Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - Argunheim, Capital City of the Northern Giants

The glorious capital city of the northern giants sits atop the largest hill in the Bromon Tundra. To the south are the great snow-covered fields of the tundra, and to the north are the glacial mountains and caves known as the Northern Wastes. In the year 846 of the Dawn Age, the roaming clans of the northern giants realized that fighting the human tribes of the south would never prove fruitful unless they fought together. Victory through unity was necessary. This would become a proverb to the giants of later ages. In a meeting of the various clans atop Argun, the highest point in the Bromon Tundra, the giants discussed various deals and formed alliances with one another. A trade hub and military fortress was agreed to be built by all clans. Upon the very point of this meeting was Argunheim built; The home of Argun. The capital city grew into a prosperous centre of giant society. They built up a united military force for their war with the humans and to fend off the dark elf raids that became the norm. As time went on, Argunheim and the giants grew more warlike and brutal, a far cry from the shamanistic society they once were. Clan Orken, once the spiritual leaders of the giants were pushed aside and replaced by the Berserkers as second to the high king. Their concerns were brought to High King Tormund. Tormund informed them that their world was changing and they were no longer relevant the the people. The shamans of Orken chose exile rather than be a part of the society of blood that was being shaped. They fled to the dry and barren continent that would later be called Orkenen, after Clan Orken. With all notions of peace driven out of Argunheim, the city became a glimmering beacon of war in the north, and the centre of the most vicious and brutal people in the world, the giants.

Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - The Siege of Rom

A time came when the need of man was dire. The most grim moment in the history of mankind was the Siege of Rom. The Bulwark, the great gates of the wall humanity built to keep threats out of the Summerland, was smashed by the giants, and now controlled by them. The full force of Argunheim was thrown at the guards on the wall and they could do nothing to stop it. Commanded by Thane Ymir, the giants launched a full scale assault on the Romulan Empire. The giants washed over the Summerlands like a plague, slaughtering soldiers and civilians alike. It was the largest blow dealt to the humans by the giants in the history of the Great War. The giants had seen their opportunity for attack after the October Massacre on Spellblade Square where Andreas had ordered the deaths of hundreds of protesters. The integrity of the largest nation of man was shaky and ready to be broken. Riots took place on the streets of Rom and the weary armies of man were without the spellblades for a time for they were forced to quell the uprisings. That was when the giants attacked in full force, locking Rom down in a full siege. Berserkers climbed the magical chains anchoring the city to the ground. The Romulan forces faught valiantly, but they knew they would not succeed. Families huddled in their homes, praying to Rosan the Lost for a sign. Soldiers began fleeing from the walls to the centre of the city. Andreas knew that his rule may be ending and so ensured his airship would be ready to leave and spare his life.

The final salvation of Rom came at the hands of the children of Kor. In the absence of the majority of Argunheim’s forces, the dark elves had launched a massive invasion of the lands of the giants. When Thane Ymir, commander of the siege of Rom, got word of this, he ordered his troops to fall back and defend their homeland. They would finish Rom later. As they left, Andreas led a vicious counterattack on the legions of Argunheim. The giants, not expecting the humans to have any fire left in them, were forced to retreat. The giants were pushed back north to the Bromon Tundra and further towards their home. The giants now had no presence in the Summerlands and so Andreas ordered that the Bulwark be fortified even greater than before. He ordered the complete militarization of the empire, a thing that had not been done in over a hundred years. More soldiers, archers and even Andreas’ own spellblades were placed on the wall to guard the Summerlands from another giant attack. Andreas used the siege of his city as justification for his tyrannical rule, and no one argued for they had seen what times of peace and demilitarization could conjure up. More upstart mages, seething with patriotism, joined Andreas’ cause bolstering the ranks of the spellblades further until they were the most powerful organization in the empire. They had more sway than the legion or even the ranger corps. Though the Siege of Rom dealt a massive blow to the Romulan Empire, it gave Andreas more control of his kingdom in the end.

Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - Eternals

Eternals are the most powerful beings. They existed before the physical plane became a reality. Vaeldrin and Kor were the first eternals and they represented light and shadow before any others were created. In time there came to be many eternals that resided in the realms of Kor and Vaeldrin. The beings of light, known to the mortal races as angels, came to reside in Vaeldrin’s realm of light. They guard it and maintain it in the name of their lord. The darker spirits that called Shadow their home came to be known as demons. The demon lords commit heinous atrocities and relish in tormenting the mortal races at every turn. Many eternals exist inside the mortal races. Both Vaeldrin and Kor, though unable to create, inadvertently did create races by altering already existing species. Vaeldrin placed angel souls into humans which created the Aelvar, or light elves. Kor blackened the hearts of many other races with demon souls to create the dark elves and the aardonyx from humans and giants. Some eternals came to live within the realms of Ghror and Rosan. The beings that inhabited Ghror’s lands came to be know as The Smiths, and they aided Ghror in the forging and building of the earth and the larger beings. Archivists were the spirits that resided in Rosan’s realm and they helped create the easily altered human race, and filled the world with knowledge. The eternals are tireless guardians of the master they serve and continue to serve a cause whether it be good or evil.

Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - Cities - Rom, Capital of the Romulan Empire of Man

It was not until the Age of Building that the roaming human tribes of the Summerlands came together to build their city. By the third age of the world, humans had mastered magic and were now building their skills in stoneworking. They began construction of Rom in the 17th year of the Age of Building. By AoB-32, Construction had neared completion, and Rom had become a sight worthy of the great wonders of the world. Still vulnerable, the human tribes began construction of the wall that would surround the city. It was then that the giants of Argunheim saw their window to attack the humans that had been their ancient enemies since the Dawn Age. The giant legions marched south to attack Rom before the wall could be completed. A great battle was fought on the outskirts of the city between giants and men. The giants wished to put a swift end to the society mankind was about to create. There was a mighty hero who rose up to lead the Romulans to victory. His name was Imran Spellblade. House Spellblade had been the mightiest of the human tribes and their leader was no different. A competent battlemage, Imran led the Romulan legions in a final stand, cutting swathes through the giants and blasting still more with destructive spells. He wielded the mighty greatsword Firereaver, gifted to his house by the dwarven smiths of the Dawn Age. The humans narrowly routed Argunheim’s forces in a terrible and bloody battle. Both sides lost much that day. The giants returned to the north broken and beaten. It was then that Imran commanded that Rom be lifted into the sky, for the giants possessed no technology to give them dominion over the air. The mages constructed Chains that would act as anchors to bind the city to the ground while levitating above it. With the full might of the human wizards, Rom was lifted into the air with many spells, and their it sits to this day, a bastion of humanity and the capital of the Romulan Empire. House Spellblade became the ruling house and every Romulan Emperor has been of this dynasty. The current emperor of Rom is Andreas Spellblade, current wielder of Firereaver and creator of the Spellblade Corp, a policing force that has made Rom his in every way. Rom is now underneath Andreas’ dictatorial rule.

Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - The Onokhanis of Orkenen

In the Dawn Age, Jordenn the Geomancer was given dominion over the earth. The ground and all who walked upon it paid tribute to him. But there were yet still places that he dared not tread. The eastern lands of Orkenen bore deep valleys and great mountain chains but most of the continent was covered in great sandy dunes. The Orkenen Deserts stretch out for miles across the northern half of the landmass. The soft and grainy sands there did not fall under Jordenn’s domain and he could not manipulate the earth there like he could elsewhere. Great sand spirits took refuge there where they could plot against Jordenn and the rest of the earth. The Sand Lords were dark and malevolent, wishing only for the chaos of dust storms to ravage the entire world.

In the beginning of the Age of Forging, a great exodus of giants struck out to the east hoping to find new lands to settle in away from the war with the humans of Rom. What they found were the great deserts where none dared to tread. The solitude of the land fit this group of giants well and so they build the great city of Onok, which when translated from this particular dialect of the Old Tongue, literally meant desert in the common language. It was then that the sand spirits saw these giants as tools for their will. They appeared to the king of Onok as great gods of the desert. They offered to bestow upon his people the strength and power of the sands, and the ability to conquer the world as agents of the dunes. These giants longed to destroy their northern brethren who cast them out in decades passed so they accepted the offer. The Sand Lords then performed their side of the deal and transformed the giants into beings of greater strength but at the cost of their freedom and heritage. They were turned into the Onokhanis, which means sons of the desert in their language.

