Steel and Gunstones:History

Puck

HISTORY OF EFIRVIA

Long ago the first great civilization arose in the north and she was the mother of all culture on Efirvea. She called herself Perosia, and from the Perosian realm came the written language; and thus history began. Little is known of Perosia for the sources are meager and fragmentary at best, but perhaps of the general history can be pieced together.
Perosia came in contact with the refugees from another realm, ruled by a foreign race known as by some as the Shea. It is evident that the Shea were a highly magical people and that they first taught manipulation of the Runic forces to the Perosians. With the aid of this new magic, the Perosians became great artisans and builders. They created mountain strongholds and palaces adorned with spires and towers the remains of which have lasted to the present day. Perosia continued to grow in culture, population, and industry until its far reaching borders apparently trespassed upon the hallowed ground of the draconic Orms.
Hostilities immediately broke out and there was a long bitter war between the Orms and the Golden Empire, Perosia. The ancient tomes suggest that the Shea may have been survivors of a epic war against the Orms and that they had secretly groomed and prepared Perosia for this great struggle. Three long blades were crafted from the metallic crystal, chirifalus. The blades had immense magical power and eventually were able to sway the balance in favor of Perosia. The Orms were weakened by a long war with the Shea and were finally defeated by man-shea coalition. In the end the Orms and their kin were hunted down and brought to near extinction (Perosian tablets claim that they utterly destroyed the Ormish races, but there have been documented reports to this day of creatures resembling the Orms of old). Perosia survived, but it is clear that the empire was sorely wounded.
And it came about that shortly after the Orm wars, a powerful magician by the name of Koru-su was banished from the Perosian Realm for dealing with forbidden arts and magics. Koru-su took all his retainers with him and fled deep into the mountains and began to create an immense dungeon-fortress named Terricuul. Forgotten by the Shea-man council that ruled the empire, Koru-su was able to work his forbidden magics deep in the pits of Terricuul, where he brooded on revenge. Years passed, and the empire continued to thrive for three long-lived generations of men. Only the Shea remembered the name of Koru-su, and they thought him long dead. Then, one day the silent gates of Terricull stirred.

THE END OF THE PEROSIAN EMPIRE

Long since forgotten, Koru-su brooded and delved with the very secrets of life. He made pacts with unknown powers and from them wrestled the knowledge of the Un-runes Through genetic sorcery and cross breeding, he created new warlike races. The first race to show their foul countenance were the lesh. Bred as trackers and assassins, immune to the powerful magic of the Shea, they crept into the groves and forests of their prey. Slowly and methodically these new horrors mercilessly butchered the unwary Shea who had retired from the world of men to their sacred groves. By the time the ruling council realized what was happening the many of the Shea had already been slain. The lesh were followed by gorfekus: foul cannibalistic versions of goblins, born to hate and fight.
By the tens of thousands they came into the land, breeding from their nests like flies. It is uncertain how long the gorfekus blight lasted but it is evident that the monsters ravaged the land for a number of years, wearing down Perosia. The third time that Terricuul opened its maws, Koru-su himself appeared ahead an army of giant magic wielding beings: ogres. The vanguard of that army was made of Korusu's terror legion of the dead. His secret of longevity was that he had unlocked the secrets of the un-death and had blessed many of his retainers with the foul curse of immortality. Along with the armies came other horrors of the night that had been created with the use of the Un runes. Many surviving Orms added their might to these hellish legions. Perosia raised an army as swiftly as she could, but was already weakened from the gorfekus raids. The few remaining Shea, traditionally Perosia's magical allies, were mysteriously missing from their groves; many the victims of lesh arrows.
Koru-su's army met the golden legionnaires in what is today the Torr Lands. Only one of the chirifalis blades were present at the first battle. The other two swords were on their way, heading other smaller armies, who were constantly harassed by gorfekus. The lone Perosian army met with quick disaster, and Koru-su took one of the chirifalis blades for his own. He moved with terrible speed, splitting the two remaining armies of the Perosians. He defeated first one army, then the other, but both chirifalis blades eluded him. The remaining people of the Empire held up in their mountain fortresses while Koru-su's legions swept over Efirvia, swallowing up more and more land. Finally there was a great conflict in Boria just north of Blue rock heights. Perosia was defeated again and the three great Borian castles were put under a heavy siege and laid low. The two remaining swords barely escaped. One went east to Thule Dunnan. The other seemed to disappear.
With the major resistance defeated Koru-su subdued the lands and prefectures of the realm, setting up his generals as governors. A scant few mountain fortresses and rebel people remained. The only three remaining strongholds of Perosia were a small surviving rebel kingdom in the north, the hardy people of the Thracian mountains, and the mountain vastness of the Isi-char.
The Isi-char dwelt deep in the Asvur Mountains and built beautiful cities in the valleys. A roadway ran strait through the Asvurs, Connecting their cities and villages. At either end of the road is a great gate: Thule Dunnan in the west and Ambidul in the east. The last chirifalis blade was taken to the fortress of Thule Dunnan. For the next century Thule Dunnan would be under siege, and though, in the end the fortress itself fell, the valley was never entered, for it was fortified with great mazes of hedgerows filled with traps. Breastworks were built into every pass and narrow point. To this day, the great mountainous road is cut off from the outside world by the Isi-charian barricade on one side and an overpopulation of Koru-su's created beings on the other.

