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Revan
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Sith'ari, Chosen Heart of the Force
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| Joined: 04 Dec 2006 |
| Posts: 1552 |
| Location: Korriban |
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Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:18 am Post subject: Pharagos History |
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'Elo guys, here's the recent history of the Pharagos campaign setting (in other words, last year's campaign), hopefully with writeups on nations, factions, and NPCs to follow some other time.
Notes: relatively standard DnD cosmology, campaign plot based on Dungeon 100's Githyanki Incursion, and rough geography taken from the Warlords computer games. Excuse the name ripoffs for now. Mighty long reading.
Pharagos Recent History
(current year is 624 Imperial Reckoning)
(Imperial Reckoning is dated from the founding of the Selentine Empire)
605 IR
-(Unknown plane) The Githyanki empire wages a decisive campaign against the Mandrakori, a race of extraplanar human warriors. The Mandrakori are driven from their home plane, and in desperation, their mages open portals through which millions of Mandrakori are able to flee the destruction of their world. The Mandrakori are scattered throughout the multiverse, with the largest concentration arriving in the Northern Wastes of Pharagos at 605 IR. The Mandrakori Clans spend the next four years subduing the humanoid barbarian tribes and monstrous denizens of the North. With their northern homelands secure, the Mandrakori turn their eyes to the warm lands of the south.
609 IR The Mandrakor Crusade
-(The Horse Plains, Theira, Ylarie, and Silvermyr) After three years of relative tranquility along the Alliance’s northern borders, a massive wave of monstrous invaders swept through the north. Unlike previous invasions, the monstrous tribes were fighting as a unified force under the command of a new power, the Mandrakori. Though the nomads and Halflings of the Horseplains attempt to resist, they were swept under the tide of the invaders. In a stunning development, the Mandrakor Crusade hands the Elven Dominion a major defeat at the sack of Ylarie, a major elven fortress city. Battered back again and again, many of the northern nations lose hope, and even the prospect of southern reinforcement seemed slim. All seemed lost in the north until a small force of Knights of the Silver Dragon led by Knight-Captain Tiber Septim handed the Mandrakori clans their first major defeat at the Bardo Defile, momentarily halting the invading forces, allowing many refugees to flee to the relative safety of Silvermyr’s forests and the highlands of Theira.
-(Khitomer) Furious at the lack of Alliance support for the northern countries, Tiber Septim returns to Khitomer, the Selentine capital and then current Alliance throne city. Paralyzed by partisan bickering, disbelief, and political backstabbing, the Alliance Council is unable to reach a decisive course of action. Turning to the Knights of the Silver Dragon, Septim is dismayed to find that the Knight Masters themselves are at odds as to their stand. Decrying the “political figureheads and play-warriors” that made up the Knight Masters, the young knight calls for a massive Alliance counter-strike.
Rallying the youngest and most fervent Silver Dragons to his cause, Tiber Septim makes his intent known to the public of the Alliance. Thousands of nobles, citizens, adventurers, even entire military units flock to his banner, alarming elements within the Council and the Knight Masters. The Alliance Council and the Circle of Masters send the knight an ultimatum: Stand down. Septim boldly stares down the Council and Circle. He decisively breaks from the Knights of the Silver Dragon, taking with him close to a third of the entire order. The conservative old guard are shocked, the moderates wonder at the order’s future, all while the youngest, best and brightest march north to meet the Mandrakori Crusade.
610 IR Counter Attack
-(Silvermyr and Theira) The new “Grand Army of the Alliance” marches north through Theira. Aware that Mandrakor, the Crusade’s Supreme Commander, could easily halt the Grand Army’s advance through sheer weight of numbers, Septim confers with his officers and decide that a diversionary attack is required. A crack force of Knights and elite elements from the army set sail from Bartonia, slipping through the Mandrakori blockade into Silvermyr. Under command of Knight Captain Tristan von Hiregaard, this force links up with the elven resistance and launches a series of lightning raids and counterattacks, forcing the Mandrakori to shift their attention from Theira to Silvermyr. Though the “glass dagger” tactics pioneered by Hiregaard and the elves dealt immense damage to Mandrakori logistics, the allied forces also suffered major losses. The road through Theira was now lightly guarded, but the elven forests were in real danger of defeat.
