Taborea

:see also: Map:Continents, :Category:Zones
Taborea was once a book in which the creation of a simple world of flora and fauna was supposed to be recorded, but today it is full of myths and legends.
The continents are covered by baffling and cryptic traces of time long gone. In the Age of discovery the people of Taborea are now on a quest to find out about their mystical past.
Interactive Map available
==Creation==
===Origin===
A long time ago god Ayvenas created a book, in which he captured the shape of the world and recorded the origin of life.
The book's name was "Taborea".
===Taborea===
Ayvenas wished for plants, so endless fields of mellow grass and gigantic trees almost reaching the sky assumed a definite form.
When he longed for a magnificent firmament, the bright blue sky and the starry canopy were born. He yearned for new sounds and created the wind's hissing.
Despite creating this world's beauty, he still felt lonely. Therefore he took some clay and formed the first life forms.
===Gods and the people===
Ayvenas noticed that his created life forms were very weak.
Minor incidents caused grave injuries; if they fell ill certain death loomed.
In the face of danger they were fearful and because they had no idea how to protect themselves they were pathetic.
So Ayvenas wrote incarnations of himself into Taborea to teach them how to use their various skills and abilities.
Before long they banded together according to their characteristics.
The world’s races were born and the legend of creation was written.
It was a time when the elements were still in the balance.
The divine envoys Ayvenas had send out guarded the young and innocent world.
== Age of Myths ==
===The world's changes===
The races evolved according to their own wishes and Ayvenas was glad to see that calm and stable growth.
One day though while writing, a thought crossed Ayvena's mind: "What if the world was imbalanced? What kind of world would it be?"
Without being conscious about it this thought made it into the recording and began to change the world in secret.
===Transformation and hope===
Due to Ayvena's unconscious idea the world's peoples began to change.
His envoys taught them knowledge and abilities, but differences among them emerged.
As they taught them to live by the virtue of their own strength most people devoted themselves to farming and hunting.
But a few started to steal and to rob. As they taught them to unite in the face of danger, many peoples lived peacefully side by side and of course there were others who started to fight among each other.
But finally even god’s envoys started to develop own characteristics and their own consciousness.
Same with the elements - once they were the guardians of balance, now they mix with different creatures.
In that way countless magical beings came to life, of which the dragons were the most powerful.
The actions of those mighty creatures formed the basis for many stories, turning to myth later on.
For that reason this epoch is called the Age of Myths.
===The Myth of the Oracles===
Ayvenas was taken aback as he realized that the world of Taborea was slipping out of his control.
So he decided to tear apart the chapters of the future and to scatter the fragments throughout the land.
His intention was to hand over the power over the world to the people, so that they may shape up Taborea's future.
But the divine envoys were not aware of this plan and felt great despair.
At first they even tried to restore the pieces and only then they became aware of god's wishes and complied.
At Ayvena's behest the envoys pulled back and vanished from the world - the Age of Myths came to an end.
Over the centuries Ayvena's destruction of his own creation became a legend.
Humans of later epochs called the scattered pieces of Taborea oracles. Some even say, that he who obtains the oracles, can define the future.
== Ancient Times ==
===Classical Epoch===
After the peoples were left alone to care for themselves, they began to form alliances from which eventually the states and nations emerged.
For the first time culture life started to flourish and many achievements we know today appeared.
The fastest growing and most influential people of the time were the Humans. They had the most extensive knowledge of the runes and could wield an almost divine power.
This advanced civilization lasted almost a millennium and was later called “The Ancient Kingdoms”..
This time had great influence on the later norms and ways of living and formed the basis for later knowledge and worldview. Because of this it is also called the Classical Epoch.
===The War of Balanzasar===
With more knowledge, man's power increased dramatically, as did his greed.
Small and sporadic conflicts escalated into wars between whole nations and they started to use magic to cause death and destruction.
The technological evolution went so far that humans even challenged the gods. They tried to enslave dragons and elements, to create unthinkable monsters with the rune's help and to even transform their own bodies according to their vision.
So a century-long war broke out and little by little all the other people were drawn into the conflict, until no place in this world remained unharmed.
The time was named after the most terrible battle ever: The War of Balanzasar. Eventually the enslaved dragons and elements broke their chains and were free again.
Because of their hate for the Humans, before they left to other spheres they destroyed everything mankind had built. These events were later called "Heaven's punishment" and War of Balanzasar.
But even after the war had ended no peace took hold between the quarreling factions. Nations that still had any power attacked their weaker neighbors and suffering of those affected was even greater.
===Epoch of chaos===
Some of the stronger countries subdued the smaller and weaker ones and enslaved their inhabitants. Their predominance was based on the fact, that the leaders had transformed their bodies with the runes' power. They saw themselves as a new race destined to rule this world and were referred to as "daemons".
