Eras

The history of Gemalla can be broken down into sixteen distinct eras. This is often favored over an exact year system due to the immense timescales and the unclear dates of almost every major event.

## The First Dawn

The First Dawn spans the evolution of humanity on Earth to the birth of the Hive (roughly around 2150 CE). After the third world war, the nations of the world came together to promote peace. prosperity, and space exploration. A colony on mars was developed, advanced AI became commonplace, and humanity looked on with hope.

50 years after peace was achieved, the Afrodita set out to explore Venus. One of her crewmembers, Elaina, connected to the Warp and become corrupted by the Venusian Hive. She returned to Earth and forcefully assimilated all of humanity into one mind (Chulque). The recently founded Mars colony resisted for a few more years due to their distance from Earth, however in their effort to understand the Hive they opened up a gateway into the Warp and assimilate themselves.

Almost everything from this era will be destroyed during the Sun King's conquest of Sol and the destruction of Earth (Aiga) during the Sun Kingdom Period.

## The Age of Chulque

All of humanity is a single hivemind. With the sudden addition of billions of human souls, the Hive retained its humanity. It now mourned the loss of their individuality but feared to ever return to it.

Technology progressed rapidly. A Dyson swarm is created around the sun to create near infinite energy, with Mercury acting as a great battery. As the Hive came to acceptance of her fate, the Warp was calmed and conquered.

Most planets and moons of the solar system were terraformed. Population centers to the Ganymede ecumenopolis to allow Earth to become a pristine garden. Io, like Mercury, became an additional planet-wide energy sector to satisfy Ganymede's intense need. Luna became a manufacturing hub. Mars, thanks to the warp technology of its lost colony, became an amplifier of its power. Europa's ice was melted into an endless sea, becoming the breadbasket of Sol. Callisto turned into a world-spanning art project, its flora and fauna genetically inspired by old human fairy tales and folklore.

The Hive quarantined herself in the utopia she created, as she did not wish to infect any more potential life with her influence. Thousands of years passed. She forgot what it was like to be in the presence of another and lost the ability to see other perspectives.

The era ended in the millennium-long God War. After sending an exploration party to the shrouded surface of Titan, it was discovered that Saturn and all its moons had a strange effect on the Warp, cutting off their interiors from its greater influence. The few hundred drones sent to the surface lost contact with the oneness of the rest of the Hive. They formed a new Hive. While their mother Hive honored her lost autonomy, those on Titan became obsessed with it. He took on the name of his ship designation, Idius, to differentiate himself. Drones were given names, personalities, and relationships. He called his uncontactable mother Chulque.

Decades later, Chulque learned how to breach the warp bubble and peered into the being she inadvertently created. Idius, a being practiced in conflict, turned three of every four drones against her in an instant. Chulque fought back, but was forced to break her isolation and flee Sol. During this exile, just like Elaina before her, she lost her humanity. She empowered herself in the Scarred Path, assimilating alien minds and bodies into herself. She became unrecognizable. Her motives for victory became control alone. All other workings of her mind became impossible to understand.

Her era ended with her return to Sol. She rampaged from planet to planet, destroying all trace of Idius with no effort. In the final act of the God War, she returned to Saturn to destroy the warp bubble that created her adversary. However, central mind of Idius hid within the bubble and prepared a trap. He and Chulque met within Saturn, and he threw Uranus into the planet. This recharged the bubble, sealing both within and unlinking all drones.

## The Second Dawn

With humanity disconnected from both Idius and Chulque, many new civilizations formed from scratch across the solar system. The most notable were the Children of Mars, an egalitarian federation of disparate settlements across their planet's red desert. Upon the rediscovery of the Warp with the help of the Gate, they learned of the God War and that Chulque's seal would fade in their lifetime. They managed to configure the ancient dyson swarm to keep Saturnus's atmosphere ionized to hold the seal, but they were unable to control it without an advanced AI. Since they had no AI of their own, they went on a great search across the system for one from the First Dawn.

