World History

Age of Dreams (Unknown)

There is not much recorded from the Age of Dreams. The era where the gods walked across the surface of Ransera, shaping it to their cosmic will is one that is shrouded in mystery. Only a few definitive things are known about the Age of Dreams.

The Hytori, the First Children of the Gods, were brought into existence by the Dragon Goddess Raella. Eventually, the Dragon God Malgar set in motion events that lead to the fracturing of the Hytori people and thus brought about the races of Man, Orkhan and Dwarves. The races were further divided via the intervention of Myshala, the Mistlord of Flesh. Precisely how each of the races originated varies from culture to culture but across history, those three deific powers are often involved.

While each culture has many stories that stretch back to the Age of Dreams, there is one unifying story of a place referred to simply as “Home”. Legends speak of it as a place where magic came to be, where life springs eternally or where men walk in eternal paradise. Exactly what and where “Home” is or was, is not entirely clear. Many believe it to be a reference to the various early concepts of the afterlife. Only one scholar has ever been documented as having purportedly visited “Home” and returned since the Age of Dreams, the famous Kaitellan explorer Lenesiir Zuramar.

Age of Wonders (1000 Years)

The Age of Wonders is the first loosely recorded age of Ransera. Across the various cultures and scattered in ancient ruins found throughout the world, the people’s all have stories grand and incredible from this time period. It was a time of mythical heroes, feats of great magic, and filled with a sense of boundless adventure.

Age of Conquest (1000 Years)

The Age of Conquest is the period of Ransera’s history that is the most known among learned scholars. The early civilizations of the world began to take shape on a grander scale. While a smattering of kingdoms had existed in prior ages it was toward the end of the Age of Conquest that mortals truly began to make the world their own.

Rise of Daegos Kaitel (963rd Year)

Kaitos Diraegon. Grand Artificer of the Clockwork Empire. Archlord of Spells. Mage-King. Many were the titles of the legendary wizard known as Kaitos Diraegon, the man for whom the infamous City of Spells is named. While his exact origins have since been lost to history, the man became legendary among both wizards across the world and was enshrined forever as a ruler without equal. Following a ruthless and bloody war, the wizard united the city-states and minor kingdoms in the far eastern reaches of Turoth. Commanding power over magic that had been unheard of for the era, he was peerless. Through innovation and often brutal techniques involving the living and even the dead, the Mage-King of the East ground opposition into the dust. He made it a point to seek out reputable mages of the era and either force them into his service or dispose of them after extracting knowledge from them in often bloody ways.

Eventually his campaign saw the establishment of a solidified powerbase whereupon the infamous City of Spells was built on a convergence of aether currents. Following his conquest of the area, Kaitos Diraegon threw himself into research that bordered on the insane. As a wizard he was a pioneer in the field of magic, barreling past the boundaries of what was presumed to be possible in many disciplines of rune magic, especially in the field of Artificing.

It is undisputed across scholars of the arcane that Kaitos Diraegon is considered the father of modern artificing practices. Through his tireless expansion of the discipline he reshaped the idea that golemcraft could only be applied to rudimentary materials. It was Diraegon that first devised the creation of the famous Sentinel class of golems. At the height of the Clockwork Empire’s power, thousands upon thousands of these golems were in the service of his armies. However, Diraegon’s conquest did not stop with the lesser kingdoms of Turoth. Eventually he expanded his empire to the southern half of the region and stretched westward.

By the turn of the era, the Clockwork Empire was the dominant power in all of Ransera. Its borders covered nearly the entirety of Turoth and stretched northwest to encompass all of the region of Karnor. It seemed only a matter of time before the whole of the world bowed to the will of the Clockwork Empire.

Age of Clockwork (820 Years)

Named such due to the dominance of the Clockwork Empire, the era was rife with wonders of magic. This included cities that had been torn from the ground and raised into the skies. The advent of skyships became commonplace in this era. The use of dragonshards in everyday life became the norm during the Clockwork era, a practice that continues to this day. For as many horrors were visited upon the populace of Ransera at the hands of the Mage-Lords of the Empire, it cannot be disputed that many conveniences were invented and innovated by them in their pursuit for more power.

The Hunt for Stones (327th Year)

With Kaitos Diraegon still at the helm of the Clockwork Empire, having extended his life through unnatural means, it seemed only a matter of time before the world bowed entirely to his will. No matter how many cities and kingdoms were conquered across Ransera however, Diraegon was never satisfied. His pursuit of magical power and studies seemed to have largely reached a standstill as he approached the very limits of what a mortal could achieve through the magic that was known. His experimentation, while referred to as monstrous, are secrets known only to him and those Mage-Lords closest to him. What is known however is that he became increasingly frustrated with the limits of his own, albeit empowered, mortality.

