T he Age of Slavery

    If you were a descendant of those from the Forsaken Continent who first landed on Cyros then the story of your ancestors goes back to a time when all the races feared the name Cavanous. Cavanous is rumored to be the spawn of a foul Necromancetress and an equally, if not worst, fiend. With mighty magics he enslaved the people, calling forth undead knights to keep them in order; Cavanous ruled with an iron fist. For almost 3 centuries all the races( elves, humans, dwarves, sprites, gnomes, centaurs,  etc) toiled in slavery. At first they were set to work building his dark citadel, later they were assigned to mine the lands for precious minerals and metals. Not all were slaves however, some were more akin to the dark ways of Cavanous and openly followed him. These were the races of the underdark. They openly welcomed him into there evil realm.
The races of the under dark were like citizens in a  realm of darkness.
    There were however a group of good free men. These were the druids. At night they would come and heal and feed the down trodden slaves. In turn, the people kept there existence and where about secret. The Druids were the ones which planned for the revolution. Eventually once enough weapons and ships were secured, the revolution began....
    'Twas a grim and bloody revolution. More people died then can be counted. Had it not been been for the druids the revolution would not have succeeded at all. The last battle was named " The Great Sacrifice". Every soldier that could fight gathered in a perimeter around the port of Nezmith. As the the large fleet of ships left the Forsaken Continent, the forces of good and evil clashed. The battle was raged on for three days. Each passing day the forces of good were pushed back towards Nezmith. There will was tougher then Mithril. For though they new the battle was lost long before it started, they fought with all there might. The thought of their children being free fueled them and made there will unbreakable.. Alas, Cavanous won that battle. Though the battle was lost, the war was not.
    As soon as the last pockets of resistance were crushed Cavanous ordered a fleet to sail after the refugees. Cavanous and his fleet followed for nearly 1 week. At times they came close enough to capture a ship...but at that very moment a divine gust of wind would  propel the ship out of harms way. On the eighth  day of travel the storms came. It went from day to night, sun to rain, a  zephyr to a hurricane winds in mere seconds.  The ships  moaned under the pressure of the 15 foot waves. The fleet of refugees were like little toy boats admist a child's bath. Luckily with only a few ships lost the majority reached land. When the storms were over Cavanous was no where to be seen....
       At last the slaves were free, but there troubles were not over yet....

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The Time of New Life

 

      Though the people of the Forsaken Continent were released from the shackles of slavery there toils were not over. Cavanous's and a few other of his ships survived the terrible storms surrounding the Isle. There ships landed near present day Delin. Quickly Cavanous set towork with his scrying spells, using them to search for his emancipated slaves.
      A wise human leader by the name of Syrios Gleeneye took the reins of command from the Druids and had everyone start upon building a fort in which to defend themselves. This fort was the beginings of the city now known as Thynwir. Within 2 months a fortitifcation worthy of being called a fort was built. The fine dwarven craftmanship still exists present day in Thynwir proper (Though only a very little of the fort is left).
    With the fort built the many of the demihumans fleed the fort. A few clans of dwarves and elves stayed, though few in number there fighting prowness was a great asset in the Great War. Syrios was right in assuming Cavanous would attack. The attack came like a cloud of death. The horizon turned black  rows of   undead slowly advanced on  the walls of the Fort.
        The Fort had one major defensive advantage it was on  the other side of a very large river. The heroes of this war were the archers. As the undead, and other evil minions of Cavanous crossed the river arrows rained down like sharpen hail stones. Much of the army was defeated before it even crossed the River. This battle was the first with mages on the side of good. (It's a long story but magic once belonged to just the druids....it was the druids who then imparted there knowledge on those who had an affinity for magic) magic played as much of a role in the battle as the iron willed warriors. Spells such as Fireball and chain lightning were first used in this battle (Now known as the Great War) They were the true winners. In the end Cavanous was defeated...rather his army was defeated. Cavanous disappeared after losing. Some say that he still exists as the Great Lich in Darkwood forest...but no one knows for sure.
    Once "The Great War" was won, Syrios (Sy' rios) became King Syrios and the house of Syrios was created. Ah, the adventures that can be told during this new begining on this Island are boundless. Maybe one day I will record them in my journal...
     With there new home secured the people named it Cyros, a derivation of King Syrios's name. At once the city of Thywir was built. This time is sometimes refered to as a Golden Age though the hardships these people had to overcome were numerous. Thynwir was the first city to be built, it became the hub of this new kingdom. The Realm of Cyros was born in the year 1 A.L. (After Landing) King Syrios set out and created many noble houses. this new aristocracy organised war parties to clear the lands of the vicious monsters which roamed it. New Cities were built during this time. Most are named after either someone dear to a noble or the noble themself.
 

