And now for the history of the land of Eldia, long and probably more detail than Sei wants or needs but meh~ Included little picks of some of teh areas of Eldia, may do an entire map of teh Kingdom if I ever find the time.
EDIT: Forgot to mention this above, but Zagore grew up as an orphan in a monastary north of Bailetin in Balt province, later studying at Fleis in Belam province.
ELDIA
Modern Eldia is a peaceful isolated land of rolling hills, forests and fields situated on a large peninsula jutting from the western part of the continent of XXXX ((change as appropriate)). The Country is split roughly into four provinces; The Eastern one of Dulbet, Northern province is Belam, The small western province of Balt and the mountainous southern region of Limar. The large mountains that make up Limar also act as the southern border of Eldia; travel by land is only possible by a few passes through the mountains many of which are closed off in the winter.
Compared to most of other nations, Eldia is rather underdeveloped, relatively poor and lacking in any major industry it's often seen as being out in the sticks. Besides the major cities of Eltrin, Fleis and Corlt, there are few settlements in the country with access to electricity, reliable telecommunications or other services often taken for granted in the rest of the developed world. Even cars are rarely seen outside of Eltrin or Fleis, being seen as a luxury for the wealthy elite of the nation, everyone else relying on horse and carriage for transport or oxen pulled carts for heavier goods.
The people of Eldia rarely see this underdevelopment as being a disadvantage though, for while the lack of industrial growth has left them with a clean and beautiful land, often admired by visiting tourists. It is also noted that many of the citizens of Eldia have a natural aptitude for using magic and the university city of Fleis is renowned centre of arcane study. Many believe that this aptitude is in part born from the lack of industrialisation, as other nations have turned to the convenience of technology the Eldians have kept more to the old ways and remained close to their land and nature.
Currently the land is known as the Kingdom of Eldia, or the New Kingdom among the citizens and locals. The government though is more akin to a republic than a monarchy, with most decisions and laws passed by a Senate, made up of representatives from the towns and cities of Eldia, with the Nobility acting as merely ceremonial heads of state. Each community in Eldia is ruled over by a council of elders, the name originally came from the fact the council was made of the elders from the community, though in the modern age the members are chosen based on their knowledge and skill. The council isn't elected as such and has no real power, functioning solely because the local population chose to do as it says; the members of the council are constantly changing, depending on the needs of the community and who can best fill the roles needed. The Senate on the other hand is more official, members are elected to serve a five year term, though when these elections are held is up to the local community that chooses the Senator, so some term s vary from 4~6 years. The senate decides all matters that affect the nation as a whole, such a military, foreign trade, national infrastructure, etc. The only area the Senate has no jurisdiction over is the University which has had a right to immunity and neutrality in all political and military affairs
Dulbet: The largest and most populated Province, it's the location of the royal capital Eltrin and has jurisdiction over the area from the southern and western mountains up to the Coroon River and lake. Most of the land in this part of the country is given over to farming, though the south east is still heavily forested. Besides Eltrin the only other major settlements are Corlt the port city and Tyrell the nation’s only active mining town.
Eltrin: The city of canals, built on a split in the Vormin River which comes from the mountains in the west. The city has always acted as the centre of government for the Peninsula, from the days of the Old Kingdom, through the Western Empire and into the New Kingdom. The only exception being the Grey years when there was no official government in the region.
Eltrin Belam: The second largest region, though the most widely known to the rest of the world, the capital of the province is the university city of Fleis, renowned as a centre for the study of the Arcane Arts for centuries, since it was first established during the reign of the Western Empire. Most of the Province is dominated by the Hriffen woods to the north, there are farming communities in the south west of the province and a large port city on the west coast. The two major geographic features are the Coroon Lake in the south and the Deadwoods, just north of Fleis. Belam is also hosts a community of vampires, they have settled in a ruined city on the outskirts of the Hriffen woods, as the deadwoods slowly spread, the community has also grown, sparking concern among some who believe the two are connected.
