The Traveler (Worldbuilding/lore repository)

[Ithalian Empire]

The World

It is the 1,419th year of the Fourth Age of the world. 250 years ago this was a land of prosperity. Where man and elf built great monuments and held the largest domain in this land we call Murmdus. Those where the days of the Second Empire, forged in the fire and blood of the Great Confusion at the end of the Third Age buy Mattaus Davous, this massive nation would rule over millions of mortal souls from the shores of the Western seas to the Spine of the World, from the frozen wastes of Frostfall to the lands Esmeria where summer never ends. It was an empire forged in war, but tempered in peace. Wealth flowed along it paved highways and within the holds of its great ships to markets as far east as the misty lands of Teljora. Its armies protected the towns and cities from the creatures of the night as well as from brigands. Mattaus ended hundreds of years of bloodshed and strife, cementing himself as one of the great kings of history. He would be fallowed by others like him, his son Mathuas would improve the empire his father had created, building a profesional army and a highway system that is still used. Sevetos the Great would rule for 60 long years after a bloody civil war with his uncle and start the Second Great Peace.

But that empire, and the peace it had brought, is dead. Broken apart and scattered like sands in the wind. Gone are the days of prosperity and peace. Now are the days of blood and grief. Kings a dukes fight petty wars in the west, while east of the Spine the Second Grey Empire watches the west with greedy eyes. However there a darker things to worry about, things that have lain hidden in the deep places. The dead lay restless in there graves, comets of blood scour the sky, and the seers see visions of blood, fire and a consuming evil. But there is light at the end of this dark tunnel, the seers also see the rise of great hero's who will stand against this new threat. Some say that a new empire may be birthed and this time of woe will soon be over.

Hello and welcome, I am Ithalian, some of you may know me, most probably don't. If you have decided to take a look at this thread, than you probably have figured that this is a fantasy role play. However, this isn't the role play itself, no, think of the thread as a hybrid between a lore dump and a world building thread. In the next few posts will be the general outline of the world's lore as is, religions, geography, races and history as well as some more miscellaneous information. You are more than welcome to add lore, help with already existing lore, or even write new lore to add to the world.

[Ithalian Empire]

History of Murmdus

The Age of Mist

In the age of mist the world get created by the god Andrii and the Illuminated are brought into existence. The Illuminated create the first life on the world of Murmdus and time begins. At this time the world is filled with three races, the first being the beautiful and magically talented Ancients, than the Dwarves and finally the Old Ones. For the first two thousand years of history there is peace between the three races. This peace is shattered however after the Ancients discover an object called the Helos, which is in essence a captured bit of the sun. With this the Ancients quickly become the most advanced race to have ever lived and turn there borther races into nothing more than serfs to the.

This quickly turns sour and the Old Ones decide to wage a war to get the Helos away from the ancients. This ends the Age of Mist and starts the Age of Blood.

The Age of Blood

The Age of Blood is a 500 year period of history where the three races fight for the Helos. It sees many die on all sides and nothing is ever gained. As the Ancients and Deep Ones grow more and more desperate for vistroy the create increasingly more destructive weapons. Eventually the Ancients would try and make one of their greatest mages a living god. The Illuminated intervene and curse the Ancient mage to bear witness to the death of his race and live as an immortal with no other purpose than to do their bidding.

After failing to ascend the Ancients weaponise the Helos. In the final battle the Ancients activated there weapon and something went wrong. Many Ancients and Old Ones die and a vast portion of what is now Rickveg is turned to waste. A group of Ancients sale to the west to escape the horror of what they unleashed. The Helos is lost and after a few years the last Ancient and Old Ones die on Murmdus, Dwarves take hold of the world.

The First Age

This age has the world under the sway of the Dwarves for many years before the arrival of the Grey Men in the east. It is unclear why the Grey Men come, but they adopted many Dwarven customs and practices and form there home in the region of Cold Water. There relation between the two races is one of mutual respect. In the 700th year of the First Age another wave of new people come, the Drick, a race of rat like creature they also bring with them a slave race called Orcii, or Orcs. The Drick fight a few wars with the dwarves eventually gaining the region of Soul-Diesh and the jungles of Kadetha.

In the west the first of the Elves arrive on the island of Esmeria. They build cities and discover many Ancient ruins and artifacts. The first Elves to leave Esmeria settle in southern Eleria and West March, eventually making contact with the Dwarves. Elves and Dwarves at first get along but as the years go on the two races religious differences quickly lead to war. The Elves conquer much of the dwarven territories west of the Spine of the World and soon control most of western Murmdus. Elves at this time also start to diversify culturally and biologically with the Esmerians Elves being the closest to the original elven settlers. Northern Elves settle in Frostfall and the Vale Forest becomes home of the Wood Elves.

By the Year 2000 1A the Dwarves and there Grey Men allies had been pushed to the east of Murmdus, a few Dwarven mountain homes stood firm in the West Steps, but they grew isolated from each other and by 2050 1A no dwarf had been seen west of the Spine of the World. The influx of Dwarf refugees caused strife between the Grey Men, the Dwarves and the Drick in the south. This lead to the War of a Thousand Days in the the summer of 2074 1A as the three races broke down into a war. The Dwarves with there superior weaponry and tactics were able to subdue the Grey Men while the Drick’s slave race began a revolt for there freedom. During the war the Elves promised to help give the Orcs there freedom if they swore loyalty to the Elven king. And so a thousand days after its start the war was over as the elven armies began pouring into the east. By 2079 1A the Elves had subdued the east and formed the first empire on Murmdus.

With the fall of there nation many of the Dwarves fleed Murmdus in a great fleet of ships to unknown lands in the south while a few others would lock themselves up underground never to return to the surface. With the passing of the Dwarves the age turned to the Elves, and for the next 1000 years they would rule the world. However, in the spring of 3080 an event that would change the history of Murmdus for the next 5000 years would occur. Off the coast of Frostfall a great many ships came from the west, on them were a new race. A race called Man.

The Second Age

The second age begins with the arrival of man to the lands of Murmdus. Humans settle at first along the west coast of Frostfall and a second wave of humans would arrive in the north of West March to settle them moors and highlands. Humans would first contact elves in the region of West March, and soon humans had began to swear fealty to the elves. The Elves gave humans lands to settle, the north of West March, the west of Frostfall, the northern parts of Eleria and Rickveg. Humans in Eleria began to intermingle with the high elves that lived there and many half elven children were born thus it was that the Elerians would hold some High Elf blood in their veins. Many humans would eventually worship the same gods as the elves, who themselves were worshiping the gods of the Ancients.

Humans would found several cities in the next few centuries, Highron, Arsher, Corigdia, Werses, and all the cities of Rickveg would be founded by humans. Humans aged faster than elves, but were able to produce more children than there elven over lords. This would lead to the High Elves becoming weary of humans as their number increased. This tension would always be near the surface, but would never be openly shown by either side until the triple tragedies of the years 1067-1069. The Great Winter of 1067 would be the worst winter in history, with snows falling as far south as Esmeria and frost appearing for the first time in Kadetha. This terrible winter would lead to the Great Famine of 1068 as the snows didn't melt in time for the first crops to be planted. When the famine ended a wave of disease swept the land and many from all the races died, but most worst off were the Northern Elves who would be reduced by near half by the disasters. The Elerians, thankful to the goddess Eliea decided to build for her a temple in the city of Asher. It took nearly a century to complete and when it was done many marveled as it was the most beautiful building in all of Murmdus. This drove the High Elves to a maddening envy.

This envy would soon grow to outright contempt for the races of man, and so the High Elves decided to destroy the object the most detested, the Temple of Eliea in Asher. With an army of 10,000 elven warriors the High Elves sacked the city. The Elerinas were said to have put up a valiant but doomed fight and many sought refuge in the temple. When the cities guards were all dead the elven army sealed the temple shut and burned it to the ground, the screams of the faithful lifted up on the smoke of their pyre and the Goddess to whom the prayed to for salvation cursed the elves, never would the elves hold so much power. News traveled far and wide across Murmdus of the atrocity, and so started the Great Fall.

A lord of the Northmen named Alfried the Bastard was the first to raise his banner in open rebellion, soon to follow would by the Elerians of Highron, there lord having died in the ashes of Asher. Next the lords of the Westerlings would declare their allegiance to High King Mance of Werses and invade the Vale. The Princes of Rickveg too would declare open war against the Elf King. In the east the Grey Men too made a bid for independence, creating an alliance between the Drick and Orcs. The Northmen would slaughter the Northern Elves for five years till there were only 100,000 of the once proud people left many fled to the east, but a few would swear loyalty to Alfried the Bastard and inhabit the south of Frostfall to this day. Over the course of the next few decades the combined might of the rebellions would crush the High Elves and see West March united under a human king. The age of the elves had ended after nearly 4000 years of glory. Now was the start of the Dark Age.

The Dark Age

Little history remains from early days of the Dark Age. The world was mostly shattered after the fall of what would now be called the Eternal ‘Empire. In the north Frostfall remained a strong and independent human kingdom under the rule of the now Alfried the Great. Legend says that before Alfried he threw his great sword to the west and here it landed he was buried, saying before he died that when he was needed again he would return to the world to defend humanity. In Eleria the various cities became the capitals of their own kingdoms and the King of West March ruled over two races. In the east the alliance remained bound together and the Grey Men formed the First Grey Empire, which would prove to be the only stable state during the Dark Age. The High Elves were thrown into chaos as the loss of there hegemony reverberated to the very core of their society.

After three hundred years the Kingdom of West March imploded after the death of King Godwin IV and the Wood Elves woud for the first time control their own territory forming the Kingdom of the Vale. However it would be events in the east that would have more written than any other. A grand fleet of ships, not unlike the ones seen at the end of the First Age would arrive off the southern coast of the region of Soul-Diesh. From the a fierce race of men would embark and push the Drick out of the desert land. The Dieshmen would immediately turn to fighting themselves after defeating the Grey Empire and form three Sultinates within the region.

Most of this age is characterized with petty infighting and wars that lasted generations. For one thousand years the world ran read with blood, until an Elerina kings named Remus Delthion of Beserion would destroy the nobility of his nation and begin a conquest of Eleria. For twenty years he fought every one of the Elerian kings till he was the only one that stood. He took Centinal and Losgas from the High Elves and invaded West March. He would never see the completion of the subjugation of West March, his son King Remus II would see it finished before turning on the Princes of Rickveg. When Remus II died he rulled over the largest nation on Eleria, but ambition was something that only grew with time within the Delthion dynasty and soon Octivio Delthion would march north and take Forstfall. This was the start of the First Empire and the Third Age.

