Murea Brief History

Murea is but one nation on the star "Perilyth." Surrounding it are the nations 'Vertigo' and 'Salt'.

## Origin

Murea was founded on the ruins of an ancient civilization, and thus, gave rise to a people who were all too familiar with a coming doom, a people that would face it willingly, for their neighbors and the world itself would need a strong and prosperous nation to shield them from what lied in the past. The First King, Cron, alongside his first Royal Retainer, Legio, led a daring and thrilling warband, not to conquer, but to unite, and showed dominance over the various communities, be it peaceful or otherwise, and brought their now blooming community to verdant plains and gentle coasts. It was here that Murea's flag was planted for the first time, with many more to follow.

   Years passed and leather tent turned to wooden hut, wooden hut to stone housing, and stone housing to mansion upon mansion, creating estates of the wealthy and established. Before long, Murea began to draw the ire of her neighbors, Vertigo, and the far less welcoming Feliax.

As the first castle, Castle Moria, was beginning its first draft, King Cron had discovered that the lands they settled on were blessed by tainted history. The previous inhabitants of this land had sunk into the earth many years before their arrival, and with their magics, gave rise to the most ideal living conditions a nation could ask for. After learning much about this civilization through drawn, written, otherwise recorded history, and an interaction with Caen, who granted Cron one chance to immortalize one living creature; this was to lure prospective nations to prove their worthiness to defend the star, lest the evil beneath be unleashed upon the world above. Cron took this not as an encouraging quest, but a dire threat, that his fledgling civilization was not yet suited to protect themselves, much less the entire star.

Cron then spoke with his retainer, Legio, and tasked him with seeking a champion of his own to deliver the star from this fate, and granted him immortality, though this immortality was not warranted, as, unbeknownst to Cron, Legio was an Ancient in search of new purpose.

## Early-Murea

Early into the rule of King Protis Armgeis, the prophecy of the coming dark was but a hushed rumor, fearing that as the years went on, the people would lose hope, or the prophecy itself would lose credibility, and the people would lose sight of their purpose. King Armgeis took it upon himself to rule with the prophetic ideals, taking the choice of duty from the people, and legislating their cooperation by way of taxation, propaganda, and extortion. This began to slowly give rise to an angry people, naturally, though not quite the revolting sort. Not yet.

### Political Engagements

The aforementioned neighbors of Murea, Vertigo and Feliax, adopted separate stances on King Armgeis' rule. Vertigo adopted a strict neutrality, and even went as far as to deny them any involvement with Vertigo. Feliax took a more aggressive approach, deeming the way he ruled was unacceptable, and threatened military intervention. By now, King Armgeis' military strength had been bolstered by numbers as well as technological advancements not unlike Magitek, and Feliax was not only defeated, but made an example of.

Feliax' capital had been invaded, conquered, and then promptly withdrawn from before King Armgeis ordered the deployment of a bomb which shattered their buildings, killed their people, and ruined their land, all throughout the capital. As a final warning to those that would oppose him, both foreign and domestic, King Armgeis ordered this defeated nation's capital to be called 'Salt', for nothing would ever be cultivated from these ruins, and this monument would remain for years to come.

## Mid-Murea

Near the middle of King Protis Armgeis' rule, he inducted three new Retainers, bringing the count of them to a mere four. Among these were Alfyx, Clastea, and Detrio. Under the leadership of Cessabit Regium as the Chief of Staff for these retainers, they were sent out to carry out King Armgeis' will in locales both foreign and domestic. The retainers were expected to sacrifice all that made them human, and nothing that made them unique and powerful, Clastea being the most deadly of these three.

The people of Murea by now were beginning to actively show distaste in King Armgeis' rule, and many began to rise to revolt. This gave rise to the slaughter of Axio, (Not to be confused with the Siege of Axio). During this slaughter, Clastea and Alfyx were sent alongside Murean army to quell a rebellion, given orders to leave none alive, including civilians and children. Clastea had no qualms with carrying this will out, and when confronted by Alfyx, she deemed him "Too soft to be her peer" and carried on separate from him. Alfyx spared more mercy than would likely have been tolerable, though carried the weight of those he did murder, whether they were armed, dangerous, or otherwise.