Only a forced march by the main Alliance forces allowed the elves to weather the Mandrakori onslaught, and even then, elements of the Crusade forces penetrated the heartwoods, setting fire to many settlements, shrines, and centers of elven mysticism and culture. While Silvermyr burned, Septim’s main force pounced upon the rear of the Mandrakori force, putting them to rout, at grievous cost to both forces.
-(The Horse Plains and Ylarie) The savagery of the Battle for Silvermyr comes as a shock to many in the Alliance forces, especially the Knights of the Silver Dragons, who must reconcile their codes of honor with the harsh realities of war. Tristan von Hiregard and Tiber Septim present the Knights with a ruthless option: Total War doctrine. Fresh from the horrors of Silvermyr’s savaged heartwood, the two leaders had promised that never again would they allow honor or tradition stand in the way of protecting the people of the Alliance. The Dragons unleash a storm of flame and fury all across the north. No quarter is asked or expected. Even the Mandrakori, hardened by years of war against the Gith are taken aback by the ferocity of the Alliance counter-attack. Against overwhelming odds, the Mandrakori forces are broken in a dozen running battles across the Horse Plains. At the Second Battle of Ylarie, the Mandrakori defenders are butchered to the last man and orc by elves and Dragon Knights. The entire north is aflame with war.
611 IR The Battle of the Daemonscar
-(Norgaard mountains) As soon as the spring thaw was completed, the Alliance commences a series of probing attacks along the Norgaard forts held by the Mandrakori. Eventually penetrating the defensive line at multiple points, Alliance forces cross the mountain passes and enter the Northern Wastes. Once on the other side of the mountains, the true extent of the Mandrakori threat becomes clear. The invading force that savaged the northern Alliance nations was nothing more than a vanguard, a mere drop in the sea of Mandrakor and demihuman forces marshaled against the Alliance. The tables are suddenly turned, and the allied forces are placed on the defensive. In battle after battle, the Mandrakori use overwhelming numbers and ruthless precision to overwhelm tactical genius, arcane might, valour, and courage. Repulsed back to the forts guarding the mountain passes, the allied forces were in shambles, their once boisterous morale sapped by close to three years of brutal warfare, and their hopes crushed by a swift series of defeats at the hands of Mandrakor.
One step away from mutiny, Tiber Septim rallies the troops, exhorting them to one last stand. He points out the advantages of the mountain forts, tells them all that this is the place to stop the Mandrakori tide, and tells them that the Alliance has a weapon that can neutralize the Mandrakori advantage of numbers.
-(The Wastes) The Battle of the Daemonscar was considered by many to be the titanic battle of their age. The Gith wars would prove them wrong, but the sheer scale of the battle is not to be underestimated. The front lines stretched for miles, and for three days, the armies clashed without decisive results. Mandrakor had expected a quick rolling assault to sweep aside the allies, but the battle lines held. On the fourth day, Mandrakor ordered the clans to unleash their full force on the defenders, “Spare none the blood of attrition!” The stage for the final assault was set. The clan leaders set themselves at the head of their forces, officers addressed their men one last time, and then the battle was met.
No definitive narrative of the whole battle was ever assembled, but all eyewitness accounts agree that it was an all or nothing battle. The stories from survivors are the stuff of legend: Kylara Darkhope’s charge, the end of the blood feud between Tristan von Hiregaard and Valken Ordo, and the epic duel between Tiber Septim and the Mandrakor. The Alliance bled the Crusade white for each foot that they advanced, but advance the Mandrakori did. Sensing victory, Mandrakor’s second, Kylara Darkhope, committed the Crusader reserve in an assault that would have broken all remaining resistance.
