Back in History

823 AFA - Present: The Adventuring Age     The current Age is sometimes also called the Declaration Age, in contrast to the Imperial Age. In most of Lur-Asko, independent cities under the Declaration of Methods are the only organized political entities, with larger realms united only through culture and species. The only exceptions are Cevelky, still ruled as one by the Vampire Lords, and Macska, a feudal realm which eschews the Declaration. Still, the term Adventuring Age is the most common, due to the rampant resurgence of the adventuring profession. Today, thanks to the individualistic culture of the Age, adventuring is a bigger part of Lur-Asko than at any other time in history. While the elves lead the charge to restore Alacrian technology and culture, they would have nothing to work with if it were not for the tireless efforts of adventurers to protect Lur-Asko and retrieve the treasures of the Ancient Ones. In the Adventuring Age, the future belongs to the adventurers.

834 AFA: The Gathering of Humanity
    After a harrowing journey at sea, human refugees from tyrannical Wynthia arrived on the island of Unhartaren, seeking a new home. After making contact with these curious newcomers, the elves of Lur-Asko recommended a place for them to settle: the Ashen Plains, having only recently become fertile once again, had never been settled during the Imperial Age. Only a few primitive human tribes dwelt there. Behind the scenes, elven merchants high on post-Imperial optimism were eager to have new trading partners to the south, without the liability of settling the wild realm themselves.
    Renaming the Ashen Plains to Manusia, the name of their leader, the former Wynthians settled the realm and adapted the Declaration of Methods to their use. Despite numbering only around 12,000 upon arrival, the Manusians expanded quickly due to a cleverly executed scheme by the realm's first nobles: a massive, lengthy, and energetic recruitment of every extant human tribe in the Ashen Plains and throughout Lur-Asko. After struggling in obscurity for centuries, the species finally had a home, a future, and a plan - it was a narrative that captured human imaginations across the continent. By truly legendary feats of pathfinding, negotiation, and sensitive diplomacy, most generations of the original expedition lived to see Lur-Asko humanity united under their codes of chivalry and settled into a vibrant civilization. Today, the realm of Manusia and the human species are fully integrated into Lur-Asko culture and trade.

912 AFA: Arrival of the Koh-Trr
    Seeking new territories for expansion, the Koh-Trr empire of the Far Remote sent colonists to Lur-Asko. When they arrived in 912 AFA, they sought out Macska. This was the old realm of their patron Protodragon, Onnoma the Gray, who apparently had stopped in the Far Remote after leaving Lur-Asko in the First Aeon. Ever since settling Macska, the Koh-Trr have been unable to reestablish contact with the Far Remote, and have built their own feudal society based on their ancestral traditions and draconic teachings. Unlike the humans, they remain standoffish in regards to Lur-Asko culture, although some Koh-Trr engage in trade or leave Macska to become adventurers.

1000 AFA: The Millennium War
    Although the extent to which they manipulated the empires is unknown, it is known that the white dragons were enraged by the end of the Imperial Age. Most believe that they intended that Age to destroy the remaining mortal species, just as the Third Alacrian Era led to the Fall. For the next 177 years after the signing of the Declaration of Methods, the white dragons gathered their power and developed their patient plans. Having failed to make the mortals cause their own extinction, the whites now sought once again to destroy Lur-Asko civilization using their own acolytes and Hellborn.
    The result of the draconic plan was the Millennium War - a massive effort by white acolytes to attack the city-states using Eer'Kallan and recovered Alacrian technology. Unfortunately for them, the red dragons had spent equal effort in preparing their abbeys for just such an apocalypse. When combined with the forces of the city-states and innumerable Lur-Asko adventurers, the red acolytes were able to thwart the plan of the whites. For the first time since the Fallen Acolytes, this conflict thrust red acolytes back into widespread prominence and acceptance, with many lasting treaties and alliances signed between city-states and red abbeys in the aftermath.
    Curiously, despite usually reappearing whenever large-scale draconic plans arise, the Aterr were largely silent during the Millennium War, much as they had been during the Imperial Age. They seem to have intended to allow the reds and whites to destroy each other, just as they had allowed the same for the empires. But the surprising triumph of the reds, and the prestige and power that came with it, sowed doubt within the Path of the Rift. Furthermore, ignoring the empires had resulted in the rise of the Declaration, and by extension the assimilation of the Vitur Roc and increasing encounters between Hal'Tayatic ships and the Tennebris Guardian. Many Aterr feared history was turning in a threatening direction, leading to a revival of the Will and Eclipse subschools. Although this resulted in greater visibility of the Dark Ones within Lur-Asko and adventuring culture, it also resulted in frequent Dark infighting, at least until the later Resistance War.
    All in all, the Millennium War served as a wake-up call to many, revealing the vulnerability of even the city-states and the vital importance of the adventuring profession. Prior to the War, most adventurers took up their calling as a simple means of fame and fortune. Ever since the year 1000, many adventurers realize that the fate of Lur-Asko may one day be determined by their actions.


1057 AFA: The Resistance War
    Ever since the Millennium War, it has become apparent that Lur-Asko is trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of white draconic plan after white draconic plan. Never dissuaded by failure, never fully victorious, yet never fully defeated or outmaneuvered, Archon continuously attempts to repeat the Fall. Modern Lur-Asko survives, yet every time its strength is depleted - too depleted to complete Eer'Kalla's ancient defeat.
    The most recent near-success of the white dragons was the Resistance War. This was a conflict provoked when a feudal succession dispute in Manusia resulted in Hywell Moreau - a secret white acolyte of Echthra - donning the mask of the Lord of Modale. From an outside perspective, it seemed that the humans used their chivalric traditions to unite militarily under Lord Moreau and conduct a war of aggression against Hal'Tayat and I'Gremsul. Within Manusia, the human perspective was that Lord Moreau had actually foiled a white plot, and was leading a defensive effort against envious neighboring realms corrupted by dragons themselves. White acolyte sages had indeed gained control of Seventh - an Alacrian Muse battle-computer - and in an unprecedented feat of datamancy, had restored its control over hundreds of thousands of Alacrian technologicals. With the help of popular adventurers, these acolytes were publicly "defeated" by their secret colleague Moreau, who simply took control of Seventh and turned it against the other realms.
    In the end, Moreau and Seventh were defeated by a continent-wide, temporarily-united front simply called the Resistance, led by an immensely powerful and devious Aterr sorcerer named Atra Læsensha. This was virtually the first united act of the Aterr since the reign of Imætis, and many hailed it - and feared it - as the sign of a new resurgence of the Darkened. However, much to Læsensha's dismay, the Aterr were returned almost completely to irrelevancy by an ensuing feud between other prominent sorcerers after the War.
    Though they thus disappeared into obscurity once again, Aterr involvement had one other notable effect on Lur-Asko going forward: a radical shift in the perception of red acolytes. Thanks to the presence of the Aterr fighting the whites, the Red Synod had actually sided against the Resistance during the conflict, very nearly recreating the three-sided chaos of the Ternary War. This fractured the trust and treaties between red abbeys and the cities of Lur-Asko, with one notable exception: Manusia itself. Penitent, regretful, and worried humans who had been deceived by Lord Moreau now turned to red teachings for moral guidance, and to red Vicars for psychic oversight of their leaders. Today, Manusia joins Macska and I'Gremsul in highly esteeming the red dragons, while the Synod's voice in other realms has been almost neutralized.

Forward to Perspectives