Introduction to the Legends Lorebook

The Age of Holy Ryuvia (10 000 BE-0AE)

No one knows how exactly life began in the realm of Halla. Ancient Elvish texts claim that the first Elf Lords of the Holy Ryuvian Empire arrived from a great falling star which impacted the Hallaen Peninsula, shattering it into a thousand isles and forming the great Dragon's Foot Sea. Yet, the various races of Demonfolk of the Northern Deserts all have their respective origin stories. Then, there are said to be Dwarves, who dwell yet further away, past the frozen wastes, who believe all life was sculpted from clay in the hands of the Great Father. Yet the tales of distant Demonfolk and Dwarves held little sway in the Elf-ruled land of the Holy Ryuvian Empire. And so, the beliefs of the High Elves ultimately came to define Hallaen culture.

According to the Church of Ryuvia, the very first Elves brought down the monolith of Heavenly Truth from atop the peak of Mount Destiny and built what would eventually become the Holy Ryuvian Empire from its laws. Inscribed upon the monolith was the mantra which assured High Elf dominance over all the other races of Halla: Elder above Younger. Age defined Elvish society, with those younger in age required to submit to those who had experienced the world longer. With the oldest of Elves having lived for centuries, this tenant guaranteed they would rule over all the Maan and Demonfolk of Halla, whose entire lives passed in but a flicker compared to the Elves. And for centuries, the ancient Elvish Emperors of Ryuvia would rule from the mighty Star Palace with great wisdom and grace.

The Song-Imperial War (0 AE)

Yet, the heyday of the Holy Ryuvian Empire would not continue forever. The Ryuvian Court grew ever more corrupt and found itself increasingly obsolete as the scientific innovations of Maan increasingly challenged Elvish arcana. The beginning of the end of Elvish hegemony in Halla began with the fracture of the Holy Ryuvian Empire into two camps: The Song Alliance and the New Empire. The worldly Elves of the New Empire sought to abandon the Heavenly Truth and adopt science to maintain supremacy over Maan and Demonfolk, while the devout members of the Song Alliance sought to cleanse the Ryuvian Court of corruption through restoring faith in the Heavenly Truth and enforcing strict adherence to the Monolithic Gospel.

With the Ryuvian Empire now a corrupt, powerless entity, civil war broke out between the Song Alliance and the New Empire to determine the fate of the Elves. Ultimately, the New Empire found itself with no unifying cause, with each Imperial seeking personal gain over national unity, while the Song Alliance rediscovered Elvish arcane might under a common religious banner. Under the leadership of the Grey family, the Song Alliance triumphed over the New Imperials. The Imperials were banished to the Asahi Isle, where they would toil in the fields and mountains alongside mortal Maan, never to feel the light of the Heavenly Truth again.

With the Song Alliance now the newly crowned defenders of the Monolithic Gospel, power left Holy Ryuvia and arrived at Volaris, the greatest city of Song. Volaris would now become the great beacon of Elvish superiority, while all the former fiefdoms of the Holy Ryuvian Empire either became tributary states of the Song Alliance or independent city states. In the scattered southern isles of Halla, the numerous former holdings of the Holy Ryuvian Empire came to function as hundreds of independent island nations, collectively referred to as the Neutral Banners. And so, the new era of the Song Alliance began, while the Emperors of the Holy Ryuvian Empire came to rule nothing past the city walls of the once mighty Star Palace...

The Rise of Pact (20 AE-230 AE)

Trouble brewed in the Asahi Isle. The exiled Elves of the New Empire, cut off from the light of the Heavenly Gospel, became corrupted and found themselves increasingly drawn to the dark arts. Newborns no longer bared the features of the High Elves, and instead were just as mortal as Maan and monstrous in visage as the Demonfolk. In the city of New Edar, the Dark Prince Erizlo ruled over the Asahi Isle with an iron fist, enslaving the native Maan to fuel the vast industries of the New Empire. The Fallen Elves eventually came to be referred to as Orks by Maan and the Song alike, an insult to their once proud heritage.

