Further Beyond: Ascension

Historical Record of the Second Millenia AE:

1000s AE:

Adaroris finally breathed his last in 1003 AE in his chambers in the Magnian Palace. He was succeeded by his Eldest son, Solistis Magnis.

Solistis was a powerful mage of his era and pioneered many cutting-edge techniques in the development of magic. It was in his reign that the most useful mana stones were discovered, rock minerals that could react to mana more sensitively and change colour in tune with the amount of mana put in it. The discovery of the rock in one of the many former mines of the Ornomoi League, specifically in the mines of Oxoros thus lending the name Oxori to it. (Though this only attributes the discovery initially in Aurigenia where other deposits would be found independently throughout Orbis.)

In 1050 AE at the 5th Centennial of the founding of the Temple of the Dei and the completion of a new grand section of the Temple of Magnia with a glorious statue of Adaroris seated upon a mighty throne where in front of the large tatue lay his sarcophagus (this part was named the Tomb of Adaroris), Adaroris was apotheosized as the Greatest Incarnation of Deirex while Albia was Apotheosized as an aspect of Solistia. The ceremony was concluded with invocations of all the most prominent Gods of the faith as well as all the Divine God-Emperors.

In 1057 AE, a new great wave of invasions by the Germanic tribes of Obscura began anew, this one more dangerous than any previous incursion. The tribes that came numbered in the great tens of thousands, looking like a swarm of humans rather than an invading army. It was later found out that a considerable number of tribes were fleeing south from the appearance of numerous monsters and beasts, more ferocious than ever before.

This culminated in the Great battle of Senexia Secunda in 1062 AE where Solistis led a ten thousand-strong combined army of Elves, Anthroians, Beastmen and Inferi against an Obscuran army twice their size. The battle was a decisive victory for the Aurigenian forces, however the victory was short lived when a great horde of monsters clashed against them. This was the horde the Obscurans were fleeing from undoubtedly. A second bloodier battle ensued which though still won by the Aurigenians was much more costly with a significant portion of his army perishing on that day, including a precious many number of mages.

Solistis himself accompanied by a contingent of his remaining most powerful mages and scholars set out to the origin point of the monster horde to the large protest of his council and court. After nearly a decade of journeying to previously uncharted Obscuran lands, Solistis found a few possible origin points with a considerable number of beasts residing near them. A total of four points coalesed into a larger one. Two caves, a secluded grotto, and a moderate woodland area centered by an ancient-looking tree all with a considerable but volatile amount of mana about them. From these four points coalesed a more central location upon a rock formation on a hill.

Solistis left many scholars and soldiers at each point to further observe and study the phenomenon before heading back to Magnia to commence a more commited expedition.

By the 1070s AE, much of the known world had experienced similar events regarding many select points where an increased number of magical or mana beasts appear and some even report the fact that many extant species seem to be affected by these points.

Many Elven scholars also pointed towards the fact that many holy sites under the jurisdiction of the temple including the Temple of Magia itself showed a high influx and many similar fluctuations of mana. Many speculate as to the meaning of this while the Temple was quickly instructed so as to designate these ocurences as a grace of the Dei. In 1078 AE, the Filirex Sapentis Magis spearheaded many great studies in regards towards the phenomenon of Mana points (Apemagis) or Magical fissures (Serfissuris). The more prominent mana points would later be called dungeons by most modern peoples. The area of the original dungeon grew to become a prominent settlement of scholars both Elven and even some humans as well. The settlement would be called Origa.

Disaster struck Origa when in 1096 AE, during one of the many regular exercises of the mana around the point, something went wrong when a larger fissure appeared in the main central point and out of it came an ungodly monster larger and more ferocious than any had seen before. Many cultures had stories of dragons and in fact many knew these creatures existed but the beast that came out here was unlike any had seen before. A colossal monster of great magnitude appeared with what appeared only havoc in its mind. This happened during one of Solistis's many regular visits to the sight. The Great Beast, now named Maldracus, waged a ferocious battle against Origa as hundreds to thousands fell to its mighty breath. After a long battle and what some would say a miracle, Magnarex Solistis invoked the names of his divine ancestors and witness say that they saw him harness the very power of the Sun to strike the beast down. The beast was slain but a heavy toll was set upon the Old Elf. It is not clear what exactly had happened, but the Elven King looked as if he had aged a thousand years as his silver hair turned sickly white and his skin dried as if a corpse. The best Elven magicians could barely detect any trace of mana within the Magnarex and he was immediately sequestered to be taken cared of in the Temple of Magia.

During the 1100s AE:

Solistis persisted in his weakened state for a relatively short time for an Elf. He did his best to govern though he was frequently represented in rule by his son and heir who had never forgiven himself for it was to save Sapentis that Solistis had sacrificed so much. The Great Sun King as he would later be called, finally breathed his last in 1111 AE, aged 780. Sapentis was crowned Magnarex the following year. On his coronation day, he vowed that he would dedicate the remainder of his life to seek knowledge as vengeance for the death of his father.

