The World of Tedia

PROLOGUE

From a distant place, pilgrims came to the virgin land of Tedia and started settling themselves. Alongside those first men, a wide variety of creatures also lived in it. As the years passed, the pilgrims who once lived in harmony separated themselves because of envy, greed, land domain, and women. There was a spiritual god in Tedia capable of controlling people's feelings. All that hate fed him until he could return to life in a physical form. His name was Lirion, the one true god. Those pilgrims who were divided into tribes started marking their own territory. Two families took part in being the leaders of this front. The first family headed to the south part of Tedia, where one of the most dangerous creatures once lived, the dragons. Because of the warm weather, the dunes, the dry land, and the mortal cliffs, this tribe took the color red and named themselves 'The Fierce Lion'. Followed by the second family who headed north, to the cold mountains where there was an infinite blizzard. This tribe took the color blue and named themselves 'The Brown Bear'. This was the time when both the lion tribe and the bear tribe started developing their cultural identities. Writing was an important part of this age since the first documents started being written. The importance of it is that since Lirion came to life, humans only saw him one time, and that is how he got mentioned in the history books. Lirion was a name created by the two tribes when he showed up in the sky, behind a full moon on a dark night. Just by his presence, life started to decompose, plantations died, and souls got taken out of people's bodies. After witnessing the true terrors that could happen to them, the two tribes started looking for a way to defend themselves, and that took centuries...

Some invented weapons, some tamed creatures, and some sought unknown mysteries such as hidden treasures, dead gods, and mostly the use of enchantments. More than 200 years had passed since Lirion's accident, the Lion and the Bear tribe got turned into nations, and the age of the first dynasties had begun. Four blacksmiths from the Lion's Nation, with the intention to defend its people against the evil of Lirion and also to gain power against the northerners, had used sources of unknown spells to create a powerful gem. They were known as the ''fiery blacksmiths'' after making a bright stone piece capable of impossible things for common men. Even though those enchantments were unknown, there is evidence that they made it by alchemy. The relationship between the two nations was becoming tight after the death of Bhalzog, the last governor of the Lion. The nation was struggling with who would become the new leader, and at the same time, the Bear nation was having a bad time up in the north with strong blizzards and ransacks of wild men. Both nations often encountered each other on the frontier to fight for food, money, and territory, but now with the power of the gem, it seemed clear who was going to win in the end. The fiery blacksmiths became one of the leaders of the Lion after presenting the gem to the world, alongside the religious members of Bhalzog and the common men of Erimoor, they founded the ''Fire Trinity''. As they started using the gem, the Bear Nation could not do anything, just a simple sight of it would turn an entire army down. While the Fire Trinity ruled the South, the North was led by a group called the 'Northern Alliance'. After realizing that no matter what they did would change the fact that the Lion Nation was practically invincible, they kneeled to their enemies searching for a way to make peace. It all came to an end when the Fire Trinity offered them a peaceful treatment to not steal their land but with several addendums such as taxes, plantation sharing, and disarmament. The Lion became the new ruler of Tedia under Fire Trinity's policy, and the northerners were forced to live in such conditions for the years that came.

