DissidiaTemplar West Marches/The World

The World

The Beginning Period

After the Armageddon, the land was ripe for new factions. (Year 0-100)

The Genesishydra lays the seeds for Monsterkind Year 100

The Genesishydra - the mother of monsters who undoubtedly survived Armageddon - in its eternal cycle, stirs once more, seeding the land, air, water, and aether beyond with her only by-product: The monsters of myth. Some hatch, grow or germinate quickly, becoming the earliest monsters of the new era. Others are buried deep and won't come alive for a millennia, or until disturbed by forces far later. Some take the form of insidious ideas, lodged in sapients' minds, growing and spreading as the thought is shared. The denizens of the land at the time have many names for the monsters that now stalk them in the dark: Eldrazi, Couroni, Felk, Kaiju, Kami, dinosaur, and even more for the particular breeds and individuals they come across, or are devastated by.

There is no knowable purpose to the mother of monsters' spawn, but they seem to exist at a cross-point of evolution, and each breed is unique - united only by one single behavior: each works to feed, protect, or otherwise serve the ever-enduring Genesishyrda. Beyond that, their presence stirs fear into the hearts of those who can feel it, provide deadly challenge for any heroic enough to hunt them, and resources to those capable enough down them and make use of their extraordinary remains.

The Anntorii and the Curtain of Death Year 110

Somewhere in depths of time, an immensely powerful, dangerous, and presumably deranged caster erected The Curtain of Death. This nearly translucent wall completely surrounded the continent of interest, permeating deeper into the ground than any have tested and further into the air than any have reached. It has a single, baleful purpose: only one in ten of living creatures survive passing through it. All others perish, painfully, on the spot. Those that survive their first crossing are forever immune to its horrible touch, but there is no way to predict or prevent your demise without taking the ultimate risk (Heredity and astrology have so far provided no salvation).

The breadth and depth of the heinous wall means it severed the Anari's underground empire. The majority of its citizenry left within the Curtain are the enslaved, weakly Molinari. The ruling class withdrew themselves into what quickly became their new interior capitol: Anntorii, but the larger masses of Molinari rose up, embracing a form of intellectual freedom they had never known. Their greater numbers allowed them to broker for better treatment, and new positions within society. Engineer, scientist, smith and speaker were all opened to them. From there, exploration was a natural course by extension to see what now lay within their more limited domain, although it would be ages still before they sought what was above, it was a matter of course for a still expanding race: if one dimension is blocked, they would traverse in the other.

Genesishydra is Stymed Year 120

You would think they didn't enjoy all the new experiences She had enabled them to have, all the exercise Her toys gave them, all the excitement! But lately they hid in those rocky edges of land along the shallow waters. Creating their villages and surviving on what the sea and land offered them.

She had been entertained as Her creatures chased them through the woods, as Her offspring danced on them on the open plains, as they thrashed about above the Deep Waters when their little wooden craft were shattered by long reaching tentacles.

Now they hid in the cracks and crevasses of the rocky shoreline, where the earth's hard shell gave them more protection. Now they kept close together, with watchers on tall hill tops and horns to sound warnings to gather the flocks into the water splashed caves when Her creatures approached across the moors. Now they caught the fish and harvested the plants of the sea without leaving their protected coves. No longer did they come out into the Deeper Waters. No longer did they wander to the Interesting places.

She will have to do Things about this. Perhaps new pets that are smaller so they can mover through valleys and get closer without being seen. Perhaps new kin that are more cunning, that can plan and coordinate together. And let's see what seeds We have waiting in the Dark Places still. We can select some that are not bothered by the water or the light and send them upwards too.

The Aether Monster Year 130

One of the first monsters created by The Genesishydra was the Aether Monster. This monster started off small but, over the course of history, grew to gigantic proportions. The monster is able to travel into the fourth spacial dimension making it seemingly able to teleport. In addition, it cannot survive under normal climate conditions, finding it most comfortable in the upper atmosphere.

The Aether Monster can appear out of nowhere, usually in a thick cloud of smoke, making the actual monster difficult to see. The most obvious precursor to its appearance is a fog appearing out of nowhere, consisting of clouds from the upper atmosphere. It comes to the surface very rarely, usually feasting on flying creatures in the sky before returning back up.

The Aether Monster acts on animal intelligence/instinct and never stops growing. It also doesn't appear to age. Given these latter two facts, by the current day, this creature would be nearly a mile tall, and its appearance would equate to an extinction-level event if it descended on a city.

Hardly anyone knows of this monster, other than those few who had survived an attack and wrote it down. The Aether Monster has been thought to be the cause of the Vanishing of Farvenor, but some are puzzled as to how the monster could have seemingly removed the city from existence; it doesn't match its known abilities.

The conclusion is that this monster is a random threat that grows more dangerous the further in the future you go.

Monsterkind Coexsist Year 140

Many generations after the creation of the monsters by The Genesishydra, some of the monsters gained a level of intelligence to where they formed their own civilization. Largely separate from the world, since most species saw them as threats/enemies, these 50-500 foot tall kaiju looked very unique from one another.

The Age of a Thousand sparks Year 150

The messenger of the gods, tiny Tiktoskr, seeing the struggle of mortals against the children of the Genesishydra, steals knowledge from the missives he is given and bestows it upon the mortal races. Using the stolen secrets, the mortal races start a march of invention and innovation, creating weapons, devices, and more to aid them in their struggle for survival. The gods punish Tiktoskr's well-meaning treachery, and he is not seen by the mortal races after. The fate of the messenger-god is a mystery.

Developement of Deadman Drake's Dread Drekars of the Drapes Year 160

With his head filled from a young age of the "good ole days" by the tales an ex-raider great-uncle, James Drake had looked forward to joining the family business of merchant marine transport for most of his life. His extended family operated three snekkja, used to move goods and people between the coastal villages, and to carry lumber and ores collected from the scattered rocky island outposts back to the mainland, and occansionally longer journeys to trade with further off neighbors. James had worked his way up to 'Second Mate' on the Cordierite Compass when the Curtain of Death came down.

They were sailing a regular delivery of food & supplies to one of the islands used to harvest lumber when suddenly many onboard died. In shock, James rallied the remaining crew and few passengers and completed their trip to the island. Over the next several days it became apparent how lucky they had been. Almost a quarter of the crew had successfully passed thru, as tavern tales of ships completely losing their able-bodied and seasoned crews were shared. The Curtain of Death followed the mainland's irregular edge, but out at some distance. Some small islands where out the 'in' side. Most of the larger islands fell 'out' side.

Greving for lost family and crew-mates, James managed to gather his remaining crews, and filled them in as much as possible with survivors from other boats. They set about the grisly, but profitable, tasks of scavenging cargo and recovering the many other boats now adrift throughout to long coast. Most of the population of the Outer Islands did not want to risk the trip back to the mainland. Once it was determined that the mainland government was very limited in what it could do for, or to, the Outer Islands, they started forming their own, often rough and limited version of governance. James Drake and several other surviving shippers set high prices for the supplies they could get to the now independent isles, and became an important lifeline between the many isolated locales.

James Drake's son Daniel (it is unclear if Daniel was James natural or adopted son) continued the family tradition at first. He soon expanded it by creating a second branch that was not as clean cut as transporting goods (only passengers were usually between various Outer Islands or were mainland village to village where cutain fell a good distance offshore). James had re-told the great-uncles tales to young Daniel and Daniel decided to become a Raider. Taking one ship far down the coast, well past where any of the settled Islands were, Daniel and his crew attacked farming villages and coastal outposts, taking what they could. A few weeks of this ended up with Daniel on Wanted Posters and the locals sending for proper warships to repel these raiders.

