The Rise of Regnum Aurelia

The rise of Regnum Aurelia truly began with the fall of the Empire of the Dawn. When the Empire of the Dawn collapsed, only a few places across Vallyn still followed the ways of the Empire - these being Setmerun, and Regnum Aurelia. In Regnum Aurelia, Emperors still ruled, all descendants of Beiram. These Emperors ruled for centuries, but as time went on, and more and more people started to shun the ideals and ideas of the Empire of the Dawn, the borders of Regnum Aurelia shrank more and more.

However, in Northwestern Aetria, the Fathers of Magic had started their rise. They had established Epida Amini, and now the Father of Transmutation, Samosek, had taken an interest in Regnum Aurelia. He traveled there, and in his want to find the perfect lifeform, he began researching ways to infuse and transmute those of the dragonmarked bloodlines, bestowing them with immense power. To do this, he used the power of the corpse of Xyrilia, the Dragon of Wisdom.

In time, Samosek completed his work, and the Emperor, along with several chosen nobles, all dragonmarked, underwent the first Ascensions. These ascended beings, who came to be known as Primals, became towering versions of themselves - they gained incredible speed, strength, a strong affinity for mastering forms of magic, and their lifespans extended tenfold. Their bodies took on traits of various beasts and dragons, their minds sharpened to supernatural clarity, and their pain dulled almost entirely. Their humanity, while it did not vanish entirely, also diminished, being replaced by a sense of purpose and instinct far beyond what mortals felt.

Now, with the new power and awe granted by the Primals, Regnum Aurelia once again returned to conquest. Under generations of Emperors who ascended in succession, Regnum Aurelia expanded across western Aetria, subjugating nearby nations that had previously been under their control. For thousands of years, the Empire endured, shaped and protected by the Primals, all of which lived for centuries longer than the mortals they ruled over.

Yet despite the golden age of Regnum Aurelia, unrest still came. In the southeastern reaches of the realm, on the edge of the Great Nomadic Plains, the subjugated nation of Sai’Mazeth began to rise in defiance. A thousand years prior, Sai’Mazeth had been a nation ruled by Mage Kings, who were served by the Venari Order, a noble order of warriors. When the last Mage King was slain in combat against Regnum Aurelia, and the Venari committed ritual suicide, as was customary for their order to do in the Mage King’s honor, their corpses were parared around the city as a warning of consequences of resistance.

After a thousand years of subjugation, the mages of Sai’Mazeth found something that they recognized could help them defeat Regnum Aurelia and regain their independence. And so, they crowned a new Mage King and reformed the Venari Order to retake their nation. Resentment for centuries of humiliating laws, intending to eradicate Sai’Mazeth’s culture, and brutal executions for those breaking those laws, came to a head in one blood-filled day of violence where all servants of the Golden Empire were killed. Following that, Sai’Mazeth won early engagements with Regnum Aurelia, and even managed to defeat a Primal. But soon, Regnum Aurelia answered in kind, sending the rest of their armies and Primals to put down the rebellion.

Cornered and desperate, the mages of Sai’Mazeth unleashed the weapon they had found. They tore open a gateway into the Astral Sea, hoping to unleash power great enough to destroy the Primals. The power turned out to be too great however, and in an instant, Sai’Mazeth’s own capital was annihilated by the horrors unleashed from the Astral Sea.

What followed was the Astral War, a conflict that lasted for decades. As the horrors of the Astral Sea spread out to destroy the surrounding land, the Primals fought to force them back into the rift, and to seal it behind them. By the time the war ended, the southeastern plains were ruined, the land left scarred and desolate. Many Primals survived, but none emerged without scars, both physical and mental.

The Emperor at the time did not live long after the Astral War, dying of injuries sustained by the monstrosities during the final push to seal the rift. He left behind an heir, Ahzuram, who was prepared to undergo the ascension to ensure stability throughout the Empire after the devastation of the war. It was during this ritual that catastrophe struck.

Brought up alongside Ahzuram was Dami’yin. Dami’yin had once been a slave from the city of Nemizareth within the Golden Empire, who managed to save Ahzuran from an assassination attempt when they were both children. After this, Ahzuram insisted on having Dami’yin as his advisor and right-hand man throughout his life. However, Dami’yin, obsessed with the idea of taking power for himself, while changing the Empire in his own vision, plotted behind Ahzuram’s back. At the same time, Samosek, ever obsessed with perfecting his craft, had become more daring, using more magic, sapping more power from the already unstable energies of Xyrilia’s corpse.

