Eryphir is one of several major continents on the world of Baennor. Today the Commonwealth of Rynwroth, a magically infused, technologically advanced nation rules the majority of the continent using the power of the Voidsphere to spread wealth and prosperity. However, it has not always been so. The following is a brief history of not only the continent of Eryphir, but the world of Baennor itself.
History of Baennor
The First Inhabitants
While Baennor today plays host to a large number of intelligent races, it was not always so. On its own, the planet was once dominated by a wide variety of saurian creatures, some of whom developed into intelligent beings over the course of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. It is thought these creatures were originally created by one of the Great Old Ones, but very little is known of their existence short of the fossil record discovered across landscape today. What is commonly agreed upon, however, is that the end of this era of life on Baennor began with the arrival of the Outer Plane, Nihor. The horrors brought forth from the Chaos Lords laid waste to these creatures in a mass extinction event - perhaps the largest in the planet's long history.
Several of these saurian species did survive, however. Reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators; amphibians such as frogs and toads; avians such as hawks and ravens; and saurians such as wyverns and basilisks are all thought to be direct descendants of these first inhabitants of Baennor. Two intelligent races also emerged from the chaos - the exceedingly rare dragons, and the secretive and reclusive varanids.
The First Plane
After the Great Old Ones went into their eternal slumber, the multiverse was left to its own devices for the first time. Powerful creatures, once minions and servitors to the Old Ones, were now the major domos of the multiverse. The first outer dimension to enter the Inner Planes after the Old Ones disappeared was Nihor, the plane of Chaos. The Chaos Lords invaded the Inner Planes with vast armies of abominations and horrors, destroying nearly everything they encountered. Planets like Baennor were nearly wiped out in the initial onslaught.
After a time, these Chaos Lords each began to lay claim to the remnants of the Inner Planes of which they had conquered. Baennor lay under the control of a particularly vile creature named Wrycrahx. This abomination populated Baennor with the goblinoid races of bugbears, goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres, and wogan in order to entrench itself and maintain its grip on the planet. These creatures, in turn, established kingdoms and empires across nearly the entirety of the planet. Remnants of their rule can be found across the globe, in the most far off of locations.
The Chaos Lord's dominion would control most of Baennor for nearly 300,000 years. It was not until the Plane of Chaos exited the Inner Planes that Wrycrahx would finally begin losing its grip. Rebellion among the goblinoids began to foment and the massive Dominion of Wrycrahx started to fracture.
Enter The Dreaming
Roughly 145,000 years ago, The Dreaming - the realm of the Fey Courts - entered the Inner Planes. As the barriers between these dimensions waned, the Fey Courts sent their people through to take measure of these new lands open to them. What they encountered on Baennor was beyond the pale for many among the Court and they knew the agents of Chaos must be purged from that world. The Fey Queen and her ancient Courtesans created the Aos'si (ee-shee) to inhabit Baennor and gain a foothold against the darkness of Wrycrahx's domain.
For tens of thousands of years, the battle between the long-lived aos'si and the prolific goblinoids raged across Baennor. Neither side gained much of an advantage in that time. The magic of the fey far surpassed anything the goblinoid armies possessed, but the vast hordes of rapidly procreating goblinoids could not be dwindled by the far-outnumbered aos'si either. It was not until the Fey Court devised a plan to destroy Wrycrahx where it resided on the continent of Daelus that the tide would finally turn.
An End to Chaos
Nearing the end of the time in which The Dreaming would remain within the Inner Planes, the aos'si secreted a massive weapon into the very heart of the Wrycrahx Dominion, killing the Chaos Lord and destroying its city of Pyorxic on Daelus. With its destruction, this effectively ended the rule of Chaos over Baennor and the Fey Court rapidly gained ground against the remaining goblinoid kingdoms. Nearly all of Daelus was abandoned - the after effects of the magical weapon used against Wrycrahx made much of the continent uninhabitable for hundreds, if not a thousand years.
On Eryphir, the in-fighting amongst the remaining goblinoid kingdoms resulted in a major consolidation of power in the city-state of Mhgor - present day Rynmark. It was from this bastion, the orcs and other goblinoid races would wait out the aos'si and the Fey Courts, successfully defending against the aos'si for several centuries until The Dreaming finally exited the Inner Planes.
