Lore of Arvendon: The History of the Union
The Symbol of the Union of Mortals, the broken infinity united by the triangle of men, elves and dwarves.
The beginning of recorded history is muddled and unclear. The art of record keeping was unreliable in its infancy, all knowledge being passed through tales and song. These often-embellished stories probably have more in common with fiction than fact, especially in the state of which they can be heard today. Society has moved past the unreliable narrators of bards and village elders, though the satyrs of the Noxwwood still carry on the tradition to this day.
The Great Quiet, 1500 B.F. to 450 B.F
What is known in the time before federation is that for a long stretch of years the gods were silent. Every tribe and race fended for themselves and occupied their time with the necessities of survival. Humans settled in the lowland deltas of the three great rivers Vardar, Nestos and Acheron. They fed themselves by fishing and trapping the pearl ocean coastline and the great lakes of Western Limnithes. At some point they expanded north into the fertile farmland of Synoro that borders the Noxwood. Archeological sites have uncovered pottery and tools dated to over 500 B.F. in this area.
The elves seem to have only ever occupied the Quenya mountain range. There they made a meager living removed from the dangers of the world below, cultivating crops in their terraced settlements. They used no domesticated animals and had an incredibly advanced bridgebuilding tradition. Those ancient techniques may seem quaint by today's standards but the speed and reliability with which they could construct pathways from peak to peak was a large part of why the Sky Elves thrived in the early eras.
The dwarves kept more meticulous records, but their focus was on their lineage more than their deeds. Tracing the old family trees backwards you could surmise that they and their gnome kin were probably the first to settle in Sanctuary, under the Radiant Peaks. The Almians value their legacy and always have, so the most well-preserved relics and monuments of this time all belong to the Kingdom.
Pre-Invasion, 450 B.F. to 5 B.F
After the long silence of the gods came a time of prophets and miracles. The celestials reached out their hands and mortals welcomed them into their lives. Here we see the first clerics and priests traveling to other tribes to preach. During this time we also see the rise of tribalism and many minor conflicts occur over territory, religious beliefs and resources. The human and satyr populations are especially competitive, and many of the Noxwood’s greatest sagas come from this time.
The Kingdom of Alm is founded during this time, it’s rigid caste system already forming and the first king reanimated to serve in the ancestral congress. They had very little interest or interaction with the outside world, as they considered the other tribes to be savage barbarians in comparison.
The Sky Elves were the first to seriously study the arcane. Their mountaintop homes gave them unhindered access to the stars, which they used to further their understanding of astronomy and divination and refine their innate magical prowess. They were the first to be warned of the impending danger approaching from the East. Dark omens clouded their sages' vision for two years before they could understand their meaning, and by the time they had deciphered the signs it was too late, the Empire of Illumination had arrived on the eastern shores of Sanctuary.
The First War of Survival 5 B.F. to 160 A.U.
The Dark Years
The First Great Invasion was swift, the organized military might of the Emperor’s armies swept aside the feeble defenses of the individual tribes. Led by the Grand Educator Hyapak, a brutal zealot full of ambition, they marched from East to West conquering land so quickly the populace was too shocked to react in time, stopping their advance only for the harsh winter weather. Limnithes fell in the fourth year and the southern Lake Country looked poised to be next.
It was at this time when the single most important historical moment in Sanctuary’s history occurred. During the freezing winter of that year the Sky Elvish King Vulwin descended from his mountaintop throne with all of his seers and soldiers to break the siege of Aspida. The human king Onas the Brave had been holding the formidable city for months, personally manning the battlements and bolstering his men, but he was running out of food and time with no relief in sight. He refused to surrender the city to the Empire’s “tutelage”. He was loved by his people and they prepared to die in his defense.
Truth be told, if not for Hyapak’s rapid advance across such a massive landmass in such a short time Vulwin’s gambit might not have succeeded, but succeed it did. His forces descended upon the wintering besiegers that outnumbered them fiercely, striking directly at the Educator’s command tent through divine guidance. With his personal guard quickly becoming overwhelmed Hyapak was forced to flee, and the commotion and confusion cause by his absence allowed the battle-hardened defenders an opportunity to sally forth. It is said that Vulwin and Onas met each other on the field of battle after causing the Empire to rout and embraced with tears in their eyes.
While the Empire retreated to lick its wounds Vulwin and Onas formed an alliance. Man and elf would be forever linked from this point forward. This is where the Union calendar starts, with the formation of The Free Peoples Resistance the era Before Federation ends and the modern era After Unification begins.
