Eastern Lands

The Eastern Lands, also known as The Eastern Lands of Higashi is a major Nation and Empire located on the continent of Dwyrain and founded during the Age of Fading.
== History ==
=== The Birth Of An Empire ===
When many adventurers journeyed over to the unfound continent in the East from the Western Continent of Gorlewynn, many wished to settle their own civilisations and soon the continent became populated by many tribes, soon forming into nations. In the year 102FY during the Third Age, the new lands located on the far eastern location of the continent and aptly named, the Eastern Lands was founded. In that time the city of Higashi was built and built in a very unique style, soon to be called the Eastern style and it was used in such a way that the armour that was constructed took on the eastern style too. Over a hundred years, the Easterners also garnered their own looks and racial traits, instantly distinguishable from the rest of the world and were quick to embrace their uniqueness in the world. Within those hundred years, a man arose amongst the civilians to become the first true leader of the land, being Isshin, who they named as Emperor who then began to expand their lands with several settling plans, dramatically increasing the Eastern Lands empire.
Isshin also oversaw the construction of the castle of Higashi, which in turn was adapted into the city and as such the city expanded its size dramatically. The castle itself was located on a small mountain, cleverly fashioned and carved to hold a city on top of it which took several decades to accomplish, with all helping out. The idea of this castle was to create an extremely fortified position, nye impenetrable and one that would also allow a large amount of the population the ability to retreat inside the castle if there was an attack. Isshin believed defence was necessary as their land neighbours, that of Forossa, were fierce at fighting as they had been observed, despite never actually going to war. As such though, Isshin focused on the fortifications of Higashi and the Eastern Lands in general and as it turned out, Isshin was right to believe war may have been incoming.
=== The Lions Vs The Dragons ===
With Isshin focusing on the idea of war, he wanted to search for new ways in which Higashi could fight. Whilst they had their own fighting style, Isshin searched for more and soon discovered a new power that some thought was dangerous. Isshin knew the power that the dragons had, but considering the War that humans had already fought with the Dragons, there was belief that the Dragons would never assist humans. Isshin however ventured into the Valley of the Dragons, which in turn was located inside the Eastern Lands, in an attempt to parley with the Dragons and met one of the Everlasting Ancient dragons and one who could speak in the common tongue with him. Isshin argued that he would ensure that the Dragons would live freely and would not be subject to harm by the Easterners, but couldn't be so sure if Forossa attacked and wished to make a pact with them. The wise Ancient Dragon, realising that Emperor Isshin was not lying, appreciating the fact that the Emperor himself came there alone, knowing the danger. The Dragon however did not directly enter the pact, but offered some of his own blood, attesting that if he could take the power of the Dragons blood and tame one of the Valleys dragons, then he would be allowed to continue to tame dragons for his army. Isshin, ingesting the Dragons blood into his body and apparently went through the process over the course of a week, with the dragons blood fighting his own within his body. Isshin however managed to overcome the power of the dragon blood and attempted to tame one of the younger male dragons, of which he succeeded with his new powers and ability to communicate in the dragons tongue.
Isshin believed now that the Eastern Lands were immortal and impenetrable. The power of the dragons on their side with no possible enemy that could stop them. The Eastern Lands even adapted the symbol of the Dragon as their sigil and Isshin ordered the creation of the Drakeblood Knights, warriors that specialised in the partaking of the ritual involving the Dragons blood, becoming one with the Dragons. But something happened in which Isshin did not expect and that was the Forossa themselves, coated in their Lion styled armour, to be led by one with a love for Dragons themselves. Faraam, a warrior and coveted God of Forossa rode his own dragon into battle and taught the Forossan's all they knew about fighting and soon became known as Forossan's God of War. Learning of what the Eastern Lands had done with the Dragons, Faraam believed this to be nothing short of enslaving the dragons for own personal use, not knowing the situation and as such war was swiftly declared, not surprising Isshin and so the First Forossan-Eastern war began in 225FY.
