History of the Broken Kingdom

The Broken Kingdom counts its birth in the closing years of the Dawn Era when the Truest King forged a cluster of primitive tribes into a united people, declaring himself Chieftain and God over them.

## Prehistory (? - 0)

The People of Stone consisted of hunter-gatherers that stayed in the heavily wooded hills of the Broken Kingdom, venturing into the rolling grasslands only for major hunts. The center of their civilization was the Sacred Springs, located deep in caves found north of where the modern day Cathedral is. It is believed that the Springs were overseen by a small settlement of acolytes to who worshiped Soi as a mother-goddess. The springs were taught to be symbolic of the tears the mother-goddess wept in the pain of bearing the life of all living things into the world. Vahr Reitter claims to have been borne to one of the female acolytes and while there is nothing to confirm his claim, the Springs have been protected since before the days of the Stone Kingdom with their exact location kept secret.

## Dawn Era (0-100)

Starting the year 50 an uprising begins lead by a new war chief who arises among the acolytes of the Sacred Springs. The Acolytes hail him as a living god and he begins a series of attacks on neighboring tribes. Wielding a fire-hardened and sharpened wooden sword made from the heart of a rosewood tree, this war chief uses the cultural rites of single combat to become chieftain of numerous tribes, uniting the scattered bands into a single people. This living god begins to wear a crown carved from an unknown black stone as he takes up residence near a river to the south of the Sacred Springs establishing the first permanent settlement of the People of Stone.

## Pre-Classical (100-400)

The war chief outlives the lifespan of two generations of mortals not seeming to age, as he expands his control of the region to unite the region further. By the year 150 construction begins to raise the largest structure known to man on the hilltop overlooking the Town by the River. As the war chief lived through another generation and the dark building raised into the sky he began calling himself King of his growing realm and people.

Construction finishes on the massive building and its wall around the year 225 and it becomes known as the King's Stone. Shortly there-after the farthest flung villages of the fledgling kingdom began to come under raids by aggressive tribes to the north. The war chief tried to answer in like but the tribes simply evaded his warband and without the northerners having established settlements the King had no where to strike. Rather than abandon the outlying settlements, the King settled divided his warriors among the villages with orders to outfit and train the farmers and herders in the ways of war. After a number of successful defenses the raiding stopped and by the year 300 the northern tribes had been added to the Kingdom.

With the joining of the northern tribes, the Kingdom's initial borders became apparent. The fields expanded, ores began to be mined, and weapons shifted from fire hardened and flint-tipped to copper. The People of Stone officially became known as the Kingdom of Stone as they began to trade with their neighboring proto-nations for more metals as drilling for war became the kingdom's pass time.

## Classical Expansion (400-750)

Following the Stone King's return from the first Undying Council, the Stone Kingdom began to undergo a number of changes. The God's Tongue quickly is adopted and standardized into the Kingdom's language, all records are rewritten into the new language and a depository was built deep within the Sacred Caves north of the King's Stone, now called the Black Keep in the new language. The war-drilling expanded, including the training of horses to charge spear formations, whirling away at the last moment so javelins could be hurled. By the year 450, the Kingdom was on the move against its neighbors. Each generation essentially saw campaign which added a landmass the size of the original kingdom to the whole. By the year 750, twelve generations from the first campaign of expansion the growth of the Stone Kingdom was halted, border stones were laid down, and the building of the internal structure of the Kingdom became the new focus.

During the period of expansion and following the cessation of aggression by the Stone Kingdom, it was policy for the Kingdom to stay out of international affairs aside from the King's campaigns of conquest and the meetings of the Undying Council. It was during this period that the habit of building stone strongholds in key locations became a major part of the endeavors in the Kingdom between campaigns. Visitors begin to take note of these growing and seemingly impermeable structures and the first precursors to the later Grand Parades begin to be negotiated.

During the later stages of expansion, iron weapons and armors began to find their way into the warfare of the Stone Kingdom and by the end of the expansion campaigns, blacksmiths across the now sizable kingdom were plying their works in iron. During this same time period aggressive breeding programs were instituted for the tamed horse herds kept in the kingdom. Large, strong horses were interbred and by the end of the expansion period the horses being produced in the Stone Kingdom were noticeably more sizable and hardy, the average animal having increased in size from the steppe horses common in the world to creatures roughly 4/5th the size of the modern light-charger.