The Immortal Coast

"The Immortal Coast", along with "The Immortal Crescent" is the common term for the eastern end of the Great Sea. The Immortal Coast traditionally spans from the Heiono Peninsula, to the Eastern shores of the Great Sea, to the Piket River delta. It is the breeding ground of all known civilizations, and the main location explored by players in After the Collapse.

## Name

The Immortal Coast as a name developed multiple times by different people. The City's Grace, Ib Rahim, Meryamun Empire, and other human peoples seem to have a common origin for this term. They all reference that the immortality of the coast is in the states and/or the people, saying that the culture and governments of the coast are undying. The Heios people say they got the name from their father god, Jios, who named it for the reason of the land itself being unchanging while the people living on it and their kingdoms are very much mortal. The Lütepe have no records of why the Immortal Crescent is called that in their culture, but they likely was a term carried over from the surrounding cultures.

## History

Elders from all around tell stories of the history of the Immortal Coast, some parts true some parts not, here is a synopsis of the true history of the coast.

### Prehistory

The coast predates all forms of intelligent life by millions of years, but the first intelligent creatures to come into the area were the humans, who migrated from their origin home of Tagasha starting in about 120,000 BZ. Through the next 87,000 years they used the coast as a crossing between to the known world, were they soon became dominant. Some decided to stay in the coast, mainly settling upon the Piket river, Gonozo island,and the Land of the Dueling Rivers.

### Dawn of Civilization

These peoples started to learn agriculture around 10,000 BZ, and societies of this area started to become more centered around agricultural lifestyles instead of their previous hunter-gatherer ways. At the same time, the tribes of this area eventually started celebrating their gods through religious sites, these sites eventually became bustling places of religion. These bustling religious sites became the first cities, the earliest being Ord and Fabal (later known as The City) in around 7,700 BZ, Gonozo 200 years later in 7,500 BZ, and finally Tenes Piket in 7,400 BZ. These early cities were also became state-like in nature, taking some control of the surrounding farming towns, but areas outside of the cities' influence mostly stayed the same as before.

### Discovery of Bronze

For the next two millennium cities began springing up around the crescent, and goods started being traded between them. Around 5,500 BZ people in Anatla and Copper Island started mining for a resource abundant in their land, copper. These areas, especially Copper Island, became prized locations for trade, as it fueled a revolution known as the Copper Age. States during this time, but were considerably smaller than states of the Bronze Age. It was in this era that the Meryamun and Fabal scripts were introduced.

As the development of trade routes continued, goods from as far as Ötugan in the east and Estanya in the west began flowing into the coast. Ötugan in particular sourced the metal tin from their land, which in around 3,300 BZ began to be used in the process of copper casting, making the extremely valuable alloy Bronze. This story is chronicled as the first story in The Bronze Chronicle, saying that the caravan which first brought tin to Fabal was blessed by the gods, being protected and driven by "civilized beasts" and a large number of hawks and owls. True or not, this new metal proved highly valuable for the world at the time, being used for weapons, armor, religious items, and more utilities.

This increased trade led to more defined states with subject towns around trade routes to better protect them. An especially strong and large kingdom surrounding Fabal was created through long distance metal trade. Soon the city of Fabal became fabulously rich, and became known just as "The City" and the surrounding kingdom was known as The City's Grace. Another large state was founded as a thalassocracy surrounding Gonozo as they began trading with the people living in the North Lands, who had many resources which Gonozo found valuable, including salt, luxury crafts, and even a modest amount of tin. On the Piket River the Meryamun Kingdom was founded not through the Bronze trade, but rather through the extremely fertile land which surrounded the predictable river.

### The Cataclysm of Magic

In 2,900 BZ there was a great event known as the Cataclysm of Magic, in which all over the world things and powers from other planes of existence flooded the world. While all existing societies crumbled, the Immortal Coasts was among the least effected of these areas, the newly appearing beasts being almost no problem for the already powerful kingdoms. However, the Cataclysm did have some effects on the crescent. The Heiono Peninsula, which was under light control of the Gonozo Thalassocracy previously, was now home to a race of fair, tall, and pointy eared people who had descended from Pantheon Mountain during the Cataclysm. Out of the mines of Anatla emerged the strong Lütepe, who quickly eradicated the humans who lived there and founded many small kingdoms in their place.

Years after the cataclysm occurred rumors began to spread of the new peoples and their powers. Many were curious, and migrated to investigate, and many coming back years or even generations later with the ability to harness their soul to do things previously thought only possible in myth. Most kingdoms in the area adopted these magical traditions, with exceptions to the Heios kingdoms and the Meryamun Kingdom. The Heios did not see any need for magic as they believed the gods of the Heios Pantheon would give them all the power they would need. The Meryamun avoided magic for the purpose of tradition, as they worried magic would hurt their agricultural domination.

