The Ancient Order

The Ancient Order. A vast empire that governed the world before the Great Collapse. They united people, searched the deepest oceans and crossed into the realms beyond ours. What worries me is that such a culture could be wiped away in a blink, and we still don’t know why.

— August Raven Earnhold, Venture-Scribe of the Windtracer Company

The Ancient Order was the vast empire that united peoples across Awldor and governed the world. There is, and always will be, some debate as to how effective their ability to govern actually was. Some believed that despite the most benevolent reasons, even they fell prey to corruption and abuse of their limitless power.

Still, despite their influence and all they achieved, they fell before the Great Collapse. The ruins, records, and relics left behind tell fragments of their story. This leaves wide gaps where scholars conjecture as to the details about the Ancient Order, or Ancients, as they are commonly referred to today.

Structure and Organization

Scholars are certain that the Ancient Order was an Empire. But practical examples in the centuries after the Great Collapse show that one ruler cannot govern over a large area alone. Much like a mercenary company, while there may be one leader, that leader has a structure in place to assist them.

Surviving books recovered from explorations into scarred ruins in the Long Deep of the Great Chasm give a clue. The Chasm Papers as they’re called are not focused on the government structure itself but on interactions between smaller groups at a regional level. Through these papers is where the understanding of part of the Ancient Order’s market economy and trade.

The current theory is that the Ancient Order relied on a strong ‘regional governorship’ that worked with a trade council. How higher structures maintained order between the governorships is a mystery. Laws were handed down to the regional governor to enact and maintain. There are also mentions of what may be an ‘advisory council’ to each governor. To date, surviving Windtracer expeditions to the aggressively dangerous Long Deep of the Great Chasm have yet to find any new information.

They shaped the world, at times it seems literally, to their own ideals. Even after they have vanished, their stories, relics and more cast a long shadow over our lives.

— August Raven Earnhold, Venture-Scribe of the Windtracer Company

Wondrous Relics of a Bygone Age

Relics, from the smallest pottery to elaborate devices, show that the Ancients had a deep understanding of nature and the world around them. These items are often specialized to a mind-boggling degree. Pottery that seems to allow liquids in it to stay hot or cold much longer than rational thought says should be possible. Small torches, no larger than a person’s hand, that shine with a bright focused light once touched with a small bit of magic.

Those are just two examples of the depth of detail the Ancients had over altering and mastering their surroundings. While it is miraculous when even one of these relics still works, most cannot be reproduced. The knowledge of how to make many of the necessary smaller components has yet to be discovered.

Shapers of Reality

Studies of sites such as the Natoce Ruins on the Glacialis Continent, the Long Deep in the Great Chasm, and more show that the Ancient Order had a deep understanding of magic and magical energies. They harnessed magic like domesticating a wild animal, or so the current theory holds. That allowed the Ancients to create many of their more majestic wonders.

This also opened the doors for them to move beyond the stars. Many comments in recovered papers and other items talk about it in an offhanded way. As if for them, that was a normal part of life, like sailing a ship or riding a horse.

In the end, many believe this casual attitude to such a wild natural force as magic was the Ancient Order’s undoing. Among the Windtracers a counter theory has emerged of late. Magic may have been the downfall of the Ancient Order, but not because of a misuse of magic, but because of using it.

How many planes across the fabric of reality did they cross? As any sailor would tell you, there’s a risk to setting foot on an unknown land. Restless natives to unknown illnesses lie in wait for the unwary. Did the Ancients find someone, or something, even they were unprepared for? Is it out there still, watching Awldor to this day, just to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself?

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

Ancients

Economic System

Market economy

Manufactured Items

• Sun Orb

Lorekeeper Notes

It does make you wonder... - Lorekeeper Gwelunis Istril
Wonder what? Which part? - Lorekeeper Ihodis Jenro
That last part. About uncovering something on a distant 'shore' across reality. - Lorekeeper Gwelunis
That the Ancients found something bigger than they were? - Lorekeeper Ihodis
Or smaller. That last expidition to the Long Deep in the Chasm. Some sort of magical transformation illness took them. There wasn't much brought back but their journals were detailed. - Lorekeeper Gwelunis
Oh, I see what you mean. It might have been an illness the Ancients found and brought to Awldor by accendent that caused their downfall. - Lorekeeper Ihodis
Yes, and its still here looking for the right conditions to come to life once more... - Lorekeeper Gwelunis Istril