The Fight for Survival
While having dealt a mighty blow to the invaders at the Battle of Convergence, as it would come to be known, the Twin Kings were still vastly outnumbered and outmatched by their foes. Under the guidance of the elvish diviners and Onas’ considerable tactical acumen their combined force harried the retreating Imperial army relentlessly. Throughout the winter they would make small targeted strikes, always aiming for high value targets like food and fuel supplies. They waged a miniature war of skirmishes and ambushes, never fully committing to a field engagement and always being in the right place at the right time.
This guerilla warfare stymied the juggernaut of the Imperial Legions, they had all but conquered the entirety of Sanctuary but couldn’t pin down or garrison everything they had taken, it was simple too much land filled with too many hostile people. The small victories won by the Free Peoples Resistance encouraged more people to throw off their shackles and stab at the Empire however they could.
Many are the tales of brave heroes and climatic encounters during the first War of Survival. Most end tragically but some are triumphant. The Legend of Cereno of the Hickory Hills comes from this time. A dashing rogue that would rob from the Empire to provide charity for the poor. He and his merry band of brigands operated under the tutor's noses for years undermining their authority. To this day he is a popular figure for songs and plays, an idolized swashbuckler.
Another tale tells of the slaying of a Red Dragon by the knight Jandar with a single stroke of his lance to the beast’s heart. How credible that claim may be is uncertain, but chromatic dragons were certainly a part of the Empire’s invasion force, and Jandar did survive to become a notable lord later in the century.
The Turning Point
All of these minor victories could not stop the inevitable, however, and it looked like Onas and Vulwin were destined to be the last free kings of Arvendon. Until they were joined by none other than a god made flesh and his close companion, the ancient gold dragon Haakon. Irdon was a celestial that saw the plight of the mortal world and personally took human form to aid the resistance in their struggle for freedom. When he absconded from Elysium he bequeathed Haakon with his will, bolstering the dragon’s ability to combat darkness and extending his already considerable life. The two fought as a single entity, together or separate they could communicate and coordinate wordlessly. When Irdon descended upon the hidden resistance camp and pledged his blade to their cause the people rejoiced.
With Irdon and Haakon leading the charge Onas and Vulwin were able to finally meet the Empire upon the open field. In the decisive battle for Bitterwind Pass the People’s Resistance gave the Empire its first decisive loss in centuries. Irdon empowered the men with his divine presence and Haakon struck down two chromatic dragons that could have decimated the combined forces of elves and men. Veterans now of countless skirmishes the tribal warriors and hunters of the people had become hardened warriors. Though they were still woefully underequipped and unarmored in comparison to their opponents their fierce determination and divine inspiration overcame the numbers they faced and broke the moral of the slave legion, pushing them back and breaking the enchantments placed upon them by the Emperor’s Tutors. The battle was not without cost, however, as Vulwin fell on the Field and so the first Twin King met his end.
A New Way to Resist
No longer did the resistance need to hide in the shadows, when Vulwin’s heir was divined to be his cousin Fenian he inherited a well-trained army. An army led by his tactfully genius co-ruler and close friend Onas, supported by the might of a mortal god and an ancient dragon. The first thing Fenian did was name his force The People’s Protectors. He and Onas proclaimed their open defiance of the Empire and throngs of support rushed to their sides.
What began from that moment was the long, slow process of the People’s Protectors pushing the mind-slaved conscripts and zealous cultists out of the west and beyond. The empire could manipulate and control people on a massive scale through magic, coercion and fear. They rarely fought their own battles, for when they did, they would get soundly defeated.
During this time the Kingdom of Alm had been under siege for years. The fighting in the mountain tunnels had been intense and visceral, every inch earned by the Empire cost hundreds if not thousands of lives. Alchemical fire throwers were carried by plate mail covered undead dwarves, fighting alongside their similarly clad living descendants. Each dwarf could cleave through dozens of slave warriors easily, every part of the approach into the kingdom was deadly, but the tutors cared not, they had an unlimited supply of meat for the grinder. Hyapak himself had come north to supervise the subjugation of the dwarves, and the constant delays keeping him from the campaign in the south enraged him to the point where no prisoners were taken whenever an Almian outpost was overrun.
In their march east the Twin Kings reached out to the Ancestor Congress. They knew that to fight these invaders everyone would need to be united in the cause. This was no longer the time for petty squabbles and they needed the Almian’s reassurance that if they marched northward that the Dwarves and Gnomes would step out of their mountain homes and aid in the fight against the great evil. It took nearly ten years for the congress to admit to themselves they needed aid or they would inevitably perish, and another ten for the People’s Defender’s to march through the Draught Top Sierra and break the sieges of the Dwarven holds.
