Pandametrians

**Pandametrians** refers to a wide phylum of animals with varying physical characteristics who have the ability to cross-breed with completely different species than their own. These creatures are colloquially referred to as "Demons" by those outside of their phylum such as Rimians and Native Escheronians.

The name Pandametrian is based on the word "Pandemonium", stylized by the originators of the word. It was primarily chosen because of the extreme physical similarities between them and the Demons the Ancient Humans told legends of; their home being the realm of Pandemonium. It just so happens that the Pandametrians gained access to Greek, Latin, and Asian knowledge/culture via the Celestial Capsules.

The Pandametrians originated from what is now known as the country of Gough, located in the far, far west of Sarfall just beyond the desert land of Eerent. However, they also tend to travel to different lands and have permeated throughout the world very easily due to their reproductive capabilities.

## Lore

Although the world of Escheron is mainly inhabited by either Rimians or the Native Escheronians, a good fourth of the population of the planet is Pandametrian. Their numbers linger in the low areas mainly due to the fact that their homelands only take up a small portion of the world and even that isn't particularly fertile. Thus, they adapted mainly to suit harsher environments with lower populations and sturdier citizens. This is mainly only true of the West-Sarfall Pandametrians who live in the deserts of Eerent and the strange, semi-arid region of Gough plus its immense archipelagos. Other demons are known to sparsely populate the world since recorded history, probably due to the conditions of their homeland life and the wanderlust that their culture encourages. Thus, many species also originated in the corners and depths of Shishio, away from the Native Escheronians. Many also chose to coexist with the Rimians and Shians of East/Central Sarfall and the arctic northern continents. Their kind are spread worldwide and are even more diverse than the Rimians.

The Pandametrians have a long history of patriotism, exploration, stability, culture, and impartiality. Unlike the Escheronians of Shishio, the Pandametrians have had very few if any civil wars or widespread revolts, with the only major one being the Gough-Eerent Separation War. Their knowledge of how ancient empires fell easily and their own past experiences has made them very wary of the dangers of political ignorance, so their empires have been known to be their own type of paradise for centuries. The most amazing feat is that aside from the ensuing recession in Gough following the separation war and perhaps some pre-record events, both countries have never had any economic issues. Another assistant in this is the massive amounts of information trade that occurs between Gough, Eerent, and the rest of Sarfall. Due to that, they not only had their own base knowledge but also ancient records that had crashed into the other half of the world! The entire civilization gives praise to the immense sea-canal between Shishio and Sarfall for this; without it, they wouldn't be able to even form trade routes.

The trading that they conspire in has also made much of Gough and Eerent a navy-centered duo. Even just considering Gough, they have consistently held a navy three times larger than Shishio and Alterfall combined. Eerent's is only half of that due to a major lack of timber, and they only focus on trade cogs, but their trade fleets still outnumber Alterfall's. This has also created a mutually parasitic relationship between Eerent and Gough where Gough provides naval protection with their war boats and Eerent gives Gough a share of the trade profits. The two are allies now, despite their bloody past. That brings us to the Gough-Eerent Separation War.

During the first empire of Shishio that Lord Ether ruled over, Gough and Eerent were combined into one nation called "Seliantria" that stretched from the far west coasts of the Gough region all the across the deserts to the east-side mountains that separated it from the rest of Sarfall. However, there was a driving factor for those living in the desert that caused great tension between them and their more western brothers: The Last Drakonics. 5 Drakonics who claim to be the last of their kind had resided in the region for as long as anyone could remember, but they became restless after the Pandametrians made the deserts theirs. For centuries, the Drakonics had been trying to pass their bloodline down with interbreeding, genetic infusion, and other means along with the help of an ancient order of knights named the "Scarlet Knights" who used Magical Essence to rapidly advance technology. They managed to create descendants of both Pandametrians and Drakonics who could act on their own as army-killers.

Since the Drakonics, their "Dracoborne", and Pandametrians who were native to the desert or who had adapted now had their own form of kingdom, they decided to secede. With the Drakonics as their rulers and these newly made Dracoborne as their army, they stood in opposition against the region of Gough and held hostage the rich mines of the far east mountains. Their sister region was not to be undermined, and they wanted the resources badly. So badly, in fact, that they decided to oppose the secession! With word that they could not become have their lands back without a fight, the Drakonic-led Pandametrians and Dracoborne prepared for war and created a military exclusion zone right down the center of the western mountains where none could pass until the rules of the war were chosen. After a decade of preparation, both regions reached an agreement and began a bloody civil war that would last even into Shishio's next rejuvenation.

