A Brief History of Yrth
In Ages Past
Before the Banestorm, Yrth was home to three races: the elves, the dwarves, and the orcs. Dwarf and elf fought from time to time, but they were always united in their hatred of the orcs, and the feelings were mutual.
By the 4th centrury, the main continent of Yrth, Ytarria, was basically stable. Dwarves made their home in Zarak and other mountainous regions. The elves inhabited the vast forests that blanketed Ytarria in those days. The orcs were nomads for the most part, at times pillaging dwarf or elf settlements. Relations between elves and dwarfs were peaceful.
In these times of peace a group of elves lived in the western Ytarrian forest, what is now the Great Desert. Constantly ravaged by marauding orcs, the survivors finally decided to do something about the orc barbarians, and the dwarves, too, while they were at it.
Calling themselves the Defenders of the Shaded Woodlands, these elves at first trained with the sword, but some eventually picked up the harp as well, and spread their beliefs throughout elven society. Finally, in 400 A.D., these Defenders persuaded the leaders of the elves to go to war against the dwarves of Zarak. The war was finally ended when a peace delegation from Zarak faced down the Defenders in the Elves' High Council.
Discredited, the Defenders withdrew, but they did not disappear. Taking up positions throughout elven society, they served as true Defenders, doing their best to wipe the orcs from the face of Yrth. But the quickly-breeding orcs refused to be exterminated.
The Banestorm
Patiently, the Defenders waited, gathering resources and followers. Finally, they decided to do something about the hated orcs once and for all, and they prepared a massive spell to rid Yrth of orcs forever. It's not clear what the spell's purpose was for, whether it was to banish the orcs from Yrth or to summon enemies of the orcs to exterminate them.
Whatever its purpose, powerful mages of the Defenders gathered in the high mana region of the western Ytarrian forest, where the heart of the Great Desert is now. In addition, supporters conducted ceremonies across the continent, lending their energies to power the massive spell, building for weeks until June 26th, 1050 A.D.
The results were disastrous. The resulting magical wildfire burned most of the western forest to a cinder, draining mana for hundreds of thousands of square mile and razing nearby elven communities. Then the spell jumped to other high mana spots, burning them out as well. It was the greatest calamity to ever befall Yrth.
But the Defenders got their Bane. The resulting storms, called the Banestorm, summoned thousands of creatures from far-flung worlds to Yrth. Most were openly hostile to the orcs, but most were also hostile to the other original inhabitants of Yrth.
The Defenders survived and fled, retreating to the Blackwoods, but they never gave up their genocidal schemes. The survivors of the Banestorm gave the Defenders two new names. Other elves call them Bringers of the Storm, or Storm-Bringers. Other races gave them an even simpler name: The Dark Elves.
Early Arrivals
Some of the first arrivals to Yrth were humans from Earth. Sailing ships were plucked from the seas; entire villages were transplanted. Most of this occurred between 1050 and 1200 A.D. Survivors banded together to create a new life for themselves in this strange new world.
Most of the original inhabitants avoided them at first. The dwarves retreated to their caves, and the elves stayed in their forests. The orcs, of course, attacked.
Besides humans, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, and reptile men were brought from their homeworld of Gabrook; centaurs, giants, halflings, and minotaurs from Loren'dil, shark men and merfolk from Olukun, and other, stranger creatures. All were regarded as monsters at first, even those who might seem more reasonable.
But eventually, cooperation arose in some areas, and groups banded together for preservation, welcoming new immigrants. In time, many races of elves learned that their neighbors could co-eist. The orcs, however, failed to learn this, thinking the newcomers weaker than the elves and dwarves. In retaliation, humans, goblins, and others succeeded where the Defenders had failed and eliminated orcs entirely from many areas.
Elves, recognizing the innate ability some of the newcomers had with magery, introduced magic to the humans. Also, goblins brought their own understanding of magic to the new world. At first, these types of magic were considered sorcery by humans, but eventually the attitude took root that this was natural magic rather than dark arts, and after a few decades, human wizards became well-respected.
Spirits, who had heretofore been found in many regions of Ytarria, were mistrusted by both Christians and Muslims, who found the spirits hard to reconcile with their religious beliefs. Most spirits eventually decided to leave settled lands, particularly those of the Muslims and Christians.
Gradually, civilizations emerged from these newcomers. The setters in north-central Ytarria were mainly Christians from western Europe, who adapted feudalism for their new home, eventually forming the Megalan Empire. To the south, Muslim tribesmen led a largely nomadic lifestyle, although some founded settlements, preserving their culture and creating libraries and universities as repositories of knowledge. In the North, Celts and Scandinavians settled, and to the west, Asians and North Americans formed a land called Sahud. In both the North and Sahud, spirits and humans lived together.
Other people groups appeared, settling all over the continent, including Jews, Chinese, Germans, Indians, and Slavs, at times being absorbed within dominant cultures, but in other cases maintaining their languages, customs, and culture.
Crusades, Jihad, and the Decline of Megalos
In Ytarria, kingdoms rose and fell. The goblins formed the Goblin Kingdoms, which were eventually subsumed within the ever-expanding Christian Megalan Empire. The Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John appeared via the Banestorm. To the South, the Muslims founded three nations, al-Haz, al-Wazif and al-Kard.
Eventually, desiring to conquer the Muslim kingdoms and bring them into the empire, Megalos launched the first of the crusades. Conquering al-Kard, Megalos renamed the kingdom Cardiel, but after their conquest, the Megalans were halted from further expansion, and a truce was finally signed.
In 1551, the Banestorm resumed intensity, bringing among others a large contingent of Renaissance French that settled in Araterre. The Muslim nations launched a Jihad to retake Cardiel, which was ultimately unsuccessful. Some of the new arrivals brought two unwanted innovations into Yrth: Protestantism and gunpowder. Declaring the former tainted and the latter a tool of Satan, the Megalans outlawed both. Many Protestants fled to Cardiel or became Catholics in name only, and the recipes for gunpowder survived in a few secret manuscripts. In the succeeding years, Megalos' power waned, as Cardiel asserted its independence and a new kingdom, Caithness, was founded in the west.
The previous hundred years has been marked by continued fighting between Muslims and Megalos, greater frequency of orc raids against Caithness, and the dark elven threat and the growing Blackwoods to the north. Throughout all of this, Megalos still remains the most powerful country in the world, but its king seems now more interested in the pursuit of pleasure than in further strengthening the kingdom. Intermittent civil war threaten Caithness, pirates threaten the southern coast, and the Northmen wait for signs of weakness in Megalos.
