Xanith: The formation of it and a history.

The gods came together and sang the void into worlds. One such world was named for it's creator, Xanith. The world was a globe of lava and volcanoes, a hot world without an atmosphere, devoid of life. Xanith went down and created an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen and inhabited his fiery world with lava elementals and creatures that thrived in the hot lava. He created the Dolaraa, an intelligent race that created cities from the magic left over from Xanith. They built Xortar, Xaerth, and Xonna. They devoted themselves to the studies of magics and everyone was a wizard. Alsia looked down on the world and was horrified that Xanith allowed this creation to use the fabric of the gods. Alsia banished Xanith and caused rain to fall on the world and caused a mighty ocean to cover the entire world. The cities of the Dolaraa perished and the Dolaraa fled to the core of the planet and built Xo'lathin and pledged revenge on Alsia. Alsia filled the world with water elementals and water creatures and built a mighty city on the sea floor and placed himself as the ruler. He created the Meron and the Meron built Alsthi, Aklithi, and Awareth and a multitude of smaller cities and towns on the sea bed. The ancient Dolaraa cities were ignored (by law) until one Meron adventured into one of the cities and took out a metal scroll. The Meron began to practice magic and Alsia was exiled from his world. Alsia then begged his brother Xanith to return and to create landmasses above the ocean to curb the power of the amok Meron. Xanith agreed and created one giant landmass he called Gihas, after this wife. The fire elementals and lava creatures came to the surface and finally the Dolaraa returned to the surface and built Xilo. But the atmosphere was now oxygen and carbon dioxide and the Dolarra quickly abandoned Xilo and returned to their exile in Xo'lathin. Faeralien looked at the world and came up with a solution. He banished both brothers and he created plants, trees, animals, insects and nature elementals to guard them. He came down and built Feralia and tended to his garden himself. He made new sea creatures and kept the Dolaraa out of his world. Gihas looked down at her brother-in-law and at the world he modified and she screamed in anger and the continents parted into four. Feralia collapsed and before Faeralien fled, he created the Elves to tend to his garden world, a male and a female. He told them they could do all things except carve their likenesses into the trees, or they would cease to be immortal. They did and he withdrew their immortality. They were cursed to carve their likenesses into the trees in order to make more elves and they were to turn into trees when they died. Honram looked down and banished his brother from the world and raised up mighty mountains and he built a massive hall within Stonebreaker mountain. He created the Frost Giants and other giants and ruled as their ruler. He was exiled by his brother Titan who spoke a word and the Frost Giants fell dead, because they began to build a giant city that would have circled the globe. Little stone men pulled themselves out of the fallen frost giants, who were also stone. The dwarves, as Titan called them, became his chief Smiths and he named all of them Smith until they began to call themselves by different names, using "Smith" as their origin name. Chronos looked down, being a stranger and a visitor and he exiled all the gods and made himself the ruler. He created Zalthas, a city of marble in the skies and sat as ruler, making a legion of air elementals as his servants. He created the Ingari, who built Ishanar, Iuiarr, Iuada, Iiolia, Ifnar and a host of smaller cities and towns. They stumbled into the magics of the older races and began to be mighty and they exiled Chronos from his throne. The mighty city fell from the sky and fell into the ocean, creating a huge tidal wave that ended the civilization of the Ingari. The Ingari began to mutate and change. The first mutation resulted in the Orcs, the second in the Trolls and the third was the Goblins. All fought each other savagely in a long war for supremacy until the Orcs won and built Gol'athar the Great. A band of Dolaraa emerged from the Volcano named Skyseeker and mutated into large and terrible flying reptiles known as dragons. The dragons quickly dominated the Orcs and the other races after a brief war and made the Orcs and the other races (except the dwarves and the elves) their slaves. Folodor looked upon the situation and created men. He created a band of 100 men and women and ordered them to subdue the world and kill off the dragons. Xanith flew into a rage and ordered his brother to limit the lifespan of the men to 100 years, seeing that they were immortal. Folodor met his brother halfway and made the limit 130 years. The men settled in one place and built Yersla and appointed the High Ruler of the Elves to rule them and give them a government. Folodor destroyed the city and scattered the survivors to the other three continents. The men remained in