Standing over the corpse of the Mandrakor, Tiber Septim was said to have smiled at the onrushing horde. At that moment, he unleashed his trump card: The Song of Destruction. In a brief, agonizing moment, reality itself splintered, and then reknit. A shockwave of titanic force ripped through the Northern Wastes, burning the land to bare rock, extinguishing thousands of lives, Mandrakori and Alliance. The destruction was so total that even today, fifteen years after, next to nothing will grow in the ash wastes of the Daemonscar. The few survivors of the Alliance army limped home. The Mandrakori were much less fortunate. Estimates vary, but the most conservative figures suggest that close to a third of the entire population in the north, man, woman, child, orc, and giant, were killed in the devestation. The Song of Destruction did more than just win a battle. It practically exterminated the Mandrakori and their allies. The broken remnants of the once-proud clans either tried to eke out a living in the Daemonscar, or fragmented, many emigrating south to warmer lands, working as guards, laborers, and mercenaries.
612-13 IR Calm Before the Storm
-(Alliance Lands) In the next few years, cracks in the Alliance’s façade of unity appear, with many of the nations blaming “southern inaction” for their devastation, while others laid the blame on the Knights of the Silver Dragon for unleashing the Song of Destruction. Narrowly avoiding civil war multiple times, a seed of distrust is nevertheless planted. The Knights of the Silver Dragon disband themselves in the war’s aftermath.
-(Elenia) Sir Tristan von Hiregaard abandons the Knights of the Silver Dragon and forms an independent company of adventurers that would later have a pivotal role to play in the coming Gith Incursion. Its members are the stuff of legend: Erisi L’Aeral, now the monarch of the Elven Dominions, Prince Vrahn Targaryen, the aasimar who would eventually become Vrahn’s Lord Regent, and other luminaries who would shape the course of the coming Incursion.
614 The Incursion Begins
-(The Daemonscar) On an expedition in the Daemonscar, Sir Hiregaard and his companions stumble into a secret Githyanki hatchery in the ruins of one of the Silver Dragon fortresses. After a fierce battle, the Gith are driven off, and the heroes stumble upon secret battle plans detailing the coming githyanki invasion, as well as proof that the gith masterminded the Mandrakori crusade, manipulating the Mandrakor tribes into attacking the Alliance in order to bleed the Alliance of men, magic, and resources. After parlaying with the Mandrakori Remnant to confirm this information and to gain safe passage, the heroes rush south in an attempt to warn the Alliance of the invasion plans.
-(Theira) The border town of Brindinford is seized by Ghaerleth Axom, a mindflayer aware of the Gith invasion. Theiran attempts to retake the city prove fruitless The Illithid remnant unites under his banner in preparation for the coming storm. Brindinford is fortified, the population mentally dominated as slave labor, and grimlock legions are brought to the surface.
-(Khitomer) Harried for leagues by gith assassins, the heroes arrive at the Selentine capital. They meet with Grand Senator Thrawn of the Planar Trading Consortium in order to disclose their information. Their meeting is disrupted by a strike force of gith assassins.
-(The Known World) The Night of Bloody Knives was the opening move in the Lich-Queen Vlaakith’s invasion plans. In a massive simultaneous massacre, dozens of gith assassins spring from the shadows, eliminating nobles, leaders, heroes, officials, archmages, and even a few dragons and death knights. The decapitation strikes paralyze many Alliance nations. Entire royal families and courts are erased from history, such as the Elven House Elessar and the Elenian House von Hiregaard.
-(Khitomer) As assassins stalk the streets and dragons level buildings, the heroes rush toward the Imperial Palace. After cutting their way through gith knights and their dragon mounts, the heroes discover the Emperor dead, but they arrived in time to save one of his heirs, Prince Gaius Marius III. With their assistance, the new Emperor repulses the gith attackers. Their efforts however, were too little, too late. First blood had been won by the gith.