An Elemental Age
After the Fey Courts were gone, there was a major power vacuum in the Inner Planes. Powerful beings on the elemental planes took this opportunity and themselves invaded the Prime in an effort to mine the worlds there of their elemental motes of energy. These
True Elements were long ago scoured in any great quantity from their planes of residence and the Prime was the only known remaining reliable source for the material.
Due to the fact that the elemental beings on these planes could not long reside on the Prime, they each created their own races intended to harvest the elemental motes for them. On the plane of Philogistia, the lords there created the kazzixi - a diminutive race of saurian-like humanoids who would dig deep into the mountains to find the fire element. The rulers of Apiomia created the Dryssk, those on Sulphurias created the Mazabim, and the lords of Ionios created the Wisfoh. Each of these races were created to harvest their specific element, and each failed to live up to their creator's expectations.
The Wisfoh were too difficult to contain and force to work. The Mazabim were seemingly more rock than creature and were too slow in their extraction of the precious material. The dryssk were entirely too superstitious and developed endless rituals surrounding the True Element
apiom. The Kazzixi were wily and conniving creatures who would turn against their masters the moment their backs were turned. They were too greedy and treacherous to be trusted with the True Element
Philogiston.
Birth of the Child Races
In the end, each of these races were abandoned by the elemental lords. Instead the rulers of each of these planes came together and formed pacts in order to create a race suitable for their needs. Around 27,000 years ago, the lords of Sulfurias and Philogistia came together and created the
Dwearh, a hearty, clan-based race which prided itself on their ability to extract True Element from deep within the ground. They were large humanoids with powerful builds, capable of moving large amounts of rock and stone in a single day. The dwearh established kingdoms that would eventually span the length and breadth of the Reinhelm mountains, and at one point could be found in nearly every mountain range or hilltop across Eryphir.
At the same time, the elemental lords of Ionios and Apiomia created the
Daonni, a creative and innovative race of humanoids meant to harvest the True Elements of the air and the oceans. Within just a few centuries, the crafty daonni had invented vessels to explore the depths of the sea and the clouds in the sky in search of
apiom and
ionia. Residing mostly on the coastal regions of Eryphir, the daonni too established many small kingdoms and territories. Unlike the dwearh, however, they were also forced early on to learn the art of war as they were at constant odds to some degree with the aos'si, but more so with the orcs of M'ghor. Like the aos'si before them, they were superior in their equipment and technology, but lacked the numbers to truly conquer the host of goblinoid ravagers from the orc empire.
A Time of Daonn Expansion
While both the dwearh and the daonn were created to harvest the
True Elements from Baennor, it was the adventurous spirit of the daonni that truly allowed them to flourish and expand on Baennor. Within just a few hundred years, the Daonn had tamed much of the wilderness along the southern coast of Eryphir. They had established cities and towns hundreds of miles inland and were producing mountains of elemental motes for their slave-lords.
It was around this time the first city-states of the daonni first took hold. What is present-day Seaside was a prime location for both fishing and harvesting
apiom, while what is today Belosia, to the southeast, was a major trading hub with the Dwearh in the mountains and sat on an inexplicably rich deposit of
ionia. Both cities flourished some 12,000 years ago and continue to do so today.
Misguided Revolt
It was during this expansion that the people of Eryphir attempted to liberate themselves from their elemental masters. While the cause was noble, the instigators could not garner enough support and the rebellion was quickly quelled. Thousands of daonn were killed in reprisal and the location of the initial uprising was completely razed, the earth salted in its wake. It would be thousands of years before another attempt was made - meaning millions of daonni and dwearh would suffer in the mean time.
Insidious Deceit
With the loss of influence over Baennor and lacking direct guidance from the Fey Courts, there were many among the aos'si who sought other, more malign ways to return their people to power. Roughly 8,000 years ago, there were those fey who began gathering ancient texts and relics of the Old Ones. While not much exists in writing regarding these inconceivable beings, there was enough to make contact with their minions. These beings, immensely powerful in their own right, guided these fey on a path abhorrent to the aos'si of Mirasandoral.
When discovered, the Court attempted to wipe out this cult, but it proved to be far more difficult than they imagined. For several centuries, the Mirasandoral Court hunted these
misled souls, attempting to eradicate them. This served to only fan the flames and resulted in more aos'si flocking to the Fa'moire - "
the forsaken" in feyspeech. It took nearly 400 years, but in the end, the now powerful Fa'moire split from their kin in the court and fled to the continent of Drocrath - where they founded the city of Ge'ata and their own version of the Fey Court, the
Wyrd Crown.