their clans and tribes, hunting the great reptiles and mammals and making tents out of their skin and bones. The Smith clan of the dwarves shattered during a regal conflict between their princes and one clan fled to the extreme northern part of Dumar and they gradually shrank until they were a size smaller than their cousins and what they lacked in size they gained in intelligence, and thus became known as the Gnomes. Another faction of the Smith clan left the mountain fasts completely and settled in the hills of southern Dumar and became stocky and slightly taller than their dwarven cousins and became known as the Hobbits (hill dwarves). The other five factions built new Holds in the mountains and renamed themselves, abandoning the ancient Skyseeker Hold. The Bronzehammers, The Ironhammers, the Steelhammers, the Mithrilhammers and the Goldhammers.  Breaking with ancient tradition, each clan appointed it's own Kings and Princes and nobles and vowed to never again unite under one banner. The Hobbits divided themselves into 20 clans and appointed a King over them. The Gnomes tried to unite with the Goldhammers for a time, even bringing Goldhammer princes up to their realm to rule over them but the Goldhammers found the region to be too cold and left the Gnomes to their own devices. The Gnomes then appointed a council of 70 Archengineers and one High King with 10 other lesser kings, ruling over the 10 clans of the Gnomes. Each of the Dwarven clans became large tribes and divided up into clans and the Kings appointed Thanes to rule each clan. The Goldhammers and the Mithrilhammers occupied the same Continent, Dumar, but the other three went to the other three Continents, Garsland, Farsland, Jarsland. (as they called them) Dumar to them was known as Darsland. The Elves had by this time become numerous and an ancient curse was finally lifted, they could now have childbirth by natural means. They grew in great numbers on all the continents and they appointed Skykings over them, so called since their new Kings would look to their god as they made laws. Their Great Speaker of the Sun, who was descended from the first carved son of the first elf, retained his authority over the Skykings by speaking to them telepathically. Men came into conflict with the elves first and the dwarves second. Many small wars were fought between the 100 tribes of men and the elves until a truce was declared and Lanamar The Beholden was made the Ethnarch of all mankind by agreement of the gods. The Orcs, Trolls and Goblins resented the change and sought to wipe out the men. They made war on mankind but the Ethnarch led the tribes in battle and destroyed the power of the fallen races. After the war ended, each tribe built it's own city and marked out the borders of their new city-states. The men distrusted Kings and vowed not to kneel to royal authority. The Ethnarch died, old and respected but he could not hand down his office. Mankind bought the steel and mithril of the dwarves, wore the fine silk of the elves and dabbled in the magic of the ancient races. The gods saw this wasn't a good development and appointed Talar the Respected to be the Ethnarch. Talar ordered the city-states to stop using magic and banish their wizards. The wizards were banished and they gathered together on an unnamed island which they named Collosia and built a city and a College of Magic. They also carved 12 crystal skulls and carved a giant crystal ball as the focal point to contain the ancient magics. For years, the Island and city of Collosia remained undiscovered until some fisherman landed off the coast. The discovery of the Island sparked anger in the city states of Dumar and the Priests of Light were formed, they appointed Galvin Talmar as their Polemarch and he declared the First Crusade against the wizards. A fleet of 1,000 ships of Paladins and Priests landed off the shores of Collosia and the rowboats took the legions ashore. The Legions of Light slew most of the wizards, the remaining 12 wizards begged the Paladins not to destroy the Crystal Ball and the skulls. The Polemarch asked the 12 wizards to swear fealty to himself and to the light, the wizards did so and became known as the White Wizards. The White Wizards swore to only counter and contain magic and they appointed Basil the Unsure as their Head Wizard. The few wizards that slipped off the island during the massacre named themselves the Red Wizards and settled on Jasper Island. They declared themselves to be completely neutral and built a tower on the Island and carved 12 Red Jade skulls and set them to a smaller crystal ball as it's focus at the top of their tower. Finally one evil wizard escaped from the Red Order and settled in the Great Desert of Dumar and he built an immense, twisted Blackstone tower and began to receive Orcs, Trolls and Goblins who were eager to revenge themselves on mankind. They joined his Order and became known as the Black Wizards. The evil wizard, Thalmius Mincore, the head of the Order, built an immense army of golems and sent them to conquer the city-states. An aging Galvin