As soon as they started to detach themselves from mankind and to look down upon their past brethren, hate filled the people's hearts and the will to topple the daemons manifested. But all other peoples were either carrying deep scars from the War of Balanzasar, had lost all faith in man or were so fearful of the daemons that they were subdued and consequently this era was completely dominated by daemons.
There was also discord and distrust among the daemons. After all weak countries were subdued yet another war started, this time among the daemons. There were no dragons and elements left to stop them. The absolute terror they caused eventually brought forward the alliance, encompassing all peoples and countries.
A successful plan was soon put into motion.
===Ancient Times – The Great Banishment===
This alliance created a sphere, which they referred to as "World of the void" and positioned interdimensional portals everywhere in the daemon's dominion leading to this place.
A war followed, known by the name of "The Great Banishment". The alliance escalated it on purpose and lured the bloodthirsty daemons to the portals. Endless lives were sacrificed to ban them one after another into the void. As the last one of them was banned all portals were supposed to be sealed.
The method they used is no longer known, but it was successful. The few remaining daemons had lost all their power and were hunted by the humans. They had but one option - escape into the shadow.
But the price of victory was immense.
Only one tenth of them survived the wars and numerous cultural icons were banned along with the daemons.
== Age of Punishment ==
===The Epoch of Peace===
For a while peace found its way into the world and humans lived together in harmony with other peoples.
But the terror of the past still griped their hearts. And since some daemons still lived in freedom, humankind developed a method to catch the remaining ones.
Using the most powerful rune magic they created gigantic stone statues that were as powerful as the mighty dragons. These cold and emotionless monsters were able to make decisions independently and were called "guardians". Under the umbrella of their protection peace was secured.
The remaining humans banded together to start a new nation living in peace with other nations.
In the face of the soon to follow catastrophe this era is called the Epoch of Peace.
===The Epoch of Storm===
After the Epoch of Peace the Epoch of Storm began.
The exact time of this era is still unknown today. The only thing that is known is that the guardians were involved in it. Either their creators forgot that the civilizations would evolve further or history was about to repeat itself -a new war was looming.
Whatever the reason, one day the guardians realized that civilization was heading into a catastrophe and they began to wipe it out.
Humankind and other peoples did not have the power they once had and were utterly helpless against the guardian's onslaught.
The only feasible option they had left was to flee.
It took only a year before human civilization was annihilated and the Ancient Kingdoms just another note of history.
===The Epoch of Darkness===
On their hunt for the last traces of human civilization the guardians encountered dragons and elementals and considered them to be hostile due to their immense power.
But the guardians were man-made entities and no match for the divine creatures of god. One after another they were destroyed and eventually the guardian's guidance mechanism malfunctioned for unknown reasons and they fell into a deep slumber.
The surviving humans had lost everything - their treasured civilization, their complete knowledge - but other peoples had also suffered great losses. Now they were living like they had at the beginning of time: without magic or machines, driven by fear, insanity and superstition, unable to crawl out if the pit again.
This period entered history as the Epoch of Darkness
Eventually the survivors of the Ancient Kingdoms developed a whole new culture and are known today as barbarians.
== New Era ==
===The chapter of recovery===
Next to the Ancient Kingdoms there was a mysterious continent, harboring underdeveloped human-tribes, who were spared by the guardians. The name was "Kolydia".
During the Epoch of Darkness many refugees came to Kolydia to start a new civilization bringing along all their knowledge. In contrast to the Ancient Kingdoms, it lacked the knowledge of runes, and magic only evolved slowly. Instead machines began to play a pivotal part in everyday life.
New territories were swiftly developed, cities erected and a feudal social system with imperial family and hereditary aristocracy was introduced. The aspirations of this young civilization are called the chapter of recovery by the peoples, who know the past.
===Epoch of discovery===
The human civilization on Kolydia slowly reestablished ties to other peoples, who had long forgotten the human-caused catastrophe of guardians and daemons.
Little by little the humans on Kolydia learned about the runes and the perished magical civilization - the Ancient Kingdoms.
They founded organizations to accumulate all the ancient knowledge. The most powerful of these groups is the "Eye of Wisdom".
Their research process was so slow-paced that skeptics referred to them as woolgatherers of old academics. Improvements in transportation technology caused an explosive development.
Humans could now reach untouched areas and discover uncharted territory. They found puzzling traces, ancient equipment and mysterious barbarian people. As the humans took a step back into the nebula of the past, the veil was lifted. But every new discovery was accompanied by new mysteries.
Mankind, almost crazy in its quest for knowledge, developed ever better machines to visit every corner of the world. Even the other races were infected by mankind's zeal.
The Epoch of discovery - that is the name of today's era.