A chase soon occurred, with the larger warships gaining on Daniel's Drekar slowed by his ill gotten gains. But Daniel had a plan. Carefully preparing his sails, Daniel let the warships maneuver him towards the Dread Curtain of Doom. Thinking they would soon have him pinned, the warships closed in. As they passed thru, everyone visible on Daniel's ship 'passed-on', with much theatrical screaching and screaming. The warships hastily turned away to avoid the same fate. Scanning the drekar with telescopes as it quietly sailed away from the coastline, the Officiers of the warships declared them all Ex-pirates.

Playing dead until the warships were no longer visible, the drekar turned for home. Slowly traveling since they were in friendlier waters, Daniel stopped further up the coast. That night, while celebrating at a tavern, Daniel was presented with a copy of the now revoked bounty poster. His comment about feeling pretty good for a dead man was met with cheers from his crew and Deadman Drake became his nickname.

In the years that followed the independent Outer Islands became home to many a raider and pirate crew, causing problems for the coast in both directions. Eventually they took on the name The Drapery Islands, after the safety the Curtain provided. A group of well-to-do's stuck to the old name when they increased the area's financial stability with the creation of the Outer Bank. This soon became where many of the mainland's wealthy would "tuck a little something away where the tax man couldn't get to it".

Clever Tiktoskr Year 170

The Continent is fairly full, but it is a dangerous and resource-rich place. "Humanity" hides in it's niches, and possess little technology with which to defend and grow themselves - but they are not alone. Tiktoskr visits with his old friend off the coast and muses about how to implement his ideas.

The Coagulation Period

Solitary scavengers skimming through the scree of once-cities. Some survivalists skulking across the landscape. Strong-arms setting upon those unfortunate enough to be seen. Several skills dissappear 'After', simply not useful as hard-scrabble.

Eventually small groups begin to collese, like single cell organisms clustering. For strength in numbers, for mutual protection, for possible futures. The small groups merge into larger bodies, sometimes as welcome additions of knowledge & labor, sometimes consumed as food & resources.

Structure and culture begin to reappear after basic needs are met. Some tribes continue to roam benignly, starting trade. Other roamers prey on those they encounter, marking out territory. Some tribes settle in one spot. Agriculture expands. Craft trades and specialized skills develope. Knowledge again becomes useful to have. Popluations grow, colonizing the surrounding land.

Government, or at least controlling entities, enforce their version of cultural values. Conflict arises between neighbors when those values differ, sometimes minor things pushed by strident voices. Other major differences are accepted as actually unimportant in the greater scheme.

The body of society has re-formed from its scattered parts.

The Slosh Ring Year 210

As the curtain rises, it pushes people back but a certain species takes a very different path. One of The Gennsishydra’s own monsters, the Primordial Ooze, lived well within the underground caverns below. These primordial single celled masses of pure hunger, slowly slosh their way through life, looking for their next meal to grow and divide. After years of fighting the underground threats, the semi-intelligent Ooze species is pushed to the edge of the Curtain. With the other species afraid of the Curtain of Death's grasp, the Primordial Ooze are forced to confront it and to everyone’s horror, most of them are unaffected. Content to survive on what is outside the Curtain of Death, the Ooze eventually form a ring around the outside of the Curtain of Death, now dubbed the Slosh Ring. Now this Ring consists of few Oozes, as life around the Curtain of Death is minimal but full of artifacts that the Oozes could not digest as well as unusual cavern structure that give the Oozes the upper hand in their own territory.

The Extinction of the Heizun Tribe Year 220

With tribes rebuilding, one tribe in particular ran into issues with the space available to them beginning to push against the Curtain of Death. The people of the tribe Heizun were haughty, tall, slender, and beautiful with very dark skin (in my mind I would compare their culture to that of ancient China). They had a natural affinity for many types of defensive and divination magic, and a sort of natural sense of pride which led them to believe that they were far superior to other races. This didn't exactly earn them a lot of allies, and once they felt any remote sense of tension, they looked into fleeing. After some study, they were convinced they were equipped to pass through the curtain of death unharmed.

When the time came, they packed up their belongings and prepared for a journey to lands unknown. And as it turned out, their magic did nothing to help them against the curtain and 90% of them died immediately. The 10% who remained were not able to survive on their own, and many speculate that most of those survivors died from either infighting or aggressive enemies who either made it through the curtain or were already there. Their fate is ultimately unknown, but it is mostly accepted that the Heizun are extinct as one has not been seen since. Their old cities stand ruined and abandoned, bleak reminders that the curtain of death is not something that can be thwarted. No one has taken up residence in the cities since, believing them to be cursed.

Yana and the Curtain of Death Year 222

Yana, greatest swordmaster in the world admits that even his godly powers cannot allow others to penetrate the current consistently, this convinces Mezoberanu's predalect to keep his people put, even if they will be overrun by the oncoming Krovorian barbarian hordes.

The (Short Lived) Human Empire of Farven Period

Realizing that the lands were once again relatively safe and independent, a group of Humans in the northern reaches got the idea that if they banded together, they may be able to rule it for themselves. After all, humans tended to be more ambitious and adaptable than other races, and they felt that should give them an edge. In the short term, it worked, and they made quick progress conquering other lands that were neither expecting an attack, nor prepared and able to defend from one. However, it turned out the humans in charge were terrible at keeping this mess organized and together. Corruption ran rampant among the upper circles, and the humans became complacent in their success. After only a century of rule, many other races banded together and revolted against them. When they were actually prepared and ready, they were capable of much more power and strategy than the humans could ever be. The empire fell as quickly as it had risen. Many of the longer lived races still view humans with scorn and as second-class citizens for their race's actions.

The Felling of Harl Grimwind Year 310

Failed usurper Harl Grimwind and his band of clansfolk were exiled from the Clans of the North for their traitorous actions. Harl was more a fool than a leader and dared to take his followers across the land bridge to the continent to the south. He promised his companions greener lands and rich natural resources. He did not listen to the warning of the shamans of the tribes to the south, nor have any with him to try to talk reason into him. They marched through the Curtain of Death, the warriors of the tribe they had last raided hot on their heels, seeking vengeance.

Harl watched with horror as his clanless fell around him, screaming and clawing at the air. Shrieking in agony. Their numbers were devastated, their livestock and beasts of burdens equally culled without mercy. He was heard to shriek, clutching his head:

My brothers, my quinn, my kae're...

What have you done [to them]?

After it was done, there were so few of them left, but they trudged on, abandoning supplies they could no longer carry. They were desperate now, more than the star-struck they had been when first setting out. So it was that when they came across the helpful and amiable, but physically unimpressive Gaelph, the humans fell to their most basest of instincts, and taking full advantage of their new 'friends' practically enslaved them, stealing their magics and used it to form the basis of an empire.

We all Float Down Here Year 350

In the midst of the collapse of the Empire of Farven the fishing village of White Harbor suddenly disappeared. The village itself remained, with all of the buildings and belongings left undamaged and in place, but it seemed that every townsperson dropped what they were doing and just left. Boats and bewildered animals were left behind, however, and nobody could figure out where exactly the residents went. White Harbor's fate was initially considered to be of secondary importance, with the violence and general chaos of the of the collapsing empire generating plenty of more pressing matters.

