History of: Artol the Great Demon and the Elves

 "We executed thousands of the Dark Ones after the conquest. But when the last Arahk fell and the blood reached the mid of my boot, I wondered who were truly the Dark Ones."
      -Seghoh Ahl, Collected Essays, 4,9012 BR

Inn the far East is a continent, well across the sea from the Human Essaria that is only known as the Old Lands in the tongue of man. To the south, a great crack in the Earth divides the Elves from the Dwarves, and to the east, a huge chain of mountains blocks both species from the Dark Ones on the other side, the Shadowed Mountains, for no one can see anything but darkness when they peak through Artol's Wall.

The Dark Ones live in a land of jungles, shrouded in mystery. Arahk, Soharn and Disre are the three known sentient species in the land, and together they formed a great horde with the purpose of pouring over the mountains and conquering the lands of the Elves for their own.

Little is known about the species as no living thing has ever journeyed over the mountains and returned. Arahk are large and burly creatures with two large eyes dominating their faces and a set of smaller ones just under them. They have no nose and the average Arahk stands at nearly 9 feet, they are the most well armed and armored of all the Dark Ones.

The Soharn are smaller, thinner, averaging at 6 feet. The Soharn are believed to be smaller servants of the Arahk due to their smaller size yet the two work well together in the hordes and the Soharn actually tend to lead the hordes, as their brains are much larger than the Arahk. The Soharn are hunched over, constantly crawling and possessing the ability to climb walls, yet will stand straight up when it feels it is threatened. They have nearly fifteen eyes, all a different color and all never blinking.

Disre are the workers of the Dark Ones. They bring up the humble fortifications and shelters that the Dark Ones use, make the food and gather supplies. They have only one eye and vary wildly in size and shape. Some are fat and some are skinny, and all range from 3 feet to 9. Disre will still fight when they must, though normally they prefer solitude from other beings.

Despite the differences, the Dark Ones seem to rarely fight each other or attempt to claim dominance. The leaders of their horde hail from all three of the species and even some unknown ones. Why they want to take the lands of the Elves is unknown, though many believe that the demon Artol lead them over in order to destroy the Elves. In reality, the jungles they inhabit are dangerous and difficult to live in even for the Dark Ones, and they were most likely attempting to mass migrate.

--

Artol was one of the four gods of the Elves, along with Shania, Hibenaa and Colia. Artol was the god of Elven emotion, while Shania was the goddess of the Elven forests, Hibenaa of the Elven body and Colia of the Elven feast. When the Dark Ones began to pour over the Shadowed Mountains and invaded the Elven lands, the Elves found themselves reeling and quickly losing ground.

Shania, Hibenaa and Colia wept as the forests burned, the Elves who made them their home starving before being massacred. Artol only felt the Elven emotion, fear, sadness, but also anger. Although the gods were not meant to interfere with their creating, Artol stepped from the heavens in order to lead the Elves against the hordes.

With him leading the Elves, Artol was crowned the first Elven King and managed to push back the tide of the Dark Ones. Thousands of Elves died, yet they took many more of the Dark Ones and slowly but surely, the Dark Ones were forced to flee back over the Shadowed Mountains and back into the jungle wasteland they called home.

After their final battle, Artol had captured thousands of Dark Ones, all began to beg for mercy. The Elves were amazed, they had never seen a Dark One speak, all had assumed they were dumb creatures who were simply meant to kill. Artol cared little however, and the anger of the Elves still rushing through his veins, he had each one executed.

The Elves despised the Dark Ones, yet they were disgusted at the executions. Were they no better than the Dark Ones? If the Dark Ones could talk, could they have been reasoned with?



Artol wished to lead the Elves over the mountains to find the homes of the Dark Ones and destroy them, but the Elves refused to follow him. He was their hero, their savior, yet they wouldn't follow him into the horrors of the jungles. Not even a god could lead them into those mystified lands, and no one wished to witness another massacre.

Dismayed at his followers abandoning him, Artol attempted to go back to his sisters and return to their side, yet they shunned him. Artol had broken the laws that all gods abide, he had touched the mortal world and thus tainted it with his power. The Elves slowly began to learn the use of powerful magics from where Artol had fought or slept. Artol had been banished from his home.

Vengeful at the Elves, his emotions still tearing him apart, and even angrier at his sisters, Artol set off over the Shadowed Mountains. His magical powers were draining, spilling all around him and tainting the land, but he had one last thing to do. Artol journeyed to the highest peak in the Shadowed Mountains, and there he formed the Wall of Artol.

