The History of Midgard

The Early Days

Written history extends back many thousands of years toward the origins of civilization on the planet Midgard. It is rich with detail and well preserved, in both official documents and literature, as it passed from generation to generation. Our purpose here is to briefly familiarize the player with major events in the history of the known continents which bear on the way the continents are today.

We begin at that period known as The Great Whirlwind. Midgard historian Kelvin Boda defines that time as 5,600 to 5,920, in the Epoch of the Crystal. That period ended nearly 2,000 years ago. Ancient peoples in many parts of Midgard began to shift from a clan centered life to today's feudal civilization. There were many wars, the greatest being the War of Assumption, which spelled the end of the Kamuji clans. These wars reduced the population, leaving three major powers who forged an alliance called the Triune Council.

The Triune Council is commonly thought to have consisted of the ancestors of the modern Boda, Roder, and Getham families. In reality, it was comprised of the war leaders of those three great clans, now victorious after hundreds of years of struggle, plus representation from most of the minor clans. The Council members each had extensive holdings and vast governing structures built upon shaky and shifting alliances within the huge "families" which composed each clan. As the Council struggled to govern the known world and to establish order, they had to contend with internal politics which could unseat them. They chose to establish a system of land grants which would legitimize the power of their constituent families, while making them responsive to the central Council. The Triune Council announced their plans in a document entitled "World Pronouncement" in the spring of 5,925 Epoch of the Crystal.

Also on this date conspirators within the Boda, Roder, and Getham families agreed to wrest control of the Council from the old war leaders before those leaders could make other clans powerful by granting vast holdings. Two weeks later, in a bloody and swift coup, the three families were now truly in power. By the year's end, all resistance was crushed and any rebellious clans were driven into the hills. In a ceremony on the last day of the year, land and governing rights were parceled out to thousands of the family members. Many historians call the time, after the bloody rise of the three families, the Golden Age of Midgard, a millennium and a half of peace. Indeed, the last day of the year is still called Loyalty Day.

It was late in the Golden age that the southern continent of Kalamar was discovered and settled by the people of Midgard. Their efforts in the south perhaps weakened the Factions of Midgard as the Golden age drew to a close.

We skip the other events of the Golden Age, though it richly influenced the evolution of modern Midgard, and go to the first known contact with Imperial Forces. In Northeast Frostmarch stories were rife about hunting parties that had gone into the woods, never to be heard from again. Rescue parties of five hundred men had gone in, hoping to rescue a lost or injured group of hunters, and found nothing. Finally, in 7,437 Epoch of the Sky, an expedition led by Frorat Boda, then General of Muse, left for a sweep of the same area. He had over 1000 soldiers, 300 of whom were excellent archers. Expectations were that a band of barbarians, the probable cause of the recent disappearances, would be found and slaughtered. The expedition was prepared to search for two months, if necessary. General Boda returned to Muse in one week with only 20 men. Badly wounded, he passed command of the remaining forces to the Mayor of Muse and died. Two days later the first of 22 Imperial Armies swept around and through Muse.

The vast Imperial Armies were efficient, ruthless and unstoppable. The armies of the Council, augmented by the nobles who held their title in exchange for military duties, were no match.

By 7,504 Epoch of the Sky, Imperial Armies held the vast majority of the countryside. We omit details of the many heroic battles. With the feudal system apparently smashed by an Imperial organization of vast strength, the known world relaxed into a benevolent Pax Imperium. Hating the Factional feudal system, the Imperial Governors began to build roads and establish standards in units of measure, coinage, and laws. It was a healing process designed by the Emperor to bring a measure of prosperity back to the land after the war and the death of clan, familial, and feudal organizations. It worked.

In less than two hundred years, the Imperial Governors had made great progress. The land was prosperous and they saw no threat on the horizon. They should have looked closer. A social order several millennia old dies a lingering death, if at all. The three families of the Council were gaining strength along with the economy. They secretly planned one last desperate gamble to regain their former status (and lands). In this, they were aided by the three main churches, now devoid of power at the hands of the Imperials. The families had only one chance and they knew it.

The planners in the Boda, Roder, and Getham families had studied the causes of their defeat at the hands of the Imperials. They felt the central elements were surprise, better weapons, centralized control, better training, and concentration of forces. They reasoned that the Imperial forces still had better weapons, and possibly better training. However, after years of careful preparation, they held the advantage of surprise. Further, through the use of the newly formed Heliographer's Guild they had a chance to establish centralized control. The last factor, concentration of forces, was also in the favor of the families. The once vast Imperial Armies had fanned out to control the cities and countryside, leaving only five standing armies of any size. The stage was set for the Great Harvest Uprising.