Talmar declared the Second Crusade and gathered a huge army of 10,000 Paladins and marched on the Tower. Galvin and Thalmius Mincore fought to the death. When Galvin thought that he had defeated the Black Wizard, the Wizard's soul jumped into the Polemarch's body and rested therein for many years until he emerged and took over the Polemarch. The now-evil Polemarch took 2,000 corrupted Paladins and gathered them into an army and marched on the city-state of Ulmonar. The new Polemarch, Laun Brightfeild and the Head of the White Wizard's Council, Galaius Haver, marched with their armies to defeat the Evil Paladins and the remains of the Black Wizard's Council. Laun and Galaius were able to capture the Evil Polemarch and they exorcised Mincore from his soul and banished Mincore to the Void forever. The gods saw the positive change in men and they appointed Laun Brightfield as the new Ethnarch. The Orcs had been busy in the barren reaches, building forts and city holds, weapons of war and a million Orc army. The Orcs (at first) had no central leader and each clan had it's own warlord until Karagath the Great made war on his other warcheifs and defeated each one until he was declared Emperor. He appointed new warcheifs from his loyal band of fighters and he declared all Orcs that used evil magic to be banished forever. This made him (briefly) an ally of the Ethnarch but he sent a letter to the Ethnarch declaring his intent to wipe out all of mankind. That broke the alliance and so the Orcish Emperor had his subjects build 10,000 stone forts and seven large cities in the Great Wastes. The Orcish warriors trained Worgs to be their battle-companions and dragons to be their battle mounts. The Goblins were united under Gibb the Small, he took them to the tropics and they built Gibliea the Great. He made himself King and appointed Trade Barons. Over the years, the Goblins, having no ruler, became merchants and they ordered their entire society around commerce. The Trade Barons took small numbers of the Merchant-Retainers with them and built neutral trading posts all over the world. Gibliea became a war-machine, churning out new weapons to be sold to all the races on the planet. The Trolls retreated to the jungles and built Tolzar, Tifnar and Tuluiar, all with huge temples and huge ballcourts, a game with which the Trolls were obsessed with. The Trolls never liked each other and each city-state was at war with each other, unless a ballgame was being played. The Trolls had a rural class of farmers grow corn and grain outside of the city while the ruling elite and their servants lived in the cities. The Trollish High Priests would sacrifice a white ram every 10 days and all the Trolls would go to the event and eat of the ram after the sacrifice. The Kings of the Three city-states were always at odds with their High Priests about who controlled the city and that made for many clan feuds, since some clans provided the priest and others provided the Kings. The Katta emerged last. They quickly inhabited the grasslands bellow the Great Desert and were nomads, according to their clans. Each clan was ruled by a chieftain and they raised camels and sheep. The Katta also raided the Orcs and the Trolls, selling what they gained to the other races. So the Katta quickly became unspoken but valuable allies of mankind. It was believed that the Katta started as lions but were given an advanced brain by one of the gods, who was trying to balance the Orcs and men. The Trollish City-States were located on the south eastern continent of Gulmar. The Orcish Empire was located on Dumar and the Elvish Domain was on the Northwestern Continent of Geliar and finally the Southwestern Continent of Kitara was inhabited by the Goblins and the city of Gibliea the Great was there. Humans were on three of those continents with their city-states and were in the process of colonizing Kitara, along the coasts with fishing villages. (Note on Gol'athar the Great: It was utterly destroyed by the dragons and never rebuilt by the Orcs, but all the Orcish Emperors were known by the title as "Golathar" starting with 'Golathar' Karagath the Great. The Karagath Dynasty lasted for 500 years until it died off and was replaced with the Ulugar Dynasty. At one point, the Goblins accepted a Karagath Prince to sit on their throne as King in their Merchantdom and that dynasty outlasted the original Karagath dynasty for more than 200 years, causing tension between the Goblins and the Orcs for years afterwards. The Troll city-states accepted Karagath Clan mercanaries to guard their cities for many generations and during a war between two human city-states, 100 Karagath clansmen were recruited to defend the city of Flainar. Those mercenaries went on to become Generals and even Senators in the human city-states. The humans called them the "honorable Orcs" and gave them an open welcome. The Katta sailed far and wide with their wares but rarely obtained citizenship with any of the other Kingdoms or city-states because of their migratory nature. The Dwarves originally remained in their Holds, preferring