Nianze Myths – The Prehistoric Ages – Part VI

This is a series of a story-like history for Nianze. It’s meant to be written from the viewpoint of Yurin’s history books. Therefore nothing of this must be true. It’s only the common knowledge on the advanced level. Please read this text as its a story and imagine that this is a fact book and remember that your character¹ may not know everything I write here, but mostly this is the common view and this is what the skilled or school-trained person in Yurin knows. But know that a very selected few actually go to school in this world to, so most have a little wicked view of the history and therefore you can, as an example, twist this text and remove some elements if you want to play a character who you don’t imagine to have been around scholars or been to a school of any kind.

Chapter Six – The Wars of the Nations

Due to the wars that reigned during this age we completely lost track of when things happened and therefore we cannot be sure how long it took for the previous events to happen. The only thing that is known is that Brémo and Cómen had disappeared when the first war broke out between Blaro and Meno, Mirrialle and Janus. Meno, being the country with most ruins from The Demonic Age, which also made it pretty dangerous if you went into places where demon spawns still dwelled. Blaro also had a great number of ruins not to mention that the country also suffered from natural disasters like tsunamis and typhoons from the Storm Ocean. Both countries had a demonic mountain range which both spawned demonic abominations that tried to flood their lands.

Blaro though managed to fight of the spawns pretty easily with their good defences and some help from Mirrialle’s past experiences about how to fight demon spawns. Janus on the other hand wasn’t too confident in himself without his two comrades so he just tried to lure down the spawns to Blaro which is the cause of the conflict. With Blaro being attacked by demon spawns from both west and north made Mirrialle very angry when she discovered that Meno was the cause for the attacks from the north. This was when the first war broke out, a war in which Janus had no chance at all. He was captured by Mirrialle that wanted to keep him trapped in the ruins of Meno, the biggest demonic ruins. She was almost punished by the gods for this misdeed and when they threatened to take away her immortality and celestial powers she begged for help from her Demian lover².

King Demian and Brémo, who had come to Janus rescue, entered Meno and together with their troops and they managed to cleanse Meno of the demon spawns and save Janus from the eternal punishment Mirrialle had given him. After this Janus alone were expelled from Meno and he left together with Brémo to seek up Cómen. The rest of Janus’s people were taken care of by Mirrialle and King Demian. Even though they were many more than Mirrialle and Demian’s people they were repressed and became farmers and workers for the country. Many tried to resist this, but all of the civil wars in the new Meno were crushed utterly by King Demian’s and Mirrialle’s forces. In the end they gave up when they realized that a life under the new reign actually was better than the life they had had under Janus. With the ruin of Meno completely cleansed, they had rebuilt it into the first city in the world for humans (by humans), if one should believe the people of Meno, Aguin on the other hand said that St. Antonia were built long before Meno, and it was build from scratch too which Meno wasn’t.

But building the city of St. Antonia wasn’t as easy as building a city on top of demonic ruins. The city was originally first a temple built by Améron himself to honour Saint Antonia³ and the Gods. He built the temple on the very golden peak of Populous, the holy mountain. This was only the first building of many more to come. All around the slopes of Populous buildings of shiny white stone were built in perfect circles⁴. Today this city covers the entire golden mountain and what from the beginning was the temple for Saint Antonia and the gods are today the Imperial Palace, and some suspects that a direct gateway to the Pentapol is in there too.

But building St. Antonia wasn’t the most easy, it took over ten thousand humans to build finish it. To manage this, the Council of Antonia that Améron had assembled to control the country with Vallin and Iris decided to have every farm and family to give up two of their sons and one of their daughters, to the Council and the Saint. But it took more than just building the city; they needed stone and materials, so they used the people for this too. This is the cause for the civil wars that started. The people thought that the people of Antonia and the twelve council families⁵ were abusing them and tried to make demands of their own. Some demanded land, and got it while others wanted justice and a law. Some on the other hand, tried to just break free and start their own countries.

Chaos broke lose, and Antonia were shattered into many different factions fighting each other and the council in turmoil. The country didn’t work if the people fought against each other, and they needed to be united. The only way Améron saw was to fight and make the people believe that they needed a leader, someone with their best interest that could make all the hard decisions for them. He then rode out with the best warriors of Antonia and tried to convince as many as he could and if they resisted he would force them with his celestial powers. This though led to his death, when he died in a battle, due to his immortality and celestial powers had been removed. A God of any kind wasn’t allowed to interfere directly in a conflict of the mortals. But Améron and Saint Antonia managed to have a child, Amén; who took his fathers place amongst the gods not long after his death.

When Améron died Saint Antonia became beside herself of grief that she became mad and wondered straight out on the battlefield. The sight of the Saint in this condition actually made the wars cease, though only for a while. The council though, didn’t let the parties think but they strode to action immediately. They sent out their troops and caught many of their enemies and shipped them over the Storm Oceans with one-way boats to Linau where they were stranded. According to the legend the first emperor also appeared around now. He managed to help the council stop the wars and with a great skill he managed to unite the nation again under himself.

