Timeline

This is where all information regarding Corteaál and it's creation, up to the present day, will be logged. The following is in chronological order but a quick breakdown with important events (And their dates) will be situated at the bottom of the page.

##### **Key Points to Know**

All time within Corteaál is dictated through the Kedali Empire Invasion. So prior to these events will be recorded as BKI (Before Kedali Invasion) and all events succeeding it will be AKI (After Kedali Invasion).

The Great Darkness is the huge nothingness outside of the planet. Space, if you will.

## **The Spark** *3000yrs BKI*

For thousands of years, The Great Darkness would lay dormant, until without warning a spark ignited in the centre of it all. It was a spark of pure Life Magik. From this spark came two opposing forces of nature. The Vaast, an ethereal people living outside of the comprehendible dimension and The Uren, great Titans of pure magik. The first Uren to waken was Claadn'tar. He awoke, floating in an endless space but soon felt the presence of others' lifeforce shining throughout the cosmos. It wasn't long before Claadn'tar mastered his own magik and conjured himself a body so he could move freely through the Great Darkness and began hunting for likeminded souls. The first Uren that Claadn'tar came upon was D'Yusaath. The pair of great beings shared a common interest. The pursuit of knowledge and the awakening of other Uren. Claadn'tar and D'Yusaath split the workload and very quickly roused eight more Uren to life. Claadn'tar, D'Yusaath, Ynir, Mesrion, Pyolnir, Jnsar, Xan'el, Bastar, Ruudel and Gylion were the Ten.

Though in nature the Vaast and the Uren were opposites, they very rarely interacted with one another. The Vaast kept to their own dimension and observed the Great Darkness, meddling on planets very rarely to see what their power was capable of. The Uren on the other hand felt their existence had a purpose. While The Vaast could not fully function inside the corporeal realm, the Uren could in fact interact with all the Great Darkness had to offer. The first ten Uren that had awoken began to dabble with their life magik. Stopping on worlds and impregnating them with powerful life.

The Vaast soon became jealous of the Uren, the Vaast shared the Uren's ability to control life magik, but without a suitable physical playground, the Vaast could not manifest in the corporeal realm like the Uren could. One such Vaast, who's name has long been lost to time, discovered a way to temporarily make themselves corporeal. Just long enough to dabble with the correct power of Magik to create functional life. Unfortunately, the power used to become corporeal took it's toll on the Vaast, and they were unable to sustain the life they had created.

Eventually, after numerous attempts, the Vaast had pooled their strength and managed to breathe life into five huge creatures. These giant Dragons, named The Kedal by the Vaast, had taken so much power and Magik to create it had drained the Vaast greatly. They were completely unable to perform the ritual to become corporeal due to their combined lack of Magik. The more intelligent of the Vaast conjured a plan, they had given life to the Kedal and as such, the Kedal *must* obey them. The Vaast scattered the five Dragons into the Great Darkness in search of planets that the Uren had poured life magik into. The idea behind this plan was to have the Kedal collect as much magik and return it to the Vaast so they could once again enter the corporeal realm.

Simply called The Gathering, this mission was almost a perfect success. The Kedal ruthlessly traversed the Great Darkness, briefly stopping at planets and sapping the magik from them. Initially this procedure did no harm to the planets or the life found on them, the Kedal would drop into a planet, find the source of magik and feed from it. But as time wore on, the Kedal became reckless in their efforts. Rather than simply find a source and take some magik before leaving, they began finding any and all magikal beings, consuming them and their power. Eventually, after gorging themselves on more than a thousand planets, The Uren took notice.

## **Creation** *2500yrs BKI*

In the far reaches of The Great Darkness was a small, juvenile planet. Although it was still young in the grand scheme of things, it harnessed great magikal potential. Claadn'tar, in his long travels across the Darkness, came across the planet. It lay devoid of sentient life but the magik emanating from it was almost enough to blow the member of the Ten away. Each of the Ten dispersed across the cosmos to cover as much ground as possible. They had felt the damage being done to their planets and devised a plan; to prevent these new creatures from consuming everything they had worked so hard toward they must act quickly and as secretly as possible. Mesrion, the wisest of the Ten, suggested to Claadn'tar before they departed that it would be wise to create a source well of magik on a planet far from the possible reaches of the Kedal. This was a good idea in theory, the only issue was the power necessary for that would be astronomical. The Uren slowly began to take note of the levels of magik present on planets naturally and theorised that it could be possible to create these wells without draining their own power, thus weakening their crusade of life against the Kedal and their masters, The Vaast.

