Post by Ashurr on May 14, 2011 0:47:36 GMT -5
The Age of Monsters.
–37,000 YK
The Goblin Civilizations Come into Being:
After the dragons’ attack on Xen’drik, the surviving giants of that continent reverted to living the lives of primitive, nomadic tribesmen in the ruins of their shattered civilization as the dragons returned to their secluded continent of Argonessen and the elves settled Aerenal.
Meanwhile, on Khorvaire, the first of the goblin kingdoms rose to power in the region that would one day become the nations of Breland and Darguun. Khorvaire’s native humanoids included the three related goblin races, the lizardfolk tribes of the Talenta Plains, the gnomes of Zilargo (who
may have been fey transplants from the mirror world of Thelanis like the original elves), the nomadic halflings, also from the Talenta Plains, and the even more physically imposing orcs, whose savage but noble tribes of hunter-gatherers roamed the forests and swamps that dominated the western half
of that continent. The goblin races included goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. In most of the goblin kingdoms, these three related races were dominated by a hobgoblin aristocracy that governed according to the dictum that the strong ruled over the weak, and since the hobgoblins were far larger
than their goblin counterparts and far more intelligent than most of the bugbears, they were usually the rulers.
–29,000 YK
The Rise of the Orc Nations: As the goblin civilizations advanced, they were followed by the rise of the first true orc nations in western Khorvaire, in the areas known in later times as the Shadow Marches and the Eldeen Reaches. These orcish states soon competed with the goblin kingdoms for resources and territory.
–24,000 YK
The Formation of the Undying Court and the Start of the Elf-Dragon Wars: The
Undying Court first appeared in Aerenal some twenty-five thousand years ago. Over the millennia following their exodus from slavery in Xen’drik, the elves of Aerenal came to revere their ancient dead as incarnate deities, seeking advice from undying councilors and petitioning for their favor. For the elves, following the example of the heroes who had won their freedom from the giants of Xen’drik, death was not something to be feared; instead, it was embraced and ultimately welcomed.
Each Aereni family expressed this attitude in a different way. Some wore intricate death masks. Others tattooed their faces with skulls or similar patterns. Members of the family line of Jhaelian went so far as to mimic the appearance of the undying while they were still alive, using magical and
alchemical substances to induce rigor and apparent decomposition of the flesh.
Unlike undead creatures whose animating energies were drawn from Dolurrh, the deathless elves who came to comprise the Undying Court were animated by radiant energy drawn from the plane of Irian using special necromantic rituals first discovered by Aeren herself. The undying were powerful beings of a generally benevolent cast.
As for the undying themselves, they were concentrated in the great cities of the jungled Aereni interior. An elven family estate might have an honor guard of undying soldiers and an undying councilor advising the living elders of the line, but the majority of the undying gathered in Aerenal’s City of the Dead, Shae Mordai. Regardless of their family origin, all Aereni respected the
undying as heroes of their race and always treated them with respect and deference. Many humans who hear tales of the elves’ culture assume that Aerenal is a land of vampires and zombies, when in fact nothing could be farther from the truth. An undying soldier or councilor is an undead creature,
but it is charged with radiant energy and sustained by the devotion of its descendants. Vampires, liches, and their ilk are abhorrent creatures that destroy life to preserve their own existence, and they are seen as a perversion of the undying by the elves. The creation of mindless undead, such as
common zombies and skeletons, was seen by the Aereni as an unforgivable insult to the body and soul of the deceased.
Two forces actually governed the island-continent of Aerenal. The Sibling Kings held all temporal power. By ancient tradition, the elven nation had to be ruled by a bonded brother and sister. When either sibling died, the Undying Court selected a new pair to rule. The Sibling Kings were seen as the living embodiment of Aerenal, and the conduit for the divine power of the Undying Court. The northern steppes of Aerenal were inhabited by a different cultural grouping of Aereni elves called the Tairnadal. The Tairnadal preferred the steppes because there they could better care for the warhorses their ancestors had brought from Xen’drik. The Tairnadal had a more active and aggressive culture than the Aereni elves of the jungle. They sought to honor their ancestors by emulating their heroic deeds in the present. In the last few millennia, many younger elves of southern bloodlines left their homes to join the Tairnadal, and what was once a minor sect slowly became a significant force on the elves’ island-continent.
