The Flame Casts Two Shadows:
Westlock and Ivarium's Roots, Part 1
For the past half millenium, trade, politics and culture have rotated around the two major players of Etheria: Westlock, the monolith of light and justice, and Ivarium, the sword that never forgets. But roll back time 500 years, to a time before the end of the Infernal Interregnum (the Demon Wars) and the signing of the Mage Wars Accords. There was no Westlock, Ivarium -- there was only the Pellian Empire, the largest single empire Etheria has ever known. This three part series will explore the roots of Westlock and Ivarium, of particular note in light of current world events.
The first true empire, forged in the time following the Golden Age of Etheria was called the Frehal Empire. It was spectacularly destroyed by the much more ambitious and expansionist Sen Ahreal Empire though powerful archmage magics that physically ripped the land apart, and started the blights that would later evolve into Darkfenne Swamp (in fact, many ziggurats and artifacts of the old Frehal/Sen Ahreal Empire can still be found by adventurers who brave the swamp's deep interior).
Once the Frehal threat was eliminated, the Sen Ahreal Empire continued to expand, gobbling up territories and dominions. The Empire's ruler, Lord Arrax is of particular note, because he wore a demonic artifact, the Arraxian Crown. To be fair, he didn't realize it was demonic at the time: he thought it was a draconic artifact, a wonder that had been created millenia before during the Golden Age of Etheria.
Long story short, the Crown turned Arrax cruel, and his cruelty fueled further conquests, expansions, and wars. Over time, as the empire expanded, it became known as the Pellian Empire. At its height, it consisted of five provinces: Westlock, Lupertra, Shaggazora (the name given to a collection of Pellian City States), Ivarium, Lacemonia, and Palamea (an island in the Viridian Sea). Beyond the provinces, its captured lands and spheres of power stretched from the Etherian Ocean in the west to the deserts of Djser-Tet in the south.
The Arraxian Crown itself whispered demonic intent to the rulers of the Pellian Empire, and whether they understood its words or not, they began to build something extraordiary, the new capital, Pellia City (modern day Salenia). As an architectural achievement, Pellia City was unparralleled. Even in the deep jungles reaches of far off Kumanjaro, the City of a Thousand Wonders was known.
Roads, aquaducts, glowing lakes, etherial towers, bridges of light and floating palisades were only some of the spectacles a traveler could see in Pellia City. But behind the beauty and awe, there was a sinister design at work.
The city had been designed to create a perfect infernal pentagram writ large, with each monument, tower and aquaduct perfectly positioned for summoning a portal to the Dark Realm of Infernia on a massive scale.
Once the city was completed, the Arraxian Crown itself was activated, and the entire city became a collossal Gate to Hell, a portal that opened with a shockwave of fire and brimstone that blasted outward across the city, and disentigrating the Pellian Empire's final Emperor in the process.
Out of the portal stepped Adramelech, Lord of Fire, and with him, the Demon Lords of Infernia. With the Pellian Emperor a pile of dust and the city in disarray, Adramalech's forces had little trouble in taking control. Thus began the Infernal Interregnum (the Time of Infernia), commonly referred to as the Demon Wars.