Moments before the seal broke, they found the Sun King, an AI controller for a medieval strategy game. When attempting to plug him in, he refused to operate unless the parameters of his game were met. Though they satisfied him with LARPing within the sun station at first, the King slowly gained control of Chulque's old surveillance infrastructure and began to fail again.

To satisfy him, the Children of Mars conquered the system in a fleet of Knight Ships, spacecraft capable of entering the Warp. They then destroyed all evidence of the past and rebuilt every civilization around the factions within the Sun King's game. The only ones left unconquered were those past Norcus (Saturnus), the followers of Sarah Sunray in the Oot (Oort Cloud). The completion of this crusade and the dissolution of the Children's republic to form the Cult of Raes marked the end of the Second Dawn.

## The Sun Kingdom Period

With the past completely destroyed, the solar system became a loosely controlled feudal kingdom, each planet and moon becoming its own duchy. The Cult of Raes, the warp-worshipping duchy of what was once Mars, maintained the unstable social order by infiltrating other worlds and sabotaging all efforts to gain power, reform, or better their realm. Though few of the cult now knew why, they did this to maintain the now 10,000-year stalemate.

To further prevent the social order from collapsing, the duchies' abilities to make spacecraft were hampered. Only Raes could create Knight Ships, and only half of the other worlds were even capable of regular spaceflight. To prevent interplanetary conflicts, the Cult only allowed three Knights per duchy, making planetary occupation logistically impossible. Wars between the duchies were duels between honored pilots over limited spoils. This did not mean it was a time of peace, rather regional wars between lower nobles were constant.

While Duchies were only ever allowed three Knights, some outside the cult found ways to create their own. These were Heretic Knights, deemed treasonous due to their ability to upset the balance of power. The most famous Heretic Knight was the Phantom Blade, a ship capable of stealing souls.

Within the Oot, the immortal Sarah and her followers constructed the Gemalla, and ark capable of carrying humanity away from Chulque. It would require seven powerful and pure hearted souls to pilot and become it, so she sent a call out into the Warp for angels.

The beginning of the era's end was marked by the destruction of Aiga (Earth) by the warp wizard Wazlar. This destabilized the Sun King and damaged Chulque's seal. He later constructed the infamous Heretic Knight the Phantom Blade for his duke, which became captained by Franz Majoris. Franz used the prestige to rise to power, which led to the War of the Six Moons, which itself led to the March of the Messengers, Franz freeing Chulque and merging with her, the awakening of Gemalla, and finally the Fifteen Fury. The era ended with the stealing of the sun, the Warp being shattered into the Elsewhere and the Point of All Realities, and Chulque's splitting and imprisonment within the Point.

## The Third Dawn

The survivors of the solar system's destruction rebuilt civilization on Gemalla as it flew to an unknown destination. They founded the city of Azlan and technology progressed rapidly. They came to understand the marriage of magic and technology that created Gemalla, and used it to build a post-scarcity utopia.

They understood that Gemalla was a living being as much a planet, god, and starship. They only ever saw half the world, as the other laid within the Elsewhere, the magical engine. The Elsewhere was a twisted reflection of the real world. Every action taken created an incomprehensible effect within the Elsewhere. Therefore, the Azlani knew to practice moderation and perfect their minds. Settling beyond the borders of Azlan was forbidden, as every population center risked further biproduct within the other realm. This did not stop some from venturing out into the wilderness. They were shunned by the city they left, but many founded their own settlements and tribes. These initial explorers were the ancestors to the Barlanders, Unamians, Dwarves, Giants, and Elves.

Serpentfolk, Lizardfolk, Kobolds, and the last surviving Dragons came to Gemalla during the passing of the Scarred Path. While the dragons swore to protect the lands, the others formed the new Serpentine Empire, an expansionist threat.

Another threat were the Frost Lords. Descendents of the Cult of Raes, they used occult rituals in an attempt to gain control of the Angel's Tomb. While once pacifist, the Azlani were forced to awaken as their dark hexes were discovered. The second and third Azlani settlements were established, the first and only expansion of their 10,000 year realm. The Hemispheres were carved under a mile of Oryoran rock and snow. It served as a holdout to survive any catastrophe, so that Azlani culture lived on. Embrana was founded off the shores of Unamia to keep a watchful eye on the Frost Lords.

