Serpens

Serpens is a relatively small world in a universe dominated by giants. The citizens of Serpens are hardened and cynical after hundreds of years of hardship, none more intense than the flood that has now consumed the entire world for fifteen years.

## Notable Events

The most commonly accepted dating system in Serpens is based on the arrival and defeat of the archdemon Dade.

***BA = Before Arrival***

***DR = Dade's Reign***

***AD = After Defeat***

* Serpens is formed in a small star system, containing only two other planets - Approximately 4,000,000 BA
* Human life on Serpens begins - Approximately 23,000 BA
* Formation of the Drodnian Empire - 1,241 BA
* Foundation of the College of Magi - 982 BA
* First Mage Rebellion - 974 BA
* First Drodnian-Mage War - 974 BA - 942 BA
* Global Famine - 941 BA  - 937 BA
* Second Drodnian-Mage War - 937 BA - 894 BA
* Fall of the Drodnian Empire and Foundation of the country Nepania - 894 BA
* Drodnian Genocide - 893 BA - 892 BA
* Dade's Arrival - 0 DR
* Fall of Nepania - 5 DR
* Refoundation of the Drodnian Empire - 14 DR
* Dade's Defeat - 17 DR
* Refoundation of the College of Magi - 1 AD
* Mage Uprising - 53 AD
* Construction of Skyhold - 237 AD
* Construction of Antiva - 586 AD
* The Flood of Serpens and subsequent rise of Antiva - 851 AD

## Notable Locations

### Before Flood

* Drodnian Empire - The Drodnian Empire has commanded full control over the only continent of Serpens for most of human history. Their blood fuelled rivalry with the mages of Serpens has lasted nearly two millennia. Though the rivalry has cooled since the Mage Uprising, the two sides never reconciled and the rivalry continues in many ways to this day. The Drodnian Empire is also responsible for constructing Antiva in the year 586 AD.
* Nepania - The country of Nepania was founded by mages following the defeat of the Drodnian Empire in 894 BA, and is the only other human empire to control land on Serpens. Following the foundation, mages committed a mass genocide of all citizens who claimed loyalty to the Drodnian Empire. Nepania fell to the archdemon Dade in 5 DR.
* College of Magi - The College of Magi was founded by the Drodnian Empire in the year 982 BA as a place for mages to live and learn their craft safely. The College was destroyed in the first mage rebellion in the year 974 BA. The College of Magi was later re-founded by the Drodnian Empire after the defeat of Dade in an effort to "educate mages the right way", but is seen as an attempt at revenge by the Drodnian Empire for the Drodnian Genocide. Though the Drodnians had almost no control over the college just prior to the flood, most modern mages consider the word "College" to have been a cruel misuse of words, and consider the college to have been more akin to a concentration camp.
* Cardended - Cardended has been an important city on Serpens since the year 1,247 BA, serving as the capital city for both the Drodnian Empire and Nepania. Cardended has been assumed to have suffered the most casualties during the flood, with an estimated 15 million civilian deaths in the city alone.
* Skyhold - An abandoned fortress that was constructed by mages in the year 237 AD.
* Antiva - Constructed by the Drodnian Empire in 586 AD, Antiva is a floating city that serves an important role on the world stage as a place where all humans can peacefully interact regardless of affiliation and personal beliefs. Antiva is led by King Jonathan III.

### After Flood

The only remnants of human life that remain on Serpens reside in cities that were one way or another lucky enough to be untouched by the flood. Except for one. The floating city of Antiva is a true bastion of human life, and is the only metropolis left on the planet. The survival of the human race is almost entirely dependent on the survival of Antiva.

#### **Antiva**

The floating city of Antiva was constructed in the year 586 after twenty years of work. Antiva was conceptualized and constructed by the sole world power, the Drodnian Empire, in an effort to create a city that could be the centre of human civilization, regardless of allegiance. When the flood came nearly three hundred years after the city was finished, Antiva itself was barely effected. Though a mountain once sat next to Antiva, now an island does. A sacred temple sits on this island, along with the Summer Palace, which is home to **only** the most important events in in the world.

Antiva was important on the world stage before the flood, but now the power of the city is unquestioned. Antiva boasts the most powerful military currently remaining on the world, and is the world centre for every important industry remaining on Serpens.

Antiva is led by King Gareth I. Gareth inherited the throne at the very young age of 14 after his parents perished in the flood. Gareth is known as a compassionate, benevolent King who is beloved by most citizens of Serpens. Despite his successes in transforming Antiva into the power it is, Gareth has struggled to truly wield his power to its full extent, with many critics citing his compassion as one of his biggest flaws.