Several other coastal villages similarly disappear, however, and as the pattern became more apparent it became more menacing as well. Rumors ran wild, as varied as alleged attacks by strange fish people, tsunamis that only dragged away people while leaving everything else untouched, and even entire villages spontaneously dissolving into liquid and flowing out into the ocean. The prevailing narrative that was eventually established, however, relied on a number of independent eyewitness accounts. Children playing far from their village reported seeing the rest of the residents walking out into the ocean in loose columns, pushing on until they disappeared beneath the waves. Two survivors from different villages, both miraculously unaffected, recounted tales of family and neighbors suddenly entering some sort of trance and calmly walking out into the sea, unaffected by any pleas for explanation or attempts to physically restrain them. The villages, apparently, were being compelled by some force to walk out beneath the waves. No remains ever returned with the tide.

The disappearances became less frequent after the empire's collapse but didn't stop entirely. Attempts to prevent or at least understand the disappearances produced few results. An elven expedition, however, managed to track affected villagers out to several miles at sea, apparently still mobile at depths where they should have asphyxiated or been killed by other pressures. Scrying also revealed an apparent battle nearby deep in the sea between humanoid sea-dwellers (merfolk) and some sort of large, amorphous entity. Little more information could be gathered, however.

The Lady of Silver Scales Year 355

All men fear the darkness of the deeps, and so too do the Merfolk, albeit with more reason. While the land-dwelling races are far beyond its reach, the Sunken One stirred in the abyss, and the fish-folk found themselves in dire peril.

Strange aquatic monsters began to ascend from the lightless depths, and the Merfolk found their minds darkening in their mere presence. Whatever this entity was, it called them, and some did answer the call, albeit bucking and screaming as they did so.

The goddess of nature, Galathne, selected a champion from her oceanborn children, granting the mermaid Zennara a weapon of great power and might: the Silver Trident. Upon taking the Trident in hand, Zennara's blue-green scales shone like silver with the hardness of steel. With the Trident's power, she delved into the black abyss, and confronted an aspect of The Sunken One. A single tentacle, split into seven horrific, gnashing heads, was repelled back into the darkness, and the merfolk thought they would no longer be troubled by the entity. Time passed, and the merfolk were shocked to find shore-dwellers walking on the ocean's floor in an eerie trance, marching towards the Sunken Trench where Zennara had waged battle.

The Mysterious Vanishing of Farvenor Year 370

At the height of the Farven Empire, Farvenor, the capital and largest city of the empire of Farven was one day enveloped in a thick fog/mist. Trade to and from the huge city stopped as anyone that went into the fog vanished without a trace. As word from the capital city ceased, the other cities in the empire began to go about their business. After several months the fog lifted, all on the same day, but there wasn't a trace left of the city. No giant palaces, no buildings, no fountains or statues, no pillars that once supported the government buildings, not even an indent in the ground where the city had been. It had simply vanished, without a trace, as if it had never existed.

The nearby grasslands went unbroken throughout the entire area of the city. The only evidence it had existed was the road that had led into the fog stopping suddenly at tall grasses.

Stories tell of the great city that vanished in the fog and nearly everyone in the world (of any species/race) worry that the mysterious fog could engulf one of their cities without warning.

There are those that claim they can foretell when a fog may appear, but they are rarely, if ever, correct and just provide more mystery to the situation.

Hylkos and the Ascension of Ahniet Year 380

In the final years of the Farven Empire Ahniet, a mage of some renown, leads a group of human refugees to the Hylkos Isles. Uninhabited because of naturally occurring (and potentially deadly) spontaneous magical phenomena, Ahniet binds the local energies to create magical traps and wards defending the isles. Local civilization begins and more humans join as the situation in the empire proper continue to deteriorate.

Ahniet eventually realizes that the local magical energies are a result of a ley line running particularly "close" to the material word. Experimenting with this wellspring of energy, she undoes herself and is reborn as a demigod of humanity, protection, magic, and lateral thinking. Worshippers and most human sources in general depict her transformation as an act of brilliance. Most non-human sources are inclined to depict her ascension as nearly fatal and half an accident, an example of what humans are inclined to get up to when tampering with forces beyond their comprehension.

Kaskotia Islands make the maps Year 390

Not noticed until a merchant ship passed close enough to see the growing ash clouds, a volcano erupted in the jungle island cluster known only as Kashotia. Researchers attempting an expedition a few weeks later met disaster as multiple failures cascaded into the death of almost half the investigators involved. The unexpected failures confused everyone. Tents protected by anti-heat magics caught fire. Sentry golems gave false alarms and would not shut off. Haul-ants (cargo carrier clockworks) would suddenly start spinning in tight circles, throwing supplies and heavier equipment around like catapults. A squad of hikers trying to get closer to a lava flow missed the report-in time. The second squad sent to check in on them found them higher up the trail, frozen in place with ice slowly melting off. Somehow the pipes from the portable outhouses had gotten crossed-connected with the cistern's storage unit. On the third evening the mess hall erupted with massive fungal growths, destroying much of the food stocks. Several people eating nearby got sick the next day and died over the next week from the spores they had inhaled. On day five the expedition leader announced that they were abandoning the islands and to pack up. But even leaving did not go very well. Suitcase latches and crate nails were found to be corroded and bent. Objects did not seem to fit into their custom packing boxes anymore. The decision was made to leave most of the equipment. Finally, the ship's engines would not start. Exhausted and wounded, the crew limped away on oars away from Kaskotia.

Eventually some scholar noticed several interesting (to them at least) coincidences about the Kaskotia Islands. The scholar mapped the Hylkos Ley Line and saw that it passed through the Kaskotias also. It was estimated that the volcano originally erupted the same day Ahniet Acsended. Several locations downwind or down-current of Kaskotia have spikes in gossip/reports of odd occurences and magical failures whenever Ahniet is known to do major acts of demigodness. The scholar proposes that the World has Balance and that whenever Ahniet is drawing energy for a Protection Ward or act of Diety, that she is causing an opposite event to occur elsewhere, mainly near Kaskotia.

The scholar is shunned and hounded/exiled from Hylkos and copies of the theories destroyed when found. Occasionally the theories resurface again, usually in non-human hands.

On many maps, Kaskotia is marked as a Cursed Place and warnings it should be avoided spread.

The Golden Age of Cornia Period

Although there are none who can remember a time before Cornia existed, nearly all historians agree that while Cornia was ruled by Council of Clans, much of the world benefited. While Cornia was far from the curtain of death, it was not uncommon for Cornian magic, art, music, and stories to make their way through the curtain. During this time, much of the world outside the curtain experienced a time of relative peace, harmony, and prosperity, almost completely unaware of the horrors that far off lands were dealing with (namely the curtain of death).

For some time, Cornia was governed by a democratic body that was represented by all walks of life living there, including Monsterkind. Trade flourished and along with it, developments were made in magic, art and education. It seemed as though this peaceful existence could go on forever.

Things started to collapse after some humans from within the curtain appeared, though the decline was so gradual, no one can pinpoint the exact moment things started to fall apart. At first, they wished to restrict the influence of the gaelphlings, whom they viewed as slaves and second class citizens. This slowly extended to many other races and political houses until the entire system dissolved into a political free-for-all.

The Entry of the Pixies Everyone Loves to Hate Year 520

One of the many races that developed in Cornia was a small, pixie like race known as Windlings. For some time, they lived separately from much of civilization, primarily sticking to wooded areas far from the influence of larger humanoids. Some more urban cultures considered them mythical even, since they were rarely seen.