According to the legend he was the first one to discover the second of the mystical powers, which not even the Demons had managed to master, the power of the soul; Aruhun. It’s said that with this mystical force he was able to suppress all the fighting parties and even control the council itself. Iris was expelled from the country by Vallin when they both fell in love with the Emperor. This though, Iris claim is false and her version is that she fled to Linau because she fought that they had been treated badly. On Linau she used her Demian powers to help the people create a new life for themselves. This was rewarded by Gude, and she became a half-god. This is how the country of Linau arose and Iris taught the people of the island to have a big heart, to understand and forgive; The Way of the Light, Gudism. Se actually managed to turn people that had been evil, to be one of the most kind and generous people on Yurin.

The emperor, on the other hand was completely unknowing of this and instead concentrated on building up the first and biggest empire the world have ever seen, and this with great success. Even though the farmers still fought between each other for land he managed to solve everything with his divine laws. He was even offered to become a half-god, but strangely enough he declined all the three gods and made an offer of his own. If he were to become a god, with their immortality and celestial powers, but not with the same laws, he would agree, otherwise he would find another way to rule.

This was the first time anyone had made a demand on the gods, but Vordén accepted this deal and the emperor got to be the first Celestial and Archangel. An Angel is what some of the celestials, that have the power of the half-gods but other rules, are called. Saint Antonia tough, who still was crazy, became the first Oracle, able to foretell the future, how she got this power nobody knows but the Emperor used her to get an ever greater control of the country and its people.

In Katia conflicts had arose a long time ago but was coming to a climax. Ever since the humans had started to build their villages in Katia the elves had made demands on them all the time. Forbidding them to do one thing after another and always forcing them to use their Way of Balance. The humans had tried with excuses and sometimes they had obeyed the elves but many conflicts had broken out even though Agusi had managed to sort them out peacefully. The humans felt like they were being bossed around by the elves while the elves felt like the humans were taking advantage of their hospitality and generosity. But what finally made the war break out nobody really knows. Some claim that it was due to the humans started killing the elven cousins, the orcs, but many believe that it somehow had to do with the humans cutting down to much trees and polluting their waters.

The war was mostly small skirmishes here and there in the beginning, but as the humans developed new ways to fight the elves that lived in the treetops the war became more and more seriously when the anger grew into hatred. Agusi herself were hopeless, she couldn’t stop them from fighting and even if she managed to stop one fight several others broke out on other places and the methods just got worse. The elves burned down the humans villages and the humans poisoned the elves water. Then the elves started using magic and this was when it really became a war. The humans had no chance against magic and the elves now saw the humans as a threat to their forests and land. But the humans had grown cunning and crafty. They managed to find ways to fight the elves, even though they were in the weak position. They also had learned the elves weaknesses. They were to kind to all life.

So they managed to lure down dragons from the Kathir mountain range and turn them against the elves. This was a really bad move, when the dragons and elves knew each other and the dragons became furious with both the humans and elves and instead started to destroy for both of them. The red dragons’ ferocity made them put the country in havoc with causalities and losses on all sides but the almighty dragons. The biggest dragon though, the Mother Dragon named Makara, was awoken too and when she appeared the dragons fled their way not to be punished by her mighty wrath. It was thanks to her that the Katia were saved and when the threat of the dragons was gone, Agusi finally managed to have the humans and elves make peace, but to the cost of sharing and controlling the country, together.

This wasn’t liked by everyone, and soon fights amongst the humans started to emerge. Humans stealing and preying on other humans started to emerge. It’s believed that this was Brémo’s fault but the history doesn’t tell.

Meno had just calmed down and after a long time of peace a sudden attack started from the southeast. This was completely unexpected when mighty minotaurs appeared out of nowhere in their robust boats from the sea. They came in great numbers and with their unexpected attack they quickly got the advantage over the southern part of Meno. As a big horde they tormented the south with pillaging and destroying everything in their way. With their enormous and brutish strength almost nobody stood a chance as they crushed farms and destroyed the cities they’ve started to build around the ruins of the demon cities.

But Mirrialle and King Demian weren’t slow to react. They quickly started to gather up their forces and tried to counterattack the minotaurs but with no luck. Not even their strongest weapons went through their thick skin and they seemed unstoppable. Then Vallin arrived at her doorstep offering her help. She had been exiled from Aguin by the emperor and now she came to Mirrialle with a solution on her problem as well as a plea for help. She could help her get rid of the Miniatures in exchange for amnesty and protection from The Emperor. King Demian didn’t know who that was at that time but they agreed to do this and Vallin started to teach some of their soldiers how to use magic, and she managed to completely defeat the minotaurs and drive them back over the sea to the rocky island they came from.

