The Story of Humans
In the beginning
Humans arose on Tem millions of years ago, along with the myriads of other life forms the Seven created. Our nearest relations are trollocs, nar, and elves.
Trollocs are a small subterranean species, who in turn are the ancestors of bugbears, gorns, ogres, trolls, and several others. Trollocs and their kin are found all across Tem, but are believed to have originated in Cromrya.
Nar are huge muscular shapeshifters, never sleeping, that live under, and in, the ground. It is believed they are the progenitors of several other species. Nar arose in Dalarnum but soon spread to Cromrya and Estunea.
Elves were slender, wise, and long-lived, and were endemic to Dalarnum. They are the only known sentient species to have gone extinct. They may have been conspecific to orcs and gith, although this has never been confirmed.
Humans, across the millennia, gave rise to giants, brownies, sirenes, and feyr.
There are several other sentient species on Tem, including the nis, schild, droch, and galub. Humans are not proximally related to them: nis arose from arachnids, schild from snakes, droch from gastropods, and galub from plants.
The Janee
Modern humans – and recorded history – go back in time for over 2,500 years. Before this time, humans were slowly recovering from the deadly cataclysm that nearly destroyed all life.
Humans have been living along the shores of Lake Janee for many thousands of years – the oldest records show that the settlement of Muhjan was established 6,500 years ago. At this time, humans spoke Jane, and worshipped the Seven Gods.
Today, only fragments of their culture remains: almost everything was destroyed in The Burning, a terrible cataclysm some 5,000 years ago that almost wiped out humanity.
One thousand years later, records show that the Janee had rebuilt their ancient city and it was flourishing. (In the modern Absolute Calendar, this is around the year 1000 AC.) They spoke Shaikar, which records show was similar to Jane. In their holy writings they called themselves the Shaikar people.
Over the next several hundreds years they expand westward and eastward, along the shores of the lake. In 2000 the important city of Ghuldar was founded, and many smaller settlements grew up around the major rivers that fed Lake Janee.
In 2036 the first Conclave of Clerics was held. The Shaikar clergy met and compiled a list of 49 questions, covering a wide range of aspects about life that were foremost and compelling. After weeks of discussions, all the clerics gathered around the All-Gods Temple in Muhjan to pray to the Seven in unison, in an extended public ritual attended by thousands. The answers were collated and written up as the Libri Septorum. Ever since, this book has guided the religious thought of mankind.
By 2500 the lost art of magic was rediscovered, which accelerated the practical growth of technology, and subsequently exploration.
Exploration and discovery
By 2560 humans were exploring southern Brundonica. Expeditions followed the Shabnam Mountains southward until they were halted by the Rimgart. They turned east but found a huge desert barring their way. A passage was found between the Rimgart and the World’s End Mountains and they pressed south until they reached the coast. From there, they turned west, skirting the Rimgart, moving north to the Sard Ranges. They travelled north, along the coast, tracing the full extent of the Sard to where it dwindled to passable hills. Turning east, they were overjoyed to see Lake Janee in the distance, and were able to return home. Exploratory missions continued for the next century or so.
Meanwhile, the Shaikar cities were expanding. Almost everyone regarded this as a positive development, except for a group of Qidranians. In 2785 these clerics departed the cities and moved to the jungles south of Muhjan. Here, they would eventually settle and create a new way of living: that of the druids. By 3200 there were druidic settlements all across the continent.
By the year 3500, not only had several new cities grown up around the lake, but humans travelled to the furthest reaches of the continent. Ursinica was settled in 3090, Nubanon in 3130, and Gallentea in 3300.
Around this time, precipitated by the first migrations and fanned by subsequent ones, a gradual culture shift took place. The Shaikar who were content with building their traditional homeland, and considered those who left as perpetrating a form of betrayal, began to think of themselves as the "first second people". They reinvented themselves, over centuries, as the Shaikh-Shahr, meaning "Those Who Have Refuge", suggesting that refuge isn’t to be sought elsewhere, but is already at hand. They referred to themselves as the Shaar.
Throughout this time, the Shaar became inward-looking and somewhat insular. Philosophy and art slowly began to reflect the narrative of “us versus them”.
Around 3650, a series of final migrations began. Groups with slightly different values, centred more on rugged individualism than inclusive communal growth, left their homeland to establish a new one. These peoples travelled to the most desolate regions of Brundonica: the lands far and wide around the Dragon Mountains. They became known as the barbarians.