No non-windling is entirely sure what made their attitude change, but the windlings all like to tell wildly varying stories that range from "We just got bored of living in trees and wanted to see what rocks sounded like" to "A tall person was nice to me once so I cleaned his house while he slept and never left." Windlings took over cities like insects. At first, there would be a sighting of one or two, and then a few weeks later there could be as many as thousands in large enough areas, and then they would get bored and move on to the next area, often in less than a year. After being given enough time to settle, they could fairly consistently in different areas, though few decided to stay in one place for too long.

Windlings brought with them a fresh perspective on magic, particularly in applications of flashy illusions and "wiggling your fingers until it's bigger on the inside so you can fit your favorite rocks in it." Windlings were also fairly knowledgeable in things like agriculture (albeit on a small scale) and some other magical renditions of botany and artwork.

They were not well received by all, and some more closed-minded individuals referred to them as pests. Windlings were seldom concerned with how the "tall people" felt about them, and largely continued to do their own thing.

For descriptive purposes: Windlings are a pixie-like race of humanoids. They are about 1'6" tall and possess large butterfly wings, which they can use to fly. They are naturally adept at magic, mental fortitude, and speed, but are physically weak due to their small stature. They also tend to change colors to adapt to their surroundings over time. They are fairly capricious and eager to explore the world around them, but easily distracted by the thought of adventure or shiny objects.

The Great Fairies Ascend Year 530

The goddess of nature, in order to keep the Windlings' chaotic nature in check, selected several responsible and level-headed individuals among them to watch over their people from within the largest woodland areas in the land. They grew both in size and power, and were gifted with great wisdom. These chosen of the goddess became known as the Great Fairies. When a Great Fairy delivers an edict, even the mischievous Windlings are inclined to obey. Occasionally, non-windling heroes or champions of the goddess received gifts from the Great Fairies, be they of magical or physical nature.

The Rise of the Molinari Period

Upon reaching the surface, the once great Molinari splinter off from Anari, creating two factions. The Molinari, a translucent skinned, biped, semi-aquatic race that functioned as workers and scientists in Anari society. The Anari, a hard shelled, biped semi-aquatic race that functions as warriors and leaders in Anari society. When the Molinari first burrowed to the outside, the sunlight set their evolution into full power. When Molinari are exposed to sunlight, their body begins photosynthesizing energy which manifests as arching electricity. When the Anari are exposed to sunlight, their body begins similarly generate power, but it manifests in large amounts of heat and fire. This revelation splits the Anari when the Molinari want to explore the new, tropical world while the Anari want to seal it up and stay underground and unlike when they were underground both are now on equal footing.

The Molinari fight an uphill battle to assert their place in the world Year 600

The Molinari, recently arriving at the surface, begin to explore and grow. With their new found freedom and powers, they expand from their underground cities. Building their first towns above ground, they begin to face the hardships of the surface world. After numerous assaults from monstrous Kaiju, Farven Cultists, and the Anari disowning them; the Molinari still stand, stronger than ever. This makes them the dominant people in the area.

The Rise of the Monster Hunters Year 610

As the Molinari begin to explore more of the surface, they encounter other groups, and not all of them are hostile. They make peace and have fair trade with the Technologically Inclined Lombaxes, the Ferocious Krovorian and the Scattered Humans. The Lombaxes are an ingenuities race, intuitively talented in inventing new tools from the world around them. They are small, furry, bipedal creatures and their size and lack of natural weapons made their evolution into tinkers inevitable. The Krovorian are a barbaric and strong headed race of bipedal Reptilian predators. While not the largest, the average Krovorian stand at a measly 8 foot tall, they are very much predators that enjoy hunting much larger game. The Humans, a resilient sect of bipedal primates, shows an unnatural resilience and the ability to adapt many insects species would kill for. With their combined skills, talents and abilities, they establish a Guild. A group of like-minded people, across all races, who have chosen to protect their home by focusing on the Monstrous Threats around.

The Settlement of the Razor Tooth Coast Year 620

As the Monster Hunters begin exploring further and further out from the Molinari City of Kaigi (Meeting Place) the humans begin to re-learn their heritage from the ruins of Farven. This leads them to follow the path of the Exiles all the way to the coast. So far their exploration has been stopped, as Large Sea Monsters are all over the now dubbed, Razor Tooth Coast. The settlement of the Coast as well as further exploration of the Farven ruins provides sufficient a task for now. Without outside help, they are doomed to never see their now exiled brethren.

Crafter-Smith Lewis Nobbsentor invents Molinari-powered defense suits Year 632

Expanding on an idea that the surface blacksmiths had built into their heavy armor used in monster hunting--a spring powered elbow & shoulder joint mechanism that could be used to give a single devastating punch (or, in some models, launch the suit's sleave like a ballista bolt) -- Crafter-Smith Nobbsentor took advantage of the Molimari's natural abilities to provide similar abilities with more than a single-use.

The surface-dweller's armor needed to be manually reset after being triggered. This was often done by one or more squire/page assistants using levers, gears, or such mechansisms and required many rounds* of the fighter in the suit holding still. Not something that could be done easily in the midst of battle against most creatures.

• { A "round" is a short period of time. }

{ Longer than a 'second', but smaller than a 'minute'. }

CS Lewis placed several mechanical devices along the arms and legs of the armor that drew upon the wearing Molinari's electric field to provide a sustained increase in strength and speed triggered by switches in the gloves and boots. While Nobbsentor's armor suits did not give quite as strong a punch as the surface-dweller's Devastator Armor, their boost lasted several minutes before draining the wearer, providing a sustained increase in fighting damage and dodge ability that would last the length of a skirmish. And on sunny days this boost could be used several times as the wearer recharged themselves.

The First Inevitable Year 635

The Proto-Inevitable came to help the humanoids after a chance encounter with a Lore Keeper. This creation was brought back to the Monster Hunters and with the combined knowledge of the races, began to mass produce theses golems.

Monsterkind Coexsist Year 640

Many generations after the creation of the monsters by The Genesishydra, some of the monsters gained a level of intelligence to where they formed their own civilization. Largely separate from the world, since most species saw them as threats/enemies, these 50-500 foot tall kaiju looked very unique from one another.

This relates since the formation of the Monster Hunter Guild brought about Monsterkind's greatest threat. They had been living separate from other races by large distances, keeping to themselves and leaving their villages if other races intruded. Now that the Monster Hunter Guild was created, though, these monsters realized they had to make contact with the smaller races. They first sent out diplomats to discuss treaties, but these were killed. They eventually sent out a large gaggle of monsters (About 30 in all) to the largest city, waving white cloths and not attacking. These too were killed and were seen as a threat. As a final attempt, they met a young Molinari with influence that learned their language and helped them work out a treaty with their people.

Upon agreeing to this treaty, Monsterkind continued to walk on egg shells, metaphorically, around the other races until they felt that they wouldn't be hunted to extinction.

There still were countless monsters that were not intelligent, but the monsters of Monsterkind managed to make a place for themselves in the world where they could coexist with the smaller races. The Monsters (uppercase to indicate intelligence) of Monsterkind are capable of reading and writing, where the majority of the descendants of monsters created by The Genesishydra, are incapable of most rational thoughts.

The conclusion is that they can now coexist more or less without the threat of being hunted, despite the presence of the Monster Hunter Guild. Many of Monsterkind actually join the guild to help combat the other monsters, but most prefer to live in peace in their own villages.

Custom Clothes from Monstrous Minds Year 650

Kasneestax was a MonsterKin tailor & fashionista who worked heavily in special materials. He especially liked leathers, claiming the feel of it as the clothes smoothly slid across his own skin of fine scales was very pleasurable. More popular with many of his customers, however, was a line of irridaisent gowns, scarfs, and hoods that floated on the lightest of air currents and shimmered in the light, each with a unique pattern of colors.

