Jerus

"Gaze upon what I have wrought and wonder, Vahkaran; for I will create a land infinitely greater even than the earth I was born from ..."

―Aur'shek

The Island of Jerus is home to great nations ruled by benevolent rulers and despotic tyrants alike, locked in wars with one another for the conquests of the land. Jerus has a history of three millennia, beginning from the reign of the Dragons, the Elders, and the Broken. Jerus is one of the five main continents located on the Liferealm of Tilthus, with the other four being Alsur, Dharmin, Khushar and Lusof.

History[]

Main Article: History of Jerus

The First Millennium: The Era of the Sky (0-999)[]

"...and render unto me, the children of my flesh, Asar'al-sabint, as the Void is undone; I name this realm Tilthus, as in the Old Tongue it shall be known as 'Conquest', full of Life and Light it shall be, and its earthen Bases I render unto it five: Alsur, Dharmin, Khushar, Lusof, and Jerus, all bound in the Old Tongue, 'Frozen', 'Highland', 'Desert', 'Huntingground', and 'Battlefield'; and so I spake unto the Void and Time, the Light and the Dark, the Life and the Unlife, let my Voice create where there was None, Bashal anz'varzuth ya-Uqip!"

―Excerpt from The Tome of Aur'shek, transcribed by Yharus the Scribe

When the Liferealm of Tilthus was created by Aur'shek, the Lifesower incarnation of Arettian hero Nathaniel Adamus, the Lifesower populated the realm with fifteen great races of power. On Jerus he created the Dragons to rule the sky, the Elders to rule the earth, and the Broken to rule the waters. As time passed on, he watched as the children of the Dragons, Elders, and Broken evolved to other creatures that were familiar to his homeland of Arett: birds, insects, fish, men, etc.

Halfway through the First Millennium, the children of the Elders, men, began to conquer the island. Initially, they worked as a single force, taking control over the forests of the south, but as the First Millennium almost came to a close, they split into warring factions and tribes. And thus began the next Millennium: the Era of Blood.

The Second Millennium: The Era of Blood (1000-1999)[]

"And from tower to tower, town to town, fortress to fortress, this shall be our home, free for all who seek freedom. We shall call it Auron, in honor of our late chieftain and his son, Gaelor..."

―Shaman Xufruet zir'Auronis

The children of the Elders, men, divided into many warring tribes, most notably the Aurons, the Galarins, the Zhufus, the Fruchards, the Luxars and the Kadurs. Mankind had control over much of the west and the south at the beginning of the Era of Blood, with uneven control divided amongst the aforementioned six dominant tribes. However, as time progressed, the Aurons grew in strength with the birth of their new chieftain, Gaelor. A great warrior and leader, Gaelor led his people into war against the Galarins and conquered the western coast. He consequently decimating the Kadurs and the Fruchards, but died of old age before he could see the land completely conquered. His sons took up their father's mantle and over the next forty years, went to war against the Luxars, and then finally the Zhufurs. And after nearly a thousand years of warfare and bloodshed, only the Aurons were left standing.

The Third Millennium: The Era of Empires (2000-2999)[]

"The lands have never seen a being so malevolent, a creature so foul, a ruler so despotic. I fear that the Era of Blood may have been more peaceful than what lies ahead for us."

―Maverick Auronis

The Era of Empires begin with the birth of Samuel Auronis, great-grandfather of Maverick Auronis. Under Samuel's banner, the Aurons, now renamed the Auronian Kingdom, began a series of conquests towards the east. Unknowing, Samuel's conquests also got the attention of an ancient, malicious cross-breed who would be known three hundred years later as the Tyrant Lord. This creature, a sentient necromantic crossbreed between an Elder and one of the Broken, watched as Samuel's armies took control over the Eastern Plains, setting up fortresses, towers, and boundaries. As the creature watched, listened, and observed, it was filled with ideas of conquest, empires, and warfare. It adopted the traits and habits of the humans it watched for over two hundred years. And after the Auroninan Kingdom was pushed back by the Easterners of the Free Nations, the creature struck.

