The Continent of Elmseld:

Nations of Elmseld:

The Aeroathan Empire: 

The Aeroathan Empire is a young, ambitious state borne out of greed and political pillage. Before the birth of the Empire, the noble Aeorath family operated in Planadria, a merchant city on the border of the Fenwood forests and the Cerulean Channel. MacAlpin Aeroath III began his political career as 

The Republic of Calipar:

A democratic society in the southeastern region of the continent.  

A History of Elmseld

The continent of Elmseld has undergone many ages of discovery, conflict, and renewal. These bygone eras are more than ancient history. Whether the people of Elmseld know it or not, the struggles they face in their daily lives were set in motion by the turbulent events of past ages. This section explores this history and the major figures whose actions shaped the physical and cultural landscape of Elmseld. 

The Myth of Creation

In the vast and timeless Darkness before the Dawn of Time, there was only the rolling, tumultuous chaos of matter—the churning of rock and the unbridled fires. Orbiting the center of the chaos were the Primordial Rings, where—out of the ether—the gods came new and formless. Looking at the roiling realm of rock and fire, they saw potential for great beauty and strength and the opportunity for purpose. Together, they took the rock and fire into their hands and created a planet and gave her two moons.

From their divine hands the First Children were birthed: the elves, who embodied beauty and grace and who walked the verdant Green and drank from the timeless waters of the Blue. 

A second creation was wrought: the dwarves, a hearty people intent on taming the land, filled with the craft and invention of the divinity beyond the ashen void. 

A third people were given life: the humans, endowed with hearts of passion that burned as brightly as their spans of life were short, and infused with the need to celebrate and laugh. 

Many other creations followed, races given to the lands and spread across continents. These Children of Creation walked the lands and as their knowledge grew so too did their ambition, and they sought to build upon the land. But the land was treacherous and unforgiving, sending the Children into the depths of the sea or swallowing them in the ground. The creator gods were filled with sorrow when they saw this, and so they decided to gift their Children with tools similar to their own so that they might learn to harness the land and sea and bend it to their will. Thus, the Weave was threaded into the entire existence of the planet: in the trees and the wind and the waters, in the dirt and stone and lava. 

But the Children of Creation were slow to discover and access the Weave, and so it was decided that they were in need of guardians. And thus the First Protectors were born: the Dragons Metallic, who safeguarded the gentler races. The realm grew quieter, the people multiplied, and new beings were given form and life. As culture grew, and the people further understood the world around them, they also looked up to their creators and gave them wor­ship, gave them form, gave them title and purpose. 

But this realm did not wish to be tamed. Beneath the elements, in a deeper plane, there trembled a chorus of ancient beings, beings who had already claimed this world as their own. Tearing through the planar fabric into the newly formed world, the greater Elemental Titans sought to sunder this new realm and return it to the chaos of the vast and timeless Darkness. The Children of Creation were bashed against the rock and thrown into the sea, were fed to the formless terror of the Elemental Titans. The Creator Gods saw this and were filled with grief. 

In their grief, some of the Creator Gods betrayed their allies and joined the Elemental Titans in waging war; others simply fled to find another opportunity to begin anew. But those that stayed continued to fight and found hope in a new race that had appeared from the Celestial Plane: great, winged warriors who brought with them the power of Light. 

The Demonic Beings that rose from the depths of the planet to do the bidding of the Elemental Titans were driven back by the Celestial Beings and the Children of Creation learned to defend themselves, began harnessing the power of the Weave and using it to their advantage. Together with the Celestials, they destroyed the Elemental Titans and drove the Demonic Beings and Betrayer Gods into a prison-like plane, banishing them from the newly created planet. In the place where the battle was won, many Children of Creation and Celestials were given to the earth. In their place rose a great elm tree, the tallest of its kind, forever green and full of life (thus Elmseld was given as the name for the continent).

There was for the first time a period of peace. Culture developed anew, the races ventured forth to discover and explore their own lands, and great music filled the air to give a name to this world once and for all: Amanthia.

The Esoteric Era

Over time, some of the people of Amanthia grew arro­gant. Seeing their arcane gifts as proof that the gods held no sway over their fate, a belief developed that—with enough understanding—they too could become as pow­erful as the gods. Many began to shun faith in favor of their own pursuits. Though this hurt and surprised the Creators, they understood the willfulness of their chil­dren and endured out of love and hope for redemption. 