Remembering this conversation with Mesrion when he discovered the adolescent planet, Claadn'tar decided to descend onto the planet and breath in it's power. The powerful Uren stepped foot on the land and was immediately overwhelmed by the magik it held in it's core. This was *the* planet. He scoured the land to find a suitable place for the hub of power but soon decided against setting it in one position on the vast landscape. He thought best to spread the power. After long and careful consideration, and after surveying the land, Claadn'tar beckoned his fellow titans. It was not long before the mighty Ten arrived. Much discussion and deliberation later led to the choosing of a location. Between the Ten, they had agreed on a continent in the north western region of the planet. And on this continent they chose five points that showed the greatest connection to it's magikal core. It was a long, and relatively painful experience for the Uren to create these wells. Each site would demand massive amounts of power before streams of pure arcane energy would burst to life.

Pleased with the outcome, and after feeling the power swell inside the Arcane Wells, the Ten departed the planet's surface and returned to their full size. All Ten of the Uren decided to carve huge runes across Corteaál's vast landscape and imbue these runes with magik; Singularly these runes were nothing more than alien scripture, but with all ten powered, it would conceal the planet from prying eyes. Shortly after their success, the Uren decided that if Corteaál was to be the seat of Magik in the universe, then it would also need protectors. Their plan was similar to that which they had done on countless other planets, only this time, the creatures crafted would be imbued with the power of the Ten themselves. As with each planet before it, Pyonir would craft The Urenforge but the one divergence from usual was that a ritual was performed. All Ten would gather their power and deposit a little of it each directly into the forge. It exploded into life. Using the forge, the Uren began to craft the first of The Urenforged races.

The first race to be brought to life on Corteaál were the Goblins. A test, if you will. The Goblins were ruthless and violent and infighting began before the Ten had even finished creating the first batch. It was decided that they would be scattered across the planet in small tribes to avoid further disruption but the Ten had accepted their failure; the Goblins were not the perfect specimen to defend Corteaál. The second race they created were the Humans. Strong willed and intelligent, these Humans were crafted in Claadn'tar's image and they seemed resilient and resourceful enough to maintain themselves *and* defend the planet. The Humans very quickly began to view the Uren as Gods. They were the creators and most of the Human tribes saw them as such. They began to craft temples and perform acts to appease them. Not all tribes agreed on who was the most powerful of the Uren and as such, their freshly crafted religion began to separate them. Nonetheless, the Uren were pleased with the Humans and after a few hundred years of observing them and what they had accomplished in a relatively short amount of time, Pyolnir requisitioned a race for himself. He wished to pass on his strategic excellence and craftsmanship, but was not bemused at the idea of the Humans having it all. The Ten agreed as a council and bestowed the planet a further Race; The Dwarves; They were shorter than Humans, but inherently more muscular and also incredibly strategic in all of their actions. Pyolnir gave them longer lives than the Humans so they could achieve more wonderous crafts. Gylion, an ever-joyful Uren, had also requested a race of his own. Across all of their planets and all of the sorrow that had come to most of them; No one single race lived just for the sake of living. Thus, the Halflings were created. Gylion was not the most creative of Uren, and as such, the Halflings were very similar to the Humans visually. They were shorter than Humans, but also shorter than Dwarves. They weren't strategic, or incredibly intelligent or even very good at hunting to begin with, this had unsurprisingly led to them becoming incredibly proficient farmers. The Halflings were a simplistic people who just wanted to live their lives. Interestingly enough, because of this simplistic lifestyle, the Halflings did not spread across the planet like the Humans and Dwarves had begun to do so. Instead, The Halflings created a Republic and settled in the Southern Lands. Of course a few Halfling villages began to crop up in other locations on the continent but very rarely would you find a Halfling village on Ùthmaar, Nàetuun or Torunnweald.