Kasneestax claimed to have several connections to members of the Monster Hunters Guild, which gave him access to these unusual and rare materials. While this was true, and Kasneestax made good use of those Guild contacts, his main source of materials was related to the fact that he was of high rank in The Twisted, a power-hungry and self-serving group of GenisisHydra worshippers who used dark rituals to advance their desires. Kasneestax would gather the 'leftovers' of their rituals for his own use. He would also feed the gossip he heard from his high society customers back to The Twisted, supporting nefarious plans or providing warnings of increased military movements as appropriate. A limited number of garments had remote magical tracking installed, though The Twisted could not control when/if a target would be wearing a piece of Kasneestax's clothing on any given day. They also experimented with remote spying methods and sending curses through the clothes.

And those popular shimmery scarves and gowns. That material came from what The Twisted discovered were a great source of short-lived but quite lively ritual energy--Windlings. Their pixie nature turned out to be excellent for powering spells. Better than the humans and smaller MonsterKin, The Twisted had been using before that discovery.

Mockridge's Mistake: The Seafolk's Revenge Year 660

Sailors return from voyages telling drunken tales of half-fish, half-man creatures living in the oceans. Most of these tales are regarded as drunken fabrications or the result of too much sun at sea. An intrigued researcher, Adrian Mockridge, takes to the water aboard a Cornian vessel to discover the truth, and he returns with a captive Mermaid, which garners him much fame and prestige, but at a cost.

Originally the Merfolk had been largely benign: curious, even, at the manner and culture of the land-dwellers. But the imprisonment of one of their own, and the subsequent death that followed (Mockridge had failed to correctly accommodate his prize) turned formerly magical meetings into deadly ambushes at sea.

Still, the Merfolk held a fondness for goods and valuables carried by land-dweller vessels, and so a few splinter groups, the Sea Reavers, begin raiding ships that venture too far from the protection of a coastal navy, either capsizing smaller skiffs or knocking out the spigots and seacocks of larger vessels from below. The most feared of the Sea Reaver captains, Cezanne Stormfin, even managed to sink a Fenmark Wavecutter carrying several powerful magical items to an undisclosed location, presumably a previously unknown island.

Time of the Webbed Moon Period

The Arachnos, spider monster people with centaur-like configuration, and one of The Genesishydra’s most heinous offspring, follow the Molinari to the surface. While they cannot abide the direct touch of the sun itself, they lurk in caves, slinking out at night to ensnare, kidnap and abduct fresh prey which they drag down their holes, suck dry of most nutrients and then their nest mothers plant a host of eggs in which explode out of their host-corpse a while later numbering in the thousands with some of the features of their dead food source. Nearly every sentient race has the possibility of being turned into these vile creatures and so all become prey to the newest terror of the night. The people are forced to limit any outside nightly activity. Fire and Light production become a major development focus, for they are what can drive back the Arachnos. Cultures gather around Beacons of Mana, naturally bright fonts of magic that follow the stars movements and are further brightened by the inventions of the races surviving around them, but this attracts the attention of more sinister, less picky monsters as well… Worship of the Light becomes a major religion in many communities, due to its new-found usefulness. Eventually, a band of heroes representing most of the races slays Arachne, terrible Queen of Arachnos, direct Daughter of the Genesishydra, and the land is able to begin to recover.

The Molinari Invent Artificial Sunlight Year 710

Building upon the work of Lewis Nobbsentor, Molinari scientists are able to create a device that uses their own electrical currents to power artificial sunlight. At first it was clunky and difficult to properly use and manufacture, but a scientist by the name of Gwenaelle Syran is credited with not only coming up with a way to mass-produce the device, but leading an expedition below the surface to gather the materials needed to do so. Once completed and distributed, the Arachnos were much less of a threat than before and were promptly dealt with. The devices also had many other practical and religious applications, and are used in religious ceremonies worshipping the light, while also making crops easier to grow in areas with harsher conditions. And to clarify Gwenaelle was not directly involved in the defeat of Arachne, she merely helped that process along.

An Equal and Opposite Reaction 720

The suddenly expansionist nature of the Molinari, combined with the paramilitary "Monster Hunting" guilds and their advances in armor, begin to alarm some of the factions/races that rose back to power after the fall of Farven. Many of the older members of the long lived races, after all (Elves, Dwarves, Delmvalmi) personally remember the rise of Humanity and the resulting consequences. The innovation of artificial sunlight further exacerbates the problem (from some perspectives) by effectively removing a threat to the Molinari's rear that might have checked further expansion.

Political pressures are building when events come to a head in the Larjenhoff Incident. A group of Monster Hunters kill a dragon demanding tribute from the eponymous frontier town, a largely human settlement unwilling to acknowledge the sovereignty of a supernatural being. Many members of the more conservative races consider this to be an act of murder, particularly the disciples of the various Seinaryu ("holy dragon") movements. Violent clashes between Monster Hunters and Seinaryai break out, resulting in casualties on both sides.

Leading factions of the Dwarven, Elven, and Ogrim (Orc/Troll) races quickly establish the Heilga the "Sacred League". Foreign Adventurers Monster Hunters are promptly banned from operating within Heilga territory. A policy assuring mutual defense of independence is quickly adopted, drawing in more of the non-aligned races/factions concerned with losing ground to a new world order. Even the (mostly) pacifistic Delmvalmi join the league, under the written caveat that their telepathic powers will be used to defuse battles and negotiate peace, in their usual custom.

An unusual sort of cold war starts to set in...

Anari Scouting and Immersion 730

After the Molinari begin exploring the surface world, the Anari have difficulty controlling the rest of the populace. Their once noble religion, each supporting each other in their strongest area, begins to shake and crumble. Their cast of holy warriors, who every morning would bathe in the rays of the sun to get their powers, let in through a small opening, choose to investigate the surface. The exploration is fruitful but ultimately splits the Anari people. Those who see the surface are enticed by its splendor and agree to stay with their Molinari cousins, while those who only hear tale think of it as heresy. Eventually the remaining Anari holy warrior cast disconnects themselves from the surface but melting the entrance into the underground. This begins a new era in Anari history, where the warrior cast now develops into metal artisans with their fire abilities while the Molinari apply their curiosity and intellectual talents to the other threats at hand.

