Orbis – Brief History

The Cursed Lands. The northernmost region of the continent of Lilacia; home to many of orbis’ magic wielded. The region got its name from the sinister magic that shrouds the landscape. The land is murky, damp and full of thick forests. Most wildlife was killed off long ago during the reign of terror that ensued during the ancient Mystari Empire. The Wargothian mountain range forbids groups of animal to pass north, and vice versa, thus isolating any remaining life that is unfortunate enough to call the Cursed Lands their home. But what of the Riftmen and the Mystari?

The Mystari, or more common referred to as ‘Dark Elves’ by man, are an ancient and inherently evil race of elves who inhabit the Western region of the Cursed Lands. They’re renowned for their isolation from their neighbouring nations and their sinister Lords of War — one of the deadliest special units in Orbis. Throughout history, they’ve proven themselves to be some of the greatest conquerors who ever lived, with empires that ruled over every corner of the continent with an iron fist. They ruled for many lifetimes with little to no rebellion. Any opponent would be met with a swift end by the sheer might of the Mystari Grand Army.

Their descent came at the hands of their own Emperor, King Valgos Thanor’Tagann. He had a twisted look about him; more so than any other Mystari Supreme Ruler. It was clear from the day of his birth that he would be an evil man. He was the last King of the Mystari Empire. His careless attitude towards his empire and his convoluted aspirations lead to many human slave revolts across the Wargothian mountain ranges and Stenrodi Hill Lands. These slave revolts were so widespread that Mystari losses became gradually more and more common. This brought hope, and when there’s hope, there’s resilience. Eventually, Mystari began to lose grip on their territories. It only took a few years before the Mystari borders were pushed all the way back to their Capital, Xanxes.

Where was Valgos? He was using his infinite wealth to travel the world in search for the one thing he sought to find for decades — the cure to mortality. He was adamant on living for eternity. His urge to do this came later on in his life. By the age of 672, he had become the single most powerful Necromancer in Orbis. But he wanted more. He traversed the oceans for many months and eventually arrived at the famed Isle of Towers, still thought to be a legend at this point in time. It was here where Valgos would train to become the powerful Lich we know of today.

Thousands of years on, he still lives as the Lich Lord of Blackpoint. He had returned to the Cursed Lands with his Royal Legion after finally achieving his goal, only to find the capital ransacked and massacred by the Slave Armies. His private army and all others who accompanied him were the last of the Mystari Empire. He wanted them to remain the last of his Empire. In his final years before millennia long hibernation, he built a temple devoted to the victories and achievements of the Mystari Empire. Deep within this temple, would become the resting place for his Royal Legion, and the location to the portal that opened his Pocket Dimension that he created to sustain himself for centuries to come. They would remain dormant until the Atrocity of the third Orcish Legion during the Dark War.

There’s one thing that makes the Riftmen so unique — their origin. It is well known that the Riftmen are not native to Orbis. In fact, they are more colonists, separate from their home world, but often holding traditional pilgrimages to their home world. They are a humanoid-shaped folk bearing very monochromatic skin tones, horned facial features and distinctive body marking such as stripes and patterned bumps. They came through a portal located on Midway Isle. This portal to the Black Rift, their home world, is extremely vital — it is the only way to travel from one planet to another. As such, a colossal grand temple was built on Midway Isle by the Riftmen themselves, to pay homage to their home world, and to the peace between two worlds.

When the Riftmen arrived a few thousand years BDW, their first encounter was the Emerald Empire. As the Riftmen home of Black Rift does not contain oceans such like the ones on Orbis, they had no concept of amphibious engineering. Their oceans were viscous and the idea of boat sailing was a mere fantasy. It was thanks to the Emerald Empire’s trading and diplomacy that the Riftmen found themselves sailing off Midway Isle and towards their new home - the East of the Cursed Lands. Maps and sailing vessels were sold to the Riftmen, and navigation was taught to their people. Translators and scholars were sent over to establish a dialect between the two races. They were told of an uninhabited land where they could settle - Yuosport, the Mystari port city on the North east coastline of the Cursed Lands. They would sail their and, in years to come, it would be renamed to Riftport and made their capital of their new kingdom, the Kingdom of Endstate.

The Riftmen dominated the Cursed Lands for thousands of years; enough time for them to migrate and integrate into every corner of the region. This caused quite the issue when, after the Dark War, the Mystari returned. The Riftmen who were lucky enough to still be alive in the western region were forced back into the East by the Royal Legion that, despite their rest lasting a millennia, still retained much of their military capabilities.

The years following the Dark War were rough for the Riftmen; they lost a grip on nearly their entire kingdom, the population had been heavily depleted following the onslaught brought by the Orcs, and a new inhabitant of the Cursed Lands has just returned from long-supposed extinction to claim their ancestral home. The conflict between the Mystari and Riftmen would carry on through the Age of Troubles period (1ADW-95ADW), with no real progress made on either side; The War of the Cursed Lands, it would come to be known as.