Archaea

FIRST CYCLE: THE YIDRIAN ARCHAEA

Approximate Depth: 1900M
LOCALES: Seed-Tombs of Yid, Old Cenotaphs

GEOGRAPHY: These deep levels of the Archaea are known to exist in few places such as the Creaking Mountains of Ithaqua. While it is rumored that the deepest of the World Trees in Ryggar have roots which lead to Seeds-Tombs of Yid, shafts descending into these ancient refuges were created by Shi'Xul in later cycles during times of need. This allowed these access, the level is accessible through remote regions of the Immortal Forest. The places which survive are monolithic structures where walls of solid stone are known to measure a hundred feet thick. These utilitarian spaces seem to have been built towards the end of the First Cycle, often containing examples delicate and nuanced architecture and fine artifacts built with some other time and purpose in mind. Given that the Shi'Xul are capable using the Nostrum to communicate, little writing or pictographic representations exist in this part of the Archaea except for the mostly indecipherable vandalisms of ancient visitors which have accumulated over the ages. The thick walls of the tombs make them great cisterns, and at certain times of the year the Seed-Tombs are known to contain vast clouds of Fever Worms. Many early experiments of the Shi'Xul are contained here in the Old Cenotaphs.

HISTORY: The Shi'Xul arrive on Geron, exiled by the Akkan-Shai. They attempt to rebuild the world of Geron to their tastes, modifying a web of primitive multi-cellular life on earth known as the [[Yidran]]. The forebearers of the Shi'Xul Fleshwarpers create complex organisms which are the foundation of future Yidranic life. Evolving beyond the expectations of the Shi'Xul, the Yidranic web proliferates beyond the dark depths of the ocean that the Shi'Xul inhabit, spreading across the surface of the world.

SECOND CYCLE: CTHARIAN ARCHAEA

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Approximate Depth: 1800M
LOCALES: Charnel Pools, Immortal Forest

GEOGRAPHY: The second deepest known level of the Archaea is dominated by the Immortal Forest. This primordial place is filled with ancient insect and fungoid life that thrives around the many trunks of the World Trees. A noxious sulphur is thick here, obscuring what little surface remains still stand of Old Cthar. Most of what remains of archaeological significance lies beneath the surface of the Immortal Forest's many ponds and waterways, hidden in the ant-like nests of the aquatic Cthar. These subterranean places are known as the Charnel Pools, named so for the undecaying remains which choke their corridors.

HISTORY: The Cthar proliferate as the apex society in what is now called the Immortal Forest, which at that time covered all the lands of Geron. forest of fungus whose towering petrified trees are home to an otherworldly diaspora of ancient life. The Cthar live primarily in lagoons and grottos which they isolate from the ocean with simple rock walls, creating warm pools with which they can easily farm for algae. As the Cthar evolve, they begin to build their own burrows in what is now the Charnel Pools. These ant-nest like structures are used for storage of the Cthar young, as well as pets and livestock. Strange and organic stone-like formations are common within the Pools and the Forest, built by the Cthar with the cement they naturally produce for encasing their clutches. This durable waterproof material stands to this day, carved into ornate and wild patterns made by Cthar claw and mouth parts. Much of the Ctharian Cycle seems surprisingly intact thought to have been preserved by the noxious spirits common to that level of the Archaea.

THIRD CYCLE: DYEN-BEJI ARCHAEA

Approximate Depth: 1700M
LOCALES: Unknown

The Dyen-Beji are Outsiders who are responsible for creating the great basalt towers and their accompanying shafts and roots into the Archaea called 'the world trees'. The appearance of these structures coincides with evidence of widespread calamity which appears to have decimated the Cthar. The Dyen-Beji archaea is particularly conspicuous because the basalt structures which define this Archaea lack doors or windows and seem to have been cast in a single piece. Many of these towers still exist, though people have a tendency to bury or otherwise seal them. The thick walls of the basalt towers provide a sturdy point of ingress for expeditionaries interested in exploring the archaea of early cycles, and it isn't particularly unusual to find the shafts recently excavated. They Dyen-Beji of the Third Cycle seem to have left little other evidence of their existence except the wreckage of Ctharian civilization.

FOURTH CYCLE: GIR-KLA ARCHAEA

Approximate Depth: 1600M

LOCALES: The Grand Library The Gilded Chutes

The Gir-Kla Archaea is quite unexpectedly filled with books, tomes and inscriptions from the later Thadrian and Chiwan cycles, leading some to speculate whether the casting a great deal of doubt on whether the Gir-Kla civilization existed at all or whether this Archaea was just used as storage by the Chiwan for reasons unknown. For those who believe that the artifacts from this Archaea truly belong to the Gir-Kla, this cycle represents the 'early awakening', a period of unprecedented cultural achievement matched by few civilizations since. Sadly, the vast libraries hinted at in Gir-Kla codices and the grand constructions of their time eloped a complex written language and society unrelated to that of the Cthar or the Dyen-Beji, eventually driving their masters into hiding beneath the surface of Geron and collapsing the Dyen-Beji civilization. Much of Gir-Kla remains untranslatable, though many of the characters and symbols can be found in arcane symbologies employed in contemporary magic. At some point at the end of this cycle, a destructive event lays waste to Geron. Gir-Kla art begins to depict the appearance of new constellations towards the end of the fourth cycle, at which point the Gir-Kla and other civilizations enter into an apocalyptic downturn represented by a layer of debris and rubble which appears almost universally between the Gir-Klaan and Ebokanian Cycles called 'The Early Unmaking'.

