We begin our short history of Aventuria (seen from the vantage point of Middenrealmian historians, that is) some 2,500 years ago. This is not the beginning of the reckoning of years, of course, because even then, the mythical fight of the creator-entities Los against Sumu had taken place many eons before. The world had already had its share of wars among gods and giants; dragon and troll kingdoms had prospered and were lost again, and many more events had come to pass that are now lost in the mists of time.Some 2,500 years ago, then, settlers from Gyldenland reached the shores of today’s Fairfield. These were the ancestors of most of the people who now live between Paavi and Brabak. There were already native Aventurians living on the continent at that time—the woodsmen in the southern jungles, the Nivese in the northern steppes, and the Tulamides in the Rashtul’s Wall and the Mhanadi Valley—but the culture and civilization of these Gyldenlandish settlers influenced most of the peoples of today’s Aventuria.In the year 2485 before Haal, the divine Horas—who is still revered as an “arch saint” in the lands between Grangor and Drôl—founded a realm with Bosparan as the capital. He reigned for 500 years, and his empire kept expanding even after his death. Horas’ empire sent out expeditions, followed by armies, and conquered new territories. Trolls, dwarfs, and goblins tried to withstand the conquerors, but were not able to stop their expansion. Cities like Punin, Havena, and Gareth were founded at that time.Around 1870 before Haal, Belen-Horas ascended to the throne and proclaimed himself Divine Emperor—arousing the anger of the gods, they say. As the empire lacked armies to control its immense borders, the lands were ravaged by trolls. Then the ogres, giantlike devourers of human flesh, managed to invade as far as Gareth and had a lavish, horrible feast among the population.After the death of the regent, more peaceful times finally arrived. For almost 250 years, the so-called Peace Emperors reigned. Haldur-Horas ended this period. He thought that Gareth didn’t pay enough taxes to the metropolis of Bosparan and so sent out an army to subdue the city on the Gardel. Two months later, he was murdered.His son, Fran the Bloody One, wanted to avenge his father. He imprisoned and executed Garetians wherever and whenever he could, and a bloody civil war ensued. The Imperial Army was unable to defeat the Garetian troops, and Fran-Horas summoned the Archdemons, who destroyed both the Garetian armies and his own armies. This battle became known as the First Demon Battle. Only a handful of people survived. Fran-Horas refused to speak or eat again, and finally vanished. Four years later, his horrified shrieks suddenly rang in the palace for hours. No one has seen him since, and his body was never found.Now the Dark Ages commenced. Orks came pouring into the Empire and no army was left to drive them off. Religion and science were defeated, and for hundreds of years, barbarism and the darkest pagan cults reigned supreme. Only when elves and dwarfs allied against the orks could the blackfurs be defeated.The Empire slowly recuperated, until Hela-Horas, also called the Beautiful Empress, declared herself a goddess—against the will of the Praios clergy in Gareth. She ordered the rebelling fanatics burnt in public.Again, the Garetians managed to muster an army. They marched against Bosparan. Hela’s troops approached them, and at Brig-Lo, both armies met each other. Hela also summoned the demons, who tried to destroy the Garetians in the Second Demon Battle. But the gods would not watch these utterly evil events any longer. Four warriors clad in golden armor—rumor still holds that they were Praios, Rondra, Efferd, and Ingerimm in avatar form—marched with the Garetians and drove off the demon spawn. The Bosparan army panicked and ran away, and the Garetians followed them up to Bosparan and razed the city. Only the palace walls finally stopped the Garetians.Suddenly, the sky opened up and lightning struck a breach into the walls so that the way to the Empress’s quarters was free. With one last effort, Hela tried to summon a skeleton army. As she was about to send it against the attackers, a voice was heard that said, “It ends here, Hela.” The Empress slipped from her throne, dead.This was the end of the Old and the Beginning of the New Empire. Gareth was declared the capital, and the former army leader Raul was crowned emperor.During the ensuing years, known as the era of the Wise Emperors, peace ruled. Maraskan and the Bornland were settled. Emperor Ugdalf, unfortunately, died very young, when his son Rudo was only three years old. A council of priests took over the realm’s rule until Rudo came of age—and actually beyond, because the heir to the throne was killed the day before his coronation.The followers of Praios saw this as a chance to seize power and strengthen their place at the top of the Twelvegods’ churches.Because the knights and followers of Rondra would surely not agree with this, the Praios priests closed down the Lioness’s temples one after another and hunted and killed their clergy. The common people had a hard time under the rule of the Priest-Kings, groaning under the weight of taxes and tithes, called “God’s Thanks.” Starvation and finally an open uprising were the results.This rebellion was led by an old man: Rohal the Sage. He managed to drive out the Priest-Kings. After accomplishing this, he ascended to the throne himself and stayed there for more than 120 years. Education and science once again flourished, elven poetry became the fashion of the day, and countless wizarding schools were founded. But the population eventually grew suspicious of Rohal’s long reign. Slogans erupted, such as “Get rid of the Demon on the Emperor’s Throne!”