Fleis: Fleis is perhaps the only city to be continuously populated throughout the entire history of the country, for while all the other major cites were abandoned at the fall of the Old Kingdom and left to ruin and decay through the Grey Years; Fleis was not. (Although its population was severely diminished, with a census by the first Imperial Regent placing the population at a few hundred, when the city could have housed thousands. It's unknown what purpose the city might have had during the Old Kingdom, but it was soon established as a centre for learning under the reign of the Empire.
The key to this was the discovery of vast libraries in the city ruins, with thousands of texts preserved in excellent condition. These texts made the colonising imperials realise for the first time that the locals (Who to them seemed like a primitive farming people) had once been part of a large and very advanced nation. The texts covered numerous areas, literature, engineering, medicine and more, but the books on magic in particular were a fabulous find, detailing arts as yet unknown to the Imperial mages. At first the books were to be shipped to the Imperial homeland, but the route home was full of potential dangers, do the Regent at the time, kept most within the city and a few years later founded the University of Fleis. At first meant as a place for the study of numerous subjects, most who came, did so to study the universities unique library of arcane lore, so the University soon came to specialise as an Arcane University.
The city is built atop a hill overlooking the Coroon River and is made up of four major districts. The central district is the oldest, with much of the architecture being preserved from the original Old Kingdom settlement, the university campus occupies most of the district, along with government buildings, numerous banks and offices and several streets occupied by the houses of the most wealthy and powerful citizens of the city. The next two oldest districts are the south and east districts, both are on the rivers edge and were rebuilt when the Empire colonised the region. The South district is mostly residential areas, housing most of the upper and middle classed citizens of the city, while the east district is primarily warehouses, and industries. The last district is relatively new, being the area where most of the new development and housing is being done. It's situated between two of the major routes into the city and houses most of the cities population and is dominated by a large market square, surrounded by numerous stores, forming the commercial heart of the city.
Just to the north of the city is the Wizards graveyard, this gloomy region is where the inhabitants of Fleis have been buried for as long as the city has stood. During the time of the Old Kingdom, large cathedrals and mausoleums dominated the valley, but most of these are gone, leaving only decaying ruins. The practice of burying the dead continued after the city was taken over by the empire, but as space became a premium the common folk were cremated and their asses scattered over the land, with only mages being buried whole, hence the name. The Graveyard cessed to serve this purpose though at the time of the vampire feuds, being located nearly halfway between the vampires and Fleis it was often the site for battles between the two sides. After the truce, the site was left abandoned, many feeling the place was cursed or unclean with so much spilt blood, plus the encroaching deadwoods added an aura of decay even the vampires feel uncomfortable with.
Deadwoods: The deadwoods is an area of the Hriffen forest closest to the city of Fleis, once lush and vibrant like the rest of the woods, the region has been going into a general decline for the past two century's. Many believe the ruined city populated by vampires on the outskirts of the deadwoods is the cause of the decay, however its well known a small community of Vampires has always lived in the ruins and the population only grew as the woods started to decay. The lifeless landscape being inhospitable to most creatures, humans give the area a wide berth, hence the vampires who seem more at home in the decay naturally migrated here and settled in. A common thought on the cause of the deadwood is the story of a night full of star fire (meteor shower) during which something impacted in the woods. If this is the cause is unknown since anyone who has ventured into those cursed forests has either returned before venturing in too far or not returned at all.
Vampires: The community of vampires that lives to the north of Fleis is tolerated for the most part, the vampires survive mostly off animals and while the odd farmer might be dismayed to find several of his livestock gone in the morning, its general thought of as being preferable to the alternatives. This was not always the case and during the reign of the Western empire vampires were actively hunted, it was believed they were wiped out from Eldia, but some time after the collapse of the Western Empire, the vampires slowly came out of their hiding places in the deep woods and high mountains. It's unknown when, but at some stage a group came together and settled in the ruins of a city abandoned at the fall of the Old Kingdom, located to the north of Fleis. Originally despised by the locals, attempts were made to wipe out the community of vampires, but this was still early days for the New Kingdom and bogged down in poor government and lacking a significant national military, little aid came to the people of Fleis. Hence the local militia did what they could to force out the vampires, they made pleas to the university for aid, but the Chancellor at the time refused, holding to the long standing pledge of neutrality the university had to all political and military affairs. Still the militia raided the ruins and for all their valour was butchered, in turn the vampires retaliated, raiding the city, they were fought off though, when mages from the university stepping in, unwilling to simply watch innocent people slaughtered.
