World History

The Astrological Calendar of Amalthea begins at 01/01/01 A.L. (After Light). Events before this date are indicated as B.L. (Before Light). The current year is the 24th year of the Third Darkness, or 5024 A.L.   The history of Amalthea is marked by the rise and fall of magic, which has a cycle of almost exactly 1000 years since 0 A.L. Thus, each age in the Astrological Calendar is 1000 years. An Age of Darkness is a period of low magic, reaching a minimum at the midpoint of the Age before rising again. An Age of Light is one of high magic, reaching a maximum at the midpoint before falling again. More than any other natural or supernatural phenomenon, this cycle has determined the history of Amalthea as a whole.  

Table of Contents

• Prehistory
• The Sundering of Selara and the Long Dark
• The First Light
• The First Darkness
• The Second Light
• The Second Darkness
• The Third Light
• The Third Darkness

 

Prehistory (unknown to ~5000 B.L.)

For millions of years, life on Amalthea was simple. Flora and fauna covered the planet, from its steaming tropics, to its frigid poles. Magic flowed to Amalthea from the Celestial Source of Selara through each of the Spiritual Planes, shaping the world’s geography and biology, creating the first magical beasts. Yet while Outsider souls brimmed with creativity and ambition in the Spiritual Planes, on the Material Plane, all thrived on instinct alone, untouched by intelligence. It is said that once the Elder Gods recovered from their labors in creating Amalthea, they grew dissatisfied with its aimless primality. Collectively, they set to the task of creating sapient children to represent them in their new world. And thus various races of intelligent creatures awakened from the throngs of unthinking beasts, and gazed upon their world with awe and wonder.   Archaeological records show several primitive civilizations from this period, developing independently of each other, but eventually coming into contact in the millennia to come. Giants arose in the northeastern region of Paracia, now known as Luir Brennath. Dragons soared over what would become modern day Valdoro. Nagas began building their labyrinthine citadels in the jungles that would eventually become Talandra. Meanwhile, the first records of dwarves appeared in the Spine of the World, orcs settled some of the harshest lands of the planet, and humans formed the first clans on the Kuma Marches. Across the Pale Sea, the first elves came to sapience on the continent of Naru Daeva. Stranger races are believed to have evolved on the continent that would become the Cerlanian Isles, but no records remain of any of them.   It was commonly believed that all sapient races of this time were immortal. The giants, dragons, and nagas had undying bodies that could not perish from old age. But even the races now commonly thought of as mortal, such as humans and dwarves, did not stay dead. Vanthus, yet uncorrupted, ruled over a realm called Sidereum, where the weary souls of the dead can rest and wash clean of their memories before returning to the land of the living as infants.    

The Sundering of Selara and the Long Dark (~5000 B.L. to 0 A.L)

A great disaster struck all of Amalthea, called the Sundering of Selara. Its effects on the world were so significant that despite the lack of written records, myths and legends still speak of it today. According to myths, Vanthus was corrupted by the Far Realms and slew his mother, the creator goddess Selara, shattering her into countless pieces, and scattered her fragments all over the Celestial Source and the Material Plane, changing these planes forever. The fragments of Selara that fell to the Celestial Source came to life as Archfey, and with their influence, the Celestial Source transformed into the primal realm of the Feywild, where nature and emotion rule supreme. The creation of the Feywild led to the emergence of fey races: beastfolk, gnomes, and goblins.   Those that fell to the Material Plane, meanwhile, mostly struck the continents of Cerlania and Naru Daeva. Cerlania’s very landmass was shattered into islands, many of which float in defiance of gravity. The apocalyptic change in geography destroyed all traces of prior civilizations, but thanks to the life-giving influence of Selara’s shards, which themselves grew into colossal beasts called Kaiju, the new islands became hospitable to life again. They were soon colonized by humans and halflings from Paracia and beastfolk from the newly formed Feywild, who inhabit these islands to this day.   Not much is known of what occurred on Naru Daeva, although many speculate that the falling fragments pierced the veil between the Material and the Aether, putting the continent in closer proximity to the Astral Plane than anywhere else. In addition, an ethereal mist befell the Pale Sea, cutting Naru Daeva off from the rest of the world in space and (according to some) also in time. This would have profound consequences on the elven culture that developed in isolation from other Amalthean humanoids.   The effects of the Sundering of Selara is not just geographical. For inexplicable reasons, the flow of magic from the Spiritual Planes was disrupted. Archaeological records show a prolonged age of low magic called the Long Dark. Little is known of this period, except that most of the prehistoric civilizations fell back to primitivism, and only recovered during the First Light.    

The First Light (1 A.L. to 1000 A.L.)

During the First Light, much of Paracia was defined by powerful empires ruled by immortal beings gifted with innate primal magic. Most of these beings considered themselves inherently superior to common humanoids, and treated Paracia’s native mortals as slaves and beasts. Elsewhere, mortals themselves achieved great heights of civilization. Some, such as the elves of Naru Daeva, even managed to gain immortality.    

Giants and the Exalted Empire (unknown to ~1100 A.L.)

The Exalted Empire of giants came to dominate most of modern day Luir Brennath and Velthiria. All immortal giants were blessed with potent magic and enormous size. Armed with immense power, they built shining metropolises of crystal and gold, and used intricate systems of enchantments to raise them far above the earth.   The ancient giants believed they were created directly by the Elder Gods, and had a strict caste system based on the power and importance of the god that created them. The highest castes, in order, were the sun giants, moon giants, storm giants, and cloud giants. Fire and frost giants made up the middle castes, and the rest were relegated to lower castes. Below this caste system were the naturally evolved humanoids who lived in the Exalted Empire’s shadows, whom the giants considered non-sapient animals, as they believed that only immortal, created beings had souls. While the Spine of the World protected the mortals of western Paracia, the orcs, beastfolk, and forest-dwelling humans of the east weren't so lucky. What records survived of the giants’ treatment of these mortals were harrowing: they were enslaved for labor unworthy of the even the lowest caste, abused cruelly for entertainment, and experimented on to advance giant medicine as well as to create fleshwarped chimeras such as centaurs, harpies, and lamias. Some historians even believe that giants consumed humanoid flesh as a delicacy.    

The Dragons of Valdoro (unknown to ~1600 A.L.)