When Ahzuram stepped forth to ascend, Dami’yin interfered, taking Ahzuram’s place in the ritual. The combination of Samosek’s experimentation, Dami’yin’s experimentation and Dami’yin himself not being of a dragonmarked bloodline caused the ritual to collapse violently. The energy from the ritual tore through the capital, killing the young heir and destroying much of the surrounding city. Dami’yin survived, but his body was destroyed, remade into a vortex of primordial power.

Two Primals, brothers who had served as guardians of the Emperor, intervened. They fought Dami’yin amidst the collapsing ruins, but found that they could not kill him. In the final moments of the battle, the elder brother, Kaethmar, commanded the younger, Reazan, to seal them both away. A great vault was conjured and locked, trapping both Dami’yin and Kaethmar within. Reazan fled into exile, racked with guilt. In the aftermath of this, several Primals decided to seek revenge on Nemizareth, the very city that produced the one who assassinated the Emperor. They massacred the city’s inhabitants and burned it to the ground.

Following the explosion and following battle to seal Dami’yin, the capital was leveled and destroyed. Chaos overtook Regnum Aurelia. The Primals, whose minds had become twisted by the Astral War, shattered without leadership. They turned to petty ambitions, viewing themselves as the rightful inheritors to the Empire. And so, they began to enslave mortals and force worship. They also began to master forbidden forms of magic, crafting their own flesh and armor until they were completely unrecognizable as noble warriors they had once been. The populace began calling them Feralin, roughly translating to “the fallen.”

As the Feralin no longer had an Emperor to defend or the threat of the Astral Sea to test them, they turned against one another in a desperate struggle for dominance. They raised armies of their followers, each of the Feralin fighting to become the one to enslave or kill the rest. This would be the beginning of the War of the Feralin.

Regnum Aurelia, which had already been wounded from the Astral War, collapsed further under the War of the Feralin. Cities fell, regions burned, and vast stretches of land were depopulated or abandoned. For nearly a century, the Empire was ravaged by the conflict. Towards the end, it was only in Regnum Aurelia’s northeastern heartland that resistance still held firm. Here, the Veylran Order, an ancient order dedicated to preserving imperial rites and knowledge, gathered the last loyal soldiers and refugees of Regnum Aurelia and fought back. But their strength was waning, and without intervention, they would have fallen like the rest of the Empire.

It was then that Reazan emerged from his exile. He revealed himself to the Veylran Order, offering his strength against his fallen brethren. The order, having little choice, accepted his help. Arthen, known as the Spear of Dawn, one of the Order’s three leaders, volunteered to accompany Reazan directly. Together, they began fighting back against the armies of the Feralin, hunting down the Feralin themselves. Some, they managed to kill outright, while others were sealed away within their own shards. Slowly, the war began to turn.

When the campaign finally ended with the sealing of the last Feralin, Reazan revealed to Arthen that the same corruption that had befallen his brethren was inside himself. He feared what might happen if he was let loose into the world, and so, he asked to be sealed away as well. Arthen, refusing to leave behind the one he had fought alongside, decided to seal himself away alongside Reazan, vowing to remain as a guardian for as long as the binding held.

And so, the War of the Feralin ended. The land that survived the devastation became the foundation of what is now the modern Regnum Aurelia. In the years that followed, the Veylran Order reshaped the truth, weaving myths and legends of gods to help the people heal from an age of horrors few could ever bear to remember. And so, the old Empire faded away, and bit by bit, century by century, the Regnum Aurelia known today emerged from its remnants.

The Myth of the Golden Empire

In the age after the Dawn War, when the gods of the world amassed their victory over the primordials who wished to destroy the world, the heavens turned their gaze towards the mortals. For a brief span, the gods themselves walked upon the earth, guiding the people of Vallyn. It was during this age that the gods forged what would become the Golden Empire. They blessed its founding, shaped its lands and walked its streets in radiant splendor.

