History of Wildemount

Over time, some of the people of Exandria grew arrogant. Seeing their arcane gifts as proof that the gods held no sway over their fate, a belief developed that, with enough understanding, they too could become as powerful as the gods. Many began to shun faith in favor of their own pursuits. Though this hurt and surprised the Creators, they understood the willfulness of their children and endured out of love and hope for redemption. Great kingdoms sprung up across Exandria. Castles were built in a day, accelerated by the arcanists’ newfound power. Erudite cities hovered and drifted through the skies, shifting under the direction of scholarly magi to wherever their interests took them. Even though magic could be used to complete the most difficult tasks with hitherto unknown speed, magic-users strove always to innovate. As mages practiced and perfected their powers of creation, they soon unlocked the secrets of life itself, giving birth to wondrous, dangerous new creatures and power. Powerful archmages such as Vecna the Whispered One and Halas Lutagran began to carve their paths into history during this era of unbridled magical experimentation.   The advent of the arcane seemed to be the key to a bountiful age of plenty but also proved to threaten it, as prosperity soon gave way to greed. Petty squabbles erupted over resources and wealth among the elite, while the rumor of immortality through perfected arcanum began to drive the greatest mages wild with a lust for unending power. One mortal mage, her name either lost or struck from history, crafted now-forbidden rites to challenge the God of Death, felling him and taking his place among the pantheon, making her the first and only mortal to ascend to godhood. The archmage Vespin Chloras was inspired by this display. Driven by his hunger, he sought the guidance and power of the banished gods, rending open the gates of their prisons and releasing the betrayers into the mortal world.   During their imprisonment, these gods of hatred and despair twisted their prison into their own image, spawning unthinkable horrors that lived only to transform peace into suffering, and righteousness into arrogance and greed. The Nine Hells and the Abyss began to push their way into Creation. The Betrayer Gods and their hateful children discovered a world unspoiled, save for the avarice of mortals. The urge to ruin was now replaced with the desire to dominate, and the Betrayer Gods began by turning on the mage who freed them, making Archmage Vespin their first thrall. This corrupted divinity sought out the remnants of their offspring, scattered across the world, and created a mighty and terrible new kingdom on the plains of Xhorhas, at the far end of the world from Vasselheim—Ghor Dranas.   In this land of evil, where the twisted power of the lower planes seeped into Exandria, the lords of darkness tainted the minds of mortals, hungrily welcoming those who had lost their way, and offering great promises and boons to hearts easily swayed. These poisonous seeds found fertile ground in the hearts of mortals obsessed with the unlimited power of the arcane. With a legion of the damned behind them, the Betrayer Gods soon made their presence known to the world with an assault on Vasselheim itself.   Though much of the city was reduced to rubble, Vasselheim weathered the initial assault, saved by the intervention of the Prime Deities themselves, who descended to trade blows with their former brethren. The battle between divinity and mortals, between heroes and demons, raged ceaselessly for twenty days and nights until the dark forces, their surprise attack thwarted, were finally forced to retreat.   Evil was repulsed momentarily, but with the revelation of such a terrible foe, a dangerous arcane arms race began. Trust was shattered indefinitely: if mortals could fall under the sway of the Betrayer Gods, who was an ally? If ruin like this could be unleashed under the watchful eyes of the gods, how were they relevant? Not trusting any but themselves, the self-interested and singular humans reforged their instruments of celebration into instruments of incredible power—artifacts that could be wielded by worthy heroes. The dwarves’ fascination with rock and earth turned toward isolation as they burrowed deeper into the mountains, using their divine gifts to animate legions of autonomous golems to protect their ancestral halls. Elves used their understanding of creation’s beauty and intricacies to weave spells of unimaginable destructive force, the likes of which Exandria had never seen before.   For the first time since the Primordials were destroyed, the focus of magic was warfare. The gods themselves agreed to join their children on the field of battle, descending from the heavens to take up arms once more for the war now referred to as the Calamity.