War is dependent upon manpower and manpower is dependent upon food. The planners wanted to prepare for a longer war, if necessary, and were also worried about the starvation of the non-combatant portion of the population. Two weeks after the fall harvest in the year 7,677 Epoch of the Sky, Imperial forces in the entire known world were attacked by forces of the Three Families. The Families fielded over 400 clans. The results were immediate and bloody. In less than one month, the majority of the Imperial holdings were recovered. More than 50,000 Imperial troops perished. Hundreds of isolated Imperial units fought bravely, and some managed brief local victories. The Imperial Armies were able to hold onto all of the Imperial Preserves, so named because Imperial Citizens were the only ones to ever enter the gates, and a number of scattered cities. The five standing armies spent the first weeks rescuing what outposts they could and improving their own strength. Early in the second month of the war, the string of victories ran out for the families.

Angered and frightened by this disastrous turn of events, the Emperor set his remaining armies into motion. They met the combined forces of the Boda, Roder, and Getham families in the plains west of the Frostmarch Imperial Capital. The combined armies of the resurgent Council numbered about 140,000. The Grand Army of the Imperial Capital massed 80,000 men. The battle of the Great Plains began with a sharp attack by the Imperial Grand Army on the encampment of the Roder family forces. The night attack thoroughly confused and broke the Roder forces, who fled in panic. Actual casualties were small. The Imperial Governor, Governor Lavan Kae, maneuvered for a follow-up attack and pursuit. As this was happening, however, one of the freak accidents of war occurred. The Governor was thrown from his horse and killed. The next in command, Deputy Vian Moss retired toward the Imperial Capital to reorganize and await the expected arrival of the Seventh Imperial Army.

For the next phase of the battle, the Council rounded up and reinforced the badly shaken Roder forces and prepared to ambush the Seventh Imperial Army, approaching from the north. After starting fires in the grass and making use of gullies and shallow depressions for concealment, the Council moved its main body to ambush the oncoming Imperial forces. In a hard-fought engagement, the Seventh Imperial Army barely managed to form a defensive position before the attack was pressed by the Council. The Seventh Imperial Army was nearly half strength, numbering 16,000 infantry and about 4,000 horsemen. Worse, they had driven themselves in an effort to join up with Deputy Moss. In a simple and crushing direct assault, the forces of the Council shattered the proud Imperial Army. Isolated groups of Imperial troops drifted into Frostmarch Imperial Preserve for weeks.

The last phase of the Battle of the Great Plains found the Imperial Capital under attack. Reinforcements from the Council had arrived a week after the initial battles. Through excellent organization, much of the army was reassembled and the Council could now count on a strength of nearly 200,000 men. They wasted no time in attacking the Imperial Preserve.

Imperial Preserves are protected by the best walls on Midgard. Numerous light siege engines are maintained along the top of the walls. Many towers, placed at intervals, reach even higher, almost out of the range of light missile weapons such as bows. Against this formidable fortress, the Council now directed an attack. It is a measure of the fury of that attack that the defenders could be seriously threatened. In the end, however, the Council was repulsed with frightful losses.

The Imperial Governors in the beleaguered Frostmarch Imperial Preserve were practical men. They knew that over time, the best they could hope for would be one inconclusive battle after the other. They reasoned that neither side had the strength to eliminate the other. Unknown to the families and the church forces, word from the mysterious Imperial homeland had been received. There would be no reinforcements beyond the forces currently engaged. In all, the Imperial armies numbered less than 200,000. In a historic move, the Imperial Governors proposed a negotiation between the families and the Imperial Government. The resulting treaty, The Treaty Of Frostmarch is still in effect today.

The Treaty Of Frostmarch specifies a recognition by the Imperial Governors of the right of the three families and three religions to operate their holdings free of Imperial interference. It grants the Imperial Governors rights to their remaining holdings in the known world. It recognizes existing Imperial Standards of coinage, etc., and grants cities the right to do business with any party. Finally, the treaty allows the Imperial Cities and Preserves to remain closed to all but Imperial Citizens.

The three great religions of Midgard were hardly idle during the centuries of Imperial expansion. Nor did they remain in the background during the conflagration of the Great Harvest Uprising. In the years before the uprisings, the Families had been careful to cultivate the support, or at least neutrality, of the three faiths -- which all claimed direct descent from the one "true" religion of ancient Midgard. Their efforts, however, enjoyed mixed results.

The Boda Family won the support of the mystic Ring Religion diviners. In exchange for military support, the Ring agreed to help cement Boda control over a number of cities in Midgard. And the prospect of the active commitment of Ring armies to battle helped persuade the Imperials to propose The Treaty Of Frostmarch.