But alas, with the creation of the Divine Order, the gods were bound by decree not to interfere directly with the affairs of mortals. Their age upon the earth was ending. But before they withdrew to the heavens, they bestowed a final blessing upon the Golden Empire - the gift of Ascendance. Select mortals of great virtue, the finest the Golden Empire had among them, became Primals - gods in their own rights, and protectors and stewards of the Golden Empire. Through the Ascendance, the divine host grew in number, each new god taking on the strength of beasts and the brilliance of the heavens.

Thus the Primals rose, walking where the Gods once had, and the Golden Empire entered its first age of glory. Where the Primals walked, the land flourished. Cities rose in their honor, temples were carved from marble and gold. Mortals lived under their guardianship, and for a time, the Golden Empire knew peace.

But mortals are ever swift to forget blessings.

In Sai’Mazeth, a kingdom rich with ancient pride, the people had once sworn loyalty to the gods. But in their arrogance, they came to believe themselves above the Primals. They cast them aside, defied their temples and sought forbidden powers in their own name.

When the Primals came to restore truth, the people of Sai’Mazeth invoked their forbidden powers to tear open a gate into the deepest places beyond our plane. From this rift poured the Nightborn, horrors without shape or mercy, children of the starless places beyond creation. In the first moment of their arrival, the Nightborn consumed the capital of Sai’Mazeth and laid waste to its lands.

For years, the Primals battled against the horrors, driving them back step by step as the Nightborn tried to spread their influence across the lands, until at last, the Primals prevailed, and the wound in the world was sealed. But victory had come at a terrible cost. The Golden Empire’s own capital had been ravaged in the struggle, its holy citadels toppled, and the Emperor himself had been struck down by the Nightborn as he drove them back. The Primals themselves too returned scarred, both physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Some of the Primals began to change in unforeseen ways. They could not handle the horrors of what had befallen them during the war, and cracks began the show beneath their divine masks.

Pride. Desire. Ambition. Vengeance.

The same vices that plague humanity now crept into some of their hearts. Some demanded worship instead of devotion. Some reshaped themselves into grotesque forms of divine tyranny. Some turned on each other. And some mortals, whether misguided or merely opportunistic, swore themselves to these fallen gods. They were rewarded with wealth, power, and prestige - but only by forsaking their principles, and in the end, their very souls.

The Primals turned upon one another, and the Golden Empire descended into chaos.

Amidst this devastation, when all hope seemed extinguished, an unlikely savior would emerge. A young cleric of humble birth knelt among the ruins of a fallen shrine and prayed for salvation, and against all hope, one Primal, uncorrupted and unbroken, heard his plea. Moved by the cleric’s devotion, he revealed himself, and chose the young man as his Aspect, binding their fates together.

Together, they traveled the land, purging all traces of the fallen gods and their followers, and as the people healed, so too did the land. The fallen gods were gone, and the ones not yet fallen had retreated to let the land be as it was. Yet as the land healed, a horrible truth was revealed to the Aspect. The Primal confessed that a shadow had taken root in him - one of the same wounds that had scarred the other Primals. Though he had fought it with all his might, the corruption stirred in his spirit, threatening to twist him into the very thing he had sworn to destroy.

He asked the Aspect to seal him away. The Aspect wept, begging him to stay, but the Primal would not risk bringing ruin to the people he had saved. And so, they journeyed to a place hidden from mortal eyes, where divine essence could be bound. There, the Primal offered himself willingly to be sealed, choosing exile over the danger of becoming a feral god. But his Aspect refused to abandon him, and so, rather than return to the world without his protector, he chose to join him in exile, swearing to watch over the seal for as long as it endured.

With their departure, the last divine light faded from the Golden Empire. But though their footsteps no longer fall upon the earth, the Primals are not gone - their light still remains in their temples, their voices still echo in the hymns of the faithful, and their strength still lives on in the Golden Empire. The Golden Empire still continues to offer prayers to the Primals - not to call them back, but to honor the guardians who once walked the world, and who even now keep watch from beyond mortal reach.

And it is said that when the last true Primal withdrew from the world, he did not leave the Golden Empire unguided. Before he vanished beyond the mortal realm, he granted a final blessing to a single mortal family, entrusting to them the stewardship of the realm. From this line came the Emperors who rule today, chosen by divine charge. As long as their blood endures, so too does the line that binds the Golden Empire to the light of the Primals.

The Feralin

Uzan’sahl