The Fulminarian Empire
The Fulminarian Emprire was formed in 2235 to stand against the rising might of the Aurelian Empire. Until that point, though Emperor Valus had made conquest of the western half of the continent, he had yet to cross the Alphadon River, but did so in 2231. Launching from a forward camp at Khaisos Keep, Valus' army forded the river at Pine's Crossing to march on Kyrrix, the next nation which he had set his sights on conquering. What resulted was a military conflict known as the Stand of Storms in which a young human named Elaria Valoric united the armies around Kyrrix to form a blockade to prevent Aurelian expansion. Praying to the gods for intervention, two heeded her prayers. The Muse came down from on halls of Regalia to intune Valoric to the Call and bestow upon her great arcane acuity. Valoric used this ability to amplify her pleas, reaching the Tribunal who, in order to preserve the balance of the continent so one empire might not hold hegemony over the entire world, bestowed upon her the first divine armament: Stormdancer, a beautiful blade forged of living lightning, which split the skies and called thunder down upon the Aurelian forces. It is for this the Fulminarian Empire was so named, for so great was the power of Stormdancer in Valoric's hands, it was heard resounding across the forests of Kyrr, far north into the Redwood and into the deep Souther Wilds. It is said that it even cracked window panes in Helorix.
And so the Fulminarian Empire was forged in the crucible of war. Elaria Valoric, blessed by the Tribunal and the Muse, rose to prominence and became the first emperor of the Fulminarian Empire. Wielding Stormdancer, she rallied those around her and bound them together with the promises of arcane knowledge and a pact binding that was by the will of both parties; not by force or by an exchange of favors. Emperor Valoric founded the Omniscient Dawn, a group devoted to the study of the Call, and founded new schools of martial art that created unity between spell and blade. The legions of Fulminaria are the greatest eldritch knights and blade singers the continent has ever known or will ever come to be known again.
After the ascention of Kyrr and razing of Kyrrix at the Battle of Concord Dawn, the Fulminarian capital was moved to its modern capital of Ignix, far from the Aurelian border and closer to the silver mines that run rich throughout the region.
Though the coast boasts many settled towns, well worn roads, and bustling ports, the countryside is largely untouched. Forests filled with dense underbrush, vibrant wildlife, and loose lesser fae cover the land on the outskirts of every town, making it dangerous to walk the paths of the coast alone at night. Similarly, while the ports hold an abundancy of profitable fishing ventures and the waters off the coast are rich with aquatic life, they are also rife with piracy. For these reasons, adventuring is highly profitable along the Thunderer's Coast. Protecting caravans, delving into Precursor ruins, meeting pirates on the high seas, and delving beyond the Horizon Line to explore what fate awaits them in the Mist, there is no shortage of adventure to be had on the Thunderer's Coast.
Strixhaven University
The foremost authority on all of the arts arcane, Strixhaven is situated in the far southwest of the Fulminarian Empire, though it holds neutrality from any geopolitical alliance. The mission of Strixhaven is to discover and preserve magical knowledge, to disseminate that knowledge from one generation to the next, to promote free and open study of magic in all its forms, and to enhance the lives of people throughout the world through the use of magic. Andali boasts many places where students can study magic and many sages who take eager learners under their wings. BNut being accepted to Strixhaven is a special honor, a dream of many young students. It is a place of enlightenment and learning, and both its graduates and delegates are typically welcomed and respected wherever they go.
Founded nearly seven centuries ago by some of the first to hear the Call, Strixhaven holds itself apart from the influences of the outer world and the Call itself. Strixhaven focuses on harnessing the Call's power to master a single discipline, chosen by the student upon acceptance and enrollment into the university, and not necessarily unravelling the secrets of the Call. This is not to say they disregard the Call, for this would be folly as it is the basis of nigh all arcane practices, but their curriculum holds the Call as simply a means to an end, not the end itself. For a school of thought that would view the Call this way, one might seek the teachings of the Vox Arcana, Omniscient Dawn, Leholonh, or the spellsingers of Aos Si.
The Red Wood
The far northwest reaches of the Northern Forest transform from a temparate rainforest to a towering expanse of redwood trees. Housing some of the oldest trees on the continent and rumored to harbor entire hidden cultures of ancient elves, the Red Wood is a dense forest that is ultimately unexplored save for a few druid circles who call it their home. Mats of epiphytic ferns well abovce ground are home to mollusks, earthworms, and salamanders, as well as a wealth of tubers. The flore that grows here thrives on moist, flat ground, and enjoy the coastal fog that drifts in regularly from the north, providing over 40% of the forests annual water intake.
