Human History

The Armanakian Eye was the symbol for Armanacus and his army.

The Ludisian War (?~600 years ago)

A source of great pride for most Humans is the Ludisian War.  During this war, a great demon by the name of Armanacus terrorized the ancient Human Kingdom of Ludis, eventually destroying it and enslaving all of its inhabitants.

With Ludis under his control, Armanacus pushed his army eastwards, moving into the wild lands that is today the Kingdom of Tarra.  As large dark armies, sporting the Armanakian Eye, moved eastward, few were able to stand in their way, and Armanacus’ hold on the land grew.  Eventually, his forces laid waist to much of known civilization, destroying and enslaving all races throughout the land.

Hope all but vanished until a band of unlikely refugees, lead by a Human named Paoleas Akhal, decided to fight back against the darkness of Armanacus’ army.  Paoleas planned many raids from his outpost south of Zent Lake (the location of today’s Akhal-Teke).  Although most raids were unsuccessful, each raid increased Paoleas’ reputation among unconquered Humans and Elves, as well as the northern dwarves.

Paoleas’ Sacrifice (~600 years ago)

One night, in the cover of darkness, Paoleas disappeared from his outpost, along with many of his best soldiers.  No one would ever see him or his soldiers again.

It is uncertain what exactly happened to Paoleas, although many believe that he knew of a secret plot that would have seen him assassinated by Armanacus himself.  Knowing this, Paoleas would have rounded up 10 of his best soldiers the night before the assassination attempt, and would have ridden off into the wild in an attempt to intercept Armanacus and defeat him.

Stories say that he would have met the demon face to face, and would have battled him for many hours, eventually killing the demon, losing his life in the process.  It is said that the morning following Paoleas’ supposed sacrifice, Armanakian forces would have all burned alive as the sun rose above them.  Light grey dust would be all that remained from the thousands of undead and demon warriors that died that morning.

The Dark Ages (600~200 years ago)

Not much is known about what happened after the fall of Armanacus.  What is known is that the end of the war, along with the disappearance of Paoleas, created a great power vacuum which fueled human ambitions of great power and wealth.  Disoriented and unorganized, many Humans, that had until recently been slaves of Armanacus, regrouped into savage clans with the goal of ruling the land.  These clans battled against each other and, as the clans grew and the battles became deadlier, all out war eventually broke throughout the land.

This round shield, adorned with four fish and a star, became the official Aquis shield almost a century ago.

The Two Kingdoms (200~150 years ago)

Approximately four centuries after the fall of Armanacus, the war-weary Human Clans finally declared peace.  Detailed within the peace treaty was a layout of the land, and how it would be divided between the two waring factions.  It was decided that The Great Lip, which ran from Zent Lake in the north, to the Great Sea to the south, would be a natural border between the two, and soon after the treaty was signed a new era of uneasy peace began.

The western factions eventually united into the Tara Kingdom, named after the great strong stallions that roamed freely throughout the western lands, while the eastern factions united into the Aquis Kingdom, in honour of their great relationship with the sea.

New World Map (~150 years ago)

A century and a half ago, both the Tarra and Aquis Kingdoms jointly commissionned their subjects to scout the land in order to create a map that would clearly defining the layout of the land of both Kingdoms.  The map was created, and was soon wildly distributed to all people from both Kingdoms.  Although popular at first, the maps eventually all but dissapeared, and are now only rarely found in museums.

You can find a copy of the original map here.

The Tarraneze shield, although somewhat smaller than the Aquis shield, is reinforced by metals from the Claddigen Mountain Range.

The Attack on Claddigen and The Present (150~present)

Although tensions remained high between the two Kingdoms, armed conflict fell to an all time low.  Then, almost half a century after the last major battle between the Tara and Aquis, the Dwarven Kingdom of Claddigen was attacked by hordes of Trolls, Gnolls and Kobolds.  Although the Humans were not able to help the Dwarves in time to save their Kingdom, they did both profit from the new divided Kingdom by strongly influencing the two remaining dwarven cities.

The stability between the two Human Kingdoms allowed commerce to grow and prosper.  Humans used this growth to their advantage, enacting new laws and regulations in order to favor themselves above other races.  This further increased their influence throughout the land, leading to the Kingdoms of Tarra and Aquis that we know today.