The closer he was to the heavens, the more powerful his magics were, and thus Artol expended his energy to create his wall. The wall prevented magical beings from crossing it, which he had realized the Dark Ones were. Not natural beings, but magical abominations. Closing the wall behind him, Artol left his mountain and crossed into the lands of the Dark Ones. He would wage his personal crusade against the Dark Ones, and leave the wall open for the Elves for when they finally chose to join him.

Elven philosophy after the war stated that when the Elves conquered their emotions, reunited and became brave, they would cross the mountains to once again crown Artol as their King and to destroy the Dark Ones once and for all.

As the years passed, thousands after thousands, the Elves splintered and slowly began to forget of Artol. Modern Elven legend as of 988 AR (nearly 50,000 years from the time of Artol) claim Artol is a demon. The Elves had begun to fight the Dark Ones back over the mountain but Artol, a demon from the darkest pits of hell, sided with the Dark Ones, consumed by hatred and hoping the destruction of the Elves would lead to his own dominion over the land. He slaughtered thousands of Elves, but they rallied and fought him back.

The great warrior King of the Elves, Saldal, tackled Artol over the mountains in personal combat. When Artol was forced to the other side, the great Elven sorcerers used their new found magics (a gift from the three Elven goddesses) to seal away Artol and his hordes and forever block him from returning and destroying the Elven people, but blocking their great King with the savages, who now forever battles with Artol to prevent him from breaking the wall.

Elven religion, Shaliaa, claims that when Artol's Wall (named due to its purpose) is finally shattered due to their sins, Artol will return with his hordes and destroy all Elves. The only thing the Elves need to do to prevent this is worship the goddesses, respect their rulers and prevent any foreigner from entering their lands again. Artol is the great demon, and must be fought through good deeds and subservience to your betters.

 In reality, Saldal was never the great warrior King of the Elves. Saldal lived nearly 20,000 years after Artol's war and gained his title by attempted to conquer the Elven tribes in his name. He received an arrow to his eye for the trouble, but his supporters spread tales of the great martyr, and slowly they formed with the tales of Artol.

Shania, Hibenaa and Colia all weep for their lost brother and his new infamy, yet they refuse to go back down to clear his name, for it would break the very rules they damned him over.

The fables show many things, to the Elves, they believe it shows that the Elves have the power to defeat any force as long as they rally, and that they are the most superior of the races due to their ability to create something as large as the wall. Ironically however, the true tale of Artol shows that despite it all, the Elves are cowardly as a society and willing to betray their greatest heroes if it means comfort and not having to face their own sins.

Although Elven society is not rotten as a whole, their legends have been perverted from the original events in order to serve for political gains. This is most likely due to the long lives of the High Elves who lead Elven society, for they live many times longer than the average Elf and have the time to manipulate legends over generations.

But now Artol's Wall is crumbling, the High Elven priests no longer feel the presence of their gods and Dark Ones have been seen attempting to break through the wall as the shadow slowly lifts. The Elves had given up their mountain fortresses many generations ago, believing the Dark Ones to be either a made up legend or a force that would never return, and soon the Elves will need to face their sin.

Map of: Essaria, 1,000 AR

History of: The Essarian Empire and The Collapse, Part 1

"The Empire was built over the dust of the Reckoning, and just as all things, to dust it collapsed."
      -Roden au Sargin, The Rust of Essaria, 612 AR

Essaria, home of man as promised by the gods, was united as one long ago. After the War of Reckoning, with the gods driven from the world and humanity guaranteed its land, the chief powers of Essaria united. The Cadava Imperium, the Empire of Celstia and the Askapha Caliphate came together, along with the northern tribes and the Great Islanders. This union formed the first incarnation of the Essarian Empire, which originally was a loose partnership between these forces for the betterment of man.

The Emperor was simply supposed to aid the powers by stopping personal wars, taking petitions and dealing with the far off tribes and kingdoms of the distant Elves and Dwarves in the Old Lands. The Empire was successful and by 34 AR, encompassed the entirety of Essaria. The unity that the Empire enjoyed was short lived however, and only twenty years later it had become fractured by several different factions which had gained prominence in the Imperial Court.

The first and largest faction were the Unificationists, who were made up mostly of smaller and poorer nations in the Empire who were benefiting from the increased trade and income from the cooperation with the other Imperial states. The Unificationists, as their name implied, encouraged more unification in the Empire, though they also tended to fight increases in taxes and any other reform that hurt their income.