The Onokhanis, or orcs as they are referred to by the humans of Rom, have become great sea raiders and patrollers of the deserts on Orkenen. They frequently clash with the humans of Harkon in the south, and raid and pillage seaports belonging to Rom, Argunheim, and Koroth with their massive fleet of longships. Their hatred for the other mortal races knows no bounds, and their dark masters will not rest until The Geomancer is their servant.

Vaeldrin's Mark - The 13 Day War

What may have been the shortest war in the worlds history, the 13 Day War was yet still, one of the bloodiest. The Korrivar felt that they were deserving of more holdings on The Continent. The peninsula of Koroth was their only significant piece of land. They felt strong enough to expand, and to expand meant cutting a bloody swath through the kingdom of Argunheim, homeland of the giants. The elves began building their army of footsoldiers, Darkrider battlemages, and Necromancers. They knew that they would not be able to win with brute force so they sought to win with sheer numbers and magical affinity. The time did eventually come when they thought they were ready to face the mighty giants on the field of battle. The element of surprise lay on the side of the elves for the majority of Argunheim’s forces were in the south laying siege to Rom, Capital of the Romulan Empire. The elven legions then rode forth on what was to be their greatest triumph over the great giants of the north. The war began with the Siege of Argunheim, a bloody and horrendous time for both sides. The siege lasted ten days, the giants never letting any elven forces inside the walls of their fortress city. With Thane Ymir in the south leading the Siege of Rom, the defence was left to High King Asmund and Bjorn the Raider, son of Ymir. Despite great efforts from the giants, the dark elves were slowly breaking through. Though the giants are an honourable race, they are not above deceit in times of darkness. Asmund ordered the gates to be opened. General Tolvir, High Commander of the elven legions took this as a surrender, and rode out to meet Asmund at the gates. This is what the giants wanted. Wartusk riders emerged from the gates, led by their king, for one last push into enemy forces. This fatally surprised the elves and they were forced to fall back. In a two pronged onslaught, Bjorn commanded the archers atop the walls, wielding crossbows the size of ballistas to rain down bolt storms upon the elves. While Bjorn was left to guard the city, Asmund led the wartusks all the way to Koroth, cutting down all elves in their path. The war was quickly turned around when the giants broke down Kor’s Wall in their seething anger and swiftly put an end to the elven uprising. Koroth, a broken and shattered kingdom, now is a client state to Argunheim. The giants hold a fortified embassy to watch over the Korrivar and ensure they never try to invade giant lands again.

Vaeldrin's Mark Lore - Liches

Liches - Human magicians that transformed themselves into the necromantic liches.

About 20 years prior to the Marked Ones events, Emperor Andreas commissioned a group of mages from The Guild to conduct experiments on ancient Korrivar tablets. Andreas, in his lust for more power, wished to master the dark arts of necromancy just as the elves had in ages past. Unbeknownst to the researchers, the dark elves had entrapped demon souls in the tablets so that any who tried to unlock their terrible power would be cursed. The demons trapped within saw a chance to free themselves from the prison and use these wizards as pawns to see their dark master’s will be done. They slowly fed upon the minds of the wizards, and little by little, they became theirs. The demons finally had the leverage to escape. They pulled themselves out and attached themselves to the souls of the mages. The magicians were transformed into the soulless liches, masters of necromancy, but not retaining their humanity. They began slaughtering people in Rom and reanimating them as undead soldiers for their army. Andreas’ spellblades were able to fend them off but Rom had been nearly destroyed by the end of the fight. The liches fled to the arctic reaches of the continent where they raised their kingdom of Drak Gul. Now they gather the corpses of fallen warriors to bolster their ever growing army of the undead.