History of Xhoria

History is split up in four ages. Dawn, Sovereignty, Imperium, and Arcanum.

Age of Dawn
"Before all time, all was Dark, until the Enlightened brought faith to the Light, and Light came to the land. The throne now empty as Light and Dark collide, opportunity came for others to grow in divinity..."

- Frilborin Leafflower, Tales of Light and Dark

Dusk
Before the Age of Dawn, Xhoria was in eternal darkness. Umbrava, the Shadowbringer, reigned supreme over the entirety over the world. His greatest creations, the Shadow Titans, kept the world under a thick veil of darkness, keeping the world in darkness for eternity. Xhoria was only one big continent, like Earth's Pangea. These Shadow Titans, colossal creatures that roamed around the mega-continent, frightened everyone, keeping the small population of the world in hiding.

Twilight
Faith is an important aspect of Xhoria, because of it's ability to grant power to the divine. Under the leadership of Xothov and his followers, the people started having faith in Lumen, a divine being made from light. The faith of Xhoria gave power to Lumen, enabling him to push back against Umbrava, which caused Xhoria to be covered in light for a brief moment. Umbrava fought back with his Shadow Titans. Xothov, now The Enlightened, and his followers who were all blessed by Lumen battled against the titans during the war. This war between light and dark went on for thousands of years, until the final Shadow Titan was slain. Light and dark were still in battle, eventually slowing down and becoming less violent, becoming the cycle of day and night Xhorians are familiar with. The period between the first day of Xhoria and the battle between Lumen and Umbrava is also called the First Light.

Dawn
Umbrava lost his power over Xhoria because of Lumen, which caused there to be space for other divine beings. First came the Web-Weaver, a spider touched by Lumen to create the Weave and start the first cycles of life and death. She also was the architect of the Xhorian Multiverse, connecting the planes together with the Weave. But some, like Namiza, the Soul of the Dead, rejected death and who brought the undead to Xhoria. Sunari, the Mother of Nature brought beautiful nature to Xhoria, bringing the people food and animals. Scylla, the Storms over the Sea, ruled over the wild seas, calming them down and bringing more order to the chaos. However, when Xhios, Chaos Incarnate came to Xhoria, a lot of things became disordered once more. The Divine Court of Xhoria slowly came to be.

Age of Sovereignty
The end of the First Light and the start of civilization marks the beginning of the Age of Sovereignty, an Age of Xhoria where man began to form tribes, kingdoms, and empires. Many of the races were created and shaped by the divine. The First Light also caused Xhoria to come apart, forming the continents, which were named after the followers of Xothov. Xhoria owes its name to Xothov as well.

Early Conflicts
With arcane magic only appearing at the start of the next age, the strongest were paladins and clerics. Many rulers during the Age of Sovereignty were powerful paladins. With civilization and the creation of tribes and kingdoms comes conflict between rulers and their nations. During a large part of the Age of Sovereignty nations were warring over resources, land and religion. Most of Xhoria was in constant turmoil. This caused expansion to be challenging, since strong beings like dragons were hard to slay without proper cooperation.

Rise of the Empire
"Ludens Chaora, Elven Emperor of the Chaorian Empire. It has been told that he has been blessed by the Burning hand himself. He was one of the most, if not the most, powerful paladin during the Age of Sovereignty..."

- Kilian Hohenstein, History of Chaoria Vol I

Ludens Chaora, a name written down more times in history than any other person. He was the Emperor of the once great Chaorian Empire, covering the continents of Adoya, Belora, Suriel. Xhoria was slowly getting exhausted of constant conflict, which Ludens made use of. He united the kings of Xhoria under the banner of the previously unknown Chaorian Dynasty in 1246 AS. One by one the kings joined under the promise of peace and prosperity. Slowly Ludens and the Xhorian Kings' influence grew larger than the continents, causing Ludens to declare himself Emperor of the Chaorian Empire. This empire would last for many thousands of years to come, ruled by the heads of the Chaora Dynasty. A notable invention during the reign of Ludens was the craft of writing, which allowed history to be written down in books and be saved in archives across Xhoria. Years were documented by their corresponding Age, usually being noted with AD for Dawn, AS for Sovereignty, AI for Imperium, and AA for Arcanum. The Age of Dawn is of unknown length, so it is described just like we describe BCE times.