The Age Of Bondage

With the fall of the Borian citadels and high holds, the First Age ended and the Second Age or age of Bondage began. The terrible generals of darkness quickly sent out malignant servants to enslave the world. Faced with death or worse fate, humans bowed before their new lords. Masses of the Trogod race were rounded up, enslaved and used for cruel experiments and the remaining Shea were hunted to extinction. The world fell under a cruel curtain of shadow and the Azchir age began.
For unknown reasons Koru-su returned to his vast dungeon, Terricuul, before his conquest was complete. The governing of his newly conquered empire was left to his warlords, the Azchirgnoth. The witch-lords of darkness were quickly at each others throats, each working to dethrone the others. Other matters were left unattended. The watch over the surviving fragments of Perosia waned. A small but powerful army of disenchanted Perosians and surviving Shea was formed. All the members were powerful wizards, experienced warriors, and heroes of past wars. The army moved in fragments, unobtrusively slipped past the eyes of the Azchirgnoth, and reformed as a regiment outside the battlements of Terricuul. With the army, came one of the chirifalis blades and with its power Koru-su was slain deep in his own pits. Only a handful of the heroes survived and were pursued to the sea. They escaped on a ship with the chirifalis blade never to be heard from again. This event is the favorite topic of minstrels and bards in the present day and many variations of the Band of the Heroes Soul and The Demise of Koru-Su are enjoyed taverns and mead halls throughout Efirvia.

Koru-su's death did not free the lands, for his generals, the Azchirgnoth, still ruled. After a fearful series of wars the old realm was split into four regions; two to the north of the Cythian Sea, and two to the south. The Azchirgnoth were great wizards and necromancers in their own right and they enslaved much of the population of mankind as well as the Trogod Races. They began creating their own races to fight each other. In their rage and competition they hatched increasingly vile creatures that multiplied and survived. This age saw the spawning of the Kraechedd and the Agrogs. Four evil gods were called from the mists and pools of time: Kosharo, the mutator; Almcer, the malignant; Grambog the beast; and Druaga, lord of the living dead. As the four Azchirgnoth kingdoms struggled for power, they degraded and polluted themselves in more and more evil. The two northern kingdoms became involved in a cutthroat power struggle and all but destroyed themselves. To the far north powers were stirring and a number of barbarian tribes were being united under one great Thuron chieftain.

The Rise of Thuron

It is at this point in time that the Thuranian Chronicles begin and the Thuron calendar begins with year one.