Conquest of the Reinhelms
No later than 6,500 years ago, the dwearh had established networks, tunnels, cities, and enclaves throughout the entire length of the Reinhelm Mountains. In addition to harvesting the elemental motes, they were also mining things like gold, iron, and mithral in vast quantities as well. The dwearh of Dwevrheim in the south held control over the entirety of iron trade in the world and were also well known for their capital weapons mounted to the great iron aeroships in their navy.
Dwverheim's Assault on M'ghor
It was with these massive ships that the dwearh would be the first of the new races to assault the orcs in 6,001 BV. The dwearh had come to a crossroads with the orcs of M'Ghor. While the dwearh themselves were relatively safe from all but the occasional orcish raid, it was their trade routes and shipments to the other kingdoms that suffered from brigands and interdiction. The dwearh attempted to adopt daonn technology and began flying their cargo out to other ports of call. The M'ghori orcs were quick to adapt, however, and would often crash these aeroships through the use of magic and wyvern riders.
Finally, this led the dwearh to organize an assault on the orcs. It took a decade to assemble the fleet, but the dwearh launched a flotilla of 22 massive, iron-clad aeroships against the M'ghori Empire in 6,001 BV, taking the orcs completely by surprise. The invasion force wrought death and destruction across a 500 mile route from the mountains all the way to the stronghold of M'ghor itself. The dwearh fleet was unable to press the advantage after running out of supplies and munitions on the very doorstep of the orcish empire. Combined with the constant harassment from orc shamanistic magic and what seemed like swarms of wyvern riders, the dwearh fleet was forced to retreat. In the end, four of these titanic vessels were destroyed or forced down, but the message was clear - M'ghor was not impregnable.
The assault had inextricably changed the way future wars on the continent would be fought and won.
The Aos'Si Withdraw from the World
Around 4,700 BV (Before the Void), the aos'si of Mirasandoral withdrew from their groves and glades throughout Eryphir, Icia, and Daelus. The world was changing too fast for their kind and the loss of their direct connection to the Fey Courts began to heavily impact their ability to maintain the massive leylines they had previously established across Baennor. That combined with the growing influence of Ge'ata, the fey of the Court had no choice but to regroup. They recused themselves from the world and instead stayed almost exclusively within the borders of the massive forest of Tela'tethadyr. While still immensely powerful, they would henceforth shun the goings on of the rest of the world.
The Collapse of the M'ghori Empire
While it took generations, the vast tracks of the M'ghori Empire were slowly eaten away by the constant onslaught of the dwearh and daonn attacks. By 4,200 BV the M'ghori Empire was reduced to just the Blackwood Vale and the city-state itself on Eryphir. Unbeknownst to many, however, there were major populations of goblinoids still on the continent of Drocrath. These populations were quickly falling under the sway of the Fa'moire and the Old Ways.
West Coast Conquered
With the vacuum created by M'Ghor's loss of territory, the daonni were able to move westward across the Sea of Dust and settle much of the western portions of Eryphir. Within just a few hundred years there were settlements dotting the entire west coast including modern day Nofre-Maz, the former capital of the kingdom of Nofrest (what is today the Nofre Emirates). The increase in the collection and refinement of
apiom and
ionia increased one-hundred fold over the same time period, propelling the daonni forward in their understanding of magic and the planes far beyond anything they had ever reached previously.
The Seeds of Rebellion
It would take hundreds of years, but eventually the children of the elemental pacts would again attempt to throw off the yokes of their masters. As they began to collect more and more elemental motes, the daonni and dwearh kingdoms began to withhold
True Elements from their masters on the elemental planes. The magic-users and scholars among them grew in their understanding of how these elements could be used to enhance their abilities and magical devices. Weapons were created that could be used effectively against their masters and held in secret until the time was right.
In 2,521 BV, the dwearh of Dwverheim were the first to strike. They collapsed the gate in their stronghold leading to the elemental planes of
Sulfurias and
Philogistias. They slaughtered their overseers and pit bosses left on the Prime. From that spark, rebellion struck like a match across many of the dwearh strongholds in the Reinhelms. Swiftly, but not fast enough to stave off the retribution from their furious masters.