The Invaders Repelled
Acting now as a unified force, with elite warriors and fresh dwarven armaments the army advanced quickly. Hyapak had run out of all of his original supplies and now found himself in the same position he had been so many years ago, severely outmatched in quality and on the retreat constantly. Being unable to utilize the hit and run tactics of the resistance with slave soldiers and a hostile populace he instead chose to slash and burn everything in the wake of his retreat. Salting the earth and ruining the area for years to come as he fled in the face of the pursuing force.
Outmaneuvered with his back pushed to the Crimson Ridge Hyapak had no option but to try and brave the mountain passes or turn and fight. Fearing the cost of failure was greater than death he turned his remaining forces and did battle on the red salt plains. He was soundly defeated and Irdon himself landed the killing blow, removing his head as he rode Haakon directly into his midst.
Upon returning to Limnithes the following spring the army was received with joyous celebration and finally given a chance to rest after over a hundred year long campaign.
The First War for Survival came to a close with the formation of the Union Nobles Congress and the crowning of Connak the Wise as the next human Twin King. Onas the Brave finally passed in his sleep as the divine energy sustaining him completed its purpose.
A Brief Respite, 160 A.U. to 212 A.U.
The war had come to an end and the invaders had been pushed back to the other side of the Crimson Spikes. Empire forces still occupied the eastern side of Sanctuary, the area then known as Ashenhall and now known as Deliverance. They would hold the southeast coast of the continent for centuries. Geographically they were bottlenecked on land by the cliffs of the Sierra with only treacherous mountain passes through the Crimson Spikes and the massive pine bog of the Dark Forest allowing access to the rest of the mainland. With no roads over the dangerous and muddy terrain the Empire tried to approach by sea.
Experienced sailors and fisherman, the Human occupants of the Shining Coast took to naval warfare quickly. A great deal of effort, funds, and manpower was directed during this time to the development of the navy. Ancient sea battles were grisly, brutal affairs of ramming vessels and boarding actions, but the experienced personnel of the resistance proved time and again their worth against the galleys of the Empire. The invention of square-rigged sailing ships proved vital in the constant water battles, allowing the resistance to outmaneuver and outperform their foes without tiring their crews pulling oars.
During this time King Connak and King Fenian established many of the rules that form the basis of law in the Dyadra Kingdom today. They solidified the Twin Kingship as being a necessary tradition and encouraged exchanging knowledge and skills between the two peoples. They organized the first professional armies. Taking on the legacy of the People’s Protectors they made a force that did not rely on local lords or citizen levies but instead career soldiers whose job was to serve and protect the populace. They incorporated the fledgling navy as well, funding the construction of vessels and the research of seafaring and navigation. Never again would the people of Sanctuary be caught separate and alone with no means to protect themselves. Irdon was handed an army to lead which he forged ahead into the Dark Forest, intent on ridding the land of the last traces of the invaders
The Second War for Survival, 212 A.U. to 220 A.U.
The Initial Offence
In the winter of the two hundred and twelfth year after the people resistance was first formed, the Luminous Emperor himself stepped foot upon the shores of the Emerald coast. He brought with him a massive fleet of transports and warships, dwarfing by an order of magnitude anything seen in history prior. His ships were filled with vassals from the continent of Incanterra. Brutal Ettens, cackling Gnolls, grim-faced Orcs, long armed Bugbears, stone shaping Moroks, every tribe across the sea had levied an army by Imperial order and followed across the treacherous depths. One could assume that the force lost a number of their vessels crossing such a distance in such primitive ships, but if they did it didn’t matter.
The armies poured across the land, forcing the People's forces back to Limnithes, cutting off the Kingdom of Alm from support and isolating them in a sea of enemies. Fleets of warships rounded the Horn, outnumbering the more mobile local navy by three to one easily. Much ground was lost as the Empire made landfall on the Shining Coast, quickly advancing and besieging the city of Port Refuge. Chromatic dragons spread terror and mayhem in the countryside, attacking indiscriminately.
The first blows were indeed staggering, but the People were hardened from decades of struggle against the evils of the Empire, they were prepared to defend themselves and their lands and had been forewarned by their diviners of the Emperor’s arrival. In the summer of 213 A.U. Commander Petroko Cornelius seized an opportunity to ambush an Imperial fleet at the Blue Oster Reef. Through exceptional seamanship, discipline, and rampant incompetence on the side of the Empire his ships are able to soundly defeat a force five times his size while suffering minimal losses. Immediately after that victory he pushed his advantage and broke the blockade of Port Refuge, cutting off the Empires supplies and leaving them stranded behind enemy lines. These forces were surrounded and dispatched quickly, allowing the full force of the People’s Protector’s to head east and face the Emperor himself.