By the year one, Thuron Calendar Time, the two northern Azchirgnoth kingdoms decimated each other with hideous, man made plagues, which also swept through the two southern states, Drazid and Kahareth. Five years later, in the south, Kahareth revolted and overthrew their necromantic masters, creating a new free Kahareth.
Rather than meet these threats with swift-handed cruelty many Azchirgnoth began to frantically build vast tombs for themselves. It is said that they had used their arts of skrying and had foreseen their own demise at the hands of the Thurons. The Azchir depopulated whole cities and forced the inhabitants to dig into the earth, their blood the mortar for the foundations of Azchir tombs. Later these populations were slaughtered in mass sacrifices to prevent the whispering of the tomb’s secrets. By the time the Thurons armies arrived many of the Azchirgnoth were already absent, sealed away along with many of their generals and chamberlains; their cities abandon.

The swiftly growing Thuron nation enveloped the disease wasted remains of the two northern Azchirgnoth kingdoms. Men of all creeds and nations ran to throw themselves under the Thuron banner. In 194 Thuron Calendar Time, Thuron and the mountain kingdom of Thracia joined forces and pushed the remaining Azchir forces off the Perosian continent. The land was free, but still infected with the diseases and foul remains of the Azchirgnoth rule. From 198 to 210 the Great Cleansing took place. The Thurons scoured their lands of the filth and disease that remained. They were aided greatly by the powerful runic and healing abilities of the Brotherhood of the Daucheit, a magicacl order that practiced runic philosophies passed down from the Shea. Many of the palaces and towers of the Azchir Empires were destroyed, and many creatures created by the use of Un runes became extinct. The great necromantic and genetics labs were forever destroyed and much of the cancer was removed. As the Cleansing continued, Drazid, the last remaining of the Azchir empires, rebuilt her military might and prepared for an invasion of Thuron Perosia. In 211 Drazid landed legions on Perosia and began a forty year struggle for the mastership of Efirvia. In 252, Azcothoth, the capital of Drazid, was sacked and the Third age or Thuron age began.

The Third Age

After the fall of Drazid, Thuron found herself as the heir of the Perosian continent and most of the people looked to the Thuron lords for leadership and security. The next hundred years is known as the rebuilding. The corrupted empires had fallen, but their mark was still on the land and evil still lurked in every corner. Few Thurons could remember what peace was like. Many of the veteran nobles and cavalry officers were formed into a group known as the knights Lucern. This brotherhood of equestrians roamed the less traveled lands of the new Thuron Empire destroying any festering leftovers of the Azchirgnoth Empires and trying to administer justice among the towns and villages.
As the new Thuron Empire stabilized, its government and borders, an extensive trading network was formed to the east and especially to the south. Huge fortunes were made as wealth flowed into the new empire. As trade increased, the southern coast of the Perosian continent boomed in commerce. All the port cities became major metropolises, but above all was Cyrithia. And that great city excelled in gold and fame. Eventually it became evident that E'tonia, the capital of Thuron, may have been home to the emperor, but it was not the center of power. Cyrithia was considerably closer to the true center of the empire and much easier to administer from. Soon there were two capitals, one in the north and one in the south. For a hundred years the Thuron Empire flourished in a long lasting peace; then she began to wax.

