History of Azura

ANCIENT HISTORY OF AZURA


Over 1500 years ago a cataclysm submerged a continent and devastated its advanced civilization. All that remained of the world was an immense ocean dotted by hundreds of thousands of small islands. The island world of Azura is now the home to new civilizations striving to survive and prosper in a very different environment. Separated by hundreds of seas, the people of Azura’s islands have developed new and widely varying cultures and lifestyles. However, ancient ruins and the unearthed magic and treasure within them serve as a constant reminder of the old world their ancestors once ruled. Following is a brief history of ancient Azura and the Cataclysm which spelled its end.

A History of Lyria and the Rise of the Overlord

In present day Azura, the term Lyrian is used to denote great age and antiquity. Anything described as Lyrian means it predates the environmental upheaval and societal destruction caused during the Cataclysm centuries ago. Lyria was in fact the name of the continental land mass which existed before the Cataclysm; home to tall mountain ranges, long rivers, great fresh water lakes and large expanses of plains, woodlands and deserts. Stretching for thousands of miles, Lyria was bordered on the north by a large glacier and ice choked ocean waters. To the west lay a sky scraping mountain range beyond which extended a vast desert plain. The Great Forest stretched far to the south and southwest while the east and southeast were bordered by the Azuran ocean. Within these natural boundaries lay the heart of Lyrian civilization. Here numerous city-states, nations and even the occasional empire carved out their realms. It was a late medieval society with many organized governments, populous cities, brisk trade, and frequent conflicts between peoples.
The most developed and culturally advanced nations were located in south central Lyria, just north of the Great Forest. Large cities and nations prospered upon the fertile plains of the south which were blessed with vast rivers and many fresh water lakes. Governed by enlightened monarchies and republics, the people of this region enjoyed a wide array of rights and privileges which led them to economic prosperity and allowed their cultures to flourish. Although border skirmishes and small wars were not uncommon between the armies of the southern nations, a balance in military power insured relative peace and stability in most peoples lives.
To the east of south central Lyria, along the Azuran coast, provinces and city-states prospered from the trade between inland Lyria and the ports of nearby islands and far off lands. Although the governments of the coastal nations tended to be more interested in obtaining higher trade profits than promoting the welfare of their citizens, they fostered good trade relations with their western neighbors, thereby insuring political and economic stability throughout the largest and most advanced Lyrian societies.
Beyond the borders of the southern and coastal nations of Lyria, other races and cultures flourished as well. Notable among these were the dwarven communities which populated the western mountain ranges, the nomadic tribes who wandered the desert plains, and the barbarian clans who clashed with each other on the northern glacier. To the south, an elf king and his royal court claimed the entire Great Forest as the dominion of the Elven Empire, which they ruled from the capital city of Saerel, known throughout Lyria for its unparalleled splendor and beauty.
The least prosperous region on the continent lay among the barren wastelands and dark forests of north central Lyria, between the developed nations to the south and the glacier in the north. Here war and chaos reigned as evil warlords built large strongholds and castles as bases from which to wage war. Boundaries within this region were often contested and constantly changing as rival armies engaged in bloody conflicts. To make matters worse, the nations to the south and the coastal states to the east often used this region of Lyria as an arena for their armies to battle against one another to avoid seriously endangering their own homelands with the ravages of war. Bandit lords, humanoid armies and marauding barbarians often served as mercenaries for invading armies or pillaged the land for their own sake. Nations and city/states would rise in power only to quickly collapse in a region where organized government, trade and the security of the local inhabitants was impossible to maintain.
In the midst of this chaos stood the walled city of Kandar Kas, protected by a huge fortress complex which surrounded the sprawling city. Kandar Kas was the most populous city in Lyria, swelled by those escaping the persecution and battles which ensued in the nearby countryside. Protected by high sturdy walls and elaborate fortifications, the city was the only one in the north which enjoyed some security from the destruction so common everywhere else in the region. Many times throughout Kandar Kas’ history it was attacked and besieged by forces attempting to consolidate power in the region, but it had never been overrun by its enemies.