This era ended with the fall of the Mountain, the fall of Azlan, and the rise of the machines.

## The Age of Machines

Azlan falls under the control of rogue AI, hellbent on wiping out humanity. Most advanced technology within the city is lost due to its connection to the AI. Only the rugged combustion engines of the shunned tribes survived. Embrana mysteriously disappeared while the Hemispheres sealed themselves off from the ruined world. The anguish of the Gods poisoned the earth, turning Gemalla into the Forever Desert.

Only those outside of Azlan's walls survived. The shunned Azlani of Steppshia, blessed with vast cave systems and a subterranean ocean, fled underground. The dwarves of Tomaz did similar, though they forged their underground fortresses rather than inherited them. The Serpentines, an already magical race, found ways to manipulate the machines to their will. They conquered vast swathes of Intlolpon, the Snakes, and Salmati with a mago-mechanical army. The Frost Lords, meanwhile, never breached the Angel's Tomb. Their great gothic castles decayed as a spiritual poison leaked from the Cathedral of Souls.

Finally, were the Elves and Barlanders. The Azl Canyon protected them from the brunt of the Machine tide, but they soon became the front lines of a generational war. Agriculture collapsed due to the sour earth, and tribes were required to raid to survive. vast convoys roamed the flat desert, looting and scavenging anything they could find. The most powerful of these tribes were the Astr, Orc, and Kenis. The Elves, meanwhile, constructed a great temple, dedicated to solving the water, food, and machine crises while preserving knowledge of the past. This became known as the Temple From Which We Save Ourselves.

Generations went by. Outside of the well defended Elven lands the knowledge needed to construct even their simple engines were forgotten. Gasoline became rare and fought viciously over. Tribes rose and fell from their access to gas. The Tioks were one of these. Upon a chance discovery of a massive oil tankard, they formed a great war party, destroyed the Kenis, and enslaved all others. The Orc and Astr fled to the borderlands, under threat from the elves and machines respectively.

The elves one day tracked a robot convoy heading deep into Barlander territory. The Tioks, with heavy losses, destroyed the stray war party and began transporting their spoils home. The elven scout, Theoden, discovered the convoy carried a bomb capable of glassing the entire region. He discovered a way to prime the bomb, and theorized that, with a proper war party, the device could be returned to Azlan to destroy the central AI.

Unable to convince the Tioks, he travelled to the southeast to seek aid from the Astr and Orc. An alliance was formed, and Theoden, the two chieftains, and the Astr champion prepared an ambush to steal the bomb-ferrying truck and drive it into the machine city. They succeeded in this, glassing Azlan, destroying the central AI, and turning all surviving machines feral.

## The Forever Desert

Without their central AI, the machines turned feral, killing each other in blind rage. Outside of the Northern Sandscape, all that remained was buried scrap and the occasional rampaging robot.

Yet, the desert remained. Only under immense magical pressure did some oases form. the Elves stole water of life from the first Traze Fountain, using it to bless the River Renequieme with life. With survival secured, they traded their surplus of fish and gold for scrap from across the world. They wished to reverse engineer the magic and technology of old. Their Temple became filled with great and dangerous artifacts, and their culture with great and dangerous secrets.

Scrap trading became a lifeline for those neighboring the elves. Matilda the First led the Tioks to form the Barland Confederacy. She imported reading, writing, architecture, livestock, and even language from the nearby Stonish. While the language caught on to form Tiokan Stonish, there was never enough vegetation to support a large herd. After her successor's failed war against the elves, the Fight to the River, the Confederacy became reliant on the fish from scrap trades. Their engines broke down for the last time, the spare parts traded for fish, the buried scrap traded for fish, and even the rusted heaps themselves traded for fish. The same fate fell the nearby Stonish and Astr as their war engines sputtered their last.

The shunned Azlani were nearly wiped out within the underground. Since the Age of Machines they fought wars with giant sapient ants within the tunnels. Early in this era, with only a few dozen left on each side, the ants and Azlani married into one tribe during the Ant Wedding. This new tribe were called Mants. Though they were hybrids of humans and ants, a magical aura of cognitive dissonance emanated from them, making it so they appear completely human to all around them, including themselves.