-(Siria) In the aftermath of the Night of Bloody Knives, a gate spell opens up in Tol Siria, and through it march an occupation force of ten thousand gith soldiers. Taking advantage of the disruption of the chain of command, the gith massacre all resistance and efficiently seize control of key towns, cities, forts, and bridges. Within a week, all organized Sirian resistance is crushed. The militias are disarmed, pressed into service as forced labor, and Siria is renamed K’rra’gith’farak, or the “Kingdom of Gith on Solid Ground.” The border is turned into a fortress awaiting the inevitable Alliance response.
-(Sirian border) An Alliance army twenty thousand strong meets the occupation force at the Riverrun fords. The army engages the outnumbered gith, but at the height of the struggle, a gate opens at the Alliance rear lines, allowing another storm of Gith invaders into the soft underbelly of the attackers. The gate spews forth dozens of Githyanki flying ships, as well as gith blackguards mounted on red dragons. Caught in a massive pincer move, pinned down at the fords, the Alliance army is slaughtered. However, as the jaws of the trap do not fully close, due to the heroic capture of a gith Planar Raider by Hiregaard and his companions. A small but significant fraction of the force is able to escape. The victorious gith give chase.
-(Bartonia and Theira) The disastrous outcome of the Battle of Riverrun seals the fate of Bartonia and Theira. Abandoning the defensive posture, Vlaakith opens dozens of gates all across K’rra’gith’farak, and entire legions are thrown against the beleaguered defenders. Militia forces are simply crushed, while significant forces are obliterated by Planar Raiders and their red dragon escorts. The rolling assault dooms the feudal kingdom of Bartonia, as the nobility and government collapse, paving the way for an iron-fisted gith occupation. The more rough and ready Theirans prove harder to crack. Long experience fighting trolls, giants, and goblinoids had already toughened the average Theiran militiaman, and the more loosely structured clan system meant that resistance, especially in the highlands, was next to impossible to totally eliminate short of a through genocide. The Theirans find an unlikely ally in Ghaerleth Axom. The mind flayer’s defenses repulse numerous gith attacks, providing a shield, a nexus of resistance for the Theirans and mind flayers to rally around.
-(Arcania) House Targaryen of Arcania was one of the few royal families that escaped the Night of Bloody Knives relatively unscathed. In a shocking development, Emperor Vargus Targaryen, Third of his name, announced that the city-state of Arcania had abandoned its long relationship with Selentia and had seceded from the Alliance. Furthermore, the Targaryens had signed a pact with the invaders, allowing them to use Arcania as a staging and resupply post, as well as providing military support to the Incursion forces.
-(Elenian border) Hammered and demoralized by the rapid succession of defeats, weakened by the Arcanian Secession, the Alliance armies are close to collapse. Tristan von Hiregaard forcibly seizes control of the paralyzed command council, while Vrahn Targaryen persuades many elements of the Arcanian army and Eldritch Knights to defect and serve the Alliance. Breaking up the army into mobile strike forces, Hiregaard once again unleashes the “glass dagger” tactics he pioneered during the Mandrakor wars. Reinforced by Elenian rangers and fresh Selentine legions, the line finally stabilizes at the Elenian border with Bartonia.
615 Dark Times
-(Elenia and Theira) Slowly but surely, the Gith use their apparently limitless numbers to grind away at the alliance. Despite a few victories for the defenders, the prognosis is clear: Defeat within a year. While Senator Thrawn executes a masterful fighting retreat, the Heroes of the Gith War decide to change the rules of the game. Infiltrating through Theira, the Heroes decide to find new allies in the war against the gith.
-(Brindinford) At Brindinford, the heroes enter into negotiations with Ghaerleth Axom. In exchange for Illithid membership in the Alliance, the mind flayer commits his grimlocks to opening a northern front. The mind flayer also provides a chilling piece of information: Vlaakith intends to recover the Song of Destruction and its twin, the Song of Creation, for some unknown purpose. The heroes rush north to the Daemonscar, the Song of Destruction’s last known location.
-(Daemonscar) The Song of Destruction is nowhere to be found. However, in meetings with the Mandrakor clans, the heroes persuade some of them to take up arms against their ancient enemies. However, the united clans would only march under a leader bearing the Dragon Helm of Mandrakor.