Some of the nations in the faction also joined out of a hope for a better future, though this was normally based on the nations leader and not the nations themselves, causing nations to leave or join with the opinions of the Empire that their rulers held.

The second largest faction were the Republicans, led by a force of the three most powerful merchant republics in Essaria, the Republicans encouraged further democratization of the Empire and trade, they were paramount in early relations with the Old Lands, hoping to profit from the odd and unique goods they provided.

The Republicans were constantly at odds with the Unificationists and the Dynastics, the Unificationists advocating centralization at the risk of Republican values and the Dynastics supporting a complete dissolution of the democratic values of the Empire.

The third largest faction were the Dynastics, the Dynastics hoped for a primogeniture system in the Empire where the Emperor's first born child would be named the next Emperor.

Most of the Dynastics had hopes that if the system was changed that the Empire would be easier to influence, many hoping to get one of their own on the throne. The Dynastics would begin a rebellion to change the system of the Empire at the peak of their power in 203 AR and would embroil the continent in the Dynastic Wars for the next 40 years.

The Rivalists were the fourth largest faction and the most dangerous to the Empire, named due to the fact that they were commonly motivated by old rivalries between the various Imperial nations. Rivalists wished for the Empire to do anything from decentralize to outright disband as an entity.

The Rivalists were led by the Kingdom of Shardon, a kingdom which formed after the Empire of Celstia disbanded in 30 AR. Shardon had turned from a rich kingdom to a backwater, as the Imperial Court had destroyed the Pirates of Breakfall who had been blocking the northern shipping lanes, which had caused the majority of all trade to go through Shardon.

The Imperialists were the smallest faction in the Empire. The Imperialists wished for an invasion of the Old Lands, hoping to gain dominion over the kingdoms of Elf and Dwarf. The Imperialists were considered the weakest, and their goals comical at best. Despite this, the Imperialist Erovon II gained the throne in 188 AR and caused a collapse of relations with the other races. Despite the fact Erovon would be assassinated only five years into his reign, relations never improved with the other races.

In 198 AR, Emperor Essar grew ill and sickly, his body beginning to fail at the age of 74. His son, Sigmund, was a brave, handsome, healthy and well respected man and many wished for him to take the throne when his father reached his inevitable demise. With this, the Dynastics gained much more respect than they normally received and their membership rocketed.

Eventually, the Dynastics overcame the Republicans in membership and the Unificationists in pure power. A power play seemed inevitable when Essar, in 201 AR, encouraged by his most trusted (and sole Republican) adviser, declared that democratic secession would never die in the Empire.

This came to a head in 203 AR when Essar passed away to his sleep (though rumors of a Dynastic assassination were popular) and the Dynastics attempted to place Sigmund on the throne without a vote. The Unificationists and Republicans joined together in order to prevent this and place Enoth V, a democratically elected Emperor (though without almost half of the nations participating with the rebellion, the vote was rather biased) on the throne.

As the two sides prepared to showdown, the Rivalists came together and declared independence as well. Ironically, they were forced to band together in order to give them a chance against the larger factions, directly against the principles they declared independence over.

The war was dubbed the Dynastic Wars and for 40 years, Essaria was burned and looted. Hundreds of thousands died, for although the period before the Empire was bloody and filled with war, no war had pitched the entire continent against itself since the War of Reckoning, over 200 years ago.

When the war finally ended, with the war not only being decided by battle but by a multitude of assassinations of the major powers and the collapse and reuniting of several nations (during the war, the Osserech Imperium was formed from the union of several of the northern clans and the Kingdoms of Arslaeh and the Yesterlands came out of a smaller civil war in the Cadava Imperium.)

The final death count was decided at around 800 thousand, though it is possible that the number is over a million with the number of peasants and foreigners being uncountable.

The Dynastics were defeated and the Rivalists were eventually reigned in, but the Empire never managed to truly recover. Although the population slowly grew back, the old powers had collapsed even if the Republicans and Unificationists had won, and the vision of a united Essarian Empire suddenly seemed distant and like fantasy.

Enoth V passed away almost immediately after becoming Emperor of the Empire in its entirety, having lived to the age 76 over the course of the war, almost unheard of. Many said that a vision of a unified Essaria kept him going when the war dragged on, but this meant little when he died and the power struggles started almost immediately again.