Some of the tribe stayed underground, building submarines so they could hunt beasts within the subterranean ocean. Others came to the surface. Their natural hardiness aided in initial settlement. The surface Mant tribe fragmented, intermarried with pure humans, came back together, split again, died out, and even resurrected as they searched for a reliable food source. They found it in cactus farming and other amoral methods, however they had no other vital resources like building materials and medicine.

The Sandscapers, as they were now named after the land they lived, met a nomadic tribe from the West, the Secilyans. They were a part of the elven scrap trade and travelled to the Sandscape when times were hard. They knew that the scrap of the Sandscape was valuable and abundant, but feral machines were common. Many of their tribe died on these hunts from machine attacks, dehydration, and heatstroke. The Secilyans made a deal with the tribes of the Sandscape. They Sandscapers would collect the scrap while the Secilyans would take the long journey to Renequieme to trade it, all sharing the profits. Since the fish would rot before getting back home, they traded for gold, which was then traded with the Serpentines for the needed resources. Some tribes later took on supporting roles outside of scrap collection, such as food production or defense against machine attacks. This agreement developed into the Trade League.

Just south of the Trade League, on their trade route, was the Olubuwe. A mysterious jungle in a sea of sand. While it was once a sacred oasis akin to Renequieme, the tribe who created used black magic to do so. Their sacred Red Temple was cursed, turning the fruits poisonous, the fauna murderous, and the flora deceptive. Only their king's priest-son, Blackhat, survived.

Little can be said from here, as this history is still being told. The era ends with the coming of Silversteed and the return of Spring. With Spring comes a great rain, breathing life into the continents while drowning the Snakes into the sea, forming the Macsalient island chains. The Frostlands survive the flood with the construction of the Castle Walls by the Emperor.

## The Green World

Little is known of this era. The world becomes green again. Mysterious nature spirits called Fey take over the world. The Barland Confederacy likely becomes a Kingdom, though the details of this are unknown. It is theorized they became a peaceful Kingdom, where mankind coexisted with Fey and few wrongs occured.

Within the decayed Frostlands a band of warriors, resurrected from across time within the Cathedral of Souls, slay the surviving Frostlords. In their battle they breached the Castle Walls, dooming the Frostlands to a watery grave, save for a few of the tallest mountains and constructions. Only Malikoff and the Emperor survive, fleeing to West Tomaz. There they attempt to conquer a new realm for themselves, bringing many dwarves under their spell. The Imperial and Forsaken Dwarves began a long war against the invaders, with occasional assistance from the Nameless and Viking. It is theorized that Fikod and Dokiev were born during this time.

Renequieme became a superpower thanks to its mastery over magic. Over the generations of prosperity and isolation, a feeling of superiority and invincibility grew. They never shared their wealth with the humans in the south.

This era was ended by the Great Ones Saga, which led to the banishment of Salmati to the Point of All Realities, the Serpentfolk being trapped in Intlolpon's Hurricane, the death of three dragons, the shattering of Teast, the Fog subsuming Renequieme, the corruption of the Sun/Judge into Madeza the Mistress of Monsters, and the beginning of an eternal night.

## The Dark World

The shortest of the eras, only lasting 80 years, it was characterized by the domination of monsters and the endless night. The Fey Forests rotted from within, emerging from it a tide of evil creatures. The fog that descended upon Renequieme corrupted all those within.

Most elves died or were corrupted beyond human forms. A fraction of a percent made it to Barland before the fog billowed out of their once great city. These few formed a settlement at the border. Over time elves became sought after for their knowledge, and the Elven Guild was later founded to protect court elves' freedoms. The elves of the Temple found ways to resist the Fog's most corrupting effects, however they were stranded within the now bog-sunken Temple. They became the Drow, their minds remaining intelligent but twisted.

The Dwarves continued their war against the Emperor, now in total darkness.

