Elves and Dwarves, Dwarves and Elves. Evernia.
Most of the Southern Mountains rise up close to the Sea of Storms, sheltering Nerath and the Thousand Kingdoms from the Sea of Storms. Evernia, on the very eastern end of the Southern Mountains, is the exception to this rule - a large land of rainforest and rivers on the south side of the Great Mountains.
Evernia is dominated by the World Tree. This massive tree towers above the rest of the rainforest, often looking more like a small, greenery-covered mountain than a tree. It is old beyond measure, scarred with burns from ages past, and with a root system that stretches throughout Evernia.
It also is, according to legend, the origin of all elves and the source of all nature magic.
The World Tree shelters Evernia from the worst of the Sea of Storms, and on its massive boughs the elves once grew the Nine Cities of the World Tree, which eventually joined to become Evernia City.
----
Long ago, when the Elves had recently emerged from the World Tree and were growing the Nine Cities, the World Tree let them know it was under organized attack. The leaves whispered of an army of blades, and the branched creaked with the marching of metal-shod boots.
The elves ventured down from the World Tree and looked for this menace, but while they scoured Evernia from the sea to the mountains, they found no army. They climbed the mountain and explored the plains of what would eventually become Nerath, and even set sail over the Tranquil Sea to explore the land beyond - the land that would eventually become the Thousand Kingdoms. The threat, however, was never found.
After the Nine Cities were well established, many elves who did not want to live in the cities ventured down into the forests, creating small villages in the canopies of the (relatively) lesser trees of the rainforest. While most of the forest grew on the roots of the World Tree, the forests also extended up the south side of the Great Mountain, enjoying the plentiful sunside on the southern slopes.
Here the ground was dirt over stone, rather than over the World Tree's roots, and once settled, the Elves observed that they were not alone. During the night, short creatures would emerge from the ground, cut the trunks of trees away from the trees' roots, and carry those trunks into their holes.
Their curiosity piqued, the Elves met some of these short creatures, and eventually befriended what they called "Dwarves". In time, the Elves learned that the Dwarves lived throughout the Southern Mountains, digging out great halls or rediscovering those of centuries past.
The Dwarves taught the Elves the secrets of metalcraft, and the Elves taught the Dwarves the secrets of magic.
Things were good, for a time.
Yet this time of harmony inevitably came to an end: As the Elves learned just how extensive the dwarven tunnels were, they realized that the army attacking the World Tree was doing so from below - generations of dwarves had been mining the roots of the world tree for wood.
Other trees came and went, but the World Tree was sacred, it was the origin of Elves, their protector, and the source of their life and magic, all in one. This was sacrilege.
And so the elves waged war on the Dwarves, using their magic and their new steel weapons. The Dwarves defended themselves, using their steel and their new magical knowledge.
But more than the skill, tools, or numbers of the combatants, the war was decided by battleground - the Elves could never conquer or keep any of the underground dwarven outposts, any more than the Dwarves could occupy the arboreal villages and towns of the elves. Moreover, the Elves never were able to conquer a single dwarven hall, and the Dwarves never so much as set foot in the Nine Cities.
Eventually the conflict reached a stalemate, and the elves, realizing their vengeance on behalf of the World Tree would never be complete, instead offered a peace treaty to the Dwarves - never touch the roots of the World Tree again, and we will forgive your past transgressions.
The dwarven halls, one by one, eventually accepted the peace treaty. In time, additional treaties were made: Elves would be allowed in the Dwarven Halls beneath Evernia and allowed to monitor the World Tree's roots in exchange for a continuous supply of wood. Dwarves were given free access to the Nine Cities in exchange for building fortresses on the Southern Mountains to protect Evernia against the human tribesmen in the north. Elves taught the Dwarves the secrets of boat-building in exchange for a cut of any dwarven crafts sold overseas (though this turned out to be fiasco, as dwarves became notorious for sea-sickness). Dwarves built tunnels linking the Elves in Evernia with their brethren in forests far away, in exchange for elvish help altering their native fungus to produce usable wood and light.
As the centuries past by, the Elves and the Dwarves grew closer and closer. The Nine Cities connected themselves, and the new Evernia City was home to countless elves and dwarves. Similarly, the dwarven metropolis of Roothome, directly beneath Evernia City, became host to a mixed population of elves and dwarves.
Things were good, for a time.
