Ald'Norai - Revision history

Sovereign: /* The Birth of Silor */

2022-09-17T00:39:10Z

The Birth of Silor

Sovereign at 10:53, 7 January 2022

2022-01-07T10:53:56Z

Sovereign at 04:09, 16 November 2021

2021-11-16T04:09:51Z

Sovereign: /* Indorin */

2021-10-17T05:42:37Z

Indorin

Sovereign: /* The Ald'norai Genocide */

2021-10-17T05:41:48Z

The Ald'norai Genocide

Sovereign: /* The Ald'norai Genocide */

2021-10-17T05:40:45Z

The Ald'norai Genocide

Sovereign: /* The Birth of Silor */

2021-10-17T05:40:26Z

The Birth of Silor

Sovereign: /* The Ald'norai Genocide */

2021-10-17T05:40:09Z

The Ald'norai Genocide

Sovereign: /* Indorin */

2021-10-17T05:39:59Z

Indorin

Sovereign: /* The Birth of Silor */

2021-10-17T05:39:46Z

The Birth of Silor

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 These effects culminating led to hundreds of years of violent instability. Silorian society fractured on a fundamental level, with ideological rifts forming within its own communities. Many began to question the validity of unregulated magic, of limitless growth and expansion. Many others took advantage of the power vacuum to forge small Kingdoms and principalities of their own. Then, by the end of the Second Age, all of these discordant and warring Ashen Elf societies became conquered one by one from within, by a wave of humans no longer seeking merely their freedom, but revenge.
-From the ruins of Silor forged the heart of what would become the Unbroken Empire, the most powerful nation in Atharen's history. First, however, one more grand and terrible event needed to occur.
+From the ruins of Silor forged the heart of what would become the [[Unbroken Empire]], the most powerful nation in Atharen's history. First, however, one more grand and terrible event needed to occur.
 ===The Ald'norai Genocide===

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 [[Category: Lore]]
-[[Category: Created by Sovereign]]
+[[Category: Created by Tyranny]]
 [[File:aldnorai.png|frame]]

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 Fortunately, the Ald'norai eventually became immune to this disease and their fertility returned to its zenith. This resulted in a massive boost in their birth rate in the third century of the Third Age, and by the middle of the Third Age there were nearly forty million [[Sil'Norai]] (as by this time they transitioned away from their old name) living in Sil-Elaine. Unfortunately, with the Bleeding, the lingering disease would mutate and come into a resurgence, acting as the catalyst to the current Sil'norai infertility epidemic.
-'''Cultural Inquisition''': Once the Ald'norai were relocated and, effectively crippled from ever returning to their prior might, the Unbroken Empire began an inquisition against them that affected all aspects of their culture, especially their religion. While the Elven Gods were allowed to live, partly because the Empire feared provoking the Eldhan Weald into allying with their enemies and incurring massive Elven revolts, symbology of them such as idols, open worship and temples and monuments were struck down violently. The faith of the Eldhan Weald, fundamentally important to the culture of the Ashen Elves, was made culturally irrelevant over the span of decades. All expression of it was effectively made contraband, and simultaneous with this was an attack on the other cultural premises and institutions of the Elven race.
+'''Cultural Inquisition''': Once the Ald'norai were relocated and, effectively crippled from ever returning to their prior might, the Unbroken Empire began an inquisition against them that affected all aspects of their culture, especially their religion. While the Elven Gods were allowed to live, partly because the Empire feared provoking the Eldashan into allying with their enemies and incurring massive Elven revolts, symbology of them such as idols, open worship and temples and monuments were struck down violently. The faith of the Eldashan, fundamentally important to the culture of the Ashen Elves, was made culturally irrelevant over the span of decades. All expression of it was effectively made contraband, and simultaneous with this was an attack on the other cultural premises and institutions of the Elven race.
 And so this cultural inquisition, as it is called, spelled the final phase of the Ald'norai genocide: the death of their culture, resulting in increased Unbroken centralization, the proliferation of Common throughout their society, the loss of religiosity and the blending of Elven identity with new Imperial industrialism. Much of what remained of Ald'norai culture after the inquisition was merely symbolic: the Sil'Elan monarchy (Riala's descendants), old folktales, and the few songs that survived the cultural purge as many of them were viewed as insurrectionist propaganda.