The Third Age

The third age begins with the rise of the First Empire. Octavio Delthion rules with an iron fist from his city of Bererion. Under his rule stability and prosperity return to the ravaged lands. Octavio passes from this life to the next leaving a rich land that has been saved form the ravages of war across most of it. Many hail him a hero, from Forstfall to Rickveg he is celebrated as one of the Great Kings of men on par with Alfried the Great and King Mance of Werses. His son Octavio II’s rule is just as peacful and prosperous. And the same is said for the next four emperors until the year 856 3A. Emperor Siriso Delthion died with no sons and promised the throne to three of his cousins and his nephew. This leads to all four men declaring war and ripping the emperor asunder in a great civil war.

The War of the Delthion Succession would last from 856 3A to 866 3A and would see massive amounts of suffering on all sides. Two of the would be clements die in battle and one is assassinated leaving Claudius Delthion, nephew of Siriso, as emperor at the age of 19. His rule lasts for but three years before he dies choking on poisoned wine. Before he dies he declares his wood elf wife to be the new monarch, thus the Atavii dynasty was started.

Over the next three hundred year three wood elves would rule the Empire. This would prove to be an issue with many who still held grudges over the elves for the tragedies of the second age. However it would take nearly three centuries for these deep hatreds to bubble to the surface. In the summer of 1167 3A a pestilence would envelope most of Murmdus, much like the pestilence that killed many in the Second Age. Many humans blamed elven magics and vile trickery and riots erupted in several cities across the empire, these however were small annoyances in comparison to event in the east.

The First Grey Empire had survived the Dark Age and well into the Third Age but by 1167 was a weakened nation with the loss of Soul-Diesh and a recent civil war between the Drick and Orcs the Grey Empire was on the verge of collapse. How ever a new faith was taking root, the Blood Cult would soon replace the Illuminated across the East. Using this faith the Grey Empire took Soul-Diesh form the Dieshmen and soon set there eyes on the west.

In 1174 the armies of the East, united with the desire to see the Blood Cult spread invaded the Empire in the First East-West War. Esmeria, long isolated from the rest of the world joined its force with that of the Empire and fought the near twenty year long conflict as well. It is unknowable how many died but estimates put the figures into the millions. When the dust settled and the blood stopped flowing the Empire was financially in ruins. Much of Rickveg and Frostfall lay devastated and the loss of life would take years to recover. Small rebellions would start across the empire, but without money or men they could not be stopped. The same happened in the east. This would not be the end of the Third Age, but it would be the start of the Great Confusion.

The Great Confusion

Many scholars have a hard time placing this period of history within the general context of the Ages. Some say it is just a period of the Third Era while other say it should a seperate age all together. However to those that lived through the Confusion it was just a part of the Third Age. The Confusion was mostly brought about by the nature of the First Empires collapse, with no unified rebellion like with the fall of the Elven Kingdom in the Second Age there were no large nations at the end. Frostfall was divided into many kingdoms as was Eleria, Rickveg, and West March. In the east the Grey Men held together there domain of Grey Water, but the First Grey Empire was gone. The Drick and Orcs began to fight a long protracted war that caused many of the Orcs to flee into nearby Rickveg. Petty kings fought one another for land and glory as the Great Confusion drug on.

In Esmeria the High Elves plotted to take back lands lost on the mainland. In the year 1317 3A, or the 150th year of the Confusion the High Elves set out with a fleet of a thousand ships and nearly 50,000 warriors. They swiftly took hold of the Kingdom of the Vale and pushed as far north as Atsmouth, the High Elf army than marches sailed east and took Asher. This would form the First Emerian Pact and would be the beginning of what some thought was the return of elven power to the land. After getting a foothold in Asher the Esmerian army would bring Souther Eleria to its knees as kingdom after kingdom was taken into the Pact.

By 1356 3A the High Elves were able to push farther into West March and had subjugated the whole of Southern Eleria. However there was one stubborn kingdom that held on. The Kingdom of Highron, lead by King Mattaus Davous, had thwarted several smaller Esmerian invasions over the past five years. However in the year 1357 the Esmerian King Thrane Kaltrii would turn his attention to the stubborn Elerian hold out. Marching the largest elven army raised in near 3000 years Thrane marched north to crush what he thought was a weak and backwards nation. Mattaus marshaled an army of a little under 40,000 men, while he would have to face an army of near 90,000. Knowing the odds were against him Mattaus’s only hope was to rally other nations to his cause.

First he went to the Northmen for aid, and was ignored, the kings of West March were already at war against the elves and the rest of Eleria was under the occupation of Thrane. In desperation Mattaus burnt Highron to the ground and fell back to the Blue Mountains. When Thrane reached the still smoldering ruins of Highron his army was tried, bands of villagers and sellswords had harassed his armies supply lines all the way from Asher. He was low on supplies and the sight of the ruined city sunk the spirits of many in his army. Here is where the course of history could have gone differently, Thrane had two choices, await supplies or fallow the army of Mattaus. Thrane chose to pursue the human king into the mountains.

On a warm summer day in 1360 the two armies would meet at the foothills of the Blue Mountians. Disease had killed many of Thranes men on their march, more died from several skirmishes along the way. Mattaus had drawn his enemy to fight a battle on his terms. With the hills concealing his heavy infantry and cavalry Mattaus threw up a line of roughly 25,000 archers and peasant militia. The Elven army saw this and began to attack. As the elves marched they were met with human arrows and natural obstacles hampered these assault. Tiered from a hard march and combat the Elven army met the Elerians. As the battle began in earnest the human cavalry and heavy infantry attacked after making there way to the flanks and rear of the elven army. The elven camp was looted and burnt and the surprise charge broke most of the elven army, by the evening of that day the elven force was forced to retreat from the battle.

News of this victory would spread. The Northmen would lend support to the begulard Elerian king and the Westerlings found a greater resolve knowing that the Esmerian armies were beatable. Most importantly is lead to the Elerians already under occupation to rebel. Mattaus Davous was now a hero king like those of the past. Leading a combined army of Northmen and Elerians he marched south and liberated city after city. Thrane was pushed farther and farther south till his back was to the walls of Velrion. The city refused to open its gates, the elven garrison had been overwhelmed by the city's inhabitants. Here was the last battle of the Great Confuison and the fall of the Pact. Thrane would be slain in the battle along with nearly 10,000 elves.

The Great Confusion would end with the fall of the Pact and the rise of the Elerian Kingdom. Mattaus would eventually annex Rickveg and West March and after a brief war would control Fostfall. However even after the fall of the Esmerian Pact Mattaus Davous would still lust for vengence. Building a great fleet and assembeling an army from all across his new empire, Mattaus would land in Esmeria and would take it for himself. Thus would end the Third age and start the Fourth Age, the Age of the Davoustian Empire.

The Fourth Age

The Fourth Age, an age ushered in by the rise of the Davoustian Empire out of Highron. For the races of the west this would be mostly an age of peace and prosperity, with the chaos of the Great Confusion ended trade and commerce once more became lucrative. Even the High Elves praised the end of the Confusion, no longer where there sons dying in the armies of King Thrane. When Emperor Mattaus died in 12 4A he left the throne to his eldest son, Mathuas Davous. Mathuas Davous would reform the Empire Army, creating the Mathuian Reforms that would establish the Imperial Army and Navies structure for centuries after his death. He effectively created a large standing army that was able to safeguard all the corners of his empire. He would also start the construction of the highway system that would connect nearly all the major cities of the empire.

While the west prospered the east was burning in the heat of war. A new Grey King had risen and would see that the empire his people once controlled would one day be reunited. With a furry the Grey Men invaded the Drick and Orc nations in the south, overwhelming them by the end 60 4A. This would be the Second Grey Empire, and they did not forget the humiliation of the East-West War.

In the west a period called the Great Peace was starting. From 12-780 4A would be a time of near perfect tranquility and prosperity. With the strong Imperial Army and Navy keeping those who would want to rebel in check and the highway system making trade easier. More Emperors would begin public works project, aqueducts and sewer systems, great libraries and universities and massive temple buildings were built across the Empire. Many believed that this time would never end, but few could fathom just how fast the world could be turned on its head.

As the summer of 781 4A drew to a close and the harvests were beginning a foul thing began stirring out of north. Ships from some far off land came out of the north, more ships than could be counted, all loaded with the rotting masses of an undead army. At its head was the Great Lych. The Invasion of The Dead had come and the Great Peace ended. Landing at Frostfall the undead army quickly broke down the city walls, those unable to escape the death of the city were added to the Army of the Lych. The Imperial Army first meet the Dead outside of Hagrines Hold, many within the armies ranks were dismaned by the very sight of the foe. The battle ended in disaster as many of the Imperial Army fled in terror.

Over the course of the next ten years Imperial Armies fended off further Undead incursions, but it took its toll in lives, moral and in gold coin. The Emperor had to borrow money for High Elf bankers in Esmeria, Reickvegian princes, and Grey Men merchants. By 792 4A the empire was bankrupt and on the verge of economic collapse as well as ruin from the northern threat. The tides of the war would change in the winter of 793 4A when the Imperial Army fought a majority of the undead a hundred miles north of Hagrines Hold at a place called Bleackmire Wood. During the battle an unnamed man slew the Great Lych and many of the dead scattered. This mysterious hero would vanish almost as soon as he appeared, but in the meantime the Empire was saved.

The next few decades were a time of reconstruction across the Empire. Frosthold was rebuilt, as well as most of the surrounding lands. In Highron a great school for mages was constructed and all magic users were required by law to be a part of the new Scholi Magii, an order of mages loyal to the Emperor. By 845 4A the scars of the Undead Invasion had been removed. However the Empires economy would remain battered and sluggish. Unrest in many regios would be common until the rise of Emperor Gius Davous. Starting in 855 4A Gius would put down many of the small unchecked rebellions left by his father and grandfather. Through blood and fear did Gius rule, unwieldy lords were killed and rowdy peasants were hammered in like crooked nails. Many would look at his rule as one of the bloodiest of the Davoustian Emperors and it is small wonder that Gius was assassinated in 863 4A. This left the Emperors young son, Sevetos Davous as emperor at the tender age of 4.

