A History of the Archipelagos:
In the far past, the world floated in the Multiverse, alone, untended, and pleasant. Then, the Elder Gods came. The world, which had achieved a form of consciousness, fought back. The first of the Gods was Jove, Divine Essence of the Sky, and the Storm. He was never able to effectively stop the Elder Gods, as their servants hid themselves under the ground, deep in the Planet his mother, and under the ocean's waves, where his fury was blunted. The Second of the Gods was Gaia, essence of the Earth, who forced most of the Elder Gods' servants out of Her places of Power, but was also unable to reach those in the Sea. The combat between the Gods led to the world's constantly being torn apart and rebuilt. An impasse was finally reached some million or so years ago, when another race also joined the battle with the Elder Gods. About five hundred thousand years ago, though, the Great Race had died out, and a new race was on the rise - one spawned by the planet itself. The Fey were born into existence with hatred of the Elders in their hearts, but they did not breed quickly enough to tip the balance. The Elder Gods brought in their servants from far beyond the bounds of the planet's Solar System universe, and formed alliances with the creatures found in the Abyss ( or were they merely other Elder Gods?) and the Planet itself reached forth to allies it found elsewhere in the Multiverse - servants as opposed to the Elders as it itself was. These Beings showed the Planet how to form overlay planes on it's own Prime, and it formed Olympus, a Home for Jove and Gaia to rest in, and one so vehemently against the Elder Gods in its very essence that it fought them itself. Jove and Gaia populated Olympus with their own creations, and recruited others from Elsewhere. In the time that Olympus was formed, another race appeared on the planet - humans, and eventually, two subraces - the dwarves and halflings. These races formed without supervision, and were prone to either sides influence. Those corrupted by the Elders became greenish skinned beasts, more animal than human, or bred with some of the Elders' servants, and vanished beneath the waves of the primeval oceans. Some 10000 years ago, the Younger Deities plunged back into the fight to throw the Elder Gods off their Primogenitor's face. The human races had formed alliances with both sides, and vast cities populated the face of the Planet, who had named itself Titan, and these cities fought wars of grand and horrific scale, but these battles were rendered miniscule in comparison to the ferocity of the well rested and vengeful Gods. The Elder Gods, who were not able to rest due to the actions of the Fey and their extraplanar allies, as well as the humans not corrupted by Elder influences, were suddenly on the defensive. After nearly three thousand years of battle, which devastated the exposed lands, the Elder pulled back into the oceans. It was then that a new Goddess was revealed - Eurynome, child of Gaia and Jove with the blessings of Titan. More importantly, her Realm was the Sea. Now, there was nowhere to hide. The raging fights nearly tore Titan apart, and when the Elders called in allies, Jove's mount, a Roc named Aegis, was killed by the High Priest of the Elder Gods, a being named Cthulhu, who was sorely wounded in the process, and hid himself beneath the waves. Jove and Gaia shaped Aegis into an island chain, and Eurynome wrapped them in her protection. The Fey led their human allies to these islands, having been told that the Gods needed them to be there for their own protection. When as many as could had achieved the relative safety of the islands, the Gods unleashed some gambit that rendered nearly the entirety of Titan uninhabitable. So far as anyone knows in the islands, it remains that way today.
After the various groups of Men had recovered from their uprooting, they began to form factions. They gathered in the groups that they were used to, and then tried to assert their authority over the others. After nearly two thousand years of intermittent fighting, everything changed once again. Huge rafts, numbering in the thousands came in from the north, each carrying massive greenskinned beasts, which were dubbed Orcs after a mythical creature common in stories, and each raft had hundreds of these Orcs on them. The navies of the countries united briefly, but were swept away before the horde. All of the military might of the human nations seemed powerless - and then the Fey entered the battle. Stories now tell of human heroes who could sweep entire battlefields, but it is obvious to the scholar that these heroes are based on the Fey from those times. 3 warriors of the Fey defended the sacred mountain of Tal Arbi, the Stair to Olympus, and successfully drove off the Hordes of Orcs - by themselves.
The attack of the Fey caused the Orc hordes to retreat to the sea, where their fish-man allies awaited them, having assisted the rafts through the protections of Eurynome by masking their presence. But now, Eurynome was awakened to their presence - and her Fury was terrible. Those beneath the waves may have survived, merely by the sheer strength of numbers, but above, where Eurynome and her father Jove held sway, none survived. After that, massive quakes struck the Archipelagoes, as the island chain had become known, as well as tsunamis, terrible hurricanes, and erupting volcanoes. For an eon, disquiet and natural disaster ruled the islands. Then, one spring, it was as though a blanket of calm lay upon the earth - crops grew rich, trees replenished themselves, and the people sighed in relief. In the temples, however, the priests were afraid, as the Gods seemed to no longer be in touch with them. Were they gone?
Things remained calm for several thousand years. People rebuilt their homes, repopulated their lands, and began, as men always do, to fight over territory. Then, approximately three thousand years ago, a priest rose in the land of Aerye, a small enclave of a warrior culture otherwise wiped from Titan's face that resided at the foot of Tal Arbi. This priest, named Baobhan Sithe, left one day, swearing he would find the Gods, and reacquaint them with their followers. The people called him blasphemous and a fool, and watched him go with derisive gazes. When he returned two decades later, wreathed in flame, and riding a giant eagle, symbol of Jove, they called him Messiah. He led his people in a war to unify the isles of the Archipelagoes, and after three centuries of leading his people, he had done just that. From the western shores of Solom to the furthest tip of the Broken Tor, Aerye ruled supreme. He codified worship, and led his people on hunts for the worshippers of the Elder Gods hiding in their midst, creating the Inquisition of Light to search for the artifacts and hiding places of such vile beasts.
The reign of Aerye held for nearly an Eon. A peace was laid upon the isles that none dared break, and the Priest-King retired to the temple upon Tal Arbi, and left the rule of his empire to lesser men. This has proven a mistake. The barbaric peoples of the Broken Tor were the first to revolt, followed by the Isle city-states of Tsuber, the Sultanates of the Talons, and the Barons of Solom. Soon a large chunk of the Western isle broke free of the Kingdom, claiming that Jove was the One and Only God, and worship of Gaia and Eurynome was blasphemy. One would think that this insurrection would be put down quickly, but the Priest-King did not respond. It was as though such worldly matters no longer concerned him, and his generals and lords could not defeat the High Priest of the newly formed Protectorate of Jova. A certain amount of peace has now settled on the realm, as massive wars are deemed too dangerous to pursue, and mere skirmishes are the preferred, as each culture now has its own area. It is here that we begin.