There were three major groups among the Tairnadal. The Valaes Tairn was the largest; these elves believed that glory in battle was the highest goal, regardless of the nature of the foe. The two smaller groups were the Silaes Tairn, who were determined to return to Xen’drik and reclaim the
ancient homeland of the elves, and the Draleus Tairn, who wished to destroy the dragons of Argonnessen after the Elf-Dragon Wars began.
Relations between the Tairnadal and the elves of the Undying Court are cordial. They honor the same ancestors and respect the shared blood that flows through their veins, though the Tairnadal were served by a different clerical order known as the Keepers of the Past who venerated the spirits
of ancestors already passed rather than the undying. The southern Aereni feel that the Tairnadal waste their blood by refusing to become undying after death; the northern elves believe the elves of the jungle spend too much time dreaming of the past instead of acting in the present.
Following the rise of the Undying Court on Aerenal, there was the first recorded skirmish between the elves and the dragons of Argonessen, which set a pattern of long periods of peace punctuated by short, devastating battles every few hundred years between the Aereni and small flights of the dragons. The source of this conflict was the emergence of the Undying Court as the
primary religious and political authority of the elven nation, for the dragons detested necromantic magic of any kind and came to believe that the undying actually represented a threat to the fulfillment of the Prophecy—or at least to outcomes that favored the dragons’ preferences.
Some scholars claim Aeren Kriaddal’s journal, left for the leaders of the elven uprising, contains more than the secrets to the Ritual of Undying. These whispers imply that the elf was inspired with the gift of prophecy just before the first ritual and sacrifice that intiated the rebellion against the giants, and laid out a plan for the elves to follow once they were free. Supposedly the
undying now work to fulfill this prophecy in their own patient way, and this pursuit is what drives a faction of dragons on Argonnessen mad with rage. This prophecy, these same scholars believe, is what has led to the dragon assaults on Aerenal over the course of so many years. These dragons seem
to believe that the prophecy of the Aereni conflicts in some way with the pursuit of their own draconic Prophecy.
–37,000 YK
The Goblin Civilizations Come into Being:
After the dragons’ attack on Xen’drik, the surviving giants of that continent reverted to living the lives of primitive, nomadic tribesmen in the ruins of their shattered civilization as the dragons returned to their secluded continent of Argonessen and the elves settled Aerenal.
Meanwhile, on Khorvaire, the first of the goblin kingdoms rose to power in the region that would one day become the nations of Breland and Darguun. Khorvaire’s native humanoids included the three related goblin races, the lizardfolk tribes of the Talenta Plains, the gnomes of Zilargo (who
may have been fey transplants from the mirror world of Thelanis like the original elves), the nomadic halflings, also from the Talenta Plains, and the even more physically imposing orcs, whose savage but noble tribes of hunter-gatherers roamed the forests and swamps that dominated the western half
of that continent. The goblin races included goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears. In most of the goblin kingdoms, these three related races were dominated by a hobgoblin aristocracy that governed according to the dictum that the strong ruled over the weak, and since the hobgoblins were far larger
than their goblin counterparts and far more intelligent than most of the bugbears, they were usually the rulers.
–29,000 YK
The Rise of the Orc Nations: As the goblin civilizations advanced, they were followed by the rise of the first true orc nations in western Khorvaire, in the areas known in later times as the Shadow Marches and the Eldeen Reaches. These orcish states soon competed with the goblin kingdoms for resources and territory.
–24,000 YK
The Formation of the Undying Court and the Start of the Elf-Dragon Wars: The
Undying Court first appeared in Aerenal some twenty-five thousand years ago. Over the millennia following their exodus from slavery in Xen’drik, the elves of Aerenal came to revere their ancient dead as incarnate deities, seeking advice from undying councilors and petitioning for their favor. For the elves, following the example of the heroes who had won their freedom from the giants of Xen’drik, death was not something to be feared; instead, it was embraced and ultimately welcomed.
