originally established by westward traveling Thaku-Shanabali and Jorians escaping Thadria after the state of Thrask won the Three Kingdoms War. Ashkodesian populations moving eastward through the harsh mountains of Meru are thought to have settled the first eastward kingdoms. The Emegal encountered and enslaved various populations along the way.

The Highwinter was an extended period of unusual cold in which the Ithaquans thrived. Girded by great tribal armies, the Ithaqua conquered and enslaved much of Hilgar, Esorath and Bhabolek. During the Highwinter Interregnum, recognizably different Alfari and Skenmir cultures began to emerge in Bhabolek amongst the Amathians in the form of the Witches of Amath and the Recallers of Skiath, back to which many arcane traditions can be traced.

As the second Highwinter befalls Geron, the great armies of Ithaqua led by the ancient Shi'Xul spread southward, capturing survivors of the fallen kingdoms of Meru, Thrask, Thadria and Kazmora and Particularly loyal and dedicated Fodran of the Ithaqua are rewarded feifdoms by the Shi'Xul, a custom known as 'Riad'. Eventually the captives of the Riad outnumber the Fodran and the Shi'Xul, leading to a dilution of the Fodran culture and the creation of courts, kingdoms and other institutes capable of managing the increasing populations of the Riads.

In the vacuum of power created by the Cassildan Betrayal, the Seers of Kasbenir centralize the power of the Riads in the West Seas, accumulating vast riches using their powers of foresight. The former masters of Ythill are put to work creating suitable homonculi for the reconstruction of the north Riad. Through a series of arcane experiments conducted by the Fleshwarpers of former Ythill under the supervision of the Eldriad, a race of shapeshifting creatures known as the Tekel'i are brought into being. After a period of great prosperity and the elevation of the lower races to due to the availability of cheap Tekel'i labor, the Tekel'i rebelled during the Red Night, bringing about the events of the Changeling War, a conflict which would call into question the Seers abilities to steward the Riads.

The Changeling War Interregnum was a period of time where changeling imposters who cemented their power in the Age of Stolen Faces proliferated.

A time of great political dynasty, intrigue and exploration driven by a noble bloodlines of those touched with Changeling blood. Physical abnormalities such as increased height lead some to call this the 'age of giants', with notable heroes of the time reaching heights of 8 to 10 feet. Towards the end of this age, the Farseers of Kazbenir ruled much of Geron through proxy rulers, stewarding an age of relative stability and enlightenment.

The Riads of Ythill, Carcosa and Alara rise from the darkness and poverty of the Nightwinter. An attempted coupe between prince Alar and princess Cassilda of Carcosa known as the Cassildan Betrayal leads to the destruction of all three Riads and the freedom of the Erd of Ythill.  Under the leadership Erdene Sech, the Erd overthrow and imprison the king of Carcosa. The Interregnum ends with a series of terrible climate disasters.

A time of cool weather and many wars and consolidations in the wake of Carcossa's destruction which cultimated in a serious of geological and environmental disasters. The Age of Crossed Swords strongly resonates through civilization, forming the root of many Manu languages, beliefs and cultures.     The once flourishing but warring civilizations of this era were ultimately heeled by the Tlayacat-Riyan Winter and catastrophic series of meteorite impacts very possibly caused by the Akkan-Shai themselves.

The Akkan-Shai are last survivors of the realm of Akashar, a dying world from which the Shi'Xul were exiled in the First Cycle. The Akkan-Shai City of Shadows is said to have manifested within the kingdom of Kasbenir, the first to be destroyed. Consolidating power through a series of ruthless pacifications, the Akkan-Shai became the defacto rulers of the eldriad beneath the god-emperor Almu'a.

Age of Silent Kingdoms

The Great War started around the time of the Aidertharnian Ashwinter, a lesser supervolcanic eruption which triggered a civil war in the territories of Tawantisuyu which caused the Akkan-Shai throughout Geron to mobilize against the lesser races.

During the Age of Bleached Bones, the former kingdoms of the Akkan-Shai underwent reconstruction and revitalization with the help of the freed Mnar. Compared to the rulers of Aklon, the Mnar were relatively benevolent, having little reason to war.