The Destruction of Dwverheim
Until this point, very few on Baennor had ever witnessed the immensity of any one elemental lord on the Prime. After the attack by the dwearh, however, three of the elemental lords manifested themselves on the Prime to lay waste to the insurrection. Each of the titans were as big as the mountain in which they attacked - thousands of feet tall, they tore into dwearh stronghold, sundering the mountain until it was nothing more than a smoking hole in the earth. More than a million dwearh were slaughtered and it is said the light from their rage could be seen as far away as Seaside, over a thousand miles away. After this incredible destruction, the legacy of the dwearh would never fully recover from this massive atrocity. Millions were dead, but still millions more fled the ravaged mountains and into the plains, seeking solace among their daonn kin. The kingdom of the dwearh would persist, but as a mere flicker of its once proud glory.
The Shadow Rebellion
The destruction of Dwverheim did not have the impact expected upon the slave-people of Baennor. Although defeated, the slaughter of so many of their kith only served to steel their resolve. They worked with the various Daonn kingdoms to help them build terrible, destructive weapons in secret. They collaborated with kings, offering riches and rewards in return for expeditions into the mountains in order to make contact with disparate tribes of dwearh and to recover precious artifacts lost during the attack.
Overseers and elemental sympathizers were assassinated across the continent, and insurgencies were innumerable across Eryphir. Cities would burn, but the attacks continued with the people of Baennor fighting on in a simmering shadow war for centuries.
Defiance and Ascension
The year 2,014 BV is a marked period in the history of Baennor. It is forever known as the year the
New Gods would bring about definitive change for the slave-people of Baennor. It is said that early in the year a soothsayer in what is modern day Nofre-Maz foretold of a gateway in which the righteous would ascend to the Radiant and the damned would fall into Shadow. In either case, it was foretold, anyone who completed the journey would gain immense power and reign over the world of Baennor as gods.
Hundreds of adventurers attempted the quest to find the gates to these other planes, but in the end only seventeen survived the journey. Eleven were to make it to the Radiant, while six descended to the Shade. These
New Gods would become the pantheon behind which all the daonni and dwearh of Baennor would soon rally.
Fall of the Elemental Gods
A little more than 100 years after the
Ascension, the people of Baennor had established elaborate religions around most of these deities. Major churches spanned the continent, established in most major cities. Their growing power posed a significant threat to the elemental lords. For as their worshipers grew in strength and in number, so too did the power of the gods grow. In 1,886 BV, the eleven gods from the Radiant, fueled by their followers, led attacks against the elemental lords both on Baennor and throughout the elemental planes themselves. It would take many decades, but eventually the daonni and dwearh of Baennor won their freedom and a new age of magic and prosperity would soon begin.
A New Age of Magic (1,800 BV)
Within just a few short years after the fall of the elemental lords, the people of Baennor had turned the tables on their former masters. While they were no longer in control, the elementals of other planes still desperately needed elemental motes. Not only were the motes used as a sort of currency on the elemental planes, it was also a way for individual elemental beings to gain strength and prestige.
The outcome of the war with the elementals was not one the people of Baennor expected. Brokers and traders from these planes began bargaining with the people they once enslaved, trading the one commodity they could offer in exchange for access to the motes - their magical selves.
M'Ghor Assault on the Mountain (1,791 BV)
The Kingdom of the Dwearh Collapses (1750 BV)
Discovery of Daelus (1,551 BV)
The Pirate Threat (1,510 BV)
Seaside Sacked (1,300 BV)
Teutor Allies with M'ghor (1,290 BV)
The Hegemony of Belos Falls (1,203 BV)
The Sacking of Vingor (1,154 BV)
Rynwroth Conquers M'ghor; The Rise of Rynmark (990 BV)
Gods War (590 BV)
Besmabel Sacked (473 BV)
Elemongers Rise in the West (470 BV)
Three Kingdoms Simmer (346 BV)
Fifth Element Discovered (66 BV)
Creation of the Void (42 BV)
Illuminated Order of Aetherists Established (37 BV)
The Shadow War Begins Anew (32 BV)
Aethertech Dominates the Industry (12 BV)
The Dawn of the Age of Wonder
The War for Unification begins (3 AV)
Fagasso Falls in the North (10 AV)
Nofre-Maz Falls in the West (16 AV)
Eryphir United (18 AV)
Downfall of the Monarchy (21 AV)
A New Ship Commissioned for a New Age (27 AV)
Syndicates Dominate the Industry (31 AV)
The Zephyr Is Lost on its Maiden Voyage (34 AV)
The Commonwealth Today (34 AV)
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