Geography and Climate
Ávra is a world of two ages, pre- and post-Shatter.
Pre-Shatter
Before the Shatter, the world was covered almost entirely in water, with a gigantic singular landmass known as "The Greenlands". During this age, the lands were lush and fertile, the waters clean and pure. The many flora and fauna of Ávra first grew and evoloved in this paradise, thriving. The Firmament, the barrier between the realm of Ávra and the realm of The Old Gods, was still strong and kept the two realms distinctly seperate. Overall, the Greenlands are a singular temperate biome, experiencing agreeable weather year round.
Post Shatter
After the Shatter, Ávra experienced massive changes to its structure and biomes. The once great landmass was torn apart into four disctinct continents, each with differeing levels of destruction to their lands, based on their exposure to the shatter of The Firmament. The post Shatter world of Ávra is less abundant in natural resources, and has more distinct biomes than before. Deserts, mountaint ranges, frozen tundras and great forests dot the continents, with some biomes experiencing more varied seasons than others.
HISTORY
Pre-History
In time immemorial, all the sentient races, calling themselves "The People", lived in harmony in the lush and bounteous continent known as The Greenlands. For thousands of years, The People did not know of war and strife, the world was a literal Eden. Famine and hunger, malice and malcontent, none of these existed for eons.
The People worshiped The Old Gods during this time, celestial beings that resided in the Firmament, a mystical semi corporeal aura that surrounded The World. While The People could literally see their deities going about their lives in the Firmament, Due to their semi corporeal nature, The Old Gods appeared as beings of Light and splendor, showering The World in what became known as Aura.
For their part, The Old Gods did not directly interfere or seem to notice The People of The World, but their Auras did occasionally 'leak' into the corporeal plane, interacting with The People and The World. Eventually The People understood that the aura of particular Old Gods would interact specifically with The World. These auras provided for differing needs and considered them divine interventions. There was a God who brought rain, another would provide the changing of seasons, one would bring great wealth to share among The People and so on.
The People lived in this symbiosis for thousands of years, the different sentient species intermingling as far as natural biology would allow.
War of the Old Gods
Unknown to The People of The World, dissention was brewing among factions of The Old Gods, as some vied for more power among their ranks. This war would have devastating consequences for The World and ultimately The People of The World.
As Gods die in the war and others stop utilizing their Auras as frequently, less and less of The Old Gods Auras seeps into The World via the Firmament. The Greenlands begin to slowly wither and die, as the Old Gods become wrapped up in their petty war and darkness begins to take the land. The People begin to despair as resources become more sparse every passing year. Eventually, whether by subtle influence from The Old Gods war leaking through to The World or was simply in The Peoples nature when exposed to suffering and hardship, The People begin to experience their own squabbles and battles over what little is left of The Greenlands. This building strife lasts for multiple decades, as The Old Gods war reaches its peak and works towards its finale. The People are only able to watch helplessly as those they worship battle in the heavens above.
The Shatter
The Old Gods war eventually slows as their numbers dwindle, until there are only four of The Old Gods left in The Firmament. These gods known to The People as Valkyrie (The Goddess of Strength), Brandish (God of Peace), Fell (God of Chaos and Brandish's brother) and Cragg (God of Bounty and Wealth).
The final battle between The Gods sees Brandish and Fell allied in their fight against the greed of Cragg and the hostility of Valkyrie. They attack Valkyrie first, their combined forces enough to bring her down. The brothers blows are so powerful against her shield, they are able to break the Firmament beneath her causing her to slip into the corporeal world. She falls from the Firmament to her death, impacting The World with force enough to rend the land beneath her, shield raised eternally as nature takes her and she becomes part of The World itself.
Finally able to see through the now-broken Firmament, how their war has effected The World below them, Brandish is aghast at what has transpired. He pleads with Cragg to join them and use his powers of Bounty and Wealth to remake the world they had inadvertently forsaken. Cragg agrees, but to Brandishes horror, Fell swiftly beheads Cragg before he can acquiesce. You see, the brothers were passively linked: Brandish's peace keeping Fell's chaos in check and Fell's chaos keeping Brandishes peace from causing stagnation. In the small moment of distraction that Brandish was in sorrow for what The Old Gods had done to The World, Fell had succumbed in full to his chaos.
Fell skewers Craggs head on his sword and holds it high, gloating of his act, as Brandish falls to his knees. Fell casts the head and sword to The World below, where the natural flow of time eventually takes it into The World and Cragg becomes a part of the lands he once cared for. Brandish pleads for Fell to come to his senses as Fell rushes him to strike.
The People watch in horror, as the final image of The Old Gods they see is the blade plunging towards Brandish. Brandish suddenly lunges toward Fell, his sword ready to strike. Both brothers land their blows simultaneously as a flash of brilliant light fills the Firmament. As the Firmament burns, the Greenlands begin to shift, tearing themselves asunder. The once prosperous lands the people inhabit begins to shatter, over decades it slowly withers, floods and tears apart. The old gods are no longer in the skies, and the lands below lay broken.
The Great Migration
The People, no longer able to sustain on the broken remains of The Greenlands, begin a migration east. Disparate tribes, no longer the one united group, begin to settle as they migrate. The migratory group dwindles as more and more fall off, settling into new lands. Eventually they begin to flourish in these new lands, unaware that the essence of Aura left behind from the two Old Gods buried in The World serve the same purpose they did long ago. The grounds to the east of the new newly christened Shatterlands are bountiful and offer more than enough for these now disparate tribes of Peoples to flourish and begin rebuilding their once broken society into many flourishing new societies.
As eons pass, The Greenlands pass into myth and legend. The Old Gods pass into memory, then myth and are eventually forgotten to the passing of time. The only proof left of their existence are burned into the very lands of The World: Shieldmaidens Riverlands, The Lakes of Brothers Landing and the Island of Brittlesword. Eventually The People no longer remember what caused The Shatter, as The Great Migration (as it becomes known), is the oldest written history left to The People of The World
The Current Era
In the current age there are no wars between the distinct cultures and countries, but the alliances are uneasy, as ancient grudges remain. Each culture blames the other for the shatter, no longer remembering the wars of the old gods, their deep seated subtle cultural bigotry built from the religions and governments of the post Migration world. While there is no open hostilities, borders are protected and firm in this World, and distrust of other nations undercurrents all politics.
Some countries are more advanced than others, due in part to geography. While basic technologies are shared on a global market between countries, many technologies unique to these cultures are kept guarded secrets for the benefit of their peoples alone.
The People are still an intermingled group, no one country being run/ruled by a specific species or race over another. This being said, there is still pockets and areas predominantly settled by one species or race over another. As the epochs of World History have trudged on, the lines between species and races has blurred. Most People are of mixed blood of some sort, and there are very few of pure bloodlines left. Due to this, cross species bigotry is rare, while interspecies bigotry does exist (ie, pure vs mixed blood, etc.).
The Aura absorbed by The World during the final days of the War of the Old Gods has permeated the very planet, enabling magic to be used by The People. There are mysterious places in The World still tethered to what's left of the firmament, where Aura springs forth in higher concentrations and boost magical abilities such as The Reliquary at the center of Reliquaries Landing in Dunnywild.
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