Hence a stalemate of shorts formed, the city militia lacked the man power to destroy the vampire's settlement, while the university mages repelled any attacks from the vampires. The leader of the vampires realised the futility of the fighting, and in truth the vampires simply wanted a place to live in peace. Eventually the humans would get organised and the Eldian government would send aid to the local militia, and then the vampires would be overwhelmed. Before that happened she sent an emissary to the Elder council of Fleis and managed to broker a truce, the vampires would stay out of the city limits and abstain from feeding on any sentient creature and in return, Vampires were allowed free travel through the province and allowed to live in peace in the southern Hriffen forest.
The truce held and a stable peace grew from it, so long as the two communities didn't mix, they got along fine. As time passed there was even a certain amount of trade and cooperation between them and while vampires were banned from Fleis they did intermingle with people in the other towns in the province. However at around this time the phenomena of the deadwoods began and the forest started decaying. This created some tension between vampires and those who believe that vampires are responsible for killing the forest; the fact that more vampires have been moving into the region in recent years hasn't helped the situation.
Things came to a head when a decade ago, a group of young vampires broke the truce and attacked the city, oddly choosing to strike right in the centre with a raid on the university campus. Dozens were killed or injured and it sparked outrage, with many fearing it was an attempt to destroy the cities primary defence against vampire attacks. The local militia with the aid of many enraged mages, looking for vengeance, attacked the vampires. It was then for the first time that people realised how large the vampire community had grown, the once small settlement was now comparable to a small city. Though they inflicted a lot of damage the humans were unprepared for the vampire’s numbers and were driven back, but the attack started a two year long campaign of attack and counter attack.
Eventually things settled back into another stalemate, with the Eldian military and militias, backed by the mages on one side and a large well organised vampire force on the other. Again it was the vampires who made the first move for peace; they separated themselves from the actions of the rogue group who were responsible for the first attack, claiming they had since been banished from the settlement. Not wishing any further bloodshed the peace offer was accepted though the violence ended, things haven't returned to normal yet, a lot of people died on both sides during the fighting and such bad blood will take time to pass. It still isn't widely known why the group of young vampires attacked the city, the official story being that they went rogue and were unhappy with the laws against feeding on sentients.
It's worth nothing that while Vampires have the right to free travel in Belam, this right was provided by the local council of Elders and so only applies to this province. Technically the standing order to hunt vampires is still in effect throughout the rest of the country, though it is rarely enforced. Few vampires live outside of Belam and those few that do art smart enough not to draw attention to themselves.
Fleis and Deadwood regionBalt: Balt is the smallest Province of Eldia, located on a small jut of land emerging from the west coast, almost like a second smaller peninsula, along side the main jut of land that comprises Eldia. Balt is sparsely populated with no major towns or cities in fact the only settlements of note are Bailetin, a medium sized farming community in the west and Ennel a coastal town to the east. The province is closed in on three sides by the sea and to the east is the mountainous region of Limar and in some ways is a microcosm of Eldia as a whole.
One of the few features of note in the region are the ruins of Balatha, once a thriving mining community it was one of many settlements mysteriously abandoned after the collapse of the Old Kingdom. One of the things that set this city apart from others is the massive palace that once stood on the hill over looking the once massive city. No where else in the nation is there any evidence of any castles or palaces, none were even found in the ancient capital of Eltrin, which leads to some theories that Balatha was the original seat of power, but it moved as Eltrin grew in wealth and influence.
Later when the Imperials came, expeditions to the area found numerous signs of extensive mining once, but preliminary excavations found no substantial deposits, and so no effort was ever made to rebuild the city and colonise the area.
The other area of note in Balt is the Jomar Heath land, a stretch of barren infertile land that covers the southern plains of Balt. Desolate, there doesn't seem to be anything of use in the region, a lack of mineral wealth or arable land, means there aren't any settlements in the Heath land. However some expeditions have found ruins of several settlements in the area and if estimates are accurate during the time of the Old Kingdom this was a densely populated area. A lack of thorough investigations makes it hard to determine how many really lived here or how a large population could have survived in such desolate conditions. The only theory being that some major event drastically changed the terrain or climate.