A new annex to the Great Magia temple was ordered to be built as well as a great monument at the center of a rebuilt Origa close to the Manapoint. The monument was a great bronze statue depicting Solistis in the likeness of a deity with imagery of a solar disk behind his head to invoke the incarnation of the Sun Goddess herself and beneath his legs, he was stepping upon the Great Dragon Maldracus. A replica of the statue albeit at a smaller version was then set up in the new Temple annex.

In 1130 AE, Solistis was officially apotheosized as the Glorious Aspect of Solistia, the Magna Solrex or Great Sun King.

By the 12th Century AE, the traditional Elven faith had morphed so that the original pantheon of Dei were adored and worshipped as aspects through the divine incarnations of the Magnarex and the Meliomnian dynasty.

Sapentis became the patron of many scholastic academies and institutions and he comissioned many research projects and the codifying of many of the findings into the walls of the many academies as runic glyphs intended to last throughout the ages. In 1152 AE, Sapentis pioneered the system of Auguring, in which he would send census administrators towards the burgeouning Inferii population and Anthroian peoples to locate, discover, and nurture any potential mages and spellcasters to be inducted into the newly expanded Inferimagi corps. Into this system, Sapentis had also formed the Consanguinis Magis Corps of Beastmen mages and druids.

By the 1160s, many beneficial things had been discovered of the Manapoints in that the beasts spawning from them would 'drop' many beneficial items and resources that could be used to craft better items and imbue existing tools with more arcane powers though for the remainder of the Mythic Era, these uses would still be limited but trade of these items would quickly find itself towards a larger market. As it was discovered, the Aurian lands also had many manapoints that it could exploit for superior resources and Sapentis wasted no time nor effort in cultivating them.

In 1175 AE, Aurigenia had developed what could be considered as one of the earliest forms of a 'standing army' and though they still mostly relied on the Inferii conscripts for many military ventures, the backbone of Spellsword warriors and mages of the Aurian army was becoming a force not to be trifled with. However despite all these developments in Land-based technology and despite having been equipped with a decent Naval force with the assimilation of the Anthroian cities, the many more developing Megnesian and Eosian Anthroian cities as well as the Nahalian city states had retained an edge in naval superiority.

In fact, many Nahalian fleets from the city states afar had passed through the Southern ports of Aurigenia without much trouble and established numerous trade-posts and colonies in the Southwestern coasts of Terradome in lands even western most to the Gizakians.

During the old Anthroian wars of the early second millenia, the Nahalian fleets were content to stay neutral, passing by paying the general tarrifs and the Late Magnarex Adaroris was sure to not draw any animosity towards the growing power of the City-state of Laelaris (Laylars).

The Nalians (What the Aurians called the Nahal peoples) of Laylars had grown to become a major power player in the recent decades and had focused themselves mostly on trades and founding new sub-ordinate colonies. With them, they brought great and mighty beasts from faraway Euris as well as many eastern traditions. The city was said to be founded during the late reign of Adaroris some few centuries ago but has grown in such a way that the Aurians had to keep being wary of their rising power. During the events of the manapoints and fissures, Laylars had successfully repelled many monster hordes and by some skill, luck, or affinity, even managed to tame more monstrous versions of their war elephants and even great sea monsters in addition to their navy. It had reached the point that effectively, Laylars had wrestled hegemony of the southern and western seas from the Aurians.

From the late 1170s to much of the 1180s, piracy once again became a problem on the southern coasts. The pirate war fleets were mainly Megnesian in origin but there were some rogue Nalian captains in their as well and they had established a great many series of hideouts and hidden strongholds on small islands and coasts hidden in coves from the mainland. These pirates not only plundered trade goods from ships but many raiding parties also targeted the Aurian ships in order to procure goods in the form of slaves and around this time, Elven slaves were of high demand and due to their longevity and beauty, many pioneering magnates were searching for Elven women to become their concubines and 'pleasure slaves'.

The most egregious event occured in 1189 AE when a small fleet bearing the standard of House Egostea who were an important noble family, representative leaders of the City of Amicadia, was attacked by a well coordinated pirate armada. The battle of the Piscan Bay as it would be known ended in disaster for Aurigenia. Most of the Inferii soldiers either abandoned ship or surrendered and were captured alongside most of the Elves within the ship. A total of nearly a hundred Elves across five ships were captured including the Beautiful sisters Astaria and Loucana Egostea, the twin daughters of Lord Commander Ousoris Egostea.

It was soon discovered that most of the slaves had been bought by noblemen and merchant of Laylars and this caused the Great Council of Auria to send a message of demand to the Laylarians to return all Elven captives to Auria post haste in order to avoid dishonor. A reply came soon after with the Laylarians demanding that the Elves be bought back with a ransom price equal to that of which they were bought with. This reply greatly enraged the Aurians and most of the council pushed Magnarex Sapentis to finally declare war upon the Nalian city. Finally Sapentis in 1190 AE decided to send a stronger ultimatum towards Laylards threatening military action for failure to comply. To this, the Laylards sent back a gift towards the Aurians in the form of a chest. When the gift was opened, the court of Magnia was shocked as what was in it were the embalmed severed right female-looking hands bearing rings of House Egostea along with a message that this was the amount of dishonor Auria had shown to Laylars. And so in 1191 AE, Auria had declared war against Laylars.

