Etera

**Etera** is a city north of Arangea and to the west of the Isle of Wizards. It's partially covered in snow, especially during the winter months. It is difficult to say when exactly it was built, but what is known for sure is that it is that it did exist when the Elves and the Wizards first reached the West.

Its citizens and nobles were shut off from the rest of the world, preferring not to interact with the wizards and the elves, casting a spell that prevented the outsiders from reaching their city realm. The Eterans considered themselves to be the descendants of the gods, worshipping two of the biggest moons of the planet, which they considered to be their ancestral home.

However, the Eterans' hubris was their unmaking, as during a mass sacrifice, a huge abyss was cast, usurping all of its residents. The city, although devoid of life, is still barred off from the magical spell that was cast eons ago, its neighbors still unable to break it.

The Arangeans and Bumians claim their ancestry back to the ancient residents of Etera, although many considered these claims dubious, to say the least.

## History of Ancient Etera, a book written by Professor Gyldayn of Gvilderstaaten.

"*Etera is incredibly ancient, up to the point where some consider it the oldest civilization on Scimitaria. Although there's no way to confirm this, it is for certain that it is more ancient than the Elven inhabitants of the continent, as well as being the first human civilization that sprung up on it.*

*What little we know of Etera and its history comes from dusted scrolls in foreign libraries, as the city itself has never been accessed by anyone for centuries, if not millenia. For a long time, Etera was by far the largest city on Scimitaria, being dubbed as "the Saphire of the Mountains", thanks to its beauty and its pristine location. The Eterans were so proud of it that they (most of the time) refused to found or establish new cities and colonies. For that reason, Etera began expanding more and more, while the Elves kept claiming more lands in Scimitaria.*

*Although we know that many humans cities, such as Arangea, Bumi and others were founded around the last centuries of the Eteran civilization, we can't tell for sure if these people do hail from exiles and colonists of Etera, like they claim. Most scholars would claim otherwise; that these human cities are unrelated to Etera -apart from a very distant relation- and were instead immigrants from the east. Nonetheless, these specifics are lost in history, but we do know that Etera barely interacted with their human neighbors, at least no more than they did with their non-human ones.*

*We know that the Eterans worshipped the two moons of the world, one being the aspect of the primordial deity we know now as Mg' umba, and the other being the aspect of the goddess known as Irem, both gods that are present in the faiths of Arangea and Bumi. However, in the case of the Eterans, this worship was not in the usual sense that we know today. The Eterans performed complicated rituals and incantations that allowed them to draw powers beyond comprehension from these divine sources.*

*One of these powers is the protective barrier that surrounds the city to this very day, a spell that -according to sources- was cast right before the eventual disappearance of the Eterans. That spell was the last people saw of the Eterans outside of their own domain, and only certain outsiders were allowed in and out of the city even before the barrier was erected. Another power we are certain can be traced to blood magic is the control of serpentine creatures not very different to dragons.*

*These Frost Dragons -for a lack of a better name- were a common sight in the mountains around Etera thousands of years ago. Their size varied; a young dragon could be the size of a small horse, while a fully grown male could reach the size of a castle. These dragons were controlled (and possibly created) using Blood magic, by mages known as the Anogrosi, whose stature was important in Eteran society. However, we are still at loss as to what purpose these winged menaces served to the Eterans, as we know they had no interest in conquering. Regardless of all, it is safe to assume that the control of such power gave rise to the arrogance of the Eterans, who began to see themselves as gods among mortals, and perhaps for this very reason the protective spell was cast at the first place. It is said that even the lowliest of peasants in Etera lived like a foreign aristocraft, although these claims are dubious.*

### Society

*As for their society, Etera was led by a conclave of the most powerful mages and the most influential landholders, most of whom could trace their family's ancestry thousands of years to the past. Although the city, as it appears now, nestled atop high mountains, doesn't come off as too large by today's standards, a specific scroll found in the deepest bowels of Hithlone's Citadel has given as new lights to Etera's true size, as well as the disappearance of its inhabitants.*

### The Discovery

*This scroll, whose author is of no name, states that Etera stretches for miles upon miles deep in the mountain (which, the scroll states, is a large volcano) upon which it was built. Supposedly, the Eterans found something while digging in their mines, and this something only helped to fuel their greed and hubris. They delved deep into the volcano for secrets beyond comprehension, and eventually they reached a power that would ascend them to godhood.*

### The Disappearance

*We can't know for sure what this power was or what was its nature, but its discovery led to the event that we are certain was their demise. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, the lords of Etera ventured beyond their walls in search of slaves, one that would be used in a sacrifice of grand proportions. In particular, they sought out for powerful individuals; wizards from the Isle of Wizards, Drow and Sea Elven priests, as well as humans with a gift of the arcane.*

*The scroll cites another writing, by a particular Eteran mage, which ended with "blood... and fire.. flames so large.. the voice speaks.. the sacrifice.. enough...", before claiming that after that, the Eterans had vanished with no trace, all the while Etera itself was left intact. The last possible act of the Eterans was casting the magical spell of protection that still surrounds it, for reasons once again unknown.*

*We can't be certain of the validity of the scroll or its author, as Etera was considered for a while the largest mystery of Scimitaria and no one was capable of attaining the slightest information on it. However, from the date that the scroll (or the other ominous scroll that it mentions) was written, no trace of the Eterans is left to be found. Not only that, but the abduction of these powerful individuals for the purpose of a grand sacrifice is mentioned in sources from all around Scimitaria, and the disappearance of the Eterans has been ingrained into the myths and legends of Arangea and Bumi, as well as the rest of the Scimitarian humans.*

*Nowadays, the Saphire of the Mountains sits around completely devoid of life, with the protective spell remaining firm as ever. Many have tried breaking it, in search of the secrets of the Eterans, but all have failed. Others have tried searching deep into the secrets found in the volcano, only to be stopped by the same spell, while the Arangeans and the Bumians complete pilgrimages to these mountains, in order to bask at the glory of this once marvelous city.*

*The Dragons that were supposedly controlled by the Eterans have also disappeared, with very few cryptic sightings of similar creatures in the very mountains. The description of these reptilians is unlike of any dragon we know exists (or that has existed) in the known world, which creates even more enigmas.*

*And as of the Eterans, little can we say as to what truly happened them. Did they ascend to a higher plane, meeting their gods? Did they get punished for their hubris and cast into the abyss, or was it something even more sinister? As long as the magical barrier that surrounds Etera remains as is, these questions will never be answered.*"