The History of Cerilia

Before the taint of Azrai forever changed the face of Cerilia, the Dwarves and Elves were the true natives of the land. For centuries, they lived peacefully alongside each other, neither race intruding on the other. Both had precious little time to bother with the other, for each had its own enemies to fend off.

Where the Straits of Aerele now flow, a barren land-bridge once linked Aduria to Cerilia. This isthmus marked the path for the tribes’ exodus. The journey was arduous-many people fell to disease, goblin raids, natural hazards, and sometimes, stupidity. Despite the perils, the pilgrims at last reached Cerilia and found a land ripe for conquest. They also found the Basarji, who dwelled in a land far to the east of the Cerilian continent.
Independently, the six tribes of newcomers set to dominating Cerilia with fervor never before seen on the continent. Meanwhile, Cerilia’s Dwarves had little time or inclination to investigate or negotiate with the Humans. The Invaders, likewise busy, had more important things to do than brave the mountain passes the Dwarves called home. The two races eventually developed an unspoken agreement with each other, namely that Humans were welcome in the mountains as long as they caused no trouble and would somehow contribute to society. Otherwise, they would be driven out by the Dwarves.
   Still, the elves were pushed back year after year because of an element they had never encountered-Priestly Magic. The elves could easily call upon the forces inherent in wood and water, field and air, but had never worshipped deities-and thus, could not even begin to understand this new source of power. The human Clerics were the deciding force against the elves’ expertise in magic and combat; the old gods favored humans to such an extent that the elves found themselves practically powerless.  The elves eventually conceded their plains, the hills and the coasts to the upstart humans, and withdrew to the safety of the forests, concentrating their efforts on destroying any humans foolish enough to venture there. All the while a bitter hatred developed over the elves for the humans who had usurped their sacred lands and ancestral homes. It was only a matter of time, however, before Azrai the Shadow followed the trail of the fleeing Humans and arrived in Cerilia, where he saw how the humans had prospered. He decided he would need guile and deceit to destroy them. Of course, these things came naturally to the Shadow.
All this time, the emperors of the southern continent had been busy. Their armies, after easily conquering the lands vacated by the five original tribes, began the arduous march to Cerilia. The kings of the new Cerilian nations realized the danger on all sides of them, and began marshalling their forces to combat the encroaching evils. It was the Anuirean, Rjuven, Brecht, Basarji, and Masetian  Empires that united to face the Shadow’s armies and finally end the evils that they had so desperately escaped. Even the Dwarves joined them in hopes of combating the Humanoids who now had Priestly abilities from the Shadow, and had much power to gain from his dark banner. The armies of the Shadow were comprised of the Vos, the humanoids, and the vengeance-hungry elves pushed into Cerilia.
    The Old Gods knew that Azrai’s triumph was at hand, and knew that they themselves had to intervene to put an end to Azrai’s corruption lest the Tribes that revered them would be extinguished. The Old Gods gathered their people at the massive land bridge that was used for the Human exodus from Azrai centuries prior, and there, at the foot of Mount Deismaar, each God chose a Champion or two from their followers, who espoused what each God loved about humanity most.
The Gods chose Haelyn and Roele among many other Champions and led them into battle, and so did the Shadow choose his champions, among them Raesene (Haelyn and Roele’s half brother), and forged into heated combat. It seemed as if the Humans were doomed at the battle, when suddenly the elves turned to the human side, after discovering Azrai for what he really was, and helping even the odds at the battle of Deismaar. All but a few elves cast aside their hatred and sided with the humans after discovering they had been lied to and manipulated by the Shadow (Some, of course, stayed to serve Azrai, Rouhbe Manslayer being one of the most famous). The elves helped even the war a great deal, but Azrai still was favored to win the day. The Old Gods knew they had to act quickly to prevent their Tribes of worshippers from facing destruction, together, each God took physical form and fought against Azrai and his minions, they combined their essence, using every bit of their gathered power to level the mountain and miles of land around it in an explosion that shook the very earth around the mountain (Creating what is now called the straits of Arele). The Gods had destroyed themselves to rid the world of Azrai forever, and the force of the explosion left few survivors.
   Those who survived the blast were those who exemplified the qualities the Gods stood to uphold, yet the Champions of the Gods were conspicuously absent. In their close proximity to the Gods, they had taken the brunt of the divine essence released by the gods’ death that washed across the land. The Champions, also closest to the gods in their ideals, were elevated to godhood to replace the fallen deities.
The Champions of the gods were now the gods themselves.
Meanwhile, those who were present at the battle were also washed in divine essence. While not enough divine essence that they might become gods themselves, those who exemplified the teachings of the old gods found themselves possessing miraculous powers. Even some of Azrai’s minions found that they were now in possession of fantastic new abilities, and while testing out these powers before fleeing, they discovered that it was possible to rip the godly power from others, and they called this bloodtheft.
Azrai’s minions who found they carried the Shadow’s essence in them retreated across Cerilia, stealing the blood from others foolish enough to wander too close to their keeps and lands. The corruptive taint of Azrai’s essence twisted these minions into beasts possessing dangerous powers and devious intent to all Blooded champions. The elves were the first to notice the twisted side effect of Azrai’s divine essence and realize what these monsters really were. They called these abominations Awnsheghlien (awn-SHAY-len), or “blood of darkness”. The name is used to this day, and only the uneducated refer to Azrai’s legacy as Abominations.
   Fortunately, Azrai’s chosen were not the only imbued with divine essence. Those who carried the essence of the old gods soon discovered that they could increase their power through investing their blood in the very land, and that through wise and accurate rule of a kingdom, their powers would increase. They began a campaign to rule Cerilia, consuming the divine blood of their rivals to strengthen their own bloodline.