Another civil war did not break out, but the death of Enoth V began what was known at the Age of the Dead Rulers. The Empire went through nearly thirty Emperors over the course of a hundred years due to a mix of political assassination, war, accidents and as many other reasons as there were dead Emperors.

The age ended at the coronation of Emperor Essare X in 343 AR, beginning the Age of the Ill-Ruler. 

Emperor Essare X took the crown at the age of six, the youngest Emperor in the first one to take the throne from his father, and as predicted, an assassination attempt occurred almost as soon as he was crowned.

His father, Essare IX, had gained the respect of a household knight named Chevra au Tellan. His families duchy, the Duchy of Tellanae, had been dissolved in the chaos of the Reckoning and his lands were now owned by the King of Novenia. Chevra had dreams of taking back his land, and was a well respected knight in the realm. When Essare IX died, he shifted his loyalty to his lieges son, and thus Essare X gained his guardian.

When a nursemaid in the employment of Essare X came to tuck him into his bed at night, she attempted to smother him with his pillow. Chevra was not far away and stormed into the bedroom, capturing the maid and dragging her to the Imperial Palace's dungeons.

Chevra interrogated her all through the night and found out who was giving her the order, the Duke of Daursmont in the Yesterlands, who wished to continue destabilizing the Empire in order to put one of his children on the throne.

Chevra capitalized on Essare's new found fear of the outside world to get his support in his bid for the regency. With his new found power, Chevra organized the levies of the Imperial Demesne and stormed the Yesterlands. The King of the Yesterlands was killed when he attempted to meet the Imperial Army and Daursmont was burned to almost nothingness. With the Kingdom almost dissolved, Chevra defied the rules of secession in the Yesterlands and put an Imperial loyalist on the throne, not a relative of the old, dead king.

This move solidified the Imperial position in the Yesterlands yet degraded it almost everywhere else. The Caliph of Askapha raised the loudest words in protest but quickly backed down when Chevra marched the Imperial Army by the Caliph's borders. No one could defy the Imperial Regent, not even the ruler of the oldest and largest nation in the Empire.

Essare X was ruled under the careful eye of his new regent, who worked to solidify the position of the Emperor. Chevra was revealed to be an expert at intimidation and war, yet was almost useless at the actual diplomacy that his position required. His attempts to solidify power were met with resistance from all facets of life, and his response was an iron fist.

During his reign as regent, a standing Imperial Army was formed, the first of its kind in the world, and the Regent Statutes, which was Essaria's first bill of rights, meant to prevent the slowly growing peasant revolts, was signed in by Chevra to the anger of the nobility. The Statutes did little more for the commoners than confirm that peasants were indeed human, but the peasantry were appeased.

When the Regency ended, Chevra surprised many by giving up his position with no complaint to the now grown Essare X. Essare was a poor ruler, used to hiding behind his Regent and the household guard which had tripled in size under Chevra. Chevra still kept close to his Emperor and ensured that the young Emperor never made what would be a 'mistake' in his eyes. Essare, still remembering when he was nearly killed so long ago, practically allowed Chevra to continue running the Empire for him.

The years drew on, the Empire was finding peace yet this was out of fear of Chevra's growing power than any actual wish for an end to war. Chevra seemed to be all powerful until twenty years into the Emperor's reign, Chevra fell ill with a flu and his end began drawing close.

Essare, feareful of his mentor dying and hoping that keeping the man in good spirits would help his condition, gifted him his families ancient lands in Tellanae. The King of Novenia attempted to resist but was subdued under the might of the Imperial Army and Novenia was turned into little more than a rump state under the close eye of the Emperor.

This did little to aid Chevra's health however, and with his family lands finally in hand, he passed away from his sickness. The Emperor was faced with a sudden paranoia, his protector now gone and the entire Empire slowly coming back from the shock of the Regent's death and the Empire once again being wide open. Essare desperately clung to his power, having half his court executed within a month of assuming full control of his throne and executing nearly anyone who spoke against him.

This was the final nail in the coffin for his authority, and the day after his fortieth birthday, nearly half of the Empire rose against its Emperor. The war dragged on for almost ten years before the combined forces of the Askaphan Caliphate, the Yesterlands and the newly formed Empire of Sousse stormed the Imperial palace and cut the Emperor down in his own throne room.

Thus ended the Age of the Ill-Ruler, and begun the Age of Collapse which would encompass the next hundred years, beginning at 387 AR and lasting until 500 AR.