Interview with an anonymous Barbarian Leader "For centuries we have lived along the edges of civilization, embracing the freedom of the mountains and the plains, the forests and the valleys. We are few but fierce, and have dwelt in Kalderesh longer than most. My people, the Jashari, were once many. Our home was the sprawling hills and sweeping mountains of Sharion. When we came to Kalderesh there was not a single village yet, and the land was wild. We watched when the Malantheans arrived, and have seen them prosper and grow. I expect we will watch as they depart, and this place becomes wild again, like it was in the old times."
The birth of nations
Meanwhile, some of the people who had explored the far north and settled in Gallentea, pushed on until they reached the northern coast of the continent. By 3600, a remote settlement was established on the coast, at what is today known as Dachmor. This fertile region, north of the Kjorfjag Mountains, attracted more settlers, and by 3800 there were several coastal settlements along the northern continental extreme. In 3947 the westernmost settlement in this regions, then called Calariach, was founded and it rapidly became the ruling city of this new region. Today, the city is known as Balcarr, and it is the capital of Malanthea. The first ruler, Burnel the Tall, charted the future of the nation. It developed rapidly into a major power, in no small part because of its superior naval force. Today, Malanthea is probably the most powerful nation in Brundonica.
The settling of Ursinica (3036 — 3090) marked the first mass exodus of humans into the continent. The nation’s new ruler, Master Uragasi, founded the city of Ohstrand at the mouth of the Elvalder River. Uragasi is credited with developing a new way of building settlements, which still characterises the architecture of the region today. Despite the nation’s spectacular start, Ursinica was plagued by protracted civil war (3520 – 3885).
Not all of the early explorers settled in Ursinica, however. Groups would eventually move inland and northward, and in 3300 the mountain city of Reedheim was founded. This marked the birth of Gallentea, a people who made the Kjorfjag Mountains their home. Because of the challenging environment, theirs was a strict society, and not long after its founding, some people left in protest, turning to the only unexplored lands they knew of: the coastal plain north of the Kjorfjag. In so doing, they settled Malanthea, as discussed above.
Despite this exodus, the remaining Gallenteans flourished and expanded, founding several more cities, including Lorvig and Kraanbor, while their Ursinican neighbours endured internal struggles. News of the establishment of Malanthea in 3947 galvanized some Gallentene leaders into action, and in 3960 the Five Year War started, with the invasion of Ursinica. Ursinica was conquered, and in 3975 Emperor Vane the White ruled the new Gallentene Empire.
For the next century and a half, both the Gallentene Empire and their neighbours, Malanthea, prospered and expanded. The Empire built several large cities, with its capital at the ancient city of Ohstrand. The Malantheans settled only a small number of minor towns, but did create a powerful fleet, and in 3993 became the first nation to circumnavigate Brundonica. In so doing, they discovered and claimed the Six Islands (to the west of Brundonica).
Near the end of this period, Malanthea began to experience civil unrest from time to time, as tensions mounted between the powerful families of the nation and the ecclesiastical powers. This protracted unrest boiled over in 4183 when Malanthea fragmented into loosely-associated lands, only nominally under the control of King Halinard.
The Gallentene Emperor, Senebaut, took this weakening of leadership as a signal and began to assemble an army in 4196. A few years later, the Empire launched a massive attack on Malanthea. Imperial forces penetrated all the way to the Malanthean capital and besieged it. With reinforcements too far away in the west, the kingdom seemed lost. Unbeknownst to the Empire, though, the Malanthean fleet had already set sail. In short order, the Malantheans destroyed the entire Imperial fleet, demolished the city of Groljar, and threatened to destroy the Imperial capital. A truce (the Peace of 4210) was agreed on and the warring factions returned to their homelands.
In the years following the war, the Malantheans re-united (under Halinard the Younger) and a new Emperor, Sevrin of Hesdin, took firm control of the Empire. The peace between Malanthea and the Empire has survived to this day.
Shortly after the Peace of 4210, Halinard the Younger worked hard to reunite Malanthea. His somewhat draconic efforts were largely successful, with two noticeable exceptions. In 4212 a group led by the noble Anselmet of Kalder fled to the island of Bidalo and established Kalderesh, and in 4240 Lord Bastian Tarr of Ereny led a group to the island of Akra and established the sovereign nation of Agopea ("freedom").
