Historic Chronicles:
The First Century (1/2)
These chronicles are intended to collect together the events and major decisions that defined the history of each race and nation of the Communal Worldbuilding Game. They are composed of all the ideas and lore contained in the posts of the actual and past players. Sometimes, they even reuse descriptions or sentences, mostly as they are already. However, they include new links between the events and a few added historic interpretations. They might be useful to better remember what happened before in the game, easily retrieve informations concerning the game and give inspiration to the players to write new posts.
A large meteor stroke the earth in the year 7, in the northern part of the Western Continent, and a sweet smelling orange liquid soon started to pour from it into the crater that had been formed. It created a lake from wich Slugmen came out and they began settling its shores. As the Dragons also appeared during the same period and made excursions in the area, the fear of their might and ferocity took on in the minds of the Slugmen, wich encouraged them to build stone fortresses to defend themselves. In the same breath, the lands surrounding the major towns were unified, bringing the formation of duchies.
The Baron Ximeni Xalanthe, with the help of Donkebab, Goddess of the Heavens, took control thereafter of the territories situated at the north of the lake and became Kaiser of the newly formed Hrilithian Celestial Empire. In the following month, a large star (the Local Star) materialized in the sky and, fed on its energy, the celestial object that gave birth to the Slugmen sprouted purple petals from wich more orange liquid came out. The first phase of the Slugmen's development ended with the construction of a great road with settlements along it, to allow trade with the Valley of the Hamsterfolk.
The Slugmen living in the Duchies were firstly followers of Donkebab, Goddess of the Heavens, but in 27, The Stranger, God of the Unknown, summoned dark figures that came to the Dukes and showed them a form of magic that could cause singular and specific deaths, conjure natural disasters and generate Eldritch Abominations or anything you could imagine. However, to activate correctly such magic, the ritual needed to be right and the price paid, consisting generally of sacrifices, needed to be high enough.
The popularity of The Stranger in the population grew afterward and occult rituals were being practiced around the year 31, wich somehow coincided with the moment when the plant in the Crater of Genesis started growing orange and purple fruits. By eating them, the Slugmen were able to speed their own growth. Thereafter, in 52, a common Church was organized in the Duchies, Donkebab and The Stranger being then considered respectively as the twin deities of life and death. It wasn't perfectly accurate, but neither deity manifested itself to object to this.
Alongside these major changes, the commerce between the Duchies and the lands of the Hamsterfolk Shamans had significantly increased the wealth of the two nations, enabling them to expand their territories. The Ducal Slugmen ameliorated even more their economy in 59, beginning to farm the crater plants and growing new ones by submerging their fruits into the surrounding orange liquid. They also started using the purple leaves of the plants to protect themselves.
An other economic boost and territorial enlargement then happened in 66, with the action of Selnar Delohro, Duke of the northernmost Duchy of Regton: he was successfully able to spread the orange liquid northward with the help of his workforce, allowing his duchy to widen and become more prosperous. It is probable that his initiative was influenced by the realization that the plant in the Crater was slowly converting the soil to the orange liquid.
Even if the development of the Slugmen Duchies and the Hrilithian Celestial Empire (HCE) were comparable in the beginning, the people of the HCE were more faithful to the goddess Donkebab and more inclined to follow her guidance. Thus, they invented with her help their Sacred Astrology that gave them among other things the power to bend the wilds to their will, wich permitted an expansion of their lands to the north in 38. The favor of Donkebab manifested itself again the next year with the creation and the gift of air dolphins that were soon made into a cavalry, allowing the Empire to install colonies on the Floating Continent of Dragolia.
Then, in 52, the HCE didn't joined the Church of the Slugmen Duchies, refusing to accept Donkebab and The Stranger as the twin deities of life and death, so the worship of The Stranger was declared heretical. This decision brought back old tensions, though no fighting occured for that reason. A period of economic prosperity and enlargement of the territory came afterward with the constant trade between the Slugmen Duchies and the Hamsterfolk Shamans, bringing excellent outcomes. The Sacred Astrology of the HCE proved its potency again in 60 when The Risen attacked the Hrilithian Colonies, giving the capacity to the Slugmen army to tell the future and predict the moves of the ennemies, while the air dolphin cavalry provided a definitive advantage.
It was nonetheless only a first phase of improvement for the HCE, since the god Dorath turned his attention to the Empire, wanting to increase his influence there. So he sneezed continuously over the hrilithian lands, creating all kinds of ores were his snot hitted. Thereby, a new type of metal appeared: flyrite, that is as hard as steel and extremely light, with a dim green colour. Metalsmiths of the HCE then started using flyrite to make armors, air dolphin barding and weapons, enabling the institution of the Order of the Celestial Knights.