Forossa launched the first offense in the war, attacking, taking and resettling several villages on the western side of the Eastern lands, claiming some of their territory and taking their lands into their own most notably the villages of Sarisan and Orgat. Isshin, hearing of the attack on the Western Front of their lands, marched with the Drakeblood Knights that had taken the ritual, numbering approximately twenty knights, each that could fight with the strength of a hundred men. He also brought several thousand Higashi warriors to meet the Lions in combat. The first true battle of the Forossan-Eastern war came in, at the time an unnamed Field but was soon named the Field of Lions and Dragons in 226FY. Faraam, mounted on his own dragon, said to be able to control the storms and Isshin riding his, the battle started with the two dragons meeting each other in the air, whilst the warriors battled down below. It was said the dragons screams could be heard for miles around as the roared and battled fiercely in aerial combat. With the dragons locked in combat, Isshin and Faraam battled in an epic duel atop the dragons mid air. The warriors on the ground however were giving no ground, the Drakeblood knights fighting fiercely in their first real battle, using their new draconic powers and abilities to slay their enemies. But the sheer number of Lion warriors still managed to overwhelm the Dragon army and drive them off, with Isshin and Faraam calling off their duel as a draw, which in turn was a victory for the confidence of the Easterners: The man who fought off a God. Despite their loss and retreat, the Easterners were confident that they could still win this war and fend Forossa off. For duelling a God and living, Isshin started being nicknamed the Sword Saint by the people, officially adopting it as a title and one that would be inherited upon the Emperors death.
There wasn't another battle or attack for another two years and in 228FY, the army of the lions attacked the city of Higashi. This was when Isshin's defensive strategy paid off, with all of the population of the city retreating to the castle, making it nigh impregnable from the ground and as such the ferocious lion warriors struggled to advance on the castle, taking to destroying the outskirts of the city instead, pillaging and raiding what they could. Isshin however, his well kept secret until this point, unleashed his Drakeblood knights, mounted on 5 dragons into the air with Isshin mounted on his own dragon. Faraam, realising that the situation was not how it seemed and that the dragons had not been enslaved, but really had allied to the humans, began to withdraw his troops, but the dragons ravaged and destroyed the lion armies, with only minor amounts of warriors able to escape the conflict. Faraam himself withdrew almost immediately and several days later, wished to meet Isshin and call an armistice with him. Nobody knows truly what was discussed between the God of War and the Sword Saint, but peace was achieved. It was also said that Faraam was seen talking to Isshins dragon, but it was still unknown as to the discussion. And so the four year war of the Lions and the Dragons came to an end, Isshin allowing the villages that Forossa took to stay under Forossan control, but if Forossa declares war again, there would be no mercy and Isshins army of Dragons would be unleashed against Forossa. Faraam, God of War unanimously agreed. Following this war, Faraam disappeared and was not seen for another 200 years.
=== A Knight Of The East ===
In the year 182FY, when Isshin began officially recruiting for his army and among these people, realising that he needed a commander for his army recruited a man called Alonne, who was a skilled warrior and soon earned the trust of the Emperor. Unfortunately for Isshin, Alonne had his own plans of being an adventurer and wished to journey outside of the Empire and visit other civilizations. In this case Alonne was knighted and was given the task to search out for other Kingdoms to find that could act as vassal states for the Eastern Lands. On his journeys, Sir Alonne met a man who wished to create his very own Kingdom, settling a new civilization in the center of Dwyrain. Sir Alonne was pivotal in the construction and creation of this new Kingdom that the new King named it The Alonne Kingdom, also naming the soldiers that fought for them as the Alonne Knights, giving respect to Sir Alonne for his service. The King also took the name of the Iron King, after Sir Alonne discovered a miracle that allowed the Iron King to manipulate the use of metal through use of magic, constructing a great Iron Keep atop a mountain, flooding a nearby volcano to surround the Iron Keep with lava, making it an impenetrable fortress.
Overtime however, Sir Alonne realised his work had been achieved and as such his original goal of seeking out new Kingdoms was complete, with the Iron King accepting that he will aid the Eastern Lands when the time comes. All of this was achieved by 205FY and as such, Sir Alonne set out on his journey once again, venturing even to the Western Continent to seek out new lands and and potentially new allies. Unfortunately for the Eastern Lands and Sir Alonne, the Iron King had no intention on helping the Eastern Lands and was actually infuriated with Sir Alonne for leaving him and so he betrayed his word, never once coming to the Easterners side against Forossa, even renaming his Kingdom to the Iron Kingdom. Sir Alonne however did not know about this betrayal, as word never reached him whilst he was on the Western Continent of Gorlewynn. When he did come back to the continent of Dwyrain, almost one hundred years later in the year 307FY, he discovered the long abandoned (or so thought to be abandoned) Brume Tower, but now residing in the Kingdom of Drangleic. There he became enthralled by a great black fog, where he was said to have remained for the rest of his days.