The Battle of Blood Shore
With the largest single army ever amassed by man and elves, Irdon took to the field against the combined might of the Emperor and his vassals on the eastern shores of the great lake Kournas. Never before had such a clash of wills been seen in Sanctuary, the sheer scale of the battle was unprecedented. The fight lasted the entire day, from sunrise to sundown men and beasts slaughtered each other relentlessly. The emperor directed his forces from a tall grassy knoll, moving warriors as you would pieces on a chess table. Irdon jumped off Haakon to bolster a failing flank while the gold dragon wrestled with Sercusious, an ancient Red Dragon dominated by the Emperor. Haakon was winning that fight but their struggle was deadly to all around them. As they tumbled across the battlefield people made space where they could or got trampled and roasted.
As the day reached its zenith Irdon could feel victory within his grasp. The quality of his men and the divine vitality he instilled upon them gave them the edge in a protracted struggle. His foe was getting tired and no amount of mind magic could force a servant past it’s physical limits. He called his most loyal retainers to his side and started cutting a swath through the Emperor’s personal bodyguard. Spells and swords flew in rapid succession. Fireballs exploded and men were disintegrated into ash. As Irdon made the final approach on the leader several walls of elemental force separated him from the Tyrant. With a cleaving swing of his divine blade he cut directly through the magics keeping them apart and advanced forward once more. Seeing his approach, the Protectors raised a triumphant cry as he final came face to face with the Emperor, but as he pulled back his blade to strike, he froze in place.
The Emperor stood completely still in front of him, arm outstretched towards Irdon clasping his staff of office in white knuckled fury. Paralyzed and unable to move, the mortal god called out to Haakon for assistance, who managed to free himself from the grasp of Sercusious long enough to unleash a wave of fire that broke the Emperor’s concentration. Finishing his wide arc Irdon cut his foe from shoulder to thigh, he moved to follow through with a final blow that would surely be the end of the Empire of Illumination, but he never got to finish that swing. An explosion of power rocked the landscape and knocked everyone present to their knees. First to rise was Haakon, who screamed in despair at the smoking crater surrounding the now broken body of the Emperor, still standing, and with no trace of Irdon.
The Emperor quickly retreated using the last life force of his dominated Dragon minion to protect him, but the damage was done. Haakon was mad with grief and rage, taking to the sky to pursue the fleeing figure. With their leader dead, his divine protection gone and their dragon ally leaving the field the People’s Protectors moral broke and the began to run. Having overextended in their attempts to reach the Emperor the army was surrounded and backed into a corner, pushed up against the shore of the great lake. Tired and bloodied as they were, the Imperial forces could smell victory at hand and pressed into the men and elves once more. They pushed, and pushed, and pushed until men were drowning in the lake. Some managed to swim to safety, but the army was broken and the battle was over.
Divine Intervention
With their army scattered and beaten the Twin Kings rushed to form another force, falling back on the slash and burn tactics of Hyapak The Tutor to delay the advance of the victorious Imperial army. Slowed by the adoption of hit and run tactics and with the tactical genius of the Emperor absent as he retreated to recover from his injuries the Kings bought valuable time to recover.
Two things saved the Union from eradication during that time, the first being the formation of the Council of Celestials and the second being the Kingdom of Alm rejoining the war.
Immediately after the death of Irdon an oracle by the name of Gascoigne appeared in the capital of Lekàni. He informed the people what had transpired but preached a message of hope. He prophesized that the gods had taken the mortal’s sacrifice to heart and wouldn’t stand idle in this conflict any longer. He preached and prayed for guidance for three days and nights straight, bringing the word of the formation of the Council of Celestials to the people.
Unsure about the validity of this man's claims, the Kings nonetheless seized upon the kernel of hope created by this preacher when word arrived of what had happened at the battle. They used that hope to recruit and raise an army of volunteers in a startling amount of time. The People’s Protectors were disbanded and renamed the Star Shields. The surviving members of Irdon’s army were named the Star Swords and they were tasked with training the fresh recruits, inspiring them with miracles. Their connection with Irdon had been severed, so they pledged service to the newly formed Council vowed again to protect and serve.