The Banner Religion, convinced that Imperials and Families alike were heathens, observed the bloodletting with satisfaction. While appearing to cooperate with the Families to overthrow the Imperials they only sent a token force, holding their armies back and waiting for their opportunity. That opportunity came with Lavan Kae's rout of the Roder. The Banner swiftly struck at unprotected Roder cities throughout Midgard. The enmity between Banner and Roder survives to this day.

The leaders of the Gift Religion were appalled at the carnage and destruction wrought by the Imperials and secular families. Rigorously holding Gift forces out of any contact, they resolved to husband their strength for the period of rebuilding to follow the Great War -- Gift construction crews promised to be much in demand.

More recently, the Blood and Fire Religion returned. The followers of the dark god Moorlock are growing and spreading their religious doctrine across the land. It is thought that Moorlock was the god of the Barbarians who used to inhabit Midgard before the Families. Very little is known about the Blood And Fire ceremonies, except that they practice human sacrifice. Even the Barbarians, if they utter Moorlock's name at all, say it more as a curse than as a blessing.

The Barbarians had landed large forces on Midgard in an attempt to retake the continent. Several Factions had banded together under the Alliance of the Rose to combat this threat. The Southern Imperial Preserve fell to the Barbarian onslaught, along with several cities. A large force of Barbarians were finally caught on the Metlan plains. The battle of the Metlan plains had several heros: Skeeve Stevartovich, Queeb Quin and Xeethra Putuum. More Barbarians remained but the Alliance had a new problem. The second Harvest Uprising threatened to bring all of Midgard to ruin. The Gift-Ring-Boda (GRB) forces picked a time when Midgard was already fighting against one of the largest Barbarian incursions in several years. The GRB struck swiftly and won several initial victories. However, the Alliance of the Rose, which included the Imperials, Order of the Hand (which has since merged with their former enemies, the Ring) and MercVerk which had originally formed to fight the Barbarians, managed to concentrate on this new threat and the Ring paid most of the price. Several Ring Cities perished to the Alliance of the Rose. The war reached its highest point when the GRB forces gathered their strength and prepared to attack the Seabreeze Imperial Preserve.

Before the attack could take place, while the whole of Midgard was at war, Nature entered the fray...

Disaster Strikes

The skies grew dark followed by a great ball of dazzling light streaking across the skies heading south over Midgard. The major impact seemed to be somewhere to the south of Midgard, but fortunately nobody from the continent could directly see the flash itself (which would likely have been fatal). The effects, however, started almost immediately and were uniformly devastating. Everyone was thrown off their feet by the first of the great earthquakes caused by the impact and solid structures toppled throughout the continent, leaving few heavy buildings or walls standing. Some initially died from collapsing structures, hurricane-force winds, rampant wildfires and coastal tsunamis, but thereafter followed years of a constant, bitter winter where the sun never appeared from behind the heavy clouds, and most of the population, plants and animals died in the turmoil and disease was rampant. People were only concerned with surviving during these dreadful times, but some did manage to endure the horrible famine, pestilence and debilitating conditions. For several decades now civilization has been slowly reestablishing itself, enough so that most people can finally feed themselves and begin the rebuilding process a little at a time.

Once the worry about mere survival was past, of course arguments began to surface. To help resolve these without personally risking life and limb, the people began to revive their favorite political and religious Factions of former generations to settle matters for them. These Factions, of course, provided their own disagreements on a larger scale, but at least some groups of them worked toward some sorts of shared purposes using their own separate philosophies and methods.

The Imperials were perhaps the most changed. Isolated from their traditional homeland (if it even still exists), their numbers and effectiveness were drastically reduced and the survivors thought of themselves less as conquerors and more like a stranded culture that needed cooperation to survive. Fortunately, the other re-emerging Factions had mostly forgotten the origins of the Imperials (who were obviously no longer a serious threat) and were also willing to cooperate within limits in order to improve their own chances. The Imperials still wanted their formal legal system, coinage and standards of measurement to be generally adopted by the remaining populace in hopes that a new Imperial Republic could rise again to govern the land.

The Great (Noble House) Families also began their return to power after the crisis, each believing their methods were better than any other for consolidating into a power structure that could dominate the continent. There was both cooperation and competition between them, and some of them worked easily with other Factions on common goals.

The Great (One True God) Religions were also regaining worshippers during this time and followed what each of them saw as their God’s commands for reuniting and rebuilding civilization. Each wanted to become the dominant religion and cared little for the political power struggles of the secular Factions.

Other secular and religious groups also began reorganizing as well, and soon there were many different Factions of various strengths and purposes vying for the overall dominion of the continent.

Within this chaos of competing Factions and shifting balances you have been driven to seek your fortune, leading a group of loyal retainers to help your reach your objectives.