World Progression

Massivecraft’s Roleplay scene has been intact for over 5 years. In this time, many plot-changing story progressions have taken place, making it difficult to understand the recent history of Aloria. Here is a summary of Massivecraft's World Progression throughout its history.

The Ascendency of Alexander Kade

Recent history begins with the death of the Regalian Emperor, Justinian Ivrae II, and the signing of the Kade Settlement Act. This document was signed by Arch-Chancellor Moriarty Kade and Emperor Justinian II at the latter’s deathbed, and dictated that males from female descendants could inherit the throne of the Regalian Empire. Because all of Justinian’s children had died, this allowed the throne to pass through his brother’s eldest daughter, Liliane Ivrae-Kade, who married Moriarty Kade, and to actualize itself in her first-born son, Alexander Kade. Emperor Justinian II died on April 24, 302 AC. Alexander Kade was immediately vested as the Crown-Prince of Regalia, but did not ascend to the throne until months after.

The First Elven War and Regalian Civil Strife

Upon taking up the office of Crown-Prince, Alexander Kade declared war on the Northern Elven Kingdoms. The war was a wild success, and the Regalian Empire retrieved the lost World Crowd of the Allorn Empire for the Emperor though the foreign conquests acted as an ample distraction for the nobility to scheme on the homefront. Several different houses committed acts of espionage on one another, before House Anahera, led by Arch-Chancellor Alejandro Anahera, outright conquered Pays du Sud and Riviella from House Pileran, impoverishing that house. Lady Lenora Santorski of House Santorski, Lady of Drixagh, conquered part of House Typhonus's dominion in Calemberg, while Freya Lo of House Lo, Lady of Dorinn, declared herself Empress of Regalia in open rebellion against Emperor Alexander Kade. Lo was soon defeated, and Lenora of House Santorski stepped down from Calemberg to pursue spirituality in the Old Gods, reverting the title back to Ulric Typhonus of House Typhonus, ousted Lord of Calemberg. Finally, the plotting ended in the waning days of the summer of 302 AC, when a majority of noble houses enacted a Cordon Sanitaire toward Arch-Chancellor Alejandro Anahera, where he was removed from the seat per popular opinion of the noble court and replaced by Lord Ulric Typhonus.

The First Songaskian War

The end of 302 AC was marked by the invasion of the Regalian Archipelago by the Songaskian Masaya. After a failed counter-offensive, the Regalian Empire lost the Holy City to occupation by the Songaskians for a few months. After several resistance groups rose in opposition, including one which burnt the Bridge District down, the Songaskians pulled out of the Holy City. The war was to be continued on another front: Hadravia, a state adjacent to the Masaya’s holdings in Farah’deen. In this final theatre of the war, Imperial Prince Cedric Kade was captured and used as leverage to secure a white peace between the two war-exhausted empires. The war had ended; but a much greater threat loomed on the horizon. In the aftermath, the Musamansa Massya Song’s uncle, a man favored by the nobility for his military prowess, staged a coup against his nephew, whose post-war methods of appeasing Regalia were seen as weak.

The Appearance of Estel

On June 2, 303 AC, in the midst of the First Songaskian War, a light-show known to Alorian's as Mershell’s Dance flashed across the sky, the ripples of distortion followed by green and blue coloration flocking out of the northeast. Nearly two months later, a thick fog began to overcome Ellador, followed by sightings of a gigantic moving statue of a young woman covered in glowing runes, though with pieces missing here and there. She was accompanied by an army of stag-like humanoids with four arms. Many Altalar recognized identified the woman as their goddess Estel, and some scholars theorized that the stags were the lost Ohnark of the Northern Expanse. This army marched through Arlora and Torse; with the wave of a hand, the statue of Estel could disintegrate wave upon wave of foes. Nevertheless, the armies of the Regalian Empire marched to meet the looming threat at the Battle of the Curag Fields to make a last stand against the statue. After Regalia exhausted its armies and prepared for its inevitable doom, they were rescued by several Arken who joined forces and swallowed Estel into a magical portal. Aloria was saved, for now.

The Anahera Rebellion

The victory at the Battle of the Curag Fields wore heavily not only on the state of Regalia but upon its people. Arch-Chancellor Ulric Typhonus resigned, and in his stead, Andrieu Anahera, younger brother to Ulric’s predecessor, Alejandro, took the seat. Anahera’s first action as Arch-Chancellor was the execution of his older brother, who he had claimed was supporting colonial rebels. This allowed Andrieu to inherit all of his brother’s titles. After internal conflict within House Anahera, as well as an assassination attempt on the Emperor’s life that left him confined to his bed, the Arch-Chancellor imprisoned and tortured the Regalian State Council and took the title of “Lord Protector.” After several weeks of implementing erratic socialist policies, penalizing House Kade for the Settlement Act, and destroying the religious establishment of Regalia, among many other horrific cruelties, Andrieu was defeated by the joined efforts of commoners and nobles of the realm, and was presumed dead when he fell into an abyss of flame at the end of 303 AC.

