Monday, September 1, 2014

Guardians of Enthia -- The Prologue

The Prologue.

The Region of Spring was one with a peculiar history. For starters, it was an entire planet – similar to Earth or Annoa. It was concentrated into one giant continent in which the “Region of Spring” came from, and a small island by the name of the Summerset Island. Summerset Island was a fairly exotic place comparative to the rest of the world; there existed animals and plants that lived no where else. There was a single volcano there named Ironblow's Fortress (named after the man who discovered it) but beyond that the place was not of much interest, especially in this story.

The continent was a whole other story. It was separated into three distinct areas – The Groundlands, The Deep Woods, and Acadia. The continent was concave, and filling up the area in between was the Gulf of Meria (named after Meria Skyseeker, an ancient who first discovered how to get across the gulf). The Groundlands, which resided north of the cove, consisted of five subareas – The Groundlands (not to be confused with the entire area name), Goldun, The Eastern and Western Tribes, and finally the Falls of Anguish, also known as Akira in elvish.

The Groundlands subarea consisted of multiple city states. Although they were all independent of each other, Enthia was considered the capital due to its cultural significance and standing as one of the first cities. Other notable cities in the Groundlands include Summeria, Eyrica, and Kathara.

The Groundlands, being the most populous area due to it bordering the water while still having a habitable landscape, consisted of all different races of people. No particular race ruled the Groundlands, and no particular race was cast out. This made it a prime spot for refuge from many famous exoduses and genocides that had happened in the less developed parts of the world.

The most northern area, Goldun (Dwarvish for “Golden Earth”) consisted primary of, you guessed it, dwarves. After the dwarven race was exiled from the Eastern Tribes due to the crimes of their leader Regedum Kolotro, they made there way up to Goldun and settled around an area named Barad Dun. All was in peace until a necromancer came and seiged the citadel with armies of the dead, but that was a whole story all in its own and won't be covered here.
Regardless, the dwarves stayed strong and separated into two separate cities on both sides of Barad Dun – Frostgard to the west and Nergord to the east.

The eastern and western tribes, as have been mentioned before, mostly consist of elves and are among the oldest sites in the world. Places like Havensward and Elvesward are extremely holy and sanctimonious places, with many of all races taking the pilgrimage there to pay respect to the elven god Therita.

Lastly, there's Akira, or the Falls of Anguish. This is where Crutia kept his base of operations as he lead his fallen (Siima) to invade the Region of Spring in the First War. The area was never healed from its taint, and is now a world of ash and fire. Many expeditions have been attempted there, but its lack of oxygen and common ashstorms make it practically impossible.

Going down to the middle of the continent, there lies the Deep Woods. Unlike Akira the land is very habitable, and some of the oldest elven races live there. However because of its dangerous and unmapped landscape, most from the civilized areas dare not explore it.

Last, but certainly not least, there is the land of a thousand deserts – Acadia, the most southern point on the continent.

With Al'Kharid as its capital, the empire of Acadia is lead by Emperor Belut XIV. It is the richest of any of the other places on the world, as is filled with talented mathematicians and inventors due to Acadia's focus on technology that the Groundlands tend to ignore. Even though the two areas have had no wars against each other, most of the people in the Groundlands sees Acadia in a bad light due to its alleged treatment of the poor and racism towards many races of elves. Regardless of this, the people of both the Groundlands and Acadia trade between each other often.

The only problem with this world is that there is, ironically, too much independence. During the First War, the elves and humans were able to combat the rise of the Siima only because they were united under one banner. And even though at the time of this story they were in an age of peace, they were separated. City state politics stayed in the city state, no matter how many other people it affected. Frostgard and Nergord have had rarely any communication since the Barad Dun exodus. The Western and Eastern tribes remain split. Acadia has a massive class system problem.

These, among the various tensions between both races and peoples, city-states and civilizations, are only just an elephant in the room for most of the people who lived in these cities. However, to the Royal Society of Enthian Scholars, they realize that if there people are not able to unite when another world invasion strikes, the whole world will be in peril.

In the large conference room on the 63rd story of the Pillar of Time, this group of Enthian Royal Scholars would end up setting the fundamentals for the Guardians of Enthia.

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