Though, similar to their western brethren, they were renowned for their horsecraft, and were a formidible foe to face in combat. Their skill in mount and archery were second to none, and when Empress Valoric sought their aid, they were one of the first to align themselves with her to stand against Aurelian expansion.
But in the twilight hours of the Golden War, at the Battle of Concord Dawn, soldiers of Aurelia and Fulminaria alike looked on in horror as the Monarch manifested a colossal physical form to lift the city in one mighty hand and wash the forrests below in a cleansing fire. No one is entirely sure what drew their ire, but the aarakocra of the forests flocked to the floating city to claim their new home in the skies. Since then, the city of Kyrr has persisted as a free city state that travels the continent.
The great obsidian expanse which used to be the mighty forests of Kyrr covers the southwestern protion of Fulminaria. In the shockwave that followed the Monarchs blast of holy fire, the trees that had been crystalized in an instand were shattered, filling the space with deadly shards of obsidian crystals. As they settled, with time they became the windswept Black Sands of Kyrr, burying the former glory of the nation of Kyrr. At some places, great statues or fallen towers extend from the sand, only to be swept back under by oncoming obsidian sand storms. Sand storms are only one of the many deadly threats the desert holds, for the Bedlamite set upon it with greedy haste, filling it with such monsterous aberrations few dare travel across the sands. Though, the city state of Alnaaji remains a single safe haven, a golden oasis in the Black Desert, which offers respite to wanderers of the obsidian sands.
But even this destruction was not to remain. With the desolation created when the Monarch lifted Kyrrix, the sunlit lands of the Golden Isles were not to last. In the fight betwixed the Dark and the Wanderer that followed on the heels of the schemes of the Omniscient Dawn, the fight ravaged the lands around the Sentinel and made them unlivable. The Sentinel still stands as a testament to their folly, but the Wanderer cursed the land and threw its inhabitants to the Faendark, leaving the great Arborscar surrounding the dreadful tower to discourage the investigation of any who might seek the Omniscient Dawn's knowledge.
Regardless, it has always been remote and isolated owing to its tall mountains and dense jungles full of mighty dragons, savage beasts, massive dinosaurs, and debilitating diseases. Nevertheless, the Wilds are also a land of great riches that never fail to draw adventurers. The stalwart goliaths make the mountains their home and are the foremost authority on exploration of the Wilds, delving into primordial Precursor ruins that dot the land, hidden by the dense foliage of the jungles in the north or the sheets of ice in the far south.
The Baerwood
In the far south, where winds whip across the wicked tundra, the Order of Silence makes their home in the Baerwood. Surrounded by copses of ashen white trees, a dark tower rises from their center, where the Speaker makes her home. None are sure what the purpose of the Silent Order is or why it refused to sign the Accords, but it is widely respected for its prophetic vision.
And so the Fulminarian Empire was forged in the crucible of war. Elaria Valoric, blessed by the Tribunal and the Muse, rose to prominence and became the first emperor of the Fulminarian Empire. Wielding Stormdancer, she rallied those around her and bound them together with the promises of arcane knowledge and a pact binding that was by the will of both parties; not by force or by an exchange of favors. Emperor Valoric founded the Omniscient Dawn, a group devoted to the study of the Call, and founded new schools of martial art that created unity between spell and blade. The legions of Fulminaria are the greatest eldritch knights and blade singers the continent has ever known or will ever come to be known again.
After the ascention of Kyrr and razing of Kyrrix at the Battle of Concord Dawn, the Fulminarian capital was moved to its modern capital of Ignix, far from the Aurelian border and closer to the silver mines that run rich throughout the region.
The Thunderer's Coast
A temperate rainforest climate, the Thunderer's Coast got its name not only as the most populous part of Fulminaria and the home to the modern capital city of Ignix, but for the mighty thunderstorms that roll in off the seas. After the razing of the Kyrrian forrests, the seat of the empire was moved to Ignix; a larger, centralized city on the coast well away from the threat of the Aurelian Empire and with access to the vast silver stores of Aurumil.Though the coast boasts many settled towns, well worn roads, and bustling ports, the countryside is largely untouched. Forests filled with dense underbrush, vibrant wildlife, and loose lesser fae cover the land on the outskirts of every town, making it dangerous to walk the paths of the coast alone at night. Similarly, while the ports hold an abundancy of profitable fishing ventures and the waters off the coast are rich with aquatic life, they are also rife with piracy. For these reasons, adventuring is highly profitable along the Thunderer's Coast. Protecting caravans, delving into Precursor ruins, meeting pirates on the high seas, and delving beyond the Horizon Line to explore what fate awaits them in the Mist, there is no shortage of adventure to be had on the Thunderer's Coast.