The Cornian/Fenmark Secret War Period

Fenmark, being to the East of the continent in question, was safe from the probing of Cornia's scouts until they routed themselves around the Curtain of Death. Named for its many dales and larks, it is a land 'blessed by the gods of nature'. Fonts of magic infused the stone and water in ages past and so the land is home to fantastic and impossible geometric shapes, labyrinthine caves, floating islands and waterfalls that flow upwards. It is no wonder that it is also the ancestral home to the peaceful Gaephlings and resourceful Lombax. After Emperor Tazzit the Fourth of Cornia ordered a successful invasion of Gaz and the Lands of the Medites, he turned the proverbial eyes of the Empire to the Far East. Scouts first found the cursed lands, and its dread Curtain. And so for a hundred years or so they thought that side of the world inaccessible, and left it a shrouded mystery on their maps. Then, a stranger from the dark shores came to Cornia with strange powers and dire threats. She made waves in the monarchy and stirred insinuations of great wealth and danger from beyond the curtain. Thebius the First, Ol' Thunderhead spoke out and inspired his war-eager generals into action: the jewels of the East would belong to Cornia. But before the wings war could fully unfurl themselves, tragedy, or perhaps fate, struck. Emperor Thebius was assassinated at the declaration meeting by one of the Shadow folk. It was never proven that the Stranger was Fenmark, nor that Fenmark had sponsored the assassination. But the new oligarchy that formed in the vaccuum of the emperor's demise (for he had no remaining sons, some thought he had found immortality), had no intention of caring out war they were not nearly as zealous about, and certainly not without their indomitable grand general. Instead, they chose to fight subtlety with subtlety. Spies from the deserts of the Land of the Medites, noble saboteurs from their own ranks and even agents that represented the interests of far-off Nex were all employed. Despite that they found themselves countered at nearly every turn. More Shadow folk were discovered in a twenty year span within the country than at any other point in time, the lack of magical understanding meant that Cornia's rulership and military were being run circles around in terms of developing their strategies and resistances. It didn't help that the average Cornia citizen didn't even know who or what they were facing across the world, merely the threat and importance of national secrecy. In the end, interest in Fenmark's wealth waned and the public became disgruntled and demand a cease in activities they didn't see as worth the trouble. Although the aristocracy had the power, it's more than likely they were infiltrated fully and either corrupt of represented enemy interest when they gave up the conflict - more than a dozen noble families moved from the city, fled, or otherwise disappeared from the capitol afterwards.

The Kaio Sphere Year 820

The three individuals of monster kind that survived many years among the Cornians and were great allies to the Cornians. The ancient Grom Ocilus, protected by his natural electric energies, is a floating Eye with a great intelligence. Seeing fit to collect and store the knowledge of the world, he established himself at the top of the Mountain Range now named after him. There he sits and shares his wisdom with any who travel there, enjoying each other’s company so much so that he has allowed a group of monastic individuals to establish libraries within his “realm” to share with the world.

The second, Wolcano, a giant Turtle with Magma for blood, patrols the Eastern Sea. There he has vanished into obscurity but some historians observed him creating islands within that vast ocean.

The third, Thanatos, is the most prominent and has the most known about him. Helping the people to settle a desert, his strength was about spent, and he collected a group of Adventurers and told them his last wish. His wish was for them to use him as they saw fit, as he did not believe in an afterlife, his body would provide a great use to them. So, without a home to call their own, they name the Black city after him and began working. Eventually, Thantos’s black scaled dragon body, was emptied for food and tools. His wings clipped for weapons and armor and on his back the Cornians would make as the foundation of their city.

The Creation of the Living Islands Year 830

The merfolk were beginning to grow tired of ships from both nations traveling through their waters, while both nations would deny the existence of said ships. While it was fairly easy for the merfolk to take down a lone ship at this point, they wanted to have better control of their waters.

The merfolk made a deal with a stranger in order to magically build their own weapons to fight back. While little is known about who exactly helped them, it is rumored that they allied with a Monsterkin who would go on to be a part of the many headed cult. The merfolk used their newfound power to create gigantic creatures from rocks and stones from the depths to act as sentinels for their sacred lands. Some more creative merfolk were able to use islands themselves, though these were always too small to be inhabited.

At first, it worked. Neither Cornia nor Fenmark knew how to handle such a creature and many ships were lost. Eventually it was discovered that the magic holding these creatures together could be fairly easily disrupted. Relatively few of these creatures still exist, if any at all.

The Light's Beacon is Lit Year 840

As shadowy agents began to infiltrate and corrupt the once-bright nation of Cornia, suspicion and distrust ran rampant among the people. Anyone could be the enemy, and neighbors were taking this witch-hunt as an excuse to remove those they did not favor. It was a dark time, one in need of a Light.

Kainan Paravel, a solider in Cornia's army, prayed for some way to bring peace back to the nation, for the power to reveal the truth without fault and serve justice without corruption. The god Tirian, the Lightbringer, answered his call, granting him the powers of the Light. Kainan could see the darkness in the souls of men, and where his Light shone no shadows could hide the truth. He could discern lies with near-perfect accuracy, and by his hands the courts were made level once again.

Saint Paravel the Just, as he became known, restored a sort of balance to Cornia, establishing a cathedral to his patron deity which he named Light's Beacon. Some even asked to aid in Kainan's mission, and they too were granted the powers of the Light.

Saint Paravel died in battle against a monstrous entity which the shaken survivors only referred to as "The Darkness", within an ancient cairn called Saering's Rest. It is unknown as to whether or not Paravel actually defeated the creature, though to this day the cairn is sealed with symbols of the Light. A small fraction of Tirianites watch over the cairn, but they give the place a wide berth.

The Severed Period

After the repeated and deadly attacks by spawn of The Genesishydra, Monsterkind and humanoid relationships are more strained than ever. This dire situation comes to a head when a Monsterkind attempt a powerful ascension rite and rather than sacrificing one of their own to power it, capture dozens of Light Worshipers to fuel their bloody magics. To be brief, the ritual does not go according to plan. Those that participate do gain immense power, but with their ascension, they broke a fundamental link within them. Each monster (intelligent or not) feels it intimately. Monsterkind are no longer linked in that indescribable primal way to their ultimate progenitor, The Genesishyrdra. From that day on, they are the Severed. Angry and traumatized by this hereditary shunning, the Severed razed the countryside, smashing what civilization they found and enslaving those that they did not trample. This act was led by the fierce, now nearly feral Bar-gar. After becoming Severed, he named Monsterkind the rulers of the land and himself king and their power was enough to almost instantaneously overwhelm the remnants of the Monster Hunter's Guild. Besides sundering the oldest Guild, he also outlawed all worship of the Light. Some scholars suspect that the mad ruler was motivated by trying to become reunited with their ancestral lineage, but if that was the case, they never succeeded.

The Multi-Headed Cult Year 910

A group of monsters, seeking to reclaim the lost connection they possessed to the Genesishydra, become a religious group known as The Many-Headed Cult, who revere the mother of Monsterkind as a deity. They perform occult sacrifices, even among their own kind, causing them to be shunned further among Monsterkind. A small connection does become established, but its effects prove volatile and dangerous, mutating the participants into a powerful yet feral state, stripping them of any humanoid intelligence they may have possessed. They refer to this ritual as "The Reawakening", and the practice becomes taboo among many monsters.

Battle of the Severed Year 920

Eventually, The Many-headed Cult is reasonably successful in its goals. Through dark and vile rituals, many Monsterkind manage to become more powerful and devise ways to corrupt other members of Monsterkind with vapors. Hordes of feral monsterkind poured across the land, consuming everything in their wake. This also led to Monsterkind becoming much less prominent in society, and the few that didn't go into hiding developed tools to prevent corruption, though they were never able to reverse its effects.

The Monster Hunter's Guild took up arms against the horde, and after many months of bloody warfare, they managed to finally put an end to the cult, though both Monster Hunter and Monsterkind faced heavy casualties. No one but the guild is truly certain of the fate of the cult, and there are always rumors of cult involvement every time something bad happens.

While people across the land are glad to be rid of the cult and the horde, this ultimately raises tensions regarding the power of the Monster Hunter's Guild and the presence of Monsterkind in society.

The End Period

The region draws outside eyes, ready to explore it's dangerous wilds. (Year 1,000-Present)

Magictown University Founded Year 1,010

The magic-users of the world have magic schools throughout the land, most have been abandoned for many years, but some still exist. One of the biggest schools had a student who went only by his last name Johnson. After graduating when he was in his early twenties, he decided that the magic schools of the world (particularly the one he graduated from) were too exclusive and shunned the less fortunate. The poor would be denied because they couldn't afford it and most of the less respected races (including the Monsterkind and Ogrim (orc/troll), among others) were outright denied entry due to extreme racism. Johnson took it upon himself to set out and found a school of his own that would be far more inclusive for the magically adept.

