The world of Alonan

This is a new RP. Do not confuse this as having anything to do with Moonlight Requiem.

It is year one hundred and forty-four of the Second Era.

Three eras ago - a length of time spanning as long as anyone's guess - Alonan was created by two divine beings known simply as 'Creators.' Responsible for all function and color, breadth and beauty, life and death, these two beings crafted what they considered to be their greatest creation. After, having done their job, they left the world, never to return, intent on letting it and its people survive on their own. It had to grow.

Thus began the 'Zero' Era. This would span for thirty-seven years, and marked the point where mankind, animalkind and plantlife began to become familiarized with their new world. They would grow, they would explore, and, in time, they would come to populate the largest collection of land mass close to them. This section was comprised of eight regions, and they were so named: Shaal, Azgar, Imith-Mor, Anull, Vej-Jeren, Cragshear, Norazon, and Imal'ah'calh, otherwise known as the Isles of Celest. The people of each region became as different from eachother as the water is from land, and separate customs and traditions formed, but unity was at the heart of each civilization.

All was calm and peaceful. Man knew only of brother, and nothing of war or violence. Hunting was the major way of getting by, using primitive tools crafted from stone or wood, and so was agriculture or ranching. For thirty-seven years the kingdoms that grew were at peace.

That changed on the thirty-seventh year of the Zero Era, when a resounding tremor shook the very world around them. Sections of land fell into the sea from its great shockwave, while out of other places of water rose land forced above the sea level. The land masses were rearranged, but none were too drastically affected. Except for Norazon. Where the once great region had stood was now an abyssal hole in the sea, a churning maelstrom of fury and divine wrath that had, for some reason, sought to punish the mortal races of the world.

And so was the world pushed into the first year of the First Era.

It was in this era that pride began to form in human thought and feeling. Vanity, greed, anger and wrath all started coalescing, forming constant nuances to society. Petty squabbles were born, trifle arguements as cities grew and developed, and the craft of being a merchant gradually became a major trade.

All along the era materials were being utilized in new and industrial ways. The first swords were created in the forty-first year, and all manner of weapons soon followed, along with complimentary armor for protection. People at first wondered at the sudden invention of the devices of killing, but at the time thought nothing of it. After all, one could use an axe for more than killing - an axe had many uses, as did a mace. Only swords were the odd items out. But still, no one thought of them for long.

The abilities of 'magic,' too, were developed in the early years of the First Era. Curious samaritans, intent on studying the cause of the destruction of Norazon, began to take advantage of the new industry of shipbuilding to flock to the site of wrath. There, so close to the warped energy, they began to absorb some of its power. Their abilities manifested in curious and, occasionally, different ways, but it was clear that channelers had appeared in the world. Soon, they formed a sect of themselves within the kingdom of Mal Alroth, in the region of Imith-Mor. There, they discovered that their abilities could be passed generation from generation, and their political weight grew as they relied on their strange abilities to exert influence.

It was a chaotic time of growth and newfound woes. And so it should have come as no surprise when the first casualty rang out across the world.

It was a simple farmer's dispute that started the uneasiness, in the year sixty-sixth of the First Era. After that, the kingdoms began to distance themselves from eachother. Cragshear, a desert wasteland near the 'center' of Alonan, withdrew on itself, and soon allowed no outsiders to enter the entirety of the region, forever becoming a mystery for all but its native people. Expansionist policies began. Central towns were built to regulate and control trade, and the regions maintained tighter and tighter border controls.

Even the kingdoms within the regions could not maintain a civil act to one another. Countless skirmishes broke out between kingdoms of the same regions, battles that hardly lasted more than a few days and were never recorded in global history books. The channelers of Mal Alroth, now known as 'Fahliin,' were forced to contain themselves in their tower, as the kingdoms of Imith-Mor turned an increasingly hostile eye towards them.

It was an era of mistrust, uncertainty, fear and anger. But it somehow managed to avoid an all-out confrontation.

This is not to say that wars weren't fought. In the year two hundred and eleven of the First Era a war broke out between the regions of Shaal and Anull. Lasting for two years, it began a series of successive battles between regions that lasted for a period of eighteen years in total, from two hundred and eleven First Era to two hundred twenty-nine First Era. And the pattern continued for the remainder of the Era at random intervals.

At the same time the people of the mainland were having their territorial disputes, the people of Imal'ah'calh were having issues of their own. Around the year one hundred and seventy-four (records aren't very clear on this), islanders began to notice a change in their beloved homeland. A morbid fog would constantly creep up the slopes of the shoreline, or the jagged drops of cliffs. Clouds as black as any storm would often form randomly and without any apparent purpose. A chill hung in the air more often than, and the sun shone less and less. By the year one hundred and eighty-one, word had reached the mainland that not a single living person remained on Imal'ah'calh. And so it was renamed the Lost Isles.

Unfortunately, the plight received little attention at the time. Only the Fahliin of Mal Alroth took an active interest, and the constant fighting forced them to remain in their tower for many long years. But, finally, a break in the cycles of violence arrived in the year five hundred and one of the First Era. The kingdoms, tired of the constant struggles, decided on a truce, and a search party was organized to travel to the Lost Isles and bring back word. Composed of people from all six remaining regions, they departed on five hundred and two, 1E. They never returned.

Several more search parties left in the years that followed. All shared a similar fate. Soon, by six hundred 1E the regions had begun to accuse eachother of sabotaging the scouting parties. Tensions rose once more, and the kingdoms prepared for a fight. The truce held until six hundred and three, 1E.

It is unclear if Azgar declared war on Vej-Jeren first or if it was Imith-Mor and Shaal. What is certain, however, is that the war that became known as the War of Six lasted from six hundred and three, 1E to six hundred and twelve, 1E. Its repercussions, once the dinn of battle had ended, were to be felt through all the kingdoms; more than half of the human population lay dead on the field of battle. Whether they wanted to or not, the regions were forced to once again make a truce.

The Second Era had begun.

It is now one hundred and forty-four, 2E. The truce still holds, but it is constrained by rising tensions once again. The memory of the War of Six still brings hesitation to the kingdom leaders, but it can only last for so long. And to make matters worse, many in the countryside have reported seeing strange images lately...