The Struggle to Rejoin the Union
It had been three years since the war began, three years of complete isolation and constant fighting for the Kingdom of Alm. In the first war they had held their mountain homes for decades under assault by masses of slave legions, but this time was different. This time the empire arrived with experienced and specialized underground fighters. They brought everything from trap making Kobolds to burrowing purple worms. They were led by Duergar taskmasters and supported by stone shaping Moroks. The Moroks were especially dangerous. They were beast-headed humanoids that were well coordinated and could operate independently. They had a unique physiology that allowed them to consume rocks for sustenance which would also gradually turn their body to stone as it aged or was damaged. To this day there are some tunnels being discovered in the Radiant Peaks full of Morok’s that are immortalized as statues, having run afoul of a toxic gas leak or some other deadly hazard.
The Almian Honored Undead fought tirelessly for years, but it wasn’t enough to save Teifar Hald, the deepest and furthest hold from the capital. The city was lost with all residents, and has never been recovered. Its location is honeycombed with monster lairs, ancient dungeons and restless spirits.
Things were looking grim for the Kingdom of Alm until the phantom assassin known as Jax the Silent eliminated the duergar’s leader, Tutor Maalik. With the Emperors retreat following the Battle of Blood Shore and the death of their immediate superior the coordination of the assaults upon their holds became fractured and disjointed. Their enemies stopped receiving reinforcements as the emperor consolidated his forces, allowing the dwarves to breach the surface of the Draught Top Sierra for the first time in years. This brief relief of pressure was the opportunity the Union needed to reunite their forces for the first time since the war started.
The sallying dwarves pincered the remaining Imperial forces trying to press the advantage of their win at Bloody Shore between themselves and the freshly recruited crusaders of the star shields. With that force defeated the dwarves could once again arm their allies with reliable steel and they made their way towards the Emperor’s hold in the Dark Forest.
A Final Blow
The war at sea continued. Commander Cornelius became Admiral Cornelius, his brilliant tactics and stratagems are still studied to this day. Victory Square, the massive celebratory memorial plaza in Port Refuge hosts his likeness front and center, for good reason. If not for his consistent victories against overwhelming odds the war could easily have gone differently. Because of his efforts the Kings could focus their forces on trying to break the Imperial army.
Freshly armed with dwarven steel and armored in the faith of their new celestial patron the armies of the Union, now colloquially known as the Union of Mortals, advanced to slay the god-killer. They were to be disappointed, however, as the Emperor had already left Sanctuary altogether. His wounds had been grave and his recovery difficult, so he had made the decision to leave the war in the hands of his Enlightened and left to return from whence he came.
Without the supervision of the Emperor petty squabbles and infighting within the ranks of the different armies hamstrung their effectiveness. The Union forces discovered they could weaponize this weakness and started picking the remaining forces apart piece by piece.
The Second War for Survival ended in 220 A.U. at the Battle of Glowing Fenn, where the remaining combined forces of the Empire were struck down and sent to limp back into Ashenhall through the Dark Forest.
The Grand Recovery 221 A.U. To 336 A.U.
Following the war there was a great fear that the Empire would return in force a third time. Forts were built, lands were reclaimed and reseeded, many smaller punitive strikes were thwarted by vigilant defenders. The navy continued to excel and would expand the Union’s influence along the coast and into the Pearl Archipelago. A series of watchtowers was built and manned along the Crimson Spikes to provide forewarning of another Imperial invasion. The Mage Corp was added to the Combined Armed Forces, evocation and abjuration specialists that could integrate with the military and provide necessary magical protection and firepower.
The Church of the Council was established, the Union of Mortals formalized and the Dyadra Kingdom becomes one nation united under the stars within its capital of Miletus. The first Colleges of Magic are formed and the royal road is constructed stretching from Port Refuge in the south to the underground Almian Capital of Zentral in the north west.
The “Shadow Maw” is formed. A state-sponsored counter espionage organization that focuses on eliminating threats to the Union before they become threats. They also facilitated the removal of encroaching slavers from the Ashenhall border.
Pirate and Privateer activity is rampant in the Pearl Archipelago as the Union and Imperial navies fight for control of the many islands and resources within the chain. The Imperials have adopted the square-rigged sailing method and are becoming much more competent seamen, the majority of their ships are made in Ashenvale, however, and the Union actually outnumbers them for once.
With most conflict happening at sea, it’s decided there is a necessity for the formation of a specialized branch of the military that provides garrisons and boarding troops specialized in marine warfare. The Sea Dragons are formed to be the fighting force transported by the experienced seamen of the Union’s Navy. Their training regime is rigorous and only the most elite soldiers are recruited into the Dragons. With their formation and the establishment of the Mage Corp the Union Combined Armed Forces are founded.
Having survived the Battle of Bloody Shore Haakon formed the Alliance of Alloy, a collection of metallic dragons united to combat the evils of the Empire and chromatic dragons.
This Era ended with the early death of King Fenian, suspected to be by assassination due to an imperial spy.