#### **Skyhold**

The city of Skyhold lives up to its name, literally. Constructed in the year 237, the fortress now known as Skyhold sits atop one of the highest mountains on the planet Serpens, which itself only barely escaped the flood. Skyhold was abandoned for at least four-hundred years prior to the flood. Citizens of the cities below Skyhold fled up to the fortress once the flood began, finding the fortress in a state of disrepair. Fifteen years after the flood, however, Skyhold has been reconstructed into a fortress worthy of praise from the King of Antiva.

Skyhold is well supplied with farms of their own, though they obtain most of their goods and materials from trade with Antiva. Skyhold is served by a respectable militia that is good enough to keep the city safe from any monsters that may try to attack.

## Background

### Culture

The culture of Serpens is a complex one that has slowly been formed over thousands of years. The hardships that the citizens of Serpens have faced has been the most defining factor in the culture of Serpens.

Normal citizens are normally quite blunt in their speech and cynical in their mood, but as you climb the food chain of life in Serpens, this changes radically. Among government officials, wealthy and important people, mind games are commonplace, and responding to these mind games is how one truly proves their worth to the higher-ups of Serpens. There are frequent opportunities for people to prove their muster in this regard, none more important than an appearance at the Summer Palace where one will truly be tested in this regard. Every action judged, every comment analyzed. Beauty, pageantry, passion, intrigue, danger. It's the game of politics.

The human citizens of Serpens are generally accepting of all races, be it a skeleton, golem, or whatever may rear its head in this world, so long as they do not mean harm to humans. Humans on Serpens were once divided by petty things such as skin colour, but this is an archaic viewpoint that predates the first iteration of the Drodnian Empire.

An exceptionally large portion of the culture of Serpens has been formed by the Mage-Drodnian Rivalry. The most prominent example of this is how most humans at one point or another were taught to hate mages. This has been passed down from generation to generation, and though feelings are not as negative as they used to be, most normal humans remain weary of mages - in large part due to the Drodnian Genocide - where over five million were slaughtered without mercy.

### Mage-Drodnian Rivalry

The Mage-Drodnian Rivalry that has consumed Serpens for more than a millennium is a complicated one, to say the least. The seeds of the rivalry were planted in the year 1,000 BA, when a series of tragedies began to rock the Drodnian Empire. Children were obtaining magical abilities unbeknownst to themselves, and these abilities would show themselves in ways that were, more often than not, extremely destructive and life-threatening. The worst of these was when a young mage who was only the age of five accidentally killed twelve people at a party while he was playing.

Members of the Drodnian Church and government officials were becoming increasingly worried about these incidents. After years of careful planning, the government proposed a plan in 987 BA that would confine everyone with magical abilities to what the empire called a "college for mages to learn to practice their craft and live their lives safely away from everyone else". A majority of mages in the empire viewed the proposal positively and agreed to work with the empire on putting the plan into action.

In 982 BA, the world-class College of Magi had finished construction, and mages from all over the empire begun moving in. Mages were displeased to see a heavy presence of Drodnian soldiers present at the college, which quickly became a point of debate between the newly elected Grand Enchanter Cassandra and King Alexander III. Cassandra repeatedly pushed Alexander to remove the soldiers from the college, which began to anger Alexander. In the year 976 BA, Alexander issued an order to his soldiers stationed in the college to begin acting more aggressively towards the mages, which immediately infuriated Cassandra. Alexander refused to meet with Cassandra for two years, until finally, Cassandra showed up unannounced at the King's residence. The two got into a shouting match that lasted for several hours, until they were able to work out an agreement.

Alexander began to walk Cassandra to the door, feeling deep regret over the entire debacle. What happened next has only recently been revealed, using magic. While the two walked to the door, Alexander tripped over his own foot, hitting his head on a table, before falling and hitting it on the concrete floor. This gravely injured Alexander, and would eventually be what killed him. Cassandra, concerned, crouched down to try and assist him. A member of Alexander's personal guard entered the room in a hurry, finding Cassandra knelt over Alexander's body, which had blood pouring from the back of its head. The guard promptly killed Cassandra before she could get a word out. The entire future of Serpens, curated by an accident.

The Drodnian soldiers stationed at the college got wind of Alexander's death "at the hands of the now deceased Cassandra" quickly, and began severely abusing the mages. The final tipping point came one week after the death of both leaders, when a Drodnian soldier murdered a mage in cold blood. The mages at the College of Magi rebelled in 974 BA, and killed every soldier stationed at the college, thus beginning the first Mage-Drodnian war. Mages outside of the college actually sided with the Drodnians for a short time, before mages who were completely disassociated with the college were targeted for execution. In response, mages killed a select number of innocent civillians, which was the final blow that turned the general populace completely against the mages.