Ironically it was the struggle for power within the city which led to misery and often death for its inhabitants. Blood feuds among noble families and riots between the garrison and the ever increasing numbers of peasants resulted in much bloodshed. The city was ruled by a long succession of tyrants who usually had to engage in intrigue or battle to become ruler. The tyrants owed their control of the city to more powerful and influential residents of Kandar Kas who would choose to either support or oppose their rule. One such person was Lyria’s most powerful necromancer, Mazcel.
As Kandar Kas’ most powerful mage, Mazcel had been a participant in the politics and power struggles within the city for many years. Although her vile studies into the undead and experiments with planar summonings disturbed many of the city’s other leaders, they were reluctant to challenge the power of such a high level necromancer. Nevertheless calls for her execution rang out as soon when it was revealed that her newborn son was the result of her mating with a summoned Pit Fiend. Mazcel responded to the charge by attempting to gain control of the city herself. Conjured demons were sent to assassinate city leaders while the garrison fought her undead creations which were released into the streets. Her attempts soon failed however, and her tower within the city was besieged. Although Mazcel was eventually seized and executed, her loyal servants did succeed in smuggling her immortal child out of the city.
The son of Mazcel lived in hiding for many years until his flight was little more than a forgotten footnote in Kandar Kas’ long history. During this time, he practiced and later mastered the necromantic arts to a degree that only a son of a devil could achieve. Necromancers and practitioners of black magic across the world sought him out for favor and knowledge and eventually they would serve him as his loyal followers. With the aid of his magical retinue, the son of Mazcel set about raising an army. The core of this army would be a loyal contingent of human soldiers made up of kidnapped peasant children taught to protect and satisfy the will of their immortal master. The most capable of these children were taken aside and taught their master’s magic. This contingent of sorcerers would eventually be organized into combat units of a sort never before seen on a Lyrian battlefield. The remaining bulk of the army was filled by many units of organized humanoid troops supported by legions of undead.
The rumors of a powerful army being formed in the countryside under the leadership of a half-devil was confirmed when the evil legion surrounded and laid siege to Kandar Kas. In only three days the evil forces breached the city’s sturdy walls and defeated the garrison. Upon the city’s takeover, the son of Mazcel ordered that all the nobles, city leaders and guards be executed and animated as undead to serve in his army while all other inhabitants of Kandar Kas were enslaved to serve his will. Kandar Kas was declared to be the capital city of a new empire which would extend to every boundary of Lyria with the son of Mazcel presiding as the Overlord of all.
With expanded resources, the Overlord was able to field an army of unprecedented size and power. The borders of his new empire remained an eternal battlefield as his army set forth to conquer and force submission from all. Quickly the Overlord’s army overran nearby lands claimed by petty warlords and mercenary armies. Their castles and strongholds were besieged and reduced to rubble. As his successes mounted, humanoid bands and evil creatures of intelligence flocked to the service of an evil master who granted them riches, glory and exalted positions of power. Conquered peasants were enslaved and forced to labor for the benefit of the Overlord. Fallen warriors were animated into undead who served as a relentless and seemingly inexhaustible source of combat troops. Within a short time the Overlord was in firm control of northern Lyria.
Once in control, the Overlord took time to consolidate his gains in the north and created an elaborate centralized government to manage his dark empire. The once chaotic northern region was now tightly ruled by a government that extracted as much wealth and labor from its people as was possible while at the same time choking the people with a myriad of regulations, taxes and decrees. Loyal provincial governments were established with the duty of rigidly enforcing compliance upon all down to the lowliest peasant. The least popular measure which was introduced was the conscription tax of one child per family who was to be transported to Kandar Kas and trained as a loyal follower in the Overlord’s service. Any resistance to this or other measures was commonly unsuccessful and always brought about the cruelest reprisals.