He gathered a following at the school he graduated from and began construction on his own school a few miles away. With the use of magic, the school came together far quicker than it would have without its aid. He had members of each race help him, including a few Monsters. The school was a success. He made lots of money mainly from donations from approving members of the discriminated races, which he spent almost exclusively on the school and the students. He earned the nickname Magic Johnson for his efforts.

There was, of course, bitterness and rivalry between him and his Alma-mater as well as other magic schools, but it was never enough to close down the school. In time, Magictown University became grudgingly loved even by some of its most hated enemies.

Magictown University had to be rebuilt in one of the rival school attacks and, instead of rebuilding on the spot, he decided to move the school to a far off land, to better protect the students and staff. He gathered all staff and many of the students into a group of ships and took them across the sea to the continent that, unbeknownst to them, was fringed by the Curtain of Death.

When they passed through it, 90% of them died instantly. It was catastrophic for the school. Luckily, enough of them survived that they were able to rebuild a functional school, albeit less than it's former glory.

The survivors noticed that they were able to pass through the Curtain unharmed (it seems the 10% that survive it do so every time). Magic Johnson was one such survivor. He advertised the school to foreigners and many were still interested despite the guaranteed 90% death rate. At first anyway. After the first trip, though, only 10% survived and foreigners stopped traveling to the school.

Luckily for the school, previous survivors, from earlier shipwrecks or voyages, had made a series of villages near the coast that supplied enough students to sustain the school, albeit with far fewer magically-inclined individuals. Trade was possible by way of the survivors.

The conclusion is that Magictown University exists to the present day behind the Curtain of Death, but is less of a magic school these days.

Colonies of the New Land 1,020

Cornia, a large multi-species sovereignty far off from the continent in interest had - due to political upheaval - an overpopulation of its jails. Since whole houses were seized, not merely the perceived perpetrators of a given crime, this meant all classes of citizenry was present. To alleviate this burden, the ruling monarch came up with the clever idea to reduce the burden: Under the guise of 'seeding the colonies of their empire' she bade that golem-ships full of prisoners (pulled at random to prevent any from trying to overthrow it) were to be sailed to 'The New Land'. There, they would supposedly be given control of the new colonies or jobs within. Anyone who knew about the far-away land however, knew that this was essentially a death-sentence: Due to the terrible conditions of the golem-ships and the pervasive Curtain of Death that surrounded the entire land, nearly everyone who was sent would perish. If they did survive the trip over, then they were abandoned without supplies into the unforgiving shallows before the golem-ships started their months-long voyage back.

Incredibly, some do survive this hellish ordeal. They face the dangerous wilds of the unexplored land. Banding together is their only hope of survival. They call their eeked out existence of rag-tags Hell's Point.

Nessa the Good Year 1,030

Nessa was a young lay-priest of the Light in Cornia. She had beautiful golden-white hair, stunning ice-blue eyes, and disturbingly beautiful and fair skin. Nessa was imprisoned for preaching while supposedly inciting to riot in what was essentially a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In reality she was trying to use calm words of reason to keep the peace between the two sides, but that's Cornia for you. Even while imprisoned she kept up her rigorous religious observations, even making a life-time convert and new friend, Tarkan Jebb, an ex-naval-officer turned (briefly) to buccaneer. When she was chosen for one of the earliest golem-ship sentences, she did not despair, and survivors said she would sing to them for hours on end to help keep their spirits us. Then, as they passed through the Curtain of Death, she a white nimbus softly enveloped the ship and no screams were heard to issue from it. The few scavengers that came down from Hell's Point to greet the dead and scrounge what they could from the fallen were awestruck when she strode upon the water to offer a saving hand to those that could not last in the freezing depths. All the while with a grim look of determination on her smeared and filthy face. Miraculously, of the one hundred souls aboard that doomed vessel, a phenomenal thirty-two of them made the crossing safely, more than doubling the current population.

Since that fateful day she's been a voice of reason, a constant bastuib of support, and, perhaps, most importantly, hope, to those of Hell's Point. There is not a day she doesn't provide some physical or spiritual comfort, tend to the ill, or listen to the stories of the scouts who go beyond the horizon and provide level-headed insight on those subjects that might affect the whole community.

Even poor Tarkan made it through, on a later ship. He spoke of not having anything to live for but to see 'Sweet Nessa's smile" again and when he did, he professed his unswerving devotion to her from that day forward.

Making Lemonade Year 1,040

After burying their dead and shedding their tears, most of the surviving ex-Cornians gather at Hell's Point and begin doing what they can to rebuild some sort of civilization. Masons craft blocks of stone for their new homes, cooks nourish hungry bellies, and nobles and administrators... administrate, helping out in other ways as their personal skills or physical strength allows. But more creative minds are working on more ambitious plans of their own.

One of the golem-ships happened to contain three mages who established contact with one another and begun conspiring about how to improve their current situation. The golems-ships couldn't be turned aside to new destinations, however, having been built specifically to delver their contents beyond the Veil. But the three learned a great deal about golem-ships in the process.

Two of the three died passing the veil, one did not. When the survivors gathered at Hell's Point he brought another mage, a shipwright, and a carpenter into his conspiracy. They seemed to have few resources in the strange land but there was great power in the eldritch golem-ships, power that could turned to better purposes.

The first golem-ship that they tried to alter was destroyed irrevocably in the attempt, earning the group the nickname of "The Fourkups". The next golem-ship worked on was similarly ruined, and the general population of the survivors became hostile to this seemingly wasteful indulgence. The four managed to negotiate the rights to attempt to alter a third ship, however, and on the third try the charms works beautifully. Rows of legs emerged from the bottom of the ship, legs that could carry the massive ship up onto and around land with ease. The Fourkups guided the golem-land-ship around with ease, it's initial orders having already been carried out and it's control now seized.

The ridiculous sight elicited widespread cheers of joy, filling the survivors with hope. The golem-ships had been the site of great suffering, to be sure, but now these strange contraptions could be turned into mobile homes and fortresses for the survivors.

The Tide Comes In Year 1,050

For some time the souls of those killed by the curtain of death aren't treated unusually. But, when a particularly ill-fated ship accidentally passes through the curtain, Genesishydra instead intervenes to bind the souls of the departed together and create new monsters out of them as an experiment (if mortal words can be used to describe the intent of the divine).

The first of The Mother's creations is Chimera, three souls of the departed twisted together into a terrifyingly virile creation. Worse follows, slowly but surely. These creatures aren't bound to the death curtain but, drawing from their own ugly energies, can travel at will.

Some of these Chimera supplant existing children of Genesishydra. Some are consumed by the existing children. Most coexist with or merge with their siblings. Strange and troublingly personal horrors result.

