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The World of Xantera
A Brief History
The continent of Alderia - just one of three continents in the world of Xantera - was not always torn by war. In it’s early days, before the colonies of man came to rest upon it’s shores, two primitive yet, compared to early humans, far advanced races decorated the plains and mountains of Alderia. The Ti’Darrii, a bipedal race of felines that range from around 6 feet to 7 feet in height, slender, and come in all colors and shades. From the spotted leopard to the striped white tiger, a very diverse race of beings with extreme religious zealotry and a caste-oriented system of government. Three castes: The Religious caste, the philosophers and political agents of the Ti’Darrii people, though all of them have some type of rank in the Church; the Warrior caste, the soldiers and defenders of their people, a military motivated by honor and chivalry whose prime objective was the defense and protection of the Ti’Darrii people as a whole; and the Worker caste, everyone else who did not choose to be part of the other two. Those who built, repaired, designed, and whom oversee all the things construction-related that went on in the Ti’Darrii world. They are not a wide-spread people, but are all centralized into one city that, in the common tongue created later on, was called Eldara, or City of the Ancients.
Then there was the elves. Before the Dissention and the subsequent split of the Elven nation, they were all just one people and one belief: Nature and Her Creations. They loved life, revered it, and treasured it. But, sometime over the years, dissention within the hearts of the Immortal People began to spread. A war that ravaged much of the continent of Alderia ensued, breaking the race into thirds: High Elves - Du’Graeda, or High Ones - the split of elves that desired knowledge and power above all, whom devoted all their time in the study of magic and logic; Wood Elves - Cuul’Nitura, or Nature’s Chosen - those whom stayed within the confines of Alderia’s great forests, keeping with the reverence of life and the love of all things that grow and thrive; and the Dark Elves - Xaal’Culltur, or the Death-Callers - whom devoted their lives to the study of combat and stealth, becoming master assassins and great warriors.
Each split in the Elven race came with radical physical changes: Du’Graeda gained golden skin, got slightly taller than their cousins, accompanied with hair ranging from a golden blond or ruby red, eyes always within the spectrum of the color blue. They‘re skin changed that radically due to their constant touch with raw magic; Cuul’Nitura acquired a skin shade of slightly to extremely tan, hair always dark and filled with beads or other such heirlooms, shorter than their cousins, and eyes always around green or brown, sometimes blue. They‘re hair and skin was colored and adapted to hide them very easily in the brush, thus their aversion to populated or flat non-forested areas; and the Xaal’Culltur gained a skin shade of charcoal gray or light black, hair extremely white due to their aversion to sunlight - not an allergy, mind, they just don’t like bright places - eyes either a shade of red or black, always extremely well muscled and athletic, much like their forest cousins, just more built and less wiry, much stronger than their magical brethren, though never as powerful in magic. They‘re skin changed due to being underground directly after the Dissention. No elf alive, apart from the numerous royal families, was around during the Dissention.
The coming of humanity occurred roughly a thousand or so years ago, some centuries after the Dissention. The land had healed after the magical wars of the Dissention, things were back to normal. The human homeland of Tel’Dara was rife with war: Nations attacking nations for whatever reason they decided. It was never chronicled why Tel’Dara was so war torn, but the first refugees of that continent so far in the east landed on the shores of Alderia, happy for solid ground after almost a year at sea. As they landed, two ambassadors from the Ti’Darrii and the High Elf and Wood Elf peoples appeared. At first, the refugees were scared of the tall felines and awed by the magnificence of the Du’Graeda gracing them with his presence. The Wood Elf ambassador was unremarkable, but was built like a horse. The Dark Elven ambassador, however, did not appear for they hated anyone not of Xaal’Culltur blood.
However, there was an extreme language barrier between them all: The Ti’Darrii and the Elves knew one another’s languages, but the human race had such a diverse language that it was hard to understand. So, to settle this, the High Elven ambassador cast a spell over the group, opening each mind to speak with one another. With the spell came an understanding of each others words and thoughts. Soon it became apparent: The human refugees were on the run and needed a place to stay. Led by a man simply named Tam, the human refugees began building themselves homes with the help of the Wood Elven people - they were quick allies, the High Elves seeing their lack of magical superiority as an insult and simply left them to their own devices, the Dark Elves simply ignoring them. The Ti’Darrii helped as well, hunting and supporting the colony as it was built.
Soon, however, more refugees appeared over the horizon, boosting the human ranks and speeding up production. The city, after it was complete, is the only known city to have a mixture of different racial designs in it’s building. The city was named Arcanum, for it was the first city on the continent of Alderia for the human race. However, when the first magic-users were found within the human populace of Alderia, they were hunted down due to them being the cause of their previous struggles on Tel’Dara. A witch hunt ensued, aptly named the Great Purge, the humans attempt to rid themselves of all magic within their people. It died off a century later, many finding the magical benefits of it pleasing. However, the people were still scarred over the many battles and massacres that had occurred. To that end, the High Elves stepped forward. With the help of the Elves, humanity built themselves a magical academy in the middle of the city of Arcanum, teaching the human race - those with Talent, as it was called - how to control their powers.