The Decline and Fall of Thuron

The Imperitors of the empire began to quarrel amongst themselves rather than concentrating on the enemies of the empire. The borders wavered and trade was disrupted. A rival kingdom of Trogod in the west (which we now call the Gruthnid Empire) began to threaten the frontier. Five legions and two wings of cavalry were sent against the Grulks and never returned. At that time a band of warlike nomads crashed into the western reaches of Thuron. With the recent loss to the grulks, the empire had few troops available to deal with this problem. The nomads ravaged the land as far as the very gates of the capital, E'tonia, before they were defeated and turned back. To make up for its military losses and extensive crop damage, Thuron began levying an immense tax on her provinces.
In 450 a second disaster struck. A Cimbrician adventurer named Gallion landed on the coastland province of Merium. The depleted imperial troops could not hold Gallion and his Cimbrician raiders at all. The eastern lands were lost (the eastern provinces have ever after been known as the Galingian Empire). Taxes were raised again, and two major revolts in the provinces were put down.
In 454, a secret meeting was held with representatives from a number of the provinces. Early the next year there began an upheaval of revolts from every corner of the Empire. Eridor claimed its independence, Drazid and Kiriath sent troops into southern Thuron, Rydar cut communication between the Sealands and northern Thuron. Hoards of L'tars and Valamir (provincial barbarians) spilled into the heartlands of the empire. Many legionnaires who originally came from these tribes quit the armies and joined their invading brothers. The Valamir were held by imperial cavalry, but the L'tars marched to the gates of E'tonia and stormed the city. The Imperitor was killed and his daughter was married to the L'tar chieftain who named himself Imperitor of Thuron. Being in a precarious position at best, the new emperor started making alliances by granting huge tracts of land to Thuron Generals, Valimar chieftains, and his own chieftains, in exchange for fealty. His plan worked and he survived as emperor at least in title, if not in power.

The Civil Wars

The greater amount of Thuron power was focused in the Sealands, who easily, with the help of Thracia, repulsed a Drazidian invasion. Shortly, a great civil war began between Southern Thuron, with Cyrithia at her head, and the new L'tarish Thuron with her Rydarian allies. The Sealand armies were cut off from each other and pinned to the sea by the skilled Rydarian cavalry. Cyrithia was put under siege, but surrendered before the central city was taken. In 489, Southern Thuron revived and attacked the North again and was repulsed. The L’tar counterattacked and besieged the southern capital again. This time Cyrithia was sacked. The entire outer city was raised and many of the wall and towers of the inner city were pulled down. The rest of the Sealands were saved by the invention of gunpowder by an alchemist in the city of Krognos. The Northern Thuron army sustained heavy damage and eventually pulled back. Without Cyrithia to guide them, the other Sealand cities went their own way and became independent city states. Cyrithia, a shell of what she once was, became a haven for pirates and slavers.

Present Times

As Thuron died, the geography of Efirvia changed. Most of the provinces became independent states. Small principalities and kingdoms grew up in places where once there was one united political power. In the chaos, trade began to increase and a new power rose: the merchant princes of the Sealand city states. With their economic power they have become the most powerful and upwardly mobile factor on the face of Efirvia.
At present, an unsteady peace reigns while behind the backs of smiling faces sweaty hands grip poisoned daggers. The Thuron Empire left a huge void which is now being filled with many new kingdoms, each struggling for power. Trade is at a peak. Many of the forgotten races are coming out of hiding again, the trogod beat their drums of war. To the south the Caravan guild is monopolizing trade. the lords of war and conquest brood over what they hope will soon be theirs and priests and sorcerers have dreams of power. The forth age has begun and the outcome will be forged with Steel....

...STEEL AND GUNSTONES.

Golden Age of the Perosian Empire
? Meeting of the Shea.
1000? Orm wars. Forging of the Chirifalis swords.
800? Koru-Su leaves is banished from the council and runs to Terricuul.
640 Lesh enter the Shea forests.
625 Gorfekus Blight.
620 Un-Runes are unleashed . Great disturbance in the magical fields.
612-610 Terricuul opens revealing ogres. The Great War of Weeping.
610 Battle of Blue Rock Hieghts. Koru-Su is supreme.