During the war, the western region of Gough immediately began to badly lose, as they were not prepared for the terrible might of the Dracoborne, who had each man equal 50 of his foe's. The Drakonics, who had lived for millennia, could predict the moves of the rulers before they could make them, and manipulated them like dolls for the first quarter of the war. Suddenly, the region of Gough revealed a trump card: They had stolen technology from the Scarlet Knights and used it to mutate powerful Pandametrians into monstrous super-weapons! These superweapons were now an equal to the Dracoborne supersoldiers, and were able to lead Gough on many victories for years. They would have won with that alone if not for the intervention of the Scarlet Knights. They had produced defensive measures in the deserts and essentially weaponized the land itself to defeat the superweapons, then unleashed their own forces at the will of the Drakonics.

For the last half of the war, the Drakonics pushed their offensive with their newly reinforced armies and easily repelled the invading forces.

Most of the time, they didn't even have to engage in open battles; they simply had to intelligently use the environment. By the end, Gough's citizens had lost the will to fight back any longer and their forces dwindled until not even espionage could save them. Their trump card had been reversed, their armies were eroded, and their will had fallen. So, the previous emperor of Seliantria's son decided to usurp the throne from his father and put an end to the war. He succeeded, and thus began the age of repair between the countries now called Gough and Eerent. Their original borders are the same as they have been since then, as none have been able to even match the fused power of the two, marked then as allies and now something beyond that.

Many ages of peace would come, where Gough recovered from the ensuing depression and Eerent eventually falling from its height until they both became neutral. Around the same time that the empire of Shishio made official contact with Gough, both countries had begun expanding their economies together in the relationship we see in their modern age. Again, nobody could penetrate the country, as none were as strong as the military combination between Eerent and Gough, who led each other assistance in defense. One covered the other's weakness, and they complimented the other's strengths. They would never again come to form Seliantria, but that was fine to them. Unfortunately, the modern days came with one fantastic threat, nearly 500 years before the crusades that Shishio began against the Rimians had started.

This threat was the twin sisters Aya and Raya. Two Pandametrian Oni who sought revenge against the world for the murder of their family and the savagery they endured. The two conquerors rose to status quickly and raised an army of revolutionaries and death-seekers with nothing more than words of inspiration and promises of victory that would not go unfulfilled. Aya who became known as the army-killer single-handedly claimed entire cities and towns, leaving the armies that her sister commanded to easily crush any off-guard opposition with unbelievably bold attacks. Her sheer drive was enough to terrify the enemy into submission, but the real fear came from her shrewd skill and cruel disposition towards all who opposed her. She cared nothing for the lives of Rimians, and would only feel compassion for those who could empathize with her. Nobody wanted to face this monster who had little mercy, and that alone would rout them. It seemed as if the two together were totally invincible. And for the time, they were. They went on to take the entire Gargantuan Peninsula as it had come to be called, then looked towards Shishio and conquered its northern coasts in only a decade. Soon enough, they were pushing against all fronts with might to spare. It seemed as if they would conquer the entire world in time, and they would have.

Almost 180 years after they began their journey, Raya and Aya would finally meet their match. Aya, who had been tricked into being sealed out of combat, was used to lure her sister into the same fate. It was quick, clean, and resulted in the isolation of the two for the next 320 years. The regions they had conquered were returned to their original state, and life resumed anew. Thus brings us to the crusades that began against the Rimians at Shishio's hand. However, that's a story for a different section, as the Pandametrians had little part in this war aside from neutrality.

However, there lies one last event that placed itself in the books for Pandametrian history: The Stone Imp (Petramapian) Genocide.

During the crusades against the Rimians, the current Lord of Escheron decided that the Stone Imps who lived on the eastern shores of Shishio were a threat, and would eventually switch sides from neutral but slightly for Shishio to fully for Alterfall. Thus, they sent armies into their cities under the guise of protection, but in the following week they had turned. In the middle of the night, the armies were sent a message telling them to slaughter the population and leave none alive. Over just a few short hours, the armies had killed off 99% of the Stone Imp population on the planet that had already been struggling. They burned down --- razed the cities and looted everything. The only known survivor of the genocide was a general of the same species who had betrayed his people for the Lord of Escheron. It would not be for another few decades that it would be revealed that one other had survived: Lr'Qeter Mirgatroyd. The only reason she would come to be known was through heroism. She, along with a boy named Duran and some other companions managed to usurp not just the Lord of Escheron but her son as well! She killed the traitor general and could not have children despite trying many times, and then was found mysteriously killed on the grave of Duran. Thus, the Stone Imps were no more.