Arius
Arius, where legends are born, heroes never die, and hope remains immortal. From the time of the Exile Event when humans crossed the multiverse from their dying world through a magic portal, into the centuries of theological warfare in the name of false-gods, to a time period when humanity was the only line of defense against an enemy that lurked in darkness; Arius is a world forged by a history of the many peoples, their cultures, and their stories that have been written through the ages.
Even before humans arrived from their journey across the multiverse to the world of what would become Arius, the history ran deep and would set the stage for the course of human involvement for the centuries to come. The typical historical timeline of events that many follow when dating times exclusively from Arius are broken apart by B.A (Before Arrival) and P.E (Post Exile), with the latter being marked by the 0-year. Where as B.E (Before Exile) only refers to human history.
Before (Human) Arrival
Before humanity's arrival in the new world, the Emari people had been active globally for millions of years. Their culture and society were proficient in Magi-Technology and excelled in the usage Magical Theory. With it, they cultivated the planet as they saw fit, changing entire regions to fit their needs and creating a suitable environment for them to live in. Vast cities were built up using synthetic materials that allowed them to create displays of abstract beauty within population centers. Animals were genetically reshaped to fulfill more niche needs that their society sought after. However, the greatest achievement was arguably the usage of their magi-technology to prolong their lifespans by hundreds of thousands of years. They would transmogrify their bodies, altering them as they saw fit, constantly seeking to expel death from their society at all costs to hopefully one day solve the Immortal Code. This however reached a ceiling and despite everything they attempted death was still something they could not rid themselves of entirely.
That was until a group from what is currently the central Aquarius continent looked beyond the physical world and into the meta-physical. Realizing that reality was nothing but layers upon layers seeping further and further downwards forever, they discovered that time eventually became irrelevant at a certain point yet maintaining the stability of physicality. The only issue to this was the amount of magic required to physically descend deeper into reality was nearly unachievable. But it wouldn't take long to figure out that the amount of magic required was currently present in nearly 90% of the world's population. Plans were drawn up of a massive machine that would span outwards in hundreds of directions to intake as much mana as possible. Not long after the Emari civilization entered its last chapter that human historians would call The Extinction War.
It's unknown exactly in what order the events that transpired during the Extinction War. But what is known is that high-yield magical weapons were utilized in the far south of the modern day Southern Aquarius Continent and more traditional combat took place in the Northern regions of the world to varying degrees. In time however, the mana required would be gathered and the Deep Root was awakened. A majority of the Emari race would vanish almost entirely from Arius. Those that managed to survive the onslaught and harvesting of their mana were left with an empty world and too few to repopulate. Many would die from the hazards that now plagued the world, some would wander pointlessly for decades until their magitech ran dry before dropping dead, while some others just chose the easy way out.
For the first time in a long time, the primeval world of Arius fell silent.
Post-Exile
The 1st of Sun's Light, Year 0.
After 3000 years, Arius was awoken from its deep slumber as a fleet of large wooden ships slipped through a portal. Aboard these ships was a total of 853,102 people from the Blackreaver Kingdom. Another roughly 50,000 came from surrounding countries that bordered Blackreaver. These voyages carried the first intelligent life that the world had not seen in nearly 3,000 years and they had just survived the end of their world.
Conditions aboard these ships were heavily cramped and unsanitary. As much room as possible was spared for children and elderly, yet this was hardly easy to do. Poor, Rich, Working Class, Noble, Farmer or Scholar; everyone suffered the same conditions even King Natten Blackreaver who was cramped in with the government officials. Food was rationed heavily, only allowing a single meal a day. By the time of the 4th day, many were starving. Parents regularly denied themselves food to feed their children and pregnant women.
After 6 days of time at sea, land was finally spotted and roars of cheers were heard throughout as a notice flag was flown from the lead ship. Due to the currents, many of the ships were displaced in their landing areas but the first to make landing was at what is known today as Sdarder Point. From the ship emerged the King and his Court, at the very front was a man dawning a red and black cape. He stepped upon the grassy fields of the new world and sobbed as he collapsed to his knees. The man, Abidius Stylether Valtor was the one who had orchestrated the entire Exile over 3 decades prior was finally seeing the seeds he had sown so long ago begin to bare fruit. Humanity had survived. And in their new world they would thrive. History would once again be carved out piece by piece through new discoveries, new conflicts, and the stories that would carry on through the ages.
The year is 1308 Post-Exile. The world, while imperfect, has experienced an age of prosperity for the last several centuries due to changes brought on by those that have greatly altered history's path. But on this very year that course would greatly change once again. For out in the Salted Wastes near the Blackreaver border, a prince would collapse from exhaustion and rescued by a young boy. A meeting that would change their lives forever.
Etymology
The name deriving from the ancient Talgian word Ariatē meaning 'immortal' which was then translated to the modern Rievish word of Arius.