The Bone Horror Crisis

Tensions that had been rising between the Kingdoms of Arlora and Torse rattled to a climax when the latter fully subjected itself to the rule of the Regalian Empire. Outraged, the King of Arlora, King Gulbrand I, mobilized its armies and prepared for war. The Regalian Empire sent a full invasion force to Arlora, and devastated their armies in a single battle where they outnumbered the petty kingdom four to one. As the battle came to a definitive closure, and King Gulbrand I and his commanders were captured by Regalian forces, the Statue of Estel appeared once more. King Gulbrand I and his inner circle all performed a magical ritual, and were in turn transformed into ghostly-looking variants of themselves by Estel. Vested with demonic powers, the brand-new Midnight Court began raising the dead. These were not ordinary Undead: These creatures were Bone Horrors; rabid amalgamations of the rotten corpses and bones left behind by the dead of the past, and they were out for Alorian blood. Thus began the Bone Horror Crisis.

Beams of light crossed the skies of Aloria, landing at the most populated centers of Aloria. Thousands of Bone Horrors rose and began attacking local populaces around the world, though Regalia was spared due to the supposed blessings of the Imperial Spirit. During this time, Freya Lo, the deceased Lady of Dorinn, was resurrected by the Midnight Court and was furthermore granted extra-dimensional powers of her own. All around Regalia, the dead began to rise as Deathlings; dark, grey-skinned servants who obeyed the will of Lo. After many weeks of warfare in the countryside, a joint-Regalian effort deposed Lo and restored order to the Crown Isles. With her death, the Deathlings she had risen turned to dust, and Regalia was left to rebuild once more.

As the Lo regime fell for the last time, news began pouring in of foreign powers restoring order to the world as the Bone Horror armies were pushed back and defeated. The Midnight Court was nowhere to be seen, and slowly but surely, Regalia restored order to its sphere of the world.

The Ascendency of Cedromar Kade and the Crown Alliance

As Emperor Alexander Kade returned to power, his post-Lo policy was inclined away from the military men of the nobility, and toward the diplomat and blue-bloods of culture and grace. This force-triggered a conservative coup against his power, led by previous Arch-Chancellor Ulric Typhonus, a long-time military veteran who desired to return to his old office. In response, Alexander Kade passed over all of his sons and abdicated the throne to his younger brother, Cedric Kade, who took the throne as Cedromar Kade I on April 14, 305 AC. Cedromar I explained that he would change the role of the Emperor in a radical way, and opted to be the vanguard of humanity on the frontlines of battle.

It was doubtful that with his military-based policy, Cedromar would rule long before declaring war on the Regalian Empire’s long-time rival: The Songaskian Masaya. Diplomats who supported Alexander Kade’s inclination towards a more diplomatic approach felt they needed to compensate for Cedromar’s pending aggressive warfare. Baron Bonace Tylleronde, one of these diplomats, invited the idea of the Crown Alliance: An Ailor-led coalition of races bent on securing Aloria for the Regalian Empire. Tylleronde immediately wooed his old contacts in Hadar, and found an ally in the Allar and Qadir, whose scholars sought Regalia’s protection. He also brought the famed Varran corsairs into the fold, albeit temporarily. Meanwhile, the Songaskian Masaya, the Altalar of Teled Methen, and the Sihai of the Far West created the Magic Covenant unified by their inclination towards magic. The Dread Empire began to plan an attack on the Altalar in outright rejection of their actions while the Cielothar and the Avanthar allied in the Wild Union to protect against common enemies. It seemed the stage was set for a clash of alliances; and clash they did. Meanwhile, Isldar began besieging the last few Dwarven holds in the north.

The Second Songaskian War

The Regalian Empire began their invasion of Farah’deen in the summer of 305 AC. Much had changed since Regalia’s last war with the Songaskians; they were now led by the uncle of the previous Massya. This conflict was the first to witness a Regalian Emperor leading troops on the field; Cedromar I Kade led many sieges, and often ordered the slaughter of the Songaskian nobility and peasantry before crowds of the military elite to raise war morale and intimidate the enemy. Enemies would either surrender, or face unprecedented brutality from the Military Emperor. As a result of the immense destruction wrought by the Regalian Empire, individual cities began rising up in rebellion against the Massya, who eventually consolidated his power toward his home provinces. The previous Massya, Musamansa Massya Song, was restored to power, and after a short civil war, restored peace to the Songaskian Masaya; a new ally of Regalia. Global peace would not last, however.

