Vjirda

## Overview

Vjirda is a Plane of Existence from which Hunkey Dory IV resides. Multiple subplanes of Vjirda exist, however, this article covers the Material plane of the same name. The Nations of Vjirda have given rise to a multitude of heroes, villians, and the in between, taking part in a multitude of grand events with their sites often becoming points of interest on the Vjirdan continent.

## Brief History

### Before the Titans (1,000,000 - 10,000 Years Ago (YA))

The world of Vjirda was originally home to only three intelligent races: Dragons, Humans, and Dragonborns. Humans were rather primitive, only beginning to discover true civilization with some minor assistance from the various dragons. Dragons would use people in various ways, some providing assistance with no need for thanks, some acting as stalwart defenders of their small villages from monsters and other dragons, while others still sought to enslave and destroy the populace. Among these relationships, some children of the humans would be blessed, or cursed, by the dragons, giving rise to the races of dragonborns. These people could not interbreed with humans, and often travelled far and wide searching for suitable partners, giving rise to their own settlements and kingdoms. The majority of this history has been lost, however, as after thousands of years of this status quo, the Titans made their way onto the world.

### The Titans' Arrival (10,000 - 9,750 YA)

The Titans aimed to claim the land for their own race, and so conducted a crusade through the land, purging it of monsters that it deemed a threat to their mission. This included the Dragons, who were nearly wiped out during their conquest. Many humans and dragonborns were slaughtered in the process, but those that did not directly serve the Dragons were spared. With the Dragons defeated, the task of readying the land began. Just before their arrival, some changes occured within the approximately hundred years prior, with two major portals being properly opened to the realm, introducing Elves from a swamp/jungle plane, and Giants, Dwarves, and Gnomes arriving from a plane of mountains and stone.

### The Titans' War (9,750 - 9,500 YA)

With their preparations nearly complete, one Titan of the two thousand remaining warriors realized the bloodshed of their conquest. After realizing how much innocent blood was spilled, he, Zunerich, betrayed the others, along with a few of his closest allies who had come to a similar conclusion, and rallied the humans to his cause. With the dragonborns being tied more closely with the dragons than their non scaled counterparts, they were all but completely destroyed, and the other humanoid races did not want to be involved in such a large scale conflict for fear they would end up the same as the humans and dragons. The giants however, did side with the titan forces, with promises of glory and favor when the takeover occurred. In the end, nearly all of the titans had been killed, many humans, but relatively few giants. Zunerich was a devil on the battlefield, and although he was heavily outnumbered, he fought on until he could no longer. He had killed nearly every other titan himself, with his allies taking some and the humans some others, before the giants finally managed to bring down the last titan. Details of the battles however, are unknown, with this time in history having relatively little documentation. Most of these details come from oral traditions from various human tribes, making the exact details and the extent of exaggeration unknown.

### The Giant's Reign(9,500 - 2,000 YA)

With the lands practically free of any other adversaries and the Titans being far weaker in strength due to the conflict, Giant kind went on to conquer most of the continent. However, since nearly all giants present on the continent were frost giants, most of their settlements remained in the far north, with most southern settlements funneling resources back into the homeland. The giants enslaved many humans of the south, forced the dragonborns to retreat to the Tachiana Isle, and settled all across the north. They held a particular interest in Dwarves, who they extorted into giving their metals mined from the earth and recruited into their armies. The Giants would reign for a few thousand years, until finally, a worthy force decided enough was enough, and fought back.

