History of Emberglow

Emberglow is a kingdom in the north-west of the continent of Etraia. It is a prosperous nation, its people considered to be among the wisest, most devout and most virtuous in the world.

This is the history of how the kingdom came to be.

Etymology
The name 'Emberglow' is a word in the modern Embarin language, called the common tongue. It derives directly from the Old Embarin 'Æmbergeléoda', the name for the ethnic group now called the Embari. It literally means 'The Embari People', but when written as one word, is best translated simply as 'Emberglow'.

There may arise some naming confusion. The region of the continent where Emberglow is located is Embar. The people are Embari. Matters relating to them, such as their language and customs, are Embari language and Embari customs. The adjective relating to the country itself is 'Embergloric', though this is generally more widely used by other nations to refer to things which are Embari.

The Coming of the Embari
'Embari' is the name given by the Elves of Etraia to the first of the race of Men to settle in the plains and forests of the region now called Emberglow. They were the first of Men not to fear or shun the Elves or Dwarves, and the Elves began to teach these Embari how to forge a lasting civilisation.

The Elves were not shy about the reason for this. Men are mortal, and so strive for immortality through great acts, and the memory of those who survive, and through changing the world according to their image. The Elven race had become a sad race, a race of stagnation. The stories they told were laments of times past, whereas Men told glorious tales of the deeds of their ancestors. In return for returning true life to the race of Elves through joy and song, the Elves gave Men a different kind of immortality; civilisation.

Meanwhile the Dwarves of the White Mountains had also grown stagnant. Their songs were glorious, but there were none new for generations. Their religious fervour was dying as true greatness faded from them. They no longer traded with the Elves as they once had, for their differences had become too great, so both races thought. Only when Men came, and asked for stone and metal with which to build their cities, did the Dwarves finally become involved in something greater than their mountain holds.

In this simple act of necessity and innocent solicitation, Men had bridged a rfit that had existed for an age; by trading their Elf-given wealth for Dwarf-mined materials, by building their cities from dwarven stone and elven wood, and by inviting all to live within their walls, Men, Elves and Dwarves became friends. By the end of the Age, there was not a man, woman or child in the region, of any race, who would not call themselves Embari.

The Age of Heroes
Still, there was neither unity nor peace in this land. The Dwarves nodded their heads to a Low King, whose jurisdiction was the White Mountains. The Elves bowed to a Prince, who was their conduit to the gods and the forest. The Men swore themselves to various lords, and there was a feudal system to ensure justice and prosperity.

The land was visited, so the legends say, by evil. Emberglow was also a land of vast material wealth, making wizardly magic easy to learn. This gave rise to an era known now as the Age of Heroes. Tales abound even today of the Necromancers, the Vampire Lords, the Infernal Crawlers, and ever the threat of the giants in the mountains and dragons in the skies. Heroes were forged in the furnace of this age, heroes whose names every Embari child knows today, names every chlid pretends to be at play: Kazgar, Bethendil, Jason Tallstride, Torahath Daystalker, to name but a few.

The Age lasted for a millennium, but the heroes were always imperfect. Towards the end, however, they forgot their own imperfection. Heroism became an industry, protected by a pan-Embergloric Guild of Heroes. Regions would pay a subscription to them, or else risk forgoing their protection. The Guild was not always concerned with the moral character of their Heroes, and sometimes people joined whose greatest desire was fame, wealth and a bed warmed by someone new each night.

A leading member of the Guild, a man named Julius the Pious, decided that this would not do. He declared himself the head of the Guild, and that he would challenge any man who did not agree with his declaration. It is said that he dispatched the first dozen of the greatest heroes as they advanced upon him without even a scratch, calling the name of Vaskr all the time. The result was this: those heroes who defied him quit the Guild and made their own way, unregulated; and those who remained pledged themselves to Vaskr and Emberglow.

Some stories tell of the end of this age, when overly ambitious heroes unleashed their own doom, and gave their lives stemming the tide of evil. In truth, the age's end had more to do with the war between the lords of Emberglow and those of the neighbouring Reich of Ostmark. This war gave rise to an altogether new kind of hero: a king.

A Kingdom For Always
Emberglow was always a roughly if not officially unified area. It had a name which all within it were happy to call their country, and while it never had a king, not all lords were entirely equal. The Lords of Stonekeep were wealthy and powerful, for they had the best relations with the Dwarves, and control of the armies needed to keep the raging northern Khans at bay.

Julius the Pious, who was also lord of Goldenreach, responded to incursions from Eastmark by gathering his fellow Embari, of all races, and driving back the foe. He named his Guild the Order of Vaskr, and with them defied the Oster invasion. Their battlecry, "Godas nerien Æmbergeléoda" became the battlecry of every Embari lord.

When the war was done, the Dwarves called him Ironhelm, for his refusal to wear anything but his father's battered helm in battle; the Elves called him Pureheart, for his refusal to punish those Oster barons who had fought against him, offering them mercy instead.

It was determined by the Magisterium of Goldenreach, as well as a conclave of priests of Tyria and Vaskr, that Julius should be anointed King of Emberglow. His acclaim among the people was omen enough, and his rare ability to have united dwarf and elf under a common banner was a sign of greatness. Julius married an Oster countess to cement his new Embari-Oster kingdom, and brought four barons into his fold. He secured the realm against the Khans of the north with the construction of the Greatfence.

Julius I reigned for sixty years, fixing his battlecry onto the arms of the Kingdom itself. He passed the throne on to his son, Constantine Ironhelm I. It was during Constantine's reign that the land was afflicted with great confusion and sadness, for the Elves left our land. It was this departure which severely dampened the Age of Heroes; the war had left scars and killed many heroes. Less sober accounts weave tales of demonic overlords and necromancer kings sweeping the land in a dark armageddon, but there is no physical evidence of such stories.

Constantine named his eldest son the Lord of Candlewood, and his younger son became the first Pureheart of Stonekeep. Even to this day, the Purehearts and the royal family address each other as close cousins.

Modern Day
Today Emberglow has a population of almost 10 million people, including the Dwarves of the White Mountains.