The Empire would be ruled by a regency council headed by Sevetos’ uncle, Derous Davous. Derous himself had designs on the throne. When Sevetos was 10 Derous would set into motion a plot that would nearly tumble the still weakened empire. While the imperial family was celebrating the new year Sevetos would drink a poisoned chalice of wine, the boy would have died had it not been for the efforts of the court mage. Suspicions immediately went to Derous, but an arrest was never made. Instead several Imperial Armies were sent marching to the capital to place Derous on the throne. Sevetos was spirited away from the capital to West March. The Civil War of 869 would begin.

In West March several lords and generals would declare for the boy emperors claim. An Army of Westerling and Northmen as well as some Wood Elves would form his army. In Eleria the majority of the Imperial Army declared that Derous was now the Emperor. For the better part of nine years the two forces would clash in northern Eleria. For much of the time Sevetos was bounced from safe haven to safe haves till he. However when the young emperor turned 16 he demanded that he take a leading role in the prosecution of the war. Sevetos would win several decisive victories over the armies of his uncle, and by 888 Sevetos would be at the gate of Highron. Derous would be killed in his sleep by a servant and the gate let open by hungry soldiers and peasants after a half years siege. The following year Sevetos would be crowned emperor.

Sevetos would be called the Great during his long sixty year reign. He would rebuild the war torn empire, implement more public works, a system for aiding the poor and create programs to give former soldiers work after they mustered out. Sevetos would rebuild the deteriorating highways and strengthen the defenses of his cities. When he died in 949 4A many thought that a second Great Peace had come. The next four emperors would follow in Sevetos’ footsteps, however this Second Great Piece was not to last more than a 150 years. In 1099 the Second Grey Empire would declare a holy war for the west, while the Sultans of Soul-Diesh would launch an invasion of Rickveg. The Second East-West War had begun.

The empire would not survive the Second East-West War, just like the previous empire. However the end would come from the inside.The Empire had incurred great debts to the Esmeria banks that had been neglected for the nearly 200 years, the High Elves took the start of the war and the massive debt as there chance to become independent. The Rickvegian princes would rebel as well, but the Dieshmen invasion would quickly end the rebellion. Fighting in both the east and west would go on for nearly 20 years. The Grey Men would be repelled by 1116 4A, and hostilities would cease in 1117. Esmerian would invade West March and occupy most of the Vale and parts of Eleria. By 1119 other rebellions would start across the empire as power hungry lords senesced the weakening empire’s doom approach. By 1168 the empire was only as a power in Highron and Corigdia. With the death of the last Devous, a sickly infant, in 1169 the empire would be effectively dead.

And so brings us the the modern age, 250 years after the fall of the Second Empire. Kings and princes wage war across the world. Blood is spilt every day in the name of reforging an empire.

[Ithalian Empire]

Regions of the world

The Lands of Murmdus

Eleria and Esmeria

Eleria: Eleria has long been called the bread basket of Murmdus with Elerian grain and wines being shipped as far as Grey Water and the misty lands of Teljora. The reason of this fertility is the vast Elerian Plain, a great filed of rolling hills and tall grasses pocketed by small forests and crossed crossed by the rivers and streams of the region. To the west of this great plain rises the mighty Red, Blue and Volos Mountains. These mountians are the source of the Elerians iron ore, and the source of the life giving rivers of Tilar, Agor, and Sanvita that water the farms and vineyards. To the south of the Red Mountians rises the mighty Calidor Forest, a thick and shadowed wood that is rich in fine hard woods and other goods of the forest.

For the region of Elerias, history begins with the arrival of the High Elves. When the first elven settelers came to the land that would be called Eleria the found the ruins of the Ancients, much like they had found on there island home of Esmeria. These ruins would be rebuilt into the cities of Bersmon, Telisia, and Veltion. These areas where the only parts of Eleria setteled until the arrival of man at the start of the Second Age. Men were allowed to settle the less populated areas of West March, Frostfall and Eleria. Men would found the other cities of modern Eleria such as Highron, Asher, and Corigdia. The men that settled in Eleria were mostly Northmen and Westerlings who interbread with one another, thus was the Elerian Race born with both the warlike nature of the Northmen yet the magical ability and political savvy of the Westerlings. From this race would rise the rebellion that would cause the High Elves to abandon there Empire and cost the North Elves there entire civilization.

Over the course of the next to ages Eleria would become the center of two massive empires. This was a feat that many thought wouldn't be repeated, but the Elerians are an ambitious people who know not the meaning of impossible. But as the Fourth Age draws on Eleria has become a battleground of petty kingdoms fighting for control of an Empire that is now dead.

Esmeria: Esmeria, land of the eternal summer and home of the High Elves. Esmeria itself is an island of the southern coast of Eleria and includes two islands called Logas and Centinal. Esmeria is a land of warm sun and mild weather, making it nearly as productive as Eleria. This has made the High Elves who call it home rich and powerful. On the northern half of the island the Golden Forest rises up to the sky as thousands of Gold Oaks grow, the sunlight turning the forest flore into a gildded dapple of surging color, they say the air of the Golden Forest is perfumed by the hundreds of thousands of fruit trees the blossom all year long. To the south of this forest is a region of smooth hills and soft grasses where the High Elves have erected great plantations.

Esmerian history goes back to Age of Mist, where according to legend the Ancient Race was created, and where they formed the Helios into a weapon the devastated Murmdus and lead to there extinction on the island. When the High Elves arrived in the middle of the First Age they found many ruined cities, and with great labor and care they restored them, thus all the great cities of Esmeria where once the great cities of the Ancients. From there island home the High Elves would colonize the mainland and birth two other races. During the First Empire the High Elves kept at bay several invasions. Only the might of Mattaus Davous and his Imperial Army where able to size Esmeria.

Esmeria is a land of vast and uncountable riches, and populated with a race who have the knowledge and ambition to use it. With the turmoil on the mainland the Elf King of Esmeria may once more stretch out his hand and the world will once more know the rule of the Golden Race of the High Elves.

Frostfall

Frostfall: Frostfall, land of mighty pines and blistering cold. Frostfall is perhaps one of the most hostile regions in Murmdus, with short summers and long, cold, winters. Frostfall crowns the north of Murmdus like an icy crown with the Sea of to its north. The region is ringed by four towering mounitan ranges dominate the region. In the west the great ranges of Teler, Calper, and the northern ramparts of the Western Steps, to the east the Spin of the World cuts nearly bisects Frostfall. To the south of the Teler Range, the mighty Tiron River begins it journey to the sea. The lands south of the Teller range are covered in the northern encroachments of the Elerian Plain and the mighty North Wood that belts across the region form the Western Seas all the way to Gey Water. Farther north the forest thins out into the wild tundra and the frozen waste of Calfer and the Ice Fangs. Few foreigners who come to this land stay long, even Mattaus Davous left Frostfall after his armies took it.

However hostile this land may be a race has indeed called it home since the Second Age. The Northmen, decedents of the first men to step foot upon the soil of Murmdus after a sea voyage form the unknown homeland of all the races of men. No race, save the Dwarves of the First Age called the wild and cold land home until the arrival of the Northmen. The Northmen tamed what even the High Elves deemed untameable. From this land of harshness the great king Alfried of Verisholm rose up and over threw the Eternal Empire after the burning of Asher.

Frostfall as seen much conflict, from the wars between the nations of the Northmen to the invasion of two Empire and an invasion of the undead. Frostfall has breed a people that are hardy and used to war and adversity, maybe one of these Northmen will rise his banner and march south to claim Murmdus as his own.

West March

West March: West March, the western most region of Murmdus and possibly the world. Nothing is know of what lays farther out in the Western Seas the lap the shores of West March. West March is in truth a large peninsula jutting out from Eleria, surrounded by the Western Seas, the Sea of Glass in the south and the Sea of Fangs to the north. In the south the greatest forest in Murmdus grows, the Vale Forest with tree so thick some areas of the Vale have not seen the sun since the creation. This is the home of the Wood Elves who tend the great wood. In the north the mild weather turns sour as a mist covers the land from duck till dawn and grey clouds threaten a constant rain, the rocky, hill land is the Moors were the Westerlings live. Farther north the land grows rougher still until hills rise up the tall uplands, this is The Highlands, the men here are called the Hill Men. Down the center of the peninsula rises the Western Steps, a tall range of peaks, second only to the mighty Spine of the World farther east.

History in West March goes as far back as the Age of Mist, the Dwarves and Ancients both had a strong hold on the land during there respective rules, when the elves came they stuck to the wooded south, eventually the elves who lived in the wood would branch of there High Elf ancestors and become the Wood Elves. The men who arrived in West March were far diffrent than there cousins who landed in Frostfall. Westerlings are not as large nor as strong as the Northmen, yet they poses a magical ability on matched only by the Fey Folk and Elerians. The Westerlings simply settled where the Elves had not and so came to claim parts of the Vale the Moors and the Highlands. When the Eternal Empire was torn asunder by the rebellion it was King Mance, First King of the West who united the Westerlings as there high king. To ensure that the West would have capable leaders King Mance formed the Elective, a group of the most powerful families of West March. This worked until the families couldnt agree on an new king leading to the shatering of the kingdom. The Vale would fair much better until the rise of the First Empire. During the Great Confusion the region was more became a battle filed of waring families until it to was coquered first by the Esmerian Pact and than by Mattaus Davous.

Now once again the world is shattered. The Westerlings fight for the High Crown of Werses, and the lord of Hewnwood Estate is notthing more than a puppet of the High Elves. As the land drowns in the blood and is scorched by the fires of war many look for a hero who will put an end to the madness. Perhaps such a hero is coming...

Kadetha

Kadetha: Kedetha, land of the emerald woods, ringed by the Grey Teeth and the Spine and gate way to the misty lands of Teljora. The Misty Wood the most defining feature of the region, a large and old forest that is steeped in mist and rain. This forest is perhaps on of the least explored parts of Murmdus, with even the native Drick and Orcs avoiding straying from the paths and roads that twist through the land. The Kru'Tha River provides many of the land with a means of transportation through the thickest parts of the jungle. All year long Kadetha is a sweltering place, the native orcs and Drick have become acclimated to this and thrive in warm regions. From the Eastern Seas great winds sweep in during the summer and drwon the land, in winter the arid air of Soul-Diesh sweeps through the mountian passes and drys out the land. Agriculture in near impossible in Kadetha, the soil surfers from what the locals call the Misty Blight, the soil look fertile, yet only the great red trees of the region really take hold. This has forced the Drick and Orcs to clear famland by burning the forests the grows where the wish to plant.

