Osylanian

Ever so often, when you are walking the lands of Eastern Noria, be it just north of the rainforest of Vasylana, the rolling plains of grain or the hills near the Storm Coast, you will encounter an oddity. Typically, an old ruin, perhaps a pillar of impossible height, or even an aqueduct. Buildings that whisper of an impossible age, built in ways none can fathom to this day, more stable than mountains and more beautiful than the sunrise.
Asking the locals will only earn you a shrug and the comment that they have always been there. If you meet someone with a formal education you may at last receive a name: Osylanian. A name that has become synonymous with ancient days of splendor, long before the Kingdom of Aruël. But what really is Osylana? Today we take a trip down memory lane and find out more:

The Hybrid Empire

The Nucleation

Before the time of Osylana. Noria was already very much divided by different parties, and knowing the conditions under which it formed will benefit our later understanding of the Osylanians.
As always, its best to start with the orcs. Originally, having lived all over the continet, they now controlled primarily the two central mountain rangers, Razorcrest and Razortooth, as well as the dunes to the west. Their main concerns at the time were twofold: Dealing with the dwarven settlements at their feet and honoring the old ways of their god Tai'San.
These very dwarves had, in good dwarven tradition, been burrowing. The first dwarven generation had died and been reborn as the beings of flesh and blood that now sought to claim the riches of the land, after the fall of the Elder Mages.
Finally, there were the elven remnants. Norian Elves, were primarily Mellhedhrén and Fuínmarr, Circaliadae as well as Thulidaín. While the Thulidaín primarily resided in the south and will be discussed in a short while, the Mellhedrén lived in tiny splintered settlements and the Circaliadae governed the great storm city Dorralia. Their goals were much less easily defined and could primarily be catergorized under surviving and prospering.
At last there was Vasylana, the rainforest realm, in which Thulion and his elven children resided. During the time prior to Osylana, there was growing discontent among the Thulidaín, because of the final puzzle piece: Living among all the great civilisations were the survivors. The humans who lived through the razing of the great Empires of old constructed by the Elder Mages. People without true purpose, who had forgotten all they had once achieved.
Some of the elves believed that the small human settlements and minor kingdoms should be helped out of their struggle, to lift them out of the pit they had been left in. So when a minor leader called Grivin I crossed the river that would later be called Morin, and met with Thulion, he turned out to be the grain of sand that would serve as the site of nucleation for the growth of a beautiful gemstone.

Rapid growth and expansion

With the help of the Thulidaín, Grivin I and the people under his command quickly consolidated power and began expansion. However, their main strength was diplomacy. Grivin I took the unexpected but ultimately ingenious route of opening his growing Kingdom into a multicultural empire. Any lord that sought the protection of the newly founded Osylana would have it. Taxes were minimal and the only real contribution expected was open trade, equal rights and loyalty to the crown. As a result, many that would have been roadblocks or competitors to the growing power instead chose the easier route, joining with the progress and prospering along the way.
Soon Grivin could count on numerous allies and each one increased the incentive of new neighbors to join as well. Within a human generation, the Kingdom of Osylana stretched from the edges of the rainforest up to the borders of Dorralian influence. Especially the scattered Mellhedrén elves were eager to join a greater cause and would prove to be the backbone of Osylanian stability throughout the empires lifetime. And Grivin had one last trick up his sleeve. During his lifetime, the King had fallen in love with an elf and in his final years, he declared the law of union. By allowing any form of marriage between human and elf, he encouraged the blending of the different cultures, promising equal rights to all descendents. After his death his elven wife, became the queen mother, a stabilizing advisor to Grivins descendents, whose farsight would guide the Empire to many challenging times.