### Timeline (2,900 BZ - 1,200 BZ)

* 2,891: The Lütepe win their war against the humans of Anatla, agreeing that the humans may survive, as long as they stay on the western coast.
* 2,779: BZ the kingdoms of the Heios united under the High King in Korinagos, founding the Korinagos Hegemony.
* 2,761: The child Tarakles was born to a Heios woman, his father was the Heios god Jios.
* 2,739: The High King of Korinagos declared war on the humans of Gonozo.
* 2,737: The legendary 7th Meryamun Dynasty is founded after a victorious civil war, this dynasty would eventually become the longest lived dynasty in Meryamun history.
* 2,734: After 5 years of fighting, Gonozo and all its islands are captured by the Heios, which the High King distributes among some of his best trusted advisors and friends.
* 2,720: The Korinagos victory on Gonozo is short lived, because the once thought fictional race of bull people called Adisians which the Gonozo Thalassocracy worshipped emerged from the ritual areas of the famous Gonozo palaces and took over the islands, founding a great sea empire centered on the island of Gonozo.
* 2,701: The demigod priest Khonomari tames the great bronze cobra Uraeus, using him as a symbol of the Meryamun Pharaoh's might, both in and out of battle.
* 2,599: After failing his quest for godhood, Tarakles throws himself on his legendary spear, dying among the fire spouts on burning mountains.
* 2,574: The Monogod appears to the Citizen Ib Rahim and tells him to gather his family and friends and follow the Monogod to the "promised land".
* 2,571: Ib Rahim's caravan of two hundred reaches the land which the Monogod promised to him, and there he founds the holy city of Yashal.
* 2,523: The king of The City's Grace, Yilshames, leaves for the Forest of Entry, pursuing immortality.
* 2,435: The Meryamun Kingdom declares war on Yashal. They are quickly victorious, as Uraeus swallowed the city and all Ib Rahim's followers in one quick swoop. The people are brought to Meryamun and forced to build the Bronze Pyramids for very low wages.
* 2,402: The Bronze Pyramids are completed. The Ib Rahim are incorporated into Meryamun society, but are treated as being below the rest of population.
* 2,193: The Korinagos Hegemony shatters over a dispute for the crown.
* 2,006: A boy named Leryal is born into a very poor Ib Rahim family living in Tenes Piket.
* 1,988: Leryal gets a vision from the Monogod, who tells him he will lead all Ib Rahim out Meryamun back to the promised land.
* 1,973: Leryal successfully returns the Ib Rahim to Yashal.
* 1,957: The son of Leryal has a vision of a figure who will emerge in 1,957 years and save the blessed from destruction.
* 1,921: Uraeus retreated mysteriously westward, believed to have rested in the Tomb Mountains.
* 1,899: Without the bronze serpent's protection, the 7th Dynasty is overthrown by a mysterious race of salamander people from the Eastern Sea.
* 1,843: The salamander people retreat once again into the Eastern Sea, and the Meryamun pharaoh returned to being a human in the 9th dynasty.
* 1,807: A military coup ends the 9th Dynasty, and begins the 10th.
* 1,776: During a highly important religious ceremony in the Heios city of Tens a figure appeared on the altar, soon too be the hero of mysterious origins known as Gos Macurdes.
* 1,773: Due to the Pharaoh of the 10th dynasty not having any heirs, the 11th dynasty begins
* 1,772: Gos Macurdes defeats the great Gonozo Minotaur
* 1,768: While under a deep sickness, Gos Macurdes mysteriously disappears.
* 1,767: The traditionalist Meryamun general deposes the Pharaoh through a coup, and begins the 12th Dynasty
* 1,712: An army of self-described "Shadow Magi" come from the east and sack The City, plundering all of monetary value in the City, and left.
* 1,693: The Korinagos Hegemony reforms under High King Agamen.
* 1,689: The High King Agamen of Korinagos consults an oracle about the future of his kingdom, the oracle gives the Agamen Prophecy to the king, which among other things states that all things shall end in 1,689. Fearing this doomsday the most, the king changes the counting system of the hegemony to count down in years to the prophesized year of Zero.
* 1,625: In Anatla, the Lütepe kingdoms united under a single king, founding the Lütepeti Kingdom.
* 1,563: The Pharaoh abdicated, ending the 12th dynasty and beginning the 13th.
* 1,562: The volcano island of Santori errupts, spreading ash everywhere, causing a dark age which lasted nearly 60 years.
* 1,545: A peasant uprising ends the 13th dynasty, and puts in place the 14th dynasty, which upon another peasant uprising is replaced by the 15th dynasty.
* 1,543: A military coup replaces the progressive 15th dynasty with the traditionalist 16th dynasty.
* 1,525: Under the pressure of the dark age, the people of the Lütepeti Kingdom force the government to change from absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.
* 1,411: In a peasant uprising, the Meryamun Kingdom splits into the Peasant's Kingdom in the North and 15th Dynasty in the South, causing a great civil war.
* 1,386: The City's Grace relinquishes significant portions of it's land for seemingly no reason.
* 1,373: The Peasant's Kingdom captures and executes the 15th dynasty royal family, and the former 15th dynasty becomes the 16th dynasty. The war still rages on.
* 1,354: The Peasant's Kingdom captures Tenes Piket and burns it to ruin.
* 1,302: After over two millennium of Lütepe control, the Korinagos Hegemony takes Copper Island in a surprise war
* 1,288: The Peasant's Kingdom finally defeats the 16th Dynasty, ascending to become the 17th Dynasty.
* 1,216: The Korinagos Hegemony declares war on Elies, a small human city-state in western Anatla after the High King accused the prince of Elies of stealing his daughter's virginity.
* 1,207: The Heios armies reach victory, using the now famous clay men tactic to infiltrate and sack the city.
* 1,205: The Slow Famine leads to the first year (out of war) in which the population of the Meryamun Kingdom decreases
* 1,203: An army of insect-like horse archers known as the Kers Khaganate begin to invade the eastern lands of the City's Grace, to which the state surrenders most of their land freely to the Khagan of the army.
* 1,201: All over the Immortal Coast five different tribes (Pilisit, Sardani, Selya, Torash, and Walinoi) sail from their homelands, under mysterious circumstances, to the Immortal Coast, where they settle.