Also unpopular was the rise to power of many practitioners of black magic and necromancy. Historically the practice of magic had for the most part been restricted to elves and a few other gifted individuals. However the Overlord advocated wide scale training in the black arts and appointed a select group of his most powerful and sadistic necromancers to be his personal councilors. Necromancers commonly served as commanders of imperial troops and were often placed in positions of power in conquered territories. Contingents of evil magic-users were also formed to find and eliminate dissension within the empire, to serve as loyalty officers for the military, and to perform covert acts of spying and sabotage against enemy forces. These dark mages cultivated a reputation of fear among the populace who witnessed all too often the amount of death and destruction of which they were capable.
In the southern nations of Lyria, fear and panic prevailed. Hordes of people near the border of the menacing empire to the north abandoned their homes and fled south to escape the anticipated attack. The armies of the southern nations responded by uniting for defense. Called the Silver Alliance, the south’s military forces erected large fortifications and numerous towers along the border and planned for the defense of their homelands. However, the coastal nations in the east were unable to sufficiently fortify their borders and were without the military resources of the Alliance nations. In turn they sought to maintain peace with the empire through economic and military concessions. The Overlord accepted the bargain to spare their existence; however, the price for sovereignty continually rose as time went on and the coastal nations were compelled by the empire not to aid the Alliance.
A decade went by as the Overlord tightened his hold over the northern provinces and continued the building of the most powerful army ever to trod Lyrian soil. In the western mountains he made a pact with the evil Duergar clans. To the north he pitted barbarian tribe against one another until they were weak enough that they could no longer resist his influence. To the east, the coastal nations already brought under submission with restrictive concessions were eventually occupied by imperial troops and their governments disbanded. Along the coast of the Azuran ocean, pirates were paid to fight as privateers and marauders in the Overlord’s service.
Finally, after years of preparation, the full force of many mighty legions were unleashed upon the borders of the Alliance nations to the south. It quickly became apparent that the combined armies of the Alliance proved no match for the wave of loyal imperial troops, monsters, and undead invaders who swarmed into their homelands. Despite the elaborate fortifications and carefully planned defenses, the armies of the Alliance were forced into flight to keep from being overrun. Entire nations and their cities were swallowed as they retreated. Many of the retreating forces sought refuge in the relative safety of the Great Forest while most others escaped to one of the most southerly provinces which was surrounded by high mountains and wide rivers. Only from this highly defensible position could they manage to take a stand and prevent the Overlord’s horde from obtaining total victory. Unable to quickly overrun the last stronghold of the Alliance, the imperial troops encircled the region and settled in for a long siege.

The Overlord as a Deity

Even before the takeover of Kandar Kas, the Overlord was worshipped by his followers and other evil sorcerers across Lyria for his knowledge of necromancy, conjuration and other black magic. At the time, magic was primarily the domain of elvish gods. The absence of any Lyrian gods devoted to non-elven magic allowed the Overlord the opportunity to dominate this area of worship. The Overlord established himself not only as the immortal master of a growing evil empire but also as a demi-god to all Lyrians interested in necromancy and black magic.
At the head of Lyria’s most powerful army, the Overlord had the ability to further his spiritual ambitions by military means. The power of other evil deities often depended on how supportive they were of the Overlord’s regime. Loyal deities found that their priesthoods could profit and flourish under the empire’s tightly controlled society. As the borders of the empire expanded so did their influence and power through the Overlord’s patronage. Previously weak and obscure evil gods who had found it difficult to attract adherents before were allowed to spread their sadistic and demented ethos in return for their loyalty and service to the Overlord.
As the Overlord worked to empower lesser evil gods who were loyal to him, more established deities fought to maintain their spiritual power. The priesthoods of gods who would not submit to the Overlord’s power found themselves to be outlaws within his empire. Their high priests were assassinated, churches razed, and entire congregations were enslaved or butchered. Eventually the power of some deities waned as the remnants of their clergies and followers were ruthlessly hunted down within the empire. The Overlord had violently made his point that no other god would be permitted to rival his power over his imperial subjects.