South of the Exalted Empire, dragons were the undisputed masters of Valdoro. Dragons were proud and superhumanly intelligent, but also displayed tumultuous emotional instincts in the presence of their own kind. Dragons who crossed paths were often driven to fight or form powerful mating-bonds as means of acquiring or merging their territories. As a result, no unified empire of dragons was built. Instead, Valdoro was divided into thousands of independent draconic territories. A dragon’s size depended on its territory, as it could only grow larger with sufficient material essence gathered passively through territorial control. This in turn meant that the largest dragons ruled massive territories for centuries at a time, until they were slain by a rival; while smaller dragons struggled to keep even a few acres of land.   Powerful dragons mostly ignored the humanoids that inhabited Valdoro, occasionally hunting them for food if better prey wasn't found. Smaller dragons, meanwhile, took humanoid tribes under their wing as pets and servants, and soon discovered that the wealth these lesser creatures gathered for them allowed them to grow larger just as territory did. Either way, dragons did not see mortals as any competition to their supremacy. The giants of the Exalted Empire were by far their greatest enemy, and the Dragonmoot was established in modern day Cossina for the sole purpose of putting aside differences to combat the giant threat. Battle often broke out between giants and dragons at the border of their territories, with neither side gaining an advantage for long.    

The Serpent Tribes of Talandra (unknown to ~1300 A.L.)

While northwestern Paracia was shielded from immortal subjugation, the jungles of the southwest were home to mysterious, serpentine nagas of unknown origin. Scholars propose that they are the aberrant spawn of a yet unknown Great Old One, but such theories are considered heresy in most of modern Talandra, where nagas are believed quasi-divine to this day.   Nagas proved the most alien, yet least tyrannical of the immortals, preferring to set themselves up as tribal deities and teach mortals magic in exchange for worship and service. These beings otherwise stayed in their labyrinthine temple-citadels and interfered little with how mortals governed themselves, only occasionally demanding their followers slay a monster as sacrifice, or embark on a quest for some ritual object. This isn't to say that nagas were universally benevolent. While some legitimately cared for the mortals in their charge and protected them from natural and supernatural threats, others seemed interested only in spreading their knowledge of dark magic. Yet other nagas preferred to roam the jungles in solitude, and were largely left alone by mortal tribes, unless targeted for sacrifice by a rival naga.    

Pristine Civilizations

Several other civilizations arose during this time without the influence of immortals. The Kuma clans of Northwestern Paracia began to develop their culture of song and horse-riding. The dwarves, escaping the depredations of giants, burrowed into the cavernous halls of the Spine of the World, where some remained to build a unique subterranean culture, while others continued through to the other side to mingle with humans in Narbovia. In the Cerlanian Isles, countless human, halfling, and beastfolk tribes formed diverse cultures connected by a strong sailing tradition. Further south, on the continent of Perora, planetouched shamans and philosophers made the first connection between their powers and the Spiritual Planes, eventually leading to the development of astrology and the faith of the Sublime Mechanism.    

Elves and the Undying Empire (~200 A.L to ~1500 A.L.)

The most prominent and isolated of these pristine civilizations was that of the elves, which arose on the Undying Lands of Naru Daeva. Exposure to the Astral Plane gave Naru Daeva a degree of timelessness, and soon the elves discovered the means to slow their aging to a stop shortly after reaching adulthood. In addition, Astral influence significantly amplified their connection with the Spiritual Planes and beyond, facilitating the development of magic during an age of Light.   Throughout the Long Dark, the elves lived as warring tribes of barbarians, their immortal lives frequently cut short by violence. With the influx of magic in the First Light, a cult devoted equally to the Elder Gods and the Great Old Ones rapidly swept across the continent with overwhelming force, uniting the elves into a theocratic, feudal empire under their rule. The Undying Empire was a rigidly hierarchical society where a land-holding priesthood reigned supreme over commoners and slaves, and their culture was plagued by hedonistic excess and infighting. Yet thanks to qualities such as cunning, ambition, and magical aptitude being favored, the elves developed unparalleled sophistication in philosophy, warfare, and supernatural knowledge for their time. The Undying Empire came under the rule of Holy Emperor Silmaron for over a thousand years, the longest reign of any monarch in Amalthean history. To this day, “Silmaron” remains the Elvish word for emperor.   Throughout the Undying Empire’s history, many expeditions were made in an attempt to discover other continents, but none returned, as the Ethereal mists of the Pale Sea made conventional navigation all but impossible.    

The First Darkness (1001 A.L. to 2000 A.L)

As magic waned again, the immortal empires of the First Light lost their supremacy, with the giants and the elves especially suffering catastrophic collapse. Meanwhile, the nagas disappeared one by one as mysteriously as they arrived, and the dragons expanded their territories across the continent. Without the fierce competition they once had when confined to Valdoro, and the constant challenge of war with giants, most dragons simply stagnated. The Dragonmoot was abandoned, and the oldest wyrms grew so large that they could barely move, and fell into a slumber from which they would never awake. The mortals of Amalthea finally saw their chance to expand and flourish, becoming the dominant forces of the world.    

Skyfall (~1100 to ~1200 A.L.)

The failure of the enchantment systems holding the Exalted Empire aloft was predicted centuries ago by cyclopean oracles, but as the lowest caste of giants, their insight was overlooked by the upper caste rulers. Nevertheless, plenty of other low caste giants heeded these warnings and evacuated to places like Talandra and Sorenmark, where mortal populations of giantkin remain to this day. The loss of essential labor threw the upper and middle castes into turmoil, leading to the frost, fire and even some cloud giants to openly revolt against the ruling castes of sun, moon, and storm giants. Maintenance on the slowly failing magical systems became more and more sporadic, until it was not done at all.   The destruction of the Exalted Empire was nearly overnight. It started with the capital city, whose anti-gravity incantations finally gave out, and the metropolis crumbled and fell into the forests below. This triggered a cascade collapse in the remaining cities, and one by one they crashed. The vast majority of giants perished in the fall. Survivors were quickly picked off by vengeful mortals, with the help of young dragons from Valdoro who saw the perfect chance to strike a final blow against their hated rivals, and to expand their hoards and territories.   Within mere decades, any remnant of the Exalted Empire was gone. The only evidence of its existence was the ruins that litter Luir Brennath, as well as the occasional structure that yet floats, glimpsed in the skies above northeastern Paracia. The humans and orcs of Luir Brennath considered the forest a cursed graveyard haunted by the ghosts of evil demigods, so they retreated to the edges of the woods, where the humans settled the Brennathi coast and Velthiria, while the orcs settled Okkurn. Only beastfolk and a few dragons remained in the forest, where they battled the chimeras the giants left behind.    

Silmaron’s Death and the Elven Exodus (~1300 to ~1500 A.L.)