### The Conquest of the Stormblade and the Birth of the Ben-El (2,000 YA)

The elves had not been attacked by the giants very often throughout their long reign due to the elves favoring the hot and humid southeast, but, due to the elves' long lifespans, they would remember each and every slight made by the Giants, including raids and enslavement of their peoples. Eventually, the giants had pushed into the Maribor Forest, attacking the elven druids who called the forest home and enslaving their people. This attack would be the final straw, and the elves fully mobilized their forces to face off against the Giants. During this time, the elves had two head generals, Zhung Liang and Vian Sho. Zhung Liang and his contigent fought from the Ben-El homeland, pushing into the Dwarven Kingdoms, where the strongest of the Dwarven clans had formed alliances with the Giants, while Vian Sho fought through Maribor, into the deserts of Gipa, and made his way through the Pass Mhor's into the Giant Kingdoms. Zhung Liang made efficient and brutal work of the dwarves, which would cause resentment between the two races for the foreseeable future. Vian Sho did manage to make alliances with the humans of the western world, providing a sizeable boost to his army. However, Zhung Liang's overwhelming offence and shorter route would lead to his earlier arrival into the Giant Kingdoms, where after a series of battles that left both sides with massive casualties, Zhung Liang emerged victorious, killing the champion of the giants and their king. Soon, Vian Sho would arrive, providing the needed force to maintain security in the conquered region. Due to his diplomatic solutions made during the war, Vian Sho was crowned as the first Emperor of the Ben-El, but unfortunately perished soon after the war due to an assassination, the killers never being found. Zhung Liang would also pass a few years after the war, some suspecting the conquest to be too taxing on his body.

### The Ben-El's downfall. (2,000 - 1,700 YA)

The reign of the Ben-El was short lived, as Vian Sho's heir Zhung Sho was a far cry from his father. He did not have the military prowess of his father, nor his diplomatic mind and quick wit. He could not successfully pacify the giants, who still fought against the elves, using their massive longships to raid the coastal settlements and riverside towns of the north, and would even travel into the southern waters to launch raids against cities. Constant conflict lead Zhung Sho to conscript dwarves, gnomes, and humans to attempt to pacify the giants, using them in the imperial army and as a labor force. This action lead to even more strenous relations with the dwarves, and soured with what was a positive relation with the humans. Not only had every single dwarven clan banded together to fight against the elves, Humans and some elves conspired against the current ruling caste. It did not take long for Zhung Sho to abdicate the throne, requiring the council of governors to elect a new leader. During this turmoil, the elves relinquished their hold over the Giant Kingdoms, the gnomes claimed the northern portion of Maribor, and their influence in the Dwarven Kingdoms was mostly lost. In order to avoid another poor heriditary ruling class, the elves decided to adopt an elective monarchy, selecting a ruler that would ease tensions with the other races.

### The Era of Recovery (1,700 - 1,200 YA)

With many powers having crumbled over the last century, this was a time of construction and rebirth for many peoples. Finally, with no greater power to stop them, the humans and dwarves began to get their feet set properly, with the humans reclaiming the southwest of the continent, including the Tachiana isles and the Isles of Daggers. The humans did fight against the dragonborns, who had lived on the isles in relative peace for thousands of years, and enslaved many of the locals. Most humans, however, settled the Steppes of Mhors, the Rafinear plains, and the entirety of the Seawall forest, with the dwarves also settling in the Lars Beinn mountains. Humans also rebuilt their cities in the Gipan deserts, and even settled alongside the Gnomes in Maribor. The giants, who had been assaulted by most peoples for a long time, had finally reestablished their northern home, fighting a defensive war with the dwarven clans that had tried to expand into their territory, a war that was costly to both sides in terms of soldiers, but most towns and settlements were left untouched. Also, to defend the rest of humanity from their longtime Giant enemies, the Ironclad Order was formed, an order of knights specialized in fighting giants and defending the Pass Mhors from them, making their home in the Iron Forest.

### The Gnomish Expansion (1,200 - 800 YA)

With the relative peace of the last few centuries, the Gnomes who had until recently lived in the Valley of Duine Gearr and northern Maribor, expanded further out into the world, creating mines in nearly every mountain range that wasn't in Giant territory. With their newfound wealth came a plethora of new advancements in society, especially in magic and metallurgy. This renaissance birthed more advanced armors, magical assistants, new methods of mining and forging, and new methods of communication in the form of sending stones. However, with new territory being mined, there was a particular location that would have been better left untouched.