=== An Alliance With The Shadows ===
Following the War, Isshin appointed a commander of the Drakeblood Knights, one that would also act as a captain of his armies as one who he could trust and take over from the loss of Sir Alonne. Sir Yorgh was the one who was chosen, as his skill was above any other Drakeblood knight that came before him. He also made sure to keep up the practice of the Ritual of the Drakeblood Knights, but knowing how deadly and dangerous the ritual was, many common warriors did not wish to partake, but not believing in conscription, Isshin made it a voluntary process. Isshins instincts were rarely wrong and in this case they were not, as the training of more warriors was necessary, Forossa decided to initiate war once again in the year 247FY. Forossa had also been training warriors for this War, but in much more dramatic fashion. Over the twenty years of peacetime, Forossa gained almost quadruple the amount of warriors that they had before and is believed to have had one of the largest standing armies in the world. The reason for war, was because they believed that the disappearance of their God of War, Faraam was either because the Easterners had killed him or imprisoned him and as such, the Second Forossan-Eastern war was initiated. Forossa, believing that they had the power to do so, began a war with their other neighbours, Mirrah.
Forossan's overconfidence however dramatically backfired on them, as Mirrah and the Eastern Lands had now both been declared war on and invasions were imminent. Isshin however sent an envoy to the capital of Mirrah, Mirmark to try and negotiate an alliance. The Emperor of Mirrah who was also Mirrah's founder: Emperor Marmon decided that Forossa was indeed their common enemy and as such they entered the first alliance on the Eastern Continent. Mirrah began to train a special set of soldiers known as the Shadow Assassins, whose only goal was to sow chaos in the Forossan nation, especially in Forossa's capital of Forholdt. In the twenty years of the disappearance of Faraam, Forossa began their own Royal Family, taking the title of King and its first King being Abel and his son was Prince Arnet. The Prince decided that he wished to lead the armies of Forossa himself appointing a ferocious Lion warrior as his captain, simply known as Vengarl of Forossa. Underestimating the strength of these two nations, Forossa mounted an attack on Mirmark. The Eastern scouts and Shadow Assassins however picked up this movement towards the capital and so Emperor Isshin ordered his Drakeblood Knights and Higashi armies to march to Mirrah to aid the capital. The army of Forossa began to attack the Capital, but the walls held strong for the time being. It was after several days that the armies of Isshin arrived, trapping the forces of Forossa between Mirmark and its own. The army of Mirrah then rode out to meet Forossa in open combat. clashing into the Forossan army. The battle is said to have lasted days, with casualties on all sides, but Forossa is said to have lost the most warriors and began to withdraw from the fight. Prince Arnet was also slain by an unknown warrior in the battle, leaving the succession of the throne in doubt. 
With the armies of Forossa retreating, Mirrah and the Eastern Lands launch their own counterattack, with the Eastern Lands reclaiming the villages and lands that were taken during the First War and Mirrah began marching into Forossa, taking and conquering several towns as well as capturing a city in the west of Forossa called Furtingh, with the city surrendering easily to the forces of Mirrah. The War itself lasted only two years and Forossa ceded up to a fifth of its land on both sides and peace was officially achieved in the year 249FY. Vengarl of Forossa was extremely unsatisfied with his own command of the armies and as such decided to exile himself from the nation of Forossa and became a mercenary for the other nations of Dwyrain.