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 The Hyr'norai forced the Ald'norai to fight in a battle of attrition. They would fight them ruthlessly at every opportunity and would refuse to surrender their towns and villages. As Elven settlements are largely populated by fighting-age adults, they would often fight against Ald'norai aggressors to the near-last. This kept their war ongoing for hundreds of years more, and fostered a bitter hatred between the Hyr'norai and their peers, one that forged the foundations for the later Elven schism.
-It was only at this point that the Ald'norai actually began to be known as "Ald'norai", as they were frequently called Vinasrans by the rest of the world until this point. At the close of the Second Age, these Elves began to utilize Blood Magic as a method of increasing their lifespan, sacrificing the vitality of slaves to ethereally enrich their forms. They also began to create Strigoi, or undead, and would psychologically engineer them with Necromancy to act as their ruthless enforcers in the never-ending war with the Hyr'norai. While many of these practices began to skew the battle of attrition in their favor, the source of their namesake was the punishment they had been given by Malek, as they made their first transgressions against the domain of death. The Black Sigil first appeared on their race, with a slim number of precautionary casualties; Necromancers who crafted Strigoi, the Strigoi themselves, and the worst of the Blood Mages. Few others.
+It was only at this point that the Ald'norai actually began to be known as "Ald'norai", as they were frequently called Vinasrans by the rest of the world until this point. A millennia into the Second Age, around the 24th century, these Elves began to utilize Blood Magic as a method of increasing their lifespan, sacrificing the vitality of slaves to ethereally enrich their forms. They also began to create Strigoi, or undead, and would psychologically engineer them with Necromancy to act as their ruthless enforcers in the never-ending war with the Hyr'norai. While many of these practices began to skew the battle of attrition in their favor, the source of their namesake was the punishment they had been given by Malek, as they made their first transgressions against the domain of death. The Black Sigil first appeared on their race, with a slim number of precautionary casualties; Necromancers who crafted Strigoi, the Strigoi themselves, and the worst of the Blood Mages. Few others.
 It was this first experience with the Black Sigil that would truly change Elven history, and Malek's efforts in many ways were counter-acted. Eager not to defy the Gods and be met with their wroth, the Vinasrans did in fact cease their production of undead. However, within the Black Sigil - Malek's curse that would winnow Elves and turn their eyes and then limbs black until they decayed - there was discovered a Mark of Control. A mage first discovered the complex ethereal properties of the Sigil, and from their discovery they learned to reproduce the Sigil, and tap into the Mark itself. It was, in many ways, the Mark that had perpetuated the magic's curse and degenerative effects. The corrosion of the Elves had largely been a withering that appeared to turn their skin and bones to ash and soot, and they often described feeling as if they were being burned from within.

