In eons past, the Skyborne descended from the heavens to tame the monsters and wilderness of our world. They brought with them the knowledge of the three great powers: Magic, Mechanics, and Nature, building a paradise that seemed destined to last forever. Yet the end inherited by all good things arrived much sooner than the Skyborne expected.

Long the enemy of the Skyborne, goblins ascended from the underworld and made war against our forebears, calling to their side the monsters once thought tamed. In their haste to retreat from this world, the Skyborne abandoned their children on the surface, under the care of those few young men and women who remained with their siblings. The elf maiden Janis Inglorien on the continent of Nova first built up a city as the children around her grew older, the first woman to raise a new generation into order and prosperity.

Among her greatest achievements, Janis counts the proper nurturing of her son Inglorn, who built the first ship of his generation and sailed the length of our world. Inglorn enlightened the generations of children who had grown up on every coast to the awakening promised by trade and diplomacy, leaving two Havens on every continent to guide new civilizations. As nations matured, the Havens of Inglorien renewed the practice of the Great Powers.

The Empire of Airgialla arose on an island off the coast of Nova, amassing power after fighting a devastating war against the kingdom of Burgundy. After conquering Burgundy, the Airgiallans used their newfound power and knowledge to wage war on every free nation rather than eliminate the goblins and monsters that lurked in the shadows. Inglorn’s Havens were subdued, and their secrets emptied into the hands of Airgiallans, burgeoning their unbeatable arsenals. This lust for power consumed the Airgiallan men whose wives and mothers declined to educate their families in virtue, inviting corruption into every corner of the world.

This corruption manifested in the arrival of the Deathlords, demons who followed goblins out of the underworld and overcame the Airgiallans. Their noble women gave themselves over to the Deathlords, bearing children who could channel their power with a talisman. Absent virtue and possessed by darkness, the children of the Deathlords enacted draconian laws while encouraging depravity. These abominations reigned without contest for fifty years, growing ever more arrogant and drunk with fortune and authority.

Virtue remained firmly planted in the heart of Inglorn, who called upon his mother’s teachings to stay strong in an Airgiallan prison. When the time was right, he escaped and led a crew of virtuous rebels in a campaign of destruction against the vessels that held together the Airgiallan empire. The deeds of his crew inspired others to join the Uprising, first among them the men of East Manifest, who ejected the Airgiallans west of the Frost Mountains and founded our dear Republic.

In Airgialla itself, the provincial queen Nikki rediscovered the merits of virtue and called upon the heavens for relief, receiving a sword forged by angels capable of striking down the talisman of the Deathlord children. After joining Inglorn’s movement, Nikki struck down her corrupt kin and sank Airgialla beneath the waves. Her faithful followers retreated to the continent of Manifest and founded the New Airgiallan Empire.

The remaining children of the Deathlords fought hard against Nikki but could not withstand her assaults. Some retreated south, building mountains along the borders of the southern continents and draping the equatorial seas in the Enduring Storm. Empress Nikki bound the remaining children of the Deathlords in their strongholds, trapping them in the deserts of Cimmaron, the rainforests of southwest Manifest, the tundra of Nova, and the mountains of Shaolin. Last of all, Nikki drove the Locust, the greatest of the Deathlord children, into the dark continent of Legatus. She strapped the Locust’s talisman to a boulder and dropped it into the middle of the ocean, never to be wielded by another soul.

These past nine hundred years since the Uprising have seen peace and prosperity blanket the Republic of East Manifest. While other nations look to the restored Havens for guidance, we rely upon virtue to heal the wounds of the past and direct our affairs. As you lay your children down to sleep, you must warn them about the dangers of abandoning virtue but remind them that preservation is in their hands. Your sons shall wield swords when they must in its defense, but your daughters shall instill virtue into their families, and they must dream of no higher aim.

~ From Madame Wanda's Feminine Virtues ~