The first battle came when an enraged and seemingly demon-possessed Lord Ousoris led a punitive attack with a force of a thousand Amicadian spellswords and two thousand Inferii levies and a hundred Inferomagi straight through neutral Gizaki lands, burning and pillaging their way through every tribal village they saw in a fit of rage and anger against any non-Elves. The first battle came in late 1191 when a border force of two thousand Laylarian troops supported by a hundred Gizaki tribal volunteers was attacked by Lord Ousoris's host.

The battle raged on in a series of minor confrontations and skirmishes until Ousoris finally decided for a full on frontal attack supported by Inferii skirmishers and Inferomagi. The Laylarians were being heavily pushed back as they were being battered by the powerful Elven mages while simultaneously being engaged by Anthroian-style Hoplite tactics by the Inferii. Only the Beastmen allies of the Laylarians managed to put up a fight before every last one of them were slaughtered by the seasoned Consanguen corps. After half a day, the initial Laylarian army was routed. Of the two thousand one hundred allied Laylarian Army, all one hundred Gizaki warriors were killed while 300 Laylarians lay dead and two hundred more were captured. The Elves had lost only a hundred and fifty Inferii in total along with several Consanguen while a few dozen more were wounded. Ousoris in his rage ordered for all the Laylarian captives to be killed and had their heads decapitated and for all of the severed heads to be gathered in a small mound.

Ousoris kept on his pursuit and sent for his fastest riders and Consanguen troops. He had split his army in half and had the larger force tie up the Laylarian supply lines to take for themselves and to wreak havoc on the nearby countrysides with raiding parties. Ousoris finally caught the fleeing army unaware and though they outnumbered his pursuing force, he had struck at the vesper hours where the roads were dark and when the Consanguen could most utilise their heightened senses. They picked off the beleaguered army with skirmish tactics and limited their movements with powerful magics. Soon enough, the entire Laylarian force was defeated and captured. A total of a thousand soldiers were captured. Among this army, Ousoris caught several important Laylarian noblemen. He seperated a dozen important nobles and their retainers numbering to a hundred troops and the rest of the captives were put to death with their armour and weapons looted and their naked bodies decapitated and thrown to the woods while He ordered for the Consanguen to erect another larger mountain of severed heads. The remaining hundred men he ordered for their dominant hands to be severed and gathered into a small crate. He then blinded all but the dozen noblemen and handed to them the crate of hands along with a message to the Council of Laylars. "Return our daughters and sons."

While waiting for a response from the Laylarians, Ousoris had his main army further split to lay siege on two nearby Nalian cities, satellite border settlements of Laylars. They were the cities of Betsolum and Malkyen.

The main Aurian army consisting of a total ten thousand troops ( 3000 Main Elven Battle line, 3000 Inferi troops, 2000 of the Elven Spellswords and mages, 1000 Consanguens, and 1000 elite Anthroian troops from the vassal cities ) was mobilised to first subjugate the remaining of the free Gizaki tribes to completely conquer the Beastmen lands and provide a direct border with the Laylarian state. This army was under the Leadership of Lord Albis Meliomnes, an uncle of the Magnarex. An adittional force of two thousand men under the Leadership of Lord Cordeis Senexis was diverted to lend aid to Lord Ousoris's forces.

The Leadership of Laylars were horrified at the barbarity of the Elves when they saw a hundred of their brethren return missing a hand and most of them blinded. When they heard Ousoris' message, the city grew in uproar. Most of the noblemen refused to relinquish their Elven slaves and called out for a more open conflict. Though the Laylarians were lacking in terms of military prowess, they were not lacking in wealth and so they made up for the military lack by enlisting the many pirate fleets and their slave armies along with elite mercenaries in the form of the nearby Obscuran tribes. However, it is much more pressing to curb the expansion of the Aurians into core Laylarian authority so the council of Laylars had agreed to only release the two Noble daughters of Lord Ousoris in return for an armistice with Laylars.

It took a few weeks for the message to reach Ousoris and by that point, Ousoris had set up his main base of operations in the recently conquered city of Betsolum. By this point, Ousoris had spent most of his pent up rage and was beginning to analyse the situation calmly. Malkyen had stubbornly held out against the Aurian siege despite this being after the besieging army was reinforced by Lord Cordeis' forces. He had also received news that the main Aurian army was instead engaging in a lengthy campaign to fully conquer the Beastmen lands.

The Armistice offer from the Laylarians came and Lord Ousoris was glad to see his daughters, but the fact that the rest of the Elven slaves had yet to be returned posed a major problem as many of his soldiers and retainers were still discontent. Ousoris had sent the Laylarian envoys back and agreed to a temporary truce but immediately after he rode out with a sizeable force from Betsolum to join up with the siege of Malkyen. The siege went on for another week before the Aurians had sent forth a few platoons from the Katalehoian armies to infiltrate the city by night. The defenses were prominent and they suffered quite a few casualties but eventually the gates opened and the city was taken without much more of a fight.