The War of the Bead 336 A.U. to 342 A.U.
The freshly anointed elf King Anoitos was a pious man heavily devoted to worship, divination, and fortune telling. Before a new twin prince is crowned the greatest soothsayers and diviners in Sanctuary would convene to discuss who next would bear the heavy weight of office. They would deliberate in seclusion for weeks upon their holy mountaintop retreat, as was tradition, and swore an oath so that any of what was said inside council could never be discussed afterwards. We cannot know why this collection of sages and oracles chose such an incompetent, self-absorbed, ignorant simpleton for the role of King, but the consequences were immediate.
His fellow twin ruler at that time was King Onas the Second, who reportedly could not stand the other’s presence and spent a great deal of his time compensating for the others failing. Under Anoitos’ supervision rifts were forming in the Union’s Cohesion. The Kingdom of Alm had always been given autonomy when it came to law making, and had its own ruling elite. They were a member of the United Congress, but were treated as their own separate nation. Anoitos’ took umbrage with that and spent a great deal of time either being condescending to the dwarves, condemning their lifestyles and culture, or directly interfering with their internal affairs in the name of the Union.
During his reign the Satyr tribes of the Noxwood, which had to this point been reclusive and isolationist, began to try and make contact with the Dyadra. There could not have been a more inopportune time. Anoitos’ skills as a diplomat were so catastrophic and offensive that the Satyrs declared open war upon the Kingdom.
The war involved a series of large-scale raids into the farming province of Synoro. Tribes would strike from the cover of the great forest, pillage, burn, and retreat before the Star Shields could respond. Locals knew the futility of trying to fight Satyrs in their forest home, but Anoitos was enraged by the cowardly tactics of his elusive enemy. He demanded a force go into the woods and retaliate. When he ordered the general of his forces to do so, the man coldly refused and retired on the spot. Infuriated by his insubordination the petulant man marched the army himself into the trees.
The native tribes allowed him into the space, quietly stalking an army of thousands of men as if it were an animal. They pushed deep into the forest but met little to no resistance, and slowly but surely the army began to get lost. Under the darkness of that canopy, they became fully surrounded by a massive number of foes. The Battle of Skullfire Ridge ended the short war with the ambush, capture, and execution of the King by the combined might of hundreds of Satyr clans. Not a single Union soldier survived.
The Golden Era 343A.U. to 604 A.U.
Despite the loss of so much life, and the need to patrol the Noxwood border for centuries after the confict, the death of King Anoitos could very well be the best thing that could have happened to the Union. Fearing the worst-case scenario of another Elf like Anoitos being selected to replace him, King Onas the Second instituted new laws concerning the line of succession, with the full support of the Union Congress. No longer would there be a king that could outlive all his co-rulers, if one king passed then the other would be forced to resign, and both kings would need to be of half-elven blood. The decision making council from then on would also have to involve the Union Congress in their selection process, with the Congress presenting several possible candidates and the council choosing the most suited.
As soon as Onas’ laws were caste he resigned his throne, leading by example after the death of his Twin. The next kings proved to be two of the most skilled statesmen in Union history. King Andras and King Vasalikos were lovers, and started the tradition of the Twin Kings living within the same city. They constructed the royal palace of Miletus during their reign. Under their supervision the fractured bonds with Alm were mended, trade began flowing with the Noxwood tribes, fortified ports were established in the pearl archipelago and friendly relations were established with the Goliath clans of the Radiant Peaks. It was a time of booming trade and fantastic culture.
Seeking to tap into the untouched resources of Crescent Wildlands, a fleet of settlers established the port town of Protaiosi on the eastern coast across the Great Divide. The settlement was supported with frequent supplies from the Royal Navy and a substantial Star Guard garrison was landed to protect the citizens from the Wildlands many beasts. The town became a major shipbuilding and repair hub for those braving the northern shores of the crescent. Lighthouses and watchtowers were constructed all along both coasts, with special attention given to the areas leading out of the Emerald Coast of Ashenhall.
The Kings lived a long and prosperous life, serving for nearly a hundred and fifty years before Vasalikos passed in his sleep. Kings Defteros and Yio had some big shoes to fill when they took up the mantle, and while they may not have reached the grand peaks of their predecessors, they did an admirable job solidifying the Union’s power base.
The Golden Era ended with the return of the Luminous Emperor and his Obsidian Fleet.
The Aroan Wars 605 A.U. to 690 A.U.