With the enhancement of the metallurgy and through the will of Dorath, a cultural revolution also happened and caused the formation of a caste system. At the top standed the priests, followed by the warriors. The metalworkers constituted the third caste, while the other professions standed below the three pillar castes. In 63, some Dolphinmen refugees were integrated to the somewhat less prominent caste of the merchants, but considering they were in all likelihood very few, this passed probably largely unnoticed.
In 72, concurring with the introduction of social ranks, as well as the rise of Dorath's popularity, sects devoted to the many aspects of civilization were founded. There were sects related to each important profession, like smiths, who formed the oldest one, but also architects, masons, lawmen, and more. Additionally, the power and authority of the institutions preferred by Dorath increased. But the God of Industry and Ambition wasn't priviledged anyhow by the priest caste, because the next year, the construction of a great temple to The Stranger, Donkebab and Dorath was ordered. It so turned out that The Sranger regained the right to be venerated by the Hrilithians after having been rejected by the priesthood in 52.
About the same time, on the military level, Dragons made a few incursions in the HCE and the Duchies to kidnap Slugmen and bring them by force on the Continent of Dragolia. The HCE decided for that reason to build new fortresses and some of its settlements started hiring militias. Also, other innovations, consisting of novel irrigations techniques, were employed by the Hrilithians and made possible the colonization of more lands eastward.
The next major advancement for the HCE came with the formation of an Order of Magicians in 75, and its prime contribution was to use rituals of The Stranger to cast great spells of protection over their fortifications and defenses. Its second one was to assist the construction of a massive freestanding arch at the middle of the capital and to cast a spell on it, forcing anyone who stand beneath it to tell only the truth. Furthermore, their Order established the Academy of Magicians to teach magic, but also diplomacy, science and philosophy to the sons and daughters of kings and those with innate magical abilities.
The citizenry of the HCE became in addition even more diverse the same year, with the arrival of Hamstermen refugees who had lost everything after a series of earthquakes in the Dorathine Kingdom, and many of them managed to enter the metalworking caste. And despite the lingering enmity between tne Hrilithians and the Dragons, a temple of Tiamat was erected in the Temple City and there settled Manaketes and some Slugmen who worshiped the Dragon Goddess. Merchants were also sent to the Dragonkind, the Celestial Empire expecting to establish trade routes with them, but the safe traversal of the Crossing's Dungeon, the most direct way to the Floating Continent, was far from certain.
As the Slugmen Duchies were slowly becoming powerful nations, not all its inhabitants were favorable towards the raising taxes and the firm rule that the Dukes imposed them. So, in 28, a band of Slugmen set forth to go live into the desert lying east to the Valley of the Hamsterfolk, in the south of the Western Continent. They adopted there a nomadic lifestyle and were soon distinguished by the sandstone shells they wore on their backs. Also, to manage to survive in their inhospitable environment, they periodically raided the nearby Hamstermen.
In 31, they discovered that an enormous spider made of living sandstone had appeared in their desert. It was in fact a new deity: the Goddix of Sand, that transformed anything it walked on into sand, with the aim of spreading the desert. The Slugmen nomads named it Eightstone, and its first divine action was to create a species of gargantuan, sand-colored spiders, that are smart but not sapient. These giant arachnids were rapidly adopted by the nomads, becoming their pack animals and their mounts during their raids.
A political evolution happened thereafter and the nomads, then known as the Sandstone Nomads, divided their people into five tribes that were united in 55 under a loose confederation. Their distinct chieftains were the elected Qhangans, the Slugmen acknowledged to be the more capable to lead their respective tribe. The religious beliefs of the Sandstone Nomads were mostly centered at that time around the passive worship of Eightstone, but a radical sect, the Sand Oathbearers, was gaining an increasing number of followers in 62. It was resulting from the raising influence of its fanatical preacher, Gazdrubaal "Whiteshell", who extolled to help Eightstone in spreading the desert ever more.