The Overlord’s control over his people even extended to their worship of venerable evil gods. The oldest known evil god on Lyria was Inari, the god of darkness. Inari was such a respected ancient god that the faith of his followers never wavered despite his lack of support for the Overlord. His priesthood was directed not to aid the Overlord in his conquests nor to offer their loyalty to the empire. The dark god’s following continued to be a symbol of evil faith beyond any influence of the Overlord. The Overlord considered Inari to be his only spiritual rival and decided that either the god of darkness had to be coerced into supporting the empire or be declared an enemy of it.
As the imperial armies were sweeping over the nations of the Alliance and total victory appeared imminent the Overlord sent the god of assassins, Grijir, as his emissary to convince Inari to join him in his victory. Grijir traveled to Inari’s basalt castle beneath the black atmosphere of Lyria’s second moon, invisible in the night sky. There the dark god resisted the demands for his submission to the Overlord. Having failed to obtain his support, Grijir suddenly attacked Inari, severely cutting the dark god’s throat. Inari retaliated by picking up and hurling the Overlord’s emissary down to the planet below. Impacting on one of the empire’s largest cities much like a meteor, the god and most of the city were annihilated.
Just as the Overlord contemplated his victory against the Alliance, he was humiliated by the dark god’s blatant defiance. In retaliation he outlawed the worship of Inari. Followers were executed, temples were burned, and particularly gruesome and lengthy tortures awaited any captured priest. Communities in which an Inari priest were found hiding were completely destroyed and even uttering Inari’s name resulted in an offender’s tongue being removed. In spite of the Overlord’s draconian measures, peasants living in the oppressive empire saw hope in an god powerful enough to defy the Overlord and survive. An underground religious movement within the empire was instrumental in the hiding out of many Inari priests who trained and planned for the day when they would strike back at their oppressor. Just as the dark god’s moon still quietly affected the tides of Lyria’s seas, his faithful secretly worked towards one day avenging the Overlord’s treachery.

The Battle of the Breach & The Fall of the Empire

Although confronted on all sides by the besieging imperial army, the Alliance managed to maintain a stalemate for many years. Relentless attacks on all fronts continued season after season while attempts to break out of the siege or counterattack ended as miserable failures. Critical shortages in both supplies and manpower threatened to force the collapse of this last pocket of meaningful resistance against the Overlord. Clearly overmatched by the more numerous and better supplied imperial troops, the southern armies eventually were fighting to merely survive, but without reinforcements and supplies defeat was inevitable.
As the grueling siege in the south wore on, imperial troops were busy stripping their newly conquered lands of wealth and resources to support their war efforts. The people of the occupied nations were deprived of their food and homes to support the Overlord’s occupying forces. Once displaced, the people were put to work as slaves to support the needs of the imperial troops while their children were seized and transported to Kandar Kas to become the next generation of the Overlord’s loyal guard. Any sort of rebellion, real or suspected, was brutally suppressed under a rigidly enforced military rule. Resistant communities were annihilated and suspected rebels and their families were regularly executed then animated to replenish the ranks of undead soldiers in the imperial army. The people of the occupied nations were in no position to aid the efforts of their armies under siege any more than those armies were capable of liberating them.
However, just as the Overlord and his military commanders were anticipating the complete collapse of organized resistance in the south, an unexpected source of concern appeared. The Great Forest which bordered hundreds of miles of occupied southern lands bristled with new activity. Remnants of the Alliance which had sought refuge in the forest following the empire’s invasion were now being supported by a large buildup of elven troops. Hitherto the elves of the Great Forest had always remained neutral in conflicts among humans, however the elven army now appeared to be mobilizing in preparation for a massive assault against the imperial army’s flank. Never before in Lyrian history had an elven king led his army past their woodland borders to do battle with humans, which worried the Overlord’s generals who had no idea what kind of resistance to expect from this new opponent.
Not willing to risk being out maneuvered by an unknown enemy, the imperial army immediately broke their siege and retreated the bulk of their forces to a great valley in the center of the occupied southern nations. The great valley, called the Breach, extended hundreds of miles from east to west and was a geographic point by which any army attempting to move north would have to go through. All along the northern edge of the Breach the imperial armies entrenched themselves along high cliffs which overlooked the valley floor to the south. Meanwhile the elven king advanced his army and their forest allies to just south of the Breach where they united with the remaining armies of the Alliance recently freed from their long siege.