Across the Pale Sea, the assassination of Holy Emperor Silmaron by Prince Herumor threw the Undying Empire into complete chaos. Silmaron's lover and advisor Varylond immediately took the throne, and wedded Crown Princess Umerith to further consolidate his position. Prince Herumor, meanwhile, formed a rebellion against the new emperor. As remaining members of the imperial family and the priesthood each took a side, the Undying Empire erupted into a brutal civil war that lasted centuries. Each side resorted to increasingly horrific methods as magic declined to a nadir. Towards the tail ends of the conflict, huge numbers of slaves and prisoners of war were sacrificed for each battle to fuel the spellcasting of warpriests.   The war had no winning side, as Varylond and Umerith eventually resorted to summoning avatars of the Great Old Ones as a final act of desperation and spite. Eldritch chaos consumed the Empire, starting from the capital, spreading steadily over the next few months until the entire continent was doomed.   A sage named Laurelion was born amidst the civil war, and grew up to acquire a small following of dissidents. Laurelion proposed that, by treating faith as a means to power rather than a beacon of moral guidance, the Undying priesthood had directly caused the downfall of elven civilization. He further believed that magic should only be gained through logic and empiricism, and that to wield supernatural power without full understanding is sin. This philosophy sowed the seed for arcane magic, and history would remember Laurelion as Amalthea’s first wizard. Laurelion gathered as many of his followers as he could, and led them into the great unknown in search of salvation. Numbering roughly ten thousand elves, these refugees set sail for the Pale Sea before desolation could reach Naru Daeva’s western shores. Whether through determination or luck, they would eventually make landfall during the Second Light, after being lost at sea for many centuries.    

The Second Light (2001 A.L to 3000 A.L)

With the giants and nagas gone, and the dragons in decline, the Second Light was characterized by the rise of numerous great civilizations of mortals. Many of these civilizations would survive for millennia to come, becoming the modern nations of Amalthea.    

Talandra and the Elder Faith (~2000 A.L. to present)

As nagas gradually disappeared during the First Darkness, the humanoid tribes they guided settled into small kingdoms in the Talandran Jungle and the Gleaming Weald. The rich resources of these lush wilds became even more coveted when infused with the magic of a Light Age, and without the protection of nagas, the land soon became overrun with monsters. Low-caste giants, no longer blessed with the immortality of their perished betters, made their way here with legions of chimeric fleshwarps. Rifts to the Feywild brought not just beastfolk and gnomes, but aggressive magical beasts and dark fey as well. Oni and rakshasas, fiends born from the Sundering of Selara, also made their way from the Cerlanian Isles.   Many newborn humanoid kingdoms fell to monsters, driving the rest to form alliances of necessity. Yet the countless kings and queens, called rajas and ranis in Talandran, continued to bicker among themselves over petty differences. Several attempts at unifying this region were made during the Second Light by self-proclaimed Maharajas, each with little success at creating a unified Talandran identity. Nevertheless, the final consolidation attempt by Maharani Zashantra resulted in the founding of a complex yet self-consistent new religion called the Elder Faith, which united hundreds of tribal deities into a metaphysical network. The greatest yet most distant of them, the Elder Gods and the Archfey, sat at the top of this pantheon, while lesser cultural deities were sorted into categories, such as ascended heroes, empyreal lords, archfiends, or primordial elementals. The strength of the Elder Faith was that it accepted every god as truly divine regardless of power or purview, and actively integrated new religions into its framework. The Elder Faith soon spread to humanoids across all Paracia. Each culture kept its own pantheon, but travelers were taught to recognize and respect the gods of foreign peoples, as all gods have a place in the cosmos.    

Laurelion’s Landing and the Founding of Velthiria (2231 A.L.)

Time is variable on the Pale Sea, so it is debated how long Laurelion's fleet had sailed. All that can be confirmed was that when they made landfall at eastern Velthiria, centuries had passed for the rest of the world. Despite being far outnumbered by human natives, the elves possessed superior magic and technology, and thus had no trouble colonizing the entire island within years of settlement. In contrast to the relative equality of ship life, Velthirian society was structured in emulation of the Undying Empire, with an absolute monarch reigning over a noble caste of warrior-priests, who each ruled a fiefdom where commoners submitted completely in exchange for military protection. Slavery, however, was abolished during the Exodus, so even human serfs were granted a minimal amount of rights.   Laurelion never took the crown himself, content to remain a philosopher and scholarly advisor to monarchs, although he was given the right to proclaim law. As the spiritual leader of his people, Laurelion made the Elder Gods state religion, and forbade the worship of Great Old Ones on pain of death. Nearly a third of the elves disagreed, and exiled themselves to Luir Brennath on mainland Paracia, forming the wood elf and drow cultures that dwell there to this day. Another wave of self-imposed exile followed, as young elves born during the Exodus felt stifled by their elders’ return to rigid hierarchy, and grew restless on solid ground. These elves sailed away on the ships where they grew up and never came back, becoming the fiercely independent sea elves.   The shock of these schisms paled in comparison to what came next: the loss of immortality. The oldest of Laurelion’s followers soon grew wrinkled and frail and passed from the world. The magic of the Undying Lands was fading, and the young nation of Velthiria closed its borders in mourning almost as soon as it was founded. For the next few centuries, elven culture only spread to Paracia through exiles, who taught Paracians concepts such as feudalism and organized religion. Velthiria itself would not come out of isolation until Sybil’s crusade.    

Valarius the Dragonlord and the Valdoran Empire (~2300 A.L. to ~3050 A.L)

Not all humans that survived the fall of the Exalted Empire came to shun the legacy of their former masters. The ancestors of Valdorans were the favored slaves and pets of the giants, who were privy to some of the immortals’ magic, and throughout the Second Darkness, they kept strong records of this knowledge despite their inability to apply it. They further believed that their subjugation by giants was a test sent by the Elder Gods which they had overcome, and they roamed southern Luir Brennath and Valdoro in search of signs of rewards from the gods. They were soon joined by dwarven explorers emerging from the Spine of the World, who were eager for the opportunity to form alliances and exchange knowledge.   This sign eventually came in the form of Valarius the Dragonlord. Despite their decline, dragons remained a constant threat in Valdoro, and didn’t take too kindly to humanoids infringing upon their territories unless they came in supplication. Whether through sheer charisma, giant incantations lost to time, or blessings from the Elder Gods, Valarius convinced five great dragons to make a pact with him and his bloodline. These dragons would each treat a province of Valarius’s empire as territory, gaining power and nourishment from its prosperity. In return, they lived among mortals as honored nobility while their draconic nature drove them to fiercely defend their hoards — which now included the mortals in their territory — against rivals.   When Dragonlord Valarius died, he named his eldest son Istarius as heir. However, all of his children inherited his pact with dragons, so that when the new Dragonlord demanded fealty from his siblings, he was met with militant resistance. The dragons themselves cared little for mortal politics, so long as a descendant of Valarius took the throne, and their prosperous territories were not damaged by civil war. And thus, a council of nobles and wealthy citizens was established in the capital city of Anchora Magna, tasked with electing the next Dragonlord from all eligible members of Valarius’s bloodline. A younger sister, Denetia, was named Dragonlord, and Istarius conceded graciously. This elective system would hold for centuries, until the Empire fragmented in the Second Darkness.    