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 '''Afflicted Infertility''': One of the leaders of the Unbroken Empire's revolts was an Ascendant Bane mage, or a 'Scourge', named Nairan Liric. Nairan held a deep hatred for Elves, largely linked to the death of his sister in one of their labor camps. He was also a grim and vindictive man, obsessed with his magic and how he could use it to harm others. The genocide offered Nairan ample opportunity to practice his art, and upon becoming a Scourge he engineered a biological condition that he quickly spread through the Ald'norai populace due to their close quarters during forced relocation. Particularly non-lethal and highly asymptomatic, this disease spread unnoticed and thus rampantly through the Elven community. Its effect was meant to be something that would prevent Ald'norai resurgence for all of history: the majority of Elves inflicted with the disease became permanently infertile.
-As a result of this disease, Ald'norai recovery was extremely slow and their population continued to decline well into the first two centuries after their relocation. Additionally, the disease appeared to weaken the immune system of those afflicted with it, resulting in millions of deaths by various diseases. This infertility resulted in Ald'norai populations falling as low as six million in the year 113 of the Fourth Age, contrasted with around one hundred million at the height of Silor in the mid-Second Age.
+As a result of this disease, Ald'norai recovery was extremely slow and their population continued to decline well into the first two centuries after their relocation. Additionally, the disease appeared to weaken the immune system of those afflicted with it, resulting in millions of deaths by various diseases. This infertility resulted in Ald'norai populations falling as low as six million in the year 3503, in the Age of Tyranny, contrasted with around one hundred million at the height of Silor in the mid-Second Age.
-Fortunately, the Ald'norai eventually became immune to this disease and their fertility returned to its zenith. This resulted in a massive boost in their birth rate in the third century of the Fourth Age, and by the middle of the Fourth Age there were nearly forty million [[Sil'Norai]] (as by this time they transitioned away from their old name) living in Sil-Elaine. Unfortunately, with the Bleeding, the lingering disease would mutate and come into a resurgence, acting as the catalyst to the current Sil'norai infertility epidemic.
+Fortunately, the Ald'norai eventually became immune to this disease and their fertility returned to its zenith. This resulted in a massive boost in their birth rate in the third century of the Third Age, and by the middle of the Third Age there were nearly forty million [[Sil'Norai]] (as by this time they transitioned away from their old name) living in Sil-Elaine. Unfortunately, with the Bleeding, the lingering disease would mutate and come into a resurgence, acting as the catalyst to the current Sil'norai infertility epidemic.
 '''Cultural Inquisition''': Once the Ald'norai were relocated and, effectively crippled from ever returning to their prior might, the Unbroken Empire began an inquisition against them that affected all aspects of their culture, especially their religion. While the Elven Gods were allowed to live, partly because the Empire feared provoking the Eldhan Weald into allying with their enemies and incurring massive Elven revolts, symbology of them such as idols, open worship and temples and monuments were struck down violently. The faith of the Eldhan Weald, fundamentally important to the culture of the Ashen Elves, was made culturally irrelevant over the span of decades. All expression of it was effectively made contraband, and simultaneous with this was an attack on the other cultural premises and institutions of the Elven race.

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 This anathema of simple mortality became the formula for Silor's total collapse. Riala had so saturated her peers with faux "Lichdom" that when the Black Sigil came again, Malek's second warning, over eighty percent of Silor's ruling elite were culled within years in a massive wave of deaths. Riala was the first to be punished and to die, held by her lover - the one who encouraged her transformation - in regret as she realized the folly of her actions. Riala's death was slow and brutal, and it was only the first of many. Hundreds of thousands followed, and the death of the Ald'norai ruling class led to a level of societal chaos and instability never seen again, not even in the wake of the Bleeding. Almost overnight, Silor was overcome with riots, civil wars and warring factions, resurgent Hyr'norai nationalism and worst, slave rebellions.
-These effects culminating led to hundreds of years of violent instability. Silorian society fractured on a fundamental level, with ideological rifts forming within its own communities. Many began to question the validity of unregulated magic, of limitless growth and expansion. Many others took advantage of the power vacuum to forge small Kingdoms and principalities of their own. Then, by the end of the Third Age, all of these discordant and warring Ashen Elf societies became conquered one by one from within, by a wave of humans no longer seeking merely their freedom, but revenge.
+These effects culminating led to hundreds of years of violent instability. Silorian society fractured on a fundamental level, with ideological rifts forming within its own communities. Many began to question the validity of unregulated magic, of limitless growth and expansion. Many others took advantage of the power vacuum to forge small Kingdoms and principalities of their own. Then, by the end of the Second Age, all of these discordant and warring Ashen Elf societies became conquered one by one from within, by a wave of humans no longer seeking merely their freedom, but revenge.
 From the ruins of Silor forged the heart of what would become the Unbroken Empire, the most powerful nation in Atharen's history. First, however, one more grand and terrible event needed to occur.

