Relias: Uprising (66 page)

     Months passed, and the ship that Valentine had set off on eventually returned. Two thirds of the crew, however, didn't make it back. Having been lost at sea, the ship became stranded. Food supplies ran dry, water depleted, and the men onboard resorted to cannibalism. Valentine, according to onboard records, pleaded for crew to persevere and assured them that the new world couldn't be far off. Not long after did a fight break out between two sailors. In an attempt to intervene, Valentine was killed. From there, the murder and the cannibalism exploded. According to the records, the stars changed constantly, flickering back and forth in the sky making it impossible to gain an accurate bearing. It would be later theorized by historians that Valentine's ship was traveling through a series of decelerated time fields, a phenomena very common in a place as rich in raw Furo as the Carpathic Ocean.

Nearly a decade later in 1303 M.E, under new pressure from both the Granlow and the Vyna covens, a young explorer by the name of Benedict Solago sets course for the eastern horizon in an attempt to finish what Valentine had started. Armed with the knowledge that the world was round as theorized by the greatest minds of the day, Solago left off with a small crew and ample supplies as to avoid a reoccurrence of the previous voyage.

     Halfway through the journey, Solago encountered the same strange phenomena that Valentine had described in his journals. However, by holding up Havoc's known orbit around Altigo and the positions of both Eygus and Altigo in the sky, Solago was able to reach a new, tropical coast. Because of his pleasure in reaching the new continent, Solago dubbed their landing 'Valhalla', thus founding the town in 1304 M.E. The town that was built up around their landing carried that name. The continent, meanwhile, was named 'Solara', after Solago himself.

     With the journey having taken four months (at least four months from their perception), a crew returned with news of their safe landing. After another four months, the crew of Solago's vessel arrived in Brún to find it under the split rule of both the Carnway Werewolf coven and the Vyna Vampire coven. As they spoke with their human allies, it turned out that they had been gone for two years as opposed to their assumed eight months. Regardless, with a new fleet having been amassed over the course of the past years, they set off to meet Solago in Valhalla. Of the approximately five thousand humans that lived in and around Brún, one thousand stayed behind, with Valentine's doomed voyage still fresh in their minds.

     Upon their arrival, a small village had already been constructed just off the beaches of Valhalla, the town which became the first settlement on the Solarian continent.

The Relias Wars

Originating as a small, regional conflict, the Relias wars expanded to engulf the entire planet in its first world war. Intended as an act of unification, the wars were met with general bloodlessness, while those who craved power and authority were among those providing the most staunch resistance. 

     The Relias Wars were sparked in 220 M.I., as a response to a series of Highlander attacks that nearly eliminated the Durant tribes of the Diamide Mountains. Lead by Peter Scarsborough, the most bloody and war-torn periods of the war lasted 10 years, though many say that the 10 year duration was merely optimism and, in actuality, it didn't end until five years after that in the year 5 M.R. Regardless, the conclusion of this war brought about a new era,  dubbed the 'Modern Relias Epoch', or abbreviated into M.R.

     The Relias Wars began in 220 M.I when, at the request of Peter Scarsborough, a number of leaders within the Durant society were sent out in secret to all corners of the Arctanica and beyond the borders of the Arctanican Empire to mass a force capable of challenging the Arctanicans and freeing not only Durants but all races from their crippling oppression. And though this new rebellion was met with occasional resistance, particularly in colonies where Vampire, werewolf and human leaders received payoffs from the Arctanican Empire, the war was relatively bloodless until, at long last, the armies of Peter Scarsborough went toe-to-toe with the Arctanican Armies. And while the Arctanicans continually pressed the Allied armies back, they gradually became weaker and weaker. With Morlo Greyhorn having joined the Allied armies, thus taking a third of the Empire with him and Halzetti's Disease crippling them from the inside, the Arctanican Empire would eventually fall as the Allied forces conquered Diamide. Following this conquest, the last major barrier to the formation of the Republican Union of Relias was eliminated and the Union would be formed shortly thereafter.