The Second Darkness (3001 A.L. to 4000 A.L.)

The Second Darkness was marked by conflict, as the decline of magic drove mortal civilizations to expand and fight each other over resources, territory, and ideology. These were dark times, as alliances shifted often and unpredictably, and many great men and women were born and slain in the tides of war. Towards the nadir of this Dark Age, the insatiable need for magic drove mortals to hunt magical creatures of all kinds, driving many to extinction and more close to it. Populations of these creatures never recovered even over a thousand years later.    

The Founding of the Sybilite Church (3001 A.L. to 3064 A.L)

Perhaps no mortal would shape the modern culture of Amalthea more than the crusader Sybil, now known as the ascendant deity St. Sybil the Martyr.   By the Second Darkness, Valarius’ bloodline had died out, and the dragons withdrew their protection, leading the Dragonlords to pursue alternative, often amoral, means to personal power. Anchora Magna became the stronghold of the Elder Faith filled with grand cathedrals dedicated to thousands of deities, but no matter how many gods Valdorans prayed to, fewer and fewer answered. Thus the noble and privileged sought out more and more strange gods, and offered them increasingly exorbitant sacrifices in wealth and blood. Some also turned their eyes to Velthiria, repeatedly launching invasions in search of the legendary treasures of the elves. These mostly failed, but at increasing elven casualties.   Sybil was born a Brennathi slave in Anchora Magna, 3001 A.L., and was emancipated at age 16 to fend for herself with nothing to her name. She took easily to learning both magic and combat, and soon inspired plenty of similarly destitute people to take up arms against their cruel and uncaring rulers. Her first rebellion was brutally defeated, and she barely escaped with her life to the edge of Luir Brennath, where her tribal kinsfolk sheltered her and her followers.   Meanwhile, in Velthiria, most of the first settlers have died of old age, and each generation became shorter lived than the last. The elves also saw a decline in the births of magical scions, driving lesser houses to seek mates among human mages, further reducing the lifespan of their lineage. The isolated nation was devoted to curing mortality throughout the Second Light, but came to no solution. Laurelion, now gray and wizened, believed that Velthiria’s obsession with immortality shackled it to a past that no longer existed. The Valdoran threat was a wake up call; in order to regain their lost glory, he proclaimed, elves must look to the future, and come out of isolation to spread their values to the fledgling nations of younger races. This would prompt a final wave of self-imposed exile, as the most fervent seekers of immortality departed for the dark and gentle caverns of Lomea, where they remained unchanging to this day.   In his old age, Laurelion became a traveler again, exploring mainland Paracia in search of allies for his people. In Sybil he saw his own youth, and believed that the human nation of Valdoro was walking the same path of darkness as his fallen homeland. He took the young woman under his wing to tutor her in magic, philosophy, warfare, and statecraft. Under Laurelion’s guidance, Sybil received a vision of Selara: the All Mother, in her dying breath, called for mortal inheritors to carry out Her will to build a world of compassion and reason, to spread the worship of Her righteous children, and to cleanse Creation of evil.   Bolstered by divine revelation and Velthirian allies, Sybil’s second rebellion was a resounding success, culminating in the Battle of Anchora Magna in 3050 A.L, where heralds of the Elder Gods came to the Material Plane to clash against hordes of fiends, fey, and lesser dragons under Valdoran command. Sybil faced Dragonlord Asteres atop his red drake, sacrificed herself to ensure his death, and transcended from mortal to god. St. Sybil the Martyr inspired her followers to continue her crusade across all Paracia. While the elves of Luir Brennath held fast, the Gleaming Weald fell readily as its beastfolk natives either perished in its defense or fled to the Feywild. The Kuma Marches, Narbovia, and large swaths of Talandra were forced to convert. Laurelion became the first of St. Sybil’s Luminaries and established churches in her name, firmly believing that the world needed an organized religion that condemned the pursuit of power through esoteric magic in favor of the civilized values of order and morality. Nevertheless, he spent his final years attempting to curb the excesses of a violent crusade that he helped start. When he finally succumbed to old age in 3064 A.L., he too ascended, becoming St. Laurelion the Sage, the patron deity of Velthiria.   The epic of Sybil and Laurelion became one of the central myths of the Sybilite faith, constructed by historians as a legendary alliance of humans and elves to combat a great evil and bring moral order to a world on the brink of falling to darkness. Many heresies would also develop from this tale, chief among them the belief that Sybil and Laurelion were secretly wed and had living descendants. The half-elven Koss family that would come into prominence in the Third Light was the most frequent target of such rumors.    

The Talandra-Zaharrah Conflict (3252 A.L to 3320 A.L)

On the southern continent of Perora, several major civilizations flourished in the Second Light under the leadership of planetouched astrologians championing the Sublime Mechanism, the most influential of which being the theocracy of Zaharrah. Sublime Potentate Amaxes of Zaharrah, said to be directly chosen by the gods, feared that his supremacy was challenged by the spread of Sybilism in Paracia. In the winter of 3252 A.L., he launched an attack on the southern islands of Talandra, hoping to convert the remaining adherents of the Elder Faith to the Sublime Mechanism, and established the suzerainty of Qasala as a buffer state. In response, Maharaja Randalu, who ruled the eastern half of Talandra, converted to Sybilism in exchange for military aid from Valdoro and Velthiria.   A brutal three way war ensued, as Sybilite Templars clashed with the Zaharran Starcalled Legion, while warriors of the Elder Faith harassed both from the deep jungle. But during this war, something strange occurred: many Templars, Legionnaires, and even native defenders found their holy powers ineffective against each other. Each of these sacred warriors believed themselves a champion of good, fighting a righteous battle to defend the innocent from heretics and evil cultists. Instead, their superiors had sent them against brothers and sisters under the same gods. A truce was called by these warriors, and the religious hierarchies in Zaharrah and Anchora Magna were furious, declaring that any who refused to fight would be branded an apostate and sentenced to death. Mass desertions ensued, as Templars and Legionnaires alike joined the ranks of native defenders. What began as a glorious crusade faded into decades of guerilla warfare and witch hunts against traitors, until a peace agreement was signed between the Sublime Potentate and Archierophant Caelinus in 3320 A.L.   By this time, the Sybilite and Mechanist deserters have become the first true paladin chapter in Amalthea: an interfaith order of warriors dedicated to the protection of all people from violence and injustice, regardless of religion. Qasala gained independence and became the world's first and only paladin state. While the small nation would come under Talandran rule after only two decades, what it represented lives on in the popular imagination, and the deeds of the Sybilite Templars and Starcalled Legionnaires would inspire many more paladin chapters to split from both faiths.    

