Helias

Helias is the name given to the planet in which habitants and the small number of adventurers call their home. In the known world of Helias, there are eight distinct continents and twenty two regions.

## History

*For a more detailed timeline accounting the history of Helias, see Timeline of Notable Events.*

### Ancient Era

During the Ancient Era, the world of Helias was home to a vastly spanning empire of Habitants at the height of their advancement and civilization. This civilization is today referred to as The Ancients. Remnants of their civilization have been found all over Mea, Pliphia, Iunai, and Swurnia, however was notably absent from Ecolira and the other outer continents. It is believed their civilization was organized under a single empire that spanned most of the known world.

Their civilization was brought to a sudden halt and within an inexplicably short span, almost all of their population was wiped out and their civilizations wiped off the face of Helias. Although no direct confirmation on the cause of this, it is believed the civilization stumbled upon discoveries of portals to The End and The Nether, and the opening of these portals brought upon invasions from those dimensions that led to their demise.

Only scattered ruins remain today of this civilization, and traces are so absent that some believe that the forces of The End actively dismantled all their structures for unknown purposes. It is also believed that anywhere that was actively inhabited by this civilization faced the brunt of the attacks and as such had the largest setbacks societally from the fall of the Ancients. As such, Ecolira was spared some of the devastation and had an advantage on the rest of Helias going forward.

### Dark Era

The dark era begins after the fall of the ancients empire and is generally regarded as the stretch between 1000 BR and 0AR. This era is named as a result of the significant regression civilization received at the beginning of it, and the generally hard and war-filled times between the remaining scraps of populations. Despite it's name, this era still saw a number of significant world events, such as the rise and conflicts of the Eskan Empire, the reopening of Menathis, as well as the establishments of various settlements which would eventually play a larger role in the world.

#### Empires of Ecolira

Having been spared most of the ravages of the War of the Ancients, Ecolira was the first continent to see significant development since the Ancients. As such, the city of Thybe quickly found itself increasing it's territory and the Eskan Empire was formed. Over the next few centuries, the Eskan Empire grew until it reached its height in 499 BR. This is when the second largest city of the empire, Al Sanai, declared an independence war and after a long and brutal war, sieged Thybe and claimed victory, forming the Sanai Republic, a rival empire claiming most of the Eastern Ecolira territory.

These two empires saw themselves in a consistent state of war for the better part of a century, until 377 AR when both sides agreed to finally see peace and the creation of Kytha, a buffer city-state between the two empires, created to eliminate direct border conflicts. This ended up being a great success, and Kytha flourished immediately and became a trade hub for the continent, being a middleman on trade as the two empires to the East and West remained hostile with each other.

The later years of the dark era for Ecolira saw the recovery of the two empires ravaged for centuries by constant wars, but shimmering tensions between the two giants, generally resolved by Kythan diplomats before all-out war ever broke out again.

## Continents

### 1. Mea

The largest continent of Helias, and the most central to the known world, this landmass is a host to many different nations and seven regions, as well as an incredibly varied geography, holding as much variety as the world has to offer in terms of different biomes.

### 2. Pliphia

A medium-sized continent and mostly attached to Mea, Pliphia is home to a generally more temperate climate than it's larger sibling, and is home to three distinct regions.

### 3. Ecolira

The second-largest continent on Helios, Ecolira is a primarily hot continent, however has itself a more temperate region in the east and has itself a very varied set of biomes. It is home to two large regions.

### 4. Iunai

A fairly large continent, Iunai is far less populated than it's sibling continent of Ecolira. It is home to three regions, and is known for it's jarring climate transitions, at one area quickly transitioning from hot desert to cold winterlands.

### 5. Lyos

The northernmost continent, Lyos is a relatively unpopulated continent with only two major settlements. Lyos is famous for being the only continent to host an exotic mesa biome. Lyos has only been partially charted and it is unknown the full extent of the size of this continent. There are four known regions, however.

### 6. Swurnia

Swurnia is the smallest continent on Helias (when accounting for unexplored portions of Phari and Preke), however it's economic power rivals Mea due to it's population density and development. Hosting only one region, Swurnia is a typically temperate and mountainous continent.

### 7. Preke

Although mostly uncharted by the residents of the known world of Helias, the known parts of Preke make up a small continent on the western reaches of the known world with a single known region. It is primarily a hot continent, and is known to be populated by habitants on the eastern end of the continent. It is theorized that there may be unknown habitant populations settled further inland on the continent that have yet to interact with the known world, however these claims are unverified.

### 8. Phari

Almost entirely unexplored, very little is known about this continent. Habitants of the known world of Helios have only explored a set of large islands that form the western end of this continent and the only known region. From what has been charted, it is almost exclusively hot regions. There are no known settlements on this continent and it is completely unknown how large it actually is.

## Oceans

### Wesral Ocean

Taking up a good portion of the western known world and the ocean hosting Swurnia, the Wesral Ocean is the only ocean which contains a continent in its entirety. The Wesral ocean is the busiest ocean for ships as it borders all the most populated continents, of which 5 are bordering it.

### Nordan Ocean

On the north end of Mea bordering Lyos, the Nordan ocean is the smallest ocean in the known world, being bordered by only two continents.

### Epaesic Ocean

On the east end of Mea and extending all the way down to the eastern coast of Ecolira, the Epaseic ocean is known for it's extreme length. Although not a particularly hard ocean to cross width-wise, it stretches for much of the known world lengthwise, and as such is bordered by 4 different continents.

## Climate

The climate of Helias one which has little to no consistency among the whole of the world. Climate changes fiercely and suddenly along very predisposed geographical lines. As a result, it is not out of the realm of possibility to see lands covered in snow immediately bordering a hot desert region.

The source of this bizzare climate pattern is unknown, and even the residents of Helias see it as unusual at times. Some believe it may be related to the planet having a very particular set of localized geological processes which dictate the weather the corresponding lands above it receive, however this is merely a theory.