Cindarin

Cindarin is the largest continent in the eastern section of Aand. It is known for it's varied environments and the powerful nation (of the same name) that calls it home. It has a long standing feud with the nation of Ska'arin. It's capitol is Cleviffe, located high on the Cleaved Cliffs.

## Cities

* Cleviffe
	+ The Capitol and site of the original capitol of the Eincler Empire.
* Virung
	+ The city with the greatest Dwarven population.
* Edge Town
* Twi'lit Cove

## Points of Interest

* Craven's Roost
	+ Northeast of Virung, high in the Shield Mountains, is an expansive high-security prison that houses the worst criminals of Cindarin. The prison began as a place to imprison deserters from the Cindaran army. Many are still kept there.
* The Withered Finger
	+ In the far Northeast of Cindarin is a long, narrow peninsula that is entirely desert. Not many venture into the desert and survive, but it also houses many deposits of precious gems and metals. several mines were set up in the Finger which account for nearly all of Cindarin's wealth.
* Shield Mountains
	+ This thick mountain range separates the expansive field that Cleviffe sits on from the rest of the continent. It also acts as a natural barrier for invading armies to prevent the capitol from falling. Due to this, the capitol has never suffered a single attack on it's walls. There is a single road that passes entirely through the mountains to the capitol which is lined with forts and gates. Any other travel is incredibly dangerous as the mountains are filled with giants and other horrible creatures. It's even rumored a young dragon has taken residence in one of the caves there. There are also roving Goliath tribes that mostly operate out of the Shield Mountains, but roam throughout the continent to pillage different villages before returning.
* Cindarin Forest
	+ The only forest of the continent that has dwindled in many years due to supply the military machine of the Cindaran army. The forest is largely avoided by most denizens of the continent as they don't take well to woods and there are monsters known to be in the forest that congregate more and more in the center as the outskirts are slowly destroyed. The destruction of the forest closely resembles what's happened to the Last Forest in Wirall.
* Cleaved Cliffs
	+ This is where the continents of Cindarin and Ska'arin were divided in two. Cleviffe lies on these cliffs and certain parts are built into the cliffs.
* Orc Tribes
	+ The far Northwest of the continent is mostly occupied by Orc tribes. They have a loose agreement to avoid causing too much damage to the major cities of the continent, but they still occasionally sack nearby villages.

## History

### Tyrannical Age

Throughout most of the Tyrannical Age, Cindarin and Ska'arin were one continent knows as Arin. It was ruled by the Eincler Empire, a brutal empire that subjected most of it's subjects to slavery. The Eincler Empire was incredibly adept at preventing any organization amongst it's populace which prevented most uprisings from ever getting off the ground. The rebellions that did happen were few and short-lived, usually ending after a single decisive battle and ensuing execution of all surviving rebels. The capitol (located in current Cleviffe) was a castle fortress known as The Stone. There wasn't much of a surrounding town since there weren't many residents that weren't slaves.

The leadership of the empire passed to the oldest heir at all times until the final emperor. This emperor had twin boys as his oldest children. His advisers recommended selecting the one that had been born first, but no one knew for sure which one was first. The emperor, not wanting to upset his children, put off making a final decision for as long as possible. Finally, after falling deathly ill, the emperor tasked both boys with taking up residence in one of the major castles and ruling over the people in that domain to determine who would be the better ruler. The two castles were The Stone and The Sun, the two biggest castles in the empire. Obviously, both boys wanted to rule in the capital so they dueled over it. The boy named Cindun won the duel and got the Stone while the other boy, Skaris, moved to the Sun to begin his test there.

After a scant 2 days, the emperor died suddenly without making a decision. Many theorize that Cindun killed him after taking control of the Stone, thinking he could easily win support as emperor since he was ruling in the capitol. Either way, both boys still wanted to be emperor. Cindun had already scorned many nobles in his short time in power, so had trouble gathering full support from them, but, he gained the support of most of the military, promising much wealth and influence. Skaris, however, had charmed many of the nobles in the south in his few days ruling, and they supported his claim.