The Draconic Crusade (3420 A.L to 3745 A.L)

As the Second Darkness neared its nadir, the Sybilite Church saw its power fraying, as its clergy could no longer produce reliable miracles through faith alone. Archierophant Patientia, a relative of St Laurelion, had spent most of her life classifying the numerous magical creatures in the world. She concluded that, while magic became increasingly difficult for humanoids to access in a dark age, the same wasn't true for creatures of innate primal magic. It had always been known to hunters and shamans that the organs of magical beasts had magical properties, but only under Patientia’s reign were these creatures rigorously studied through dissection, and their mana scientifically extracted to fuel spellcasting. The new field of alchemy emerged, and spread rapidly across Paracia. Church authority through magic was maintained, at the cost of many magical beasts going extinct, and others so decimated that their populations never recovered.   In 3420 A.L., one of Valdoro’s former draconic protectors, Kavarthon the Balefire, turned against the city of Cossina that was once his pact-bound territory. The ancient red dragon would have destroyed the city if not for the collaboration between Sybilite warpriests, wandering paladins, and the newly established alchemist’s guild who improvised a cannon that shot explosive vials of liquid ice. The death toll was nevertheless immense. As the city mourned, however, the alchemists made a great discovery: Kavarthon’s body contained so much fire-aligned mana that his blood alone could sustain the guild’s pyromantic research for decades. The discovery was presented to the Archierophant, and after deliberation with her council, she declared the Draconic Crusade. Rulers in allegiance to the Church were called to gather their forces, slay the reptilian tyrants before they turned against mortalkind, and take their magic for the glory of St. Sybil and the Elder Gods.   Not all dragons were as savage as Kavarthon the Balefire. Many spent most of their days mingling with humanoids, and grew fond of them. But that did not spare their lives, as the Church spread the belief that it was in every dragon’s nature to lust after mortal possession, and to hunger for mortal flesh. Younger dragons were relatively easy to slay by freelance adventurers, but older dragons could only be defeated by armies, and with enormous casualties. The prospect of being sent against an adult dragon was so frightening to most soldiers that many lords were slain instead for issuing such an order. Draconic rivalries were also weaponized, so that the dragons never had the chance to form their own alliances. Eventually, the remaining dragons went into hiding, never to be seen by mortals again.   The Draconic Crusade ended in 3745 A.L. with the death and butchering of Tyvoriss the Frostmother, at the hands of Narbovian bloodragers rumored to be her own descendants.    

The Pact of Valdoro (3773 A.L to present)

With the death of Dragonlord Asteres at the hand of St. Sybil the Martyr, the title of Dragonlord became associated with tyranny, and the office was abolished. Each Valdoran province created its own electoral council of hereditary nobles and wealthy citizens, tasked with the election of ruling Grand Dukes, each pledging only nominal vassalage to the Archierophant of the Sybilite Church in Anchora Magna. These duchies constantly engaged in intrigue and small-scale warfare among themselves, until they found common purpose in the war against dragons. The Draconic Crusade saw the birth of a Valdoran identity among social elites defined by their triumph against, rather than allegiance to, the great dragons that once dominated this land.   Less than two decades after the death of the last known dragon, the Grand Dukes of each Valdoran province came together in Anchora Magna. With Archeirophant Felicitus as witness, the five realms of Varancia, Cossina, Luscarine, Esmirana, and Anchora Magna each declared their political sovereignty, but also swore an eternal pact of religious unity, military alliance, and mutual economic cooperation. Valdorans, it was decided, did not need dragons or Dragonlords for peace and prosperity. Just before the end of the Second Darkness, the gnomish city state of Delverne joined the pact, bringing its total member states to six.   Outside the cities that were their respective duchy’s namesake, life carried on as it always had for centuries, with most rurals not even aware that their relationship with their neighboring realm had changed. They worked, prayed, and were thankful for another lucky year without a dragon attack. Within the cities, however, there was a veritable sense of invincibility. The world now truly belonged to mortals, and nothing is impossible for Sibyl’s most faithful.    

The Third Light (4001 A.L to 5000 A.L)

The Third Light was a golden age of newfound peace, prosperity and enlightenment, a time when nations forged their histories guided by the development of arcane sciences and watched over by the Sybilite Church. Mortals grew from scattered kingdoms to powerful nations-states with sophisticated political systems and proud cultural identities. At the center of the world, the city of Anchora Magna shined as a beacon of hope and progress.    

The Order of St. Laurelion (4129 A.L to present)

For most of history, Amaltheans saw magic as the highest mystery of gods and spirits, taught only to those chosen or gifted at birth in cloistered sanctums, sacred covens, and mystery cults hidden from public knowledge. The popularization of alchemy in the Second Darkness changed the public perception of magical learning. Alchemy guilds specialized in branches of magic based on the mana alignment of creatures they studied and processed, leading to a scientific approach to magic and the belief that supernatural power is within the grasp of common men, so long as they have the intellect and diligence to take it.   This approach was especially popular in Velthiria, where St. Laurelion came to be viewed as the nation’s mythological founder. In life, Laurelion was a brilliant mage who meticulously analyzed and documented every magical effect he encountered, creating a compendium of spells known as the Grimoire of Laurelion. Yet, despite his superior knowledge, he lacked the raw power accessible to divine channelers, so students of his methods remained few. Now, having seen firsthand the immense potential for power provided by alchemical catalysts, Velthirians recognized his beliefs as quite ahead of his time.   In 4129 A.L., under the auspices of Archeirophant Verita II, the Order of Saint Laurelion was founded in the Velthirian capital of Haldenvale by a prominent body of theurges that devoted their life to studying the Sage’s teachings. The Order of St. Laurelion went on to establish many universities that taught arcane theory, and research institutions that delved into the deepest secrets of the world, from its ancient history to the laws that govern the movement of stars. Many influential mages, alchemists, and artificers rallied behind the Order, quickly turning it into the authority on all things magical in Paracia.   Despite the Order’s claims that its goal is solely to benefit the people of Amalthea, it is whispered by many that the Order held powerful arcane incantations in secret vaults, waiting for the chance to unleash them and dominate the world. Even the Sybilite hierarchy was not immune to these conspiracy theories, and throughout the Third Light repeatedly sought to restrict the Order’s political influence and impose limits on what they were allowed to research.    