Great kingdoms sprung up across Amanthia. Castles were built in a day, accelerated by the arcanists' new­ found power. Erudite cities hovered and drifted through the skies, shifting under the direction of scholarly magi to wherever their interests took them. Even though magic could be used to complete the most difficult tasks with hitherto unknown speed, magic-users strove always to innovate. As mages practiced and perfected their powers of creation, they soon unlocked the secrets of life itself, giving birth to wondrous, dangerous new creatures and power. Powerful archmages such as Breanne the Whisperer and Adall Brichafalon began to carve their paths into history during this era of unbri­dled magical experimentation. 

The advent of the arcane seemed to be the key to a bountiful age of plenty but also proved to threaten it,
as prosperity soon gave way to greed. Petty squabbles erupted over resources and wealth among the elite, while the rumor of immortality through perfected arca­num began to drive the greatest mages wild with a lust for unending power. One mortal mage, her name either lost or struck from history, crafted now-forbidden rites to challenge the God of Death, felling him and taking his place among the pantheon, making her the first and only mortal to ascend to godhood. The archmage Balmoral Kostenwold was inspired by this display. Driven by his hun­ger, he sought the guidance and power of the banished gods, rending open the gates of their prisons and releas­ing the betrayers into the mortal world. 

During their imprisonment, these gods of hatred and despair twisted their prison into their own image, spawning unthinkable horrors that lived only to trans­ form peace into suffering, and righteousness into arro­gance and greed. The Nine Hells and the Abyss began to push their way into Creation. The Betrayer Gods and their hateful children discovered a world unspoiled, save for the avarice of mortals. The urge to ruin was now replaced with the desire to dominate, and the Be­trayer Gods began by turning on the mage who freed them, making Archmage Balmoral their first thrall. This corrupted divinity sought out the remnants of their off­ spring, scattered across the world, and created a mighty and terrible new kingdom at the foot of the Alkali Spine. In this land of evil, where the twisted power of the lower planes seeped into Amanthia, the lords of dark­ness tainted the minds of mortals, hungrily welcoming those who had lost their way, and offering great prom­ises and boons to hearts easily swayed. These poison­ous seeds found fertile ground in the hearts of mortals obsessed with the unlimited power of the arcane. With a legion of the damned behind them, the Betrayer Gods soon made their presence known to the world with an assault on Palandria. 

Though much of the city was reduced to rubble, Palandria weathered the initial assault, saved by the intervention of the Prime Deities themselves, who descended to trade blows with their former brethren. The battle between divinity and mortals, between heroes and demons, raged ceaselessly for twenty days and nights until the dark forces, their surprise attack thwarted, were finally forced to retreat. 

Evil was repulsed momentarily, but with the revela­tion of such a terrible foe, a dangerous arcane arms race began. Trust was shattered indefinitely: if mortals could fall under the sway of the Betrayer Gods, who was an ally? If ruin like this could be unleashed under the watchful eyes of the gods, how were they relevant? Not trusting any but themselves, the self-interested and singular humans reforged their instruments of cele­bration into instruments of incredible power—artifacts that could be wielded by worthy heroes. The dwarves' fascination with rock and earth turned toward isolation as they burrowed deeper into the mountains, using their divine gifts to animate legions of autonomous golems to protect their ancestral halls. Elves used their under­ standing of creation's beauty and intricacies to weave spells of unimaginable destructive force, the likes of which Amanthia had never seen before.

For the first time since the Elemental Titans were de­stroyed, the focus of magic was warfare. The gods them­ selves agreed to join their children on the field of battle, descending from the heavens to take up arms once more for the war now referred to as the Calamity.

The Dereliction

The war was scattered across the planet of Amanthia, but the center of it took place on the continent of Elmseld. Beneath a giant mountain range the gods waged war, flattening the earth and dulling the peaks of the mountains until they were smooth and marbled. Little record remains of the war, but its effects are still felt today. There is, however, one story that is told in taverns and towns that marks the end of the Dereliction:

In the midst of fighting, a tribe of human fighters took up arms against a horde formed by the Betrayer Gods and led by the archmage Vlanthir Dümar. As the gods fought above them, their Children waged war below. On the plains beneath the mountain range, a human named Brenn took his sword—the Oathkeeper, forged in the mines of Eyre Moor by the Moorian Dwarves and blessed by Mehtril, the High Elf of the Hollow Wood—and drove it into the heart of Vlanthir, sending a burst of energy through the plains and into the skies that rendered the Betrayer Gods powerless for a brief moment. In that moment, the Prime Dieties unleashed a burst of energy into the Betrayer Gods that shook the planet, and the shockwave that rippled through the continent of Elmseld and across the seas claimed many lives and altered the flow of magic entirely, altering the fabric of the Weave. 