The resulting Battle of the Breach was not so much a single battle as hundreds of battles extending along the length of the valley. The battle began with a mass advance of Alliance armies along the entire front, but the large scale action quickly gave way to smaller theaters of combat. The Alliance sought to pierce the fortified lines of the Overlord’s army to invade northward and liberate the remaining occupied territories. For their part, the Overlord’s generals engaged in a strategy to hold their defensive line and bleed their opponents dry as they attacked from exposed positions along the valley’s floor.
The human armies of the Alliance fought fiercely to rid their homelands of the Overlord’s occupation, but the deciding factor in the combat was the addition of their elven allies. Although the elven army was only half the size of their imperial foe, their combat ability was superior to all but the Overlord’s most elite troops and like the imperial army the elves had many exotic and magical allies to aid them. Groups of high level elven enchanters and magic-users proved to be a match to the Overlord’s contingents of sorcerers who until then had always enjoyed magical combat superiority on the battlefield. Liches and beholders who served as generals in the Overlord’s army now faced Alliance forces led by good dragons and storm giants. Evil dragons supporting the imperial army were harried by high level elven warriors mounted on griffons and pegasi. Even the legions of undead were held in check by battalions of centaurs who were much more mobile on the battlefield and capable of employing more sophisticated battle tactics.
Attacks and counterattacks continued as every possible resource and military reserve was committed by both sides. At times, the Overlord would come to personally lead his army into battle; the first time he had done so since storming the walls of Kandar Kas. One of the most memorable stories of the battle was the combat that ensued between the Overlord and the elven king when they confronted one another on the battlefield. Fearlessly the elven king and his best warriors engaged the more powerful Overlord and his retinue. Although they perished at the hands of the evil god after a long battle, their bravery is still remembered with pride by all elves and the story of their courage has been taught to elven children for centuries.
Nevertheless, despite the imperial army’s superiority in numbers, a decisive victory continued to elude the Overlord. For months the battles dragged on without any apparent victor and with both sides suffering heavy casualties. Large scale battles gave way to skirmishes and sabotage missions as the military ranks thinned. The likelihood of either side winning the battle outright dwindled as each day passed. Unfortunately for the Alliance, a stalemate was tantamount to victory for the empire. The Overlord’s plans of conquering the entire Lyrian continent had been thwarted, but a stabilized front with the Alliance would assure imperial control over all lands north of the Breach. After half a year of battle, the Alliance had no choice but to begin contemplating a retreat to regroup and attempt battle some later day. But just before the order to withdraw was given an unexpected blow to the empire turned the tide of battle for the Alliance and broke the Overlord’s rigid control over his empire.
The fall of the empire began on the Day of Shadows with simultaneous assassinations of key imperial officials and generals in every corner of the empire. The Day of Shadows occurs only once every half dozen years and is marked by the eclipse of the sun for most of the daylight hours by Lyria’s second dark moon of Inari. For Inarian priests, the eclipse of the sun by their deity’s moon is the most hallowed day of their religion; a day in which their powers are at their peak as their god covers the world in twilight and shadows. It was at this time of heightened ability that Inarian priests everywhere chose to rise up out of hiding and slaughter hundreds of the Overlord’s most powerful and devoted servants. For years the Inarian priests had lived underground in the empire sowing seeds of dissension and rebellion and planning for this day when they would avenge the assassination attempted on their deity years before.
The mass of assassinations crippled the Overlord’s empire. The Court of Kandar Kas, which managed the day to day affairs of the empire, was decimated by the killings. With the empire’s most powerful commanders dead and the imperial armies locked in combat to the south, northern provinces became vulnerable to peasant insurrections. To make matters worse, power struggles broke out amongst those left after the assassinations as they vied for control of their leaderless local governments. Even in Kandar Kas, enslaved peasants within the city began rioting against the city garrison. Only the return of the Overlord himself restored order.
