Archived History Local
The Ancient Landscape
Alexandros rests on ancient land, a region historically rich with diversity, magic, and history. Long ago the domain that lay between the Red Ridge Mountains and the Vast was covered in untamed forests, sprawling mountain peaks and great rivers. Dragonkind of all colors oversaw this treasured place, and beneath them, a race of humankind struggled to grow.
During the First Age, these humans built temples and made offerings to the many ancient gods who still walked the world in flesh. Aside from their ruins and the occasional tales of seers, little is known of these ancient folk.
At some point, this ancient culture built a great and ancient temple, greater than all others in the area at that time. They centered it in an area touched by the visions of the gods, and used it to commune and to worship. This site today is known as the Eidolon Court.
Eventually, scholars know that the dragons left. The War of the Heavens rocked the world and they were called away as sentinels in divine armies. Maugrim tore from His brother, taking with Him His own pride, and the madness and darkness of the Void, and began a struggle that lasts today.
The divine struggles would reach into ancient Alexandros. Together with the conflagration of divine powers and the loss of its great protectors, the old kingdom was laid to waste. Destruction rained down from the hand of Maugrim and the gods of the underworld as they sought to unmake creation, and rip from the world the power of the Source.
Much knowledge was lost, and the kingdoms of old scattered.
The Settling of the Oruch, Sildanyar, and Khazad
The landscape would become the center of wars a millennium later when the sildanyar would settle it. Seeking to create a second, great civilization beyond the borders of Llyranost, they founded the city of Aranthalas within a realm they called Estania. In those days, the magic of the sildanyar and other, ancient races was mightier than is known today, and with this power they crafted some of the greatest wonders that the world has known.
However, dwarves traveling from Khazad Duin soon moved to the area, and fresh on their mind was the treachery of the mul'niessa. They mistook the inhabitants for their twisted brethren, and so began a war that according to some scholars, may have had Deimos' handiwork behind it.
The war raged for years between them, and eventually, the tribes of the oruch found themselves drawn in, either by the draw of blood or from the effort of defending their territories. War soon overtook the landscape, and this three-way conflict threatened to unravel all three civilizations and all they had wrought.
That all was not lost was due to the efforts of a great elven peacemaker by the name of Ra'Tenniel. He would forge the accords known as The Great Meld which established peace and divided the lands. Under Ra'Tenniel's influence, the sildanyar and khazad found peace, and the oruch became guardians of the wood and wild. They turned their mighty strength upon invaders and monstrous forces and the khazad built the great kingdom of Morduzum beneath the earth.
And yet, as peace progressed, the khazad would delve too far. Ignoring the warnings of their clan elders, they dug more deeply into the stone and earth. Eventually, they came to disturb the lair of the great Black Dragon King, one of the primeval ancient dragons that had fought side by side the twisted god Maugrim in the age of wars. Awakened, the cruel behemoth summoned to him his progeny and also trolls ando ther wicked, poisonous creatures.
The combat came to a close through the intervention of golden dragons, but by this time the land was poisoned and its earth soiled. The khazad retreated and offered sanctuary to the oruch for a time, and the sildanyar fled to the forests.
For three generations the oruch and the khazad held their peace beneath the earth, until an ambitious oruch lord by the name of Kotiphar sought to lay waste to the teachings of Adom. He reached back into the history of the oruch-kind, and came across forbidden names and teachings that the oruch had long forgotten. He embraced them, and swore a pact with fiendish powers, and in doing so transformed his clan into the Daemon-Orcs or the Mogareg.
The war that erupted ended the peace between the khazad and oruch in the land known today as Alexandria for some time, as the khazad who were not killed or slain by these daemon-orcs were sold into slavery or forced to flee northward, bearing tales of betrayal and horror. In the wake of the daemon-souled and damage from the ancient Black Dragon King, the mighty kingdom of Morduzum was no more, and its passages litter the land beneath like catacombs.
The Age of Artifice
The weakened state of then-Estania once again set the stage for the surge of humankind. The round-eared children gathered and gripped their spears, and went to war with the sildanyar over lands and resources. The son of the great negotiator Ra'Tenniel, Silvanos, established a haven for his people north of the human lands. He did so because he saw the war against mankind was one that could not be won, and with the sildanyar out of the way, the humans soon drew their city-states together.
For a time there was peace again.
However, this time was the time of Artificers and the time of Kulthus. The lands of then-Estania were considered backwater and expendable by the Kulthian Aristocracy, who stepped forward in conquest.
As the land's newest conqueror, they appointed a Governor who forbid their use of magic and enforced the laws of the Artificer's City. The Governor would then turn to exploit its natural resources and location to build a terrible weapon. This weapon became known as the Spell Cannon.