=== The End of Civilization on Dwyrain ===
For decades, peace was achieved in the lands of the East and as such the Empire began to grow and thrive far better than ever before. In the year 290FY, Sir Yorgh, captain of the Drakeblood Knights had a vision gesturing him to journey with his knights to the Kingdom Of Shulva, telling him of an ancient dragon power that resided there. Isshin however did not believe this to be a wise decision, as he believed prophecies to be troubling but Sir Yorgh could not listen to reason, enthralled by the prospect of new draconic powers, Isshin warned that he and those that follow him would not be welcome back, as they clearly seek power that is unlikely to exist. Yorgh however believed it to be nothing short of hypocrisy from the Emperor, stating that he did exactly the same when he sought out the dragons in the first place, with Isshin making the point that that was out of necessity whereas this is out of greed for power. Isshin allowed them to leave given the good graces that the two have had in the passed, but they were then exiled from the Eastern Lands on pain of death, with his name going from one of Heroism to Infamy across the continent as one who defied the Emperor.
Yorgh began his journey with the knights that would leave with him and entered the underground civilization of Shulva but upon arrival, the knights were refused entry, believing them to be enemies. Yorgh began to besiege Shulva, managing to enter the city and slay the Sunken King, with his wife, Queen Elana being one of the only survivors and escape from the city with several hundred civilians. Yorgh killed and slaughtered most of the inhabitants that were trapped within the city and couldn't escape through the secret tunnels. Yorgh then came to the centrepiece of the city, known as the Eternal Sanctum to discover the truth behind the draconic prophecy. An ancient seal on the sanctum was broken and the knights entered. There they discovered a sleeping Ancient Dragon, one that had been sleeping for several hundred years from the War of Souls and was identified as the Great Dragon Sinh, nicknamed by Shulva as the Slumbering Dragon and was thought to have been slain by Sieghart, but its body was never recovered. It was then the Sinh awoke for the first time in centuries, realising the enemies before it and unleashed a great toxic poisonous cloud, which in turn engulfed the entire city, killing the remaining population of the city and killing Yorgh and his Drakeblood Knights. It was said that Elana, the Queen of Shulva returned to the city and managed to calm the Dragon, before letting it slumber again and her reigning over her fallen city.
In 518FY, for the first time in over five hundred years, everybody's fear across the world began to come to fruition as the First Flame began to fade again. With this the curse of undeath came to the Eastern Continent for the very first time, which in turn sowed chaos and laid the land low from Drangleic to the Eastern Lands. It was in 567FY, that Faraam, long since thought to be dead and whose disappearance was one of mystery returned and entered the Eastern Lands. There he parleyed with Isshin, requesting to construct a haven for the Dragons and take many of the dragons from the valley and the Eastern Lands to be in a safe and secure place. Isshin, believing that during this tumultuous time this could be a safe and secret haven for the dragons, made an alliance with Faraam, gifting him several of the tamed dragons as well as those from the Valley of the Dragons that could live in relative peace. The news of this alliance reached Forossa, who were furious that the East had made an alliance with their God, believing that they had betrayed them and as such decided to declare war once again. The King of Forossa, still destroyed by the death of his only son, vowed to only have another child when he conquered the continent and so, declared war on the continent of Dwyrain in 571FY, vowing that an eternal war would descend upon every nation and that the curse of undeath with come to all.
And so became the beginning of the end for life on Dwyrain. Forossa, now with one of the biggest armies in the world, said to be almost double the size of the whole continent together began to wage their war. Naturally the alliance between the Eastern Lands and Mirrah held firm, but now the Kingdom of Jugo and the Nation of Lindelt all allied together for the first time. But with the curse of the undeath now rife across the land, all of these nations were somewhat weakened, allowing Forossa to attack. For more than 800 years, all that the continent of Dwyrain knew was war, pillaging and destroying almost everything but major cities in its path and combined with the curse of the undead, effectively crippled every nation involved. From this war however, came a new nation, one that could control the hollowed undead after being gifted the power by Darkstalker Kaathe. Soon this nation began to grow and managed to conquer each of these nations, slaying their leaders and taking their lands. From this, the nation of Londor took almost the entirety of Dwyrain apart from the Eastern Lands. Isshin was captured by the leaders of Londor called the Sable Church, but made a pact with them, stating they could keep their name but would be subjugated under Londorian rule...The Easterners accepted. Londor started to concoct a plan following this: The Usurpation of The First Flame.