The Ten observed the life they had breathed into Corteaál for over 1000 years in total. As they had decided, they kept out of the majority of the affairs of the Urenforged, only intervening when they desperately needed to. The Humans, who had now split into four factions scattered across the planet (The Kúlmin, The Kiervein, The Úthmaari and The Nordmen), began crafting their own livelihoods and societies; The Kingdom of Kúlmin moved to the continent of Náetuun in the South East and quickly began to worship Jnsar, the hulking brute of the Ten. He was the Uren of Strength and Might and adored the worship he recieved; in return he bestowed upon the people of Kúlmin longer life and great strength. The Order of Jnsar became the elite force within the Kúlmin's Millitary. The Kingdom of Kiervein settled in the vast Southern Lands of the South West. The people of Kiervein were friendly and compassionate and had a love for all life. So much so that they tamed the wolves that had settled on the land rather than eradicate them. Ynir, the Uren of Life and Compassion, observed this and would occasionally venture down as an avatar of herself and live among them, teaching them further in their compassionate way of life. The Kiervein worshiped Ynir with undying passion. The Úthmaari were a large nation of Humans who settled in the North East, on the continent of Úthmaar. They had also impressed Ynir with their passion for their lifestyle; they lived on the cusp of warfare at all times. Having set up their homeland beside the largest Goblin encampment on the planet, they were constantly at war. The Úthmaari had learned how to well defend themselves without losing their compassionate views toward the rest of life; they pitied the Goblins for their aggression but also appreciated their consistency. Ynir once again ventured down as an avatar and spread her teachings. After many years, with frequent visits to both nations and after convincing the lords of both to get into contact, an order was born. The Holy Order of Ynir was created by members of both the Úthmaari and the Kiervein, and temples of worship were erected in both nations. Lastly, the Nordmen settled in the frozen north of Torunnweald and sheltered themselves from the world. They dedicated their lives to the pursuit of knowledge and sent many expeditions out across the world.

The dwarves settled together for a long time, all singularly worshiping Pyolnir as their one true god, under the banner of Dol-Pyol in the South of Úthmaar, deep within the Amuni mountains. It wasn't until a disagreement amongst four wealthy families that the Dwarves emigrated. They had split into four Dwarven nations and spread across the planet. A brave group took to the frozen mountains of Torunnweald, claiming the mountain as Dol-Khelec. One group, the largest of the four remained in Ùthmaar, claiming the Amuni mountain range as their own and taking to call themselves the Dol-Amuni. The third kingdom settled in Nàetuun, but against what had become convention, rather than settle inside a mountain or generally underground, these dwarves lived in little holes in the ground in the Highlands, aptly naming themselves the Highland Dwarves. Lastly, a relatively small group of Dwarves settled on the Southern Lands, but opted to mimic their Human brethren and build cities above ground rather than under it or inside a mountain, much like the Highland Dwarves. These Dwarves took to calling their home Dol-Astar, named in honour of Astar, the Dwarf that broke that mould and chose to build large cities. Gylion did not hesitate to reveal himself to his Halflings; as soon as he descended upon them, they greated him with awe. He chose to mimic their own image, but taller and with large feathered wings. Gylion revelled in their worship and the Halflings dedicated their lives to him. They erected statues and built small shrines in his honour; he would frequently visit them and "bless" them. They took to calling him the Moon King, taken from his ability shine upon them no matter how dark the days.

## **Discovery of Magik and Disappearance** *1000BKI*

Although the Ten had created the races of Corteaál to defend the planet, specifically the five wells of Magik on Torunnweald, they were not fond of the idea of the Urenforged discovering the wells for themselves. When the races migrated to Torunnweald, Claadn'tar and the rest of the Ten were aware of the corruption great power can cause, from observing what was becoming of the Kedal. Because of this, they extended their magik runes' power to cloak the wells visually as well. Their vibrant purple-pink hue was dimmed to the eyes of mortals to a regular blue colour in an effort to deter any further investigation. For a long while it was a success but one particular settlement, The Nordmen, had dedicated themselves to adventure and knowledge.

The Nordmen refuted the existence of god-like beings. Although the Uren had revealed themselves to many of the races on The Southern Lands, Náetuun and Úthmaar, they had actively stayed away from Torunnweald due to the wells presence there. They believed if they kept away, it would minimise the possibility of someone finding the wells. This of course led to the Nordmen's rightful refutal of the Uren. They instead placed their faith in the pursuit of knowledge and planetary expedition. The first of the expeditions by the Nordmen was set on their own homeland of Torunnweald. Led by a young, ambitious Nordman named Ewyn Kestas, the group set off from their small village on the east coast and travelled to the south.

It did not take long before Ewyn and his men came across the first of the wells. They were not looking for Magik, nor even anything ancient; they had set out to get a lay of the land but they found something much more powerful than they ever could have hoped for; The first well, situated in a canyon atop a mountain. Ewyn was the first to venture toward it. Although it was made to look natural, Ewyn was well versed in natural formations. There was no feasible way a well, especially one of this size, could be situated in the position it was in. The expedition, named the Kestas Venture in honour of Ewyn, set up camp around the well and watched for a few days. Seemingly nothing was out of the ordinary with this obscurely positioned well.