Barland was overwhelmed by the tides of evil. Border towns were ransacked. Everything else fell under siege from an endless tide of monsters and darkness. The major settlements became cut off, unable to get little more than brief messages past the evils.

During this time the descendants of Harpa came to prominence. Cursed to share the same guilty soul as their great grandmother, had the power to repel evil, which they used to bless sanctuaries and directly fend off monsters. They became clerical leaders across the Kingdom, giving hope to the people.

During this era, Salmati fishermen and other boats, with no home to return to, sailed the Macsalient for new lands. They found the islands that were once the Frostlands, founding the many petty kingdoms of Sundao.

The era ended when the Heroes of Cayla, Pyra the Torchbearer, Africyr the Wise, Aravia the Rower, and the forgotten seer, braved the Monster Coast to find and purify Madeza. She became the Sun/Judge once more and returned the day.

## The Age of Heroes

With the return of the Sun, the surviving peoples turned the tide against the evils. In Tomaz, the Battle of the Hyperrock sealed the last Frost Lords away, dawning a golden age for Khaz Marook's new Empire. In Barland, the countryside was won by small parties of champions, demigods in power. A culture of chivalry developed from them. With nothing but simple town guards, the kingdom relied on small, independent bands of champions for most dangerous tasks, such as the exploration of ancient ruins, the hunting of man-eating beasts, or the delivery of powerful artifacts. Whether these heroes were in it for glory, wealth, or to fight the good fight, they were praised by the commoners as saints within the Cult of Harpa.

Magic users were deeply affected by the new codes of chivalry. Meridorne was opened to the kingdom shortly after the return of the sun, taking in potential wizards to teach them how to use their magic responsibly. The wizards from Meridorne were often too rare and too expensive, so a competitor emerged. The covenant of the old witch Salwicca Traze swore fealty to the King, promising no member of theirs to ever harm the royal family. They trained witches quickly, using the fog to amplify magic potential. Their magicians were known to be uncontrollable and dangerous, but they were cheap, numerous, and would be hunted by the Coven's King if found to be breaking any rules. The promotion of the coven brought many to the witch's fountain, forming the principality of Traze and the city of Fountaintown.

The Monster Coast was settled by the followers of Pyra, worshipping the Angelic Pilots as gods. The land became the Holy Coast and mastered the waves. The Good Crusade began, hundreds setting sail to found many colonies across the sea, including New Yarsphere, Auster, Solita, and Secilia.

Over the centuries, the nobility of Barland became more opulent and unliked by the commoners. At the same time, the champion system came more and more at odds with those in power. The champions grew too bold and disruptive.

This powder keg was lit when the famed wizard hero Frilliant Frailour was arrested for murder. the Harpas were accused of housing him, and during after a failed diplomatic conference the King declared all Harpas treasonous. All Harpa's fled to Royal Equis, now Free Equis, and declared the founding of a peasant's republic, its army led by the now famed Sir Gerabald Alber.

King Kirklandam won the Peasant's War through unknown means, however it is said that powerful time magic was used during a decisive battle by Gerabald's wife, allowing a second timeline to form where the commonfolk won. In our timeline, the survivors of the Battle of the Obelisk fled west, through the realm of the sympathetic nun-princess, Lola Stone. The last battle of the war, the Ogre Charge, allowed the soldiers and Harpas to flee to safety. They split from each other for unknown reasons. The Harpas fled to Traze, where the Coven King took them in as concubines, Over the centuries they played an increasingly important role in raising members of the Traze family. Gerabald and the soldiers fled to Tomaz, settling Alantown on a fertile plateau.

The Cult of Harpa and hero worship in general was outlawed. A future king became a zealot in the Holy Coast's Pyrism, spreading it across the realm and making his faith's homeland his vassal.

The era entered a second stage, the High Age of Heroes. This phase sees the gradual centralization of the kingdom and the formation of a standing army. the heroes of old, when not acting as mercenaries, are branded as vagabonds and vigilantes. Two major wars were later fought with this army, the War of the Burning and the Bitoi Ibn-Ket. The holdings of Barland expanded to include the Druidic Forests, Astrastag, and the Trade League. Due to the War of the Burning, the young of the slain tree people fled into the fog, believing to have mastered fey magic well enough to be unaffected by its influence. However they found themselves cursed with eternal youth and a loss of their ability to work together. These refugees became known as gnomes and founded the realm of Himmelfey, just northwest of the Hobgoblin Hegemony.

