Age of Humans

Excerpt by Stephan Veers, from his lecture on the History of the Kingdom, 995 P.E.W. in the Royal Accedemy of Arts.

‘The age of humans begins officially when the first Elven city fell to human hands. However, mankind was not truly a common force for several hundred more years. During this time city after city chose to be lead by beneficent men and women who preached that all life was connected and precious. They attempted to form a just system of government and provide for the needs and education of all. Unfortunately their own magical techniques were perverted and turned against them and others were tempted by a strange power of darkness, that had been believed defeated since before the age of mystery.’ ‘The Essence Wars as they were later known ended this time of growth and peace between man and Elf. Those beneficent individuals who had once ruled converted all their energy to war, for the fate of all life hung in the balance. Few of either side survived the devastation and those who survived and remembered the time of destruction cannot help but weep at the horrors that were committed.’

‘After the essence wars at last ended with the near total annihilation of both sides, but the preservation of the world, a new faction seized power. These were the elemental mages, who used the raw force of the four primal strengths to achieve their magic. They wielded power like an iron gauntlet and marked all who opposed them magically so no descendant would ever escape their eye.’

‘Mankind revolted after more than three centuries of abuse and took the power of state back into the hands of the ungifted. No man of magic has been permitted within office of political power since these dark days passed.’

‘Out of the ashes of the Magriocracies rose the first empires. Into the Silverthorne region from the west came the Empire of Great Lassa. They moved large infantry units into the area and attempted to subdue man and beast around fortified stone towns, the first of their kind. These replaced the wooden palisades and earthworks that were previously common barriers against the beasts of the wild in these parts. Though ruins of earlier cities, ones created during the centuries of the Magriocracies and before existed, they were thought cursed and left as abandoned ruins for bandits and clans of cannibalistic monstrosities. The advent of new military strategy and cohesive armies significantly altered the region.’

‘Military might however was not enough to prevent trouble in the center of their empire and one legion after another was called away after another to leave the foundling cities of Sussra and Dorcha untenanted by guardian hands. These two cities were nearly destroyed by the creatures of the wild before gaining a significant population of nomads from the north a little over three hundred and fifty years ago. The nomads brought with them horses and the skills of cavalry, turning the tide for the two city states in the wilderness.’

‘Dorcha was abandoned sometime around 450 P.E.W. There came to follow another small rise to empire as a warlike culture expanded from the tundra driven out of their homeland by great white hared beasts. The people called themselves the Haurks and demanded tribute from all city dwellers. For nearly one hundred years they dominated the region of Sussra and Dorcha demanding slaves and food from the laboring peoples - riders and farmers alike.’

‘In the year 726 P.E.W (post essence wars) a ship sailed into the bay of thorns under the ensign of the corsair isles. It ran aground on the volcanic rock, forcing its crew to conquer the locals or perish in the attempt. A glorious battle was fought against a group of black robed slave holders who were digging in the volcanic rock from which the captain, a man by the name of Draelin Falconbridge emerged victorious. He and his crew set free the slaves and declared the bay the new kingdom of Silverthorne. Captain Falconbridge became the first king.’

‘His reign was long extended and the officers of his crew advised well the expansion and operation of this fledgling nation. Shortly before his death a second corsair ship was sighted off the bay and requested permission to settle the bay as well. Captain Asand Falconbridge, brother of the new king of Silverthorne also sought the riches of this new bay from which he could launch many profitable raids against the clans of the mountains to the east and the beach dwellers of the savanna to the south.’

‘King Draelin turned his brother away, telling him that piracy and brigandry were at an end within the boundaries of his kingdom. Captain Asand sailed east into the rising sun never to be seen again, but forever cursing the name of Silverthorne.’

‘With the succeeding generations of Silverthornes came a rapid growth in kingdom and population. Exploration of the lands outside of the bay found them rich in wildlife and ground suitable for profitable farming. Tribes of previous inhabitants rapidly fell under the charm of the warlike son’s of Draelin, Valric and Arthur. Both held the thrown for a short time after their father and succeeded in expanding the realm. Valric added Portsmouth and Norillon, before falling in battle with a fierce tribe of burnt skinned hunters at the mouth of the Silverthorne River. His brother Arthur took up the standard in that same battle carrying the cry of Vitii Valiri ‘Life to Valor’ and broke the tribe scattering them northward. On the site of that battle he founded the city of Brax and then turned west along the coast of the inland sea. Within sight of the dark depths referred to by natives as the Vaun or steam ‘Steam’ a military colony under the command of the grizzled veteran Tucor was formed.’