War on Sea
With his return the Empire brought massive ships. Their thick hardy hulls plated in iron towered over the smaller, more maneuverable union fleet. Their crews made up for their deficiencies in skill and initiative by virtue of being mounted on floating fortresses. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sheer number of hulls the Empire possessed again dwarfed what the Union could float. Learning from earlier conflicts the Emperor tasked a great deal of his ships with defending his supply lines, protecting his troop transports and cargo carriers that shuttled resources from the east, he would maintain those supply lines from Incanterra for the entirety of the war.
The Ironclad ships of the Obsidian fleet could also make the treacherous journey through the Great Crown Reef with some degree of regularity, a feat thought to be impossible. This allowed them to sail to Sanctuary from the west and threaten the Pearl Islands. The constant threat of an Imperial attack from the west kept the Royal Navy playing defense for much of the war. The massive naval batteries of Fort Petroko, situated on The Horn and armed with newly developed long range blackpowder cannonades proved able to deter the Obsidian fleet from circumventing the Union’s ground forces.
War on Land
Using his most plentiful resource, bodies, the Emperor launched a series of assaults upon them. For years every spring a new army would be knocking on Castle Fennian’s gates, pouring through the Dark Forest attempting to break into the mainland. Waves of slave warriors goaded into battle by “Enlightened” taskmasters could not compete with the elite and well entrenched Union Combined Arms Forces. The union armies traded men at a ten to one ratio but there seemed no end to the slaughter.
Haakon and his Alliance of Alloy patrolled the skies and stymied many an attempted incursion by hostile dragons and stealthy raiders. It was under his suggestion that the Kings went to the Goliaths of the Radiant Peaks and beseeched them for aid, requesting their knowledge in the breeding and training of griffons as mounts. With the endorsement of Haakon and a treatise solidifying Goliath independence the proud mountain people taught the Union their secrets. The kings immediately dedicated a massive amount of manpower and resources to developing this resource.
War in the Air
In a matter of three short years the Union had a collection of their own flying soldiers. They named the group the Sky Lances, knights mounted on griffons. They could assault ships near the coast, dropping large stones from great heights to target the unarmored decks of the big ponderous ships. They could scout troop movements miles ahead of an advancing army and strike key tactical targets deep behind enemy lines without fear of reprisal.
The empire tried to retaliate with flying creatures of their own such as wyverns, but they were slow to adapt, difficult to transport across the vast ocean, and hard to direct with mind control without risking a Tutor as a rider. Under the supervision of Haakon and his metalic dragons the Union maintained complete control over the skies.
The advantage the Lances provided was to be one of the largest factors leading to victory in the war.
War Underground
Frustrated by his lack of progress the Emperor used any tactic he felt could produce results. He had a massive fleet sail around the crescent to assault the Union from the north, but poor weather and the watchtower network of the coastal lighthouses crippled his ships and removed the element of surprise. He tried to burn the Dark Wood and set a blaze that he hoped would spread West through Limnithes, but all that accomplished was more dead slaves as the winds turned eastward.
His greatest endeavor was to forge a path through the Crimson Spikes. The mountains were studded with watchtowers, patrolled by Sky Lancers, and had very few natural passageways that could accommodate an army, so he attempted to dig a massive tunnel underneath. For years he set thousands of slaves and all of his many Morok Stoneshapers to the task, only to be met time and again by counter mining teams of Almian Deathwardens and Honored Undead. They would cripple the operations by targeting Tutors, Taskmasters, and Stoneshapers before retreating and collapsing both tunnels. The fighting was fierce and many lives were lost under rubble but few can compare to an Almian strike force underground and the Emperors efforts were once again Stymied.
The Decisive Stroke
The Combined Armed Forces worked for years to build a critical mass of troops, ships and griffons. They developed larger ships of their own armed with cannons to penetrate the plated hulls of their foes. They made siege engines that could bring down a city wall from a distance unreachable by their enemies. They researched new powerful magics and trained in anti-caster tactics at every stage. Protective wards and curses were constructed to repel mind control and enchantment. When the first batch of massive roost ships were finished, ocean faring nests for the Sky Lances, the time had finally come to launch an all-out assault against Ashenhall and the Luminous Emperor.
With the successful misdirection of the Shadow Maw, the Emperors spies believed the fleet launched heading west, under the direction to reclaim one of the heavily reinforced Island fortresses lost to the Empire. It wasn’t until the ships were under way that they turned hard south and received their true objective, to sail around The Horn and land on the Southern Emerald Coast.
The marine assaults were a resounding success. The main Imperial forces were focused in the northwest and a swath of treacherous jungles and swamps hindered their response. The two largest southern ports were taken immediately, almost without resistance as the populace welcomed their liberators. The people of Ashenhall had been waiting for an opportunity to strike at their oppressors, rebellions and riots ran rampant.