The same preacher replaced Qhangan Bolos of the Northern Stone tribe after he died under suspicious circumstances in 74. This occurence was immediately followed by the death of Qhangan Sunik of the Eastern Dune tribe due to illness, and the already existing tensions between the remaining Qhangans became exceedingly strong. Then, it was impossible to avoid the forthcoming Tripartite Civil War, as four Qhangans formed three factions to vie for total power. There was firstly the fundamentalist faction led by Qhangan Gazdrubaal, who wanted to bring all Sandstone Nomads under the Sand Oath faith. Secondly, the expansionist faction was headed by Qhangan Drozdon "The Mirage", a brutal and opportunistic raiding expert who was always riding his trusty giant spider. Thirdly and lastly, there was the mercantilist faction, led by Qhangan Rotti and Qhangan Gisco "the Fat": both of them were willing to transform the Qhanganate in a great desert economic power and to establish trading routes.
Thus, a war took place in the desert, but no Qhangan was a match for Gazdrubaal, and his victory invested him with the title of Gras Qhangan, the Great Qhangan of the Sandstone Nomads. All his opponents were dead, except Gisco "the Fat", who was captured and ritualistically trampled to death by a desert spider. A campaign of forced conversion to the Sand Oathbearers was triggered afterward in the Qhanganate, and the first phase of construction of an immense stone altar dedicated to Eightstone began. After years of working on the development of his large domain, Qhangan Gazdrubaal focused in 82 on subduing the three remaining independent Sandstone nomadic tribes. He initiated a military operation to achieve his goal, but sandstorms hindered his attacks, so he was only able to defeat the Sandslitherers, before taking their territory.
The next important event to happen under his authority was the completion of the Great Altar of Eightstone in 89, capped off with a grand feast and mass sacrifice. Probably to show its gratitude, the Goddix of Sand created shortly after the glass spider, a rare subspecies of desert spider that seems as glass given life. They became then a symbol of great respect in the Qhanganate and were ridden by the elite. Furthermore, they represented a new asset to Gazdrubaal's army, wich encouraged him in 90 to launch another subjugation campaign against the two last free tribes of Sandstone Nomads. The subsequent battles concluded with the abrupt fall of the Red Dunewalkers, but Gharlor's Folk resisted by using clever tactics.
In a turn of events that was beyond belief, a supernatural energy took hold into all the mortals races: the Ki. The most attuned and trained individuals were then able to fly, hurl concentrated bursts of Ki from their palms and do advanced unarmed martial combat. To put these skills to the test, an annual grand tournament was organized, during wich the greatest warriors were confronting at the top of the Mount Hirudegarn. The first year champion was Namek, a Slugman from the Sandstone Qhanganate, and he also had been the first person to be proficient in Ki. He was the pioneer in sensing that kind of energy in others, wich gave him a significant advantage against his adversaries.
Tiamat, the Mother Goddess, came into existence in 8 and created the Dragons who started colonizing the southern part of the Floating Continent of Dragolia. The draconic deity decided shortly after to transform their territory, making it rocky and mountainous, and adding plains to the north. She also generated concealed valleys full of mystical springs in the mountains. At that time, the Dragons were at liberty to travel anywhere in the world and they wholly profited of their freedom, exploring the two continents and mostly feeding on their wild beasts (stories of Dragons eating Slugmen and Hamstermen were related).
However, most Dragons took finally the choice to inhabit the land of their origin. The emergence of a Cloud Sea in the year 26, above the already hovering oceanic waters situated at the middle of their territory, played an important role in their settling since it became a steady source of food for them, being filled with large lifeforms swimming into it. During the twenty following years, they improved their organization and from then on, their government became known as the Elder Council of Dragolia. Vivi Icescale was the first head of the Council and with her coming began a peaceful decade of growth for the Dragons. The same period also started with the development of dragon magic, enabling them to make spells and metamorphose into Manaketes: humanoids with draconic features.
In a rumble, a volcano erupted in 54, creating a large island between the two continents and spewing a lot of ash that dimmed the sun and lowered the temperatures. It didn't seem at first to affect much the Floating Continent of Dragolia, but two years later, the dark fumes corrupted the Cloud Sea with toxins and malevolent energies. Due to it, food dwindled and evil creatures began roaming the clouds. They were The Risen, beings of stone and toxin, that soon descended on the Dragons' territories, destroying everything until only wastelands remained.
When they reached the grasslands beside the draconic cities, the Dragons came in force to confront them. Harsh battles ensued, but even if the Dragons were mightier, The Risen were able to regenerate themselves and were too numerous, so it turned into a war of attrition. The flying reptiles lost many fertile lands and forests during this event, although they were victorious, notably with the flawless strike of Tiamat, their goddess.