In the wake of the vast destruction of the Calamity and the exile of the pantheon in the Divergence, the survivors began to emerge from the ash and shadows to reclaim and rebuild Exandria. Across the continents, many took the pieces of their cultures and sought a place to forge a new age. This tome focuses on the rebirth of the deeply scarred land now known as Wildemount, the site of the most terrible conflicts of the Calamity, where the echoes of those deadly battles linger to this day.

The lands of Western Wynandir were the epicenter of the Calamity’s destruction. Rocky ranges of mountains were sundered, entire landscapes burned, and hovering seats of power crashed down from the sky, their floating cities consumed beneath the hungry earth.   Grimgolir   The dwarven clan of Grimgol that once helped hold the center of the Ashkeeper Peaks was nearly wiped out during the Calamity. The surviving families and warriors burrowed deep beneath the surface of Exandria to wait out the chaos. Collapsing nearly every established tunnel used in the wars above, the clan found themselves cut off from the rest of Exandria. For centuries, the dwarves of Clan Grimgol endured the darkness alone, defending against the dregs of the Betrayer Gods’ forces and adapting themselves into a hardy and stalwart people.   Half-remembered tales and myths of their forgotten history, mingled with worship of Moradin, began to stir an eagerness to return to their ancestral home and build anew. With new purpose, they carved their way back toward the surface, only to find the mountains of their home reduced to dust and pebbles.   Not easily dissuaded, the dwarves returned to the surface for the first time in generations, finding the once-ruined world now recovering with renewed life and color. The resilient clan made their way north along the Brokenveil Bluffs and found a massive mountain to house their new city. They built their stronghold into this monolith among the Dunrock Mountains, and gave their new home the name of Grimgolir.   Rise of the Julous Dominion   In the Marrow Valley, the numerous decades following the Divergence left the landscape blackened and inhospitable. The remaining people struggled for food and shelter as they wandered the rocky hills for centuries, avoiding the colder weather of the north. Nomadic sects of humans and halflings defended themselves against the hungry beasts and lingering evils threatening their homesteads, and fought with each other over fertile land.   Small civilizations began to form amid the chaos, but it wasn’t until the central township of Zadash was established as a safe outpost that the unification of the Marrow Valley began. Helmed by the Julous family, supposedly of noble blood from before the Calamity, a guarded community with an organized military force was built in the center of the valley around four hundred years ago. It became both a haven for the struggling masses and a center for agricultural expansion.   Increasing their strength with each generation, this movement guided by the Julous family became known as the Julous Dominion, stretching across the south end of Western Wynandir. Not all agreed to join the Julous Dominion, however. Some outliers rejected the Julous interests, founding their own village of Kamordah on the boiling earth of the hills in the southwest Marrow Valley. In time, the people of Kamordah came to worship a being of primordial fire that lives beneath the mountains and speaks to them in dreams and visions.   Founding of the Dwendalian Empire   In the frigid fields north of the Marrow Valley, the survivors of the Arcanum city of Zemniaz scraped by in the snow for centuries, clutching their surviving scrolls and fragments of cultural history. They established the dour outposts of Icehaven and Yrrosa, but it wasn’t until the Zemnian people wandered east to the Pearlbow Wilderness that they found fields that were fertile enough to nurture a new society.   Founded atop the ruins of an ancient temple to the Dawn Father, the city of Rexxentrum rose to become the hub of Zemnian culture. Now that the Zemnian people no longer had to struggle for survival amid the harsh elements, their leaders argued over how to establish a centralized government. Some wished for a republic, while others sought a theocracy under the priests that shepherded the people into this new age. Eckhardt Dwendal, a well-respected merchant and tremendous force behind the development of Rexxentrum, wished to institute a monarchy and place his son Manfried on the throne. Debate spun wildly for over three years, while Eckhardt privately made deals with the heads of the emerging guilds, using promises or blackmail to secure their cooperation. With the resounding support of the flourishing guild heads, the throne was established. In the year 539 of the post-Divergence era, Manfried became the first emperor of the Dwendalian Empire.   