The armistice lasted for about three years until 1194 at which point the two cities of Malkyen and Betsolum served as firm footholds upon the Laylard lands. The situation in the Beastlands had also calmed and stabilised and The Aurians managed to extend their influences to include most of the main Beastman cities and tribes with only the powerful Dragon tribes of the Mountains being left to their own devices. The Aurigenian main army had coalesced at Betsolum. Betsolum lay near the coast of the Great Lake Ederra and the quickest route to attack Laylars was through a naval attack, but for that, ships needed to be constructed and in the sea, the Laylarians have a massive advantage. With this in mind, the command of the army decided to circumnavigate the lake and attack the city through land, though this would be a more gruelling effort as there were many local tribes of Ayzmaran peoples that were subject to the Laylards that would prove to be a challenge to get through.

Nevertheless the campaign resumed in 1195. The armistice was broken when an army of 3000 Obscuran warriors came from the north. They were reportedly heading towards another Lake Port-city called Balel. Ousoris and Albis rode out to intercept this army with their heaviest troops of Gizaki warriors and Elven mages and spellswords with a supplementary Inferii army. The battle was swift as the Elves as usual attacked at the dead of night in an ambush. All but a few key commanders and warriors were slaughtered. Albis intended to repeat his father Adaroris's strategy of subterfuge by disguising his Inferi troops as Obscuran warriors. The following days, Albis chose the tallest and fairest among the Inferi warriors to convince the peoples of Balel that they were the Obscuran host that they were expecting. And so the strategy was put forward and the city of Balel completely fell in two days with most of its volunteer guard garrison surrendering. Albis gave the city a choice between Protectorate status and total anihilation and the city submitted. The Aurians had stripped most of the citizen soldiers of their arms and left Inferi soldiers to monitor the populace.

News of Balel's fall reached Laylars rather slowly as all forms of communication were actively being surpressed by the Aurians. The Nalian Laylards were only privy to the restarting of conflict when news reached them from Asmari (Ayzmaran) riders that the main Elven army had laid waste towards several settlements and cities and were drawing closer towards the Laylarian heartlands.

After a siege and a regrouping with the command army of Ousoris and Albis, The Aurians had managed to take the city of Asifur at the start of 1196 AE.

Between the Aurian army and Laylars now only lay the .... river. Laylars had already positioned its navy to block off all routes of access and the Laylarians made sure to destroy any and all bridges upon the river. Their constant patrols also made it difficult for a connection to be established. Seeing this, Albis once more tried a diplomatic route demanding for all Elves to be released amd peace will be restored but again Laylars refused. And so with that, Ousoris in turn ordered for a full scale attack to commence and for The most powerful mages to create a small crossing landbridge. This development caused the Laylarian navy too to fully engage. Thus began the Battle of the Crossing.

The battle was bloody as the Elves engaged with the mages protected by archer units and other mages casting magical wards to defend against enemy mages. A surprise came when arrows from the Laylarian galleys managed to break through the defence, killing some unpreared mages. Reports came that there were Elven archers upon Laylarian boats. It had seemed that the Old Fortian and Fabrian Elves whom now called themselves the Silvanian Elves had returned to prove a thorn in Aurian sight. The battle raged for many days but eventually the sheer power of The Aurian mages destroyed a great many Laylarian ships and mercenary pirate ones. However, the Aurians sustained heavy and pivotal casualties in the form of several hundred mages, inferimagi, and spellswords in addition to near a thousand Inferii who had been used as human shields. With this, Ousoris took the initiative and immediately laid siege upon the forts set up as defensive lines against the Aurians. Ousoris had already grown a reputation among the Laylarians, being called the Reaper or Death God. In total there were 5 forts put to the torch with all their defenders staked and hung upon the burning walls. Along with the forts, Ousoris had also ordered for any human settlement or village found to be put to the torch with every man woman and child put to death. This brutality was almost exclusively carried out by the Elven soldiers. The rampage went on for most of 2 months. It was finally then where the large Elven army had besieged and surrounded the city of Laylars. Once more the ultimatum was made this time carried out by Ousoris himself. But after he threatened retribution, Ousoris had made a show of a dozen carts with hundreds upon hundreds of severed heads of men women and children with looks of horror in their eyes. The Aurigens gave them 3 days to answer. It did not take until the next dawn before the gates of Laylars opened and from it near 200 Elven captives emerged and were returned to the Aurigens. The following week was negotiations of a peace treaty. The Laylarians had tried to negotiate a return of all captured settlements but Albis merely said if they wanted their cities back they can try and take them back with their armies. The war officially ended with an Aurian ban on the selling and trading of Elven lives within the Laylarian markets.

During the 1200s AE:

For the first few decades of the 1200s, Aurigenia worked to eradicate the remaining Southern pirates. The effort was led by the talent of the most legendary commander of the Sea in Aurian history, the younger brother of Magnarex Sapentis, the Prince Vicmaris. The war against the Pirates concluded in 1217 AE when Vicmaris destroyed the last stronghold of the pirates in the Battle of Landus strait and Siege of Benmaris.