In the wake of the vast destruction of the Calamity, the Prime Deities—in observing the destruction wrought on the planet by the war of the gods—determined that their presence on Amanthia was bound up in an ill-fated future; and so they decided on a self-imposed exile so that they were never to return to their Creation. 

This moment, referred to as the Dereliction, marked the end of the Esoteric Era and was a great period of darkness for the survivors who found their joy and purpose in the Prime Deities.

The world entered a long, dark period of regrowth. Much time has passed between the Recission  and the present, and the world has been reborn once again. Palandria, though it survived, was no longer the center of commerce for the continent; a new city was formed north of Palandria, given the name New Palandria. In the mountains and forests that surround [Old] Palandria, the evil that gave exigence to war lurked in darkness, kept at bay by new races of men and elves that sought to reestablish peace and prosperity. 

But the evil was not eradicated. It remained, beneath the surface, in the shadows. 

In the Wake of the Gods

After the Dereliction, the lands of Elmseld became wild and perilous. Monstrosities and beasts prowled its broken fields and forests, dwelled in its shattered mountains, lurked beneath its waters. The land’s new denizens reclaimed the newly untamed realm, hunting any mortals not clever enough to hide. The masterless creations of the Betrayer Gods ruled their own territories, establishing themselves as a new pantheon. 

As the dust settled, surviving mortals grasped at what they could from their bygone lives and hid away in fear of what would come next. Those of faith dealt with their sense of failure and abandonment, while enlightened scribes mourned the loss of their research and the great magical secrets that had enabled the previous age to rise to such prominence. Others picked up what they could from the ruins and chose to start anew, hoping that their descendants would learn from their mistakes. Over those early centu­ries, the scattered survivors fought back the terrors that stalked the abandoned lands of Elmseld, continuing to endure and build new societies, civilizations that eventually reclaimed Elmseld and brought the world to this modern age. 

Settling of Nations

The Aeroath

The lands of the Aeroath were the epicenter of the Calamity's destruction. Rocky ranges of mountains were sundered, entire landscapes burned, and hovering seats of power crashed down from the sky, their floating cities consumed beneath the hungry earth.

The Da’Ruhl

The dwarven clan of Da’Ruhl that once held the center of the Alkali Spine was nearly wiped out in the Calamity. The surviving families and warriors dug deep into the mountains beneath the surface of Amanthia to wait out the chaos. For centuries the clan dwelt beneath the earth in darkness, defending themselves against the dregs of the Betrayer Gods and adapting themselves into a hardy and stalwart people. 

But they became restless, and half-forgotten myths of their history, mingled with the worship of Neirdyn, began to stir in them a desire to return to the surface, to their ancestral home and to build anew. One faction of the clan was against this, and there was a brief struggle for leadership before the Da’Ruhlian people were split into two camps: the Da’Ruhlians who preferred to stay under the mountain, led by Klay Ironbrow and the Da’Ruhlians who sought to return to the surface, led by the Queen Dunthar Surefoot. With new purpose, and led by Queen Surefoot, the Da’Ruhlians carved their way back toward the surface, breaking free from the Alakali Spine and found the land now wild and untamed. 

Not easily dissuaded, the dwarves carved out a place at the foot of the Spine and established the kingdom of Da’Ruhl. As time passed and other races of Elmseld traversed its lands, Da’Ruhl became a center of trade for steel and other metals. It also became a place of great wealth, as the Da’Ruhl clan was adept at mining the Alkali spine for jewels and treasures—and there were even rumors of a platinum mine. Thus the kingdom of Da’Ruhl became great.

Those that remained under the mountain burrowed deeper, unearthing a large cavern in the Underdark where they were quickly set upon by illithids who slaughtered Klay and a few others leading the dwarves into the Underdark. With their leaders slain, the rest of the dwarves submitted to the illithids who enslaved them. Over the years, the dwarves—who were made to reproduce to bolster the population of slaves for the illithids—evolved to be better suited for the Underdark (thus becoming duergards).

The Fwendolyn Ascendancy 

On the southeastern coast of Elmseld, in the decades following the Dereliction, small clans of humans, halflings, and a small band of half-elves began reclaiming a land that was rent desolate in the Calamity. What was once a prosperous, vibrant land of greenery was now reduced to ash. But in the centuries following the Recission , the people of the region brought the land back to life, cultivating the land back into its lush, vibrant green and establishing regions of rich farmland. 