As the empire grew, so did the amount of magic and resources that Diraegon expended in his pursuit to go beyond mortality. It is said he explored the furthest depths of Artificing, Lichdom, and even now lost forms of magic. The mighty Archlord of Spells seemed to have reached a wall that he could not pass.

Until the famous explorer Lenesiir Zuramar returned from his expedition from a place called “Home”.

He returned with a Heartstone.

Believed to be a raw shard of the Aetherium itself, the first Heartstone that was brought before the Mage-King of the Empire sparked the drive to find more of them. In Diraegon, it sparked a plan. Following the discoveries and knowledge uncovered by Zuramar, the Mage-Lords, at the direction of Diraegon began an aggressive hunt for the stones. Exactly how many Heartstones exist or could exist is not clear but Diraegon determined that he had to have more of them.

As the era stretched onward and the search for yet more Heartstones became less and less fruitful, Diraegon became more erratic. He began to commit more and more mass atrocities that in time, began to arouse the ire of not just the people but of the Dragon Gods themselves. It is said that in his pursuit to shatter the boundaries of mortality he began to grow resentful of the gods. He began to remove those who followed the gods from his inner circles.

Diraegon took the Heartstone in the empire’s possession and withdrew. Precisely where is unknown but the Mage-King vanished promising only that one day he would return.

And for a time, there was a sort of peace in Ransera.

The Mage-Lords found themselves without the Mage-King for the first time in centuries. The Grand Artificer, the Archlord of Spells, withdrew from governing the empire and turned his full attention to his work.This lead to a period of centuries that fluctuated in their stability across the empire and the world.

Until the Mage-King returned, bringing with him power tenfold of what he’d held before. Upon his return, he made three proclamations that would forever change the course of history for Ransera.

Firstly, the worship of the Dragon Gods was strictly forbidden. It became outlawed in the empire.

Secondly, following a belief that it was housed in the Valley of White to the far north, Kaitos Diraegon declared war on the Kingdom of Lorien. He resumed the expansion of his empire.

Finally, he ordered the construction of a monolithic structure known only as the Godspire.

The Heavenswar (807th Year)

Kaitos Diraegon declared war on the gods. He declared war on the world.

War against the gods and the remaining kingdoms of Ransera proved a far more difficult task than anticipated for the Mage-King. While an astoundingly powerful figure himself, he was a solitary man. As the war stretched onward and he gained no headway, with the resources of the empire and those kingdoms opposed to him being stretched thin, the unthinkable happened.

A faction of Mage-Lords staged a coup d'etat against Kaitos Diraegon deeming him a madman that had to be stopped.

War in the north took a decided turn in the negative. A coalition of divine followers, angered by his outlawing of god worship had begun to march across his empire. With his enemies closing in around him, Kaitos Diraegon did the only thing he could and fled to the nearly complete Godspire.

Housed in his sanctuary, the mighty wizard activated the Godspire…

...and unleashed catastrophe across the world.

Centuries of civilization was wiped out in moments.

The very bedrock of the world, the framework of Acillon itself, was cracked open and destruction rampaged across all of Ransera.

So began the Sundering of the World.

Age of Sundering (400 Years)

The Dragons, the Dragon Gods and indeed many Endir spirits were forced to intercede lest all of Ransera be destroyed through the activation of the Godspire. This left them weakened and so they withdrew from the world, far more so than ever before. Mortals faced hardship unlike any that had been known before.

Terrible winters bombarded the world as all light was blanketed from the skies in the wake of the world’s burning. Horrifying monsters rampaged across the lands. Millions perished. Those that did not perish in the first few terrible years were pushed to the limits of their survival.

It was an era of darkness. It was an era of madness. It was an era of suffering.

Magic ceased to work properly in the Age of Sundering, as the Material Plane was reeling from the effects of being blasted by the raw power of the Aetherium. The only viable way of ensuring magic functioned accordingly was through the widespread use of Dragonshards, thus leading to their more prominent place in society.

Great horrors were brought about through the appearance of what would come to be known as the Dread Mists. Hope was a rare and short lived thing in the early years of the Age of Sundering.

Order of the Dawnmartyr (200th Year)

During the Age of Sundering, a para-military guild rose to prominence. Commanding great power over magic beyond what was widely possible in the era, the Dawnmartyr’s inserted themselves into various areas across Ransera. They remained decidedly small in number but this lack of people was overcome due to the near universal ability of the Dawnmartyr’s to face incredible challenges with relative ease compared to most. After establishing a stronghold in the Isles of Ecith, the Dawnmartyr’s helped many struggling with the fallout from the Sundering wherever there was cause to do so. They offered relief, military assistance, and even aided in the preservation and recovery of lost knowledge. This quest to help restore the world following the Sundering is one they endeavored to continue until the Dawnmartyr’s went defunct in the Age of Steel.