‘At word of repeated raiding by the burnt warrior aided with devices and herbal magic of strange short folk Arthur turned his army back to the embattled site of Brax determined to push the creatures out of his realm and punish them mightily for their effrontery. He reached the new city of Brax with a little over one thousand men and less than a full hundred of archers. A bitter and bloody battle fought under torch-light and bonfires threw the interlopers across the river and into the unexplored regions to the east.’

‘Arthur gave pursuit, though reduced to only half his original force and continued to harry the retreat of his enemy. At long last on the banks of another mighty river he found the homeland of the small allies to his charred enemies. Here at a great castle shaped rock their leader surrendered his claim to land and bowed his head before the supremacy of Silverthorne. The young prince, Arthur’s dear nephew held the city while his brother continued with a small party of scouts to the north hoping to find where the other tribe of enemies was hiding. Two weeks later three injured scouts carried his body home to his nephew, the new king. The body was carried south into the gentle rolling hills on the eastern bank of the silver river and there laid to rest in the foundling village of Norillon in which all the surviving soldiers of that great campaign were granted land. In later days this pleasant village would grow to hold the Discorum of Toevass, where philosophy would be hotly debated and knowledge prized above all else.’

‘The current king, Edward gave little thought to expansion, choosing to consolidate his holding and encourage immigration from the corsair isles and other distant land to bolster his growing kingdom’s economy. He set up trade with the neighboring kingdom of Alleria and imported refined items of jewelry and precious metals which his own kingdom was very short on while selling massive quantities of food to the land short Allerians.’

‘His three sons in the late 860’s began the westward expansion once more. They moved up the Serpent river from Fort Tucor and rapidly conquered the strange swamp city of Mordin at the fork of the Serpent and Susspin. However, they learned of a great city state to the north containing vast riches and horses of the highest quality and dreamed that it would soon be theirs’. Thomas himself made a pilgrimage into the depths of the Vaunephasauk forest searching after a legendary city within. He found the City state of Vaunephasauk and its people and brought back with him his wife, Anne of Ishania. After the death of their father in 867, Thomas lead his brothers Lionel and William against the Armies of Susspin. The war was brutal and Susspin’s military trained to perfection, honed in centuries of war with the Ari’i forest and the riders of the high plateau. The war dragged on for year costing first Thomas and then William their lives.’

‘At last the peace between Susspin and Silverthorne was sealed when Anne and her first child Edward brought the aide of enchanters from Vaunephasauk to turn the tide against Susspin in the battle of Shrouded Glen just south of the walls of Susspin itself. After the battle Lionel married the daughter of Susspin’s ruler and out of his respect for them gave up tittle to Silverthorne in favor of ruling Susspin as a fief for his nephew.’

‘With ties firmly secured in the West the eyes of Silverthorne at the turn of the century returned to the frontier on the east. After the depletion of the last war, Edward’s children George and Delkirk put war aside for a time and concentrated on the improvement of life within the country. Delkirk was the first ever to be named First Knight of the kingdom and defended his brother’s interests both militarily and politically away from the throne while George concentrated on matters of state and diplomacy from within the capital city. For the next three generations the descendants of Delkirk had the tittle of First Knight and were loved by the people as they mediated between nobles and commons in favor of their king.’ ‘George’s grandchildren brought the expansion of Silverthorne across the black river and into the Dorchak forest. Here the natives of the long lost colony of Dorcha fought with skill, bravery, and savage force. For years they held out against the growing nation of Silverthorne, but at last gave in when The nation of Silverthorne cut them off in a two hundred day siege.’

‘Grayston the First took control of the city, until a suitable replacement loyal to the crown of Silverthorne could be found among the local nobles while his general, a man by the name of Harrison pushed north for the headwaters of the Dorchak. There he formed a strategic fortress and settled it with the men of his army until such time as a suitable number of the peasantry could be recruited to follow into the north.’

‘Grayston passed over his reign to the house of Kendal and Established the House of DeVris to minister the Law with the knowledge that the First Knight and the other roving noble justiciers were no longer enough to maintain the king’s peace and the king’s law. This was the year 945.’

‘Shortly after this James the brother of Grayston assumed the thrown and firmly entrenched the law of the realm for the first time in books of paper and the Laws as a force of man. In the late seventh decade of this century disappearances began along the frontier in great numbers and the First Knight, Prince Gwyndwr along with his wife and child were killed in the frontier by forces unknown.’

‘In 991 Johannes assumed the thrown and made a declaration of war on the unknown armies from across the mountains to the east. Those armies later came to be known as the hordes of Gromm and that war continues its bloody cost until this day in 998.’