Revolution in Elione (3.5e Campaign Setting)/History

Elione has a long and storied past, but there are several distinct eras.

Pre-History

Eons ago, travelers discovered Elione, and the magic that pervaded the land. Outside the reach of the Ancient Beasts and horrid monstrosities that plagued the outside world, these travelers decided that they would set foot on this continent, never again to return. They brought with them powerful dragons and other forces of good and evil to colonize this land full of life. But from one ancient race of travelers descended most of the sentient races in Elione.

It was several thousand years after Elione was first settled, when the land was heavily populated and the first farmers had begun to till their land, that the Tree of Life and Death sprung forth. No one knows where it came from, but from that moment forward all the souls on the lands touched by the Tree's roots were forever tied to it, passing through an unending cycle of reincarnation. It was then that the first users of divine magic sprung forth. Claiming the mandate of their gods, they rode forth and conquered lands, forming many smaller kingdoms that were constantly warring. For hundreds of years this war raged, until the first of the Divine submitted to the Tree of Life and Death.

Rule of the Natural Order

After years of war, Cathbad, the Seer King journeyed to the Tree of Life and Death at the behest of one of his visions. When he arrived he found the pools from which the Tree drank, and saw within it the future of his land. Seeing his people, and countless others, destroyed by the raging war, he pledged himself to the Tree, and in return it granted him great power. Cathbad became the First Druid, and through the powers granted forced the Divine Warlords to submit to his rule one by one. The land, finally at peace, now had a crisis. Who would rule?

Hywel, who had the Divine Gift of Writing codified a set of tests and laws, and organized the Wardens of Life and Death, warriors and hunters who would serve the Druids for all time. He had them seek the most powerful Divines in the land to take control of the lands left without rules. Dividing Elione into six kingdoms, he declared that the most powerful Divine Caster in each land would be the ruler, and all the others would serve the churches and government. While the kingdoms were allowed to retain their religions under the Code of Nature, they were forced to submit to the Druids of the Natural Order. There were insurrections, but the Natural Order kept its control for a hundred thousand years before the tides began to change.

One hundred thousand years after the Natural Order imposed their laws, two powerful groups began their plans in the shadows. In the south, The Unnatural Order, founded in direct opposition to the Natural Order, began to amass their army of the undead to mount an offensive. Meanwhile, in the North, the first nation began to industrialize, but a Collective of military personnel, restricted in rank due to their lack of Divine Magic, co-opted the movement to launch a "Worker's Revolt".

Industrialization, Revolution, and War

When the Collective staged a successful coup, the face of Elione was forever changed. Within a month, they had taken control of their country(placeholder, add name later), and deposed the Druid-appointed leaders. The rest of Elione, shocked by the news, bided their time, while the Collective pushed their country farther and farther into Industrialization. The Natural Order finally took action when the Collective severed their countries ties to the Tree of Life and Death, by burning the roots. The land shook and the first Blightland was created, a land of darkness and decay where the Tree's roots once ran. United, the rest of Elione launched an offensive on the Collective.

War came swiftly, and disparate countries and factions united to stop the Collective. Even the Unnatural Order lent its Black Legion to the cause, and arm in arm, the entirety of Elione marched to war. But they did not expect the power of the Collective and their war machines. Even united, they could barely hold their own against the might of a nation industrialized. Facing the prospect of defeat, they sealed the Collective and their nation with a Great Barrier, impenetrable to all and encompassing the whole of the nation. Order was restored, and the Nations stood in a tense peace.

Fall of Nature and the Rise of Invention

After the war, many inventors and mages, both outcasts from (placeholder, insert Collective nation's name here) and the various other nations of Elione banded together to take Khiore as their own. Khiore was once a verdant garden where the Druids trained their proteges, but their mastery of life and death lead them to abandon Khiore once they were done. Guarded by the Dragon's Teeth, an island chain stretching across the mouth of the Bay of Blood, Khiore is inaccessible except by air and by the Vine Bridge the druids once grew. The Bridge was gone, so the Creators, as they called themselves, took to the air in massive ships of magic and metal. The Dragons native to the island tried to fight them, but quickly backed down when they offered precious metals beyond what the Druids could provide.

With Khiore taken, the Druids took notice, and marched to war yet again. However, the inaccessibility of Khiore, and the Creators powerful magic and inventions, unknown throughout Elione until then, ensured a peaceful resolution and a treaty. Thusly, the Librarian Seers were established in Khiore, and Khiore grew to become the center of research and industry in all of Elione.

Until the Sundering, Khiore had produced all major magical and mechanical advancements since the end of the War. However, 50 years after Khiore was founded, the Great Barrier failed and the Sundering happened, causing the Blightlands to twist to their current form and freeing the trapped Collective, only for the world to find a massive surprise. The Collective and their entire nation had become creatures of metal and wood, animated by magic: The Warforged. With the Collective freed, the Natural Order losing power, and all of Elione springing into industrialization through the influence of Khiore, the stage is set for an upheaval of massive proportions, a true Revolution in Elione.