Those enemies were the Humanoids-creatures spawned deep in the earth. Gnolls, Goblins, Orogs, and Trolls swarmed through Cerilia at will. These races still trouble the world even in modern times. These creatures of darkness chose to live in places that the Elves and Dwarves shunned. They raided continually, storming the Dwarven mountains and the Elven forests to steal treasures and lay siege to the demihuman civilizations. Matters continued in this vein for hundreds, even thousands of years. Elf slew Gnoll and Goblin and Dwarf slew Orog. In time, the Humans arrived; actually, they not so much arrived as invaded. Five separate tribes, fleeing the domination of decadent empires and the wrath of an evil god, crossed into Cerilia via a land-bridge from the southern lands and began to settle. A sixth tribe joined them from beyond the lands far to the east beyond the Dragon Sea. The Cerilian wilderness was thus touched by the hand of man, and would never be the same again.

   The six tribes of humans, although wildly varied in cultures, venerated a common pantheon. Each worshipped one particular God above the rest, and in return, the Gods each favored a particular tribe over all the others, and lent their favor and attributes to those who followed their teachings. From the original 6 tribes, 5 made their homes in the great southern continent of Aduria. Each Tribe chose a Deity to venerate and follow.

Anduiras, head of the Pantheon, was god of nobility and war. The Tribe that followed Anduiras called themselves the Andu; they later became known as the Anuireans. They were warlike and vigorous people who took the lead in the war to claim Cerlilia.

Reynir was god of the streams and woodlands. The Tribe that followed him was called the Rjuven; they were a people who revered nature. They eventually called their lands Rjurik.

Brenna was goddess of fortune and commerce. The Brechts venerated Brenna, and cultivated sharp wits and nimble fingers.

Vorynn was god of the moon and magic. The Vos were once diviners and illusionists who sought truth in magic, and they searched for answers with Vorynn.

Masela was goddess of the seas. The Masetians have vanished entirely from Cerilia. They were sailors who followed the goddess Masela, braving the stormy seas.

Basaia was the god of the sun. The Basarji were a dark-skinned people from beyond the Sea of Dragons, and they followed the Sun God and were one of the original 6 Tribes.

And then there was the Face of Evil, Azrai the Shadow, to whom no Tribe was dedicated.

The oldest Myths describe how Azrai the Shadow led the Andurian emperors along paths of corruption and destruction. The tribes saw the mark of the Shadow on their empires and knew it was time to flee into the realms dominated by the elven folk and the monsters-into Cerlilia.

   The Elves, on the other hand, found themselves suddenly competing with the humans for the most beautiful land in Cerilia. At first, the elves thought they could all live in mutual enjoyment of the forest, with the humans respecting elven lands and the elves carefully avoiding the humans. This arrangement worked for a time. The Humans soon drew the attention of the humanoids that continually raided the forests. After a long and hard battle, the Humanoids were eventually driven back, and the humans looked to elven lands for expansion. The elves fiercely resisted the conquest, for they had fought long and hard against the humanoids to keep their lands. When humans began to force the elves from their ancestral homes, the elven leaders devised the ghealle Sidhe, or Hunt of the Elves. Elven Knights were commissioned to roam the lands held by elves, slaying whatever humans they found trespassing in their borders. Simple peasants and woodcutters were slain as brutally as the highest ranking human warrior. An all-out war erupted between the two races.

 First, Azrai took his teachings to the Gnolls and Goblins in the land called Vosgaard (Far up in Northern Cerilia). He then granted the Humanoids Priestly abilities, and they rose to power quickly among the tribes of humanoids. Next, the god of evil visited the Vos (The Humans dwelling in the same region). Never realizing that Azrai was the Shadow from whom they had fled hundreds of years prior, they took his words of strength and power and made them their own. In the land of darkness in which they lived, the Vos had abandoned their niceties of divination and illusion; the creatures around them understood the ways of magic and the sword far, far better. And so the Vos unknowingly fell to Azrai.

Once the Vos had been thoroughly corrupted by the very teachings they had escaped to Cerilia to avoid, Azrai traveled to the elves and dwarves, whispering to them of revenge against their enemies, the destruction of things unclean, and the restoration of Cerilia as it had once been. The Dwarves found nothing in his words to provoke them, so they steered clear of his temptations. The elves, on the other hand, had burned with desire for revenge ever since their exile to the deep woods.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), around this time marked the discovery of the Shadow World. This alternate dimension overlaps with Cerilia, mirroring events that occur there. This realm, however, is populated by undead creatures: skeletons and zombies toil as peasants, ghouls run towns, and ghosts command kingdoms. There are certain weak-spots where undead may travel into our world, and where we may travel into their world. The weak spots are often in places of massive destruction and death. The mystery of the Shadow World is only known to the Halflings, and in some lands, mention of the Shadow World is strictly forbidden.

This is Cerilia, and the mantle of the fallen gods rests upon the Scions and Regents who carry the essence of the old gods. The history of the world depends on the outcome of the Regent and their empires, those who will claim their Birthright.