-(The Sundered Isle) Pursuing the trail of the Dragon Helm and the Song of Destruction leads the heroes to the elven enclave at the Sundered Isle, a place forbidden to all other races. There, they find the Black Watch Elves fighting a losing battle against a strike team of gith airships, escorted by an Arcanian Floating Fortress. Rushing to the aid of the Black Watch, the heroes assist in driving off the gith forces. They discover the purpose of the assault: the Song of Creation, twin to Destruction, held in trust by the Black Watch and their leader, the elven archmage Mordanion, returned to them by Tiber Septim, who had survived the Daemonscar. The Sundered Isle is no longer a safe refuge for the Song, so the Black Watch agree to join the Alliance armies to thwart the Gith. Tiber Septim returns the Dragon Helm, and Kelborn of Clan Ordo is named the new Mandrakor of the Clans.
-(Bartonia and Theira) The Mandrakor and grimlock reinforcements bolster the flagging morale of the Alliance. In a daring series of raids masterminded by Grand Senator Thrawn, the gith battle lines are broken, forcing the invaders to retreat to Siria. Unfortunately, these victories prove to be a false dawn.
-(Al-diraq) While the Alliance retakes the initiative in the East, a new threat emerges in the West. The Al-diraq Empire, so far a neutral party in the war, is seized by the Gith after a palace coup deposes the doddering Emperor. Led by the brilliant General Zetch’r, the Githyanki gate into Al-diraq’s cities and ally themselves with the coup plotters. Loyalist forces and Al-diraqi resistance crumble in days. Absorbing the Al-diraqi military into his forces, Zetch’r pushes into the Dragon Isles, and pummels the minotaur nations. Zetch’r offers the minotaurs a chance at martial glory besides the Gith armies if they surrender peacefully. After heated debate, the minotaurs surrender. The minotaur mercenary and marine companies, once a staple source of heavy troops for the Alliance, are recalled home, and are turned against their erstwhile allies.
-(Elven Dominions) Zetch’r continues his unstoppable drive northwards. Subduing the dark dwarf nations and burning Feywood to the ground, Zetch’r’s forces enter the lands of the Elven Dominions. Elven forces are recalled from Silvermyr and the Elenian front, severely weakening the newly retaken territories. Mordanion and the Black Watch arrive in time to repulse Zetch’r’s vanguard, but as more Al-diraqi regiments and minotaur companies arrive, the prospects slowly grow worse for the elves.
-(Arcania) Amid the dark tidings comes a last glimmer of hope. In Arcania, the exiled prince Vrahn Targaryen managed to infiltrate the Imperial Palace. In a daring raid, the prince swiftly deposed his father Vargus Targaryen and drove out the gith from Arcania. After taking the ascent to lichdom, Vrahn names himself Emperor of Arcania, brings the city-state back to the Alliance fold, and returns the Eldritch Knights to the front lines.
616 Incursion’s End
-(Elenia and the Elven Dominions) In the end, the gith still had the advantage of numbers. The gith marshaled their airships for a final push along the battlelines, smashing through the Alliance lines in a dozen places. In the north, the warlord Zetch’r resumed his drive against Ehlariel, the ancient elven capital. Using the Al-diraqi and minotaurs as the tip of the spear, he engages in a ruthless meat-grinder push, bleeding the elves of men and resources. At the battle of Ehlariel, Vlaakith herself makes an appearance, using the Song of Destruction to devastate the elves. Even as Ehlariel was leveled however, the sorcerer Mordanion also turned the magic of the Song against the Gith, decimating Zetch’r’s forces. The gith had been stopped at Ehlariel, but for all intents and purposes, the Elven Dominion had been removed from the war.
-(Tunarath) As the lines crumbled all around them, the heroes were offered a glimmer of hope. A gith emissary approached them, none other then the warlord Zetch’r. He offered the Alliance peace, in return, all they had to do was to destroy the mad lich queen of the gith. Vlaakith intended to use the Song of Destruction and Creation to take the final step to divine ascension, and only with the aid of the heroes could a rebel faction among the warlords stop her insane goals. Zetch’r provides the Alliance with a detailed map of Vlaakith’s battleplans, allowing them to setup one last stand at the Raukoth plains, while the heroes infiltrate the gith city of Tunarath.