In the 1220s to the 1230s, Aurigenia had to spend most of their resources dealing with insurrections and insurgencies amongst the many beastmen tribes that abhored the notions of being slaves to the elves. This culminated in 1233 AE when a nobleman of one of the beast clans officially declared a state of war between his people and the provincial Aurian forces. His name was Inareki of the Hartzur tribe. He waged a guerilla conflict for near a decade before he was finally killed in 1242 AE and the Beastmen pacified. Sapentis made efforts to better the conditions of his peoples, including those the Elves considered Inferior slaves and gave them meager rights so as to prevent any more all out conflict. In 1245, a terrible event occured when from the mountains of the Herensuge Dragon-kin tribes, the only beastfolk the Aurians left to their own devices, a group of what looked like a dozen drakes wreaked havoc in the nearby Gizaki settlements to raid their livestocks and for some even feasting on the beastmen people. This posed a problem for the Elves as they had yet dealt with opponents who had superiority in the skies.

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To this, Sapentis decided that it was time for him personally to step up and pacify the threat of the Herensuge to the protests of his court. The Elves were reluctant to send their magnarex to certain doom, but Sapentis had sworn by the blood of his ancestors that he would bring the Herensuge to heel. Before he set out on this campaign, in 1246, Sapentis had commenced a ritual ceremony whereby he went out to the sacred groves near some controlled mana points to hunt for mana beasts and he managed to capture several great animals. These animals were in the likeness of bountiful deer and he had ordered for eight of them to be ritually sacrificed to the spirit of the Martyr-God Novisus Perviris who was renowned and worshipped as the Embodiment of Perviros, the first Hunter.

Soon after the legendary conflict which would popularly be known as the Battle of Red Skies began. Sapentis took the best of his mages and on the next raid by the Herensuge drakes, they unleashed a bloody onslaught as near two hundred mages focused all of their mana and intent towards the skies as of the ten drakes, only two managed to escape with the rest falling from the skies and dying. When the drakes fell, their majestic beast forms eroded and left only what looked to be the dead corpses of teenagers with horns, scales, and some wings.

Not a few days after, a group of seven large dragons and dozens other smaller drakes descended from the mountains and in a fit of what looked like mad fury, went around on a rampage as they burnt down several settlements to a crisp. A few drakes managed to be killed by archers from the ground who landed lucky shots as the drakes flew too close to the ground but the larger dragons managed to withstand a far more gruesome onslaught by the mages as their flames managed to scorch scores of Elven spellcasters. It was finally when two of what looked to be the most powerful dragons descended did Sapentis and his Royal Guard of Auricustans engage them. The battle lasted for two days, before in a final act of near-desperation, Sapentis did something no scholar up till there and even scarcely now would do. He had absorbed an inhuman amount of mana from a nearby mana point, channeling it through his body and directed it at the dragons as a blast of pure unadulterated mana. The blast had managed to completely blow one Dragon into smithereens while the other dragon was badly injured. Sapentis himself wasn't free of consequence as his body weakened considerably, his body aging noticeably as his Gold hair turned a sickly gray. The rest of the Herensuge contingent saw this and decided to finally retreat and flee, taking their injured comrades with them. By this time, most of them had reverted to more humanoid forms and the mages could no longer target the dragonkin who had become much nimbler.

The battle was a largely pyrrhic victory for the Elves as they had lost hundreds of the most skilled mages and scholars in the battlefield while a greater number of them were wounded. Magnarex Sapentis was hurriedly hauled back on the fastest route towards the Sacred Grove in Magia to recover and heal. In his absence, the Meliomnes dynasty formed a council headed by Lord Albis. They had decided to quickly establish a string of fortifications to surround the Herensuge mountains and to fill them with all the garrisons availible to them with an emphasis on long-ranged missile troops who were gifted with mana. The Aurians feared if the Herensuge were to commit to another attack in retribution, the Elves might lose much more troops and resources.

The situation was quiet for the next few years with only one or two intermittent sightings of the Dragonkin descending their mountain. By 1249 AE, Sapentis had recovered thankfully as he was cared for by his wife and cousin of his mother, the Oradea Flocaela Senexia. Sapentis had made up his mind to entreat with the Dragonkin as he had a feeling that they were no longer up for a prolonged war and conflict. He had a major disagreement with Flocaela as she was still far concerned for his health, but he stubbornly passed that. Sapentis felt that he had almost achieved what his father so many years ago achieved in saving his life. Sapentis set out once again for the Herensuge lands in 1250 AE.

This time, many scouts of the Katalehoi clans managed to track down the main settlement of the Herensuge tribe in a large fortified castle/area known as Sugemendi. As a show of force, he had marched with near 20,000 troops from all over his Empire to intimidate the Herensuge. Once they reached Sugemendi, they can see dozens of large dragons and countless more drakes surrounded by humanoid dragonkin with wings ready for them. It seemed as if another bloody battle was unavoidable.

However, as the Aurians were ready to set their many battle plans into motion, Sapentis, to the chagrin of his guards, rode out on his own while carrying a flag of truce. From the city then came out an old-looking man with long gray hair and a long grey beard, a magnificent pair of horns adorning his head while he was wearing a very elegant robe. The old man had introduced himself as Hegdol of the Herensuge. The two men talked and negotiations for a more diplomatic route began.