Afterwards, they had much to heal and repair, using for that purpose the magical power of song. Some of them thus became the Singers, the first priestesses and priests of Dragonkind, who also contributed to increase the power of Tiamat. These Singers terraformed Dragolia back to healthy earth and participated to the establishment of new villages. Moreover, some Dragons took the initiative to import wildlife and even sometimes people, like Slugmen, from various regions.
An other event implying the fumes of the volcano having formed The Risen happened in 68, but this time with positive results all over the world: the oceans were infused with nutrients, increasing fish populations and the density of coastal vegetation, wich allowed nations and tribes to expand their holds on the coastlines.
Ten years after, the draconic religion had matured and its worshipers were willing to diffuse its gospel to the other civilizations. The moral principles promoted by the Church of Tiamat were then mostly centered around goodwill and respect of the self and the others. So the priests, besides fostering the cult of Tiamat, advocated to treat your fellows well if not kindly, to do as you would have done to yourself and to always be good enough to live your own way. With that in mind, dragon preachers flew over the world, converting new people and communities to their faith in the graceful light of Tiamat.
After having profited for a long time of the trade with the Slugmen Duchies and the Hamsterfolk, the Hrilithian Celestial Empire (HCE) wanted to open new commercial opportunities by sending merchants to the Dragons' territory on the Floating Continent of Dragolia. While they were traversing the Crossing's Dungeon to access Dragolia, they were ambushed by hoards of monsters and completely exterminated. In a turn of events, the leaders of the HCE falsely accused the Dragons of having caused the death of the merchants, so they ultimately declared war to them in 83.
The previous draconic intrusions in the hrilithian territory played a non-negligible role on this decision, since it had already strained relations between the Slugmen and the Dragons. But a lot more besides, a constant and natural antagonism existed between the two races, because the Slugmen dreaded dragon attacks nearly since their apparition, so the fear of the Dragons was fixed in their minds. Then, when they were children, the Hrilithians and the Ducal Slugmen were told stories of vicious Dragons eating Slugmen and destroying their homes, wich instilled the terror of Dragons in their imagination. Later on, when they grew up, many who became soldiers dreamed of fighting the giant flying beasts, and those who became nobles or diplomats were taught to be wary of their power and of potential draconic onslaughts in the future. It was inevitable for these reasons that a war eventually break out, and it was probable that its instigator was going to be the HCE, because the nation was sufficiently militarized, wealthy enough to sustain an extensive war and filled with hubris after having reached great heights of progress.
Thus, the HCE declared war to the Elder Council of Dragolia (ECD) in 83, and prepared its army for that purpose by making fine siege machines. The Hrilithians made the first move and successfully penetrated the Continent of Dragolia. When they met the draconic forces, they were able to slay some Dragons with their air dolphin cavalry, but their infantry units were burnt to ashes and liquefied by the fire of the flying reptiles, forcing the cavalry to retreat. Pursued by the Dragons, the remaining troops of the HCE were unable to reorganize themselves and defend the Hrilithian Colonies on the Floating Continent, so they had to abandon them to the ECD that took their control after a few air raids, but they didn't hurt children and the unresisting. The battles continued afterward in the main territory of the HCE, where the stars aligned and the Sacred Astrology of the Hrilithians increased in power, engendering a rain of celestial bolts that stroke the Dragons. It made them suffer considerable losses, wich obliged them to withdraw.
Thereafter, draconic officials were sent to the HCE to demand retribution for the military offensive, but the hrilithian diplomats weren't listening to their demands and kept asking explanations for the disappearance of their merchants in 82. As the Dragons knew very well that the monsters of the Crossing's Dungeon were responsible for their death, they gave that answer, but the Hrilithians said they weren't satisfied of it, so the discussions were completely useless. Then, the HCE prepared for war again by creating a force of air dolphin riders with bows called the Winged Torment and by building in all settlements the Dragon Hooks: fortified engine towers that can shoot giant arrows with ropes to bring down Dragons.
For their part, the Dragons refined their magic into fire, water, lightning, earth, wind, ice, light, and darkness variations. The type of magic used by each Dragon was and is still generally defined by the color of their skin, though theoretically they could learn any magic type, and Tiamat could wield the height elements firstly used by the Dragons. Her and the newly appointed height generals of the ECD were then ready to restart the fight and try bringing a better government in the HCE. However, the Dragons had a new obstacle on their path in 87, because the Slugmen Duchies decided to support the HCE and sent troops there, out of fear of being also invaded.