The Northern Alliance was broken, and internal conflicts started raising questions about the current leaders. With its people in a situation of hungriness, they tried to hold their throne, but the northerners could not wait anymore. The decision came when one of the most influential families and one of the leaders of the Northern Alliance, decided to claim their heir, this led the alliance to break into three parts, and with that, three families: Cuttlescar, Nimblethorn, and the Glanfik. The Cuttlescar remained in the north, while the Nimblethorn headed south and settled themselves in a land between the Bear and the Lion, and the Glanfik headed east, into the great mountains. The settlement was quick and they could grow fast, as more years passed, the two new nations were recognized as 'The Gold Tiger' for the Nimblethorns, and ''The Grey Eagle'' for the Glanfik, while the Cuttlescar were the new emperors of the Bear. The Fire Trinity did not care for new nations coming up since they had the gem nothing could hurt them. In a moment, even its own people started moving on, pilgrims from the land of Erimoor discovered a new territory full of rivers, hills, cliffs, and new creatures, even dragons were seen there. Those people settled themselves there further south than the Lion's territory and built their own nation as well, they were recognized as 'The Wise Turtle'. The sovereign treaty was created by the Fire Trinity for the other nations to recognize the Lion as their leader, even though they had the powerful gem the organization was not the same anymore, as the people from Erimoor did not care so much about ruling Tedia, and the blacksmiths were no longer there, the nation was mostly controlled by the church, the religious men that believe Bhalzog was a god. It took a hundred years for the other nations to grow, and then all of them were ready to fight against the oppression of the Fire Trinity. The only obstacle was, of course, the gem, but with the downfall of the Fire Trinity, the other four nations could hope for a chance to win. This eventually happened, and this age was known as the ''Bloody Age'', where all the five nations were ready to fight in a war that could never end...

Fearing that the current organization could be the fall of Lion's empire, important members of it decided to do an election to turn the tyranny of the church into a monarchy. The most respected family was the Greycastle. Elected by the majority of the people when it happened, the new and first king of the Lion and Tedia was Etgar Greycastle. Even though there were political changes, Etgar did not plan to rule much differently than the church. The match to light up the upcoming war came when the true terrors of Lirion started to appear for the living one more time. All the accumulated hate brought back the one true God, and the only thing he desired the most was the powerful gem. In a blink of an eye, the gem was gone, and Bhalzog's citadel was left with nothing but a dark night, terror, and the smell of death. In order to go inside the vault, Lirion simply vanished all the guards around the castle. The nation of the Lion was no longer invincible.

The news that the gem was long gone, spread fast. In a matter of days, all the other four nations knew what happened in Bhalzog, king Etgar could not believe his reign started with an eminent war and the possibility of losing his crown by rage of people from the Lion. Many believed in Lirion's story of coming back to steal the gem, but theories started being made for those who did not, they thought Etgar had gone mad and ordered the killing of his own men. Either way, Etgar lost a lot of credibility with his people, and the other nations were starting to make moves. Etgar quickly gathered his most valuable army, the Fenix Army, with the best warriors from the Lion to defend the castle where he lived and mostly, him and his family. Lastly, he told the other nations on a filled paper that those who dared to invade the land of the king and go against the sovereign treaty would suffer the consequences of the Lion. The written paper with all the clauses and amendments was delivered to all high counsel in Tedia, but the hope to hold off the peace a little longer was not much of a thought. Bhalzog was well guarded, but the frontier line of the provinces was way weaker than the capital. Within a month, a new letter was delivered on Etgar's desk, a letter in which all the four nations declared themselves as emperors of their own land, being a part of the Lion's tyranny, there was no hindrance for the war to start.

The Cuttlescar family was the first one to declare independence, followed by the nation of the Eagle, as Salazar Glanfik made a deal with Elgoth Cuttlescar to not invade each other's land. With the two nations controlling the north of Tedia, they were prepared to throw the first attack on Dragon's Land, the main territory of the Lion, but in order to do that, they needed to pass through the nation of the Tiger. Bartholomew Nimblethorn felt threatened by both ends, The Bear and the Eagle from the North and the Lion from the South. As imagined, they chose to declare independence as well and cleared the path to invade. Lastly, the nation of the Turtle who had been oppressed by the church for many years, finally saw a chance to retaliate against the Lion, so the royal family, the Castillon, followed the other nation's leaders and also declared independence. The war that named the current age ''the bloody age'', had finally begun. Thousands were killed, cities were destroyed, and even the creatures such as the dragons and the mermaids in the ocean suffered from it. After many days and many nights, the war came to an end with no winner. As a last act of hope for humanity, all five kings gathered themselves in Bhalzog's citadel to declare peace, the new treaty 'the Five Kings Treaty', put an end to hundreds of years of disputes over territory.