The two races that have lived in the region of Kadetha sailed from the lands of Teljora and pushed the grey men out during the first few centuries of the First Age. The region has played a host to many conflicts, the Thousand Day War, the conflicts between the Orcs and the Drick, the rise and fall of the First Grey Empire and the rise of the Second Grey Empire. Kadetha is as soaked in blood as it is in summer rain. However change is comeing to Kadetha, the Orcs gather under the banner of Marin the Bloody Ax to fight for the independence form the Drick and deep within the jungles ancient creatures stir restlessly in there sleep.

Rickveg

Rickveg: Rickveg, land of wood, stone and water. Many across the continenet of Murmdus have made the comparison the Rickveg is just a tamer version of Frostfall. In many ways these comparisons are correct, the weather, while cold on the winter months, is suitable for major agricultural. In the north the region is almost ringed almost an all sides, in the west by the Volos Range and in the east by the great Spine of the World. Farther south the land opens up into the great Vanta Steep, a grass land similar to the fertile Elerian Plain. Cutting all the way through the region is the great Tiron River which has almost become a highway in and of itself. In the northern area of the region is the Torabourg, a thinly wooded region of tall hills and babbling brooks said the be the scars of the first war in recorded history.

History in the region begins with war: the final battle of the age of Blood and the extinction of two races happened here. The Ancients and the Helos would doom there race and the Old Ones in the space of an hour. Of the fate of the Helos no mortal man really knows, but from that day forth nearly all races have avoided the northern reaches of the region. Men took advantage of this and setteled the region, forming a new culture and race of man called the Rickvegians. Rickvegians prefer to engage in trade and agriculture over engaging in conflict. However, given there location being sandwiched between the east and the west the lands the call home have been soaked in blood. Several times of the Drick crossed the Spine to raid Rickvegian town, the Dieshmen when not killing each other will often invade north to take slaves and other loot to there desert home. This has lead the Rickvegians to create a class of men called the Krenski, like lords in the west these men rule over patches of land all across the region swearing fielty at times to an emperor in Eleria, or at other time to a Frenski ( king in the Rickvegian tongue).

In modern time the region is split in two, in the north the Krenski swear alligence to the Frenski in Tervinsk, to the south lay several small nation who all are tributaries to the Three Sultans of Soul-Diesh. As the world seems to burn in the flames of war all around them, the Rickvegians dream of a time of peace, perhaps fate will see fit to send a new hero to unite the Rickvegian people and maybe the world as well.

Soul-Diesh

Soul-Diesh: Soul-Diesh, a land of rocky peaks and sandy dunes. The Great Sand is the defining feture of the region, a vast sea of wondering sand dunes doted by fertile oasis that allow any civilization to live in such an inhospitable place. This great sea of sand is formed in part by the great mountain ranges of the region. The Spine of the World comes down in to the region and splits into two new ranges, the Tesseracks in the east and the Pillars in the west, these to ranges make it impossible for the rain giving clouds the water Rickveg and Eleria to pass into the region.

This first intelegent race to live within the region where the Dwarves, the ruins of there great Mounitan Homes lie deep in the Spine, Pillars and Tesseracks. The Dwarves where than pushed out by the arrival of the Drick, signaling the downward spiral of Dwarf kind and the rise of the younger races on Murmdus. The Drick in turn would be forced out by the arrival of men from strange lands. These were the Dieshmen, a fierce dark skinned people who lived and died by the sword and spear. Once these men killed or chased off the Drick they began to kill one another, till three Sultanates rouse up out of the chaos of war. Sometime before the second East -West War the three Sultans became one. Now the united Dishmen have taken southern Rickveg as there tributary, and look north to the divided lands of Kadetha with envious eye.

The lands of Soul-Diesh. A dry waste watered by the blood of thousands now one of the few large nations left in the wake of the Second Empires fall. The the west lays the broken lands of Eleria, to the north there is the weakness that is Kadetha. The Dieshmen only have to reach out and Murmdus shall be theirs.

Grey Water

Grey Water: Grey Water, land of marshes, wood, and mountain. Grey Water is one of the most mysterious regions of the world to those who live west of the Spine. Here the Spine makes the first of its many branches, these grey and cold mountains are called the Grey Teeth. Rising high above the mostly flat lands there sharp peacks resemble the terrible fangs of some titanic monster. Within the Grey Teeth it is rumored that the last of the dwarves yet live on in there sealed fortresses. Under the eyes of the Teeth the two rivers of the region flow into the Eastern Sea. The Heart River flows strong and wide all the way to the Forks, where it branches off, the Heart itself dives into the Bay of Souls whilst the River Running flows through the Heart Wood. To the south lays the Grey Marsh, a wide and muddy flat land that the ocean invades.

For Grey Water, history start with the amphibian Old Ones and there empire. Like the Ancients the Old Ones would go extinct after the use of the Helos in the Age of Blood. With the dwarves as the only other race on Murmdus the region became a hive of activity for the subterranean race of squat men. However, Dwarven supremacy would not last more than two centuries as the Grey Men arrived. The Grey Men, a race of tall humanoids with grey skin, lived in peace with the Dwarves, becoming there greatest ally. The arrival of the Orcs and Drick would weaken the Dwarven race, and the arrival of the elves soon after would couse on of the greatest times of war in the history of Murmdus. With elves dominating the west, dwarves would be forced to retreat into Grey Water. Tensions grew and war was waged against the Drick, the High Elves took advantage of the instability in the east and invaded. This Eternal Empire would fall, like all empires do, and in the east it would be replaced by the First Grey Empire. The First Grey Empire would fall after the first East West War. The rise of the Blood Cult would be instremental in the rise of the Second Grey Empire during the time of the Wests rule by the Davous dynasty.

Now the Davouses are all dead and there empire a fractured shell. Yet the Grey Empire continues on. By the will of the Great Bloody One the heathens of the west shall feel the sting of righteous swords, they will eather know the love of the Bloody One, or feel his wrath. Which ever way, it will be the Grey Empire who will carry out his divine will.

[Ithalian Empire]

The Creation

The Creation, the act that birthed the world. To the faiths of Murmdus this is perhaps one of the most mysterious events in the history of the world. According to all the faiths the world was void and filled with darkness. For the followers of the Illuminated this darkness ended when Anvri entered into the world and created the stars and the sun as well as the planets and Murmdus itself. For the Northmen and the Faith of Three, it is the Father who parts the black and starts time. Those east of the Spine say that the Bloody One spiled his blood to create the sun. The Dieshmen say the time began when the Great Eye opened. Because of theses different versions of the creation scholars have had an impossible time trying to figure out which one is the true creation of the world.

The truth may be that they are all correct in there own way. Each contains elements of the last, with variations on who the gods are, or the number of deities involved. The most simple answer that any Murmdusian theologian can give is that the Creation happened.

The Illuminated

The Grand Temple, Minstral

The Illuminated is the faith that most who call Murmdus home fallow. Practitioners believe in a single creative entity called Anvri who created the world and made his palace in the sun. Since Anvri is said to be two powerful to exist in the mortal plain he created seven powerful being called the Illuminated to guide his creation and fill it with life and beauty. These seven Illuminated are each in control of aspects of life and how the world works. Together they created the First Races (The Ancients, Dwarves, and Old Ones) and eventually created the races that inhabit the world today.

The religion also states that there are many lesser spirits who inhabit the universe. Most notable are the Corrupted, seven lesser spirits who were lured away from the light by the promises of the Eternal Darkness who ruled before the creation of the world. Since then they have become enthralled by the force beyond creation and work tirelessly to open a rift to allow the Eternal Darkness into the mortal realm.

Eliea:Goddess of life, love, and change.

Eliea is perhaps the most beloved of the illuminated across amongst the followers of the Illuminated. Humans and wood elves in particular are apt to build for her great temples and chapels in there cities and towns. However she is almost entirely forgotten amongst the High Elves who nearly banned Eliea worship after the Sack of Asher in the second age and the curse that was placed upon the High Elves.

Eliea is the Goddess life, love and change. To the followers of the Illuminated the is the on that directly controls the weather, crops, births and the happiness of lovers. One can find chaples built in her name all across West March, Eleria, and Rickveg and a few in Esmeria. In the City of Asher there resides the Chantry of Our Merciful Lady, the largest single temple complex devoted to a single Illuminated.

The Chantry of Our Merciful Lady also serves as the headquarters for a knightly order called the Knights of the Holy Light. Much like the Saints of the Holy Forge, the Knight of the Holy Light protect pilgrims and defend the lands of the West from the invasions of the East and the Blood Cult. The Knights are considered some of the best swordsman in all of western Murmdus, with few outside of the now defunct Imperial Army being able to boast of the levels of professionalism that the Knights now hold.

Therican: God of truth and justice.

Therican, god of truth and justice. His name is invoked in the trials of criminals, during the signing of legal documents, and when kings make new decrees. Most of Therican’s chapels also serve as courtrooms and as places for exacting punishment. Most law schools in Murmdus are built by devotees of Therican, with the largest being in the Westwind Annex at the temple complex in Minstral.

Therican is said to have given the First Races the gift of law, writing in a great stone slab the basis of nearly all modern laws in Murmdus. His laws have been added to by the mortals that followed, but the basics are the same everywhere the Illuminated are worshipped. Do not steal, do not murder, do not lie. These are the laws the Therican gave to the Ancients in the Age of Mist, these are the laws that have governed civilization for nearly 6000 years.

Therican has no true holy orders that fight in his name. Instead he has lawyers and scribs who hold his name as there honnor.

Agermenok: God of the forge.

Agermenok, god of the forge a molder of the world. It is said that after the world was created its had no shape, so substance. It was Agermenok who took up his mighty hammers and used the sun to heat the world to foge it into its shape. His mighty hammer lifted up the mountains and sunk down the valleys, and when he was done forging he qunached the hot world and formed the seas and rivers of the world. Due to his intimate connection to the shaping of the world many worship him on the same level of Eliea. It is thought that the Dwarves were created by him to learn the ways of stone and metal that they would than teach to the younger races.

Many smiths across Murmdus march there creations with runs of blessings to impart some divine blessing on tools, weapons, and swords forged by them. Many warriors pray first to Neldinum for safe passage should the die in combat, than the Eliea for her blessing, than the Agermenok so that there weapons will stay keen and strong during the rigors of combat. Agermenok is on of the few of the Illuminated with his own sect of Monks called the Saints of the Holy Forge, these monks act more as soldiers than holy men, forging their own armours and sword. The Saints of the Holy Forge will defend holy sights and pilgrims as well as aid in defending the lands that worship the Illuminated form foreign invaders such as the Grey Men.


