From Waelock to Malkrest, to Drake's Folly, Alym is home to a wide array of flora and fauna along with several distinctly different cultures throughout the eight major cities of the empire. In this article, we're going to explore the kingdom of Alym and its robust history.

 

Long ago in the year 1,300BD, a star fell from the heavens and crashed in an area that would later be known as The Primus Bay. This was The Day of Walking Sun. The Day of Walking Sun, now known as "Solis Day" became a holiday that marks the anniversary of the day Taven Sylva arrived in northern Alym. From Taven, early tribes of man learned how to track the sun and the stars to keep time and shortly thereafter, devised a calendar based around Solis Day marking the beginning of the year. As Taven spent more time with the indigenous peoples he began convincing a select few to follow him as if he was their leader. These men and women rejected the leaders of their former tribes and instead took orders from Taven. It wasn't long before the tension between Taven and these tribes of early man came to a boiling point that would result in many lives lost. The Baragnum, the Bonkinese, and the Auraeum all rejected Taven's leadership and deemed him a usurper. They banded together in defiance against him but he was too mighty. Taven began traveling the countryside and took those who would bow to him and killed those who wouldn't. Eventually, Taven had nearly 8,000 fighting men and women at his command. They traveled south where the Auraeum had constructed a village of impressive size for the time. Taven sent his people into the village disguised as refugees and told them to break bread and make the Auraeum trust them. When the time came, Taven was able to launch an attack on the city from both the inside and outside of the village. On one fateful night in the year 1,000BD, the village was claimed in the name of Taven Sylva and named Waelock. From Waelock Taven was able to build his empire and quickly seize control of Alym.

 

Only after he convinced the majority of early humans to recognize him as their leader was he able to form the earliest known empire in the Penta Mundos. This long-since-lost empire was known as The Sylvian Empire. Under the governance of the Sylvian Empire, humans learned early forms of language, irrigation, agriculture, metallurgy, and currency. Taven was a wise and strong ruler for his people, but he was also cold and harsh. Not all tribes saw him as the savior that most other tribes did. Some rebelled against his acquisition of the country and its peoples. These outlying tribes could not stand up to the organized might of Taven's armies and so they sought power to gain the advantage in their war. Late in the year two thousand B.D. sometime in early Zephyrus, two tribes made a pact with other-worldly devils in the hopes of power, and power they received. This power came at a cost and that cost would be paid by their entire people for generations to come. All who bore the surname of Razneesh would be cursed with skin that shined like that of smoldering coals, teeth as sharp as knives, and the innate ability to manipulate fire. All who bore the surname Ophbrygger would have skin as cold as ice and be adorned with horns as hard as steel. These two tribes would be reborn from their curse and went on to call themselves the Vinculum. Their newfound power would have them see many victories but soon Taven would formulate new ways of combating his new opponents. In the end, nearly all of the Vinculum was either slain or enslaved by the Sylvian Empire. Once the Vinculum was no longer a threat to the Sylvian Empire there were only two major regions of the country left to conquer. To Taven's great dismay, these two regions would prove to be more challenging than he could handle. The first of these regions was the swampland that dominates the southeastern peninsula. 

This murky terrain and its local inhabitants would be the death of nearly ten thousand Sylvian soldiers before future attempts at claiming the land would be called off. The Empire would come to label the swampland "Interitus" as they believed traveling to it would mean your destruction.

The last unoccupied region of Alym was the eastern desert, Borgadon. The desert was scorching hot during the day and would become freezing cold at night, most of the plant life would cause hallucinations or be downright lethal. burrowing snakes and ravenous birds the size of horses were just a few of the obstacles that prevented The Empire from claiming the land. One of the most dangerous aspects of the desert was large, burrowing worms. The only one The Sylvian Empire was able to kill was almost one-hundred and sixty feet long and nearly fifth-teen feet in circumference. Despite these setbacks, Taven would still consider himself and his empire the rulers of Alym. Throughout many generations, Taven would select specific groups of people to personally teach and mold into being powerful mages, generals, skilled smiths, and mighty hunters. Whoever Taven did not favor when looking for new acolytes would likely end up a slave laborer to either the Empire as a whole or to one of the noble families throughout Alym. 

In the year five hundred B.D., a new challenger to the Sylvian Empire would enter the picture. A powerful cult dedicated to worshiping Nethrak would make their presence in Alym known, along with their intentions. 

This cult, known to the world as The Knights of Cynder would make their own attempt at claiming not only Alym but all of the Penta Mundos. The Knights of Cynder's surprise attack launched on Malkrest would mark the beginning of one of the swiftest and most savage wars to take place in The Penta Mundos. This war would be known as The War of Retribution. For the next two hundred years Drakin would rule over the Penta Mundos and regularly sacrificed hundreds of people a year in the name of Nethrak. This too, did pass, however. Cyndir was eventually slain by Sir Hendric and upon her grave, he built the city of Drake's Folly. In the wake of the Draconian Empire's destruction, a new empire was forged quite literally from the ashes of Cyndir. By way of unknown magic, a phoenix took form inside the pile of ash left after Cyndir was defeated. This phoenix would go on to bond with Hendric and aid him in his quest to unite Alym under one banner once again. This time, however, the banner would be one of strength and peace. This new empire would be called The Pheonix Regime. This new empire would go on to rule without challenge for three hundred years until The Great Sorrow. The Great Sorrow, for which the dating system is based, was when demonic portals opened throughout all of Alym and Hellspawn poured into every city in the kingdom. No city was safe, not even waelock. The grandest city of the civilized world, Waelock, was nearly destroyed by the demonic ambush. This catastrophe was so extreme, in fact, that divine intervention was the only way to salvage the kingdom from its hellish fate.

 

Alym has been ground zero for many horrific wars and has seen the rise and fall of many empires. To this day the cities of Alym have remnants of the cultures that once occupied it. Explore the kingdom of the Pheonix Regime and you'll no doubt find yourself exposed to a variety of cultures and ways of living that'll give you stories to tel for many years to come.