It was soon discovered, however, that those with a monumental touch with the magical energies of the world stopped aging, or simply had their aging process extremely slowed to the point of not aging at all. It was later that the magical community split - non-aggressively - into different Spheres of Magic based off the elements: Fire, the study of anything that hampers or destroys, such as curses or fireballs; Water, the study of all that creates, such as alchemy or conjuring; Earth, the study of all that is natural, such as herbalism or healing; Air, the study of all that alters or adjusts, such as illusion or enchantment; and Aether, the study of the spirit, life and death. Necromancy sprouted from the sphere of Aether, a widely hated and disgusting practice of animating the dead or communing with spirits to gain ones desires. Another witch hunt ensued, thus killing or banishing all those who studied the Dark Arts. Other ways were discovered as to commune with the dead, called Summoning, which helped the dead rest and helped the living come to terms with the deceased.
However, there are very few who have mastered all the spheres of magic. The first being a man called Tamisis. Legend says he was the first human to be gifted magic on Alderia, and the first to master every sphere of magic, even that of Necromancy and Summoning. Some say he was the first to speak to the Elven races and the Ti’Darrii people, but it has never been clarified if he was or was not. However, many legends speak of some calamity he had averted to help the many peoples of Alderia, some great evil that was destroyed. Tamisis was, however, cursed on that day, scarring his body with lines of power. He was able to destroy the curse, but the scars still mar his body, thus how he gained the title Tamisis the Wanderer, never stopping at one place for too long and always somehow appearing in every story or legend, them all alluding to a nameless wizard or powerful sorcerer who assists in one way or another, going by different names or by no name at all.
The city of Arcanum flourished as more and more refugees landed on their shores. Arcanum swiftly grew into the biggest city of the human nations, so big it was hard to keep them all protected until the Great Wall was built, the last structure that was assisted by the other races in it’s construction. Soon the human race spread out into Alderia, exploring and building small towns all over the landscape. The history books are unclear as to the reason, but a civil war broke out between humanity and the natives of Alderia, thus why they stopped assisting the human population in their survival and simply left them to their own devices. Some say that was how all the dark things began for the human race, the leaving of the Elder Races - the names given to the Elves and Ti'Darrii - and the subsequent break in the continent. A thousand years caused the building of nations and capitols, of a thousand or so cities and towns all over the landscape, the exploration of the entire continent of Alderia.
The last war - a grain of sand in what is the desert that consists of the many battles and civil wars in Alderia’s history - was known simply as the War of the Black Rose, named aptly for the standard carried by the vast legions of creatures that caused the war. Very few, if any, can pinpoint the cause of the war. They appeared out of nowhere, decimating village after village as a legion of dark skinned creatures. Those peasants captured by them were absorbed into their ranks as mindless barbarians of anger and hate, attacking all in their path. Over the decade that the war lasted, the creatures - called Darklings - were categorized into several different factions: Underling’s, those humans who have been captured and changed; Ghoul’s, the soldiers coming in after the Underlings were decimated. Spindly and gaunt, the dark Ghoul’s had big heads with gaping jaws full of serrated teeth which dripped acidic saliva, long talons and long legs, they had a tail that was capped in tiny spines of poison; Dark Riders, or Fel’Draal as the Elves called them, dark knights clad in black armor and black robes, wielding glowing weapons and riding dark mounts, were the most deadly in the arsenal that was the Darkling legions. Near impossible to kill except by beheading, dismemberment, or fire, they were quick and silent, wielding enchanted blades and possessing incredible strength; and the last being Behemoths, mindless brutes whose sole purpose was to destroy or be destroyed. Eight-to-ten feet tall, they were broad and immensely strong, but incredibly stupid. They wore very little armor due to possessing scale-like skin that was near impossible to pierce unless one had enchanted weapons or used magic. The easiest way to kill them was to either crush them or throw them off a cliff.
The only chronicled leader of the Darkling forces was an unnamed sorcerer who simply called himself the Lord of the Night, a master of necromancy and of conjuration, able to call upon his vast legions of Darklings from the vast planes of existence beyond the eyes of the people of Alderia. He disappeared upon the last battle - Battle of Westguard - and was never seen again afterwards. After a last resistance of humans, elves - even the Dark Elves were involved due to the attacks upon their underground world by the Darklings - and Ti’Darrii, the legions of Darklings were thrown back into the abyss from whence they came, or were butchered upon the field of battle. The plains upon which they fought has forever been stained by the blood of millions upon that battlefield. The Battle of Westguard was the greatest and worst battle in Alderia’s history, the last of the War of the Black Rose. The war ended only three-decades ago as of today.
Back to history: The continent of Alderia was split into five parts: The Forest of the Ancients, the land of the Wood Elves; the Land of a Thousand Lights, the homeland of the High Elves; the Great Mountains, home of the Dark Elves; the Emerald Vale, the homeland of the Ti’Darrii; and the rest belonged to humanity. The lands of the human population was also cut into parts, none however are very equal. Five nations: Fel’Dara, the first and greatest of nations, the home of Arcanum and the Academy of Magical Sciences; Burgundy, the second biggest nation; the Jade Empire, the birthplace of the art of Sal-Duoki - a special caste of warriors much like Asian samurai; the Art of the Warrior - and Tal-Duoki - liken to the Asian ninja; the Art of the Shadow - and is also the third largest nation; Westerlin, highlands and tall hills where only the hardiest of peoples live, a breeding ground of warriors and shamanistic magics; and Valencaria, a people whose whole society is built over the waters of the Vast Ocean, the one sitting between Alderia and distant Tel’Dara, home of Alderia’s navy and the birthplace of piracy.
 Lord Arimor Darkheart · Mon Jan 17, 2011 @ 06:31am · 1 Comments |