The Spell Cannon stood larger than men, and possessed the ability to fire a beam of Mana so powerful that it could sunder the very walls between the planes. Such toys were the power of Kulthos, and when they were torn from their throne by the Sundering, the people of the Alexandros landscape were able to step forward and free themselves once again. The Sundering spread from the great Eidolon Court of ages past--that great structure built now by unknown hands. The rippling effects tore into the ley lines and mana fields across the world, and scored Alexandros for years to come as a result of Kulthos' arrogance.
However, freedom was a difficult process, as for years they had been guided by the Governor, and been forbidden even the most basic education in the arcane arts. Because of this, the region recovered slowly and may have lain stagnant for some time if not for the arrival of pilgrims also fleeing the wrath of the Lords of Artifice. Among these groups were wizards, instructors, and other learned folk. Together, this new mixture of people and races began to lay a foundation to rebuild their cities and homes.
The Crown Wars and Sorceress Wars
When the Crown Wars erupted, Alexandros stood at first neutral. A recovering nation and of independant mindset, it had no want to get involved. Unfortunately, while some scholars refer to Alexandros as "the world's center," this hubris-filled statement nonetheless contains a grain of truth: the small nation stands at the center, the crossroads of many greater nations.
Too, Alexandros' ideals would draw it in. In the name of the right and good, Alexandros' current king, Regendus Dan'Alexandros, allowed Myrddion to use their territory as a staging ground for confrontations with Charn. However, he placed upon Myrddion stipulations and the nation's own troops remained largely committed to securing their own borders versus wars in distant lands.
During the Year of Ascension, a sacred season for the people of Alexandros, a double tragedy struck the nation. The Great Plague had begun sweeping across all of Arcania. The destruction during the Crown Wars (and some whisper the influence of Gunahkar's laughing maw) checked nations' ability to respond, and the plague swept like wildfire.
Alexandros was not spared, and her cities and towns were filled with the sound of the suffering and those in mourning. It was during this time that the catacombs of Alexandria were first constructed, for the dead were numerous and Thul's occasional influence struck a justiafiable fear in the hearts of citizens.
Following on the heels of plague, the War came to Alexandros' very doorstep. The neighboring nation of Celidun fell to Charn, giving them access to ports across the Inner Seas. The Witch Altima, Charn's ally, then struck the nation of Alexandros.
Though Alexandros expected an attack, the nation found itself unprepared for the sheer power and fury of the Sorceress Queen, a creature who wielded magic of unforeseen might and overturned Alexandria's armies with her own assault of beasts, monsters and strange magical-machinery. For two years, Alexandros fought, but eventually they too fell. By Altima's wrath was their king slain, and their nobility of House Alexandros scattered to the four winds.
The Sorceress Wars
For fifty years, Altima reigned as Charn's general-queen over the region of Alexandros. She scoured it for the secrets of the Old World and the power of the ancient nations of Estania, Morduzum, and even before.
As the civilized world hid or struggled, the darker races allied themselves with Altima...some by choice, others for fear of risk of destruction, such was the fear of her. The sildanyari of the Mythwood shut themselves away and enclosed their magic, yet knew it was only a matter of time before Charn's great Witch came battering at their door. The khazad vanished into the Red Ridge Mountains, and took with them great treasures.
Within Alexandria itself, resistance groups began to form, funded by Myrddion and other nations. In secret, they sent war golems, magic, and soldiers to aid Alexandros' quest for freedom.
However, without a king, the resistance groups lacked leadership. Though they possessed supplies and resources, they lacked cohesion. Eventually, a group named The Scythe rose to fill this need. Named for the farmer's common scythe, they declared themselves a symbol of the common man and the judges of Altima. With them stood the Plalanx Falcis, formed by members of Alexandros' old nobility, which most had believed fled or assasinated.
With such leadership, the forces only needed a time to strike. They found it in the betrayal of Altima.
When Myrddion gained ground against Charn and pushed that empire back, Charn found that its Witch-Queen, their great general, betrayed them. Not for ideals or mercy, Altima took her stand based on some newly acquired power. It is at this time the allied forces struck. The Phalanx Falcis rallied their troops and forged alliances between internal rebel groups and a people's army was formed. Through tactics and force the people of Alexandria threw off the Witch's yolk. History records a great battle between Augustus who slew her in a great battle, which took place in Alexandria's great castle by means of a flaming sword of blazing light.
As Alexandria fought, Myrddion rallied, its troops sweeping inwards into Alexandros's greater regions and destroyed Charn's forces which had for too-long held the land. In this, Alexandros and Myrddion worked together.
Though they had taken heavy military losses, Myrddion routed the remains of her armies and the Sorceress Wars came to an end. Alexandria City was in ruins, however, and the lands of Alexandros bore the scars of machines, magic and warfare. Myrddion would take Alexandros as a liege land for the purpose of rebuilding it, bolstering its defenses and creating a strong unified presence to protect against would be predators in the aftermath of such a terrible series of wars. Augustus Alexandros--he who would have been king--had vanished.