Given his seat in the capitol, it's strategic advantage, and his greater military might, Cindun seemed to have secured the empire for himself. However, Skaris found a old wizard that lived as a hermit far in the south. After spending a great deal of time convincing the wizard to aid him, Skaris went with the wizard to level the Stone, planning to kill Cindun. Cindun heard rumors of the their approach however and traveled to ply him the way he did the military. Meeting in the middle of what was originally the Stony Plain, the two brothers argued over who would get to use the wizard in much the same way they'd argued like children over the empire. The wizard grew tired of the bickering, wanting to just go back to his cave. In a burst of anger, he cast a very powerful spell that split the entire continent they were on into two right between the two brothers and pushed them miles apart. The wizard, floating between the two burned up from the immense amount of power that flowed through him and was reduced to ash.

From then on, each brother ruled their own kingdom on their own continent, renaming their nations after themselves and turning their castles into bustling metropolises in an attempt to attract residents of the others kingdom. They abolished slavery and did what they could to make life as good as possible, only in an attempt to one-up the other brother.

### Discovery Age

Six years after the split, Cindun thought that he could use the newly developed ships that could withstand the dangerous sea to seek out and acquire new territory in the west. He sent the first ever explorer out in what would become the first year of the Discovery Age.After sending back word that there were many islands to discover and conquer, more ships were sent. Once Ska'arin began sending out explorers of their own, scouting missions quickly became bloody battles. Neither nation wanted to give up any potential resources in these islands and fought vigorously for them.

### Enchantment Age

When the Enchanting Storm appeared, it took months for it to make it's way over Cindarin. The people spent many of those months gathering belongings and holing themselves up in their houses or in caves to try to avoid what looked to be an apocalypse level event. Because of this forewarning, far fewer people gained magical abilities from the storm, but also fewer lives were lost from the storms horrible wind and lightning. The storm did still result in an increased amount of magic in the land, including monsters and sorcerer's. Many of the Cindarans harnessed this new magic into the school of Evocation or using it to increase their warriors beserker abilities. Previously, Cleviffe had seemed impregnable due to it's location and strong fortifications, but the proliferation of magic caused many of these obstacles be become easily overcome. Because of this, much effort was put into the magical defense of the city to ensure enemies (mainly Ska'arin) would never try to conquer it. This makes it one of the most magically protected cities in Aand.

### Modern Age

The eastern section of Aand didn't experience much change in the shift to the Modern Age. Cindarin was still in the middle of an incredibly bloody war with Ska'arin that wouldn't end for another 10 years. After that however, there was the longest period of quasi-peace between Cindarin and Ska'arin since their schism. This was largely due to both of their fears that the united forces of Narogand were planning an imperialist take over of the known world.

However, in 109 Mod, the newly crowned queen of Cindarin had a thirst for more resources. Her father before her had drained many of the nations natural resources preparing for an invasion from one of their many enemies and so many thought that Cindarin couldn't last another 50 years with their current trade and increased trade would cost more than they had to spend. The queen decided that it was time to go back to the tradition of trying to destroy Ska'arin and reincorporate them into the Cindarin kingdom, giving them access to all of their resources. They converted as much of their defenses to invasion tools as soon as they could and set sail secretly from west Cindarin to attempt to take the Skanish capitol, Sunsarin, in one fell swoop. However, spies from Ska'arin warned the Skanish of this attack and they were ready. The Cindarin general however, was smart. Once he saw that the defenses were ready for them and they couldn't surprise their enemy, they landed further north of the capital and formed a large encampment to stage an attack from. Soon and all out battle took place on the outskirts of Sunsarin. Not much was decided but Cindarin was able to last long enough to cut down much forest and build a fort on Skanish soil. Between this force and constant bombardment from the Cindaran navy, the Skanish couldn't push them back.

However, Ska'arin managed to seal an alliance with LeLain who lent warriors and ships that were able to push back against the Cindaran forces. Soon, the Cindarans were fighting their enemies off of their own shore with the likelihood of a siege on Cleviffe becoming more and more likely. When LeLaintans offered a cease-fire, the Cindarans jumped at the chance to prevent heir own destruction. Little did they know that the Ska'arin/LeLain alliance was fraying and that there likely weren't enough troops or money to pay for a long siege. But the Cindarans believed they were losing and accepted the cease fire. However, things were likely not over.

## Government

Cindarin's government is a hereditary monarchy that traces it's lineage back to the original twin that took over the land before the Twin's Schism.