Empyrean Wars

The Empyrean Wars were a series of conflicts that took place in Yemas. The early ones were generally between empyreans who fought to protect mortal civilisation and the empyreans who wanted to subjugate mortal civilisation, whereas the later ones were generally between the empyreans with divine support and the rebel independent empyreans. Mortals fought on all sides of these conflicts, and eventually took to hunting down the majority of the empyreans.

## Background

For reasons known only to the gods, in antiquity Yemas had the highest population of empyreans of all the regions of Erah. Most were native to the region, but there were also a large number who migrated to the region. Empyreans have a mystical network of communication similar to that of the hags, and this may have played a role in this. Some of these empyreans felt they should rule over the comparatively weaker mortals, and others felt that they should instead help the mortals.

The most powerful empyreans of the age met up for a conference 900 years before the present, with the aim of the conference being to determine how best to approach mortal-empyrean relations. Those present were Eirikr of Nordmarch, the Witch-Queen Miriam, Melodia the Kenan, Avila the Fiery, Petros of Anapolis, Alan the Physician, Shimon the Devout, Constantia of Ebarantia, and Karl the Bloody. Many different perspectives were debated, but discussions ultimately broke down when Karl murdered Melodia, only to be killed in retribution by Eirikr. This led to the initial conflict between Eirikr and the surviving forces of Karl.

## Early Wars

The first conflicts were between a coalition of most of the empyreans who attended the conference and Constantia's forces. Constantia had been a supporter of Karl, and she took over his mortal armies after his death. Petros refused to take part in these conflicts and left alone for places unknown. Eventually, the coalition defeated Constantia, annihilated her armies, and Shimon took custody of her. This brought relative peace to Yemas, as Karl had been a major force in the region. This caused great fear for the yemans though, as Karl was considered a champion of mortals in most places, and without him, they felt that there was nothing stopping other things from preying on them.

To bring about relative peace to the region and reassure the mortals, Eirikr made a big show of defeating the bandit lord Aderphos Kylokophos, publicly displaying his flayed skin in the agora of the city of Plenisthus. During this time, more empyreans rose to power, filling in the voids left by Karl and Constantia. One of these empyreans, Sperantia of Nolus, launched a violent coup in the city of Anapolis, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of most of the city's inhabitants and it being abandoned by the survivors. The terror and revulsion this act inspired led to the second empyrean conference, about 50 years after the first.

As well as most of the remaining empyreans of the first conference, this second one included Sperantia, Maria of Kyklos, and Melania the Insane. Unlike the first conference, this second one had all members swear a binding oath not to be involved in bloodshed of any sort with each other for until 10 days had passed after the end of the conference. While it initially looked as though there would be a fairly even split between the different ideologies, things were upended when Sperantia decided to support the heroic faction, which led to a number of other members of the conference siding that way to avoid the wrath of that faction, resulting in Melania being the only one at the conference who openly wanted to subjugate the mortals. Melania then declared open war on the entirety of Yemas, and returned to her lair in the Vulcan Mountains.

## Wars of Heroism

It was this that led to Eirikr growing tired of the Erah and he retreated to seclusion alongside his wife, Maria. Melania's empyrean followers, while not the most powerful, were incredibly numerous. After the initial conflicts between Melania's empyreans and some of the forces of Miriam, Melania's right hand, Sorceress Avelina, revolted against Melania, and went to Yemabera, where she created her own faction that believed that the empyreans should follow the example of Eirikr and Petros and retreat from mortal affairs to live in peace. Over time, Avelina's faction grew and some of the more militant members started launching raids against both Melania's followers, and the Coalition of Heroic Empyreans.

These wars produced a number of empyreans who were considered by many to be great heroes, including the following: Margarita the Indestructible, who personally invaded and sacked Melania's lair; Raginmund the Protector, famous for using his own body to protect his allies; Willahelm the Mighty, who duelled and defeated Nicolaus the Red; and Maudnat the Healer, who saved entire poli during the conflict.

Eventually, after a three centuries of war, Melania sued for peace and swore an oath that she would seclude herself and her remaining followers in the mountains of Criptland for the next 1,000 years. The coalition forces were decimated and exhausted by the conflict at this point and accepted this.

## Wars of Freedom

Once the coalition had victory, the empyreans started trying to return to their daily lives. Many of the empyreans were the direct agents of their divine parents and went back to fulfilling the gods' agendas. A number of the gods were not happy that some of their empyrean children had turned their backs on them and demanded their loyal empyreans either make them see the error of their ways or kill them. This led to major warfare all throughout Yemas, resulting in the deaths of over half the empyreans involved, including figures such as Androkles the Magnificent. Ultimately, the free empyreans were victorious, but it was a pyrrhic victory at best.

These wars lasted only 50 years but were one of the most violent periods of yeman history. By the end of these wars, few of the empyreans who were alive at the time of the first conference were still alive, and many had retreated from the world after seeing the horrors of these wars.

## Final Wars

These wars deeply scarred the land and people of Yemas. Where once empyreans were seen as great heroes and admired, the living ones were now seen as monsters at worst, and potential monsters at best. Many yeman city-states started purging their empyrean residents, and wars would be fought to subdue and/or kill the survivors who made a name for themselves in the wars. The vast majority of the empyreans who weren't killed were either forced into hiding or enslaved. A handful managed to retain their positions in some of the city-states least impacted by the wars, but they generally removed themselves from the pan-yeman stage.

In the present day, while empyreans are not openly hunted anymore in Yemas, they are treated with suspicion and fear in most places, and more often than not are met with acts of violence in cities.