The Second Era of Vendir

While the other nine tribes of **Olgossus** fought in battle after battle, all their effort going into war, **Krt** turned their attention toward intellectual and societal development. Among their number was a tribe’s woman called **Jhomi**: a genius of architecture and design who was significantly ahead of her time. With **Igg’s** support and encouragement, she developed *Olgossus’s* very-first rain catching and filtration system: making the safest possible drinking water across both of the two continents.

Watching from on-high, in the mountaintops, **Igg** and the tribe of **Krt** could not help but look-down, both literally and metaphorically, at the other tribes and wonder if there was not a better way. The tribes battled, but only because it was all they knew. **Igg** developed a vision: a dream in which the ten tribes united into one, becoming a fully-functioning society who were all the better for their unification. A plan was put into motion.

Nine different members of **Krt** were tasked with visiting one of the nine tribes, not as an act of war but to deliver a message of peace. Each of the nine demonstrated **Jhomii’s** water-catching and filtration technology. The idea was to showcase what the tribes could achieve if they put war aside and focused on intellectual pursuits. The idea was to show the tribes how much they could achieve if they all worked together. Eight of the nine tribes agreed. One, *Rkkc*, did not. Under **Igg’s** leadership the other tribe leaders snuck into *Rkkc* territory- slaughtering every member of the tribe in one single night: A night now known in the history books as “*The Midnight Slaughter of Rkkc*”. With only the other nine tribes left, they united into one large community- a network of campsites who collaborated, rather than fought, establishing a fruitful trade network which all of them benefited from.

Over the years that followed the nine campsites grew and grew until they began to meet each other, merging into one colossal campsite that stretched across most of Olgossus in a long horizontal line. Under **Jhomii’s** stewardship more and more structures began to pop up and grow: starting with homes made of straw, then wood, then sticks, then stone. By the time **Jhomii’s** grandson, **Ghut**, was an adult, and had replaced her as the architectural genius of **Olgossus**, there was not a single tent left- the makeshift city having become a very real one with markets and more. The city, which stretched the length of the continent, was a bustling mini-metropolis that came to be dubbed Stygian: a witchtongue word for “dominating force”. With their resources and minds pooled together, *The Collected Tribe of Ologossus* grew stronger as something began to bumble and brew among their number: an intellectual revolution. Thanks to the potion-making and spell-casting skills of the Witches in their community, the Olgossi were quick to develop better medicine than their neighbors in ***Twilow***. The study of medicine grew, giving rise to the very first **Pl*ague Doctors:*** *experts in potion-making and herbal remedies* whose techniques were a blend of that which they developed themselves with tips & tricks they inherited/learned from The Witches. With time ***The Plague Doctors*** came to be greatly revered by their fellow **Olgossi**, put on something of a pedestal. These doctors developed a united front, forming a society dubbed ***The United Plague Doctors of Olgossus***. They would take promising young **Olgossi** under their wing, training them in the skills and craft of medicine from an early age.

By this point the city had grown not just in length but also in width and, before long, new structures were inching closer to the water that separated continents: the water the Olgossi had not previously known was there. During his time leading Stygian Igg was thought of by the others as a deity, referred to as *“The God Igg*.” By the sad time of his death, of old age, his bones were preserved in specialist oils by *Plague Doctors* so that they could be proudly hung in the center of Stygian for centuries to come.

Upon *The God Igg’s* death there was no system in place to replace him. Throwing something together as quick as they could, *The United Plague Doctors of Olgossus* formulated a plan. They would collectively serve as *“stewards of Olgossus.*” They would run the continent until the next Olgossi baby was born. Said child would be taken from its parents and deemed “the next ruler.” The child was denied a name, and was given a title: *The Emperor of Olgossus.* The word ‘emperor’ was chosen entirely at random, with little thought or planning. The Plague Doctors would then raise The Emperor of Olgossus, teaching them how to lead, until the age of 13- when they would recede all control and leave him to rule as the next Igg. While the process was imperfect, and haphazardly thrown together at best, it remained the standard way to select a new Emperor/Empress of Olgossus for centuries to come.

Meanwhile, in ***Twilow***, major changes were underway. The *Affluosa* had died out, leaving the *City of Voldodicus* a grand ghost town. This led to many of the residents of The Wasted Swathes moving into the city en masse, including almost everyone who regularly worshiped at *The Beacon of Devotion*- leaving the structure abandoned for many, many centuries.

But the city could not take them all in, and much of the population of *The Wasted Swathes* remained out in the wilderness- beyond *Voldodicus*’ walls. Small encampments and campsites grew as most of the population of ***Twilow*** embraced a ‘nomadic’ lifestyle.

In ***Olgossus***, the continent-wide *City of Stygian* continued to blossom and grow: new buildings and streets added to every inch on a rolling basis. As the city grew outwards, it eventually reached the water that divided the continents. *The Tribes of Olgossus* had never seen such a large body of water before, so had no word for ‘ocean’ or ‘sea.’ At around about the same time, Twilonians living in The Wasted Swathes stumbled upon the waters from their side. The two societies had very different interpretations of what such a large, seemingly endless, stretch of water meant. The Twiloniains thought the water was the “end” of the land/planet/world- so they named the water “The Great End”, and thought little of exploring it more. The Olgossi came to the opposite conclusion, that there simply HAD to be something on the other side- something that they could claim as THEIRS, so they named the water “*Conqueror's Invitation.”*

The then leader of **Olgossus** was a woman known as just: “*The Empress of Olgossus*.” She declared crossing the waters and conquering whatever was on the other side a top priority for the Olgossi. Though the Olgossi had become a peaceful, united people since Igg brought the nine tribes together, and going to war against ***Twilow*** might have seemed out-of-character, their interpretation was that by conquering ***Twilow*** they were not “going to war” but “folding them into our community.” In a warped way, it felt to the *Empress* like it was still part of **Igg’s** “grand vision” of “everyone coming together.” Traveling to the waterside, the Empress set about personally leading the development of the land’s first ever harbor and boats. So many of the **Olgossi** were excited about this possibility that they traveled to the waterside for the “thrill” of living near the developing harbor, watching it develop over the years, meaning a small waterside market town developed all-around the harbor, spilling out in every direction. Given the small distance between the edges of Stygian and the new waterside market town area, this town came to be known as its own separate area from *Stygian*: a town they named *Sclom*.