The Ancient Empire

by Uther the Pure

The Ancient Empire, known in its own time as the Great Empire, has been the subject of my own lifelong studies. It is known now to most only as the origin of our dating system, our years being measured from the starting point of the end of the empire (and thus it is 1443 A.E. or “After Empire” as I put these words to paper). I have read every musty tome that I could find either about it or written during its long reign. And now, after learning so much, and putting some of that knowledge to use, I feel it is time for me to begin to share this knowledge with the world.

Though the empire was vast and spanned over a good portion of our continent, it never covered it completely, notwithstanding many myths to the contrary. At its height, the Great Empire spanned no more than one third of the land area of our continent of M’Shara, perhaps less. There is some speculation whether this limitation was deliberate, was the product of other forces preventing the empire’s expansion, or if it was simply the case that the empire was as large as it needed to be so there were no economic forces pushing individuals to expand it. Or perhaps the empire fell before it could get there.

The empire’s population at its peak was close to ten million souls, with the vast majority of them residing within the greater metropolitan areas surrounding the thirteen great cities. The population was mostly human, as it is now, but there were plenty of dwarves, elves, halflings, and gnomes as well. It would be myth to say that the races got along in harmony, but there were no overt conflicts outside of the realm of the political.

The empire stood for just over fifteen hundred years before it was destroyed, seemingly overnight. The reasons for its destruction are still murky. It seems almost as if, as part of the destruction, there was a deliberate attempt to destroy the reasons for its destruction as much as the empire itself. As far as I have been able to determine, there was no force, on this plane or on others, that could rival the Great Empire in its power. Even an extraplanar threat, such as from the mysterious Ryla, ultimately proved unable to challenge its power, though their defeat came with a cost.

The backbone of the Great Empire’s power was its magic, as commanded by the great mages that built and helped protect its many great cities and monuments. The magic they wrought was of a scale unheard of today, culminating in the creation of the Thirteen Great Cities and their monuments of power. Central to each city is a huge Arches of Transport, which linked each city to all of the others. One need only spell out the name of the destination with their magical tiles and a portal was opened that could remain open indefinitely. One could at the same time receive from another portal, allowing two-way travel simultaneously. These portals quickly became the hubs for massive trade routes covering the entire face of the empire.

Today, the location, and in some cases, even the name, of many of those cities had been lost. But no more. I have, in my research at the preserved archives of Aelon, pieced together the names, approximate locations, and previous populations of the Thirteen Cities. I will now briefly address each one in turn.

The Thirteen Cities

Shara – Capitol
Somewhere in the mountain region of Jor – Original Population 1.5 Million

Little is known now about the Great Captiol of the Great Empire. Difficulties in traveling to Jor have prevented me from exploring this further at this time, but at some point I plan on sending an expedition there.

Aelon
Sands of Tranquility Desert – West of Sydney’s Bluff – Original Population 200,000

This city stood out deep in the dunes of the Sands of Tranquility Desert, covered in sand, for nearly fifteen hundred years. This city was to be destroyed and lost in the desert at the fall of the empire. And yet somehow, beneath the sand, underneath the protective dome of magic activated at the last second by some unnamed savior, lived a small band of people, direct descendants of the ancients. They knew nothing of the outside world, living off of fungal farms they could cultivate in the relative dim light of the dome. They lived in relative peace, only occasionally terrorized by foul creatures escaping from stasis that had been held since the days of the empire.

This all changed when the Party of the Pure, a small band of adventurers, ventured there, under my guidance, to locate the city and its treasures. I discovered that the dome holding back the crushing weight of the sand that had buried the city had been growing smaller and smaller over the eons, leaving less and less space for the people to live. They numbered barely over a thousand by the time we met them. And such a treasure they are! They still spoke ancient, and they preserved much of the artifacts of the center of the city, including the Grand History Museum. But before I could explore these treasures, I knew I had to clear the Travel Arch. And with the dome failing, there was no sufficient magical energy remaining to do so.

Thus, I sought out another ancient artifact, one that could power the city’s artifacts, and returned with it. Its former owner did not know its power, but I did. A large globe, as wide as a man is tall, can be found throughout the realm, mostly drained and lifeless, but some few of them still retain their power and glow with it.