It was finally agreed upon after weeks of deliberation that the Herensuge clan will officially submit to the Aurigen Imperium. In return, the Herensuge clans who had by that point numbered in the thousands would be supplied with food and generous rations. The Herensuge were also the first race the Elves gave the moniker Parsanguen or 'Equal in Blood' and elevated them above the rest of the beastmen, designating to them their own seperate class/race. In return for this treatment, the Herensuge also pledged a total of 10 able-warriors to act as the first of the Aurian Empire's Draconic corps.

The next decades were again focused on stabilisation of gains and efforts to develop further, though in 1262 AE, a terrible drought had struck some of the more fertile regions of Auria, proving to be a setback in the prosperity of the High Elves.

Throughout the rest of the 1260s to the 1290s, the Elves ushered into a period of peace and stability where Sapentis focused much of his efforts into patroning the arts and commissioning the construction of many legendary stone monuments, inspired by his adventures from 1270 to 1281 to the Human civilizations of the far Eurisian lands.

During the 1300s AE:

In around the early 1300s AE, Some prominent manapoints had warped and morphed into something new. In the center of many of the mana points the mana coalesced and formed portal-liked apparatuses in some areas. The phenomenon was strange as observers noted that mana beasts would come out of these portals. It wasn't until 1318 AE did Sapentis finally manage to convince his council that a deeper investigation into the phenomena was required. In 1323, after years of careful observation and research did Sapentis urge for an expeditionary force to be formed and sent into one of the portals.

The first expeditionary force was made up of over a dozen well-respected scholars who were also powerful mages in their own right along with a company of elite Elven soldiers and many more Inferii who acted as labourers and dregs. In total, the expedition force numbered up to a hundred men. This expedition was headed by Sapentis's brother Adaeternis. Sapentis had tried to insist to lead the force himself but due to a unanimous rejection by the court and the Meliomnian Dynasty, he was barred for the time being from embarking on potentially dangerous endeavours. Adaeternis had prepared sacrifices to the Great Ancestor Gods for good fortune before he braved himself to be the first to enter through the portal. The researchers had previously tested using inanimate objects throught the portal like spears and other polearms but they felt a huge force as if compelling them to enter and so many of said weapons were released before they would be dragged through it. Many have even tried using animals and other such beasts from the area to put them in through the portal, but up till a few tries previous to the expedition, none of the animals came back. It wasn't until a fortnight before the expedition where a single dog they had released had returned. Finally the Elves were convinced that it was worth a try, Some within the council had suggested for slaves to be sent forth first before the main expeditionary force but Adaeternis had scorned them for being cowards. The Meliomnes princeling was a glory hound and disdained acts he considered craven and argued that it would be an affront to yield the honour of having first entering the unknown to be given to lowly slaves, let alone the Inferii. Finally when the time came, he stepped forth and held first his spear towards the blue vortex brimming with mana. He had felt the spear as if being pulled in but after a short gulp, he allowed himself to be pulled in arm first. The feeling was indescribeable as he entered, it was like passing through an unknown light. There was some tingling, some mild pressure. It wasn't long before he was followed by the rest of the expedition. It was almost half a day of nothing happening outside the portal when Sapentis - who was awaiting outside the portal with a sizeable guard and many other council members - started worrying. Finally, three people reemerged from the portal, looking slightly haggard as signs of battle could be seen from the men. Sapentis recognised them as being some of the more elite Auricustos warriors. They had reported that when they entered the portal, they had been as if whisked away to an unknown world which had a terrain resembling the outer realms but the world had a clear edge shaped like thick fogs surrounding it as well as a thick presence of mana in the air. From a cursoury glance, the size of the area might be the size of a few cities. They had began scouting the area around them first but it wasn't long before they were accosted by numerous magic beasts who had as if came out of nowhere. These beasts resembled the magical lionbeasts that would sometimes roam the plains of Auris. The sudden attack caught the expedition by surprise despite all the careful planning. Hearing of the news, Sapentis speant no more time hesitating and rushed in to the portal without a second thought followed by a total of several hundred of his elite Auricustos and Consanguen bodyguards. The reinforcements managed to greatly alleviate the expeditionary forces and they managed to fend off the wave of beasts.

The Elven forces managed to hold out for several more waves after the initial one before the situation calmed. They had suffered substantial casualties, with a couple dozen dead and nearly a hundred men wounded. However, the expedition wasn't a total loss. The corpses of the magic beasts left behind many useful material for crafting and the like, and above all, they left stone-like orbs which would later be caled 'soul essence mana-stones' which Sapentis on his return to the Outside Realm would immediately commence a study on. The soul essence had many similar characteristics to the Oxori mineral but it also had the distinct feature of being able to replenish a mage's mana though it would soon lose it's core value after such a use. Another feature is that soul essence could be naturally combined with one another to create a more potent/condensed stone to a certain degree depending on the 'quality/degree' of the soul though that would only come much later with more research.

The manarealm persisted for about a few more years after the incident and after some more observation, it was discovered that the many magical beasts 'spawned' from the mana-realm itself, originating from the coalescing of the mana itself and it seems to design said creatures based on the many outerrealm beasts present

In the decades following, from the 1320s-1340s, Sapentis had organised for more expditions to go into more portals whenever they opened. Around this time, it was recorded that each manarealm could greatly differ from one another, starting from size, the types of beasts inside, and if or not the manarealm would close itself down after a period of time of being hunted to its exhaustion. Some manarealms/dungeons even featured a single more prominent beast, clearly more powerful than the other manabeasts, that may or may not appear again after a set period of time had passed. Some dungeons would even close after a period of time, transporting the people in it outside before the portals closed. It wasn't always clear when or when not a dungeon would disappear nor was it any more certain whether or not such dungeons were 'reopened'.