Of course, the human tribesmen to the north, living on the mountains and the plains, did not stay tribesmen forever. While the elves and the dwarves enjoyed their harmony, the humans built an empire to the sun god on the backs of elephants: Nerath.
(Part 1 of 2)
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Saint Orianna and Tieflings
The blood sacrifice of the Nerathi Emperor by his children was an event that brought a new race into the world: Tieflings. Not a true race, but humans warped by a demonic pact, the souls of their entire bloodline sold for an alliance too foul for words.
While many tieflings were changed by their own choices, including the Nerathi Imperial Family and those who became tieflings in separate pacts, the pacts were enacted through bloodline, not per soul. In the initial pact, not only did the Imperial Family become tieflings, but so did every bastard who had Imperial blood in them.
While the Royal Tieflings, as they were known, fought against Evernia and the Alliance, and were mostly wiped out by the awesome power of the dragons, the bastard sons and daughters scattered to the wind, overcome by changes they never asked for.
Most Tieflings today are the descendants of those bastards, though some Royal Tieflings survived (and given the longevity of the Imperial Family, potentially still survive), and some Tieflings are kin to lesser magistrates who performed similar pacts.
In the years since, it has been noted that the tiefling curse is spreading, after a fashion - any child of a tiefling, regardless of the other parent, is born a tiefling - it is not blood, like elves, half-elves, and humans, but rather a question of the dark contract: The entire bloodline, however attenuated, has its souls owned by the forces of hell.
Or so it was, until less than a century ago.
Orianna, as the story goes, was a holy cleric of Sol Almae who tried to exhort her fellow tieflings to do good acts. She travelled from town to town, but all tieflings knew that no matter their actions in the world, their souls were damned to hell for eternity regardless. And so the tieflings lived their lives for sin and pleasure, not unlike their Imperial ancestors.
Orianna, after great efforts, became frustrated with the unwillingness of her kin, and decided to seek out the root of the problem - the contract of the demonic pact itself.
She threw herself into hell with an old scroll of the Empire, and brought the burning light of Sol Invictus against the infinite legions of hell. So strong was the power of the sun and so true her convictions that she was able to burn her way to the demonic contract, and through the power of Solis Incindia, she burned the scrolls to ash.
There is, alas, no way out of hell, and she remains trapped there, doing battle with the demonic host for eternity.
That is what the Church of Saint Orianna teaches. That Orianna was a saint, and that she sacrificed herself so that the souls of all tieflings were free. Free to go to heaven or hell, based on the actions and virtue of the tieflings themselves.
The Church of Saint Orianna asks Tieflings to do good in the world, to live good lives, and keep Orianna's sacrifice from being in vain.
In the world today, the Church of Saint Orianna is popular among the growing population of tieflings in Nerath, and is one of the main forces helping rebuild Nerath after the devastation of the Great War. Smaller churches exist wherever Tieflings go, and are generally encouraged by the authorities to help keep tieflings out of trouble.
There are, of course, dissenting views - in particular, there are a variety of holes in the story the Church provides, and some people say that so-and-so knew Orianna, and she was not like that at all. However, even those who criticize the Church's description of Orianna recognize that the Church of Orianna is a vitally needed force for good in Nerath.
(The Church of Saint Orianna is, of course, theologically related to the worship of Solaris.)
While many tieflings were changed by their own choices, including the Nerathi Imperial Family and those who became tieflings in separate pacts, the pacts were enacted through bloodline, not per soul. In the initial pact, not only did the Imperial Family become tieflings, but so did every bastard who had Imperial blood in them.
While the Royal Tieflings, as they were known, fought against Evernia and the Alliance, and were mostly wiped out by the awesome power of the dragons, the bastard sons and daughters scattered to the wind, overcome by changes they never asked for.
Most Tieflings today are the descendants of those bastards, though some Royal Tieflings survived (and given the longevity of the Imperial Family, potentially still survive), and some Tieflings are kin to lesser magistrates who performed similar pacts.
In the years since, it has been noted that the tiefling curse is spreading, after a fashion - any child of a tiefling, regardless of the other parent, is born a tiefling - it is not blood, like elves, half-elves, and humans, but rather a question of the dark contract: The entire bloodline, however attenuated, has its souls owned by the forces of hell.
Or so it was, until less than a century ago.
Orianna, as the story goes, was a holy cleric of Sol Almae who tried to exhort her fellow tieflings to do good acts. She travelled from town to town, but all tieflings knew that no matter their actions in the world, their souls were damned to hell for eternity regardless. And so the tieflings lived their lives for sin and pleasure, not unlike their Imperial ancestors.
