The Lovers of Lake Ravitas
Lake Ravitas is the center of the The Republic of Free Trade. Created by the massive explosion dubbed the Lacuna this lake is about the size of Switzerland, and it is as of now unclear how deep down it actually goes. It is well known that passing straight across it is extremely dangerous due to a variety of unknown monsters lurking in the depths, which get disturbed by ships passing above. In the last centuries, no one is known to have crossed it successfully. Still, people make use of the shallow shorelines of the lake to accommodate trade and to ship people quickly from one city to another. The origin of the lake has a few different myths tied to it, the most well-known (and popular) being the story of the Lovers of Lake Ravitas, as told below. Other myths include the idea that the appearance of the monsters, which now reside in the lake were actually the cause of the Lacuna, or that the local cults had endangered society and angered Davyanka - The Starmother so she threw some stars down to Xyvener.
Summary
The Story of the Lovers goes as such: Diomere was a very curious individual, gifted with maglical and technical understanding alike, but missing in patiece. They lived in the city of Irvialia in the Orbirian Empire. When one of their secret experiments went awry, they lost their partner Edel to Aleha - The Ravenbringer. Unable to live without him, they set out to construct a gateway to the etheral plane to get him back. Diomere succeded, and passing though the gate triggered Aleha's anger so much, that she unleashed her power though the gate back into the world, killing millions and ripping the door apart at the same time. And when the dust finally settled, most of Trian was uninhabitable, and instead of Irvialia, there was a massive hole, that once it fillled up with water was called Lake Ravitas. To remind the mortals of their place and to remind them of their insignificance compared to other beings, the gods filled Ravitas with dangers unknown.
Historical Basis
As with most myths, there is a seed of truth hidden in those tales. Diomere was actually the ruler of the Orbirian Empire at that time, and Edel their curious partner. But the explosion was neither romantic (at least mostly), nor unexpected. Before the Lacuna, the orbirian capital Irvialia was built above the extraplanar bridge, which the gods used as anchor and access point to materializing in on Xyvener. Diomere saw how the gods bent the wills of mortals their bidding and how they were used to fight wars, so together with their council, they decided on the destruction of the bridge.
Edel, having better knowledge of the possible effects such a project could have, started to research ways of containing the explosion, creating the Cerulean Thunderstones
Still, all of that preparation was not enough, and the energy stured was far to much to be contained. To save most of the empire, they had been willing to sacrifice Irvialia, but even that turned out to not be enough.
The explosion destroyed the three shields in the capital in an instant and with ease flattened all land around, not stopped by the secondary shields of the other orbirian cities either. The intensity of the explosion tore through some of the veiles and caused various rifts to appear, including a massive rifts to the plane of water and the astral plane at the bottom of Ravitas, as well as ripping open a direct connection to the Underdark.
Variations & Mutation
There are many variations on the story, mostly related to the cause of the explosion. In some, Diomere was unsuccessful in creating a gate, in others Edel didn't want to return to the living and Diomere blew it up themselves.
In Literature
There are many different tellings of the story, some tellings dating back nearly 500 year with many modern interpretations, including theatre and poetry. It is considered one of the most influantial stories and there are some edgy marriage vows based on it.
Date of Setting
Around 300 CY
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