A great earthquake Qabir would lead to misunderstandings between the Mnar and encroaching Sarnathi neighbors, leading to a series of ethnic cleansings in the midst of the Great Drought that would lead to the destruction of both Sarnath and Ib, setting off war between Ahl Alsahra and Mnar that would then spiral into a full-blown regional conflict between starving states previously held in check by Mnar authority. The decades of starvation and disruption would ultimately shatter east-west trade and collapse the great kingdoms of the era, bringing an end to the trade of tin, copper and luxury goods that fed the imperial armies. Starving peasant warriors rose up against their insulated, Mnar-supported rulers, snowballing into fleets of ethnically diverse raider fleets who would sail east and run roughshod over the warring states of the Crown Sea. Seasoned raiders wreaked havoc in Kemet, Shinar and Toprakkis, selling their swords to the highest bidder. These warriors ate at the slow decay of the both sides of the war, devouring their likely saviors before dispersing throughout the region in the form of militarized feifdoms.

The River Kings coalesced out if the Mnar-Alsara War interregnum after the dissolution of Gadan and the events of the Altani-Wesjoranian Civil War, a conflict between the practitioners of the Akashari religion and rural Ixgali believers thriving in gold-rich Ixgal and bountiful Aklon. the states of Altanagal and Phl'geth used powerful translocational and elemental magic to build a network of portal-born waterways called the Nedhiwars. These networks stitched together rivers great and small into a series of waterways over which central rule could be exerted.

The Gilded War interregnum was a widespread economic collapse resulting from the decay of the Nedhiwars and their surrounding civilizations. This collapse was likely a direct impact of the ban on literacy and the written word which plunged the world into a cataclysmic series of wars between the illiterate workers and the wealthy semi-literate nobles left behind by the disastrous ban on literacy enforced throughout Hilgar and Bhabolek in the Age of River Kings.

An age of political intrigue in which the adherents of Keidon sprung from the misgivings of the Anterosian League.   The Anterosian League was a prominent civilization comprised of many port cities located around the Inner and Crown seas.   The Age of Nesting Snakes ends with the destruction of much of the Anterosian league and other kingdoms in the Fall Interregnum. It is said that the Anterosian capital of Kyranos was swept away by the sea after a star fell in the outer sea.   This star seems to have brought with it earthquakes and tidal waves that crippled many port cities and brought about a third highwinter.

The Fall Interregnum was an apocalyptic event known by hundreds of names across Geron in various languages, translating to things like 'Second Sharad', 'Sixth Sun Birth' and 'Veilfall'. While the exact cause of the Fall is unknown, witnesses of the event say that Geron's moon Sharad swelled enormously in size for several days, bringing with it a hail of falling stars that broke apart across Geron's lands and seas, ringing Geron as though it were a bell. Volcanoes erupted, tidal waves washed away coasts and ports, rivers surged inland, and the sky filled with smoke.

The age of Burning Bodies was a period of extreme austerity and conflict in which the natural order of the world was completely disrupted by the appearance of arcane plagues, extreme episodes of dream sickness and other magnified arcane forces.

The Reformation Interregnum was a strange and turbulent period where the survivors of the Age of Burning Bodies attempted to re-establish various royal kingdoms, dynasties, senates and democratic experiments within the bastions, leading to strife and conflict often referred to as Blood War. These conflicts resulted in back and forth retribution killings and even genocides, occurring on a scale that caused some bastions falling to supernatural forces. Eventually, the Colleges, Guilds, Synods and Orders began to meet in secret, ultimately leading a revolt against the warring factions of the bastions. In the wake of this war, the Grand Accord was formed to bring about harsh new laws and preserve what remained of civilization, often going well beyond the original plans of the more hopeful Keidonian Stewardship.

The survivors of the The Fall Interregnum live primarily in a series of walled cities known as Bastions, weaving a rich tapestry of culture from the ruined kingdoms of days past. Poor in resources but rich in diversity, these city-states maintain tightly packed fiefdoms, clans and tribes with their own traditions and quarrels within their walls. Few live beyond the walls, though brave hunters, farmers and woodsmen must inevitably fight the nightmares of the badlands for food and raw materials. Some are cast beyond the walls as exiles, a punishment doled out regularly by the Grand Accord for even trivial crimes, but others go beyond the walls intentionally to experience the freedom and space of an age past.