Subject: The History of Plort: The Age of Storms
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Posted on: 2022-04-28 11:10:10 UTC

There is always a risk in naming an era before its true nature is known. When the end of the Fourth Age of Konti-Nyuum was recognised, the historians of Plort optimistically named the coming age the Age of Change. Yet with hindsight, it is clear that it is in truth the Age of Storms.

The new Age began with the election of four new barons, among whom Baron Thanasius Ampelius was notable for his origin in the lands beyond the mysterious Mistwall. With Konti-Nyuum now divided between eleven baronies - eight of them in Borrd and Ozerbord - tensions grew high as barons old and new vied for control of the isle.

Perhaps sensing this weakness, a slew of invaders turned their eyes upon Plort. First came the vile Green Ads, bandits and masters of stealth, swarmed across Borrd, rendering travel between its cities and towns perilous even for the best-armed among its people. All effort was made to banish them, led by two key figures: Huinesoron, who beseeched the gods Spelin Tam-Ara and Kanun Syorn for relief, and Tomash, mayor of the town Teebor, who sought to cast great wards about the whole of Plort.

The confrontation between the two leaders was brought to a head by the arrival of the Inter'Nelerors, savage flying beasts from beyond the Mistwall that swarmed across Borrd and Ozerbord alike. With their refuge shattered, the people fled to Wechi, turning in fear to the gods of distant Wechi-Ah; yet it was not gods who brought salvation. By the power of Programm'an, Tomash spread his protection across the skies of Ozerbord, creating the Refuge anew. In doing so he laid claim to the title of Lord Protector, ousting Baron Huinesoron from the position.

Confined to Borrd, the Inter'Nelerors were swiftly dispatched, but they were only the first crisis to come from the Mistwall. A great storm rode in their wake, driving vast waves up the river Gotfik and swamping the Coastal Forest; in the disaster, the great fortress of Ofum was broken and ruined. The knights of Plort wavered, unable to press their attacks against the Marizu.

The Baronial Council convened in an atmosphere of despair, yet from it sprang hope anew. Forts were raised in Ozerbord and Wechi, to take up the burden of Ofum's loss. A new city was inaugrated at Critta-Kalthin, to trade with distant lands. And a new nation was created: the Riding of Sittorese between Borrd and Iric, taking the fertile lands that were once Thalia's and using them to feed the armies of Plort.

Iric did not protest the appropriation of its lands. In fact, very little news was had out of the far eastern lands, and over the months that followed the council, utter silence fell. None travelled down the untended roads between Tumblar and La Wunj; no ships sailed the sea routes between them. The land of Iric was deserted, and when Baron Huinesoron in his wanderings brought its tattered banner to Borrd, the nation was declared lost.

Over time the people drifted back, from Borrd, the Riding, and lands overseas, drawn by the lure of empty fields ripe for the taking. They had no leaders, no laws or structures of politics; discord reigned among the rivers between the mountains. But out of it something new arose, a nation of factions and divisions, unlike anything that had been seen on Konti-Nyuum.

The war was so subtle that it might not even be called a war. Overnight, the lands of southern Ozerbord changed their allegiance, and in harmony with the eastern regions, raised the flag of the Confederation of Diskord. Their Mords immediately sought the blessing of the Baronial Council, and in a turn of events that surprised many, Baron Huinesoron himself supported their statehood. The baron stood before the council and proposed a great change: that the Council become a true Council of Plort, allowing the rulers of all its nations to be heard. Many deemed this a new beginning, the dawn of a bright future for Konti-Nyuum.

Yet the storms had not subsided. Even as the enlarged Council met in Borrd, Critta-Kalthin was struck by a tidal surge almost as great as that which had destroyed Ofum. The many channels of the Gu-Gel delta were reshaped by the roaring sea, and though the city itself was preserved the flood passed far upriver. Odolotos was once again brought to ruin, and all the lands between the Wep and Friwep became one vast swamp, the Neosity.

Aid flowed in from Wechi and the Diskord, turning the skills employed in the raising of Los Taelis and Ba-Korp to recovery and restoration. The people of Plort congratulated themselves on their swift response, and their salvaging of all but a few of the historic buildings in the region.

Then the next storm struck.

Ozerbord was struck first: great waves tore at its cliffs and rent vast canyons through its highlands. The last inhabitants fled; the refuge of Plort was brought to naught.

Shielded by the Wattufs and the Hustits, Critta-Kalthin was once again left unscathed. The workers in the Neosity hurried downriver, but their aid was unneeded. All they could do was gaze east as the vast stormclouds passed over the ruins of Ofum, and the waves thundered into the bay of Borrd itself.

The people of Borrd fled screaming. So great was the storm's fury that none should have survived, and even Otik's inviolable rock should have been torn down. And yet, even as lightning stabbed at the town, something else appeared in the sky. Vine-bedecked, held aloft by unimaginable arcane forces, the castle Tegnoh had left its long home in the Kar'eer Forest and come to Borrd at last.

In its highest turret, the Barons of Plort stood in a circle about Tomash, Protector of broken Ozerbord. From the Protector's lips poured sigils of power and summoning, and by the will of the barons they were shaped and sent forth. Vast barriers of protection rose about Otik, and about the citizens fleeing from the form; and even as Old Borrd was crushed beneath the flood, a new city rose in its place. White towers, raised long before in Teebor, were brought forth to the home they had been destined for; and when the waves and the gale subsided, a New Borrd stood on the shores of the bay where the old once sat.

Of the ancient city, only Oitk itself survived, its rock rising now from the iron-grey sea; and, in what was once the eastern quarter of the city, a small cluster of buildings huddled still on the shore. These had been saved not by design of Tomash, but by Huinesoron's intransigence; for, breaking from the circle, the baron had invoked the aspects of departed knights and barons even back to Jay and Acacia themselves, and by their memory preserved some small part of their city.

In the aftermath of the disaster, fearing future crises, Huinesoron established the Academy d'As to study the cause of the storms. The scholars of d'As quickly learned that the Mistwall, that mysterious northern barrier between their world and another, had shifted south. Nor was Plort the only realm affected: the marauders of So Shall Medea had been cast into disarray, and the Gods of Wechi-Ah had been overthrown by a new divinity known only as Phantom. Some among them even began to link the fall of Iric to the shift in the Mistwall - but ere they could study it further, a new trial came upon them.

The Plague of Corvids, a swarm of black birds that emerged from the Mistwall to descend upon Weab, sent Plort even further into disarray. Castles and libraries were sealed; knights and barons retreated to their holds; few dared to venture across the sea to battle the Marizu. The Academy d'As was closed, its doors sealed - which turned out to be a good thing, as another storm caused the river Jid'ryv to burst its banks and wash the Academy's buildings away. Many of the barons of Plort departed its shores, and for a time it seemed that the legacy of Jay and Acacia would be entirely forsaken.

And yet even in this climate of despair, there was hope. The Council of Plort, though weary and diminished by the Age of Storms, assembled once more in wave-washed Otik: the barons, Protector Tomash of Borrd, and the Mords of the Diskord. Together they proclaimed a greater unity: though the four surviving nations would maintain their separate ways, the Union of Plort would once again be known as the Protectorate of Plort, Konti-Nyuum.

"Oh," said Baron Neshomeh as the council adjourned, "and I'm making Storme of Hauk a baron; hope nobody minds."


Changed the fall of Ofum slightly (it was previously said to be burned by unknown hands), but other than that I think it's pure additions.

It's been a rough 9 years.

hS

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