The life of Huntergan the Furion master of the People of the Eye Year 1,060

After sharing knowledge with Grom, the lore keeper, a culture surrounding his powers come to be. The culture around him center around enhancing your body and mind to survive the conditions of the mountain he has chosen as his home. Among them, a single Monk takes a pilgrimage across the curtain. Huntergan: A Furion criminal, became a devout Monk after an incident. As a soldier, he was given a mission to raise an empty village while the people have been evacuated. After his men set the village ablaze with fire arrows, he ran in when he saw people running out of the town. His advisers, being devout to their orders, stop him and he was imprisoned. During the Cornian upheaval his prison was demolished and he fled. He come to the mountains, where no one would know him and started a new life there. Avoiding his militaristic tendencies, he takes up the Monastic lifestyle. After meeting Grom, who tells him of his past but shows no hostility to it, Grom tells of how Huntergan can focus his skills in a productive way. Together they establish the Style of the Iron Fist, a teaching within the People of the Eye. After teaching his skills to numerous students, A learns about a temple where Monsterkind practiced martial combat. Having almost superhuman abilities from learning the Style of the Iron Fist, he makes this journey the manly way. Using his superhuman abilities, he swims through the Curtain of Death and makes his way across the continent. On his journey he accomplishes multiple feats, recorded across the age. Fighting an Infernal Warlord for domain over this world, fighting his way across the continent to the Monsterkind’s Arena and fighting at the Bar-king’s arena.

Adventure! Year 1,060

With Hell's Point relatively secure and well established a group of the more ambitious survivors decides to take one of the Golem-All-Terrain-Ships (recently re-christened the Adventure) out to an island nearby covered in ruins. The island is near enough that it will have to be explored sooner or later, particularly if the ships are to be used for their more efficient seaborn travel, and there's talk of finding lost treasure among the ruins, perhaps setting up some sort of outpost on the isle. Confidence is surprisingly high, given all that the exiles have suffered.

The expedition doesn't send word back to Hell's Point for a while, long enough that it's becoming slightly concerning. Then the expedition returns, in a strange and startling fashion. An enormous gelatinous sphere emerges from the shallows and begins barreling towards Hell's Point. Deeper layers of the creature's exterior seem to consist of strange creatures and races, embedded in this terrible amalgamation, but the outer layer clearly consists of the Adventure and it's crew, trapped in this giant rolling monstrosity. The living components of the creature flail about and scream wildly as it approaches Hell's Point, with the speech of the former humans just as terrifying and incomprehensible as that of stranger organic components.

Casualties from the initial impact are quite light, with most of the exiles panicking and running away from the abomination as fast as they can. As the creature rolls about, though, screaming from dozens of mouths, Hell's Point's finest muster a response. Warriors strike, mages conjure powerful spells, and priests beseech their gods for powerful boons. It's a good showing, but swords, lighting bolts, and lances of holy light don't seem to do much more than irritate the creature.

With a strange focus, however, the creature suddenly reverses it's momentum and begins rolling back out to sea. Various attacks and curses continue to land with little effect as the enormous blob rolls out into the water and then disappears beneath the waves, with the same ease with which it entered Hell's Point to begin with. Non-combatant residents eventually begin to trickle back in, confused and horrified. The blob doesn't return. At least not to Hell's Point.

Skirmish at Muddyrocks Year 1,070

Expanding the influence of the Cornian survivors beyond Hell's Point, a group of explorers are pleased to find a small cluster of ancient ruins with an assortment of potentially useful artifacts within. The artifacts have largely been exposed already and extraction promptly begins. Looting Recovery is suddenly interrupted, however, by an attack of a group of strange humanoids (mostly human). Injuries are sustained on both sides, a few are killed, but neither side is willing to press matters to a bloody conclusion.

One of the strangers approaches the expedition the next morning, however, alone and under some sort of banner that apparently signifies a desire for peace. Language barriers are quickly surmounted, largely through magic, and the stranger identifies himself and his compatriots as Favreni, specifically "Durscheni" (literally "the sundered"), who were already excavating the ruins before the Cornians' arrival. The situation quickly cools off and interesting talks begin.

The Durscheni, it turns out, are a sort of libertarian/survivalist element of the old Farven empire that established self-sustaining communities beyond the borders of the old empire rather than deal with the empire or the non-humanoid factions that tore it apart. They know a great deal of the history of the wider world, although their decentralized nature prevents them (by design) from becoming any sort of geopolitical power. Harv Fairhaired, the Cornian expedition leader, establishes the legal right (in New Cornia/Hell's Point) for the Durscheni to exploit the contested ruins called Muddyrocks. The Durscheni involved in the exploitation send Hell's Point a number of valuable gifts in return and establish diplomatic relations with these strange folk.

The Shadow over Hell's Point Year 1,080

After the groups in exile settled and have several encounters with the strange, two particular families took to investigation of magic to defend themselves. The Kainfaust Vilebloods lead by Count Azkelon and Countess Stella and the Flaming Avengers led by the brother Gnauraill and Thengur of the Reintic Clan.

Initially the research was a joint effort, with both looking for a way to enhance their bodies through magic to allow them to fight. When this research come to a head, they completed a ritual that would enhance the bodies. The first to attempt this ritual were two young men, Kodorn of the Reintic Clan and Sarventus of the Kainfaust.

After the ritual, there seems to be no effect on the two and they returned to their work. But what they did not account for the unnatural energies that isolates this island. These unnatural energies, twisted the souls of the two and damned the souls of their entire clans. In the night, the mage of the Reintic Clan, Kodorn, tossed in this bed, until the effects of the ritual finished its effects. Becoming the first cursed Vileblood, he slaughtered most of his fellow mages in a frenzy of madness and rage brought on by the ritual. He then left the town, in search of sanctuary in the woods. Having been the only person left of the researchers, the slaughter of his fellow mages was placed on Sarventus. For such a heinous act, he was executed the next morning.

To his own surprise, Sarventus awoke in a coffin next to where he would be buried. Rising up from it, he realized that his body cold, his heart did not beat but he still moved. Realizing that his presence in the town would be a terror to many, he buried his empty coffin and made for the woods. After some time, he returns to the town to collect resources for research when he sees it plagued by demonic beasts. Finding himself in a position to attempt to gain favor with his people again, he fights off the beasts with the help of the other survivors. The battle concludes with Sarventus against the largest of the beasts, later learned to be the afflicted Kodorn. These two duel like two beasts, with monstrous strength and unyielding vigor. Eventually the two are so wounded, that they can no longer act. The beasts on Kodorn’s side, carry him away while the survivors carry off Sarventus.

After a three other similar encounters, the two clans agree to never cross paths but establish groups to combat the other in case, suing the same rituals which made the origionals. The Kainfaust Vilebloods, are a group of elite warrior nobles who relish the finer things in life, and fight with all manor of weapons but are cursed with enfeeblement unless they drain the life essence of their fellow men. The Flaming Avengers, a order of monks who are cursed or are within the cursed family who has sworn to fight the beast within and without. They use holy weapons and magic but few survive as their curse gives them a maddening bloodlust during combat. While not openly admitting to it, these two continue the fight. Assured that the destruction of the other will bring an end to the curse, this has only proven to perpetuate the curse as new damned souls join the ranks regularly.

This conflict eventually is what allows Sarventus to create the first Undead Golem Ship and sail back to the mainland, through the Curtain of Death as he is no longer alive.

Hell Point Overflows 1,090

As Hell's Point became settled and "civilized" (I use the term loosely), people eventually began to fight among one another and run out of space and resources. A few younger, and more brash members of the group set out to look for somewhere to live and claim as their own. This group primarily consisted of those who actually incited political unrest back in Cornia, who were unhappy with how the denizens in Hell's Point were attempting to run things.

After traveling along the coast, they stumbled across an abandoned village, complete with stone towers sprawled out over a large area. None of the locals dared to go anywhere near it, for fear it was cursed, but as far as the youngsters from Hell's Point were concerned it was perfect! It was already full of structures, it just needed to be cleared out in order to be suitable for many people to live. Eventually more people followed suit, and the ruins of the tribe Heizun were populated by some of the Cornian Survivors