The combats resumed in 90 with an attempt of the HCE to retake their eastern colonies, but their ground battalions were decimated by the monsters of the Crossing's Dungeon and the hrilithian army was too weakened to repel the Dragons. Instead, the host of the ECD pursued the air dolphin cavalry, that got quite unharmed though, and the few other survivors, until reaching the imperial lands. They burned many settlements there and made towers collapse, yet the Dragon Hooks wiped out a fair number of Dragons. The ECD was therefore unable to make a real opening on the first try, but after a short stalemate, major reinforcements came, headed by Tiamat herself. Then, the Hrilithians were overwhelmed and over half of their Empire was taken. As the situation was getting increasingly desperate, the goddess Donkebab decided to intervene, going down the sky to confront Tiamat. The ensuing battle was inconclusive, but the Dragons were halted in their conquest.
Moreover, the Ducal Slugmen arrived as reinforcements, and while the Hrilithians defended their positions, that are mostly them who continued the fight. They entranched themselves for seven weeks, as thunderbolts and firestorms wreaked havoc on the surrounding urban area. The army of the Dukes was aided by its magical beasts, providing aerial suppport, and despite their ferocity, the Dragons were progressively losing ground. So ruthless were the battles that the respective leaders of the ECD and the HCE, Vivi Icescale and Archduke Gloombus, met their death. Shortly after, Archduke Bolger was crowned, but the deliberations of the Dragons to appoint a new ruler were taking too long, so the Ducal Slugmen reorganized their troops faster. It finally gave them the upper hand and the Dragons were repulsed from the Western Continent.
The Slugmen were thus victorious, but the war gave them absolutely nothing: it provoked thousands of casualties, wrecked the cities of the HCE and made them lose their overseas colonies. Notwithstanding those grievous repercussions, the goddess Donkebab was outraged by the immoderate pride and the imprudence of the Hrilithians for having attacked the ECD without real motives, as well as by the effrontery of the Dragons for having tried to subdue the HCE. For these reasons, she have cursed the members of the two nations with the Star Talk: whenever they tread or fly over the continent opposite to their own, they start experiencing strange delusions, as if their conscience splits and starts bickering, while their magic becomes unstable. They can only stay on the other continent for a very brief period, or they risk becoming utterly mad. The half-dragon Manaketes were spared from the curse, but the Dragons who were already living in the far reaches of the Western Continent went insane and savage, reverting to primal instincts.
Among her kin, the Dragon Lilt Glitterscale was heavily affected by the Star Talk, since she was leading a group of half-breed Manaketes on the Western Continent, but from then on, she was totally separated from them. To try remediating to the situation, she initiated a research to find a way to bypass the curse. With the help of other dragon scholars, she theorized that the impulses of the Dragons could be sealed along with their magical power in stones, the Dragonstones. They were only at the beginning of their studies and determined to proceed further, but they seemed oblivious of the potential consequences of playing against divine forces.
During the Heavenly War, in 85, a coalition of Slugmen, Dorathians and of a few Dolphinmen was formed. They departed from the Western Continent to flee the war and established a humble nation, that they called Refugio Guerra, on the edge of a large bay, at the middle of the eastern coast of the Continent of Dragolia. As they weren't escorted by many soldiers, it is dubious that they were able to pass the Crossing's Dungeon on foot. So, to attain the Floating Continent, they were probably aided by Dragons.
Be that as it may, it is certain that the Dragons were sympathetic to these peaceful Celestials, because in 86, the Church of Tiamat sent them emissaries, who absolved them of wrongdoings and helped them improve the growth of their farms. Thereafter, since the year 90, they opened their nation to the rest of the world, creating several outposts and beginning to trade with all races.
Nevertheless, while Refugio Guerra was quietly finishing to set up, terrible roars and constant tremors were shaking the Western Continent. The cause of that commotion was the battle between the goddesses Tiamat and Donkebab, sending shockwaves across the lands. From the magical fury, stars were falling from the firmament, forests were suddenly sprouting and grasslands were being generated all at once.
A divine power was thus imbued in the depths of the earth, and in the year 100, it gave birth to the dwarves, who were originally eating minerals and drinking aquifers. They soon were constantly occupied at mining and expanding, but as they were totally unaware of the existence of the sun, they were mainly digging more profoundly. They had appeared in six different subterranean regions, and each group of dwarves was affiliated with its own element. Those whose tunnels were passing partly under the ocean were water-related, and they were going to be the first to reach the surface and see the daylight, in 110.
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Topic: Bay12 Communal Worldbuilding Game (Read 68186 times)