Two years into the war effort, the mages begun referring to themselves as "Nepanians" - a reference to a legendary mage, referred to only as Nepania. Nepania was the first human to fully harness and understand magic on Serpens. The teachings and research of Nepania are admired and studied by generations of mages and humans alike, which continues to the modern day on Serpens.

The war effort was an endless struggle for the mages, and eventually, with casualties just over four million, the mages had no option but to capitulate and surrender to the Drodnian Empire in 942 BA after 29 years of fighting. King Alexander's successor, Queen Annabelle, sought to repair the relationship between th Drodnians and the mages. However, Annabelle now had to oversee a global famine that ravaged the entirety of Serpens.

Peace between the Drodnians and mages would only last five years. The populace of the Drodnian Empire was furious and blamed the ongoing famine on the mages as some sort of revenge for losing the war. Citizens began putting pressure on Annabelle to punish the mages for their assumed role in the famine, and Annabelle was unwilling to proceed. The angry, hungry populace forced the hand of the military, who assumed control of the Drodnian Empire in a coup d'etat against Annabelle, which resulted in her beheading. Then, under the control of the military, began hunting down and executing mages at random - thus thrusting Serpens into another war.

During the second Drodnian-Mage war, the mages were consistently able to execute the de facto heads of the Drodnian Empire, leaving the empire without a stable leader for a period of more than five years. This turned the tide in the favour of the mages. Lead by the mage known as "Riftwalker", after a war spanning more than half of a century and claiming millions of lives on both sides, the mages, now fully known as the Nepanians, were victorius and siezed control over Serpens, forming the country of Nepania, and becoming the first country to overtake the Drodnian Empire in more than a millennium.

Following the Nepanian victory, Riftwalker sought revenge on the Drodnians for their crimes. Any man, woman or child who continued to claim allegiance to the Drodnian Empire would be slaughtered over the next year, claiming the lives of more than five million innocent people in what would come to be known as the Drodnian genocide.

Following the genocide, there was a long period of peace between the human populace and mages, though humans remained weary of magic and its' perceived dangers.

Nepania would fall in 5 DR to the archdemon Dade. In 14 DR, the Drodnian Empire was re-founded in an effort to defeat Dade, and three years later in 17 DR, they were successful - firmly re-establishing the Drodnian Empire as a force on Serpens.

The new Drodnian Empire re-founded the College of Magi the year after Dade's defeat, and after a small uprising by the mages in 53 AD, the relationship has been amicable. Humans are generally more trusting - although overall still weary - of mages in the modern day, and mages have been friendly towards the general populace since the uprising.

After the flood, both mages and humans have been forced to live and work together in Antiva for the betterment of all who live on Serpens.

### Dade's Reign

In the year 0 DR, Cardended was attacked by a moderately strong force that consisted of mostly unimportant monsters, and many (if not all) government officials considered the attack to be one that was slightly more powerful than a usual force.

Soon after the first attack, similar forces began to attack smaller towns and settlements, slaughtering every man, woman and child present in said settlements. Guards would stumble upon these scenes at a later date, and many of these attacks were so gruesome that, just entering the town, you'd be able to taste the iron in the air.

After deliberation, Nepanian officials began to look into these attacks with a much closer eye. Infuriated by these increasingly costly attacks, Nepania began a large-scale military recruiting program with the goal of having full-time guards at every smaller town and settlement. King Abbadon I of Nepania hated to lose a battle more than anything else, especially to inferior life forms like monsters.

In 4 DR, Abbadon instructed his military to locate the source of these monsters, as they continued to grow in number and power as the attacks continued. After a gruelling search that had yielded few results, the Nepanian army finally stumbled upon the source of these monsters and promptly destroyed it with TNT. This was celebrated as a great victory throughout Nepania, but as most things like this go, this was far from the end.

In 5 DR, the archdemon Dade reared his head for the first time, which would also be the last time that many civillians would see him. Dade raised an army of what has been estimated to be around 4,000,000 monsters to attack the capital of Nepania, Cardended. Only one hour after showing his face to the citizens of Cardended, the city fell, and by proxy the empire of Nepania was destroyed. King Abaddon's carcass was thrown from the balcony of his residence, which was soon followed by the bodies of his wife and children.

Dade would continue to pillage and torment the civilians of Serpens for the coming year until he definitively overtook the whole of Serpens. One world, under Dade.

*To Be Continued*