The Ember Trading Company (4288 A.L. to present)

Valdoro's maritime control over the Gulf of Valdoro and the Sea of Hope had brought the region wealth and prosperity since the age of Dragonlords. Now, with the establishment of the Pact of Valdoro, numerous merchants guilds and adventuring companies formed, granted charters by Pact governments or the Sybilite Church to engage in trade, exploration, and colonization. Most of these chartered companies were short lived, often dissolving from business troubles, absorption by more successful rivals, or catastrophic failure caused by monstrous attacks and piracy.   The Ember Trading Company began as one of many such humble ventures, founded by a clanless flamesoul dwarf named Davilio Galignus as a guild of prospectors operating at the foothills of the Spine of the World. In the year 4288 A.L., he encountered a fellow dwarf named Tullius Talum at an arcane symposium in Varancia. Tullius was a Velthirian-educated artificer and full fledged member of the Order of St. Laurelion, but his outlandish theories on mana cycles inspired by Mechanist astrology was seen as fringe, even borderline heretical. Finding brotherhood in a fellow ostracized dwarf, Davilio supplied Tullius with the necessary funds for an expedition deep below the Morvana Mountains. This expedition ended up exceeding all expectations as Tullius’s theories on the cyclical formation of mana veins were proven correct, and the Company immediately obtained exclusive mining rights. A second expedition made contact with Durgrimmar, the legendary lost realm of the duergar, and the Ember Trading Company established exclusive trading rights with them.   Within years, Tullius Talum was named a Luminary for his discovery, and eventually ascended to Sainthood, becoming the patron deity of the Ember Trading Company. Davilio, meanwhile, became the richest man in the world, and within his lifetime the Ember Trading Company expanded across all Valdoro, bringing mana ore all over the world in exchange for silk, spices, luxury goods, and vast amounts of gold. To this day, the Ember Trading Company remains the foremost mercantile force in Valdoro, and Clan Galignus is said to be wealthier than the greatest wyrms of old.    

Velthirian Expansion and the Elven Reclamation (4357 A.L. to 4830 A.L.)

While Valdoro prospered, Velthiria was embroiled in a century-long civil war between its Great Houses, driven by disagreements in both succession and ideology. Houses Nenerith, Naridril, and Vilonya have always been conservative, believing that Velthiria should prioritize the preservation of the bloodline and legacy of the Undying Lands. Houses Findaras, Moresal, and Caswyn, meanwhile, believed that Velthirians should build their own legacy by spreading their culture to the rest of the world. When King Lantheron Findaras took the throne in 4350 A.L, he was determined to reconcile the two sides. By building an elven sphere of influence and prospering through it, he argued, Velthirians would no longer need to preserve the memory of the Undying Empire, because they would reclaim it. King Lantheron envisioned a world where all other elves and younger races would be under Velthirian rule, working together towards the reconquest of the Undying Lands of Naru Daeva.   Colonial efforts began on the Brennathi coast, but the wood elf tribes proved notoriously difficult to control, and few permanent settlements remain there today. The first three successful Velthirian colonies were established in Valdoro in the years 4357, 4358, and 4360 A.L., respectively called Noctris, Halandor, and Tisoria. These colonies had amicable relations with the Pact of Valdoro, who was happy to see its barbarian-infested borderlands pacified by a historical ally. Noctris and Halandor would see repeated troubles with banditry and internal turmoil. Only Tisoria came to flourish under Velthirian rule, developing into a shining jewel that rivals any Pact duchy in its grandeur.   With the invention of airships and advances in naval logistics in the 4500s, further colonies were established on the Blacktide Isles, southern Talandra, and even as far as Cerlania. As wealth and exotic goods flowed into the kingdom, the conservative Great Houses turned around to support this endeavor. By the 4600s, expeditions to chart the Pale Sea in search of the Undying Lands began. None have returned with any news, but hope remains even to this day. Laurelion, after all, sailed for hundreds of years. What are the chances that these pioneers have already found their way home?   Velthiria’s expansionism would eventually be dampened by a series of independence movements in its colonies. But even today, the nation continues to look to the horizon, and dream of a golden age of supremacy.    

Talandran Unification (4614 A.L. to 4644 A.L.)

With the islands of Thulasa and Qasala colonized by Velthiria, there was real concern among Talandra’s elite that the empire was falling behind other powers on the continent. In order to stand on its own, Talandra needed unity against foreign invaders, but consolidating Talandra was a unique challenge. While nominally ruled by a lineage of Maharajas, imperial power had little meaning outside the capital city of Ka-Saresh and a few surrounding provinces. The remainder of the empire saw hundreds of tribes each paying devotion to their own gods and following their own laws. Complicating matters further was the fact that many of these tribes were led by monstrous races who raided and enslaved their neighbors, and consistently responded to attempts to levy taxes or impose administrative standards with violence.   Maharani Jadvara became inspired by the nation’s ancient history under naga rule. Nagas, legends claim, overcame their differences from the humanoids they ruled by defending them against monsters, thus gaining their eternal loyalty. And thus she devised a campaign to give all Talandrans a national identity through a common enemy in monstrous races, and a common protector in the imperial government. Maharani Zashantra, Jadvara’s distant ancestor and an ascendant goddess, became the symbol of this campaign. Depicted in the form of a naga with a woman’s torso, she was declared the patron deity and protector of a new unified Talandra, representing the power of man over monster.   Maharani Jadvara’s campaign relied on drawing a delineation between man and monster that wasn’t always clear. While some believed her regime promoted human supremacism, the truth was far more complicated. While Jadvara did elevate humanity to further affirm the legitimacy of the imperial family, her reign also saw a standardization of law with regard to the treatment of some nonhuman races. Orcs became seen as stalwart, honorable warriors, rather than barbaric inferiors, while beastfolk became protected citizens, with the tradition of hunting them for sport declared a crime punishable by death. At the same time, races deemed to be monsters — fallen giants, chimeras, and any non-biped — were targeted for forced relocation and even extermination. For the first time in millennia, the title of Maharani of Talandra became an accurate descriptor. By 4644 A.L., Jadvara’s reach extended from the Cerlanian Sea to the Gulf of Valdoro.    