Replacing one of the spent globes with the fresh ones, the city then instantly righted itself, clearing off all of the sand covering its entire area within minutes, and restoring the city to the landscape. This nearly drained it, but it still retains enough of its power to keep the sand at bay and, barring any further catacylismic events, it should do so for centuries.

The Arch of Travel thus revealed, transport between cities is now possible. Though we do not have all of the tiles we need at this time, we have many, and we have explored several of the other cities. Most importantly, we have established a trade route through to Bellai by transporting to the Arch of Travel in the Ancient City of Shen.

Aelon today is a small, but growing community. With the exception of the central city ruins, there is not much left of the ancient city. But there are plenty of new buildings going up every month. The new trade route to Bellai has drawn many caravans this way and the appropriate infrastructure, some of it created by myself, has grown to accommodate them.

The community of New Aelon now numbers nearly 3,000 and it is growing daily as caravans venture in and out. Crops are again cultivated, irrigated by the dozen or so fountains that still gurgle in the center of the ancient city. These fountains can never run dry as they are magically connected to the elemental plane of water. One wonders if some day soon we will reach the limits of their capacity for our population, but for now, our community thrives.

The descendants of the ancients live here still, learning common and about the outside world. I work with them often, as many still live within the walls of the Great History Museum. They are a wonderful source of knowledge and folklore.

Al Valen
Iron Guard Mountains – Eastern edge of Eastern Barbarian Lands – Original Population 100,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Arhangensk
Western Frontier – West of the Lands of Magius – Original Population 100,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Bologda
Riga – Malai Coast – Original Population 500,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Caluga
Warrior’s Marsh – West of Halflings – Original Population 500,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Fornai
Frugal Mountains – North of Eastern Barbarian Lands – Original Population 300,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Legin
Isle of Shadows – Sea of Dreams – Original Population 10,000

It took me some time to discern this city’s actual location. Far out in the Sea of Dreams, the Travel Arch is probably the only safe means of traveling to this island. The seas around it are dangerous, filled with horrible monstrosities and whirlpools of unsteady magic. I have been unable to determine if this was always so or only has been true since the collapse of the Great Empire.

The island itself is overrun with gargantuan beasts of great strength but little intelligence. It is clear these beasts have been there since before the city was built, given the huge walls that surround the relatively small city to protect it from these colossal jungle denizens.

Legin was clearly built on this island for one primary purpose – to mine the strange greenish metal known as A’Queda, that has strong properties for both weapons and armor and probably special magical properties as well (though these would best be researched by a practitioner of the arcane arts). The mines are still there, abandoned after the fall of the empire. It is unclear if this metal is to be found anywhere else. One mage I know has speculated that the metal itself is what has spawned the instability in magic surrounding the island. But that is, as noted, idle speculation.

Any who wish to travel to Legin to mine this wondrous metal should take heed. The island is under the control of a very powerful Aboleth, whose minions patrol the city and keep a watchful eye for intruders. At some point, it will be worth a return to this city.

Murmensk
Northeast – Preserved Lands east of Jor – Original Population 500,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Olmsk
Baruvia – South of Kingdom of Mordon – Original Population 300,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Shen
Bellai – In elbow of mountains above Jor – Original Population 500,000

What remains of this ancient city is covered by the squatters of the low district of the city of Allenon within Bellai. Nestled in the mountains, the city has been shielded from most of the Jorian raids that have plagued Bellai for centuries, but the city is still run like an armed camp, forever on military alert, and long strangled by the Jorian embargo.

My new trade route to this city has improved things greatly for the people of Bellai, but only in small pockets, as the goods from the outside slowly trickle in. Thus far, the authorities have no knowledge of the source of these goods, though that can’t remain so for long. My trading partner there has many contacts with the underbelly of the city, though, and he assures me he can keep our secret from the authorities indefinitely (or at least bribe those that know). It is somewhat sad to me to see that Bellai, once a great nation of artists and poets, has sunk so low into the cesspool of militarism and corruption. And yet still, compared to Jor, they are Solars.

Ulmar
Malai – Northwest of Hobart, North of Northam – Original Population 1 Million

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.

Vaeia
Jasper Glades – On the river east of Bunbury – Original Population 500,000

Little is known about this city beyond its approximate location.