The Azchir Age
610 Age of Bondage begins.
603 Men and Trogod run to the hills or are enslaved. Thule Dunnan is besieged.
580 Koru-Su returns to Terricuul leaving his generals to rule the world. Azchirgnoth witch-lords
begin warring with one another.
560 Storming of Terricuul, Death of Koru-Su. Last of the Heroes and Shea leave taking one of the
Chirifalis swords with them.
500 After much warfare four Azchir Empires remain; two on Perosia and two on the Kaharanian
Continent.
450-300 Creation of the lesser Kraecheedd (Gargoyles and Agrogs).
250 Tomb building begins.
180 Last surviving shea are thought to be slain in the pits of Azcothoth.
120 The citadel Thule Dunnan Falls but the Azchirgnoth are to weak and embroiled in civil war to
capitalize.
110-30 The Plague Wars: Azchir empires devastate one another with plagues and Blight.

Liberation. The Birth of Thuron
BCT
100 Thuron Tribes first begin to settle on the Perosian continent.
Thuron Calander Time begins.
1 Year 1 TCT: Merdosa I unifies the Thuron chieftains
5 Popular rebellion in Kahareth. Azchirgnoth witchlords of Kahareth retreat to tombs, and pyramids
10-200 A series of wars begin between the Northern Azchir and the Thurons. The Azchir win most of
the battles but weaken with each, while the Thurons grow stronger and more numerous.
Many Azchirgnoth retreat to tombs.
30 Founding of Etonta. Major slave uprising all through Azchir lands.
158 Thracia is formed as a free nation and allies with the Thuron against the Azchir.
198 Battle of Greenway. The last Perosian witchlord is killed and his forces smashed.
The Thuron Empire officially established.
198-210 The Cleansing: Thurons scour lands and tear down the slave cities and laboratories of the
Azchir. Last remaining stronghold of the Azchirgnoth on Perosia is destroyed.
211 Drazidian invasion of Perosia.
211-252 Drazidian Wars.
240 Rydarians ally with Thuron against Azcothoth.
248 Drazid invaided by joint Thuron, Rydarian, Thracian Army.
252 Sack of Azcothoth. Drazid becomes a Thuron protectorate. Many cultures under Drazidian rule
become free.
256-258 Some Azchirgnoth awaken. Large numbers of gorfekus, unchecked during the
Drazidian Wars, roam the realm of Thuron.
258 The Lucern Oath is taken.
259- Lucern Knights rise to power and restore peace and order.
270 Last of the Merdosa line dies with no heir. Cyrithian Dynasty begins. Cyrithia rebuilt and
becomes Southern capital.

Pax Thurona.
300-400 Time of peace. Cyrithia becomes the center of trade on Efirvia. Many nations become
protectorates and provinces of Thuron.

The Fall of Thuron
420 Grulk Wars and Amar invasion.
425 Already high taxes on provinces are raised more.
450 Cimbricians land in Merium and Gallinon the First founds the Galingian Empire.
451 Drazid declares freedom from Thuron Rule.
453 Taxes are raised yet again.
455 L’tarish and Valimir Rebellions. Drazid invaids. Rydarian revolt cuts communication between northern and southern parts of the Empire.
456 Etonia Falls. L’tarish Dynasty begins in Northern Thuron. Drazid is repulsed from Perosia.
460 Civil War begins between Northern (L’tarish Thuron) and Southern (Cyrithian Thuron).
480 Merchant’s Guild is formed.
485 Cyrithia surrenders.
490 Sack of Cyrithia.
491 Battle of the Leanders River. 1st use of Gunpowder in combat. When introduced to his new
weapon that hurled stones from a gun on the eve of battle the commander of Krognos made the famous quote “Then live or die, let the outcome be settled here… with Steel… Steel and Gunstones”.
Modern Times
500 Rise of the Merchant’s Guild to power.
502 First Merchant Assault on Cyrithia.
510 Major vein of Dragonsdust found in the Red River Mountains.
513 Caravan Guild established in the South.
518 War between Nar Thimdol and Krognos.
528 Second Merchant Assault of Cyrithia.
535 War between Krognos and the League of Inland States.
550 Today