=== Ren's Rebellion ===
Londorian rule was a cruel one and was one known for ruling with an iron fist, torturing and executing people just trying to survive and there was no shortage of this in the Eastern Land too. A man known as Ren, born in Higashi, started his own quest to become a powerful warrior even partaking in the Drakeblood Knight Ritual, which he passed with flying colours, overcoming the ritual faster than any other before him. It was said that he was fuelled by the hatred of Londor because they had executed his father several years previous, but would bide his time and wait until the opportune moment to try and rebel against Londorian rule. Even in the year 1578FY, he set out to tame his own dragon, a practice by the Drakeblood Knights which had been forbidden for centuries now, with all the Drakeblood Knights Dragons bar one (so they would have a sustainable amount of blood for the ritual) were slain. He went to the Valley of the Dragons and tamed an Adult Male Red Fire Drake of which he named Ieyasu after his father.
When the flame faded in 1699FY, one of the remaining leaders of the Sable Church who ruled from Higashi, formulated their army with the intention on marching to Lothric (which was renamed by the Ashen One to Lorithia) as they were the reason for the First Flame fading. Londors chance to usurp the flame had now vanished and so they wanted to take revenge on Lorithia and in 2AD began their march. Ren decided that the time to strike was now and as the army was being formed, ventured back to the valley of the dragons and mounted Ieyasu. As the march began, Ren appeared with Ieyasu and began to burn and destroy the armies of the sable church, even killing one of their leaders, Yuria. A woman in Morion known as Muriel had her own plan to liberate Mirrah and upon hearing of the destruction of Yuria's army began her own rebellion in Londor's capital of Morion (which in turn used to be Mirmark, capital of Mirrah). Civilian forces began rise up, slaying the hollowed undead but Liliane's forces over the following months of fighting began to quell the rebellion. Muriel also attempted to rescue all those who had been captured and imprisoned, including that of Emperor Isshin who began fighting alongside the civilians and Muriel. Upon discovering that the Emperor had been freed by a Rebellion in Morion, Ren and his Drakeblood knights flew to the Capital of Londor with the intention of helping Muriel and Isshin, almost recreating the event of when the Easterners came to the aid of Mirmark during the Second Forossan-Eastern War. Soon the fighting grew too much for the forces of Londor and Lilliane and as a result, ordered the evacuation of Londor, with Lilliane fleeing from the lands with her forces and going west towards Lorithia. Ren attempted to pursue them, but lost them in the mountain ranges, though he knew where they were heading and knew that they had no chance of surviving against Lorithia and as such left them to their fate.
With the Sable Churches leadership crumbled, their Usurpation of Fire plan failed and their lands of Subjugation lost, Londor ceased to be. Muriel was named Empress, reinstating Mirrah to its former glory and Isshin was once again Emperor of the Eastern Lands. Forossa did not mark a return and to ensure that this was the case, Mirrah and the Eastern Lands split up their land accordingly as many believed that Forossa was the sole reason as to the rise of Londor as without the Eternal War, Londor would never have come to power. Jugo also managed to mark a return, though it was not as significant a rebellion as Mirrah and the East as the leadership there was not as great as the others. Ren was given an honourable title of Ren The Liberator, showcasing his extraordinary abilities, whilst being named officially as the Captain of the Drakeblood Knights and also as the Defender of the East, he effectively became one of the worlds greatest warriors alive and potentially ever to have lived.
Lilliane did indeed attempt to march her remaining army to Lorithia, but something happened that she did not see coming. She soon came across the magical barriers used by that of the Ancient Kingdom of Drangleic, stopping the army dead in its tracks and would have to perilously navigate around it to try and get to the West. But when she eventually made her way around the barrier, she discovered that the continents had once again separated. Due to the stagnation (the act of constantly linking the fire) the two continents of Dwyrain and Gorlewynn merged, converging around the First Flame, but with the First Flame fading and the Era of Healing taking place, the continents began to move back to their original locations, trapping the remaining forces of Londor at the edge of Dwyrain. Instead, Lilliane decided to found a new nation on the Western edge, using the magical barriers of Drangleic as defence and constructed the new city of Morion and began to cease being known as Londor, instead just becoming known by its primary city. The threat that was Londor ceased to be, but the threat that was Morion lied dormant in the West of Dwyrain, mostly going unnoticed for several hundred years, until Morion initiated its own form of vengeance.