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    The Age of Storms is the time when the great storms came and enveleoped our small Isle cutting us off from those that would harm us. Some took it as a blessing yet others saw it as a great evil or even a punishment from the Gods. It is a time marked by great hysteria. The city of Thynwir was still being built and the construction of the city of Tilef was started.
     The year of the Great Storms started was 5 A.L. There is a legend surrounding the Great Storm. Its origin is rumored to have been the work of a powerful wizard. His name is not known for certain, but his powered rivaled that of a demi-god. Looking back now I wonder if it was Cavanous who started this? A guild of Holy Paladins and Clerics formed an Order dedicated to the protection of the citizens of the newly formed Cyrian Empire.  The storms continue to hover outside of Cyros even till today.
     [* Ammendment: The storms were banished in 1015 by a group of brave adventurers. Notably the Paladin Cecil Brightblade. ]
        This chapter in our histroy was very important. For during this storm King Syrios banded together all the wizards in the land in an attempt to decipher the origins of the storm and how to stop it. His gathering is what formed the Royal Order of  Mages. Today known simply as the Royal Mages. The mages did manage to halt the rain in some places. However, there work during this time was not that important. This seemingly small act of forming the Royal Mages has immence bearing on the future enturies of Cyros...Just continue to read on...
 

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        In the year of 125 A.L. the merchants organised a strike against the new king. King Louis the pure was not a great politician and he faught a losing battle against these merchants. Many merchants were granted noble status in an attempt to appease the greed of the merchants. That unfortunately made the problem worst. The merchant nobilty directed all military funding towards expanding trade. This was good, the economy boomed. Poor farmers became rich. The richer became richer. Everyone was happy yet the peace lasted for only a short time.
        The bad news was brought be Dren Stilwater( An ancestor of mine).  He was a wandering Mage and lover of nature. One day he barged into the throne room. Dren was almost thrown in jail, until he mentioned the hordes of Orcs, Trolls, and Ogres gathering at the edge  of the River Thyn, just 50 miles north of Thynwir. Unknownst to all but Dren, Grastag Orc King of 20 different tribes had married Tiar the daughter of Nurack another Orc King. It is thought that because he was ll ready so powerful that other tribes just simply followed along with him. Yet other rumors exist. With that much power Grastag hired Ogres to Work for him, and even found a few tribes of Trolls interested in conquering all the humans.
        Thynwir was no match for the army. Especially now after the lack of fundings. Mage Lord Eveningstar  arrived at the plan that if the orc King was killed the tribes would disband. For the first time the greatest Heroes of Cyors met under the call of Mage Lord Eveningstar. The heroes name's are  Dren Stilwater, Fredrick de Yellowkeep, and Alexander De'cros. Those names are just a few that are immortalised in the Hall of Heroes. The Orc King was not so easily crushed. He had powerful allies wise in the ways of magic. The final battle occured on the outskirts of the Blasted Plains. However when the Orc King Grastag was killed his body vanished along with his crown...
Rumors quickly spread that the crown he wore was what controlled all the orcs. Small parties of adventurers formed to seek out this fabled item.
    Orc attacks happened about once every year. Some battles were more gruesome then others. Many heroes were made during this time in Cyros' history, yet it would be safe to say that even more villians were made.

