In the years following
The Purge, Asha was the largest and most prosperous country to rise from the ashes. Occupying the central region of Autumna, Asha was for centuries the hub of overland trade and commerce. In the year 1835 AP Asha was invaded by the Grey Horde, a seemingly endless tide of grey undead flesh. Over the course of 9 months, Asha was systematically destroyed, and the most powerful nation since
The Hazrad Imperium was no more.
Foundation
Asha was founded by a cabal of arch-wizards previously in the service of
The Hazrad Imperium, calling themselves the Symbrarium. Determined to salvage what they could following the end of that eons long empire, they established Asha to ensure the knowledge and technology of Hazrad survived
The Purge. Asha was intended to be the world's cosmopolitan centre of research, learning, and technological development. However, the realities of rebuilding civilisation from the ashes of calamity, amid the constant fear by attack by corrupted Ironflesh Legions quickly tempered the benevolence of the Symbrarium.
Rise to Power
In the centuries that followed
The Purge, Asha collected and consolidated as much Hazradian technology as possible. Her cities were powered by ancient techno-arcane devices, her people educated by the remnants of ancient thinking machines, and her crops tended by Iron Flesh golems. This reliance on little understood ancient technology made them all but unassailable from without, and her geographical location ensured peace across Autumna for centuries. However, over the long march of years the knowledge of maintenance and repair of these technologies faded away, and the political and economic advantages they brought faded with them. Asha was forced to change her position in the world, and she restyled herself as a trade superpower, bringing together goods and ideas from all corners of Autumna and beyond, and the traders and scholars of other nations with them. It was at this time that the phrase "all roads lead to Asha" was coined, though it later came to be a warning.
Invasion and Eradication
In an effort to regain their lost power, certain sects within Asha sought out caches of ancient arcana. One such group took it upon themselves to delve the deepest known regions of Autumna, and beached a vast underground world. To this day it is unknown what resides in that nether-world. What is known is that from the depths poured the Grey Horde. Legions uncounted of undead horrors that swept across the central regions of Asha devouring the populace and wildlife, and their very presence turning the soil barren. Within a year the most populated central regions of Asha were all but destroyed, and the outer nations fortified their borders against the oncoming storm. The greatest nation on Autumna fell in a single year, abandoned by their allies and their vast wealth and technological hordes powerless to hold back the undead.
The Grey Expanse
The nation of Asha became known as The Grey Expanse due to the poisoning of the soils resulting in only grey, corrupt, almost lifeless plants surviving in this new environment. Amongst most common folk, it is simply called Fallen Asha, and is used as a warning against greed. "All roads lead to Asha" became a parable of the sins of civilisation leading to the inevitable destruction of all things.
Hope
In recent years rumours have begun spreading of a city surviving within the very heartlands of Fallen Asha. Mushroom crazed hedge wizards speak of a floating city, and blind survivors of the harsh central deserts swear they have seen it with their own eyes. The Ochal Legion sent a Centurion to investigate the rumours. After almost 4 months of search, they returned a Sending with the code for mission success and stating simply "This place is murder." They were never heard from again.
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