Strixhaven University
The foremost authority on all of the arts arcane, Strixhaven is situated in the far southwest of the Fulminarian Empire, though it holds neutrality from any geopolitical alliance. The mission of Strixhaven is to discover and preserve magical knowledge, to disseminate that knowledge from one generation to the next, to promote free and open study of magic in all its forms, and to enhance the lives of people throughout the world through the use of magic. Andali boasts many places where students can study magic and many sages who take eager learners under their wings. BNut being accepted to Strixhaven is a special honor, a dream of many young students. It is a place of enlightenment and learning, and both its graduates and delegates are typically welcomed and respected wherever they go.
Founded nearly seven centuries ago by some of the first to hear the Call, Strixhaven holds itself apart from the influences of the outer world and the Call itself. Strixhaven focuses on harnessing the Call's power to master a single discipline, chosen by the student upon acceptance and enrollment into the university, and not necessarily unravelling the secrets of the Call. This is not to say they disregard the Call, for this would be folly as it is the basis of nigh all arcane practices, but their curriculum holds the Call as simply a means to an end, not the end itself. For a school of thought that would view the Call this way, one might seek the teachings of the Vox Arcana, Omniscient Dawn, Leholonh, or the spellsingers of Aos Si.
The Northern Forest
The Northern Forest is one of the largest temperate rainforests on the continent, located just north of the Rumbling Plains. Free from most commercial exploitation, the Northern Forest is a vast expanse of untouched wilderness, rife with ancient ruins, witches' huts, fae villages, and elven towns. It is dominated by the sitka spruce and western hemlock trees, each of which grow to enormous size. Maples, alders, and black cottonwood trees create a populated, dense canopy. As a rainforest, the constantly damp nature provides ample moisture for plethora of moss species to thrive and creates the ideal environment for a wide variety of wildlife to make their homes beneath the great bows of the trees, including several unique species of slug. Many migratory herds such as deer, elk, and wild aurochs make the forest their winter home, since the dense canopy provides a natural shelter and winters beneath the Northern Forest tend to be much milder than on the open plains of the prairie to the south.The Red Wood
The far northwest reaches of the Northern Forest transform from a temparate rainforest to a towering expanse of redwood trees. Housing some of the oldest trees on the continent and rumored to harbor entire hidden cultures of ancient elves, the Red Wood is a dense forest that is ultimately unexplored save for a few druid circles who call it their home. Mats of epiphytic ferns well abovce ground are home to mollusks, earthworms, and salamanders, as well as a wealth of tubers. The flore that grows here thrives on moist, flat ground, and enjoy the coastal fog that drifts in regularly from the north, providing over 40% of the forests annual water intake.
The Rumbling Plains
Sometimes simply "the Plains," the Rumbling Plains are a broad expanse of flatland in Fulminaria. Located just to the west of the coast and covering vast tracts of land north of the Black Desert, much of it is covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. It is the eastern portion of the grasslands that make up the central portion of the continent, mirrored by the Aurelian Steppes to the west and Aurelian Prairie to the nortwest. Between the plains of Fulminaria in the east and the plains of what would become Aurelia in the west, there was an easy alliance of plains dwellers who kept trade and companionship with each other. After the war of unification in the west, those who dwelt in Fulminaria kept an uneasy alliance with their brethren until the war, when they all but cut off communication with those who fell on the west banks of the Alphadon River.Though, similar to their western brethren, they were renowned for their horsecraft, and were a formidible foe to face in combat. Their skill in mount and archery were second to none, and when Empress Valoric sought their aid, they were one of the first to align themselves with her to stand against Aurelian expansion.
The Black Desert of Kyrr
Once upon a time, the Black Desert of Kyrr was home to the nation's capital, Kyrrix, birthplace of Elaria Valoric and the arguably the greatest capital city across Andali, rivalling even Helorix at its height. Great swaths of untouched forest surrounded it, patrolled by aarakocra warriors trained in the art of swift death, created the perfect barrier to any unwelcome guests. The buildings of the capitol were made of a alabaster white marble veined with gold that was hauled up from the Golden Coast and gilded with pearlescent sheets of a rare mineral found beneath the capitol and nowhere in the world before or since. It was the height of opulence.But in the twilight hours of the Golden War, at the Battle of Concord Dawn, soldiers of Aurelia and Fulminaria alike looked on in horror as the Monarch manifested a colossal physical form to lift the city in one mighty hand and wash the forrests below in a cleansing fire. No one is entirely sure what drew their ire, but the aarakocra of the forests flocked to the floating city to claim their new home in the skies. Since then, the city of Kyrr has persisted as a free city state that travels the continent.