Achiemements and Advantages

During the years that followed, more and more elf-human relationships blossomed and more halfelven blood flowed through Osylanian citizens. The Mellhedrén pure elves erected great houses who swore their bloodlines to keeping the Osylanian dream alive, becoming the most steadfast supporters of the descendents of Grivin I.
The long lives of the elves, who could support their descendents for generations upon generations allowed Osylana to further solidify its unique position on the continent, while human inventiveness and inherited talent for magic allowed for faster and faster progress in technological and magical advancements. Throughout the seven thousand years Osylana stood, it grew to be the most innovative and prosperous nation on Noria, even surpassing the elven and dwarven heritage of Dorralia.
In its later years, Osylana was more of an immovable fact of nature than a diplomatic or military rival to all its neighbors

Foreign relations

During its existence, Osylana greatly influenced its neighboring cultures and was influenced by them:

• Vasylana: The elven realm of the rainforest was the closest ally to Osylana throughout the years. Both viewed each other at cousin cultures and held on to their friendship until the very end. Even though Vasylana retained its free spirited nature and close proximity to nature, many Osylanian terms found its way into the Vasylanian language. It is for this reason, that today Vasylanian elves are able to loosely interpret what little remains of Osylanian writing. In turn Osylana retained a love for the natural world and paid close attention to never sacrifice too much wilderness to speed up progress.
• Dorralia: The city of Storms and thaumaturgy always prized itself in its neutrality in conflicts. Being primarily driven by trade and a safe haven for all, the Dorralians stayed amicable with the Osylanians. In the end both civilisations shared the same grim doom, falling to the Myconic Plague. Dorralian creations can be found in almost all Osylanian ruins, and Dorralia imported the bulk of its supplies, especially food and raw materials from Osylana
• Dwarven strongholds: The dwarven clans that ruled over little enclaves within Osylana and sent out their trading caravans never formally joined the empire. In fact they remained the main competitors, outweighing the Osylanian might and numbers with inventiveness and ancient stockpiles of wealth and supplies. In some generations conflict came to bloody wars, but none ever truly threatened to wipe out either civilisation. In the end the Osylanians mourned their rivals when they became the first victims of the plague, not knowing they would soon face similar fates.
• The Orcs: At last the orcish relationship with Osylana is a troubled one. In the beginning the Osylanians fought relentlessly to gain and then settle land throughout the continent, met with heavy opposition from the orcs. The feud they had started was only halted when Osylana agreed to undertake a sacred mission from the orcs, guarding the Dreamer, a mystical being that had partaken in the creation of the world, alongside the orc-god Tai'San. Only in the latter years, spurred on by the Ksrizka conspiracy, the conflict ingnited once more, resulting in the attack on Lor'San, the sacred valley, an event only known as The Tragedy of the Sacred Valley. Afterwards, the orcs united and razed the southern half of Osylana to the ground.

Downfall

With the orcish raids on southern Osylana came the conclusion of a plan that had long worked to undo Osylanas existence. The Ksrizka, beings from the void, hellbent on ending reality itself, had been at work for centuries, sowing conflict, weakening Osylanas position and leading astray the last King Grivin II of Osylana. If they could topple the greatest empire on Noria, they were ready to destroy the world as well. With great efficiency they dismantled Osylanas central government and knocked its capital, still recovering from the orcish wrath, back into the dirt. King Grivin II was hunted down and slain in battle, and then systematic cleansings and burnings began as the Ksrizka began searching for the Dreamer Osylana had been guarding for many years now.
Things could have turned out far worse, for the conspiracy was stopped by Rombalion, an elvish champion from Vasylana and his orcish followers. The young elf stopped the conspiracy of the Ksrizka, earning him the moniker Rombalion Skinpeeler. However, the empire never could recover from this time of danger. Only one hundred and fifty years after the conspiracy had been unmasked, the Myconic Plague fell on the land and with it human life went extinct on the continent. Seven thousand years Osylana had guided Noria and guarded its inhabitants. Now it was gone.

Legacy

Today Osylana is chiefly remembered by the remaining elves in the rainforest of Vasylana, who still mourn the loss of their brothers milennia ago. The orcs still recall a shadow of a memory of a great human nation that wakes uncomfortable associations considering the rising kingdom of Aruël. Dorralia and the dwarves are long gone and so it remains with the elves to teach the new inheritors of the lands what the foundation they are prospering on truly is. Osylana still lives. In the ruined cities, now claimed by Aruël and other human tribes, in the great bridges that still stand strong and in use after thirty thousand years of decay. And in the memory and aspirations of those that see the ruins left and dream of a time when they can return to such greatness.