Epedia: God of time and knowledge.

When Anvri created the Illuminated, he created Epedia to chronicle the creation of the world and give that record to the First Race. Thus would start the passage of time and the start of all knowledge with the first strokes of Epedia’s pen. Many on Murmdus do not truly worship Epedia beyond calling out his name in prayer and during ceremonies. His greatest temples are normally universities and libraries that are dedicated in his name, such as the University of
the Natural Studies in Highron, his priests are the scribs who preserve knowledge and his prophets are those who pass knowledge unto other. Many who do worship Epedia are criticized for holding nothing sacred, pushing limits that most other would find blasphemous, and his followers hold that as proof that they are striving in the direction the patron god of knowledge wishes them to go.

Based in the University of the Natural Studies in Highron is the Society of Alchemical Arts, a group dedicated to unraveling the world at its very base components, manipulating the elements to their whim in ways that circumnavigate the normal laws of magic in favor of more naturalistic laws. The Society uses it knowledge of Alchemy to create objects of incredible beauty and intricacy out of common base metals, however gold and silver remain out of the reach of alchemy. Alchemists create the potions that both assassin's and apothecaries use to end and restore life.


Nina: Goddess of healing and magic.

Nina, the goddess of healing and magic is the second most popular illuminated amongst the faithfull. Gifting some mortals with the ability to manipulate the energies that permeate all of creation she is effectively the controller of all magic on the world and many a mage holds her as there chief Illuminated. She also gave the mortal realm the gift of medicine, giving the First Races the knowledge of medical procedures and healing magic. She is also the patron goddess of apothecaries and the sick and wounded as it is her that decides of they will pass to the Nebimum’s care or continue to live in.

Because of her connection with healing and life, she is often said to be the twin sister of Eliea and in statues and mosaics the two goddesses are shown to be youthful young women. Nina is also traditionally said to be the wife of Nelbinum. Those who worship Nina often are mages and apothecaries, however nearly all the faithful will pray in her temples, the largest being in Werses in West March.

Like many of the other Illuminated, Nina has an order dedicated to serving her, the Sister of Mercy are a group of nuns who travel about Murmdus administering care to all those who are ill and injured often at no cost. Nina also forbids necromancy, because of this many nations around Murmdus have banned necromancy. To help enforce this ban is a sect of highly pious mages called the Order of the Sword of Light. The Sword of Light is based in the city of Sagron the Order hunts down those who experiment in the necromantic arts and puts them to justice and sends there unholy abominations to a second rest.

Vorillia: Goddess of commerce and strategy

Vorillia, the goddess of commerce and strategy is the preferred goddess of merchants, and soldiers. It was she that taught the First Races that ways of money and strategy in the Age of Mist. Men like Mattaus Davous and Seveetos Davous after him are said to have been blessed by Vorillia. The rich merchants of the world also seek her blessing in there various business deals. Many of her devotees are either military men or the rich elite of the great trade cities such as Losgas, Minstral and Asher. Many of her temples are located at the great port cities of the world were hundreds of ships sail in from distant lands across the face of the world.



Nelbinum: God of death and farrier of souls.

Nelbinum, the god of death. Many would think that the God of Death would be treated as the villain of the Illuminated, yet this is not the case. Within the Illuminated Nelbinum is seen as having one of the most important duties of all the Illuminated, guiding the souls of the dead to the afterlife. His temples serve as crypts and graveyards, his priests give the dead and dying there final comforts and bring peace to the living that there is a life beyond this one. Nelbinum is seen as a merciful force within the world, ending the suffering of the living and bringing them to the eternal joy that awaits those the lived will. He is the final judge at the end of all, sending those that were wicked to the Darkness were there souls are devoured and eternity forgets them. Nelbinum is the final justice is the great jury of life, and his judgment is the last.

Like many of the other Illuminated there are knightly orders and monastic sects dedicated to his name, the Order of the Merciful Father is a monastic order that generally is seen on battlefields giving all combatants there final right and sending their souls unto Nelbinum.

[b]The Way Faith of the Three

The Faith of the Three, brought from a distant land by the first of the Northmen, it is a faith that has withstood the fall of empires and the missionaries of other faiths. With unknown origins in the old homeland of humanity it is effectively an alien faith on the land of Murmdus. The religion follows after three main deities and a multitude of lesser spirits that have minor control of natural occurrences. The three main deities are The Father, The Mother, and The Son.

The Father: The Father is said to have built the world with the strength of his hands and by the sweat of his brow. Northmen say he created the race of men to subdue his creation, to build upon it and to plant in the earth. So he made man both strong, yet nimble, both resilient yet fraile. Northmen believe that the Father gave men a such limited life spans so that when there days of hard work are done they may join him in great feasting halls and spend eternity drinking and merrymaking. The Father is said to lead on his creation, using disasters and other means of divine intervention to steer the course of history.

Within the Fathers hands is the world, and his eyes are constantly on the goings on of his creation.

The Mother: The Mother is the goddess wife of the Father. Northmen hold that the world was created as a gift for the Mother who filled it with flowers and other good things. Northmen say they the radiant sun is the face of the Mother, when she smiles the world grows warm, but at times she will grow sad with the goings on of the world and turn her back on the world causing the cold to come. Because of this many Northmen believe the great winter was caused by the Mothers sadness of the Fathers children living under the rule of the elves.

The Mother gives warmth, and takes it away. She is fickle and many pray to her for the winter's end and the beginning of springs warmth.


The Son: The Son, the divine offspring of the Mother and Father, the great warrior and defender of humanity. The Northmen believe that the Son comes down in the form of a man when there is great need. The hero that killed the Great Lych and Alfried the Great are said to be incarnations of the Son upon the mortal realm, Mattaus Davous is also considered to be another incarnation of the Son upon the world. Many believe that each incarnation of the Son in the flesh is stronger than the last and that any of his mortal offspring birthed during his earthly life time will have some divine blood within them.

The Son is the sword and shield of humanity, his comings and goings from the world can establish empires and slay horrors. Many pray for his return.

The Great Eye
The Great Eye, faith of the Dieshmen. The Dieshmen came shortly after the Northmen and Westerlings arrived to Murmdus, and with them they brought their religion. A monotheistic religion centered on a all powerful being who is said to have control over all things. The Dieshman claim that there god looks down on the world he created with his one single eye, and his gaze casts the light that warms the world and gives life to all things. It is this Great Eye that the Dieshmen worship.

Worship of the great eye often consists of the giving of food sacrifices. The Dieshmen also have a holy book simply called the Scriptures, given to them in the Old Land as they call the shadowy regions were the races of man came from. Only the priestly class called the Prelets are allowed to read the Scriptures to the masses. Sacrifice to the Great Eye is believed to show a respect to the Eyes life giving ability as well as being a spiritual meal to the God himself, however in times of great desperation the Great Eye may need greater sacrifices. The blood and flesh of men are given up as offering to the Great Eye.

The Blood Cult
The Blood Cult has its origin during a time of turmoil and war in the East. The First Grey Empire was on the decline, and without a unifying mechanism to unite it the Empire would have collapsed. The Blood Cult would be the unifying force in the Eastern Lands. Starting in the City of Cold Harbour a local nobleman named Detha Goja would begin to have prophetic dreams. He would predict the weather and events in the lives of those around him. Than he started to perform miracles, healing the sick and making the dead come back to life. Soon he would claim that he was working in the name of a being called the Bloody One and that he demanded followers of earth to create a new order. Detha Goja would abandon all his wealth and begin to travel across Grey Water without money or food, instead he would rely on the kindness of those around him. Soon people would flock to him, and listen to his teachings. The places he would travel to would begin to see good crops and soon it was he that was credited for this. People began calling him the Prophet and his teaching were compiled in a great script called the Great Book.

The new religion taught by the Prophet would soon spread to the Drick and Orcs in the south and took a fast foothold there. Soon the religion was spreading like wildfire as many easterners felt that the Illuminated had abandoned them, and that this Bloody One had come to save them. Soon it would unife the empire under the goal of spreading the faith in accordance to the Prophets teachings.

The Blood Cult believes it is there sacred duty to spread their religion, at first by piece, and than with by fire and sword. The faith believes that when the whole of Murmdus is made into believers the Bloody One will come to claim his world and make it anew, rewarding those that were loyal to him and did good in his name.

The Corrupted

In the Elder Days, the time before there was time. The world was without form filled with darkness. Within this darkness lived a single being, the Smiling One, The Great Devourer, The Eternal Black, whatever the name one thing was true about the being, he thirsted for the light that could fill the hole within his soul. He scoured the empty world for that one thing he so desired, and found it not. For a time unknowable his hunger drove him until he was no longer sane. Ever second of his eternal existence was filled with the agony that the hole in his soul created. But, as often happens, something changed. A faint glimmer of light shown out across the universe. This was Anvri to those faithful to the Illuminated, the Father to the Northmen, the Great Eye, the Bloody One. This was the first being to exist after the Darkness.

The two being met, and the Darkness tried to consume the Light. The two clashed for eons of mortal reckoning, but in the end Anvri was able to cast the Darkness out of the world and sealed him in the Void beyond creation. With the light no in control Anvri set about his creation.

However the Darkness wasn't silent. Into the minds of the various spirits that Anvri created to sheperd his creation the Darkness whispered. Promises of power, of there own god hood. He tainted there minds and turned seven of them away from Anvri and the Illuminated. The Darkness made them attempt to open the Void and allow him to return, but the Illuminated (in other faiths the Illuminated are either replaced with the Son as is the case of the Northmen, the Eternal Host that surrounds the Great Eye, or the Bloody One himself) met them in battle and drove them into the Void. These spirits became the corrupted, beings bent on revenge. There names are unkown, but it is rumoured that like the Darkness the corrupted them, they to whisper to mortals, tainting there minds with lies and false promises of power.

[Ithalian Empire]

Magic

Magic, a curse to some, a blessing to others. But at its base Magic is the manipulation of the residual energy of the creation of the world. If you follow the Illuminated than that means Nina blessed you with the ability to tap into this power, if you follow the Blood Cult than you have been to the Blood Lands in a past life and have been reborn, there are many explanations as to why some are able to use magic and other only have a bare understanding of the art and why many more are deaf to it. What is readily understood is how to use magic and the basic categories magic can fall into.