Yet Maan would not be ruled by the Dark Prince and his Ork armies forever. A mysterious figure known as Veniczar Arcadius unified the various tribes of Maan under the common banner of the Pact of Maan. In the year 221 AE, the vast armies of Veniczar Arcadius and the Dark Prince met to determine the fate of the Asahi Isle. Details of that great battle are scant - lost to the cacophony of blood and steel - and often twisted to fit whatever narrative the teller seeks to weave, whether pro-Maan or pro-Elf. What is known is that Veniczar Arcadius was aided by an Imperial turncoat, Lord Cullen of the Imperial Gold Fleet, who allowed the Pact fleet to sail into New Edar undetected. Some sources further whisper that Arcadius forged a blood pact with a demonic witch to assist him in felling the Dark Prince, yet these tales seem more in line with Elvish propaganda rather than historical truth.

What matters in the end is that the Dark Prince fell by Arcadius' sword and with that, the race of Maan ruled the Asahi Isle under a single banner for the first time in written history. Yet, the death of the Dark Prince and the eradication of the Orks from the Asahi Isle was not the end of Arcadius' tale. With all the great tribes of Maan united, he now led a mighty army, with nothing but the Narrow Sea separating Maan from the vast territory of the Neutral Banners. It was only a matter of time until Maan eyed the wealth of the Neutral Banners - and the lingering threat of the High Elves of the Song Alliance beyond them. In the eyes of Maan, both the New Empire and the Song Alliance were cut from the same cloth - a nation of tyrannical, eternal beings, who would forever seek to enslave the mortal races.

It is now the year 230 AE. The High Elves of the Song Alliance are revered in all of Halla for their magicka and craft. Yet, centuries of trade and contact with the Maan of the Asahi Isle have turned the formerly Ryuvian Elves of the Neutral Banners into mortal Elves, or "Lesser Elves" as they are derisively referred to by the Song. These Lesser Elves of the Neutral Banners find themselves caught in the middle of a brewing war between the High Elves of the Song Alliance and the Pact of Maan. Rumors swirl that the coastline of the Asahi Isle has been stripped of all timber, as Veniczar Arcadius constructs a massive armada to upend Elvish supremacy.

Your Story

It is in the Neutral Banner harbor town of Cera where your story begins. You are Captain Kayto Shields, a Lesser Elf born without the gift of magic, but with great skill in navigation and wit. Or perhaps you are just luckier than most. At your side is your sharp but unfriendly childhood friend and second-in-command, Commander Ava Crescentia. Finally, there is Maray - your beloved sister and your only remaining family member, after the disappearance of your father and the untimely death of your mother. The three of you live a peaceful life at Cera. The curtain rises as you return home from a Volari trade expedition on board your father's old vessel, the Sunrider...

The Legend of the Sharr

Central to the dogma of the Church of Ryuvia was the Legend of the Sharr: Whenever the Ryuvian Empire was under threat, the daughter of Heaven would descend from the clouds upon a mighty silver bird to save the High Elves from doom. She was a mighty warrior, but subservient to the Emperor; chaste and pure, yet believed herself no more special than the commonfolk; quiet and soft spoken, yet her words could move all of Elvenkind. A handful of she-Elves had claimed to be Sharrs throughout the history of the Holy Ryuvian Empire - some charitable as they were mighty, and some truly reprehensible, who used the title as a political weapon to be brought down upon her enemies' necks. What is certain is that no such Elf was worthy to step up as the Sharr to save the Holy Ryuvian Empire from its collapse - a fact which the Song Alliance propounds as evidence that the Ryuvian Empire had lost the confidence of Heaven and that it is they who shall produce the next great Sharr. With all of Halla now threatened by the Pact of Maan, the Song Alliance believes the time is nigh that the next Sharr descends from Heaven, to defend the true inheritors of the Heavenly Truth from the barbarisms of Maan.

The Sunrider

The true origins of your vessel have been lost to your father's vastly varied tales of how his father before him came to possess the ship; Whether it be through a winning Pokez hand against a Song lord, or a daring nighttime heist against a Maan pirate king, or some other far fetched tale. What can be gleamed from the ship's woodwork is that the Sunrider began its life as a fast merchant ship, before being retrofitted into a frigate by your father during Cera's campaign against the pirate king of the Splintered Rocks. Today, it is Cera's largest vessel and most capable trade ship - more than armed to handle any pirate threat. Your personal addition to your family ship is the Vanguard Cannon: A strange Lost Treasure you haggled off of a Demonfolk arms trader, who claimed it could blast a hole through the innermost wall of the Star Palace itself. Much to your Second in Command's derision, the cannon proved defective as some sort of magical seal had been placed upon it. Who knows whether it will ever live up to its promise...