Another operation Alfyx was assigned to involved a child by the name of Dixesse, who's nature and origin was shrouded in mystery. King Armgeis took great interest in this girl and her potential, and assigned Alfyx to be her guardian, wishing to observe how the bond between these two would affect her abilities. Upon the conclusion of their research, Alfyx was ordered to leave Dixesse for dead, which, to his shame both in the moment and to this day, he did begrudgingly. Unbeknownst to Alfyx, Dixesse was recovered and stored securely, an ever so slight fragment of her soul refusing to leave her body.

## Late-Murea

By now, the revolution was in full swing, the revolutionaries given name and shape, The Partisans. In tandem with the rise of The Partisans, Alfyx had been sent on a task in which he was expected to assassinate a foreign political leader, though on his mission, he discovered it was but a child; knowing this, he instead kidnapped the girl, knowing King Armgeis would simply send one such as Clastea to finish his failed mission. Upon this change of plans, Alfyx defected from the Retainers and King Armgeis, and shortly after, Cessabit did as well. Cessabit felt as if Alfyx was the only Retainer with a soul to consider, and felt his purpose was one worth the risk of High Treason. Cessabit was later executed in front of Alfyx and Fugo, both of which she played a motherly role to.

Early into his return, Alfyx and his team were sent to rescue Fac Modo and The Deadmen, a team of elite men who were renowned for their mind-games and suicide missions. Upon exfiltration, the team was ambushed by a new Retainer, Fugo. Upon Fugo's defeat, she was taken into custody and ultimately saw merit in The Partisan's mission, and eventually was trusted to assist them.

Years later, Alfyx returned to Murea, though on the side of The Partisans. Loss after loss turned to victory after victory, bringing a new meaning to his Retainer uniform. Along the lines, Alfyx descended into an abandoned AI lab, where he discovered Maia, who was later revealed to be an artificial reincarnation of Dixesse. Murea had used Dixesse' soul and information to create Maia, and upon recognizing Alfyx by his true name, he rescued the girl. The Partisan's engineer, Glasscat, took interest in this subject, and built Maia a body capable of experiencing every stimuli a normal girl would, as it was tested that anything less would drive the machine's mind insane.

Gaining allies in The Deadmen, Reflex and it's Juggernauts, and The Vertigo Furies, Alfyx launched an offensive on Castle Moria, ultimately securing the victory for the revolution. Upon the final battle with King Protis Armgeis, it was cryptically stated that "none of my blood is to be spilled in this throne room", which was promptly ignored.

## Post-Murea

With the revolution finished and the war won, the streets erupted in celebration. During this same celebration, the very ground opened up, spewing horrors unimaginable, deemed only vaguely and broadly as "The Dark". The Dark was capable of expressing itself differently to each individual, taking the shape of one they trusted dearly, this naturally posed problems for many of the heroes of the revolution, and in turn, gave rise to new heroes.

Alongside The Dark emerged a woman, blonde in hair, blue in the eyes, she appeared to be leading these dark denizens, though only briefly. After disagreeing with the deployment of The Dark, when her protests were ignored, she left an organization known as The Scintillant Priors, who were a small group of leaders of an ancient civilization, seeking to test those that would come after them, and exterminating them if they were not deemed suitable to survive. It is then revealed that this woman, named Kaam, is the mother of Dixesse.

Upon hearing of Alfyx' involvement in Dixesse' death, Kaam nearly killed Alfyx, though was stopped by Maia. Kaam then begrudgingly joined Alfyx' group of heroes, now deemed Greenline, for Alfyx' affinity to green.

Upon descending into Scintillam, Alfyx and his counterpart, Cyclas were separated from the main group, who were engaged with the leader of The Scintillant Priors, Caen.

Those initially engaged with Caen were Kaam, Fugo, King Armgeis, Corvaud, and Citheon, soon joined abruptly by Cyclas and Alfyx, who came just in time to save Kaam from death, and vanquished Caen, leaving him adrift in the aetherial sea for the rest of his existence. With Caen's defeat came the submission of The Dark, though in turn, The Dark had no leader, nothing to harness the energy and control it.

By now, Alfyx had returned to Etheirys and begun making friends, and enemies.