to have the humans and other races come to them for their fine steel and other metals but since the Goblins began to compete with them in the arms market, the dwarves turned to exploritory mining ventures and set up Mining Guilds in all the human city-states, allying closely with the humans against everyone else. The Elves really didn't want to ally themselves with the humans but in a series of wars with the Orcs, they had to seek alliances and over time, they became friendly with mankind. Some of their own even settled in the human city-states and became Senators. The very first Paladin Order, the Priests of the Light, disbanded after the Second War and split into two Orders: The Sacred Hand and the Sword of Light. Aron the Ready was the Polemarch of The Sacred Hand and Hulmar the Strong was Polemarch of the Sword of Light. Each order had a Chapterhouse in every city in the world and The Sacred Hand had their Cathedral located in Ulmark while the Sword of Light's Cathedral was located in Wellsford. Their was a dispute between the two groups over where the relics of Galvin Talmar would be located. Finally a compromise was reached and a chapel and a tomb that was run by a neutral brotherhood received the body of the great Paladin and it was lain in rest there, 200 miles outside of Ulmark near the village of Arnhiem. Many a monk who wanted to begin a Brotherhood made a pilgrimage there to lay hands on the coffer to receive the blessing of the dead Paladin. In all, 100 Brotherhoods of the Light were formed. By this time, the gods of the Light had exiled the gods of Chaos and everything was in order. There were 12 gods of the Light in all and each city had a Cathedral with all 12 shrines. The people would pray there for a blessing, according to what they needed at the time (only if it was good.) The Dark Wizards had split into 2 opposing orders: One was the Dark Chaos Order and they had secret chapters all over the world and the other was the Dark Order Chapter and they also had secret chapters all over the world. The White Order had a branch of police which maintained an office in every city in the world to sniff out the Dark Order and the Dark Chaos Orders. The human city-states increased in number to 200 and 300 lesser cities, all ruled by Assemblies or Senates. The Dark Orders tried to install "their" people into the governments of those cities every once in awhile, only to be discovered by a Brotherhood of the Light, since the Brothers made a habit of standing in the back of the halls and praying for the government. Dark Brotherhoods would occasionally appear and operate in secret but none lasted, thanks to the vigil of the Paladins. One of the Polemarchs of the Sacred Hand was accused of trying to make himself a King (quite correctly) by a Senator of Hallem and he ordered his Order to fight for him against the city he was trying to take over. The Paladins of his order dropped their swords on the floor in front of him rather than obey an illegal order. That Polemarch (Galens Roans) resigned his post and fled the city, only to be slain by his own bodyguard. After that, the Paladins of the Sacred Hand merged with the competing Order. The dark gods formed a pact and appointed an evil Orcish priest to lead the forces of darkness against the humans, to wipe them out utterly. Ulamaamar the Terrible was the Orcish Black Priest who gathered a huge army of Orcs and other night creatures. Darius Westmoor of the Kingdom of the Imeni rode to unite the city-states and they made him the Grand Marshall of the Allied Forces. The city-states marched on the Army of Darkness and the outcome was uncertain at first and the Marshall ordered the lines to "dig in" for a long battle. The Polemarch of the White Order rode in with his army of Paladins and they reversed the battle in that day. The Dark Army fled but Ulamaamar the Terrible escaped to the Caves of Black Waters deep beneath the land with a few survivors and began to rebuild. Darius Westmoor then declared that all the Republics should remain united and the city-states agreed and formed the first Republic, with the Capitol located at Kalae. The Vyir of the Island of Vyir invaded the Mo'lak'kar Peninsula and settled it, fighting the Orcs there. The Vyir called the Peninsula "Vyirlund" and the Thanes of that tribe built their Holds and after eighty years and many battles fought, seven Thanes emerged as the main leaders of the Vyir nation and they were declared Yarls. Athelsing the Axe-Bearer led many Vyir in battle and he slew so many Orcs that not a single human was killed. He was declared High Yarl of the whole of Vyirlund. The Vyir learned of the Republic and sailed their ships to it's ports to sell furs and buy metals, cattle and other goods. Chancellor Westmoor sailed for Vyirlund and went to sign a treaty with the High Yarl. They signed a treaty of Alliance against the Orcs. The High Yarl offered his oldest daughter to the Chancellor in marriage and the Chancellor married Greta Athelsing's-daughter that week. The new couple sailed back to the Republic and the land was at peace. 