After roughly a week of waiting beside this well and the food stocks running low, Ewyn had decided he'd had enough. Without consulting the rest of the expedition, the young man descended into the canyon, the closer he approached the more heavy his head grew. He was beginning to hallucinate and hear voices, some he knew, some he was unaware of their origin. The study Nordman pushed through the ever-worsening condition of his mind and reached the cusp of the well and without even a second thought, he reached out. Ewyn's finger had barely touched the surface of the water before it's veil dissipated; the once regular coloured water was now glowing a purple-pink hue and it was audibly thrumming. The boy's eyes widened and swiftly clouded purple as the energy from the water flowed into his veins. Before he even had a chance to react a sudden chain of loud bangs and bright flashes of light consumed him. Ewyn screamed out in apparent pain.

Back over by the camp, the remaining members of the expedition were awoken by these loud bangs and bright flashes. Four members, Bran Turil, Uriel Brùn, Airic Glas and Owyn Lùtair, hurriedly scaled the canyon's side, shielding their eyes and ears from the array of sounds and sights coming from where Ewyn had touched the water. As the group arrived the sounds and lights had subsided but in it's place was huge plumes of smoke covering their sight of the well. As the smoke began to seep to the ground and clear, Owyn saw a figure. A figure that was standing deathly still and emitting quick sparks of purple-pink lighting. The group were apprehensive to approach at first but once more of the smoke had cleared, it was obvious now that this frightening figure was their friend Ewyn. Airic was the first to approach, and as he did so, Ewyn slowly turned. His skin had been marked gravely, he looked as if he had aged a thousand years in an instant but was still recognisably Ewyn. The man's eyes were glowing purple, but quickly the glow diluted and returned to normal, albeit now with purple irises. Ewyn greeted his friends and quickly showed them of his power. It was destructive. It was fascinating. It was Magik.

Very shortly after the discovery of the first well, Ewyn had begun his ascension toward mastering his new found magik. The once young-looking man, who now looked around his mid 60s, could sense magik; it was like a sixth sense and his ability to sense magik had even overcome the runes put in place by the Ten. This meant the remaining four wells were no longer hidden to him and he had very quickly arranged for more expeditions to be conducted. Ewyn had returned to his village after his transformation and preached of the future and what Magik would bring them and it did not take too much convincing before he had acquired a huge following; The Kestas Collective, they had taken to calling themselves. Ewyn briefly attempted to teach some of his followers in the ways of magik but he struggled. He was a leader, not a tutor. He needed assistance and so he ventured with his original expedition to the remaining four wells. One by one, his friends would engage in the same ritual as he had performed at the first of the five wells. The five, once youthful, friends had become withered but almighty. They were referred to by their followers as The Great Five and between the five of them, they would spread their message of power to the people of Torunnweald and what would become known as the Arcanian Dominion.

Elsewhere, the Ten had briefly observed Ewyn and his Arcanian Dominion and thought to intervene to prevent Humans from finding the wells. Unfortunately however, something of a far greater threat had taken hold of the Ten. Some time before the Nordmen had set off on their Magik Discovery expedition, Jnsar and Xan'el, two of the Ten had ventured off into the Great Darkness to discern the current whereabouts of the Kedal. Jnsar, viewed by the Kúlmin as a god of strength and might and Xan'el, who had started to gather a following from the Goblins and was considered the god of Blood to them. Between the two of the Uren, they were possibly the mightiest in terms of raw power and as such were the best choice to scout ahead in case of any trouble.

It wasn't long before the two found the Kedal, only they had woefully underestimated the Dragon's powers, but more importantly they were not a lone. In tow of the Kedal, almost unnoticed by the dragons themselves, was what looked to be a blood-coated, tentacled heart. The Kedal immediately instigated attack against Jnsar and Xan'el almost as if they had a sudden blood lust. Xan'el, having held off 2 of the Kedal by himself for a time, was caught off guard when he could hear dark whispers coming from the direction of this crooked heart. This distraction could not have come at a worse time; within the blink of an eye one of the Kedal, Kesth'nak, their leader, had lunged for Xan'el's neck and was successful in his attempt. Seeing his friend in pain and being overpowered, Jnsar rushed toward his fellow Uren and managed to fight off the two Kedal overpowering him. The wound Xan'el had received made matters all the more disastrous; without warning, Shal-Kar, the smallest and sneakiest of the Kedal had impaled Jnsar with his sharp, barbed tail. Within moments, the pain was felt across all Ten and then suddenly the rapid dimming of power spread across them. The bloody heart had been floating, observing the situation from a relative safe distance but now it began to hover closer to Xan'el.