### The Beast Awakens (800 YA)

With the mining of Lars Beinn, a nest was discovered, and upon its discovery, an underworld creature came to the surface world. The creature, dubbed the tarrasque, was gigantic, towering over even the castles that dotted the landscape. With its awakening, it ravaged the land, destroying town after town, devouring all in its path. Slowly, it made its way to the city of Arcorath, a city that had separated itself from the original Ben-El empire while it was in its prime, and had developed a magical wall that is all but impervious to damage. As the tarrasque moved towards the city, it was incapable of entry, and the creature's deathly fear of water prevented it from trying to swim under or around it. With the creature distracted for a time, and its seemingly lack of any intelligence made apparent, a mixed population of dwarves, gnomes, elves, and humans had devised a strategy to defeat the tarrasque. Their weapons seemed to have little effect against the monstrous beast, and dwarven and gnomish armies had been trampled and devoured with seemingly no issue. Instead, they planned to imprison the beast, which at this point, had travelled across the entire continent.

It seemed the creature did not like the cold, as it had travelled south, throught the Bumbamunzian zone, around the Gipan desert, through Maribor, and then north into northern Ben-El. There, the elven wizard Muxia, and his apprentice Wushin, along with a group of masterful dwarven stonemasons, blacksmiths, and gnomish gem carvers, had managed to create great towers kept in large diamonds, that when shattered, would create a wall of energy that connected to the nearest other tower. By corralling the creature with blasts of cold energy against the ocean, the rest of the group was able to place down the towers before the Tarrasque would be able to escape. Unfortunately, many of those that had to be on the opposite side of the wall with the beast were almost guaranteed to die, including Muxia, who used all of his power and life energy in an ancient draconic ritual to power the walls for an eternity.

With the elves, dwarves, and gnomes working together, it promoted a long lasting peace between the peoples, and until recently, was still in the memories of some very young elves of the time. The land of Maribor, which was already home to humans, elves, and gnomes, saw a surge of dwarven immigrants, and became a hotspot of diverse cultures that birthed its own unique beliefs and culture. While many humans did also live in Maribor, many did not hold onto the alliance in the way that the other races had due to it falling out of memory and with their main civilization being further from the other races.

### The Time of Bloodshed (800 YA - 400 YA)

With the current status quo destroyed by the Tarrasque's rampage, a massive power vacuum at nearly all levels caused massive conflicts across the western continent. Small kingdoms and duchies would rise, only to fall to rebellions or another warlord. This power struggle would see many different warlords take over various parts of the Rafinear plains and the entirety of the Seawall forest. By the time of the era's close, the D'Rim Tribe had destroyed or assimilated all other steppe tribes except for the Karkhurem tribe, who had split into two groups, the Southern and Northern Karkhurem Tribes. Each group had made peace with the D'Rim, but there was still much infighting between the D'Rim peoples themselves. Further west rose a handful of kingdoms. Lord's Hall, one of the oldest human cities in the world, was captured by Ardin, giving him rule over the southern Seawall Forest, Sylvin was given governorship over the lands surrounding Arcorath, so long as the magic college could remain autonomous. Erik van Dorlund, a pirate from the Tachiana Isles gained control of the Western and Northern Seawall Forests, while Radozig von Emeren ruled over the Rafinear Plains. The Ironclad Order still maintained its hold over Falsdar, as they were relatively untouched by the Tarrasque, and uninterested in expanding further south. However, the Highlands to the west of the Steppes of Mhor heavily remained a warlord state, with the land split between multiple houses.

### The Rise of the Lorthalian Empire (400 YA - 150 YA)

Ardin, after finally pacifying the surrounding regions, began his conquest of the other western holds. He began with Rafinear, wanting control of the grazing grounds of the plains. His conquest was ultimately successful after his death, where his heirs continued the conquest. Slowly, the name of Lord's Hall was morphed into Lorthal as word of the kingdom spread outwards. Over the course of many years, Arcorath would follow after Rafinear, and then the Kingdom of Lethwell further after that. The warlords of the Highlands were swiftly destroyed by a now four kingdom strong empire, and the other nations had taken notice. The Ironclad had secured a strong alliance with the Empire, so long as they remained autonomous until the rest of humanity had been united under one banner. The D'Rim, Karkhurem, Gipa, The Free Cities of the Isles, and Maribor however, reacted in the opposite manner, with Gipa, D'Rim, Karkhurem, and Maribor all forming an soft defensive alliance known as the Central Alliance should Lorthal invade any of the nations.