Orianna, after great efforts, became frustrated with the unwillingness of her kin, and decided to seek out the root of the problem - the contract of the demonic pact itself.
She threw herself into hell with an old scroll of the Empire, and brought the burning light of Sol Invictus against the infinite legions of hell. So strong was the power of the sun and so true her convictions that she was able to burn her way to the demonic contract, and through the power of Solis Incindia, she burned the scrolls to ash.
There is, alas, no way out of hell, and she remains trapped there, doing battle with the demonic host for eternity.
That is what the Church of Saint Orianna teaches. That Orianna was a saint, and that she sacrificed herself so that the souls of all tieflings were free. Free to go to heaven or hell, based on the actions and virtue of the tieflings themselves.
The Church of Saint Orianna asks Tieflings to do good in the world, to live good lives, and keep Orianna's sacrifice from being in vain.
In the world today, the Church of Saint Orianna is popular among the growing population of tieflings in Nerath, and is one of the main forces helping rebuild Nerath after the devastation of the Great War. Smaller churches exist wherever Tieflings go, and are generally encouraged by the authorities to help keep tieflings out of trouble.
There are, of course, dissenting views - in particular, there are a variety of holes in the story the Church provides, and some people say that so-and-so knew Orianna, and she was not like that at all. However, even those who criticize the Church's description of Orianna recognize that the Church of Orianna is a vitally needed force for good in Nerath.
(The Church of Saint Orianna is, of course, theologically related to the worship of Solaris.)
Saturday, July 2, 2016
The History of Nerath and of the Great War
On one side of the Sea of Tranquility, north of the Southern Mountains, is the Republic of New Nerath. It is a land stained by its history.
Over a hundred years ago, most of that continent was ruled by the Nerathi Empire. It was an empire by humans for humans, and it grew from a small seed in the center of the continent to an mighty power forged with sorcery and steel.
At the Nerathi Empire's height, it ruled over the riverlands and the plains, from the Sea of Tranquility to the Necklace in the East. After a series of unsuccessful wars with Evernia, its southern neighbor, the Empire turned its sights across the Sea of Tranquility to the Thousand Kingdoms.
The Thousand Kingdoms, while individually hardened by centuries of strife, lacked any collective response to the Imperial invasion, and within a few years, Nerath had obliterated the coastal kingdoms, and colonized several cities along the shore.
As they pushed inwards, however, the Thousand Kingdoms formed a desperate Alliance, and drove the Nerathi forces back to their coastal strongholds. There the Nerathi held, besieged on land, but freely resupplied by the Imperial Navy. In time, the Alliance's forces melted away, returning to their own lands.
Realizing that Nerath could well mount a fresh attack if the Thousand Kingdoms remained disjoined, the leaders of the Alliance undertook the journey to the Storm Isles, and signed a treaty under the watchful gaze of Leximundi herself, the demigod of Law.
They returned with an agreement that if Nerathi forces ever passed a day's march beyond their current cities, the entirety of the Thousand Kingdoms would rise up in campaign for a year. This lead to the Second and Third Nerathi Wars, both of which left Nerath with only its colonial cities. Those cities grew rich with trade, but not was not enough for Nerath.
Unable to expand into the Thousand Kingdoms or Evernia, the Nerathi Empire lost its momentum and turned inwards. A series of uprisings were successfully suppressed by the ageless Imperial Family, but this showed their vulnerability. Their subjects could not be trusted...
...and so the Imperial Family found a new source of power.
The Emperor was assassinated by his own family, sacrificed to dark spirits, and the Imperial Family sold the souls of its entire bloodline for raw demonic power, and a treaty with the netherworld forces.
(The bloodline, of course, was by no means restricted to the Imperial Family itself - as could be said by many a royal house, the Imperial Family left no shortage of bastards throughout the Empire, and all of these were transformed by the Infernal Pact as well.)
Those affected by the pact had their bodies warped into something no longer human, becoming the first Tieflings.
Once again, the Empire was engulfed in turmoil, as local magistrates either sold their souls and the souls of their family, or were deemed disloyal to the new ways and forcibly put down. Soon, there were those with Power, and those without.
The rest of the world watched in horror and trepidation during this infernal orgy of blood and sacrifice. Evernia strengthened its borders, while the colonists on the other side of the Sea of Tranquility disavowed their former kinfolk, and sought common cause with the Thousand Kingdoms.