Miscellanea

The First Republic came about when a treaty was signed (500 years later) between the up and coming city of Veronasici and the other city-states. The other annals of the histories can be found in the other stories. By an odd chance of fate and birth, the Emperor of the Second Empire was a many-great Grandson of the Emperor of the First Empire. (on his mother's side) and the great warrior hero lord Hoth was a descendant of Hulmar the Strong, Galvin Thalmar and Yarl Athelsing the Great. The Paladin Orders always wore white plate armor and washed their hands after battle, usually in a divan. The Frost Giants turned to stone when they were stuck down and in the proceeding ages, were known as "Titans" after their maker. The humans that settled the deserts gradually became more black in the skin as the centuries wore on and developed an immunity to wild magicks. They became 28 tribes in total and later opposed the efforts of the First and Second Empires to establish garrisons there. Nordlandia and Vymark united under different High Yarls over the centuries but never found union much to their liking. Three Kingdoms of Nordlandia were conqoured by the Duchy of Du'Fronduec. The fourth Nordic Kingdom resisted conquest and remained as Nordmark. The Duchy of Du'Fronduec itself was an odd mixture of Nord and Latun from the First Empire, it remained independent of the Second Empire and it bordered Nordlandia. 
The Latuns founded the original republics and ran the First Empire. Their tribe was assimilated by the invading Nords at the fall of the First Empire. The First Empire fell the last Emperor died without an heir and the Latun Governors began to crown themselves as Kings. The Ethnarch stepped in and ordered the First Empire to divide into Nord baronies. The Nord Barons ran the 1rst Empire without an Emperor for 70 years until they raised armies and began to form Kingdoms. After the emergence of the 15 Kings, the First Empire was officially abolished at the Diet of Allamark. All the barons were Nord and same with their military retainers because the Latuns had largely died off fighting the Orcs in so many wars. 15 Kingdoms emerged and it remained at that number for 210 years until the founding of the Second Empire. 


Religion: The humans first worshipped their direct creator and later began to worship the Orcish god as they came under the vassalage of the First Orcish Alliance, which they were able to shake off the yoke in 34 years after the conquest. (See above) They began to worship all the gods instead and by the time of the fall of the First Empire, they had returned to worshipping their creator. The Vyirlanders worshipped Titan until the fall of the First Empire and they changed their worship to Folodor. Great stone idols of Titan lay all over Nordmark and Vyirmark, in key places for many years. Most were pulled down but some remained in more isolated places, were it was suspected that "old believers" continued to worship at those shrines. Folodor shunned idols and hid his form from his priests and instead gave them a symbol to use instead. The practice of building meeting houses to worship Folodor began when the Ethnarchs made assemblies for the worship of Folodor. The "church" grew into a huge organization headed by a High Polemarch, but was corrected by a long awaited Ethnarch at the formation of the Second Empire. Not all humans worshipped Folodor. The 28 tribes of the desert regions of the world worshipped all the gods and carved shrines into the desert mountains. The Orcish god was not worshipped, seeing that the Orcs were mankind's greatest enemy. One odd cult of nomads, the Ikraki, traveled the human realms worshipped all the banished gods in hope that they would repent and obey Foldor!