Carcosia

Carcosian ruins

Geography

> "My people would never defend the Kingdom of Hadash. They have grown weak and lost their allies. It is time for us to get our revenge."
>
> - Cade, the Midnight King

Carcosia is a plane of existence neighboring Alterus located within the Zodiarch Alvakos created by Celos to serve as an artifical afterlife at the very beginning of the Era of Dreams. The current ruler of the plane is King Cade, who although being the true heir needed to seize his position by force as the royal family did not approve of him as a ruler. Carcosia's capital city is Hali whose inhabitants were turned into monsters by Cade during his coronation.

## History

Carcosia is a very new plane of existence created by Celos. The creation of Carcosia marked the beginning of the 3rd Era: the Era of Dreams. During the Era of Dreams the people of the world learned about the cycle of reincarnation and how it's natural state was horrible ineffective and Celos used Carcosia as an artificial afterlife to attempt to improve this. Factions arise with various ideologies pertaining to how the manage the metaphysical systems that govern life on Alterus one of these factions, The Artosi Orthodoxy, believes Celos is a menace that must be eliminated. The Artosi Orthodoxy quickly overpowered Celos forcing him to flee leaving Carcosia abandoned. The Kingdom of Hadash on Alterus discovered Carcosia without knowledge of it's history and used it as a vault to store all their magical artifacts and people that were deemed too dangerous instead of relying on the Immortal Zyan. The Hadashi exiles managed to survive on Carcosia forming small settlements. The Kingdom of Dolthur later discovered Carcosia and their king Ultrum took much greater interest in it. King Ultrum expanded his kingdom into Carcosia creating a small extraplanar empire and was seen as a benevolent ruler by the native Carcosians creating the city of Hali. King Ultrum joins The Guardians and in a battle against Celos, Tharzidun and Nahari and loses his mind being enthralled by the Ex-Matron of Fate and as a result of his new insanity is imprisoned by the Immortal Zyan. With King Ultrum gone the Kingdoms of Dolthur and Carcosia are separated with Hali being used as the Capital of the now civilized people of Carcosia. The Kingdom of Carcosia continues a few generations in isolation until the prince of blood Cade starts showing imperialistic intent. Worried, the royal family try to strip him of the title of heir but Cade kills the entire royal family aside from his brother Balasar and since the people of Hali reject his rule he turns them all into subservient monsters and invades Hadash.

## Culture

    The culture of Carcosia is really interesting byproduct of their history as the kingdoms of Hadash and Dolthur even though a world apart on Alterus both directly controlled Carcosia for a time. Although these groups get along the to groups have naturally segregated themselves with only a small portion casually interacting with both cultures.

The people of Carcosa have been forced to cooperated as a result of Cade's rule. After Cade transformed the population of Hali into monsters the people of Carcosia grew closer together relying on each other to survive in such a horrible time in their planes short history. Cade's tyrannical rule has broken down the cultural barriers and all the people of Carcosia possess a shared suffering which may in time serve as the foundation for a distinct Carcosian Culture.

    The Carcosian people have always resented the Kingdom of Hadash as the first wave of population came from those who were exiled from the kingdom. Hadash sent people to Carcosia expecting them to die but these exiles managed to survive. Cade attempted to persuade the people of Carcosia to invade Hadash using this cultural hatred before giving up and used darker methods to accomplish his goals.

## Locations

Small resistance cityThe edge of CarcosiaAnomolous landscape created from the merge with HadashHali, City of Monsters