Bailetin & Balatha JomarLimar: The southern province encloses the entire Limar mountain range and little else; it is the least populated Region of the country with no official settlements anywhere. The only pockets of population are various camps and excavation sites scattered throughout the region, for Limar holds the highest concentration of unexplored ruins in the country. The main reason for this being the bizarre location of some of these ruins, many located atop mountain sides or in valleys with no obvious means of reaching them. It is of great interest to many who study the Old Kingdom how exactly they managed to build cities of towering spires in such inaccessible and inhospitable conditions. Many who come into the mountains do so for more personal reasons than research, many believe that the vast fortune the Old Kingdom once held is locked away in those lost fortresses and cities.
Eldian Treasure Trove: That the Old Kingdom was extremely rich is accepted fact, one need only look at eh extravagant and indeed decadent decorations adorning the buildings built from that time. And the vast treasure trove found in one vault during the rebuilding of Eltrin also serves as evidence of their wealth. What is debated is what happened to it all, modern Eldia has no mineral wealth, the once vast deposits mined to exhaustion during the time of the Old Kingdom, and yet there is no sign of where it all went. The Old Kingdom was isolationist, having little trade with foreigners, so it wasn't spent on foreign goods or luxuries. It wasn't plundered by the Imperials, they came to find a scattering of poor underdeveloped farming communities, the treasure seems to have disappeared during the Grey years, between the fall of the Kingdom and the arrival of the Empire.
While numerous theories exist on what happened to this fortune, the best known is the Treasure Hoards of Limar, that suggests that in the dying days of the Old Kingdom the wealth of the land was gathered up and stored in the numerous cities and fortresses located in the Mountains. There is a lot of evidence to support this claim, records found in Fleis show there was a mass exodus from the land into the mountains, with massive movements of people and resources. The cities themselves are near unreachable by any known route, making them ideal safe houses from whatever it was the ancient Eldians were fleeing, suggesting they'd want to keep their wealth there too.
The most convincing evidence is from an expedition into the region by early Imperial explorers, this expedition, supposedly stumbled onto a city, abandoned to the ice and snow, yet filled with riches. The fact the group returned with as much gold and jewellery that they could carry proves they did find the city, but no other group has ever reported finding the city. The original group was unable to give accurate directions to the treasure trove and none lived long enough to successfully lead an expedition back; many fell prey to greed and infighting, with only a handful actually making it back to civilisation alive and they in turn were murdered or robbed, or died trying to retrace their steps to the city.
Once word got out though it spread rapidly and even though no significant find has since been made, dozens of expeditions set off into the mountains each year.
Crystal Forest: The Crystal Forest is a natural wonder, found in the eastern side of the Limar Mountains; it is a forest of frozen petrified trees, where unusual crystalline formations jut from the ground. These Crystals have a great deal of magical potential in them and are highly prized by practitioners of magic, so much so the forest was nearly destroyed by people trying to acquire the crystals. In an effort to preserve the forest, the government strictly limits the collection of the crystals; this of course has lead to an increase in demand and a sharp rise in the value of these crystals, providing the government with a tidy income. It's suggested that the yearly profits from the crystals are the Kingdoms main source of income, given how little they would make taxing the primarily agrarian economy.
LimarEcologyFor the most part Eldia is unremarkable, it contains most of the plants and animals commonly found across much of the world, with it's fertile soil playing host to a wide variety of plant species. There are a few rare species found in Eldia:
Basilisk: The Eldian Basilisk, is a massive six legged creature, similar in appearance to a crocodile, but weighing as much as a small elephant, it's massive, powerful jaws capable of swallowing a horse whole. It's hide has a bony, leathery texture and is dull brown in colour, it's very thick and difficult to pierce. The basilisk seems to prefer dry arid conditions and is usually found only in the Jomar Heath land, although it is known to occasionally venture north into the more populated areas of Balt. For the most part people actively avoid these creatures as a Basilisk can and will eat a human if given the chance, that said there are those who hunt basilisk's. Basilisks are hunted for their though hide, their meat, which is a delicacy in some parts and it's organs, some of which are thought to have medicinal or magical qualities
Frost Dragon: In the high reaches of Limar are the dens of the Frost Dragons, this breed of dragon is much smaller and generally less intelligent than most other species of dragon, but is still very dangerous. While lacking the brute strength of other dragons it does posses an innate ability to control cold weather, calling down savage snow storms to freeze it's prey, before moving in to finish it off. While the dens are usually high up beyond the reach of humans, the dragons often descend to lower terrain while hunting, bringing the two into conflict. humans rarely hunt Frost Dragons and the only times the government has sanctioned hunting these creatures is when the dragons migrate too close to the Crystal forests and impede the crystal harvests.