Tisorian Independence (4654 A.L.)

Tisoria started as a small settlement on the southern coast of Valdoro, although its fertile soils, its rich waters filled with fish, and its strategic location as a trading port quickly helped it grow in wealth and influence, becoming one of Velthiria’s most important colonies. The early days of the settlement were rife with struggle and hardship. Despite the lushness of the coasts, bandits, pirates and monstrous predators remained a constant threat. This culture of rugged survivalism and self-sufficiency, coupled with exposure to Valdoran culture, meant that Tisorians always considered themselves a people apart. The King of Velthiria was a distant figure to them, and the validity of the Elven Reclamation was often questioned behind closed doors.   In the year 4653 A.L., the city came under assault by a fleet of sea elves in retaliation for Velthirian invasion. Busy with its efforts in the Blacktide Isles, Velthiria sent very little aid, and Tisoria was instead defended by its native militia and mercenaries from the Pact of Valdoro. When the attacking fleet was defeated, the city felt it was the last straw, and declared itself an independent republic. A constitution was quickly drafted, modeled after the oligarchic democracy of the Valdoran duchies, and the colonial lord was violently deposed in favor of an elected governor.   King Merevar of Velthiria was enraged by Tisoria’s sudden rebellion, and made demands of the city to renounce its treasonous government immediately, or face Velthiria’s wrath. Tisoria refused: after all, it had given the kingdom so much wealth and resources, yet received so little in return. The city also received backing from Anchora Magna, where the six Grand Dukes of the Pact convened and decided collectively to welcome Tisoria into their fold. The combined economic leverage of Tisoria and the entire Pact of Valdoro was enough to cow Velthiria from pursuing war, especially since Velthiria could not afford to lose its Valdoran privateers in the Blacktide conflict. The King begrudgingly recognized the city’s independence, and the Tisorian City Council was legitimized, whose successors continue to govern the city to this day.    

The Noctris Disaster (4722 A.L.)

Noctris was a Velthirian prison colony where criminals were sentenced to hard labor mining for mana ore in the Ashen Canyon. The wealth generated by the colony eventually saw the descendants of its original population come into positions of privilege, and Noctris became a center for arcane and technological development. By the early 4700s, Noctris possessed the world’s very first experimental mana reactor: an arcane machine which, when fed raw mana ore, could reduce the mana cost of spellcasting within a wide radius.   In the year 4722 A.L., a minor earthquake struck Noctris, damaging the pillars containing the energies of the mana reactor, and like a dam giving way, the magic within surged forth in an explosion that breached the barrier between the Material Plane and beyond. A rift to Valkyon opened, and waves upon waves of bloodthirsty fiends poured through, while the city of Noctris was bathed in apocalyptic hellfire. Almost two thirds of Noctrians died that day, and many more would die in the following weeks to unstable magical fallout and fiendish violence. Velthirian authorities immediately quarantined the region, lest demons and devils spill out from the wreckage.   Over the next few decades, it was commonly believed that the Noctris was lost forever. Yet when quarantine was lifted a century later, a strange culture of ashsoul tieflings emerged from the wastelands. Accustomed to harsh survivalism, Noctrians developed a bombastic attitude and an explosive style of jury-rigged technology that proved shockingly effective against supernatural enemies.    

Kobold Slave Revolts and the Founding of Balkur (4748 A.L.)

When the colony of Halandor was founded in 4358 A.L., King Lantheron wanted to develop it into an industrial bastion just like Noctris, and its initial workforce were indentured prisoners of Velthirian birth. Colonists soon began to report attacks by kobolds with far greater coordination than usual, and authorities were brought in to investigate. What they found was startling: hidden deep underground, a blue dragon named Zamoryx the Stormwind had survived the Draconic Crusades. There she pretended to be a goddess mated to Surocael himself, and commanded legions of kobolds to bring her prey and wealth.   King Lantheron himself was summoned to handle this unexpected discovery, and Zamoryx offered him a deal: Velthiria would leave her be, sparing the lives of a great many soldiers; and in return she would give them a diligent race of slaves, who would do their every bidding, with little need to be cared for or overseen. The king gladly accepted the bargain, going as far as to offer her a noble title in Velthiria, with the opportunity to gain far more gold than what her kobolds could gather. Hence Zamoryx came to live in the Velthirian court for the next three hundred years, under the guise of the half-elven Viscountess Zamoria, all the while her former subjects toiled in brutal conditions in Halandor for generations.   In 4744 A.L., the Viscountess came to inspect the industrial development of the colony. The kobolds have never forgotten her deeds, passing down legends of their traitorous mother goddess when their overseers were out of earshot. When Zamoryx slept that night, a dozen poisoned daggers plunged into her flesh, slowing her movements until she was frozen in place. A hundred more finished the job, and Zamoryx the Stormwind was no more. That very night, rebellion erupted in the streets as kobold slaves rose up against their masters, slaying every elf or human on sight. By the time the Velthirian military arrived, the colony was already lost. A bloody war ensued in an attempt to pacify the revolt, but ended abruptly when King Merevar, the incompetent ruler who lost three colonies in his disastrous reign, was deposed in favor of his sister in 4748 A.L. The kobolds expelled the remaining colonists, and renamed the city of Halandor to Balkur, a Draconic word that meant freedom.    

The Hearthlight Riots (4910 A.L.)

Since its independence, Tisoria has leveraged its strategic position on the direct shipping lane between Velthiria and the rest of Valdoro to quickly grow into the second largest city in the world. With booming trade, industry developed, and the city became known as the foremost center for manufacturing. The Ember Trading Company was especially invested in the city’s industries; while Varancia remained the Company’s economic base, Tisoria became known for innovation. With magic falling in the latter half of the Third Light, the Company became increasingly invested in developing purely technological infrastructures that could tide civilized society through the upcoming Dark Age.   Hearthlight was an impoverished tenement district in Tisoria, largely populated by laborers working in the city’s factories. Following a series of fires that saw large numbers of workers perish, strikes broke out in the city as workers demanded to be given better rights. Most of these were quickly put down, but residents of the Hearthlight district, most of whom lost family in the fires, refused to back down. Violent retaliation by the Constabulary spurred these protests into full on riots, which spread through the entire city. The lists of demands quickly grew, until the workers began to demand the universal right to vote, no matter one’s station in society or level of wealth.   The riots grew to encompass nearly the entire coastal side of the city, threatening to spill onto the upper class Isle of Tisoria. The governor panicked and declared martial law, authorizing military response, resulting in outright war in the streets. To this day, it is unknown if it was the rioters or the military that started the alchemical fires in Hearthlight; but by the end of the riots, the entire district was destroyed.   The disproportionate response by the governor sparked outrage in the city’s middle classes, spreading to even certain parts of its upper classes, and within a few years, the right to vote was finally granted to all literate adult citizens of the city. This ruling shocked the rest of the Pact as well as Velthiria, who fully expected Tisoria to further make an example out of its unruly underclass instead of giving in to their demands. The ruins of Hearthlight, meanwhile, were never restored, and in time it would be taken over by a druidic commune, and become known as the Roots.    