Small civilizations were founded surrounding these farmlands, and along the coast to make it easier to transport goods from one region of the continent to the next. One of the earliest coastal cities established was located at the most southern tip of the continent and given the name Fwendolyn after the family that had been a central force behind the planning and establishing of the city itself and the vast coastal network that followed.

Rumored to be of noble blood from the years before the Calamity, the Fwendolyn family became the anchor point of the southeastern region of the continent. Around them an organized military was formed and assigned as a means of protecting the unified people of the Caliparie Region. Seen as a force of good, the Fwendolyn family was looked to for guidance and leadership throughout the centuries following the Recission . 

The Republic of Calipar

Established in part by the Fwendolyn family’s ascension, the Republic of Calipar united the people of Fwendolyn, Alistraad, Loxodonta, Barovia, and other smaller villages and towns in the southeastern region of Elmseld. 

Their military served as both protector from outside forces (namely the Aeroathan Empire) and as the law keepers of the land. The Republic of Calipar is one of great commerce, its main exports being grain, different vegetables, seafood, and ale. 

It is a welcoming place, and though there are always the outlier bands of thieves and the occasional monstrosity that ventures across its borders, the Republic is seen as a place of just laws and plentitude. 

In time, the people of Alistraad and Kyeth (and other smaller coastal, fishing towns/villages) have come to worship a being of primordial water that lives beneath the depths of the seas and speaks to them in dreams and visions. 

Founding of the Aeroathan Empire

In the desolate region north of the Marbled Mountains, the surviving members of Brumalia (once a floating city in the Esoteric Era) scraped by, surviving in the harsh and bitter cold for centuries. They kept with them the tomes and scrolls of their history pre-Calamity (those documents that survived), locked away in a collection of chests. They established three outposts above the Marbled Mountains, but it wasn’t until they traveled east and across the Cerulean Channel that they discovered the ruins of Palandria being restored by those that survived. The Brumalian people aided in the endeavor of restoring Palandria, using their knowledge and experience with the arcane to quicken the process. Once the city was rebuilt, the Brumalian people established themselves as the political power of the city and began building New Palandria just north of the city across the Cerulean Channel. This sister city, that would forever look down on the older, became the center for trade in all of the northeast of Elmseld. 

Now that the Brumalian people no longer had to suffer in the tundra above the Marbled Mountains and had established themselves as the power in both Palandia and New Palandria, their leaders began arguing over how to establish a centralized government. Some wished for a republic, preaching democracy in the great halls of noblemen and in the theaters in their cities, while others wished for a theocracy under the priests that shepherded the Brumalian people into their newly established place of power. Enoch Aeroath, a well-respected merchant tremendous force behind establishing New Palandria (as well as the revitalization of Palandria), wished to institute a monarch and place his son, MacAlpin Aeroath, Sr. on the throne. Debate spun wildly for the better part of six years, all the while Enoch secretly made deals with the heads of emerging guilds, secured information to blackmail others, and effectively bought the city of New Palandria’s most influential members of commerce. With resounding support from the flourishing guild heads, the throne was established in the year 493 PD (Post Dereliction) with MacAlpin Sr. becoming the first emperor of the Aeroathan Empire.

The Cerulean Sphere

Under the scriptures of Ipess, teachers, priests, and monks have been drawn to the calling of truth and knowledge, devoting their lives to this pursuit within the Library of Spheres. Rather than a single building used to house tomes and scrolls, the Library of Spheres is instead a network of sages and archivists who hold the knowledge in their minds and only pass it down to their pupils through speech. The Cerulean Sphere is based in New Palandria where its primary training facility (known as The First Archive) is built on a single island within the Cerulean Channel. 

Though the Cerulean Sphere’s headquarters is in the Aeroathan Empire’s capitol city, there are different Archives scattered across the continent of Elmseld. 

Archivists are tasked with training new recruits in the ways of the Cerulean Sphere, as well as delineating tasks to them. Monks of the Cerulean Sphere are the enlightened knowledge-seekers of their order. They research places where ancient knowledge could be hidden and lead large-scale expeditions to these places. 

Secretaries are covert agents of the Cerulean Sphere sent to extract information that others would keep secret. They infiltrate pockets of power, sects of clandestine plotters, cults and other secret religious communities for the purpose of gaining knowledge in their endeavor to better the world. Secretaries answer only to the Mentors. 

Each Archive has one Mentor, the leader and director of each Archive within the Cerulean Sphere. The Mentors at each Archive work together to orchestrate and delineate tasks across the continent. 