To more specifically deal with these new discoveries in a more specialised manner, Sapentis finally sanctioned for the founding of the Collegia Advenia, the first organisation of 'adventurers' in 1345 AE whose task would be the managing of manapoints, realms, and fissures and in that regard also deal with their consequences, for instance specialising 'hunting' of manabeasts, dealing with 'dungeon-breaks', etc.

After more years of study, it was realised eventually that the adventurers after slaying manabeasts and delving into the many outer dungeons as well as manarealms would experience rapid/exponential growth be it in strength or even in mana reserves.

Some manarealms proved to be more temporary, usually being smaller in scale and appearing witin already prominent outer dungeons. There would be 'special beasts' or 'monsters' from these dungeons which would close the manarealm after.

During the 1400s AE:

By the 1400s, over half a century after the start of the expeditions, adventuring had become more common within the Aurian Empire though still regularly state sponsored and regulated. Other manarealms and institutions had appeared as well in the other prominent empires in the east, but the great states of the time still had little to no idea of the other empires so spared no care for what was going on with the others but regardless, new knowledge and discoveries increased and nations prospered.

Technologically speaking by this point in time, the large use of Bronze and copper was steadily being replaced by more advanced metals which were alloyed, most prominently being that of iron. Though the use of iron had been known many centuries before, it was only with the conncection of trading with the east and the discovery of the materials within Tirsa and some dungeons did it truly rise in prominence though it would still be quite the time before its use would become widespread.

During the 1500s AE:

Many new settlements began to be established in the frontiers of the Aurigenian Empire due to the prosperity brought about by the relative era of Peace as well as the population boom that came along with it.

By the mid 1550s AE, Sapentis had also spread his dominion to the far west of the Asmari lands and the lands of the Legolian Tribes just a bit shy of the Great woodland forests of Silvania.

Due to the population boom, Sapentis started planning for expansion of the Empire's territories to the north, to the land of the Obscurans. The Empire had knowledge of many notable tribes springing up in the last few centuries and decided it was time to cull the seeds of unrest before it was too late and another invasion by the Obscurans occured. Sapentis did not want to wage war, but it was clear that the lands needed to expand and that expansion east towards Megnesos and Euris would be too costly as they had to contend with the powers of the Powerful Anthroian Kings of the East whilst the Council was content on keeping the Anthroians of Megnesos and Euris as a buffer state between Auria and the Ancient Empires of the Eastern Men.

Sapentis had started the campaign in around 1570 and for the next few decades he managed to displace a great many obscuran tribes. The tribes put up a decent fight as they showed remarkable prowess on the battlefield, but eventually, the powers of the Aurian armies overwhelmed them and Sapentis managed to expand his borders by a great deal, but he had paid a price in these northern wars when his son and heir, Altum Cognis, was killed as a result of the battle of the Burst Realms in 1595. Sapentis had decided to personally lead his army of 10,000 to deal with a coalition of a dozen tribes that numbered near twice the size of his own army. The battle was held near a manapoint that was held as sacred by one of the tribes. At first, due to superior discipline and experience in formal war, the Elves faced little difficulty fighting the Obscurans, but it was in an act of desperation when the Germanic mages, runemasters, and shamans spent their power to bring energy towards the manapoint thus bringing forth the summoning of a large manarealm portal, and unlike many other manarealms, this one exuded a dark aura and the colours were a dark shade of red mixed with black. The Obscurans had induced an artificial dungeon break where hundres to thousands of ferocious mana beasts were unleashed. Altum Cognis had sacrificed himself to defeat the core manabeast that was charging for Sapentis. Altum had distracted the fierce beast and engaged it while the Auricustan bodyguard of the Magnarex managed to pull him back and get him out of harm's way, but alas, Altum died towards the monster beast that acted as the centerpoint of the dungon break. Eventually with heavy casualties, the Elves claimed victory and expanded their territory up until the River Obscuris.

The death of his son proved to be a grim reminder to Sapentis of his own Father who died due to similar circumstances. Deeply grieved, Sapentis swore off any further conquests for the rest of his long reign and Aurigenia in turn tended to be more isolationist after. Sapentis engrossed himself even deeper in his studies, becoming more quiet yet at the same time far more eccentric.

During the 1600s AE:

New temples, schools, and academies were made throughout the Aurian Empire, in fact it was during this era that Sapentis had started to invest more in building learning institutions which were more open even to the Inferii. This garnered much criticism from the elites of society but reflecting upon the slower rate of growth of the elven population coupled with a loss of their numbers being far more difficult to replace in comparison towards the Inferii, Sapentis went ahead with his plans.

During the 1700s AE:

In 1730 AE, Sapentis had appointed Evas, a human of Inferii origin, as a member of the Auricustos, before being a very skilled and powerful Inferomagi. This decision sparked outrage as while many could perhaps tolerate a second-class Anthroian to a prominent position, but for the likes of the Inferi to be given such a position was seen as an affront.