The Marrow War   It wasn’t long before the expanding borders of the Dwendalian Empire began to push up against the growing Julous Dominion. An agreement was brokered to avoid conflict as long as favorable trade could be established and maintained. Even so, the resource-rich center of Western Wynandir was split between the two states, with both factions eager to discover the other’s weaknesses. Rumors of the discovery of a massive platinum mine within the Julous Dominion further increased the empire’s desire to conquer their neighbor.   At this time, religious leaders throughout the Dwendalian Empire rebelled against the emperor’s religious restrictions. After his coronation, Emperor Manfried Dwendal enacted laws limiting worship and prayer to subjects concerning the power, profit, and expansion of the empire. In the year 544 PD, internal strife and insurgent action turned bloody when the zealous leaders of varying faiths attempted, and failed, to usurp the throne for their council. An angered Emperor Manfried Dwendal had the rebellious priests executed—an event that came to be known as the Admonition.   The emperor spoke of abolishing all worship within his boundaries. This caused further uproar among the populace, but then Emperor Manfried’s spies discovered that the seeds of the uprising had been sown by Julous interests. Publicly exposing the plot, the emperor outlawed only select faiths that he felt threatened civilized life. He redirected much of the people’s fury by also proclaiming the Julous Dominion an enemy of the empire later that year and declaring war on the neighboring nation.   Meanwhile, the Julous Dominion was dealing with the refusal of the outlying villages near Kamordah to accept their rule in this time of brewing hostility. They eventually drove the independent villagers back into the Cyrios Mountains, just in time to hear the horns of war blaring from the empire to the north. The violent conflict known as the Marrow War lasted over sixteen months and cost the lives of many soldiers and innocents on both sides of the Marrow Valley.   The Julous Dominion lacked the unified military force of the empire. When a major military push left the capital city of Zadash occupied by the empire, Baron Inock Julous and Baroness Tessandra Julous met with Emperor Manfried to negotiate a peace. During this meeting, the baron and baroness were unceremoniously executed. Their bodies were displayed publicly along with the narrative that they had attempted an assassination on the emperor during the peace talks. Disheartened and bereft of leadership, the Julous Dominion immediately came to an end, as did the war.   To prove his benevolence to the people of the newly conquered Julous Dominion, and to help avoid future uprisings, Emperor Manfried declared that all citizens of the dominion would keep their lands and homesteads. No soldiers would stand trial or be punished for their previous allegiance. Life would continue as it had, except for the implementation of imperial taxes, laws, and oversight across the valley under the new emperor. Outlawed religious iconography was destroyed, crops and goods were redistributed according to the needs of the empire, and life slowly returned to normal for the Zemnian people.   A King Is Crowned   With citizens of the former Julous Dominion tense beneath their new rule and a growing sentiment of frustration with imperial leadership building, Emperor Manfried sought a way to reform the nation under his banner. The propagandist minds who fought the social war with the Julous Dominion recommended a shift in public image and title, one that could command more respect within Western Wynandir while casting aside the oppressive connotations of the title of emperor. Still riding high on the victory against the Dominion, Emperor Manfried harkened back to the halcyon lore of the Age of Arcanum, recalling the beloved kings and queens of old. It was decided that the people would no longer have an emperor, but a king. Crowning himself the first of the line of Dwendalian kings, King Manfried insisted on maintaining the now-ominous national title of the Dwendalian Empire, famously proclaiming, “I am the Dwendalian king to my people, beloved and open to their wishes. To our enemies, we remain resolute and unstoppable. We are the Dwendalian Empire.”   