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 The Ald'norai genocide was the first - and worst - intentional act of racial elimination in the world's history. While Ald'norai had been enslaving "inferior" races for around a thousand years, their purpose had never been to eliminate the human diaspora, largely due to a belief that the other races served some purpose in the world's order; that the Gods had created them for a reason. While there was some debate on these reasons and they typically lent to the younger races acting as servants to the Elves, they did not view their eradication as a desirable prospect.
-The opposite was the case in regards to the humans, in their view of what the purpose of Elves might be. Part of the reason so many Elves began to scatter into Ailizane during Silor's collapse - thus causing the schism - was due to a fear of what humans would do within the bones of their dead Empire. It was well-known by Elves with any knowledge that when human slave revolts occurred, they would often massacre as many Elves as they could in their wake, leaving a trail of brutality behind them. When Silor fell, this reality played out on a scale unprecedented in history. Within the first decades of its collapse, millions of Elves were killed by the revolting humans. Their cities were sacked, monuments were destroyed and the Elven Gods were even hunted ruthlessly, though none of them were killed.
+The opposite was the case in regards to the humans, in their view of what the purpose of Elves might be. Part of the reason so many Elves began to scatter into Calanon during Silor's collapse - thus causing the schism - was due to a fear of what humans would do within the bones of their dead Empire. It was well-known by Elves with any knowledge that when human slave revolts occurred, they would often massacre as many Elves as they could in their wake, leaving a trail of brutality behind them. When Silor fell, this reality played out on a scale unprecedented in history. Within the first decades of its collapse, millions of Elves were killed by the revolting humans. Their cities were sacked, monuments were destroyed and the Elven Gods were even hunted ruthlessly, though none of them were killed.
 The actions taken by the humans went beyond sheer brutality and rage. Their attempt to systematically eliminate the Ashen Elves was calculated, and they employed many tactics in doing so.

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 Ard-Orain quickly lost its identity as they began to depend on human slave labor to maintain their production, forcing their own adults to participate in the military and other practices necessary to defend against Indorin's aggression. This loss of identity was quickly thereafter followed by a societal collapse; ideological factions within the Elven principality began to question their descent into militarization and disorder, while those more interested in victory continuously acted more and more like the Ald'norai they were adamantly against.
-This culminated into a civil war in the nation, and within a few years it was entirely annexed by Indorin. At this point, all of the remaining Elven states formed a coalition against Indorin with Cor Aron as their head, and a centuries long war ensued. As non-Elves and particularly humans continued to grow and expand their diaspora, they increasingly came into conflict with the Elves of Cor Aron, raiding their rich settlements from the western fringes of Ailizane. Harmony with humans quickly fell out of public favor and the Hyr'norai of Cor Aron began to enslave and brutalize them equally as much as their eastern peers. They also continued to expand. In many ways, the ideological differences between the Hyr'norai and Ald'norai slimmed to near-nothing; the one thing differentiating them at this point was the usage of forbidden magic in war-time.
+This culminated into a civil war in the nation, and within a few years it was entirely annexed by Indorin. At this point, all of the remaining Elven states formed a coalition against Indorin with Cor Aron as their head, and a centuries long war ensued. As non-Elves and particularly humans continued to grow and expand their diaspora, they increasingly came into conflict with the Elves of Cor Aron, raiding their rich settlements from the western fringes of Calanon. Harmony with humans quickly fell out of public favor and the Hyr'norai of Cor Aron began to enslave and brutalize them equally as much as their eastern peers. They also continued to expand. In many ways, the ideological differences between the Hyr'norai and Ald'norai slimmed to near-nothing; the one thing differentiating them at this point was the usage of forbidden magic in war-time.
 The Ald'norai at this time had allowed Blood Magic to become entrenched in their military ranks. They commonly brought scores of unarmed human slaves into combat with their Elven peers, keeping them piled in tightly packed cages as reserves. They would then sacrifice them en masse to empower their Blood Magic mid-battle, allowing them to perform abilities with minimal ether. This dramatically improved arcane stamina made battles increasingly difficult for the Hyr'norai, and as magical academies began to appear across Indorin teaching mages how to streamline their arts and to focus them purely on efficacy during war, the combination of superior mages and improved reserves of ether turned the tides of war forever.