Evas was only 21 years old at the time of his appointment, but his genius knew no equal as at the time he had bested three Auricustans in a duel simultaneously. It was said Evas was born in a manarealm when his parents who were trying to escape a particularly cruel master took their chances and ran to a manarealm. He was later discovered by some adventurers who found him being embraced by the mauled corpses of his dead parents but strangely enough the charred remains of mana beasts were around him as well. He was found by the Elven Mage and Adventurer Arcus who took him in, first as a servant and later as a bodyguard and even enrolled him among the Inferomagi.

Sapentis in his later years grew some empathy towards the Inferii and his ideals of scholarly pursuit inclined him to try some subtle reforms to improve the lives and dignity of the Inferii though at this time, Elven supremacy - while not at it's peak - was already deeply entrenched, and many factions sought for the removal of Sapentis, seen as becoming weak, from power. An assassination plot was foiled in 1734 when Evas had defended Sapentis from powerful assailants.

Several more assassinations would be attempted throughout the years, but they would all be for naught under the watchful gaze of Evas.

During the 1800s AE:

Sapentis finally breathed his last in one of his Studies in 1835 AE, aged 1219. He was succeeded by his grandson, Magnicordis.

Magnicordis sought to continue his grandfather's more progressive reforms, forming a new generational guard of Inferii as a parallel structure to the Auricustos. The Inferii that were recruited, being handpicked and trained by the old Evas himself (who would later die at age 150, the oldest Ilife ever recorded up to that point in history) and they would soon be known as the Parcordian Guard in 1850 AE.

During the 1900s AE:

News had reached the Court of Aurigenia that from the east, The Great Empire of Suharmashta or as the Elves called them, the 'Atraxians', had came to dominate the Anthroian States in Eos, with the Kings and Tyrants of Neomakron, Agatrios, and Megaster were diplomatically subjugated by the Atraxians and became satraps between the years 1915-1930 AE. This was during the reign of the Shahanshah (King of Kings) Ashina II 'the Bringer of Flames'

In 1941 AE, Ashina II died and was suceeded by his son, Artabanu. Artabanu's succession was contested within Atraxia as while he was the eldest son, he was born of a commoner woman made concubine. As the Great Empire of Suharmashta was experiencing political instability, many of the subject Anthroians on Eos attempted a series of revolts and coups to do away with their status as satrapies.

This event came to be known as the Eosene Revolts which lasted from 1941 AE to 1946 AE. They were finally quelled by Artabanu who had managed to stabilise the Empire's situation. It was soon discovered that the Eosene cities were supported by the more prominent cities of Megnesos and Artabanu began preparing his armies for an invasion of Megnesos proper in 1950 AE. In 1952 AE, the invasion finally commenced. Many great battles were fought within what would be known as the Megnesene Wars, but tragedy struck when in the middle of the crossfire, a ship belonging to the Aurian Elves was accidentally sunk by a Megnessian fleet. It just so happened that the Aurian ship in question was boarded by several important family members of sitting Councillors of the Elven Empire.

Aurigenia had demanded for compensation for the tragedy but the Megnessians argued that it was merely bad fortune and an unfortunate happenstance of war which caused the tragedy to occur, that and the fact that the Megnessian cities couldn't afford to spend any resources with the war against the Atraxians raging.

Greatly angered by the response of the Anthroians, the great Elven council finally convinced Magnicordis to declare war and an invasion of the Island of Megnessos. The invasion commenced in 1962 AE with the Magnarex personally taking lead of the invasion. The Aurian Empire had been dormant for too long and it was felt that the armies needed the wake-up-call. An army of tens of thousands was raised and the many subject peoples of the Aurigens united to put an end to the Megnessians.

Though the battle hardened Anthroians of Megnesos were very skilled and put up a great fight especially against the many Inferii levies and regular soldiers, they would soon be greatly beleaguered by the might of the Aurian Empire's elite and professional troops. Not too mention the wanton destruction led by the Herensuge Dragonriders upon the Anthroians who had just recentley entered into an uneasy armistice with the Atraxians and was greatly spent both resource-wise and manpower-wise.

After a decade of fighting, the Elves had managed to conquer about half of Megnessos by 1973 AE. Due to the harsh fighting and the unwillingness of some of the Cities to totally submit to Elven domination, the Elves conducted massive enslavement operations and demoted many of the Megnesians to 'Inferii' status. This harsh treatment caused many of the remaining City-states and Kingdoms to rethink subjugation by the Atraxians for they thought better the light touch of the Easterners than the heavy hand of the Elves. And so by the 1980s AE, most of the remaining Anthroians submitted instead to Atraxian rule. The Atraxians - now led by the spirited Artaxerxes - accepted the submission of the Megnesians and immediately dispatched his armies to aid them. Hearing of this, Magnicordis had sent forth his navy to intercept and blockade the Eosian harbours controlled by the Atraxians. This culminated in the battle of Halshudor bay in 1988 AE which was won by the Elves, thus assuring Aurian dominance over the strait of Megneos for the next decade.