Also, during this time, the Shrouded Isle was discovered through the Sea of Mist. This land had been populated by Elves and Humans from Gipa, who had ended up stranded here long ago and developed their own culture. The Ben-El and Maribor especially would open up trade with the island, and a group of giants who had also been stranded had made peace with their smaller neighbors, adopting a somewhat similar culture as time had passed.

### The Stagnant Wars (150 - 50 YA)

Soon, Lorthal would attempt to seize the lands of the Steppe Tribes, provoking Gipa and Maribor into fighting. Already, the Isle dwellers had been raiding the coastlines of Lorthal, holding people ransom, stealing cattle and materials, and even selling those that were captured as slaves to the Giants or to the other islands. While the D'Rim would have struggled to hold of the Lorthalian Empire alone, they were able to buy enough time for the Gipan and Mariborian troops to arrive. The people of the Steppes of Mhor mostly fought on horseback, firing arrows into the flanks of foot troops, and their famed berserk horsemen clobbered the knights with hammers. The Lorthalians had only made a slight dent in their territory before reinforcements arrived, forcing Lorthal out of D'Rim and back into their homeland. However, just as Lorthal couldn't take away land from the Central Alliance, so too could the alliance not take from Lorthal, as its cities and castles were still too well fortified to break into and hold before the Lorthalian army would arrive. These wars would continue for a hundred years, the most recent being a failed conquest into southern Gipa.

### The Cold Peace (50 - 25 YA)

After one-hundred years of failed conquest, Lorthal abandoned its war efforts in the east, focusing on bettering its military practices and keeping its defenses secure. While for the common people, this peace was very welcome, it was a very tense time for the leadership of the Empire and of the Central Alliance, as both sides awaited what they perceived as an inevitable conflict. As no formal peace was declared, both groups were still technically at war, but neither side wished to push the other into any more conflict, as both sides were exhausted of resources and manpower. For the rest of the world, little had changed. The Giants had made pushes into the Ironclad and Dwarven territories, but generally only consisted of raiding parties. The Shrouded Isle had begun to make diplomatic efforts with the rest of the world as well, but chose not to involve itself with either the Central Alliance or the Lorthalian Empire.

### The Dead War (25 YA)

During the last 2,000 years after Zhung Liang's death, he had communed with the Goddess of Death, Decay, and the Afterlife Zerekan, and with the knowledge of how to obtain godhood, strove to collect the 12 artifacts of the Vjirdan Pantheon, which have existed since the arrival of the Titans around 10,000 years ago. He had achieved Lichdom, and strove to also appease the Goddess who had provided him with the knowledge needed by causing death and decay that the world had never seen, even rivalling the Tarrasque's destruction. He had been forming a cult in the Lars Beinn for many centuries, the exact time unknown, slowly training new acolytes and developing advances in necromantic magics. At the end of the year, he had enough of a force of undead and necromancers, and also had fully developed the Black Plague, which would infect the minds and bodies of those that it was exposed to, to begin his conquest of the continent. He had recruited the Giants, with their hope being that they would return to the position of dominance that they once held over 2,000 years prior once the rest of the peoples were destroyed. Emperor Nero of the Lorthalian Empire however, had gotten wind of this plan, and after hearing of the adventuring party made up of Hunkey Dory IV, Aureum, Phelebodium, and Harold, had sent diplomats to all other nations, pleading to make an alliance to fight this coming menace. Fortunately, each nation had put its differences aside to join him, and they successfully defeated the Zerekan Cultist forces and killed Zhung Liang permanently. This alliance did broke an official peace treaty with the Central Alliance and Lorthal, putting an official end to the Stagnant Wars. During the war however, the Ironclad Order was destroyed with the destruction of their city Falsdar by the cult, with the kingdom being absorbed into the Lorthalian Empire.

### Present, The Shrouded Isle Civil War

Currently, the world has been peaceful, with the exception of the Shrouded Isle having a disagreement with who should rule. The people of Avir believed that the Dragon Warriors of Avir should be reinstated as the Shoguns of the island, while the southern region wishes to keep its current council as the head of state. The war has only just recently begun, with no sure telling what side has the advantage.