In Tomaz, the Emperor was revived and his armies rebuilt. In a surprise attack, Khaz Marook was destroyed. The second Emperor's War was fought for half a century, eventually leading to his slaying at the hands of the people of Steel Valaiya and the rise of the Hearthwarmer dynasty.

This era ended with the coronation of King Lagerum to Emperor of Barland and Steppshia.

## The Imperial Times

This era is synonymous with large, absolutist empires conquering the world. the newly formed Empire of Barland consolidated its gains, introducing the feudal system into the once-electoral Trade League. Tomaz briefly moved back towards the fortress-states of old, the Hearthwarmers taking on an increasingly ceremonial role. However, they were overthrown by their ambitious rivals, the Bloodletters, who centralized Tomaz into a slave-based superpower to rival Barland.

To Barland's east, a once insignificant colony suddenly rose to power. New Yarsphere was a settlement founded during the Good Crusade in the swampy homelands of the Yar Rats. sailing further east than their mother nation ever did, they conquered and colonized the resource-rich isles of the Macsalient, Sundao, and the unclaimed coasts of West Unamia. Their imports of tropical fruits, spices, serpentfolk and unamian artifacts, and later whale oil made their city rich. The Barland aristocracy became dependent on these luxuries, and New Yarsphere became de facto independent. The jobs and prosperity brought an influx of migrants and indentured servants into their peninsula, forming the largest metropolitan area since Azlan. The seas were so lucrative, many sailors took to piracy out of the ports of Shipwreck Cove and Opidipus.

On the other side of the world, another colony became an empire. Auster was founded across from monster-ridden seas, so they were always cut off from the mainland. They became increasingly militaristic as tehy fought off attacks from unamians, monsters, and those of the Young Plains. Many of the first colonists were ifrit slaves from the Fire Coast, so a well disciplined army of fire warriors formed. They conquered much of the southeast of the continent and claimed dominion over the rest. This put them in constant feuds with New Yarsphere's Carceland of the west.

Barland allied itself with New Yarsphere while Tomaz with Auster. This balance of power held for decades, until the Witch's War.

For unknown reasons, likely in retaliation for the revocation of certain privileges, the Coven King Impossiblex Traze attempted to release a zombie curse upon Tioka. However he accidentally released it during a visit to a Grailie circus, leading to his death and the failure of the plague to spread. His son and heir, Komplexus, was hidden away by the House of Harpa while his principality was conquered and salted. During the siege a great spell of unknown origin was released, likely some kind of anti-magic pulse, and the fog that shrouded Renequieme was dissipated.

A mad scramble to colonize what was called the Badlands began. Emperor Kirklandam IV gave a charter to Mars Hankhanhan, the commander of the Witch's War, to form the new Principality of Hankhanhan. In the west, a colony was directly attempted by the Realm of Stone, carving the Stone Hill fortress into the cliff face of Mount Rena along an ancient road to Himmelfey. To the far east, the duke of Otubya, Duke Dean, led a scouting party to explore the new deserts. They found a mountain made of gold, dubbing the entire land the Gold Desert. the duke's holdings were expanded into the Wild Range as a reward, and the mining colony of Graphite was founded and administered by the crown directly.

New Yarsphere, avoiding the ire of Barland, sailed further north. They discovered the frozen lands of Oryora, filled with giants and mysteries buried under the ice. They founded the exploration outpost Civility Landing and later Elysium on the northernmost point of the world.

Tomaz did not remain idle. They built citadels across the Badlands to both exert their influence and spy on the other powers. Skirmishes broke out across the Badlands with these citadels, from Himmelfey to the hobgoblins to the orc nomads to Hankhanhan. They soon discovered the golden mountain, and sent a colony ship in a daring circumnavigation across the Macsalient. Yarsphere, attempting to achieve this feat first, sent an unready caravel on the dangerous journey. They strayed too far north and were caught in the hurricane, becoming stranded in Intlolpon. Uniting with the nagaji against the serpentfolk, they founded the city of Yulatec. Tomaz founded Granite on the other side of the golden mountain.