Nether Spiders: All over Eldia are long abandoned mines and tunnels, some of which have become home to an unusual breed of spider. Nearly the size of an adult male, the spiders have a powerful venom that paralyses it's prey, while it wraps it up in though spider silk and then carries the victim back to it's underground layer.
History
The history of the Eldian nation is broken into Four distinct periods, the earliest is the First Eldian Kingdom, commonly referred to as the Old Kingdom, while powerful and advanced for it's time, it has passed into obscurity, with little concrete evidence on what brought about it's fall. Following the collapse of the Old Kingdom, we enter into the Grey Years, so known due to the lack of information for this period; it covers from the mysterious fall of the Kingdom up to the early days of the Imperial expansion. During this period the Eldian people fell from an advanced and wealthy civilisation to a scattering of sparsely populated farming communities. The next period is the Imperial Reign, the time during which Eldia was a province of the large Western Empire that once dominated much of the continent. The Imperials came to find a bountiful but sparsely populated land and so effectively colonised it, integrating the local population into itself. Although given it's distance and isolation from the main empire, Eldia retained much of it's natural heritage and it might be truer to say that the colonists were absorbed into the Eldian way of life. When the Empire finally began to collapse and come apart under the stress of numerous civil wars, the Regent at the time declared independence and declared himself the Ruler of the Second Eldian Kingdom, hence ushering in the age of the New Kingdom, which covers the history of Eldia from the fall of the empire to modern times.
Old Kingdom: Aprox 2500~1000 years ago
Little is known of the original civilisation that ruled over Eldia, many records of the time were lost during the Grey Years and what is known was learned from texts found in Fleis or during excavations of Eltrin and other ancient settlements. It is known that they were an isolationist nation, viewing the world beyond there borders as barbaric and primitive, an assumption that was accurate to a degree. These early Eldians were quite advanced compared to their contemporaries, skilled in engineering and architecture, there is even some evidence they used primitive steam engines to power machinery. Their greatest accomplishments were the use of magic though, with some of their achievements being unsurpassed even by modern knowledge.
At the height of their power the Kingdom possessed vast wealth and resources and was a symbol of culture and sophistication, but generally considered proud and egotistical by their neighbours. What happened to the Kingdom is one of the great mysteries of history. All evidence points to a healthy, peaceful and stable civilisation, which suddenly fell into chaos and vanished in a single generation. There are three main theories on what happened.
War: A common theory is that a war broke out with one of their neighbours and the Eldians were wiped out. Many of the ruins of Eldia show signs of battle and a level of destruction consistent with the city being razed, expeditions into the Jomar Heath lands have found mass graves consistent with battlefield casualties and there are writings amongst the texts found in Fleis that indicate a war was being fought in the dying days of the Kingdom. although the exact interpretation of these texts is often debated, it's agreed they show a conflict of some sort and that a large number of personal and materials were being moved, but some argue that it could refer to civilian as well as military movements. The large number of fortresses in the Limar region is also taken as a sign of a nation at war, the theory being that the north/south line of the Limar mountains acted as the front line of the war, which is consistent with the greatest signs of conflict being found in the Jomar region, near the foot of the mountains.
