05 - Between the Wars

For nearly 400 years after the war, the former nations of Volara found themselves attempting to rebuild some semblance of society. At the time of the treaty there were few people alive that remembered a time before the war – very few, and those only the eldest of elves or elves that had lived outside the main centers. With no real knowledge of life outside a wartime context, battles continued. While the larger intercontinental conflict had finished, the wars to determine the division of the usable land began.

Eltherean was the first country to form after the war. As a predominantly elven nation in the rain forests of Southern Asuris, it was relatively removed from the conflicts that were still raging elsewhere. In truth, the area seemed to have always been under elven protection, so it is suggested that the nation took as long as it did because of the elves' thoroughness in finding a worthy leader. The sovereign elven Nation of Eltherean was officially founded in the fourth month of TY 214, under the reign of Queen Therea. With its coastal capital city, Thereala, at the Eastern edge of the Asurisian continent, there was no risk of outside threats to Eltherean for many years, while establishing the more sea-faring of the elves as Praneya's first trading partners.

After Eltherean's foundation, the various peoples of Volara began to realize that peace was a possibility. Countries began to form, and national identities began to develop. Despite its distance from now peaceful Eltherean, Tinabir was the next to establish its national divisions, in TY 283. Many speculate that the constant racial disputes separating the Northern and Southern areas of that continent are the true source of its quick formation and that these disputes have also helped Tinabir and Salerend to maintain their national identities for so long.

Around TY 326, a tentative peace was established in the rest of Asuris, as the countries of that continent chose to focus on internal politics over land acquisition. Though none of the 7 countries that were established at that time still exist, we can see hints of them in the nations that have come to form the Asuris we know today.

Cremaia followed suit around TY 362, with then countries Maldona (mal-don-na) and Toral (tor-ral) opening up trade relations with the dwarves of the Ordren Mountains, a feat long thought impossible (the dwarven isolationist attitude following the war makes Praneyan reservedness seem positively verbose, but this author knows little of the actions in the Underground, so little of it will be dealt with here). These trade relationships foreshadow the recent developments in their successor nations, Llafwanwyr and Danreay, respectively.

Haicon, on the other hand, wouldn't establish some semblance of order until almost a century later in TY 454, when Heion was established. The current rulers of that continent can all trace their lineage to this first post-war nation, but, as discussed elsewhere, there has been little evidence of bloodlines going any further back. Overall, less information comes from the Western continent than from anywhere else, so we can only speculate on the true nature of events there prior to the last few centuries, with the obvious exception of the Second War.

Kafre'en's countries, meanwhile, were having civil wars on an increasing basis. One could argue that Kafre'en was rendered essentially powerless on an intercontinental scale until about TY 1116, when the first of the stable Kafre'en city-states was formed. As a result, I will delay further discussion of that region until we deal with the modern period.

Cremaia and Asuris were essentially stable (with a few smaller nations changing size and names) until about TY 700. Between TY 697 and TY 705, twelve major political assassinations took place, resulting in war and turmoil. Though assassinations are a dangerous part of politics, these slayings are recorded as having been particularly brutal and, more worryingly, impossibly complex. Whether these assassinations were a group effort or perpetrated by a single individual is still a matter of contention among many scholars, with some linking the crime to Gamble (though, in truth, there is little evidence for such a connection, as there is nothing in the histories about any large discoveries having been made or stolen).

Whatever the case, these assassinations led to a period that has come to be called the Second War. While this war was neither as devastating nor as large-scale as the War of the Gates, it was the first time in 700 years that intercontinental war was waged. That war having been thoroughly discussed elsewhere (most thoroughly and with greatest accuracy in “The Second War: Intercontinental War as a New Possibility” by my fellow scholar Thandrius Cleary), I will give only a brief outline of events.

NEXT: 06 - The Second War