-(Raukoth Plains) At the Raukoth plains, the armies of the Alliance engaged the gith in a desperate last stand, a gigantic diversion to attract Vlaakith’s attention while the heroes infiltrated Tunarath. Against overwhelming odds, the Alliance holds the line, repulsing the gith time and time again, in a desperate parallel to the Battle of the Daemonscar.
-(Tunarath) While the Battle of Raukoth was being fought, the heroes infiltrated the Palace of Whispers, and after a titanic struggle, destroyed Vlaakith’s phylactery, the vessel of her undead soul. The magic of the Palace of Whispers collapsed, and the shock of Vlaakith’s death reverberated among the hearts of the gith all across the multiverse. In their moment of weakness, the Alliance counter-attacked, driving the gith from the Raukoth Plains, and gaining total victory. With the magic and malevolence of the lich queen’s controlling presence gone, the gith warlords begin to squabble internally in an attempt to determine the new military hierarchy. Having lost their ability to plane shift, thousands, perhaps millions of gith are stranded on Pharagos. The war had ended, but the gith were here to stay.
617-24 From The Ashes of Victory
-(Siria and Bartonia) The lands of Siria and Bartonia have been renamed K’rra’gith’farak, the “Kingdom of Gith on Solid Ground”. It is here that the majority of the gith forces have been stranded. The Sirian gith rule their territories with an iron fist, and their red dragon allies regularly raid and despoil the countryside before retreating to their eyries in the Barrier Peaks. Aggressive and militant, the only things that keep K’rra’gith’farak from becoming an even greater threat is the rivalries between the many warlords, as well as the threat posed by the Sirian Remnant, a guerilla force dedicated to driving out the occupiers and restoring the old nations of Siria and Bartonia.
-(Al-diraq) The gith of Al-diraq have taken a different path from K’rra’gith’farak. Realizing that they could never totally dominate all of their holdings, the successors of Zetch’r have instead chosen assimilation, keeping much of the old power structure of Al-diraq and the Dragon Isles more or less intact, ruling from above, while the lives of those below are relatively unchanged. The Al-diraqi experiment has apparently met with some success, and there are suggestions that the Elven Dominion may soon be willing to open an embassy and commence trade talks with the newborn Al-diraqi Imperium.
-(Selentia) Selentia has easily become the new Alliance superpower. Its gaze is currently trained eastward, warily eyeing the armies of K’rra’gith’farak, while internally, great debate is being made concerning the Empire’s role in the new world order. Should the Empire continue its role as the backbone of the faltering Alliance, or should it take a more aggressive and nationalist stance? There are even a few extremists who suggest that the time of the Alliance is over, pointing to the conflict brewing in the Firranos sea.
-(Arcania) The city state of Arcania has swiftly become the Arcanian Empire. Taking advantage of the chaos of the gith war’s aftermath, Emperor Vrahn Targaryen and his death knight Lord Regent sent out Arcanian forces tasked to restore order to the countryside. The troops were welcomed as heroes and liberators by the surrounding countryside, and Arcania has never left since then. Though savaged by the Gith Incursion, the influx of wealth from Emperor Vrahn’s deeds, the inclusion of the Illithid as full citizens, and the resources of their newly annexed territories has allowed Arcania to rebound with surprising speed.
-(Lysea) Though physically unscathed by the Gith Incursion, Lysea has suffered heavily from the disruption of trade. The new Consuls, Leonidas and Octavius are at odds in their foreign policy concerns. The Firannos crisis may well decide whether the Octavius' Isolationist or Leonidas' Expansionist party will lead Lysea’s future.
