The First Age
In the early days of Verenn, mankind struggled to find a foothold in this new world. Warring clans and villages added to the already dangerous lands, and civilization almost died out. In the first year of recorded history, when the first king of Thieanor rose to power in the west, the Chelloran Age began. At that same time, the kingdom of Essanae developed in the dry lands to the east. Several hundred years later, as the two kingdoms discovered one another and formed official channels, three new kingdoms in the north developed: Palacia, Rescellon, and Decarith. These five kingdoms became the Chellor Sovereignty that history knows today.
The Sovereignty learned from their dangerous pasts of squabbling and infighting, and actually out aside their differences and worked together. Other than the occasional border dispute in the northern kingdoms, the Sovereignty flourished, bringing safety, culture, technology, and magic that the world has still not since since this era in time. Great structures were created; built high towards the sky or deep into the roots of the mountains. Kingdoms communicated instantly through magic. The dangerous elemental threats that rose up from the earth and fire were held back by Chelloran wizards and mighty generals.
The development of powerful magic by the wizards of the Sovereignty brought about unexpected troubles. While bridging the magical connection between Verenn and the primal sources of power in the other planes, the essence of afterlife and the spirits of the damned found their way to this world. The dead did not always stay dead, and there were powerful sorcerers tapping into this new power, calling themselves necromancers. This became a particular problem in Rescellon, where the power of these necromancers grew unchecked and they gained political power.
The fall of the Chellor Sovereignty came with the rise of the dragons. Several large serpents rose from their slumber, angry at the rise of man, and lashed out at the grand structures and beautiful cities. The most violent of the dragons, a bitter ice dragon called Char Ice, caused massive destruction and was poised to cause a massive defeat to western kingdom of Thieanor. The wizards gathered their magic and gave all their power to the greatest general in the Sovereignty, a leader and champion named Scordrennar. With his strength and the power granted him, Scordrennar defeated Char Ice and sent her back to her icy realms.
However, Scordrennar turned on the Chelloran wizards and the five kings. He raised his own army to bend each king to his will, and the hero of the Sovereignty quickly became its greatest threat. Scordrennar was poised to destroy the five kingdoms, one by one, with no one to stop him. The wizards final effort was to shatter the connection of magic between this world and the planes. This incredibly violent act destroyed powerful wizards and whole cities, but it also broke the power granted to Scordrennar. The magic of the world was devastated, but the people lived on. This was event was known as The Scourge. But while the people lived on, the kings ruling over them lost much power, and over time, the Chellor Sovereignty withered away until a new reign of power rose up years later, known as the Bysren Empire.
Thieanor
This was the first kingdom of men to rise up from the dark, early times of Verenn. It started in what is now
Navarre and grew to encompass modern
Iveron. This kingdom was founded on strength of one's community, pride, and perseverance.
Essanae
This kingdom rose from several small towns in the east in what is now known as the
Iron Lands. Material resources of strong and precious metals from the mountains helped Essanae flourish early on.
Rescellon
One of the northern kingdoms, Rescellon was a place of culture, art, music, with new ideas, new religions, and new thinking. When the connection with the undead world of Illestelle was made, bringing about the magic of death to Verenn, Rescellon was too accepting to the new magic. Necromancy became both its downfall and the end of the three northern kingdoms.
Palacia
Palacia was the grandest of the northern kingdoms with a huge focus on universities for magic. The Trinal, the group of wizards that worked with and later against Scordrennar, were from Palacia. This kingdom was also known for its amazing architecture in its cities and monumnets. Many of its designs were adopted throughout the other five kingdoms and became what we know as Chelloran architecture.
Decarith
Decarith was a cold kingdom in the north that was always blessed with good fortune and charismatic leaders. They had the only strong connection with the high elves and learned much from them.
Link to modern
Decarith.
Other Kingdoms
One must not forget that there were other prominent races with their own rise to power during this time. The dwarves began construction of their
great halls and the elven flourished in their city in the trees called
Ethlien. Both these people will argue still to this day who was first in Verenn, but both are sure that humans and "those other races" came well after them.
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