The Eve of Crimson Midnight   Not a quarter century after the Marrow War ended and the line of kings was established, a smaller, internal conflict rocked the capital city of Rexxentrum. A number of noble houses with a strong history of studying arcane pursuits began to compete with other high-born magic practitioners from the Julous Dominion. Throughout the lands of the newly expanded empire, these houses escalated their subterfuge and espionage against one another, until the rivalry finally erupted into an all-out magical conflict in the streets of the capital itself.   The events of the Eve of Crimson Midnight destroyed numerous buildings and maimed a number of innocents caught in the crossfire. The struggle ended with all involved shackled and brought before the king. After days of deliberation, an agreement was drawn up that would absolve those involved of the usual punishment in exchange for direct subservience to the Crown and the goals of the empire. Establishing themselves as the Cerberus Assembly, this council of mages became a powerful tool for the empire to maintain its position as the dominant force of Wildemount.   Modern Dwendalian Empire   For three hundred years, the empire has expanded and prospered under the rule of the Dwendalian line of kings. King Alfwin Dwendal increased the empire’s military power by establishing the stronghold of Bladegarden and assimilating Grimgolir into the empire, seeking to hold back the savage creatures of Xhorhas. King Theoderich Dwendal’s benevolent nature brokered the partnership with the Clovis Concord of the Menagerie Coast without bloodshed and ushered in new opportunities for trade with the rest of Exandria. King Willamar Dwendal established the initial prominence of House Truscan and granted them oversight of the Truscan Vale, to the displeasure of the other noble houses.   Other kings have come and gone, but few have made as immediate and lasting a mark as King Bertrand Dwendal. On assuming the throne in 790 PD, King Bertrand immediately demonstrated his love of spectacle and social manipulation by instituting town criers across the empire to disseminate Crown-approved messages. With the aid of Master Ikithon Trent of the Cerberus Assembly, he captured the imagination of the masses with well-crafted tales of his deeds, proclaimed by the criers in every town square.   Seeking to bury any dissent against the Crown, King Dwendal began to use the empire’s spy network to seek out sources of unrest in the public and punish those who sowed thoughts of rebellion. Public holidays and celebrations were given greater funding to quell the masses and distract the people from the increase in taxation implemented across the valley. This allowed King Bertrand Dwendal to rise in popularity while also ruling with a far more ruthless and self-serving agenda than most kings before him.   King Bertrand maintains the isolationist world view of his predecessors, even in times of need. By ignoring political alliances from distant nations, preventing the construction of any skyship docks within the empire, and ignoring calls for aid—such as the fight against the rising threat of Vecna two decades before—the King believes he has made the empire stronger than it’s ever been.   However, the king’s focus on isolationism fades as tensions with Xhorhas grow. Worry about his legacy mingles with the new and deadly threat of the Kryn Dynasty, now emboldened and pushing into his kingdom with strange magics and dangerous warriors. He mistrusts the very Cerberus Assembly that grants him so much influence and arcane might to combat the ever-darker world that barks at the borders of the empire. Public approval of his rule wanes with growing economic disparity, and the whisper of Myriad power returning under his nose only heightens his paranoia.   When the Kryn orchestrated an attack on the Halls of Erudition in Zadash, the Cerberus Assembly pushed for a display of military power to rally the people and bring unity to the national identity of the empire. The king declared war on the Kryn Dynasty and the people of Xhorhas, embroiling the region in this new full-scale conflict, with the hope that, as history has proven, people are easier to unite against a common enemy.