-(Elven Dominions) The devastation wrought by the Gith has resulted in a surprising degree of unity among the once scattered Elven Nations. At the Battle of Ehlariel, and later at Raukoth Plains, elves from the once disparate kingdoms of Lunarion, Ehlariel, Silvermyr, and Ylarie fought side by side against the invaders. Capitalizing on this unity, the various elven houses have elected Erisi L’Aeral, hero of the Gith War, as the new High Speaker of the Elven Dominions, a post vacant since the Great Schism between elf and drow.
Abandoning the old isolationist stance of the Dominions, Speaker L’Aeral has thrown herself wholeheartedly to the cause of the Alliance, sending out numerous expeditions, trading fleets and embassies in an attempt to hold the Alliance together. Though veteran cynics were of the opinion that such effort was wasted, her actions have been surprisingly successful in defusing tensions between Lysea and Selentia, as well as negotiating a resolution to the Elenian crisis at the end of the Paladin War. The Elf Queen has numerous agents in the Firannos Ocean, and she is well aware of the growing tensions in the region. Cynics and idealists across Pharagos await her response to what may well be the war that shatters the fragile Alliance.
-(Daemonscar & Theira) The recovery of the Dragon Helm and the crowning of a new Mandrakor have revitalized the once despairing Mandrakori Remnant. During the Incursion, many among the Alliance were surprised to be fighting aside their erstwhile enemies, but as the Mandrakor proved to be expert at fighting Gith, many decided to forget old enmities. With the end of the Gith Incursion, the Mandrakor Clans have found themselves in de facto control of a large amount of territory, from the Daemonscar all the way to the ruins of Theira. Given the mutual admiration between the Theirans and Mandrakori warrior cultures, the Theiran Remnant was welcomed whole-heartedly by the Clans. The Mandrakor have an uneasy peace with the elves, who have not yet forgotten the sack of Ylariel and the burning of Silvermyr, though Queen L’Aeral is trying to improve these relations with embassies. The Mandrakor themselves are itching to renew the war with the K’rra’gith’farak. The clans have begun hiring out companies of Mandrakori as mercenaries, and these units may see action in any conflict in the Firannos Sea.
618 The Paladin War
-(Elenia & Arcania) The end of the Gith Incursion left a sour taste in the mouths of many Elenian nobles and knights, and the rise of a lich and a death knight to power in Arcania proved to be the last straw. All across Elenia, various paladins and nobles called for a crusade against Arcania. There were few voices that called for calm and order, among them, the young King Jeoffrey VII, and Sir Tristan von Hiregaard’s newly reorganized Knights of the Silver Dragon. Against their advice, the crusade forces marched south against Arcania. The crusaders modeled themselves after Tiber Septim’s grand army, but possessed none of his skill at war or diplomacy. Smashing their way through the countryside, the crusaders devastated vast swathes of farmland, as well as putting dozens of sorcerors and priests of Wee Jas to the sword. It appeared as if nothing could stop them.
The knights drew up to the gates of Arcania City and challenged the rulers of Arcania to meet them. The gates opened, and the Arcanians unleashed their vengeance. Eyewitness accounts vary, but reliable reports indicate that the Emperor and Lord Regent rode out with a dozen blue dragons, a battalion of illithid Inquisitors and regiments of grimlocks and Eldritch Knights. Close to three fourths of the Elenian force were either killed or worse, captured and sacrificed to Wee Jas. The flower of Elenian nobility lay dead on the field.
619 Elenian Collapse
-(Selentia & Elenia) The slaughter of Elenia’s nobility sent shockwaves across Elenian society. Overnight dozens of self-proclaimed lords and barons, many of them jumped up bandits and robbers, fought for control of manors, estates and castles. Chaos swept through Elenia. On the border with K’rra’gith’farak, gith legions were rumored to be massing for a strike against the weakened kingdom. In desperation, King Jeoffrey turned to Selentia. Swearing fealty and allegiance, King Jeoffrey the Last surrendered Elenia to the Selentine Empire in order to avoid war and total collapse. Gauis Marius quickly sent in the Imperial Legions to pacify the countryside and to fortify the gith borders, resulting in an uneasy peace. The Selentines control the cities, towns, and roads, but the countryside is still in a state of flux, held by warlords and robber barons. The people themselves are split, some welcoming the Selentines as a force for law and order, while others see them as invaders little better than the Gith.