The Ambrosian Council

Established a century ago as a collection of mages devoted to maintaining order in the arcane arts, the Ambrosian Council was formed in the Aeroathan Empire under the direction of MacAlpin III (who wanted to ensure that he had complete control over the arcanists in his Empire and thought that by forming a collection of powerful mages loyal to him he’d “keep his enemies closer”). 

In the years since the Council was formed, they have increasingly positioned themselves into higher and higher political positions until they had the ear of MacKenzie Aeroath. Using their points of power as leverage, they believe themselves to be above reproach. This is evident in their extravagant lifestyles and high-mindedness. 

There are eight levels of authority within the council, each member rising in rank as they demonstrate an increasing knowledge in the arcane. As they rise in rank, they take under their pupillage three mages that are trained in the ways of the Council and sent on clandestine missions within the Empire and without. The Council plays the long game and sees that the increasing tensions between the Aeroath and the Gilgori might erupt in war, in which case they could move into power while chaos reigns. 

The Alkaline War

MacAlpin Aeroath’s son, MacAlpin II was born with green in his heart. The evil that lurked beneath the surface and hid in the shadows found purchase in the new Aeroathan emporer, which resulted in the decision to expand the Aeroathan borders. Beginning by pushing south, MacAlpin II began sieging smaller towns and bringing them under his rule. Da’Ruhl was the first major kingdom to fall to the Aeroathan invasion. 

Eventually, the Aeroathan armies crossed over the Alkali Spine and into the Republic of Calipar. There ensued a three year war that ended with the Aeroathan armies retreating back across the mountains. Seeing this defeat, MacAlpin II was infuriated, and struck out west across the Alkali mountains and beyond the Aeroath forests into the Plains of Brenn. 

The Modern Aeroathan Empire

As the empire continued stretching westward, seizing control of land and kingdoms, its emperor, MacAlpin II became ill and died, bequeathing his throne to his son, MacAlpin III. MacAlpin III, believing his father’s illness to be the product of sorcery, made as his first act as emperor the decree that magic be outlawed. There were several years of turmoil as the Aeroathan crownsguard arrested and executed thousands over simple practice of the arcane. There was great unrest in across the Empire, tensions ratcheting up even worse in the newly conquered lands toward the west.

Eventually, under the advice of the sages close to him, MacAlpin III loosened the laws forbidding magic. However, these new laws were vague and not uniformly enforced. In the Empire today, magic is still something done in secret, if done at all. And those who practice magic in the Empire do so mainly as religious practices, interacting with the Weave as a means of worshipping and communing with their gods.

In 714 PD, MacAlpin III was replaced by his only child and daughter, MacKenzie Aeroath, who—using a vast network of spies to seek out sources of unrest in the public and punish those who sowed thoughts of rebellion—squashed any dissent against her right to rule. She kept in place the limitations of magic use, not out of any personal anxieties toward magic users, but because she saw it as a means of retaining control of the people in the Empire. She also poured money into holidays and public celebrations as a way to bolster her reputation in the public, quelling any dissensions through distraction of drink and merriment. The funding for these celebrations came from what she instituted across the Empire as Tithes: money collected from every citizen every three months. 

The westward reach continues past the Plains of Brenn and into the north above the Marbled Mountains, where opposition is met within the Gilgori Dynasty. Tensions between the Aeroath and the Gilgori are high, with attacks on cities within the Empire occurring more and more often as the Gilgori push back through means of invasion. 

With tensions at an all-time high between the Aeroath and the Gilgori, the Ambrosian Council sees an opportunity for a power grab. 

The Modern Republic of Calipar

A confederate of separate states, each governed by their own respective constables, the Republic is unified under the family Fwendol—currently Alfwyn Fwendol—who were integral in setting up the republic. While it’s not a perfect democracy (a lot of rulers are selected by other ruling families), it is the closest thing in Elmseld to it—if you boil it all down though, the Republic is essentially an aristocracy and has only avoided political unrest because the families in power have been altruistic in nature. The Fwendols are caring and good-natured, never ruling absolutely but always deferring to counsel in situations they are ill-equipped to deal with. And the collective that they have set up to rule the Republic is made of like-minded people.

The Republic has their own military—the Sovereign Lathe—who also serve as a sort of police to uphold laws and order across the Republic. Stationed throughout the Republic, centralized in more populated areas, the Sovereign Lathe serve to protect the denizens of Calipar from forces without as well as within. To that end (of the latter), there are trials set up in which a jury of peers serve, under the direction of city elders.