Magic is not a free recourse to be used by all mages, it takes years of dedication and perseverance to be able to cast even a mediocre set of spells, to truly master magic would take even a high elf most of their lifetime. Even the act of casting spells is a taxing task upon the casters body, many mages can exhaustion while casting if the spell is beyond there skill level. Mages can go mad as well if there spells out pace there skill, causing a backlash of energy that can kill them and all unfortunate to be near them. However, despite the risks, many mages chose to push their abilities and grow their powers.

Magic can be further subdivided into different practices, each practice manipulates different kind of energies to different effects. The main categories are Elemental, Aura Magic, and Necromancy. All magic must be channelled through either a staff, wand, or other object. Some mages can channel magic through the use of there hands, but this is a skill that only mages who have dedicated a lifetime in study can use.

Of the main branches of magical study, elemental magic is considered the easiest to learn and the most effective as a tool of combat. Many mages who study elemental magic will become battle mages and ordained by the Scholi Magii to fight for there liege lords, in the days of the Second Empire battle mages would serve the Emperor directly. Elemental magic often takes the form of pure energy or as the manipulation of the very environment itself. With some mages becoming experts is water manipulation, or pyromancy, or useing the very ground to crush there foe or create golems. Aura magic is focused on life. With a skilled auramancer you have a healer, someone who can seal wounds and mend broken bodies. Auramancers are can also go down the path of enchantments, placing auras upon weapons and objects to empower them with effects ranging from ever sharp edges to setting those hit with the weapon on fire. Particularly talented auramancers can place enchantments on books that render them unreadable unless you know the right words or locks that will melt lock picks, but leave the enchanted key alone.

There is a third branch of magic, necromancy. Considered a vile abomination by many the art, if it can be called such, relies of the ripping of souls out of there afterlife and placeing them in the dead husk of there mortal bodies. Such a thing is an affront to the Illuninated, to the Three, the the Great Eye and even the Blood Cult turns green at the thought of cursing someone to live in a rotting corpse. The practice of necromancy is punishable by death all across Murmdus, with ghoulmen digging up corpses to be used in illegal experiments in the secluded reaches of the world.

Alchemy

The arts of Alchemy, a cheap alternative to true magic to some, for others a way to level the playing field. Alchemy combines an understanding if the physical universe with the metaphysical universe in order to create changes in one or another. Like magic, Alchemy utilities the natural energy left over from the creation, but there is a second energy that bind alchemy to the physical world. This second energy is referred to as the

[Ithalian Empire]

The Race of Murmdus

The land of Murmdus is a large and diverse land. From frozen wasts in the north to blasted desserts in the south, jungles and rolling plains, spring mountains the stich across the land and mighty rivers. But Murmdus isn't just a land of great natural beauty, the land is populated by a great many races, each with there own histories and culture.

The Fey Folk

The Wood Elves, a people of serenity and solitude who are thrust into the conflicts of the world often against there will. Living in the Vale Forest that covers the southern end of West March the Wood Elves prefer the peace of the forest over, the beauty of creation and the bounty of there homeland over the empire building and war like ways if there High Elf cousins. That does not mean that the Wood Elves have had no effect on the history of Murmdus. Before the fall of thew Second Empire the last Wood Elves ruled, during the time of Sevestos Davous and the Second Empire it was the Wood Elves who gathered under his banners to fight the Civil War. The Wood Elves are a people who wish to be left at peace, but are not afraid to spill blood to protect there homeland and way of life.

The Wood Elves themselves are far different from the other two races of Fey in appearance. Where other fey races are tall with wiry builds the Wood Elves are short, often shorter then the average man, and bulkier than there more high born brethren. They differ in the other fey as well, the average wood elf lives to be about 120 years old where as his High Elven cousins can live to be 400 years. The Wood Elves are almost supernaturally talented with the bow, there denser build allow them to wield bows with very heavy draw weights with ease. Wood Elf mages are some of the best healers that Murmdus has to offer, as well as being the only race to master the art of treesong.

More Information on the Wood Elves

The Races of Man

The Elerians, a race of man that was born in Murmdus. Modern Elerians trace the decent to the original Westerling and Northman settlers of the Elerian plain. Elerians are not the largest and strongest of the kindred's of man, nor are they the most magically attuned. Instead the Elerians find themselves being capable of being good in both. This has lead them to be one of the most adaptive of the human races. This, along with there hold over some of the most fertile land in Murmdus has made them one of the most successful peoples on the face of the continent. The Elerians are a people with a need to rule, they are an ambitious people, great warriors and mages have been breed by the sons of Eleria. Two empires have been forged from Elerian kingdoms, men like Mattaus Davous and Remus Delthion have forged the world west of the Spine into there own immense empires. The Elerians are the sharpers of the world, the wielders of both steel and arcane fire. Twice has and Elerian dared and won, and perhaps an Elerian will dare once more.

The Elerians being a race of mixed blood are unique amongst the races of men. Many Elerians are of average stature. Elerians in the south are olive skinned as many of them spend much of there days in the fields that are the source of there wealth. In the north near Highron and Corigdia Elerians grow to resemble there Northmen cousins, growing taller and more muscular with fairer skin and lighter hair. Elerians the world over have a natural affinity for magic only found amongst the Elven races and the Westlerings, nearly every Elerian is capable of casting a few spells, and a fully trained and well versed Elerian mage can even stand his ground against a High Elf. From there Northman ancestry they have gained the superb skill with the blade that the Northmen are famous for. There is one trait that has come from neither of the older races of man, the Elerian way with words, no other race is able to twist words in such ways as the Elerians. This has made the Elerians the conquerors and the administrators that have twice united the world west of the Spine. Perhaps on day soon and Elerian will take up the calling of his glorious heritage and forge a new empire.

Of the Westerlings[/b]

The Second Age opened with the arrival of mankind on the coast of West March and Frostfall. Popular folk legend has it that the Westerlings originated from a far-off land known as Ethandun, meaning 'silver cliff' in their archaic and now rarely-used origin tongue. Nothing is known of Ethandun, and numerous expeditions to find such a land have discovered nothing but the open ocean. This has left scholars with no recourse but to surmise that some terrible catastrophe must have driven the Westerlings away from their original homeland.

Regardless, upon the Westerling landings, West March was still something of a frontier region for the Eternal Empire of the Fey Folk. The proto-Wood Elves chafed considerably under the authority of the central state, so the High Elves set about recruiting the Westerlings as enforcers in return for land in the north of the region.

But even as they fought, the Wood Elves and Westerlings intermingled considerably. The human warrior-chiefs proved no more amicable to imperial rule than did the elves of the Vale Forest. As the centuries passed, enough cultural and racial mixing took place that the Westerlings acquired a strong disposition towards the use of magic, indeed stronger than any of the other sub-peoples of mankind. Many legendary mages have emerged from the Westerling people, including the twins Liuba and Leofric in the late Second Age, Winfrith the Wanderer in the Dark Age, and Cyneheard the Black, who ruled over West March for a brief time during the Great Confusion. With a history of both great evil and selfless good arising from their mages, the Westerlings have an ingrained tradition of magic-using which heavily permeates their culture.

Although they initially resisted the conquests of both Octavio Delthion and Mattaus Davous, once incorporated, the Westerlings have historically been relatively supportive of both the First and Second Empires. A great number of Westerlings served in high positions in both imperial bureaucracies and militaries. They were particularly prominent in the Scholi Magii and the battle mage corps, where their magical affinity and membership within mankind made them obvious leadership candidates. In times of great strife and civil war, the Westerlings tended to favor loyalty to the Empire rather than independence, except when no such authority existed. Once attained, however, an independent West March has proven a difficult construct to hold together, given the propensity for the great families of the realm to guard their existing power fiercely.

Generally speaking, the Westerlings are both shorter and slimmer than the Northmen, sharing the roughly average height of the Elerians. Most are found with fair hair, fair skin, and dark eyes, with sharp, angular facial features that denote their long-ago mixing with elvenkind.

Presently, the human-dominated north of West March is divided into four polities; the Kingdom of Werses, the Duchy of Alton, the Principality of Campgriff, and the Duchy of Atsmouth. These four realms and the houses that rule them (as well as the lesser houses that owe allegiance to them) struggle constantly for the throne of the realm and the kingship of the Westerlings, making the politics of the province a bloody tapestry of intrigue, family feuds and war.

Inhabitants of the frigid and mountainous expanse of Frostfall, the Northmen still adhere to that primeval faith which they carried with them over the seas - that of the Father, the Mother and the Son. Strong and tall, with straw-blond hair and blue eyes (generally) they are at once both the physically strongest and the least magically attuned race of men to settle in Murmdus. They also regard themselves as the 'most' human of humans, given that they still follow the Old Way and have not done any mixing with elves, leaving them the 'closest' to the original strain of mankind that first crossed the seas. Others, such as the Elerians and Westerlings, have either bred with elves or adopted their faith, which in the Northern mind constitutes a gross association with the ancient enemy of men.

Though they are sometimes quick to anger, the Northmen have always been renowned warriors. Under the direction of Alfried the Bastard, they were the first to rebel against the elves. Though unwillingly conquered by both subsequent human empires, once subdued they distinguished themselves as the best soldiers to march under the Emperor's banner. Many great heroes of yore were Northmen: Egill Six-Fingers, the 2nd Age adventurer, Gustaaf of Verhalla, who rode with Alfried, Asdis the Warrior-Maiden of the Dark Age (who loved Winfrith the Wanderer), and Snorre Haakonsson of the Fourth Age, who fought the undead with his legendary axe Frostskader.

A common cultural practice is the Opprivende, or the Harrowing, in which male youths of fifteen are banished into the wilderness for a year to survive on their own. Should they do so, they return to society as a man, hardened by the experience and ready to enter adulthood.

The social structure of the Northmen has three basic substrates: On the bottom sit the Thralls; serfs and indentured servants who wallow in poverty during a life of hard labor. In the middle are the Karls, sometimes collectively referred to as the Bonde. These are free men, independent farmers, merchants and craftsmen who are not necessarily wealthy but possess both rights and property. On top are the Jarls, the aristocratic landlords who own most of the land. The average Jarl might own a number of villages or a mid-sized town. They are generally subordinate to a king, though this is not always the case. At times, the various petty kings of Frostfall have all sworn allegiance to a High King.