Each Aereni family expressed this attitude in a different way. Some wore intricate death masks. Others tattooed their faces with skulls or similar patterns. Members of the family line of Jhaelian went so far as to mimic the appearance of the undying while they were still alive, using magical and
alchemical substances to induce rigor and apparent decomposition of the flesh.
Unlike undead creatures whose animating energies were drawn from Dolurrh, the deathless elves who came to comprise the Undying Court were animated by radiant energy drawn from the plane of Irian using special necromantic rituals first discovered by Aeren herself. The undying were powerful beings of a generally benevolent cast.
As for the undying themselves, they were concentrated in the great cities of the jungled Aereni interior. An elven family estate might have an honor guard of undying soldiers and an undying councilor advising the living elders of the line, but the majority of the undying gathered in Aerenal’s City of the Dead, Shae Mordai. Regardless of their family origin, all Aereni respected the
undying as heroes of their race and always treated them with respect and deference. Many humans who hear tales of the elves’ culture assume that Aerenal is a land of vampires and zombies, when in fact nothing could be farther from the truth. An undying soldier or councilor is an undead creature,
but it is charged with radiant energy and sustained by the devotion of its descendants. Vampires, liches, and their ilk are abhorrent creatures that destroy life to preserve their own existence, and they are seen as a perversion of the undying by the elves. The creation of mindless undead, such as
common zombies and skeletons, was seen by the Aereni as an unforgivable insult to the body and soul of the deceased.
Two forces actually governed the island-continent of Aerenal. The Sibling Kings held all temporal power. By ancient tradition, the elven nation had to be ruled by a bonded brother and sister. When either sibling died, the Undying Court selected a new pair to rule. The Sibling Kings were seen as the living embodiment of Aerenal, and the conduit for the divine power of the Undying Court. The northern steppes of Aerenal were inhabited by a different cultural grouping of Aereni elves called the Tairnadal. The Tairnadal preferred the steppes because there they could better care for the warhorses their ancestors had brought from Xen’drik. The Tairnadal had a more active and aggressive culture than the Aereni elves of the jungle. They sought to honor their ancestors by emulating their heroic deeds in the present. In the last few millennia, many younger elves of southern bloodlines left their homes to join the Tairnadal, and what was once a minor sect slowly became a significant force on the elves’ island-continent.
There were three major groups among the Tairnadal. The Valaes Tairn was the largest; these elves believed that glory in battle was the highest goal, regardless of the nature of the foe. The two smaller groups were the Silaes Tairn, who were determined to return to Xen’drik and reclaim the
ancient homeland of the elves, and the Draleus Tairn, who wished to destroy the dragons of Argonnessen after the Elf-Dragon Wars began.
Relations between the Tairnadal and the elves of the Undying Court are cordial. They honor the same ancestors and respect the shared blood that flows through their veins, though the Tairnadal were served by a different clerical order known as the Keepers of the Past who venerated the spirits
of ancestors already passed rather than the undying. The southern Aereni feel that the Tairnadal waste their blood by refusing to become undying after death; the northern elves believe the elves of the jungle spend too much time dreaming of the past instead of acting in the present.
Following the rise of the Undying Court on Aerenal, there was the first recorded skirmish between the elves and the dragons of Argonessen, which set a pattern of long periods of peace punctuated by short, devastating battles every few hundred years between the Aereni and small flights of the dragons. The source of this conflict was the emergence of the Undying Court as the
primary religious and political authority of the elven nation, for the dragons detested necromantic magic of any kind and came to believe that the undying actually represented a threat to the fulfillment of the Prophecy—or at least to outcomes that favored the dragons’ preferences.
Some scholars claim Aeren Kriaddal’s journal, left for the leaders of the elven uprising, contains more than the secrets to the Ritual of Undying. These whispers imply that the elf was inspired with the gift of prophecy just before the first ritual and sacrifice that intiated the rebellion against the giants, and laid out a plan for the elves to follow once they were free. Supposedly the
undying now work to fulfill this prophecy in their own patient way, and this pursuit is what drives a faction of dragons on Argonnessen mad with rage. This prophecy, these same scholars believe, is what has led to the dragon assaults on Aerenal over the course of so many years. These dragons seem
to believe that the prophecy of the Aereni conflicts in some way with the pursuit of their own draconic Prophecy.