With a sharp pulse of energy from the heart, the five dragons were blasted aside, flying off into the cosmos but Xan'el was held still with some sort of magik. Thin, long vein-like tentacles wrapped around his wrists and ankles as he squirmed in pain to escape. All his efforts were fruitless; he good friend lie dead, crystallising in space. He could not escape and this heart was growing ever closer. As it drew itself within inches of Xan'el, the centre of this heart swirled open inside was a cluster of eyes, too many to count and a maw that none of the Uren would have ever dreamed they'd see. Dark, unintelligible whispers seemed from this creature and without a warning a long, spiked tongue shot from it's maw and into the wound on Xan'el's neck. The heart began to something through it's long tongue and the life seemingly drained from Xan'el's eyes. Although within what seemed to be a matter of moments, he awoke to nothing. The heart, Jnsar's body and the Kedal were gone. In the back of his mind he heard three words being repeated quietly: *Spread. Harvest. Feed*. And in quick succession, a fourth followed; *Důsik*.

As the eight Uren that remained by Corteaál felt Jnsar's light fade, without even a second thought, all eight abandoned the planet. Their friend's life was far more important than all of the planets in the universe. They rushed across the cosmos and found Xan'el drifting through space. He knew not of what had happened, or where his friend had disappeared to. As far as any historian on Corteaál was aware, this was the last time all Ten Uren were seen near Corteaál.

## **Half-Goblins and The Siege of The Radiant City** *500BKI*

When Jnsar blessed Quintan, the founding father of Kúlmin and his people, they were bestowed great strength and resilience. Although it was thus-far an unnecessary trait to have, Quintan and the people of Kúlmin were constantly on the defensive and eventually came to believe themselves as the superior race in the entire world. Fuel to this fire came at the hands of the Half-Breeds. More specifically, the Half-Goblins. While the Uren were vastly unimpressed with their first creation, the Goblins, they had noticed that certain human individuals would pay close attention to them. As per their creed, the Ten did not intervene in the Kúlmin's observations of the Goblins that had made Náetuun their home. This may, to some, be seen as a grave error on the god's part.

A Kúlmin theologist by the name of Aelia and her all-woman group set up a small camp beside the largest Goblin Colony on Náetuun and observed them for years. Within a short period of time, Aelia had discovered that these *disgusting and feral creatures* weren't quite as bad as they had initially thought. The group had finally, after much deliberation, decided to descend onto the Goblin camp and approach with peace. To begin with, the Goblins were apprehensive of the Humans, rejecting their advances with violence. But after some time, and numerous gifts, the Goblins lowered their offensive and *welcomed* Aelia and her people. Months began to pass as Aelia become engrossed in her studies of the Goblins, to the point where, much to the disgust of her male peers in The Radiant City, befriended the Goblin King, Guthrak. More and more time passed, and Aelia and her scholars had all but given up their studies. Instead, they had fallen in-love with the simplicity of Goblin life; the simplistic hierarchy, the basic levels of trade between clans and their extreme passion for survival in a harsh world. The women of this group had fallen in love with Goblins. After 2 years of studies and observation, Aelia's group had gone from sceptical observers to infatuated wives. The theologists had become literal goblin wives, and before long were bearing Goblin-spawn. The process was painful and had inadvertently killed the women in their childbirth; but lo came the first of the Half-Breeds. The Half-Goblins.

Rejected by their Goblin ancestry, and of course the men of Kúlmin wanted nothing to do with these monstrosities, the first small group of Half-Goblins scattered across the continent of Náetuun. One group settled on an overlook beside The Radiant City; observing those who rejected them with great malice in their hearts. After a few generations of these Half-Goblins being fuelled by hatred for the people of Kúlmin; they readied for war. A young Chieftain, Daknish, suggested the name of the Shattered Sun, to symbolise the destruction of the Kúlmin people. His men rallied behind his cause and they marched toward the city, for war.

The siege came in the night, the then-King of Kúlmin, Llynd Gobane, was famous for slaughtering all Goblinkind without remorse.

1. ↑ The Ten is the title given to the Uren that began creating life. The first ten that awoke and gave themselves purpose.
2. ↑ Claadn'tar had founded the planet and he was the first awoken Uren. The Ten deemed it necessary that the defenders of Corteaál be shaped in his form.
3. ↑ Legend says that Amun was the first Dwarf created, and the large mountain range that the Dol-Pyol Dwarves settled in was named in his honour.