The Chaorian Calendar
The year was split up into six months that alternate between having eight and nine weeks of seven days each. A year in Xhoria is therefore 357 days long. The week starts on the Day of the Moon (Isilae) and continues into the Day of Lightning (Aithornae), the Day of the Heavens (Menelae), the Day of the Sea (Gearonae), the Day of the Gods (Valanae), the Day of the Stars (Elendae), and finally the Day of the Sun (Anarae). The months of the years are as follows: The Blooming Flowers (Meril Loa), The Highest Ridges of the Sun (Anor Penneth), The Fall of Rain (Nenui Rost), The Harvest's Dawn (Redhor Tol), The Beginning of Frost (Menel Latya), The Ending of Frost (Menel Metta). Someone would refer to Nenui Rost 25 as either the 25th of Nenui Rost, or the 4th Gearonae of Nenui Rost.

The Betrayal of Chisiet
The Empire decided on most of the politics you see in current day Xhoria, like the law against dragons and dragonborn. Chisiet, the Dragon God, who was the first dragon and created the dragonborn, betrayed Lumen in an attempt to gain more power over light and dark. He failed and doomed his creations to become outlaws. In 1643 AS, Ludens put a bounty on every single dragonborn and turned all the wyrmblood into slaves. The bounties were large enough that it could change a man's life.

The Death of Ludens
Ludens Chaora reigned over the Chaorian Empire for 1238 years. He was continuously popular among the Empire's citizens. Ludens died at an age of 1497 in the year 2484 AS. His death was not peaceful, as when he died a dark prophecy was found in an ancient tomb. It prophesied the birth of a dark crimson god, who would bring ruin to both Xhoria and the multiverse. Edens Chaora, the second Emperor of the Chaorian Empire, is Ludens' second son.

The Ruin of Carnage
Carnage rose to divinity through Umbrava, who appreciated his evil but subtle acts, in the year 2534 AS. Carnage has been a dormant god for some time, being the patron for some cults, demons, and devils. He slowly gathered power and faith for around fifty years, until he struck. In the year 2584 AS gathered enough power to both defy and overpower Umbrava, going his own way to destroy the multiverse. Carnage brought ruin to the Weave, causing the planes to slowly separate and drift off into the Far Realm. His mayhem over the Weave also brought implications to the perception of time and space within Xhoria. Later it was discovered that Carnage was able to break the Weave and battle the gods for 5000 years. History during this time was lost and could not be written down, as time became literally relative. One of the few surviving pieces of history is the list of Chaorian Emperors. Other pieces of history are read more like legends.

Age of Imperium
After thousands of years of battle, Umbrava and Lumen both caused Carnage to fall from divinity and both banished and imprisoned him. Legends say he was split in two and imprisoned in both Incarceri and Caeldrum, where Carnage will suffer for the rest of eternity. The deities repaired most of the damage done to the Weave, restoring the normal flow of time to Xhoria and bringing the multiverse back to it's place. Since the time lost due to Carnage was unknown for some time, a new age in history started, the Age of Imperium. Another influence left from Carnage is carnomancy, an extremely powerful and harsh type of magic. If arcane and divine magic is like folding the Weave to get a pattern you want for a little while until the Weave unfolds, carnomancy is like cutting a hole in the Weave and crudely sewing a new patch in its place. It is less precise, and with a greater cost, but more powerful. Carnomancy is very illegal all over Xhoria. If someone in a city was suspected of practicing carnomancy, they could just vanish in the night with no trial or any official statement.

Invasion of Dorvass
Colossal ships were spotted on the shores of Suriel during the winter of 482 AI. It contained giants, goliath, jotun, and other inhabitants of the cold reaches of Xhoria. These were the Dorvassians, and claimed to be descendants of the Elder Giants, who roamed the world in the Age of Dawn. Their viking-like civilizations were found in Rarera, the colder regions of Valuren, and Prulax. They were not strangers to the Chaorian Empire, as the Empire has fought smaller scale wars against the Dorvassians. These wars have mostly been unsuccessful. Dorvass has been planning this invasion for hundreds of years as a revenge for the Empire's expansionist nature. Under the leadership of Thorvald Karlsson, a Dorvassian Human, they plundered and sieged most of the inhabited continent of Suriel. Many lives were lost on the Empire's side. The armies of Dorvass eventually got to the capital of the Chaorian Empire: Narthan Altarni, but before they could lay siege to the capital, the continents of Adoya and Belora got their forces together to defeat Dorvass before the capital. This battle is known throughout history as the Dagor Arnedorvass, Battle of the unnumbered Dorvassians. The forces of the capital, Adoya, and Belora were enough to defeat the Dorvassians, forcing their retreat back to their homeland in the year 488 AI, destined to return once more to bring the wrath of the Elder Giants to the Empire.