War started again with the Nerathi Empire turning its newfound power against Evernia, smashing Evernia's mountain defenses, and waging war deep within the heartlands of Evernia itself like never before, steadily gaining ground, steadily sacrificing the citizenry of Evernia to the darkest of powers.
The colonial cities renamed themselves "The Pure Cities" to differentiate themselves from the Nerathi Empire, and opened their coffers to buy mercenaries from the Thousand Kingdoms. The largest single fighting force in recorded history set sail from the Pure Cities, and opened a second front, attacking the heartlands of the Empire in a bid to deprive Nerath of food.
What they found, however, horrified them - the rich fields and riverlands of Nerath were tainted and poisoned. Corpses rotted in the fields while stray demons preyed on the surviving peasantry. Even the sky was the wrong color, and soldiers reported seeing frightful faces twisting into existence overhead.
By this point Evernia had been pushed back to the Sisters: Evernia City and Roothome, its two capital cities. Overcrowded with refugees, the Sisters could not survive a siege for any amount of time, assuming they survived the initial assault at all.
Instead, the High Lords of Evernia, elven and dwarven, cast a mighty spell that froze the two capital cities of Evernia in time.
Cheated of their prize, the demonic armies of Nerath pushed back north and fought the Purity Alliance. In a massive battle that lasted for days, the two mightiest armies in recorded history spilled so much blood that sailors on the Sea of Tranquility reported the sea itself turning red, a current that stretched from the shores of Nerath to the Teeth and beyond.
Maybe it was the tainted blood flowing south to the Isles. Maybe it was the diplomatic connections made by the Alliance during their visit to Leximundi. Maybe it was that the dragons saw in Nerath a threat that they could not abide.
Accounts speak of the sky darkening with dragons, of lightning and of fire, and of storms on the Sea of Tranquility.
In the end, the dragons burned their way from the coast to the capital of the empire, and then onwards to the demonic Nerathi army. The result was the two hundred league long Dragonscar, a thousand demons sealed by draconic magic throughout the land, and the utter obliteration of the Imperial Family and those who had gathered around it.
--------
Since then, Nerath has been in a slow process of recovery. Most of Nerath has returned to normal, particularly now with the help of the templars of Saint Orianna, but the Nerathi have not regained anything close to their former glory. Even the geography has not recovered - the Dragonscar and the Swamp of Souls are the two most obvious blights, but many other areas were permanently transformed during the dark days of the Great War.
Nerath is now theoretically ruled by the Republic of New Nerath, originally a puppet government created by the Pure Cities after the war, and now the only organized governance over most of Nerath. The Republic benefits from its trade with the Pure Cities and Evernia, but is prevented by its constitution from building the armies necessary to assert control over all of Nerath.
Nerathi was once dominated by humans, but after the Great War, many of the humans perished. Between the creation of the Tieflings by the Infernal Pact and the post-war influx of non-humans from the Thousand Kingdoms, less than half of Nerath's population is human. But perhaps this is for the better - the world has seen the unrestrained ambition of humans once, and once was more than enough.
Over a hundred years ago, most of that continent was ruled by the Nerathi Empire. It was an empire by humans for humans, and it grew from a small seed in the center of the continent to an mighty power forged with sorcery and steel.
At the Nerathi Empire's height, it ruled over the riverlands and the plains, from the Sea of Tranquility to the Necklace in the East. After a series of unsuccessful wars with Evernia, its southern neighbor, the Empire turned its sights across the Sea of Tranquility to the Thousand Kingdoms.
The Thousand Kingdoms, while individually hardened by centuries of strife, lacked any collective response to the Imperial invasion, and within a few years, Nerath had obliterated the coastal kingdoms, and colonized several cities along the shore.
As they pushed inwards, however, the Thousand Kingdoms formed a desperate Alliance, and drove the Nerathi forces back to their coastal strongholds. There the Nerathi held, besieged on land, but freely resupplied by the Imperial Navy. In time, the Alliance's forces melted away, returning to their own lands.
Realizing that Nerath could well mount a fresh attack if the Thousand Kingdoms remained disjoined, the leaders of the Alliance undertook the journey to the Storm Isles, and signed a treaty under the watchful gaze of Leximundi herself, the demigod of Law.