The Praemon Subversion

Beginning in the early months of 262 M.I., Dark sleeper cells, having gone dark after the defeat at Olsgrad Canyon, begin infiltrating the city of Praemon, establishing and organizing a new network within the Dark rebellion under the direction of Samuel Alighieri. The objective was a gradual, primarily bloodless takeover of the city. Praemon was selected for this takeover for several reasons. The first reason was its strategic location. Overlooking one of the most crucial crossroads in the Byfayne mountains, control of Praemon would result in a stranglehold on ground movement in the region. The second reason, though invariably intertwined with the first, is the fact that a ground assault is difficult due to the rough Byfayne terrain. To cement Praemon as one of the best defended cities in the world, a series of powerful anti-air batteries were put in place following the Darks' official takeover, making an air assault impractical if not ultimately impossible. And as Samuel Alighieri had ultimately decided, a single armada of Battlecruisers , working in conjunction with the city's anti-air batteries, could repel any attack staged from any direction.

     Praemon was also chosen due to its proximity with two of the Commune's major cities. The first city was Styne, the home to the Commune's military power and a good portion of its prisons (stocked with Dark inmates), and Pyre, the world's capital. Praemon would be used as a staging point from which the Darks' most crucial attacks would be launched.

The War of the Covenant

At the turn of the 9th century, tensions between the Vampire and Werewolf covens heightened. Over the course of the past several thousand years, both races had evolved from a common ancestor. Disputes over racial superiority were catalyst to what would become the most bitter interracial conflicts in Havok's history.

     The two races' origins can be traced back to Elvytican prehistory. When the Autocthonids abandoned Andor and crossed the narrow land-bridge into northern Elvytica, a small group stayed behind while the rest of the civilization moved onward. This race eventually split into two subgroups which branched off. The group that would eventually evolve into the Werewolf race migrated to western Elvytica, while those that would become Vampires settled in in the east. In 4500 Ar.E, the two groups began interacting, establishing an intertribal trade system and establishing a small, regional state. With peaceful relations made possible through the Vampires' devoutly Randist population, the local economies of both the werewolves and the vampires flourished as members of both races would disperse and migrate to all corners of the Elvytican and Arctanican continents. This interaction continued on through the 7th century M.E.

     Following an expedition to northern Elvytica, the young expeditionary leader Verityne Bylko would allegedly discover evidence of a common ancestry between not only Vampires and Werewolves, but in humanity as a whole. Social rifts expanded over the following 200 years until a prominent Vampire leader, Syn Vyna in favor of racial cleansing, led a small group of followers to a Werewolf village and destroyed it. Its inhabitants were slaughtered in the first violent act of hatred between the two races.

     While other leaders within the Elvytican Vampire Civilization, based out of Demondrak, openly rebuked Vyna's actions, her charisma and her passion struck a chord within a good portion of the Vampire race as a whole. Her new coven, operating under the idea of racial superiority, exacerbated the poor relations between the two races and forced the Werewolves into open warfare.

     It was at this point in 9th Century M.E. that another prominent coven emerged, this time as a branch of the Werewolf civilization. This organization, led by Arthellice Granlow, was the first responder to the aggression of the Vyna coven, leading a counterstrike against Demondrak and publically executing over two hundred of its citizens and burning Demondrak to the ground. Over the next thousand years, the Vyna and Granlow covens would become the largest and most prominent covens in the world. And though conflict persisted, the two covens would evolve into international crime syndicates, making exorbitant profits on human and drug trafficking as well as a slave trade (comprised primarily of members of their rival races) which saw abolition at the rise of the Union. During these thousand years, leadership of the Granlow coven would be passed from fathers to sons, the fathers most often falling at the hands of Vampire assassins and, in several rare occasions, sickness and one of old age.  Syn Vyna, however, remained in control of her coven.  

