A Stillness in the Air

The third era began as one of peace and rebuilding of rubble. The people of Thrella — on the continent of Estrand — took time to restructure their fractured society after the events of the Malachi Crisis. The horrific events of the recent past had ripped whole towns to dust and plagued the world with a seemingly unstoppable sea of undead. After pulling themselves back from the brink, people and races from across the land banded together and put back much of what was lost in the turmoil.

The formation of the Council United allowed the denizens of the civilized world to share resources and build a system of reparation between all the great ruling powers: The Republic of Vruyoth, The Dabarisian Kingdom, and Krunix - the heartland of the dwarves and gnomes.

After the first decade was spent reconstructing, the peoples of Estrand were not finished with their cooperation and drive to fill the world once more, and to build it greater than it had ever been. They set off down the continent to the southern tip, where they had not yet been, and across Wrofyhx’s Expanse — the eastern sea — to find the new continent of Streboya, which had been largely untouched until then.

The Dabarisian King, Benedict II, was placed almost entirely in charge of the new colonies of Southpoint in Southern Estrand; and of Stormbreaker’s Bay on Streboya. He did his best to see them through to prosperity for the remainder of his life.

On Estrand, the south thrived under Benedict’s reign, as they founded three new towns and split into two separate townships, which worked together to bring new resources north and become nearly self sustaining. Streboya built The City of Krosa on the mountain near the bay, and spread out along the southern half of this new continent.

The Streboyan natives, consisting of large Goliath tribes and another, taller race of elves (dubbed Streboyan Elves) did not take kindly to the colonies on their continent. For just over thirty years however, there was relative peace between the opposing forces. It was after Queen Eleanor Dabaris took the throne from her father upon his death in 3E035 that tensions began to boil over.

A war raged on Streboya, starting officially in 3E044 and ending in 3E051 when the colonists, the army of house Ironheart, won against the opposing house Whiteguard, led by the natives and their supporters. There were many casualties on both sides and only the supplies and reinforcements from Estrand turned the tide.

Eleanor died in 3E050 and her son, Benedict III began his reign by overseeing the peace treaties of the civil war, and continued by immediately increasing taxes. His new laws and regulations affected the south and Streboya more than the heartland, but he has kept his mind firm since he pushed collections forward to undo the debt caused by the Streboyan conflict.

The five years since his ascending to the throne has seen much of the peace on Estrand slip away; bandit attacks have increased, orc raids in the Council Lands below Krunix have doubled in intensity and frequency, and general unrest has began to seize the known world. While much of this is not a direct result of the new king, blame from outside the Dabarisian Heartland is largely directed towards his name and the royal family.

Within the centre of the empire however, things remain calm for the moment. With only bandits and the day to day struggle for the common-folk to worry about, many of those with money to travel north, and no ties, have uprooted. A plethora of new faces and interesting people can be found throughout the Dabarisian upper territory now, in the form of tourists or long term immigrants.

Magic has increased in frequency as well, with studies at a near record high, and gifted children seeming less of a miracle as numbers rise. The church collective has been working on imposing stricter laws on the practice of the arcane arts, but has yet to release any bill against it.

With everyone busy doing their own, the world appears — at least on the surface — to be holding together well. Those with eyes that pierce this facade, however, can see the mechanisms beginning to break down, and the fractures in the foundation. But as the fifty-fifth year of the third era winds to a close, things are falling into place for something big. Something threatens to break from the shadows and destroy the glass pane that has become the world of Thrella.

- An Excerpt from Ran-Levyr’s “In Hindsight - A View of the Third Era”