The great obsidian expanse which used to be the mighty forests of Kyrr covers the southwestern protion of Fulminaria. In the shockwave that followed the Monarchs blast of holy fire, the trees that had been crystalized in an instand were shattered, filling the space with deadly shards of obsidian crystals. As they settled, with time they became the windswept Black Sands of Kyrr, burying the former glory of the nation of Kyrr. At some places, great statues or fallen towers extend from the sand, only to be swept back under by oncoming obsidian sand storms. Sand storms are only one of the many deadly threats the desert holds, for the Bedlamite set upon it with greedy haste, filling it with such monsterous aberrations few dare travel across the sands. Though, the city state of Alnaaji remains a single safe haven, a golden oasis in the Black Desert, which offers respite to wanderers of the obsidian sands.
The Golden Isles
Aurin Si in the tongue of the elves, the Golden Isles were once a string of idyllic islands that dotted the coast south of Kyrr. They were renowned for the unique refractions of light as the sun passed through the waves that crashed upon the isles' shores. For this, it was much beloved by elves and fae of the Summer Court. But, this peaceful land was not to last as war found its way to these radiant shores. As activities of the Omniscient Dawn accelerated, they followed rumors of a Precursor ruin that may have still been active beneath the soil of the Golden Isles. In a move sanctioned by the High Nephilim, they raised the Sentinel and razed every town, village, and hamlet on the radiant coasts and sunk the smaller islands that surrounded the land mass which the Sentinel stood on. From there, they used the Sentinel, a great tower that overlooks much of the southern waterways, to enact their machinations.But even this destruction was not to remain. With the desolation created when the Monarch lifted Kyrrix, the sunlit lands of the Golden Isles were not to last. In the fight betwixed the Dark and the Wanderer that followed on the heels of the schemes of the Omniscient Dawn, the fight ravaged the lands around the Sentinel and made them unlivable. The Sentinel still stands as a testament to their folly, but the Wanderer cursed the land and threw its inhabitants to the Faendark, leaving the great Arborscar surrounding the dreadful tower to discourage the investigation of any who might seek the Omniscient Dawn's knowledge.
The Southern Wilds
Beyond the Barrier Mountains that separate it from the rest of the world, the Southern Wilds unfold across the lower half of the Fulminarian Empire. Ultimately, the Wilds are unaffiliated with the empire, but maintain trade routes that pay tariffs to the crown and are able to call upon the empire in times of dire need, and are so accounted for in the Fulminarian census.Regardless, it has always been remote and isolated owing to its tall mountains and dense jungles full of mighty dragons, savage beasts, massive dinosaurs, and debilitating diseases. Nevertheless, the Wilds are also a land of great riches that never fail to draw adventurers. The stalwart goliaths make the mountains their home and are the foremost authority on exploration of the Wilds, delving into primordial Precursor ruins that dot the land, hidden by the dense foliage of the jungles in the north or the sheets of ice in the far south.
The Baerwood
In the far south, where winds whip across the wicked tundra, the Order of Silence makes their home in the Baerwood. Surrounded by copses of ashen white trees, a dark tower rises from their center, where the Speaker makes her home. None are sure what the purpose of the Silent Order is or why it refused to sign the Accords, but it is widely respected for its prophetic vision.
Structure
A meritocracy, the Fulminarian Empire has been passed down from emperor to emperor, each determined to be worthy by their ability to weild Stormdancer, the divine armament of the Tribunal. Each emperor chooses their heir, sometimes naming them when the heir is young, and othertimes passing down leadership while the emperor is on their deathbed.
The empire is then divided into kingdoms and fiefdoms, each having sworn fealty to the emperor, but given nigh on full autonomy to function how they see fit. The emperor then serves as the figurehead of the nation and the arbiter in disputes between leaders and the people, and marshalls imperial forces should the need arise. The nation is bound by a defensive pact above all else, being formed out of fear of the might of the Aurelian Empire.
The empire is then divided into kingdoms and fiefdoms, each having sworn fealty to the emperor, but given nigh on full autonomy to function how they see fit. The emperor then serves as the figurehead of the nation and the arbiter in disputes between leaders and the people, and marshalls imperial forces should the need arise. The nation is bound by a defensive pact above all else, being formed out of fear of the might of the Aurelian Empire.
You will break beneath the Stormfront
Founding Date
2235
Type
Geopolitical, Empire
Alternative Names
The Storming Empire
Demonym
Fulminarians
Controlled Territories
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