Twin Angel War
During the period of 695 to 812 AI, the twin deities Asteran and Zuriel brutally fought each other, as Umbrava was successful in corrupting Zuriel to his side. This war took place on Xhoria, the Plane of Air, and the Golden City of Alfhelas. Angels from both sides fought with each other for their deity. This was a frightening and worrisome time for the inhabitants of Xhoria, as the battlefields of the Angels were left utterly destroyed, destroying towns and some cities with them. One of these sites is now known as Seraph's Battlefield, which is now a very dangerous part of the Adoyan desert. The surface is still infused with large amounts of divine energy, and many angelic weapons are scattered across the Battlefield. Eventually after Zuriel chronically wounded Asteran, Lumen stepped in and used his divine power over Zuriel to cause him to fall from divinity, locking him out of the Divine Court and making him unable to wage further war against Asteran. The war was brought to a halt, and the angels on the side of Zuriel, which are often referred to as fallen angels, were mostly either imprisoned or killed.

Second Invasion of Dorvass
The Dorvassians returned to the coasts of the Chaorian Empire in the year 1356 AI, but this time they were in larger numbers. They arrived on the coasts of Suriel, Adoya and Belora, attacking and plundering many towns and cities. Ragnvald Asvardsson, a storm giant Dorvassian, was the leader of the Dorvassians during this invasion. He brought ruin to many towns by his own hand and layed siege to the capital of the Empire. The capital had no trade, no influx of food and water for around a full year. The capital is large enough to keep itself alive for many years, yet this made management of the entire empire difficult for Empress Lilians Chaora (the 12th ruler of the Chaorian Empire). The forces of Dorvass retreated from the Empire in the year 1368 AI, after doing enough damage to the Empire. The Empire has been recovering from this invasion ever since it happened.

The Chaorian-Arcane Civil War
The fall of the Chaorian Empire can be attributed to one thing, the emergence of arcane knowledge. The discovery of the arcane spread through Xhoria very quickly. Paladins, Clerics and the other users of magic were now challenged by this different kind of magic that was not given to a person by a god or an oath, but studied in books. Arcane knowledge was quickly written down and spread over the continents, enabling many that were interested and capable enough to harness the power of the arcane, creating the first wizards of Xhoria. The humans were especially quick in understanding the intricacies of the arcane and were powerful enough to harness that power. They became the first archmages of Xhoria. These archmages, who were tired of the empire being ruler over the globe, challenged the 13th Chaorian Emperor Ilusens Chaora, causing a civil war in the year 2873. The Empire was still recovering from the Dorvassian Invasion, and was unable to fend off these powerful archmages. One by one small rebellions turned into large nations declaring independence from the Empire across the continents. This lead to the eventual downfall of the Empire, splitting the realm up. The Emperor and his offspring were executed in the capital in the year 2888 AI, marking the end of the Chaorian-Arcane Civil War.

Age of Arcanum
2889 AI marks the end of the Age of Imperium and the fall of Chaoria, beginning the Age of Arcanum.

Origin of Wizardry
Long after the fall of Chaoria, in 413 AA, the first few arcane academies were founded by the archmages of Xhoria. Not only knowledge of magic improved, but also knowledge of the blade. Powerful fighters and knights of Xhoria leading armies of nations. Others used the combined effort of arcane and craftsmanship to enchant weapons and items. Xhoria was in a new time period. The world was divided once more, but gone were the days of constant war.

The Watchers
The emergence of Arcane knowledge also brought the The Watchers, a cult worshipping an entity called the All-Watcher. This cult spread like wildfire among Xhoria. Knowledge was now the priority for mages across the continents. The All-Watcher, using all of this newfound faith and power to ascend to divinity.

Lune Ilma
A potential contender for a new Xhorian Empire, is the Lune Ilma Empire. It was formed after the collapse of the Chaorian Empire under the rulership of the Lune Ilma dynasty. This is a telorin family that was especially strong with their arcane knowledge. They formed a magocracy, a council of powerful archmages, which ruled over their nation. The head of the council was always the head of the Lune Ilma dynasty. They are expansionist in nature and have a strong power base in the heart of Adoya. Their capital, Narthan Estel, holds a colossal obelisk that contains powerful magic.

Today
It is the year 828 of the Age of Arcanum, most nations have recovered from the collapse of the empire and made their own efforts to thrive in Xhoria. Now it is up to you to create your character, join them, and have wonderful adventures in Xhoria.