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 ===The Birth of Silor===
-By this time it was the Third Age. Not far into the Third Age, Riala Elaine was born into the city of Vinasra Ilan, the capital of Indorin. Whether she was a child of genius or an inheritor to an already increasingly winning nation is a matter of debate, but whatever the case it is clear that she was a competent administrator and military leader. While Riala was at first a court adviser and general, she was chosen to be the ruler of Indorin as the reigning monarch passed on with no heir. It was with the weak prince's death and her ascent that Indorin truly began to press its advantage, spreading to fill out much of the width of Mornoth. Cor Aron's coalition partners were all annexed within a few short decades, and Cor Aron itself began to diminish in size and capacity. Not long into her reign, Riala became the ruler of a unified Daravin, and with Cor Aron's fall she declared the Kingdom of Silor. From then, she continued her expansion and growth, and Silor came to cover all of Mornoth save for Lorien's northern warrens.
+By this time it was the middle of the Second Age, the Age of Elves. In the year 2849, Riala Elaine was born into the city of Vinasra Ilan, the capital of Indorin. Whether she was a child of genius or an inheritor to an already increasingly winning nation is a matter of debate, but whatever the case it is clear that she was a competent administrator and military leader. While Riala was at first a court adviser and general, she was chosen to be the ruler of Indorin as the reigning monarch passed on with no heir. It was with the weak prince's death and her ascent that Indorin truly began to press its advantage, spreading to fill out much of the width of Mornoth. Cor Aron's coalition partners were all annexed within a few short decades, and Cor Aron itself began to diminish in size and capacity. Not long into her reign, Riala became the ruler of a unified Daravin, and with Cor Aron's fall she declared the Kingdom of Silor. From then, she continued her expansion and growth, and Silor came to cover all of Mornoth save for Lorien's northern warrens.
-Silor even expanded west into Ailizane, and covered nearly half of the Atharen of today. For hundreds of years, Silor existed in total prosperity. While slave revolts and movements by disgruntled Hyr'norai continued to persist, Riala's grip on the Empire was firm and her goals unwavering. She sought to fulfill the Vinasran ideals of old; to unify the entire world into one order, with all Elves Ashen and all other races pressed beneath them as the laborers of an elevated society. But centuries followed on, and old age began to claim her. The Queen-Empress of the soon-to-be unified world began to wilt, and for all of her efforts and desires she knew she would not live to see the totality of her Empire's might.
+Silor even expanded west into Calanon, and covered nearly half of the Atharen of today. For hundreds of years, Silor existed in total prosperity. While slave revolts and movements by disgruntled Hyr'norai continued to persist, Riala's grip on the Empire was firm and her goals unwavering. She sought to fulfill the Vinasran ideals of old; to unify the entire world into one order, with all Elves Ashen and all other races pressed beneath them as the laborers of an elevated society. But centuries followed on, and old age began to claim her. The Queen-Empress of the soon-to-be unified world began to wilt, and for all of her efforts and desires she knew she would not live to see the totality of her Empire's might.
 It was then that a proposition came: that there was one method towards immortality that could not be denied by the Black Sigil; through a series of forbidden rituals no longer known to the world. Passed from the lips of a deceitful, would-be Queen to her sister who Riala found herself in love with, the idea of a perfect Lichdom met with Riala's fixation. Though wilting, Riala was made a proto-Lich, an imperfect version of the promised dream. But through this transformation she became youthful again, beautiful, with improved mental faculty and the stamina to continue her expansion and rule. Riala became elated by her transformation and began to offer "Lichdom" to all of her favored courtiers, military generals, family members and others, this imperfect immortality eventually being spread throughout vast scores of Silor's ruling class. So endorsed by the Queen-Empress was "Lichdom" that it became a popular way of coming into her favor in court; a necessity of the ballroom, with the "mortal" Elves compared to the unambitious Hyr'norai of the past, refusing to explore the depths of magic in a way akin to Ald'norai ideals.