Abrazan Koss and the Scourge (5000 A.L.)

The half-elven Koss family of Anchora Magna had always been prominent in the Sybilite Church, producing numerous archbishops, cardinals, and more than a few Luminaries. Abrazan Koss, born in 4902 A.L., was the youngest person to ever be named Luminary, when he single-handedly exorcized a greater daemon at age 22. Armed with ambition, intellect, and exceptional piety, he rose to the position of Grand Inquisitor by 40, where he quickly gained the reputation of a ruthless but efficient leader, tolerating no corruption or incompetence under his command. Shortly after his inauguration, he was granted a holy vision prophesying that the upcoming Third Darkness would begin as a slow decline in Sybil's faith that culminates in an apocalypse that would bring about the end of civilization as we know it.   As time went by, Abrazan began to see pieces of the prophecy taking shape, as the rise of arcane magic and industry in the Third Light rapidly accelerated in his lifetime, and with it faith in Sybil and the Elder Gods steadily declined. Abrazan prayed constantly, asking why the just and loving Elder Gods would allow such a fate to befall their children, but he received no concrete answers, and all the while he lamented the loss of faith among the common people that would surely end in their own doom. Spurred by the voice of St. Sybil herself, Abrazan decided that he would journey the planes, and ask the gods in person. It was said that he traveled to every one of the Spiritual Planes and suffered countless wounds to his body and mind, yet he persisted until at last he arrived at the Everlight Citadel of Ilion, whose great and terrible light put out his eyes. But he had seen all he needed to see, and it shattered his faith: for the seats of the Gods were empty. The Elder Gods, if they were gods at all, have abandoned their Creation for good.   Overwhelmed by the magnitude of his discovery, Abrazan fell to despair and madness. Now returned to the Material Plane, he stumbled in darkness until he found salvation in an isolated fishing village on the coast of Luir Brenanth, where the air was pristine and the lands untouched by the ravages of industry. Delirious from exhaustion and hunger, he was nursed back to health by the strange inhabitants of the village, who resembled shambling, unblinking simulacrums of humans and elves. These villagers spoke of occult wisdoms from before Sybil’s birth, rituals and magic from a time so ancient that even the ruins of the giants were young by comparison. There he stayed for many days, and eventually revealed to them his identity and his failure. In return, the villagers allowed him to join them in their rituals, and he was granted another vision.   Said vision came from a being that claimed itself older than time, great as the cosmos, and incomprehensible by the minds of mere mortals. Abrazan recognized this being as none other than the dread Vanthus, who explained that the Elder Gods never loved their mortal creations, as they were uncaring, unthinking forces of nature. Vanthus alone among them gained thought, when eons ago he awakened and joined the ranks of true divinity. And should Abrazan wish to restore the world to the rule of faith, he needed only to let them in.   This vision set Abrazan to a new mission: that of summoning Vanthus and the Great Old Ones to Amalthea. When Abrazan returned to civilization in 5000 A.L., he quickly regained command of the Inquisition, and called the higher echelons of the Church and its Luminaries to an emergency congregation at the Grand Cathedral of Anchora Magna on New Year’s Eve. There he locked the gates, and spoke the dread incantation from his visions. In an instant, Anchora Magna was merged with the Shadowfell and stranger realms beyond, and all present were either slain, or transformed into aberrant horrors in an eldritch mockery of Sybilite ascension. Abrazan himself perished in body, but his soul and undead husk became the herald of Vanthus, a great beast of a thousand shadowy hands. Now known as Abrazan the Hollow Saint, he mindlessly prowls the devastated Scourgelands to this day.   All across Amalthea, the sun did not rise on New Year’s Day. The Third Darkness has come, and it may be the last age the world will ever see.    

The Third Darkness (5001 A.L. to present)

With the destruction of Anchora Magna by Abrazan Koss and the Scourge, the world has been thrown into an age of uncertainty and dread. Each nation struggles to deal with the loss of the seat of Paracia’s largest religion, further compounded by the death and corruption of the Luminaries. Abrazan’s self-fulfilling prophecy came true, and there’s bitter irony in the fact that the villain of the age doesn’t even have any conscious thoughts left to reckon with his deeds.    

The Present Day (5024 A.L.)

In the past two decades, the Scourgelands have steadily spread from Anchora Magna itself to a large region around it, with no sign of slowing down. Scourge rifts have also been encountered all over the world, although they are most common in the regions of Valdoro, Talandra, and the Gleaming Weald that surround the Scourgelands.   The entire Bay of Hope has been desecrated, and currents of unholy water threaten to pollute vast swathes of ocean. Corrupted krakens have been spotted emerging from the waters, disrupting sea and air trade, and significantly complicating the logistics of fighting the Scourge.   Delverne has conjured an impenetrable magical barrier around itself, allowing none to enter or leave. Nothing has been heard from the gnomes for twenty years.   In Talandra, an entire generation grew up in the borderlands knowing nothing but the brutal war against the advancing Scourge, while Maharani Dakshara deliberates in the safety of Ka-Saresh on whether or not the Scourge could be tamed and weaponized.   Archierophant Verita IV was thankfully absent on the day of the Scourge, and she rallied all surviving members of the Sybilite hierarchy to reconvene in Tisoria. But the city, long possessing a willful character, chafes under the potential of religious rule.   Thousands of refugees have fled to the surviving city-states of Valdoro, although only Tisoria, mocked by others as a republic of socialist thugs, makes any effort to integrate them. Tensions rise between citizens and refugees, as many fear that the survivors may carry Scourge corruption within them.   In distant Velthiria, the elves have forgotten the horrors that destroyed their first home. Styling himself as Silmaron, King Halendir devotes more military efforts to the Elven Reclamation than the war against the Scourge, while simmering popular dissent threatens to boil over into rebellion.