Despite this evidence there are several holes in the theory, mostly who the Eldians were fighting. A study of the history of the neighbouring nations shows no signs of conflict between them and the Eldians, and given the unrivalled power held by the Eldians at that time, none of their neighbouring nations had the strength to win such a war. Secondly there is no evidence on the battlefields or mass graves of who the Eldians fought, of course the evidence may be lost to time and the bodies of fallen enemies might not have been buried alongside the Eldian dead, but one would expect some evidence of this opposing army to still exist. Finally there is no record of an occupying force, this army seems to have appeared from no where, ravaged the country, razing most of the major cities and then disappeared into thin air. Some have tried to tie this to the missing Eldian fortune, suggesting foreign raiders struck the country and pillaged it's wealth before returning home with the stolen wealth. Still no one has yet put forward a widely accepted theory as to who these mystery raiders were, so the idea hasn't received much support.
Plague: Another popular theory is that a plague of some sort struck the nation. There is mention to a plague ravaging the land in several ancient texts, but it's often thought the use of the word 'plague' was figurative rather than literal. In this theory the mass graves aren't from battle losses, but are the mass burials of plague victims and the records of massive troop movements are interpreted as either troops helping with emergency aid to control the spread of the plague or perhaps a mass evacuation from plague hit regions. This theory also claims that the number of fortresses in the mountains were a last stand, people moving to isolated areas in an effort to avoid infection.
This theory goes some way to explaining why all the major settlements were abandoned, plague devastating the populations and the dense population centres had the highest risk of infection being spread. Yet this theory also has holes most notably that in the recorded history since the Grey Years, there has been no significant outbreak of disease, the plague seems to have disappeared with the Eldians. Another criticism is that the Eldians were skilled healers, while lacking the medical knowledge of modern civilisations, their skill in magic was unquestioned, plus the Eldians understood the importance of good hygiene and sanitation, with many of their cities possessing rudimentary sewer systems. Why then did the plague spread so fast and kill so many that it could wipe out such an advanced civilisation?
Social upheaval/Civil War: the third commonly believed theory is that the Eldians fell from within, that something triggered a mass uprising and the collapse of the government, eventually leading to the Eldians tearing themselves apart. The trigger for this is often thought to be the exhaustion of the countries mineral wealth, it's known that the country once held vast mineral deposits, but here is only signs of vast mining operations left from this time. The theory goes that as the mines dried up the economy became unstable, collapsed and with it the government. The nation then fell into anarchy, with many proponents of the theory suggesting civil war broke out, with the Eldians destroying their own civilisation. This theory explains why the advanced Eldians lost a war, they fought the only people whose power matched their own, and it explains why all the people found in the mass graves are of the same race.
The problem with the theory is that there is little evidence in the texts that there was any social tension amongst the populace previous to the collapse of the Kingdom, and it fails to fully explain why all the major cities were abandoned and destroyed. Also when the Imperials arrived, they found no sign of animosity or conflict amongst the local Eldian population, who seemed to cooperate peacefully with one another.
Exodus: The most interesting piece of evidence from the fall of the Old Kingdom is a document found in Fleis commonly known as the Exodus Text. It seems to be a fairly plain record kept by a quartermaster about the movement of personal and supplies through the region around Fleis, the part that draws peoples interests are the entries in the final weeks at the end of the text. These entries show a sudden jump in the amount of materials and people leaving the area and heading east towards either Eltrin or somewhere in Limar Province. The movement accounts for hundreds of thousands of people and a vast fortune of wealth and materials, which seem to disappear into Limar. Those who support the war theory claim this is a sign of troops moving to establish a front line against invaders. The plague theory suggests these are evacuees fleeing plague infected areas for the safety of the mountains, while the Civil war theory takes these movements as the losing side of the war retreating into the safety of the mountains.
It is universally accepted though that this document proves a large part of the population and most of the wealth Eldia had accumulated went up into the Limar Mountains and disappeared, never to be seen again. Born from this is the thought that the Eldians faced with a cataclysm (whether it was invasion, plague or something else) Fled into the mountains for safety, but in their haste, boxed themselves in. The mountains could never support such a large population and sooner rather than later their food would have run out, the Eldians had cut themselves off form the outside world and ended up signing their own death warrants in the process, freezing or starving to death in the high mountain forts.