They returned with an agreement that if Nerathi forces ever passed a day's march beyond their current cities, the entirety of the Thousand Kingdoms would rise up in campaign for a year. This lead to the Second and Third Nerathi Wars, both of which left Nerath with only its colonial cities. Those cities grew rich with trade, but not was not enough for Nerath.
Unable to expand into the Thousand Kingdoms or Evernia, the Nerathi Empire lost its momentum and turned inwards. A series of uprisings were successfully suppressed by the ageless Imperial Family, but this showed their vulnerability. Their subjects could not be trusted...
...and so the Imperial Family found a new source of power.
The Emperor was assassinated by his own family, sacrificed to dark spirits, and the Imperial Family sold the souls of its entire bloodline for raw demonic power, and a treaty with the netherworld forces.
(The bloodline, of course, was by no means restricted to the Imperial Family itself - as could be said by many a royal house, the Imperial Family left no shortage of bastards throughout the Empire, and all of these were transformed by the Infernal Pact as well.)
Those affected by the pact had their bodies warped into something no longer human, becoming the first Tieflings.
Once again, the Empire was engulfed in turmoil, as local magistrates either sold their souls and the souls of their family, or were deemed disloyal to the new ways and forcibly put down. Soon, there were those with Power, and those without.
The rest of the world watched in horror and trepidation during this infernal orgy of blood and sacrifice. Evernia strengthened its borders, while the colonists on the other side of the Sea of Tranquility disavowed their former kinfolk, and sought common cause with the Thousand Kingdoms.
War started again with the Nerathi Empire turning its newfound power against Evernia, smashing Evernia's mountain defenses, and waging war deep within the heartlands of Evernia itself like never before, steadily gaining ground, steadily sacrificing the citizenry of Evernia to the darkest of powers.
The colonial cities renamed themselves "The Pure Cities" to differentiate themselves from the Nerathi Empire, and opened their coffers to buy mercenaries from the Thousand Kingdoms. The largest single fighting force in recorded history set sail from the Pure Cities, and opened a second front, attacking the heartlands of the Empire in a bid to deprive Nerath of food.
What they found, however, horrified them - the rich fields and riverlands of Nerath were tainted and poisoned. Corpses rotted in the fields while stray demons preyed on the surviving peasantry. Even the sky was the wrong color, and soldiers reported seeing frightful faces twisting into existence overhead.
By this point Evernia had been pushed back to the Sisters: Evernia City and Roothome, its two capital cities. Overcrowded with refugees, the Sisters could not survive a siege for any amount of time, assuming they survived the initial assault at all.
Instead, the High Lords of Evernia, elven and dwarven, cast a mighty spell that froze the two capital cities of Evernia in time.
Cheated of their prize, the demonic armies of Nerath pushed back north and fought the Purity Alliance. In a massive battle that lasted for days, the two mightiest armies in recorded history spilled so much blood that sailors on the Sea of Tranquility reported the sea itself turning red, a current that stretched from the shores of Nerath to the Teeth and beyond.
Maybe it was the tainted blood flowing south to the Isles. Maybe it was the diplomatic connections made by the Alliance during their visit to Leximundi. Maybe it was that the dragons saw in Nerath a threat that they could not abide.
Accounts speak of the sky darkening with dragons, of lightning and of fire, and of storms on the Sea of Tranquility.
In the end, the dragons burned their way from the coast to the capital of the empire, and then onwards to the demonic Nerathi army. The result was the two hundred league long Dragonscar, a thousand demons sealed by draconic magic throughout the land, and the utter obliteration of the Imperial Family and those who had gathered around it.
--------
Since then, Nerath has been in a slow process of recovery. Most of Nerath has returned to normal, particularly now with the help of the templars of Saint Orianna, but the Nerathi have not regained anything close to their former glory. Even the geography has not recovered - the Dragonscar and the Swamp of Souls are the two most obvious blights, but many other areas were permanently transformed during the dark days of the Great War.
Nerath is now theoretically ruled by the Republic of New Nerath, originally a puppet government created by the Pure Cities after the war, and now the only organized governance over most of Nerath. The Republic benefits from its trade with the Pure Cities and Evernia, but is prevented by its constitution from building the armies necessary to assert control over all of Nerath.
Nerathi was once dominated by humans, but after the Great War, many of the humans perished. Between the creation of the Tieflings by the Infernal Pact and the post-war influx of non-humans from the Thousand Kingdoms, less than half of Nerath's population is human. But perhaps this is for the better - the world has seen the unrestrained ambition of humans once, and once was more than enough.
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