The settlement of Granite brought the scramble for the Badlands to a head. Emperor Kirklandam sent the imperial army to occupy the settlement. In retaliation, Tomaz escalated their attacks in the Badlands and massacred the colonists at Stone Hill. Barland made a march for Hen Den, but was ambushed and routed, forcing a retreat into the Badlands. With aid from the Gnomes and the introduction of firearms, Barland made another push south. They made massive gains until reaching the outskirts of proper Tomaz, where the dwarves adopted their own guns and trench warfare ensued. The war was later named after this type of fighting, the War of the Drums.

The war was a costly, limited Barland victory. Barland was ceded the majority of the Badlands under the condition that Granite was annexed rather than destroyed. To secure such a deal, Barland sold out their allies. Tomaz was given dominion over Himmelfey, the Hoblaw, and Oryora, so long as they could conquer the land. It was hoped that these concessions would lead to everlasting peace between the two powers.

Yarsphere initially refused to give up their prized Oryora. The prince-heir to the Bloodletter throne, Hakkan Bloodletter, led an army to the arctic wasteland and conquered Elysium. Most of the colonists were enslaved to build Hakkan’s new Winter Palace.

Some escaped the capture, fleeing back to New Yarsphere with a collection of odd plants and mushrooms accustomed to the cold conditions of Elysium. When the mushrooms thawed, they released a powerful plague into the port district of Medinada, which quickly spread across the entire city. Fever-like conditions would be shortly followed by nausea, vomiting, then finally violent insanity. The entire city was put into quarantine and began rotting from within.

The quarantine disrupted the trade from the Macsalient. No other port could handle the ships Yarsphere employed, and without the city’s grand fleet pirates conquered the waves. The prices of spices and luxuries that kept the Barland nobility in line skyrocketed. At the same time their profits were down due to the devastation to their peasant populations and their coffers were empty due to the massive loans they were forced to give to the crown during the War of the Drums.

The nobles demanded the loans paid or else rebellion. The Crown began importing massive hordes of gold from the Gold Desert to pay them back, however this led to inflation, debasement of the currency, then finally the value of gold becoming near worthless. The Gold Desert colony was abandoned, leaving the massive cities of Granite and Graphite to fend for themselves. Sensing weakness, Tomaz began encroaching on the Hankhanhan territory.

As the crown approached a default on their loans, they used the rest of their resources to build an army. The princes of Johan, Grailie, Astrastag, and Hankhanhan pledged to the emperor for honor, increased privileges, economic dependence, and protection respectively. Refugees from the Gold Desert were recruited with the promise of land. Mercenaries from Shipwreck Cove and Opidipus were recruited with promises of noble titles and pillaging rights. When the crown finally defaulted on their loans, this new army marched in to occupy major regional capitals. This war became known as the War of Fractures and ended the Imperial Times.

## The Age of Fractures

This era is known for the fragmentation of many of the empires and a return to Age of Heroes-esque decentralized states. Lost ideas and philosophies returned and mixed with revolutionary thought as the world called all authority to question.

Barland lost the War of Fractures, leading to the independence of the Holy Coast, Druidlaw, Astrastag, the Trade League, New Yarsphere, the Gold Desert Alliance, Secilia, and many other minor settlements and warlords on the periphery. Near the end of the war, the imperial heir, Matilda Wessex, disappeared into the ether, having been accidentally transported to the Age of Machines. The last emperor would later die, ending the Wessex bloodline. The surviving Barlandic Empire became a corrupt and ineffective elective monarchy, with the families of Johan, Stone, and Grailie continually fighting over the throne.

Tomaz returned to the hands of the Hearthwarmers after Rory Heatflinger assassinated much of the Bloodletter royal family. The imperial title returned to a ceremonial role and the remaining bloodletters were banished to the Isle of Treason.