It wasn’t until now that people started to realize what the mighty powers Vallin had thought them, it was the demonic things that everyone still had in fresh memory. This of course created some panic and fear and many wanted to expel Vallin, but Mirrialle and King Demian had made a promise. She was instead forbidden to use magic but to live there on the one condition that she helped them to build up the country. Vallin agreed to this very reluctantly and in secret she tried to persuade people how useful magic really was.

This was when the second attack came. Over the sea came the minotaurs once again and this time they had great machines and little men with them. Once again the humans were overwhelmed by the mighty powers of the minotaurs and when they suddenly realized that the small men⁶ used something similar to magic they finally turned to Vallin again. This time Vallin first refused them. Why should she help them when they had treated her so badly for saving them the last time, but this time they acknowledged her powers and she agreed to help them if they would allow her to bring her friends. They saw no other choice but to agree to this and she brought over her friends from Aguin.

These friends were priests that had started to discover magic with the help of Vallin. During The Stray Age, some had tried the same but people had killed them out of fear for the demonic powers that dwelled in the strange magical arts. This time though Vallin and her friends Arden, Ian, Elm and Xindi had together tried to discover this area once more, but drawn the wrath of The Emporor upon them and were now hunted as heathens. But when they now came to Meno, they agreed to help if they were allowed to continue their research about magic.

Easier said than done, the minotaurs were ready for magic this time and with their new tricks up their sleeve the battle was a hard one, but with two Demians an their side they managed to once again drive them out into the sea. This time though King Demian decided to go after them. If they were left they would surely attack again and who knew what more destruction they might bring then? So they went after them in boats and discovered the rocky island of Lantor. As for how the battle on Lantor went, nobody really knows but what’s been told is that they somehow found a dying Demian during the hard wars in the mountains, and found out that the reason for the minotaurs invading Meno was to save this Demian which they worshipped due to her kindness to protect them from the storms. This Demian was Júle who had been raised a long time ago by Gude, for protecting the creatures and beasts that had tried to flee from the great holocausts of The Stray Age. It’s also believed that the Minotaurs were eradicated during the war on this island, but that due to Júle the war was stopped.

For years it seemed almost like peace was reigning over the world again and everywhere they were building and creating new things and developing their new lives and forgetting about the past. For generations this peace lasted until one day when everything changed and the whole world saw an invasion greater than anything they’ve ever seen before…

Suddenly an autumn in the south-western Meno farmers on the hill saw a wide column of men coming down from Azillroth. They were dressed strangely with metal all over their bodies and with a shiny light over themselves and big banners and flags. They came as a flood of men from the mountain and Meno had no time to react before the war was over them.

The Emperor had decided that the whole world needed to be cleansed and controlled under him and after he’d gotten control over Aguin he decided that the rest of the world needed his divine guidance. The mighty armies of Aguin were armies bigger than anything anyone had ever seen before and not even the magicians of Meno could withstand them. They were all captured or forced into hiding. But something people didn’t really understand was how they won so quickly without almost any bloodshed or battles. The army was so strong and skilled that the battle was over almost before it had started.

Even though the world struggled against the Emperor it was in vain. Years and years passed but he was unstoppable. The only one who had powers to even hinder his army was Mirrialle and King Demian, but both were cornered and forced to surrender. They continued to march over the world and they even got over the mighty Kathir, but with great losses. In the end, they decided to ship the rest of their forces by boat instead when the dragons of the Kathir was too hard to fight. Katia was a very easy win, when the country was still struggling to get control over the stealing and plundering. Here the army build up their strength before they tried to cross the Iceriver and into Deben, the land in which Cómen ruled.

Here, they lost utterly. The deep cold forest with so much snow and no roads were new to them. And the Debians were very skilled fighters on their own ground. Almost all of the Imperial Army was crushed and the rest fled in panic. When they came over the Iceriver, beaten and defeated people started to fight again. They weren’t invincible, they could beat them! For years they fighting lasted and with help from the Debians they managed to force back the emperor to his own country with his pride thrown to the wind⁷. And once again the world was calm, but this wouldn’t last for long for this time it was the Debians turn to start a fight, and this fight would almost destroy the world…

– Summary from the sixth chapter of the Universal Magistrate Record of History, Magicka, first edition Year 87 according to the Magical Calendar

1. If you are a player ↩

2. Whose name still is unknown though he is referred as King Demian in the History of Meno ↩

3. His human wife and the first saint of the world ↩

4. To learn more about how St. Antonia was built, see Nianze Myths – The Twelve Countries – Aguin ↩

5. This not counting Iris and Vallin, who didn’t have a family. ↩

6. Some say that these were Dwarfs, others claim them to be small Stone Trolls or something similar. ↩

7. To read more about this read The Imperial Conquest. ↩