The situation was even more dire for imperial troops still engaged in battle with the Alliance. Most of the imperial army’s most gifted and respected generals had been assassinated, causing panic throughout the lesser ranks and a disastrous power vacuum that eroded the military preciseness of the imperial troops. Without strong leaders to control them, groups of evil monsters and humanoid battalions began fighting amongst themselves or abandoning the battle altogether. Some army groups on loan from various provinces withdrew to return and restore order at home. The Alliance quickly took advantage of the situation by hurling all their armies against the fractured imperial battle line. Only the core of the Overlord’s elite troops withstood the onslaught as the Alliance pushed northward to liberate the occupied lands beyond.
With the Alliance in close pursuit, the remnants of the Overlord’s legions were forced to fight their way back through a thousand miles of conquered lands in rebellion and imperial provinces engaged in civil war. Only a fraction of the Overlord’s once mighty army managed to survive the rapid retreat and made it back to the gates of Kandar Kas. Soon thereafter, the armies of the Alliance took positions around the city and began to lay siege. The Overlord’s empire, which once threatened to engulf all civilized Lyria, now extended no further than the walls of its capital city.

The Cataclysm

The Overlord’s great empire had been shattered and the Alliance stood on the brink of victory. Only the Overlord’s heavily fortified capital still remained, surrounded and under siege by his enemies. Destructive magic and missiles from siege machines rained down upon Kandar Kas, quickly reducing the mammoth city to rubble as waves of enemy troops attempted to storm every wall. The city’s garrison fought a valiant but losing defense from behind the elaborate system of fortifications ringing the city. Taking advantage of the ever increasing number of cracks in the city’s defense, the invading armies of the Alliance compelled the city’s defenders to retreat and fight their battles in the city’s streets.
As the armies of the Alliance secured large sections of Kandar Kas, the Overlord and his remaining followers sought refuge from the battle by retreating to an extensive underground complex beneath his palace. Originally built as a dungeon and temple area, the underground encompassed scores of levels with miles of catacombs and caverns connected by maze-like passageways. Unwilling to sustain heavy losses by pursuing the Overlord into his underground lair, the Alliance decided to imprison him forever within the bowels of his own city. Entryways to the underground were buried under tons of rubble left over from the demolished city and powerful magic seals were placed upon the area to prevent the Overlord’s escape. Finally, work was completed on a large fortress built upon the ruins of Kandar Kas. The garrison was charged with forever protecting the world from any attempt by the Overlord and his followers to return. The rule of the Overlord and his attempt to conquer Lyria seemed to be over.
Imprisoned in his underground lair for decades, the Overlord planned his revenge against those who defeated and humiliated him. Although the magic seals physically bound him to the confines of his underground temple, the Overlord still commanded tremendous spiritual power and influence which extended far beyond the walls of his temple. The Cataclysm which soon befell the entire continent is believed by many to be the instrument of the Overlord’s final vengeance against the Lyrian people.
The Cataclysm began with the eruption of a long extinct volcano near Kandar Kas. The eruption showered a mountain of rock, ash and lava upon the surface of the nearby city annihilating its fortress and the garrison within. Soon thereafter massive earthquakes were felt across the entire continent and other volcanoes began to erupt. Tidal waves caused by the earthquakes devastated the coastal regions as magma began to spew from large fissures which were now appearing throughout the land.
The people of Lyria, still recovering from a devastating generation of war, were unprepared for a natural upheaval on such a large scale. Tidal waves and eruptions destroyed entire cities and even nations without any warning. Rivers left their banks and changed course resulting in deadly floods. Any cities and towns that remained were leveled by constant earthquakes. The Lyrian people were forced to migrate to far flung regions in an attempt to escape natural disasters at home. In the face of such massive displacement, organized governments ceased to exist and anarchy and chaos prevailed as people sought to merely survive in such a hostile environment.