     In 1st Century M.I, both the Vyna and Granlow covens had set up roots in the coastal city of Brún. (The central portion of Arctanica was left ultimately unbothered by both the Werewolves or the Vampires as a result of the Arctanican Conquest.) During this time, leadership of the Granlow coven was in the hands of Carnway Granlow while the Vyna coven remained in control of Syn Vyna herself. Still at war with one another, the sprawling city was fraught with violence instigated by either race. This violence, however, reached a sharp decline in 215 M.I. when, in a completely unforeseen turn of events, Syn Vyna is found dead in her bed, her throat having been slit in the night. While her daughter, Bryn Vyna, is next in line to assume control of the coven, she ultimately backs down as one of Syn's top lieutenants, Vyvyr Syvyr, claims responsibility for Syn's death and accepts challengers for control of the movement.

     Carnway Granlow, meanwhile, takes complete satisfaction in the death of his greatest rival, and feels that their new leader will be the fall of the coven.

     There is a third faction, however, that goes relatively unnoticed by either covens. That faction is an underground organization comprised of both Werewolves and Vampires driven by enormous discontent with the ignorant rivalries between groups and the debilitating and destructive chokehold that they have on Brún. Eventually being led by Pontious Granlow, the son of Carnway Granlow, this new faction rises up and demands peace and equality between the two covens as well as the ignorant and equally violent human population that has helped to drive the city to complete self-destruction. After an agreement with Vyvyr Syvyr, the faction forms up with the newly named Syvyr coven, a veritable army that outnumbers the Granlow coven 5 to 1. After diplomacy failed, Carnway found his demise at the hands of his son, who took control of his father’s coven. His leadership, working in conjunction with Vyvyr's, lead to a peace agreement in 227 M.I. that spread throughout the world. And though deep-seeded grudges existed in many members of both races, their societies as a whole saw peace and unison unseen since  9th Century M.E.

The Arctanican Conquest

At the turn of the 7th Century, humanity and its various races had spread out across Elvytica and Arctanica. Werewolves and Vampires, while having several settlements throughout both continents, had a concentrated population based out of Elvytica. Sirens stayed separate from the rest of the world and populated the Celico Islands off the south-eastern Arctanican coast. Humans kept themselves separate from the other races and confined themselves to the western, southern, and Eastern Arctanican coasts. Two populations were based out of central Arctanica, specifically the Damidian mountains: the Durants and the Highlanders.

     In a day where size and strength was synonymous with absolute power, the Highlanders found themselves in the fortunate position of residing comfortably atop the social hierarchy. With their unrivalled size, strength, and great numbers, the Highlanders had a firm grip on the Damidians and the surrounding area. Finding ample resources at the expense of the well-being of the Durant people, the Highlanders realized that, at the time, the world was theirs for the taking. Their size, strength, and ferocity made them the world's most dangerous race. Adding to that, Highlanders reproduced at the second fastest rate in the world with an eleven month incubation period, bested only by the human's at an incubation period of nine. Their population was denser, meaning their armies were larger.

     Considered to be a god by many Highlanders, Ayker Blacktree proposed an idea. That idea, which was received with immense enthusiasm, was that if they could take absolutely anything they wanted, then why wouldn’t they?

     And so, with an army at his back, Blacktree expanded the Highlander dominion to include the majority of Arctanica, leaving only a handful of coastal regions and a portion of southern Arctanica untouched. This dominion, until the foundation of the Union, would be the largest nation in Havok's history. It was known as the Arctanican Empire.

     The first stages of the Arctanican Conquest took place in 8th Century M.E. While civilizations populated by Highlanders were welcomed into the union that comprised the Arctanican Empire, cities and towns populated by any other race, whether they were werewolves, Vampires, humans, or Durants, faced crippling sanctions, excessive taxes and requirements for three members of each family to serve five years of hard labor (this was relabeled as being a patriotic idea done for the good of the Empire.) There was no race, though, that suffered as greatly or as frequently as the Durant race. With their pacifist mindset and their industriousness, Durants served the purposes of being both the Empire's key laborers and their whipping boy. Durants, as the Arctanican Empire would assert, comprised the lowest chink in the chain of humanity.