Of the Rickvegians

Men of the plains and rivers, the Rickvegians have engaged in both farming and sea commerce since they migrated south out of Frostfall millennia ago. Dragomir Otvazhny ('The Daring') was the ancient king of the Second Age, considered the first Frenski and the man responsible for leading Rickveg's rebellion against the elves. However, his dynasty died with him, leaving the province to fracture into the principalities which it is usually divided into.

Rickvegians view themselves as particularly distinct from the other races of men, despite having no particular affinity for magic and lacking the physical strength of the Northmen. Although they worship the Illuminated, they observe a number of unique differences that cleave them from their coreligionists. For one, they offer weekly prayers to the trickster spirit Veles, who is not considered a god in the full meaning of the term, but rather something of an ethnic guardian angel for the Rickvegians. It is unknown exactly how belief in Veles emerged, but regardless it has served as a religious point of contention several times in the past. Additionally, the Rickvegians have all but deified Dragomir Otvanzhny along with the great Dark Age sea captain, Mladen Eraković, and a number of other national heroes. It is believed that in times of great violence and upheaval, Veles and his Svyatyye (Saints) will emerge again to protect the Rickvegian people.

These manifest religious beliefs have often caused the Rickvegians to chafe under the rule of both the First and Second Empires. On neither occasion was the province conquered easily - and the Rickvegians took many opportunities to shirk the authority of the Emperor and at times openly rebel, although they were rarely successful. Even in the present today, the Rickvegians are regularly enraged over the fact that the southern half of their realm is in tribute to the Dieshmen. It is only through the strength of the Sultans' armies that this state of affairs continues at all.

Physically, the Rickvegians trend in the direction of the Northmen, with strong and stocky physiques. However, their hair is generally dark, with eyes of green or blue. Blond hair seems to be an exceptionally rare trait for this people. They are known far and wide across Murmdus as exceptional horsemen, given that the Vanta Steep is superb horse-raising territory.

Today, they remain a people cloven in two. In the north, those swearing allegiance to the Frenski ruling in Tervinsk hope to liberate their ethnic brothers in the south, who have lived under the tributary yoke of the Dieshmen for over a century

The Eastern Races

Grey Men

The Grey Men, called the Thalu’Ta in their native tongue which roughly translates to The First Children, and so it is that the Grey Men where the first race to arrive after the extinction of the Ancients and the Old Ones. They arrived to a Murmdus ruled by the Dwarves, and it is through the Grey Men preservation of the Dwarven writings that we know anything at all about the Age of Mist. As for the origins of the Grey Men, known really truly know. The earliest stories of the Grey Men speak of a catastrophic in some eastern land. This has lead som scholars to claim that the Grey Men, like the Drick and Orcs come from Teljora. However this would mean that an earlier event shook the lands of the far east centuries before the Drick and Orcish races made there crossing later in the First Age. In truth, only the gods truly know where the Grey Men came from before settling in the region of Grey Water.

The Grey Men themselves appear like many of the races of man from afar. They do not trend into the overly tall like the Northmen, nor are the as short as the Wood Elves. There hair tends to be a white to almost a mousey grey color. There skin is universally a light grey tone. However, when one get closer, all semblance of man begins to fade away. The Grey Men have no nose that the other races would recognise, instead where a nose should be to slits are present on a flat face. Their eyes are like those of a reptile, with golden or red colouration in the iris. The Grey Men, do not have skin like the other races, instead they are covered in head to toe with fine scales.


Grey Man Culture

The Grey Men live in a very segmented and rigid society wherein everyone has a place. At the top of the hierarchy in the Eternal Emperor, the political and spiritual head of the Grey Empire. Below him is the Therin’Vat, the nobels who effectively run the day to day business of the empire, the Therin’Vat are born into there postiton, so a family can effectively be a long line of accountants. Below the Therin’Vat of the Hali’Kro, the warriors of the Great Bloody one and there commanders and below them are the Nief’to, the common people who work the farms and crafts people. The Nief’to are the true life blood of Cold Harbour and the Empire and without them the other social statuses would be useless.

The Grey Men are fanatic in their worship of the Great Bloody One, believing that anyone who refuses to worship there god is deserving of death. The fantic though has lead to two major wars on Murmdus and smaller conflicts within the Second Grey Empire. In an attempt to keep te Orcs in line the Grey Men have established the Order of the Red Fist to hunt down any Orc who actively worships the Illuminated or the Great Eye. Many of the Orcs arrested by the Red Fist are sacrificed in the temples at World's End and Grey Haven to appease the Bloody One.

Outside there own empire the Grey Men are often seen as an enemy, something to be afraid of. Every Grey Man is a spy, a thief, a murderer. Even the merchants of this race a treated with thinly veiled hostility and distrust. This has lead the Grey Men to be a rare sight west of the Spine, with many of the race holding similar views of other races, in particular the Grey Men find the Northmen to be particularly barbaric and unpleasant. The Eternal Emperor has even made it legal for raiding parties to head into Frostfall to collect new prisoners for the sacrifices in Worlds End or as slaves to feed the Grey Empires growing need for cheap labour.

As this new era of blood and war continues year in and year out, the Grey Men feel the time is coming. Holy warriors are gathering in the capital, and the Eternal Emperor consults with the oracles of the Blood One. A third war with the heathens in the west is coming, and the Grey Men will not lose, the Blood Ones paradise will be brought down to the mortal realm. The time is now.

Drick:
The Drick, a race of short rat like creatures who inhabit the jungle cities of Kadetha. The Drick, like many of the races who came to power in the aftermath of the Great War and the end of the Age of Blood where strangers in a strange land. The Drick’s own oral history of there time before the arrived o Murmdus says that they lived in Teljora, a land known to be in the far east. There in Teljora the Drick built an empire, however they had several rivals on the continent, the greatest of them being the Orcish tribes.

In the oral histories the Drick describe the orcs as vile savages who knew not of civilization, wild and cannibalistic. The Drick subjected the Orcish tribes and turned them into a slave force. The Drick where at the height of their power, but tragedy would smash there hard earned gains to dust. The histories tell us that an event the Drick only call the Great Despair ruined their empire and made living in Teljora impossible for Drick and Orc alike. A few noble families, there serfs and there Orcish salves managed to board vessels and sailed west. The landed in what is now the region of Kadetha.

Kadetha at the time of the Drick landing was held by both the Dwarves and the Grey Men, another race that left the eastern lands to live in Murmdus. The Drick came and conquered the land in the Wars of Morning. The Drick would carve for themselves and independent kingdom, with the Drick living mostly on the coasts of Kadetha and the Orcs being pushed near the Spine of the World. During this time the Orcs would be treated much the same as they were in the old country, as slaves fit for manual labour and agriculture.

This way of life would continue until the War of a Thousand Days. The Elven new commers began a war of conquest on the East, the Drick would stand with the Grey Men and the Dwarves to hold back the tide of elven invaders. However, the Orcs, wishing for freedom would revolt and swear loyalty to the elven kings in return for their liberty. This allowed with Elves to conquer the east. The Drick would live as elven subjects until the end of the Eternal Empire and the start of the Age of Confusion.

As humans began to rebel, the Drick and other eastern races pushed the elves out of the east and for a while a new Drick kingdom was formed, allied to the growing power of the Grey Men. Soon the two races would turn there alliance into a new Empire, one that would unite the the east until the arrival of the Dieshmen. The First Grey Empire would stand, the Drick would fight a war with the Orcs and the Dieshman invasion would weaken the Empire. When the Blood Cult swept through the East, the Drick became its most zelous adherents.

After the the First-East West war the Drick would once again be an independent people, however during this time of the Drick would fight a long series of fruitless wars against the Orcs. Soon however the Drick would once more fall under the marching beat of the Grey Empire. When the Second East-West War was fought, the Second Grey Empire did not fracture like the Second Empire did in the West after the war. As the dawn of a new age of blood comes the Drick stand with there Grey Men allies, and all of Murmdus will feel the power of the Great Bloody One.

Drick Culture

To the casual observer the Drick are a race of greedy scoundrals who would kill there own mothers if it meant gaining wealth or prestige. For the most part this is an exageration based mostly on the upper classes of Drick society. The Drick themselves to respect those who rise to the top and gain power through any means necessary, however only a select few are actually permitted to size power. This is due to the Dick’s rigid cast system. At the top of this social order are the merchants and noble families, these individuals, called Mi’ra have the greatest freedom and the greatest power within Drick lands. The Mi’ra can own slaves, acquire land, and are responsible for generating wealth in Drick cities and town. Below them, or rather next to them, are the priests and other religious figures collectively known as Mi’ta. Mi’ta have control in a spiritual sense than the worldly way that the nobility and merchant class has, with priests able to tear down noble families for crimes such as heresy and adultery. Next comes the Mi’tra, the artisans and soilders of the Drick. Mi’tra have no political influence, but they do make the goods that the Mi’ra sell and they provide to armies of the Mi’ra noble families. Mi’tra can rise to become Mi’ta. Second the the bottom are the Mi’zi. The Mi’zi are the farmers and other labourers with no real skills. Mi’zi can never rise to Mi’tra or Mi’ta. At the bottom of the social rung are the Mi’tok. Mi’tok are outcasts, often those with physical and mental defects or those that have disgraced there families or have been accused of crime by the Mi’ta. Mi’tok have no rights, nor any protection under the normal laws of the Drick.

Orcs:
The Orcs, a seemingly barbaric race, the Orcs have a complex history on Murmdus and a unique culture within the lands east of the Spine. The Orcs, like the Drick, are native to the eastern land called Teljora. According to the Drick, the Orcs where a race of raiding marauders. The Orcs tell a very different story from that of the Drick.

The Orcs claim that they were a pastoral people, content to sow crops and raise livestock. This changed however when the Drick arrived eager of conquest and slaves. The Orcs, seeing the desire of the Drick readied themselves for war. Needless to say they did not win, and the Drick took there lands and there freedom, turning the once proud people to slaves.

Much of orcish history is as slaves and is this unrecorded until the War of a Thousand Days. During the war the Orcs revolted against their Masters and where added by the Elvish armies. At the end of the war the Orcs lived as a free people under the Eternal Empire. However, the empire of the elves was not eternal, the arrival of men and the collapse the ushered in the Great Confusion ushered in the return of oppression to the Orcs.

Both iterations of the Grey Empire have incorporated the Orcs. While the orcish people are not slaves, the do suffer under the cruel hands of the Drick. Unlike the other two races in the Grey Empire, the Orcs follow the Illuminated since that was the faith of the race seen as liberators in Orc history. Due to the convert of die nature of the Blood Cult the Orcs are considered a danger and are barred from military service and are often attacked for their faith.

