Editing DissidiaTemplar West Marches/The World (section)

= 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:
<blockquote>
My brothers, my ''quinn'', my ''kae're''...
What have you done [to them]?</blockquote>

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.