Over the years, the creature had gathered a necromantic army and led it to war. It decimated the forces under young Maverick Auronis's banner, conquering the northern territory and pushed the Auronians south. The kingdom could not withstand attacks from both the Easterners and the new invaders (whom would be known as the Charred Ones; animated skeletons and corpses blackened by fire and unholy magicks), and their forces were spread too thin. So, the kingdom was forced to evacuate its outlying settlements and destroy their old fortresses and towers to prevent the new Kingdom of Fire from using the old structures. Eventually, the Auronian Kingdom's territory was reduced by half in size.

The tide of battle changed when Maverick Auronis's son, Rylan, discovered the resting place of Gaelor Auronis, and the Archangel's Helm. Convinced that Gaelor's old armor, weapon and shield combined together held a mystical power, Rylan set forth on a quest to unite the Archangel's equipment. Wielding the blade, armor and shield of his ancestor, Rylan turned the tide of battle and defeated the Tyrant Lord, bring years of prosperity and peace for the rest of the era. But what would happen in the next era had yet to be foreseen by Aur'shek ...

Geography[]

The Free Nations of East Jerus Map — A map of the Free Nations

"The land I seek to make it my own/No mountain too high for my armies to conquer/No forests too deep for my men to raze/No shores too savage for my people to tame/My birthright, my conquest, my kingdom to be"

―Except from The Tyrant of Flames, a play written by controversial playwright Arthur Samus

Geographically, Jerus is split into five different areas: the high mountain ridges of the northwest, the Eastern Plains, the forests of the south, the frosty glacial shelves of the high north and the deserts of the far southeast. Jerus is the second smallest continent on the whole of Tilthus, and has few rivers and lakes within the land. It is surrounded by the Three Oceans: the Sea of Life, the Serpent Waters and the Black Ocean.

Bestiary[]

Main article: Bestiary of Jerus

"How many lizardfolk does it take to slaughter a tribe of goblins? No one knows, because they've always been too busy killing each other!"

―Notorious animal joke

There are many kinds of animals that inhabited the skies above, land upon and seas around Jerus, most of which evolved (Or devolved, depending on your point of view) from the Dragons, the Elders, and the Broken. From the Dragons, Jerus saw reptiles, lizardfolk, and various types of insects. The children of the Elders were mostly men, mammals, trolls, ogres, and goblins, and the Broken spawned Hydras, fish, amphibians and other types of insects.

Religion[]

Main article: Religions of Jerus

"... and then I saw something bright, something powerful, something eternal, something wondrously incomprehensible, I saw Him, and then He spoke to me, saying, 'You, children of my land, I come bearing warnings, warnings of a danger that you have yet to see...'"

―An excerpt from A Wiseman's Recount of Vikar's Grace

Religion did not appear until late into the Second Millennium, when seven wisemen of the Free Nations claimed to have had visions of a holy figure identifying himself as 'Vikar'. Vikar then spoke prophecies of how the Free Nations would soon face conquerors from the west, and that they had two choices: to surrender or fight. Vikar proceeded by saying that, while he would watch, he could not interfere directly regardless of how badly the situation worsened. After Samuel Auronis began his territorial expansion campaigns, the Lords of the Free Nations turned to the newly-formed Vikarianism for guidance and support, when in truth, 'Vikar' was actually the eastern identity of Aur'shek.

Religion in the Auronian Nation is monotheistic. Priests and priestesses preach the word of the Aurgrius, the Prophet. Augrius in life was a mortal man, a prophet who wandered the world and experiencing all that it had to offer. Every year on the first day of the fourth month, Augrius would speak a single word that would foretell what would happen in the next year. On his last day of life, just before the beginning of the Second Era, he sat before the united human tribes and spoke his last word with his dying breath - "War." Not soon afterwards, the human tribes split up into warring factions as the bloodiest era the island of Jerus had ever seen began.

Notable Inhabitants of Jerus[]

Aur'shek
Alfonso de Surc
Batillus
Gaelor Auronis
Gerod Symers
Hale Symers
Maverick Auronis
Ramsuf de Surc
Rylan Auronis
Samuel Auronis