As the bloody years after the collapse of the second empire continue the Orcs strive for freedom. Orcs flock to the banners of freedom fighters and open rebellion is made in the jungles of Kadethea. Only time will tell of the Orcish people will there freedom, or if they will be enslaved once again.

Orc Culture

Orcs, as seen from the outside are a martial race, war and bloodshed are second nature. But not is all as it seems. Orcs only fight because they believe they have to. Orcs have a talent for all craft work and a natural affinity for metal working in all forms. As slaves to the Drick the where used in all forms of labour, from farm work to miners. As such the Orcs have come to view hard work as a way to cleanse one's soul, this has made the Orcish race known on both sides of the Spine as bieng an industrious race. Within the villages and town Orcs live in very tight nit family units, often the several generation housed in a single dwelling. The head of these families are called Chiefs, and can be male or female. Chiefs make all important decision for the family, often called a clan.Chiefs of more affluent Orc families are often lords or mayors and other high ranks within Ork held lands in Kadethia.

When Orcs were slaves, the Drick would tattoo there slaves to signify which house they belonged to. This practice of marking one's slave would turned into other forms of body modification, Drick would pierce there Orcs with gold a precious gems to signify a Drik houses wealth a stature. At first the Orcs resented the practice, but soon began doing there own tattoos as a form of quiet rebellion against their masters. Orc children were tattooed with clan markings to identify from which clan they came from. When the Orcs won their freedom the practice of tattooing and piercing continued, and now you can hardly find an orc that isn't adorned in some fashion.

[Ithalian Empire]

The Politics of Murmdus
A map showing the greatest nations as of 1419 4A

The Kingdom of Highron: The Kingdom of Highron claim to be the successor of the Second Empire with there capital and in effect there entire nation based out of the once great city of Highron. As the Second Empire began to collapse from within the Davous dynasty began to try an consolidate power within the original holdings of Highron and Corigdia. Thus as the rest of the empire broke into small states, the Davous family was able to keep a small portion of there land from falling in to madness. This however was not to last, the Second Esmerian Pact launched an invasion on the Elerian coast, assaulting the Principality of Asher, a semi independent vassal of the now reduced Empire. Emperor Gathuas Davous rode to aid the Prince of Asher. He would die on the battle field, his wife would give birth to a son a few days later and die. The son, Gathuas the Second would rule for 30 days before mysteriously vanishing.

Without a royal family the Kingdom has been ruled by a council of three noble families, House Dethello of Corigdia, House Cadio of Highron and House Masini of Viron. Together these houses have kept the last remains of the Empire together for two centuries, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that all three houses where bitter enemies before the extinction of the Davous family. House Dethello wishes to rule there own kingdom, House Cadio wished to claim the crown and House Masini is always looking for ways to increase there position. This bitter strife between the three houses has been tempered by a greater threat, the Esmerian Pact to the south and the other independent Elerian states.
The Esmerian Pact:

The Jarldom of Velkia:

Rickveg:

The Grey Empire: The Grey Empire the currently rules the regions of Kadetha and Grey Water is the second incarnation of the Grey Men's rule over much of the east. From the city of Cold Harbour rules the Eternal Emperor Ter'th Derjak, ruler of the Waters, Lord of the Great Green, Vicar of the Bloody One, and descendant of Ter'th Mordan first Emperor of the Second Grey Empire. The Second Grey Empire formed with the conquest of Ter'th Mordan, king of Cold Harbour in the year 50 4A to 60 4A. This new Empire would not crack like the first, and Mordan would pay attention to the West as the Davous emperor began there rebuilding and reformes. He would model his army after the new Imperial Armies, his navies after theirs. Buy the time he left this world in 102 4A as the longest lived Thalu'ta in history, he had created a powerful force in the east.

The Second East-West War was nearly as violent as the first, and ended in a draw. The Second Empire would crumble in the years after the war, but the Grey Empire would live on, regathering its strength and fillings it coffers one more. As of this curent time, Emperor Ter'th Derjak sits as the ruler of the most stable nation, however he has trouble in the south. In Kadetha the Orcs have been fighting for generations for there independence. Orcish freedom fighters have been gathering at alarming rates under the banner of Morka Draka, a daring and charismatic Orc who has had success in fighting the Drick. Farther south lay the sandy lands of Soul-Diesh, where the Deshmen have formed there own united kingdom. Recently this new nation has projected its power west into Rickveg, forcing the southern lands of the region to become tributaries, and the Sultan looks north the the Grey Empire for new conquest.

However, the Grey Empire is reading its armies, amassing a forest of spears and standards all across its holdings. The West is weak, there lands already flow with blood from two hundred years of war. Soon, the Eternal Emperor will declare a new holy war against the old enemies of the Bloody One, and this time he will throw down there heathen gods, a third East-West War is comeing, all the Grey Men need is the command of there Emperor and the blessing of the Bloody One.

The Three Sultanates:

[Ithalian Empire]

Reserved

[Ithalian Empire]

This is now open, if anyone wants to help world building that would be cool.

[Vacif]

Some of the BB code on post 4 is messed up.

ALSO HOLY FUCK What do you even need help with in terms of world building?

[Ithalian Empire]

Some of the BB code on post 4 is messed up.

ALSO HOLY FUCK What do you even need help with in terms of world building?

Honestly, the Races. I am having trouble making each one feel different, I felt maybe if I got some new minds in here there would be some new ideas flowing.

[Vacif]

Some of the BB code on post 4 is messed up.

ALSO HOLY FUCK What do you even need help with in terms of world building?

Honestly, the Races. I am having trouble making each one feel different, I felt maybe if I got some new minds in here there would be some new ideas flowing.

Haven't written much fantasy in a while but I'd like to give it a try. Got any ideas on what you have planned for those blank elf slots/Grey Men?

[Ithalian Empire]

Honestly, the Races. I am having trouble making each one feel different, I felt maybe if I got some new minds in here there would be some new ideas flowing.

Haven't written much fantasy in a while but I'd like to give it a try. Got any ideas on what you have planned for those blank elf slots/Grey Men?

I know Imps had been writting stuff for the High Elves, the only thing I have for the North Elves is that they are nearly extinct. Grey Men are pretty much a blank slate save for parts of the history.

[Cainesland]

Wood elves
- Live in Woodland villages
- Villages have 3 levels based on height; Ground, medium, high.
- Good engineers; use a elevator like pulley system to get between levels of the forest villages.
- wood elf villages are allied in a confederacy that meets in a different village 2-4 times per year to trade, and share news.
- peaceful
- skin like bark

[Cainesland]

Northmen
- Fur traders
- Hunters
- Semi nomadic
- horsemen
- good sense of direction
- rugged, sometimes barbarian like
- can be tough in a fight

[Ithalian Empire]

Wood elves
- Live in Woodland villages
- Villages have 3 levels based on height; Ground, medium, high.
- Good engineers; use a elevator like pulley system to get between levels of the forest villages.
- wood elf villages are allied in a confederacy that meets in a different village 2-4 times per year to trade, and share news.
- peaceful
- skin like bark

Northmen
- Fur traders
- Hunters
- Semi nomadic
- horsemen
- good sense of direction
- rugged, sometimes barbarian like
- can be tough in a fight

Some of these could be implemented. Not sure if the Wood Elves should have bark like skin though.

[Benuty]

Wood elves
- Live in Woodland villages
- Villages have 3 levels based on height; Ground, medium, high.
- Good engineers; use a elevator like pulley system to get between levels of the forest villages.
- wood elf villages are allied in a confederacy that meets in a different village 2-4 times per year to trade, and share news.
- peaceful
- skin like bark

Northmen
- Fur traders
- Hunters
- Semi nomadic
- horsemen
- good sense of direction
- rugged, sometimes barbarian like
- can be tough in a fight

Some of these could be implemented. Not sure if the Wood Elves should have bark like skin though.

Hmm...maybe a defense mechanism due to creatures living in their area?

[Ithalian Empire]

Some of these could be implemented. Not sure if the Wood Elves should have bark like skin though.

Hmm...maybe a defense mechanism due to creatures living in their area?

Ehhh, maybe, could make it as a spell most wood elves would know?

[Vacif]

Bark for skin sounds more like a dryad thing.

[Ithalian Empire]

Bark for skin sounds more like a dryad thing.

Yeah. Like I get the whole Wood Elves are connected to the forest so why not make them super connected, but I also think that having bark skin is going a little to far into the way out there sphere.

[Murovanka]

Hi, looks amazing. Is an rp planned for this world? I’ll be happy to try help give ideas if I can.

[Ithalian Empire]

Hi, looks amazing. Is an rp planned for this world? I’ll be happy to try help give ideas if I can.

Glad you think this looks cool. Yes, I do plan on using this world for the setting of an rp. I plan on working on the op as soon as the races have at least something written for them. If you can help that would be pretty cool.

[Rodez]

Tag. This looks really cool. I'd be happy to help write up stuff for the races if that's what you primarily need.

What kind of culture did you have in mind for the Westerlings? Are they supposed to be more of a Celtic-ish people?

Also, what exactly are the Grey Men like? Are they merely grey-skinned humans or is there something more to them than that?

[Ithalian Empire]

Tag. This looks really cool. I'd be happy to help write up stuff for the races if that's what you primarily need.

What kind of culture did you have in mind for the Westerlings? Are they supposed to be more of a Celtic-ish people?

Also, what exactly are the Grey Men like? Are they merely grey-skinned humans or is there something more to them than that?

My idea for the westerlings was that they would be like Anglo-Saxons. I have been debating if the grey men are just grey skinned humans or if the have something more unique to them. If you got an idea feel free to shoot it.

[Rodez]

Tag. This looks really cool. I'd be happy to help write up stuff for the races if that's what you primarily need.

What kind of culture did you have in mind for the Westerlings? Are they supposed to be more of a Celtic-ish people?

Also, what exactly are the Grey Men like? Are they merely grey-skinned humans or is there something more to them than that?

My idea for the westerlings was that they would be like Anglo-Saxons. I have been debating if the grey men are just grey skinned humans or if the have something more unique to them. If you got an idea feel free to shoot it.

Anglo-Saxons, okay. And the Rickvegians, I assume, are closest to Slavs?

As for the Grey Men, perhaps they could have a few reptilian features. Slit noses, claw-like hands, no body hair etc. They could even have a similar origin story as the Dark Elves from Elder Scrolls - i.e. they were cursed by the gods for some ancient crime or something.