The once thickly forested landscape of Xhorhas was the site of the final battleground of the Calamity. It was subjugated to such intense destruction at the hands of the warring gods that when the dust of the Divergence cleared, Eastern Wynandir was naught but a cracked, ashen wasteland. Ghor Dranas, the citadel of the Betrayer Gods, lay broken, cursed, and abandoned, while lingering demons and monstrosities fled to the surrounding jagged cliffs and blackened marshlands. Discarded abominations seeped from beneath the ruined earth of Xhorhas’s eastern shores, climbing past the Penumbra Range where the forgotten creations of the Betrayers were locked away.   Throughout this wasteland, scattered bands of aimless men, beasts, and goblinkin battled for shelter and sustenance. These tribes were confined to their desolate home by the Ki’Nau leviathan who guarded the waters past the southern shores and the surviving dwarves of Grimgolir, who prevented any Xhorhasians from moving farther west. The nomadic, warring clans fought against the harsh conditions of the valley for centuries, only able to develop small bastions of civilization within the harsh wilderness.   The Kryn Dynasty   Beneath the ruins of Ghor Dranas, a group of scavenging drow turned from Lolth, their primary deity for centuries, finding renewed faith in an esoteric entity they called the Luxon. Guided by the light of their new deity, the drow survived their ascent from deep within the Underdark and reclaimed the halls of Ghor Dranas for themselves, naming their new home Rosohna, or “Rebirth.” The leading house of Kryn helped build a new nation of dark elves who sought the surface as part of their worship, and slowly began to reach out to the nearby nomads to unite under the light of the Luxon.   As the first nation of post-Calamity Xhorhas, the Kryn Dynasty worked to expand its reach throughout the wasteland and bring unity to the ravaging hordes. Dormant evils continued to rise from beneath the marshes and badlands of Xhorhas, spreading chaos and battling with the warriors who called the desolate valley their home. The struggle to convert the denizens of Eastern Wynandir to the light of the Luxon continues to this day, while the agents of Lolth seek to spite and destroy her once-chosen for their arrogance.   Meanwhile, the dragonborn have begun to reach out to Exandria’s sprawling political world, wishing to exchange knowledge and trade their gold and jewels for powerful magics to better their standing.   Draconia   After the Calamity, a shard of the destroyed dragonkin city of Kethesk came to rest within the southern Dreemoth Ravine. The surviving dragonborn took advantage of the ravine’s defensible layout to build a new city and made an alliance with the cave-dwelling, indigenous dragonborn they called ravenites, beginning the reformation of civilized dragonborn society.   With the ravenites as a labor force, the dragonborn harvested the massive brumestone crystals that had once held their city aloft, and the new city of Draconia began to take shape as a series of floating islands within the heart of the chasm. Calling themselves draconbloods, they spent hundreds of years slowly reconstructing their nation in seclusion, focusing entirely on their own enlightenment and pursuits. They eventually enslaved the ravenites to mine the ravine’s gold and gemstones, and to ensure draconblood dominance in the region, leaving their minds free to focus on internal politics and arcane advancement.   The Chroma Conclave   In the year 815 PD, an unexpected assault on Draconia came in the form of a group of ancient chromatic dragons calling themselves the Chroma Conclave. The mighty city of Draconia was immediately destroyed and left to crumble in the Dreemoth Ravine. A powerful white dragon called Vorugal, the Frigid Doom, claimed the ravine as its new domain, while the rest of the dragons sought conquest elsewhere in Exandria. These events shook the nations of Wildemount, sending the Clovis Concord and the Dwendalian Empire into a state of alert, while the Kryn Dynasty temporarily withdrew to Rosohna, fearing another attack.   As time passed, Vorugal and the entire Chroma Conclave were slain and the danger seemed to have dissipated. With Draconia sundered, the no-longer enslaved ravenites greatly outnumbered their previous masters; they claimed their freedom and punished the surviving draconbloods. A handful of draconian nobles fled to the Menagerie Coast or the Dwendalian Empire to seek asylum, leaving the ravenites to rebuild Wildemount dragonborn society on the ruins of their oppressors.   The War of the Ash and Light   In the past century, the Dwendalian Empire has clashed with the Kryn Dynasty. Small skirmishes and slain soldiers on both sides deter expansion beyond the Ashkeeper Peaks, with each faction keeping a close eye on the other.   Recently, the empire’s interest in growing Kryn influence has led to increasing curiosity about the source of the Kryn’s mysterious arcane capabilities. Dwendalian spies successfully stole two of four artifacts known as “beacons,” which seemed to be powerful sources of the unique magical energy called dunamis. The Bright Queen Leylas Kryn began an initiative steal back the beacons and assault Dwendalian strongholds until these sacred relics are returned. Now, in 835 PD, the resulting skirmishes have escalated into all-out war. A fifth beacon has been recently uncovered by the Cerberus Assembly, and the violence threatens to grow past the Ashkeeper Peaks and embroil other denizens of Wildemount in the conflict.