The Second Elven War: Stage 1

The Second Elven War began in earnest as Charles Montagaard, then-Undercrown of the Regalian Empire, led an attack force into Teled Methen. Unfortunately, he underestimated the Elven guerilla fighting and perished in a mass slaughter of Regalian troopers. This initial defeat spurred the Regalians to invade Teled Methen en masse and enact cruelties such as genocide and the eradication of Elven cultural icons within the captured cities. This only rallied the Altalar further, who centralized into a new Allorn Empire. Though the Regalian Empire was unable to make any headway into Teled Methen itself, Emperor Cedromar traveled and met with the Sihai, resulting in them withdrawing from the conflict and entered into the Crown Alliance. Despite this gain, the Second Elven War continued on without a clear victory in sight.

The Return of Dragons

While the war in Teled Methen continued in a stalemate, domestic strife had taken the forefront in Regalian life. The seeming return of the Dragons as a force to be reckoned with had all of the Regalian Holy City on edge. Rikkira, the Dragon who could transform into a regally-dressed Ailor woman, and her many Arken Lieutenants seem intent on enslaving the entire Regalian populace to usher forth a new world order; one seated by the Dragons. Regalia was surprised when a second Blue Crown Dragon shared blows with Rikkira and it was ultimately revealed to be Emperor Cedromar I. For some reason, Rikkira then vanished, last seen flying away from the Archipelago while Cedromar I no longer hid his abilities, becoming the Dragon Emperor and rallied Regalia around his new power.

The Second Elven War: Stage 2

With Rikkira gone, a new offensive was launched by the Regalian Empire against the Nelfin. In one fell swoop, the Imperial Dragon annihilated the Avanthar leadership and many of its best warriors while under a banner of peace talks, scattering the Race across their tribal lands to war amongst each other for control. Against the Altalar, a new offensive was also launched but of a more conventional means. Unfortunately, this offensive soon produced contact with another enemy, the Kathar. This Void Worshiping Race, and their Dread Empire, had been invading southern Daen for several months and their Void Towers helped to spread their corruption outward. From these battles, a terrible sickness stuck the Regalian Empire and the fighting on the front ground to a halt. While it eventually was cured in one mass and mysterious event, that would only set the next stage for what was to come.

The Anglian Mist

What cured people of this vile Void disease is not known, but it somehow involved a piece of Soul Essence being ripped from every infected person in Aloria and streaming through the air into Anglia where a massive cloud of mist suddenly enveloped an important conference and many miles of populated terrain. Trapped within was the Emperor, much of his family, several key advisors and several million Anglians. This Mist remained in Anglia for several months, and ultimately ended through mysterious means. Emperor Alexander I re-ascended the throne after this ordeal, though he had to reknit a generally weakened Regalian Empire through various political maneuvers.

The Dread War

The Regalian Empire was thrown into battle against the Kathar Empire several months prior, but things truly heated up as matters become part of a vast united front seeking to push the Kathar out of Teled Methen. Aided by Orcs, Altalar, and other Regalian Armies, Regalian forces in the Elven Moors, a region in the south to southeast of Teled Methen defeated Kathar forces, though the final battle was one for the ages thanks to the appearance of Rikkira on the side of the Kathar. She and Cedromar did battle in their Dragon forms, though also in their humanoid ones, but the battle came to an end when both vanished, and the Kathar lost the initiative. At the same time, the push on the front was forcing them back, and due to her political failure, the Dread Empress was ousted, forcing many Kathar forces to return home to support the candidate of their choosing. However, during the battle, Rikkira had uttered strange but powerful words that had echoed across the world, and a pessimistic pall fell over many in the Regalian Empire.

Clicker Crisis

Regalia was quiet for several months, but a mysterious object fell from the sky to the outskirts of the City of Regalia near the end of 307 AC. What the object was is not openly known, but it soon unleashed a plague of creatures known as Clickers due to their vocalizations. Invisible at first and tall, with wicked claws and gaping maw, Clickers caused chaos across the Regalian Archipelago, barely being held off as it seemed that nothing could defeat them. However, due to magical events within the City of Regalia, the creatures became visible, and a concerted effort by various factions of the city's citizenry worked to purge the creatures from Aloria. Explosives of an advanced design were armed and used to destroy the vile nest the creatures had been building under the capital of the Empire, but it was still not enough. Users of magic had to drain a mysterious crystal, at the heart of the city which the Clickers had been defending, only to have a machine entity known as The Conduit activate, and dispense thousands of robotic drones out to fight the Clickers. The crystal was soon drained, and with that, the Clickers collapsed to dust.

Current Time

The City of Regalia is in a period of rebuilding, while the broader Regalian Archipelago returns to the normal state of affairs: competition. However, there are now many new players, from new noble houses to trading companies and the criminal, each carving out their own new niches of power. For now, there is peace, but political intrigue now begins to increase across the Archipelago.