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          I've named this chapter of our own Cyrosian history "Fallen Stars" of those who shined brightly as heroes of the land and who in the end where killed. It started in the season after harvest time. It was especially cold that winter....
        All of Darkwood was covered in a blanket of white snow. Travellers reported strange fires in the woods, no one ever bothered to investigate and for a long time they were left alone. Had anyone actually took the time to look further into these strange fires they might have found a young necromancer practicing his dark rituals. They might have been able to stop him, and more important they might have been able to stop the foul creature he had called back into our world. It's taken much investigation on my part to discover he was the one who brought Cavanous back to our dimension. After his defeat at Thynwir, Cavanous left our dimension to gather power in other worlds...
        In 341 A.L. Cavanous returned. This foul necromancer by the name of Shador had returned Cavanous to life or rather forced his life force from another dimension into a specially prepared undead body. Cavanous returned and he was hungry for power. Shador barely escaped with his life. Cavanous though saw the oppurtunities that he had now. Sure he was undead, but his power was unfathomable. Cavanous quickly went to work. Using his magic to create monsters, he assaulted villageafter village. Eventually the King put out a bounty for anyone who could stop these monster attacks. A paladin by the name of Issac Brightblade and a young cleric known as Elendor set out to rid the land of those foul creatures. Issac and Elendor were sucessful. Where ever there was a monster those two would defeat it. Eventually they were hailed as heroes of the realm and given much land. Issac and Elendor became rulers of a small city and life was good.
        In 365 A.L. the monsters returned in force. The huge army of evil assualted the walls of  Wrenwall ( Issac and Elendor's home city.) It was an epic battle that day. Everyone fought bravely. The forces of Cavanous were repelled. Yet this time Cavanous revealed himself as the master mind behind everything. A spectacular battle ensued. They fought from there City all the way towards the Kopian Krags. The battle spanned days. Eventually the people of Cyros lost sight of the battle. Several days later Issac and Elendor returned. However, they were different. They were cruel and ordered to have 6 strange temples built.
    This change attracted the attention of a solitary mage who dwelled in the forest outside of Wrenwall. He was the one called  Dren Stilwater. Dren single handely discovered that Elendor and Issac were undead creatures. He battled with them at night within there castle . In the morning no one missed the ones once hailed as mighty heroes. Dren proceeded to hunt down Cavanous. Somehow  he discovered that Cavanous was half-fiend. Dren was able to use a powerful spell to banish extra-plannar creatures. Yet since Cavanous was born on our plane the spell backfired. It created a huge extra-dimentional portal. Dren fought with all his might. But Cavanous was too strong for even him. In the end Dren was killed. Cavanous though was sucked into the portal and sent deep into the northern reaches of Darkwood. Dren's body was found and put in a tomb hidden somewhere in the Devil's breath. For now the threat of Cavanous had ended for some reason. Perhaps it was Cavanous who built the Citadel of Doom? Only time will tell....

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    During the year 325 A.L. the cities of Arcana, Cyra, and Gren were finnaly completed. Castle Thynwir was started and overall the economy of the Cyrian Empire was very well. The first traveller from the Kingdom of Ranthia apeared in Thynwir during this year. It was a year of great rejoicing for we finnaly realized the Cyrian Empire was not alone. Yet it was this year that the shadow of the Black Moon arose.
    Trade agreements were created which taxed imports between Ranthia and the Empire. This new revenue was used in the respective kingdoms to build spectacular works of art. the Citizens of the Empire happily took the jobs created by this extra money. In 330 A.L. King Malachi the Last was killed. The Kingdom was taken over. Not by monsters or liches. It was the Royal Mages led by Zervious Blackmoon. The Kingdom was forced to give into the Royal mages demand. They were powerless against the power of 100's of wizards. Ranthia then suddenly appeared with huge armies and the occupancy of the Cyrian Empire began. The people of our Kingdom were enslaved. The occupancy wasn't a harsh one though. All were well provided for yet they still lacked freedom. People were not allowed to gather in groupds larger then 25 people. All soldiers in the Cyrian Royal Guard were imprisoned. Those who could not pay the new "occupancy" taxes were set to work building fortifications and mining copper and iron ore in the north.
    Nobility either were imprisoned as enenmies to the crown of Ranthia or if they pledged there allegiance, lived as they had before. It was mostly the class of nobility known as the "Merchant Nobles" who turned to the Ranthian Crown.  It was a drak day indeed. The Royal mages often took human slaves for there own experiments. the halls of Castle Aquis in Arcana became mass prisons for the victims of the Mage Lord Blackmoon and his conspirators.
    This reign of oppresion lasted for roughly 200 years. In that time three different Ranthian Kings held the crown in Thynwir and another Mage Lord took the dark throne in castle Aquis. Had the dragons not started there vicious attacks the reign would have lasted longer. When the Ranthian's decided to leave rather then fight with dragons the heir to the original throne, Reginald Dlasfyre took the command. Quickly the imprisoned clergy and soldiers were released. Royal mages were hunted down and slain. It was a rise of a strong and powerful monarchy. The people fully supported him and in unity the war with the dragons started. After another 70 years the dragon attacks just stopped. Even I only have vauge ideas why...
    The end of the dragon attacks and Ranthian rule led into the next age, The Age of Exploration.

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    Present day we have entered the Age of Exploration. Great Adventures and Tradegies have happened, Great Heroes and Villians have been made. I Arius Doomstar was born on the eve of the 85th day of Barebranch 650 A.L.
    Your stories are part of this Age. I have not written the history of this Age for it is not over. Your actions, your words, what you do and what you do not do shape the future of Cyros...
         ( If you would like to right passages of your adventures for the Age of Exploration, please send them to Doomstar@aol.com)

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