624 Present Day: The Firannos Crisis
-(The Iron Isles) The Duchy of Bastion, also known as the Iron Isles, once a vassal of the Kings of Elenia, has become the center of a crisis brewing in the Firannos Ocean bordering Lysea, Selentia and Arcania. Strategically positioned in the middle of the Firannos, the nation that controls the Iron Isles can extend their zone of naval control to cover almost the entire ocean. Since the dissolution of the Kingdom of Elenia, the status of the island duchy has been in question, Selentia claiming them as vassals of their Elenian vassal-state, while Arcania and Lysea have both engaged in “aggressive diplomacy” in an attempt to woo House Kasra, the local rulers. In a decisive move, House Kasra declared the Free Duchy of Bastion independent and has thus far resisted all attempts at assault or alliance. Can the Duchy remain independent, or will it fall to one of the Alliance powers? Can the Alliance itself survive what appears to be a brewing war between three of its most powerful members?
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Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.
-George Wu (The Hyperion Cantos, Dan Simmons) |
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Revan
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Sith'ari, Chosen Heart of the Force
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| Joined: 04 Dec 2006 |
| Posts: 1552 |
| Location: Korriban |
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:39 pm Post subject: Nations of Pharagos |
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Okay, that's the not-quite-so-brief history of Pharagos. Now for a quick overview of the major kingdoms and powers for flavor, with more detailed writeups over the vacation. Here goes!
The Alliance Nations
The Selentine Empire
The largest and most militarily powerful Alliance nation, the citizens of the empire believe in peace and prosperity through law, order, and military might, a peace in which the Selentine Empire reigns supreme. Think the Late Republic and Expansionist years of Rome.
The Lysean Republic
Lysea is a nation built on trade and the sea. It's glittering facade of wealth and high culture masks a seething mix of plots, conspiracies, and skullduggery. Inspired by Machiavelli and Rennaisance Europe and Italy.
The Arcanian Empire
Once a small city-state of sorcerors and their dragon allies, the new Arcanian Emperor catapulted the city to prominence and is driven by imperial, some say megalomaniacal, ambitions. High magic, high fantasy.
The Elven Dominions
Shattered by the Mandrakor Crusade and the Githyanki wars, the Elves have abandoned their aloof seperation from the rest of the mortal world. United for the first time in millenia, the Elves of Pharagos have yet to choose a path in the post-Incursion Pharagos. Should they stick to the Alliance, or carve their own way in the world?
The Fallen Nations
The Kingdoms of Elenia, Siria, and Bartonia have been shattered by the Gith war. While the majority of the populace are now slaves to the Gith and their dragon allies, guerillas calling themselves the Remnant strive for liberation and a rebirth of the Shattered Kingdoms. (Vanilla European Feudal Kingdoms)
The Mandrakori
Extraplanar warriors, the Mandrakori Clans have unflinchingly stared defeat in the face time and again, first in their flight from their home plane, then at the Battle of the Daemonscar. But times have changed, and a new Mandrakor, Kelborn of Clan Ordo, has reunited the clans with a promise: "The Mandrakori shall be great again!" Mandrakor mercenaries have hired out to various nations, while the clans themselves prepare for a new war against the gith.
The Gith
K'rra'Gith'Farak
"The Kingdom of Gith on Solid Ground" is made up of occupied territories once held by Siria and Bartonia. Here, the remnants of the invader forces rule with an iron fist, warring against each other to determine which Warlord is strong enough to reunite the Invasion forces.
The Al-diraq Imperium
The Gith who occupied the Al-diraq Imperium chose a different path from K'rra'Gith'Farak. When the war ended, the Gith chose to assimilate into the power structures of the Al-diraqi, holding the reigns of power and dispensing swift, bloody, but fair justice, and ruling with a surprisingly even hand.
_________________
Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.
-George Wu (The Hyperion Cantos, Dan Simmons) |
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