The peace in Malanthea was too fragile for King Halinard to attempt to bring these groups back under Malanthean control, despite several clandestine attempts. Halinard turned his attention instead to rebuilding the nation. At the same time, the fortunes of Agopea and Kalderesh waxed.
Under the initial control of Lord Bastian Tarr of Ereny, Agopea was ruled by the four original rebel houses: House Ereny ("virtue"), House Becsul ("honesty"), House Golya ("fecundity") and House Tengera ("ocean voyagers"). They were organized as a fierce, independent loose confederation of households, renowned for their sea-faring abilities.
For the first 150 years the fledgling nation settled down and grew rapidly. However, in 4390, House Tengera launched an unprecedented attack on House Golya and overthrew them. The Golyans took to their ships and fled to the island of Cikeski, leaving three houses to rule Agopea.
For a while, Agopea was rife with tension until a stable leadership, under House Ereny, was established. However, in 4681 House Becsul attacked House Ereny and Agopea erupted in civil war.
During the conflict, Ereny diplomats forged a military alliance with Kalderesh, in August of 4682. With the help of King Maynard, House Becsul was overthrown in 4688. The house was dissolved, and surviving members were either executed or adopted into House Ereny, leaving Agopea ruled by two houses.
Meanwhile, in Dojka, the surviving members of House Golya established a stronghold and began to plot revenge. They quickly forged trade relations with Kalderesh (via the Duke of Krethes) after sending a diplomat to King Federic of Kalder in 4395. At the same time, they sent a delegation to Damien the Great of Malanthea, reasoning that the Malantheans would relish the opportunity to destroy Agopea. Nothing came of the negotiations.
Then in 4555, vast gold and gem deposits were discovered in Dojka, leading to a huge influx of settlers from Kalderesh and Malanthea. In 4608 a large Gallentene contingent arrived from the Empire, consisting mostly of warlike Ursinican sympathists, who still resented the loss of their nation centuries ago. By 4630, House Golya was actively preparing to invade Agopea to reclaim their homeland. They had made alliances with Malanthea and the Gallentene Empire to support their cause. By 4653, Dojka was a rich nation, with much of the wealth going into growing their military force. In 4664, a second wave of Ursinican rebels emigrated to Dojka, swelling the number of war sympathisers.
In 4691, the Agopean War broke out. War fleets from Dojka and Malanthea invaded Agopea. The main Dojkan forces landed at Bagolyros and Birovaros, while the main Malanthean fleet attacked Eredetivaros. Desperate, House Ereny called on the alliance made with King Federic of Kalderesh. As the year draws to a close, the fate of the Agopean houses are in the balance, and forces of Kalderesh are openly at war with Malanthea.
The founding of Kalderesh
The history of Kalderesh is far less bloody than that of Agopea. As mentioned previously, Anselmet of Kalder was a Malanthean noble who resented the hard-handed manner with which King Halinard the Younger was forcing reunification of the splintered kingdom.
To forestall a revolt, Anselmet gathered around him a large number of people, and drew up the Royal Bond, essentially a contractual constitution detailing the powers and duties of the new king and royalty, and the rights of the citizens. The document addressed the grievances of the people against Malanthea, and bound the Kalder family to service and mutual loyalty. Anselmet used his sizeable wealth to buy additional ships and sailed for Bidalo and independence.
The island was rapidly settled, and in two generations the beasts and monsters were killed or driven off until only the mountains offered them a home.
Contrary to what the settlers believed, they were not the first humans to settle on the island. Several centuries earlier, two druids from Brundonica made the ancient forests their home. A long time later, a barbarian clan arrived from Brundonica and called the land Ondar, the word for “home” in their language. What became of these barbarians is not known – there was no sign of their presence when the Kalders eventually arrived.
Since the time of Anselmet, some 500 years ago, the Kalders have ruled the island nation. Except for one short period of civil war, their rule has been just and fair, and they are generally well-liked. Fearing reprisal from Malanthea, the Kalder family has guided the development of Kalderesh into an unusually militaristic state, at permanent readiness, with many more strategic settlements and defences than one might expect for a peaceful island nation. The ruling family continues to promote an attitude of preparedness tempered by a reluctance to engage in warfare.
The outbreak of the Agopean War in 4691 has brought Kalderesh in direct, potentially devastating, conflict with Malanthea.