“Fare thee well!” was the simple answer of the sage. He left the throne room and was never again seen in Gareth. Suddenly, the realm was left without a ruler. A powerful wizards’ guild proclaimed that Rohal was one of them, and that they owned the right to the throne. Another guild proclaimed the same, and thus the Wars of the Wizards ensued. After a great cost in lives and devastation, the Wars of the Wizards ended without a victor. A council of noblemen and generals declared in the “Garetian Pamphlet” that a member of the House of Gareth should be Emperor again.The New Empire had reached the zenith of its power. Again, the orks came, and only tribal disagreements among the blackfurs saved human civilization. One province after another declared independence from Gareth, first of all being the Fairfield. The noblemen of the Old Empire swore at the hunting castle Baliiri near Vinsalt that they would not put down their weapons until they had thrown off the rule of the Garetians. A civil war raged for eight years and ended with the utter defeat of Gareth. The Peace of Kuslik only let the New Empire make clear that the new ruler at Vinsalt was not allowed to call himself emperor.From then on, the Empire started to fall apart rapidly. The Bornland, Maraskan, the Khôm Desert, Al’Anfa, and other cities in the South became independent. Only when Emperor Reto ascended to the throne did times seem to improve. In the year 6 before Haal, he was able to win back Maraskan. His son Haal was able to hold the island, and he also finished the Ogre Battle as the victorious party. During the seventeenth year of his reign, though, he suddenly and mysteriously vanished—some say he fell victim to a hunting accident, while others claim he was deified. Whatever the truth, after this unfortunate event misfortune again seemed to rule supreme. Count Answin of Ravensmound tried to contest the right of succession of Haal’s son Brin in order to occupy the throne himself, causing another civil war. Brin’s faithful friends put an end to this, however, and the prince finally took over the heavy burden of his father’s legacy. As his father’s death had not yet been proven, he didn’t assume the title of Emperor, but that of an Imperial Protector. Queen Amene of Vinsalt used the confusion in the Middenrealm to declare herself Horas again.The most recent momentous event in Aventurian history, the effects of which are still felt in the present time, was the Orkstorm. This simple word succinctly describes the Second Ork War that began on 23 Peraine in 17 Haal (the first day of the Great Year 2000 according to orkish reckoning) and has not really ended yet.On that fateful day, two ork invasion forces sallied forth from the Orkland: roughly 10,000 orks out of the Thash Gap and an additional 5,000 south of Hilval’s Head. Tjolmar immediately granted free passage to the orks in exchange for being spared; Deepenborg fell on 2 Rahja, Lowangen was surrounded on 24 Rahja, Yrramis fell on 6 Praios of year 18 Haal, and fortress Griffinstone was consumed the next day.After the virtual obliteration of the Svelltian City League, the orks were content with consolidating their power for a time. Lowangen was forced to pay tribute but was spared. The orkish forces, led by Sadrak Whassoi, the “Black Marshal,” regrouped, and part of the Korogai tribe settled in the Rorwhed. In Phex of 18 Haal, imperial border troops led by Prince Brin and Marshal Rastan scored their first victories at the northern edge of the Darkencrest and in the area between Darkencrest and Kosh.The rest of the year saw ork attacks against Trallop and Griffinsford, all of which were thwarted until the beginning of 19 Haal. The reinforced human troops prevented an ork flanking maneuver at the Battle of Rhodenstone, in which the Order of Keeping held the Darkenbrook and prevented Prince Brin’s troops from being surrounded.A new ork offensive began on 19 Praios of 19 Haal. Around 1,500 Kologai, led by Sharraz Garthai, charged into the camps of Brin’s Orkwarder Legion and massacred the troops (fortunately, the prince was on his way to Griffinsford with part of his forces at the time). The Tordochai began their march on Griffinsford on the Imperial Road on 21 Praios. On 28 Praios, more than 10,000 orks led by Sadrak Whassoi crossed the Shadow Pass and cut directly into the heart of the margravedom of Griffinsford. On the same day, Marshal Rastan’s Thuranian Legion was wiped out in the Battle of the Fog Stone. In the following weeks, the blackfurs won more and more ground until the Tordochai captured Griffinsford on 18 Rondra, almost without resistance.The date 24 Rondra saw the beginning of the Battle of Orkwall, which ended in harsh defeat for the imperial troops, who were forced to fall back to Warkhome. Almost the entire margravedom of Griffinsford was annexed by the orks and renamed Darkenmarch, with Sharraz Garthai as its ruler.Meanwhile, the imperial regiments combined with elite units from Maraskan, regarded as the most combat-experienced troops in the entire empire. Albernia and Darpatia, which were still dealing with the aftermath of Answin of Ravenmound’s bid for power, were unable to send reinforcements. The same held true for Meadows (which was threatened directly by another ork force) and Almada (which needed to guard its southern borders against a possible invasion by Queen Amene).While thousands of orks engaged in a highly visible feint attack on Warkhome to give their marshal more room for maneuvering, the main ork contingent embarked down the Width (a tributary of the Great River). At Ferdok, the orks turned west along the Rakula in the direction of Gareth but were held up by the thaw and the heroic resistance of the monks of Marano.Finally, on 1 and 2 Phex, the Second Battle of Silk Meadows took place. It was long and hard, but the imperials finally carried the day. The orks were routed, but many managed to fall back into the Darkenmarch. Several retaliatory attacks by the imperials in Ingerimm and Rahja in 19 Haal finally resulted in the retaking of Griffinsford; the orks were driven back to Bearswold.This is the situation in the spring of 20 Haal, the time in which The Dark Eye game is set. All in all, around 25,000 humans and 10,000 orks probably died during the Orkstorm. The Middenrealm and northern Aventuria will probably suffer the aftereffects of this event for years, even decades, to come. The northern reaches of the Middenrealm and the pitiful remains of the Svelltian City League are rife with opportunities for adventure. Griffinsford will be rebuilding for years. Yrramis is still held by the orks, while Deepenborg and Lowangen pay hefty tributes. Tjolmar has become somewhat isolated due to its “betrayal” at the beginning of the war.