Within 10 years of the Cataclysm’s beginning, virtually all written histories ceased, thereby launching Lyria into a dark age of which little is known or recorded. All that is known is that the environmental upheaval of the Cataclysm continued at different times and places for the next 200 years. In that time nations were destroyed, cultures erased, and religions and gods were forgotten. The people of Lyria became nomads always in search of safer lands in which to settle. And at some unknown point during the Cataclysm either the seas rose over the land or the continent itself slipped below the ocean’s surface creating the ocean dominated environment of present day Azura.
How the Overlord managed to cause the hundreds of years of environmental upheaval is still a matter of contentious debate. Most sages and scholars believe that the Overlord persuaded one or more of the elemental gods to unleash their power upon a world which had been neglecting their worship for centuries. He enticed the elemental gods with the promise of a primitive new world whose people would revere and worship the elements that remained after the destruction. Naturally theologians of the elemental and nature gods dispute this interpretation. Instead they place the blame on the black magic of the Overlord himself who brought about the Cataclysm as a last act of vengeance against a world allied against him. Still others believe the Cataclysm to be a purely natural phenomena which was beyond the power of either the Overlord or elemental gods.
Whatever its cause, the Cataclysm only came to an end when the Lyrian gods intervened. Many had virtually ceased to exist during the two hundred year disaster, as their power was tied to the faith of their priests and worshippers who were perishing by the millions. Realizing that their powers were fading as those beings who still existed began turning their worship from increasingly forgotten abstract gods to daily survival and the Elemental powers, an unprecedented alliance was formed among the few surviving non-Elemental Gods of what was left of the Lyrian pantheon. To bring the destruction to an end the gods had to sacrifice nothing less than their ability to travel between their planes and the Azuran world forever, but the effort was successful. Furthermore, as their last act affecting the planet the Lyrian gods united to punish the Overlord by making him unable to grant spells or powers to his faithful for 1,000 years. This effectively was a death knell to any ambitions the still-surviving Overlord may have had concerning a return to the spheres of man. Still sealed within the walls of his underground temple and now no longer able to influence the outside world, the Overlord was soon forgotten by most people. Soon thereafter the seas stopped rising and the people of the world were allowed to settle and rebuild. Within a mortal generation the destruction ceased and the period known by scholars as “The Cleansing” was replaced by a period priests and scholars call “Refyorte” (“Rebuilding” or “Restarting” in the Old Elvish language), where many decades passed without any recorded natural disasters at all.
Many cultures base the beginnings of their calendars during this time, including humans, elves, halflings and gnomes (Dwarves use a much older calendar, dating from before the Cataclysm and the destruction of their greatest city Standing Stone by the Duergar and the foundation being laid for The Mithral Court, their millennia old Underdark capital city). All Azuran calendars do not coincide, but generally most cultures consider the present year to be anywhere from 1463 to 1470 (beginning from when the oceans subsided and the natural disasters stopped), depending on religious or racial backgrounds. Elven scholars have an elaborate pre-Cataclysm calendar system which delves back before the disaster itself, but most other races merely refer to these ancient times as “Pre-Cataclysm” or “Lyrian times” without a date attached.

The Dawn of A New Age

After hundreds of years of upheaval, the great continent of Lyria had sunk below the rising waves of the ocean until little more was left than dots of land piercing the watery surface. Nations had been erased, many cultures had died and some religions were forgotten or even vanished as their followers perished beneath the waves of Azura. Slowly, the displaced people were forced to rebuild in a new world named after the massive ocean which now covered it.
Since the Cataclysm, over 1500 years have passed on Azura. In that time new nations have rose and fell, a variety of cultures have developed and old religions are now worshipped anew. The dark ages of the Cataclysm have come to an end and new histories have been written for the different island chains and regions of Azura. But the stories and legends of the Lyrian world detailed in the ancient history above will be remembered and retold by Azurans for centuries more to come.
Lyrian culture and ideas rarely effect the thoughts of modern Azurans, but often it is found that the Cataclysm has not obliterated all ancient artifacts. Hundreds if not thousands of ruins dating to pre-Cataclysmic times lay untouched above and beneath the waves of Azura, waiting for intrepid adventurers or seekers of knowledge to unlock the buried secrets of a watery world.