Grey Years: aprox1000~750 years ago
After the fall of the Old Kingdom the land descended into chaos, whatever the catastrophe that wiped out the Old Kingdom out, it lead to an estimated 85% of the population being wiped out and every major city besides Fleis being abandoned. The next 200 or so years are known as the Grey Years, there are no written documents from this time and there was no organised government over the land. The few survivors from the original Eldian population now lived in simple farming communities with little contact with each other, with much of their knowledge and lore lost forever. The Eldians had fallen so far that the first Imperial's to arrive in the region, called the natives illiterate, barbarian pig farmers, a far cry from what was once one of the most advanced human civilisations of the ancient world.
Reign of the Western Empire: 750 - 489 years ago
As the Western empire continued to grow and expand, it's explorers and colonists came upon Eldia, a fertile bountiful land, that was also sparsely populated, making it ideal for colonisation. At first establishing new cities along the eastern coastline as the Imperials moved inland they took to rebuilding and settling in the long abandoned cities of the Old Kingdom. This is blamed for some of the lost knowledge of the ancient Eldians, since in many cases the Imperials dismantled the old buildings clearing space and reusing the masonry to build new cities on top of the old. In the process many structures were lost forever, along with countless treasures and knowledge of the Ancient people.
For the most part the native Eldians offered no resistance to the Colonists, quickly adapting to their way of life and integrating into the Imperial life style. However for what ever the reason the colo0nists adopted many of the native’s traditions as well, keeping many of the local place names and adopting many of the old customs and festivals as their own, leading to a culture distinct from the rest of the empire.
Many of the institutes established by the Imperial Regents still hold to this day. The Imperial established a regional council which later formed the basis of the Senate that runs the modern Kingdom. It was the Imperials who established Fleis as a centre for learning and magical studies, it is also policies set out by an early Imperial regent that lead to Eldians lack of industrial development and preserved the natural beauty of the land.
One of the early Regents of the Province, the first to actually be born in Eldia, rather than appointed from outside by the Empire, had a keen interest in nature and the Eldian landscape. He left to school abroad for nearly a decade before returning and when he did he was struck by the significant decline in the size of the forests. Rapid growth and expansion meant a constant need for more farm land and more lumber for building, leading to a rapid dwindling of the forests. When he eventually became Regent for the province he designated large areas of land as forest preserves and put a policy in place that any trees removed from those preserves had to be replanted, ensuring the forests would be preserved for future generations.
At the time a bizarre policy, it lead to the Eldians developing a mindset of working with rather than exploiting their environment. While this has resulted in the Eldians being an industrially underdeveloped nation, it also led to the preservation and continued fertility of the land.
For the next two hundred and fifty years Eldia thrived as a part of the Empire, many of the old cities were rebuilt and repopulated by Imperial colonists, the land was fertile and the people earned a comfortable living off the land, exporting their goods across the empire. And Fleis grew into a major university city, with people coming not only from across the Empire, but from across the entire continent to study there, bringing with them a variety of knowledge and cultures. But then the civil war broke out. The suspicious death of the last Emperor and a lack of a clear successor lead to a number of fractions rising up to seize control of the empire, plunging it into a prolonged civil war that eventually tore it asunder.
About ten years into the civil war, the regent of Eldia at the time announced independence from the empire, being a far flung province with little influence in the empire, Eldia had escaped the horrors of the fighting and when it broke away, it was given little attention from a beleaguered empire on the verge of collapse. After some initial resistance from the more powerful families of Imperial bloodlines, the Regent consolidated his power and appointed himself King of Eldia, ushering in the age of the Second Kingdom.
New Kingdom: 489 - 0 years ago
The Second Eldian Kingdom pretty much continued on from where Imperial rule left off, as the empire had declined over the last ten years ties between Eldia and the Empire had weakened considerable. When the First king declared independence form the empire, the severed ties made no real impact on the daily lives of the people, who continued on with their daily lives. No real reforms were made for the first hundred years or so, until the reign of the Forth King.
Significant reforms were made across the board during his reign, not because he was proactive, or ingenious leader, he was simply lazy. Bored by the chores of office, he delegated a lot of power to civilian authorities, giving the Senate ever greater power until he effectively made himself redundant. The Senate took up authority seamlessly and soon began reforming everything from the legal code to the education system and economy, ushering in the kingdom as it exists today.
