Kingdom of Bones:

Having cast off Dohoca rule, the Newly founded Kingdom of Bones faced many initial hurdles. The root problem was that the Krilli wanted to return to a romanticised pre-Dohoca society that simply didn’t exist anymore. The Protectors, while once again back in control of the Titan Bones, had lost most of their influence. The nomadic tribes that once dominated the Middle Spire now sowed the land as farmers. The Dohoca had introduced many foreign concepts around writing, government, literature, architecture, and magic. It was not possible for the Kingdom of Bones to return to what had been.

Hittiad, king of the Kingdom of Bones, set about to forge a new society, one that would be internally strong while withstanding any future Dohoca aggression. The Protectors were again elevated to a position of authority but were made subservient to the throne. The families and chiefs that controlled the rural villages were made to pay tribute to the King though they maintained much autonomy. Hittiad forged the Kingdom around him and when he died his daughter, Irithi, took up the throne in Kauda Roul.

While the Middle Spire would be dominated by the Kingdom of Bones, the Upper Spire remained much more decentralized. Small kingdoms popped up all along the western coast where the Dohoca had once ruled from. Most of the inland Krilli were still nomadic herders while the coastal kingdoms focusing on raids across the Spires and beyond.

For the next two hundred years the Krilli experienced a period of relative stability but the winds of change swept over the Spires. Since the Age of Silence the world was recovering from a time of utter stagnation. As the 7th century came and went chaos swept across the world once more. It brought many things with it, from war and disease to new forms of expression, but all paled in comparison to the emergence of magic among the Krilli.

All across the Spires people began to wield great power. The old stories spoke of the Dohoca’s chariots, how they chewed threw men as easily as butter, but the rumors of mages were beyond belief. A man of fire who walked without pain, a child whose fingers commanded thunder, a witch that could bend men like puppets. Hysteria spread as ravenous mobs put both mage and not to the torch. Those that survived learned to hide and protect each other. Gifted children were stolen away from their parents to be trained before they could be put to the pyre.

United by their oppression, a coalition of 28 mages formed the Circle of Long Knives with Lahad as the Grand Madam of their order. Their one goal was to overthrow the Kingdom and establish a Magocracy. They spent twenty years recruiting more members and earning the loyalty of mundane nobles. On the winter solstice of 736 Lahad and her followers tore Kauda Roul asunder and ushered in the death of the Kingdom of Bones.

The Sanguinary:

The King Dead, Lahad established the Sanguinary, a democratic body where any mage could vote with blood, with herself as the Grand Madam. Mages from all over the Spires flocked to her side and together the Sanguinary swept up all that remained of the Kingdom of Bones. The surrounding Kingdoms, fearful of the power the Sanguinary wielded, banded together to end the Mage’s revolution before it could spread. They to were wiped away like a forest before the fire and all the Middle Spire fell to the Sanguinary and its Grand Madam Lahad.

The mundane nobles that had resisted them were hung up and left to die in town squares and those that were known for killing mages soon joined them. However, life did not end as many commoners had feared. After the initial period of violence things more or less returned to the status quo. Countless mages flocked to Kauda Roul to seek guidance and power within the newly established Sanguinary. Any children that showed signs of being gifted were quietly taken from their parents, who were often eager to be rid of them.

Kauda Roul flourished as the capital of the new Magocracy. The thousands of untrained mages that flooded the city were quickly picked up by their more experienced kin. The popular democracy that made up the Sanguinary faded fast as those with influence formed Blocks of mages that were loyal to them alone. By the time of Lahad’s death the Sanguinary was dominated by a handful of mages and the blocks below them.

After things had settled the Sanguinary set its eyes east, to the Upper Spire. Many mages had already fled the Upper Spire since the establishment of the Sanguinary. Those that had come desired to see their home lands brought under the Magocracy’s authority. Beyond that, seaborne raiders from the Upper Spire had been sacking settlements in the Middle Spire for centuries. Determined to bring all Krilli under their rule, the Sanguinary amassed a fleet and sent it east.

The Coastal Kingdoms fell swiftly, with so little knowledge of magic they had no defense against it. The Sanguinary was much gentler here than they were during the initial revolution. Mundane rulers were given a choice, comply or die. Most bent the knee and the Sanguinary gained a foothold in the Upper Spire. There attempts to expand inland were not so fruitful. The nomadic herders of the Upper Spire had spent decades resisting the Coastal Kingdoms and excelled at combating the armies of the Sanguinary. Swift raids and ambushes proved effective against the mages who, up until this point, had been fighting traditional armies. While some minor progress was made, most of the Upper Spire, save the west coast, remained beyond the control of the Sanguinary.

After the mild successes in the Upper Spire the Sanguinary became very isolated. Kada Hira Dohoca still loomed in the west and vigilant nomads to the north. The Sanguinary turned its attention to consolidating knowledge and expanding their understanding of magic. Over the decades the Krilli became aware of something enormous. Many among them had dreams of places they had never been, with strange lands and people. Some shared similar dreams, others were alone in their visions. But these were not visages of fantasy, they were glimpses into other planes.

Driven by their unending dreams, the mages of the Sanguinary projected their souls outward, past the rim of their world and the Reach beyond, to places they had only visited in their dreams. The first one they actually reached was a place of shallow seas and swamps. Hot and humid, it was nothing like the Krilli’s home. The people they found bore fins and scales and spoke in broken tongues. The Krilli looked upon these ‘primitive’ tribes, collectively called the Gahica, with lustful eyes. The Sanguinary dedicated itself to creating a bridge between the two worlds, to expand beyond the confines of their home plane

After many years of research they had devised a system of crude portals that would allow the Krilli to physically enter the other plane. The only downside was it needed to be constructed on both planes in order to work. While not simple, the Krilli were able to use their magic to dominate their chiefs and shamans. Once the Gahica had constructed their side of the portal the armies of the Sanguinary poured in and established the first extra-planner colony of Acassia.