The retaliation of the Ashenhall people against the Imperial Taskmasters was brutal and vicious, fueled by years of seething hatred. The UCAF had to take the unenviable position of protecting the imperial populace of the ports they captured, as public lynching's and revenge fueled riots threatened to tear the cities apart. They tried to direct the peoples anger towards the ruling elites and soldiers of the Emperor but nevertheless many citizens were killed in cruel and graphic ways.
Seeing how the occupation threatened to stop the Campaign in its tracks while the Emperor was on the back foot the generals of the UCAF decided they could no longer interfere and left the cities to their own devices, turning a blind eye to the atrocities being committed.
The Blue Ribbon Rebellion
The Emperor was losing the war now, but he was far from finished. Hundreds of years of entrenched Imperial culture kept the populace cowed as he moved to the eastern port city of Avtaren. The people became emboldened, however, when he pulled his armies back to defend his remaining holds. All throughout Ashenhall occupying garrisons were stretched thin, and with the news of liberation in the south people began to fight back. Small conflicts in isolated areas became larger movements that spread like wildfire. Shadow Maw sleeper agents armed revolts with hidden weapon caches, men and women tied blue strips of cloth to their arms to declare their allegiance and fighting erupted throughout the entire region.
Fort Yakor fell, historically the bridgehead into Ashenhall and seat of the Emperor for years. The man leading the attack was a dragonborn slave by the name of Kazus, he was a mighty warrior that had lived his life in the fighting pits of the fort. He and his gladiators tore through the occupying garrison and opened the gates for Union occupation. As a clear figurehead Kazus was a rallying point for all the salves of Ashenhall, he called for the people to rise up and strike their oppressors, to live in fear no longer. He formed an army of likeminded individuals around himself rapidly and marched on the remaining Imperial settlements. The union quartermasters rushed to support his troops with weapons and supplies, finding an unexpected force rivaling the size of their own advancing against the Emperor.
The Empire Expelled
Surrounded on all sides from land the siege of Avtaren took years. The city was massive to begin with, and had been bolstered by all of the Emperor’s forces in Ashenhall. Located on the cliffside leading up to the Draught Top Seira with a narrow land bridge separating the inner keep from the mainland, its defenses were formidable. Supplies could still reach the city from the Obsidian fleet, which had adopted massive ballistae capable of threatening the Sky Lances. The city would lift whatever it needed off of the boats with its massive cranes that reached down the sheer rocky cliff face.
Unwilling to wait for siege engines from the Union to make their way through the bogs, the Blue Ribbon Army led assault after assault upon the sturdy walls to little avail. Dwarven sappers created several breaks in the defenses over that time, and several close assaults were narrowly repelled.
It wasn’t until the arrival of the second wave of roost ships and cannon equipped men-o-war that the Empire was in truly dire straits. With the navy cutting off their supplies and ammunition running low, the final breach of the outer walls happened in the spring of 690 A.U.
The defenders were slaughtered as the besiegers pushed them into the inner keep, men fell to their deaths by the hundreds as they tried to swarm across the narrow bridge. For their troubles they arrived to find the portcullis closed and the door locked and barred, the Emperor had abandoned them to their fate.
After dispatching the remaining men the Union Generals and Kazus deliberated how they would proceed with capturing the isolated inner keep, ending the Luminous Emperor’s reign once and for all. It wasn’t long before the decision was made for them, however, as a mighty earthquake struck the land and the cliffs of the inner keep began to pull back away from the shore. The small bridge of stone connecting it to Sanctuary snapped and the keep began floating away to the east.
The navy attempted to pursue, but to interfere with the gently floating keep invited death. The Morok Stoneshapers moving the mass of rock were too busy concentrating to be a threat, but the Emperor stood aloft it’s battlements and would smite anyone that came within range, friend or foe.
With the retreat of the Empire and the reclamation of Ashenhall Sanctuary entered the Modern Era.
Modern Era 690 A.U. to Present, 715A.U.
Shortly after the war ended the Twin Kings Zylred and Iarven were crowned. The Free People’s Republic was formed and joined the Union of Mortals. Ashenhall was renamed as Deliverance, along with many other cities within the region.
A few years ago daily storms came to render travel around the crescent practically impossible. Those waters had always been treacherous but the frequency and voracity of the weather was unlike ever before. Any further settlement into the Crescent by sea was deemed too dangerous and Protaiosi became isolated. The town has since been lost due to unknown causes.
This is now a time of peace, and the twin monarchs of the Dyadra Kingdom have created an open commission to encourage the growth and expansion of the Union into the Crescent.
