Aarklash¶
A war-torn continent at the heart of Creation — the board on which exiled gods move their mortal pieces.
A continent on a world torn by perpetual war. Once the gods walked here directly. They overreached, tore each other apart, almost destroyed Creation itself, and were exiled by Creation's defense — banished beyond the elemental Realms. Time was set as their prison: if they appear directly, they suffer punishment and oblivion.
So the gods stopped appearing directly. They have waged war for thousands of years through champions — Incarnates — and through their most faithful mortal allies. Aarklash's nations have aligned into The Three Alliances around this proxy conflict. Now the prophesied apocalyptic war, the Rag'narok, looms.
The cosmic stakes
Aarklash sits near the heart of Creation. Magic thresholds can be opened on Aarklash to travel to any Realm, including the gods' prisons. The fate of Aarklash decides the fate of Creation itself. The curse of Time is fading. The gods are preparing to walk again.
A History Written by Victors¶
The history of Aarklash was written by whoever won the last war. Glorious conquerors hide fratricide and dreadful lies; nations were built on pain, blood, and treachery; older nations fell to Time's erosion and were replaced by younger empires hungrier for power. Revenge and domination are the inheritance every sovereign carries.
The Three Alliances¶
The continent's nations have aligned into three philosophical/political blocs. The split itself was a human innovation; the most ancient peoples refused to choose. See The Three Alliances.
- Paths of Destiny — the ancient peoples, refusing to take sides
- Ways of Light — younger nations seeking an age of reason and prosperity
- Meanders of Darkness — wielders of dark magic, hungry for power
Cadwallon¶
Cadwallon — the Free City — is officially neutral, sitting on a peninsula at the heart of the continent on the territory of Lanever. Built atop the ruins of an older Cynwäll trading post (Cynwäll means "exile" in the elven tongue), itself built atop something far older. Its independence is guaranteed by the Free Leagues, the precarious balance of the Alliances, the city's commercial value to every faction... and by something hidden beneath the streets.
What Aarklash doesn't know
Cadwallon is the keeper of a secret which could shatter the beliefs of every faction in the Rag'narok. See Desire, The 22 Arcana, Underground.
Nations of Note¶
See Nations for the full directory. The ones with present-day Cadwallon embassies:
- Alahan, Akkylannie — Ways of Light
- Syharhalna (our table: New Shamir) — Meanders of Darkness
- No-Dan-Kar — Paths of Destiny
Plus historically important:
- Lanever — the elven Republic whose peninsula Cadwallon occupies; Ways of Light
- Tir-Nâ-Bor — Paths of Destiny, dwarven; formerly held an embassy
- Acheron — Meanders of Darkness, the living-dead empire that besieged the Dogs of War
- Quithayran — the Eternal Forest, Daïkinee elf homeland