The War of Souls (393rd Year)

Following a series of events known only as the Graveplague, where the dead rampaged across the world, the Order of the Dawnmartyr distinguished itself as a definitive force for good in the world by combating the plague worldwide. Heroes arose to fight a group calling itself the Cult of Mending and though the cost was great, the Mending was eventually defeated and the Graveplague ended. This event served as the heralding of the new age.

Age of Steel

The world slowly healed in the wake of the Sundering and in the aftermath of the Graveplague. Ransera would never be the same. But civilization managed to take hold once more. Mortals have found their way again. It has been only a century since the end of the Age of Sundering and the consequences of both that terrible era and the one before it, are still felt to this day.

Reclaiming the World (30th Year)

The effects of the Sundering gripped the world for over 400 years but the spirit of mortals are not easily broken. Whether it was due to the assistance and shelter provided by the Order of the Dawnmartyr or due to their own perseverance, mortals began reclaiming the world as their own. Following the defeat of the Cult of Mending a fog seemed to lift from the world. Magic slowly returned to functioning similar to what was once possible in the previous eras. The Dread Mists became less frequent. The presence of the Dawnmartyr’s became less prevalent in society as they withdrew to their stronghold, recovering from the war with the Cult of Mending.

The nations of Ailizane regained their footing with either old nations returning to prominence or new ones taking their place. The Free Cities of the North managed to beat back the many creatures that had taken to roaming the northlands. Those remaining in Turoth were able to finally able to break out of the cycle of being visited by horror after horror.

Hope, it seemed, returned to the world.

Rise of the Imperium (61st Year)

The Kingdom of Geleros had suffered immensely during the Sundering of the World. A coastal kingdom that was bombarded by the Dread Mists, with the defeat of the Cult of Mending, they propelled themselves into the modern era. Owing their expansion into steam and clockwork technology to a man by the name of Aegan Grandyle, his ingenuity and vision helped to unify a broken land. Slowly, the people of Geleros won back their lands...then started to claim the lands that belonged to their neighbors.

March for Supremacy (80th Year)

Having successfully conquered several smaller kingdoms in the western half of the region of Ailizane, the Gelerian Imperium institutionalized all magic in their borders. The practice of magic became the purview of the State any who were not educated or inducted by the newly established Imperial Academy of Arcane Sciences was considered an outlaw. Mages in the Imperium were forced to either comply, hide or flee. Following this edict, the Imperium continued its conquest of the lesser kingdoms in its immediate vicinity until finally all of western Ailizane answered to the Imperial banner.

With many new territories under its control, the Imperium quieted for a time.

In the 98th Year of the Age of Steel, the Imperium relaunched its campaign of expansion into the east.

Fall of Ailos (102nd Year)

On the Isles of Ecith there stood an alabaster city where rest the Hope of the New Age. Where heroes were trained, where the Light of the New World shone brightly, ever vigilant against the darkness. This stronghold, Ailos, was home to the Order of the Dawnmartyr. Having adopted a much quieter role in the new age than in the Age of Sundering, the Order remained active behind the scenes. They answered the call of any who sent for them. They continued to rise to the challenges laid before them serving as inspiration and symbols of hope for many.

It stunned the new world when in the 105th Year of the Age of Steel, news spread that the City of Ailos had fallen to the legions of the Gelerian Imperium.

It was not long after this event that the desert cities of Nazam’s Hearth soon found themselves under siege as well. This event spurred them into motion forming an alliance that would become the Republic of Cathena.

The Imperium launched its war campaign against the Kingdom of Atinaw and began launching naval war campaigns against the Free Cities of the North through Blackwater Bay. Recognizing that the Imperium had to be stopped, the Kingdom of Atinaw heralded the remaining nations of Ailizane into an alliance. Together, this coalition brought the expansion of the Imperium to a grinding halt.

The Five Kings Accords (107th Year)

The Alliance and the Imperium fought to a bitter stalemate that eventually saw a truce between the sovereign nations being drawn. Dubbed the Five King’s Accords, the treaty was signed and peace returned to the new world.

Current Year

It is currently the 120th Year of the Age of Steel. Many alive still remember or were part of the war between the Imperium and the Alliance. While there are no wars being fought between nations, many are gripped with a sense of trepidation. It is as though the world is holding its breath, waiting. For what? Only time will tell.