FIFTH CYCLE : THE EBOKANIAN CYCLE

LOCALES: The Undying Galleries

The Ebokan rise with a great capital near what is now modern Mixcala, terrorizing the survivors of the The Early Unmaking. Like the Dyen-Beji, the Ebokan are invaders from another realm, the exiled nobles of an advanced but socially regressive civilization led by undead whose primary entertainment is the torture of 'lesser' creatures for entertainment. The Ebokan were known for creating living art with Ebokan necromancy, designed primarily for the edification members of the royal court. These creations are brought to life through rituals which are well known despite their great age due to the vast subterranean galleries of unsettling reliefs believed to have been carved at the height of the Ebokan reign. In later cycles such as the Tekel'i and Eldritch cycle, the 'Ebokan Shards' would take on various levels of significance, providing a source for dark arts such as fleshwarping and necromancy, as evidenced by the use of Ebokan runes and symbols within the dark arts. During the Great War at the conclusion of the Eldritch Cycle, the Ebokan Shards would be broken apart and repurposed as weapons. While the method of manufacture is unclear, the resulting weapons are said to have extraordinarily sharp edges. Efforts to excavate Ebokan pottery from the Mixcalan heartlands have been proposed, but even getting to the vast Mist Ocean is dangerous proposition, to say nothing of the subsequent expedition through the Archaea. Many of the creations of the Ebokan live on in the Undying Galleries even after all this time, fed by the foul wellspring of magic which still permeates this place.

SIXTH CYCLE : THE THRAGNIAN CYCLE

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In the Thragnian cycle, Shi'Xul artifacts and structures appear throughout the Archaea, proliferated by a world-spanning civilization known as 'Thragn'. Several Thragn Floating Temples survive from this period survive as the foundations of many modern city-states. Distinct roadways between these locations and the lesser civilizations of the cycle suggest that the Thragn trafficked slaves and had an extensive trade network. Near the end of the Thragnian cycle, massive Duabothe monuments begin to appear in coastal locations, though the structures lack any sort of recognizable markings and have the appearance of cisterns or other water-retaining structures. Depiste Archaeists proposing varying purposes for these monuments, the irregular and strangely carved channels within the monuments themselves seem to serve no clear purpose other than perhaps to create unusual currents, and irregular, tower-like monuments capped with quar0z and other exotic materials near these sites seem to serve no clear purpose.

SEVENTH CYCLE: THE SKENMIRIAN CYCLE

Primitive lizard people (called Skenmir in Eld) establish a series of tribal kingdoms which expand throughout the ninth cycle. The Skenmir society is typified by its large stone temples commonly found in marshes and other areas, built with monolithic pieces then whittled down by the act of grinding and chipping to create very stylized and impressive reliefs depicting complex Skenmir ideograms and pictography. As many of these temples are thought to have taken generations to build, most scholars believe that the depictions of Shi'Xul-like creatures towards the top of many of these ruins indicate a resurgence of Thragn influence late in the Skenmiran cycle, a period which coincides with increasingly elaborate and unhinged architecture which does not seem to serve a clear purpose within the society or religion of the Skenmir.

The natural armor of Skenmir and the wet and warm period in which they lived meant that the Skenmir didn't recognize the value of metals like iron which were prone to rusting. As such, metalworking artifice is rare if not completely absent from the dominant surface cultures of this cycle except in the form of soft metal castings of ornamental nature. Most of the tools, weapons and armors used in the period were made of teeth, bone and hide, surviving in petrified form in the bottom of swampy sacrificial pools which are common central elements of the water-centric Skenmir temples. Surviving ceremonial masks and other attire fashioned out of stone are common expedition finds since these items tend to fair well over the course of history, and early Skenmir artifacts of are of particular interest to those who venerate the Dyen-Beji, do to the similarity of the Skenmir proto-gods which take the form of large serpent-like creatures.

EIGHTH CYCLE: THE TEKEL'IAN CYCLE

LOCATIONS: The Living Cauldrons The Decadent Ruins

Ostensibly with the use of Gir-Kla and Ebokan arcana, Shi'Xul fleshwarpers make significant breakthroughs in the creation of homunculi which can be controlled directly by the will of their owners, culminating in the creation of the Tekel'i. The Tekel'i are amorphous creatures which can be controlled directly by the will of the Shi'Xul. These homunculi revolutionize Shi'Xul society and bring about a golden age of Shi'Xul architecture and artifice more complex and artistic than the surviving ruins of the Yidranian Cycle. In the latter parts of this cycle, Shi'Xule engravings detail a series of rebellions eventually resulting in an all-out war between the Shi'Xul and the Tekel'i. While the Tekel'i are eventually subdued, several Tekel'i breeding sites are entombed by the Shi'Xul and the surrounding areas are abandoned. A period of marked decline in the quality and extravagance of Shi'Xul architecture follows over the remaining cycles and a number of Shi'Xul cities from this cycle are never repopulated. On the surface of Geron, the Eankabi begin to appear in the art of the also declining Skenmir. Large and varied reptilian lifeforms begin to spread from the web of life towards the end of the cycle.

NINTH CYCLE: THE EANKABI CYCLE

LOCATIONS: The

The Skenmir civilization enters into a period of extreme decline as the Eankabi proliferate. The Ennech also appear in the ninth cycle, but the disorganized and territorial Eankabi split much of the former civilizations of Geron into small fiefdoms of slaves. Individual Eankabi establish subterranean burrows and primitive excavation sites, compulsively searching for treasure suitable for their ornate webs which are designed to attract the females of their species. The Eankabi are unique in that the female of the species moves between realms, eventually returning to the prime material plane towards the end of her life to lay her eggs. The webs built by males attract the females to nascent dimensional doors within the architecture of the web itself, and once she lays the eggs the male both inseminates them and throws them into the territory of rival males. The eggs have a mottled, rock-like pattern and consistency that makes them very difficult to detect. As the Eankabi tend to build their nests in mountain passes and caves, archaea from this cycle mostly takes the form of diminished civilization in general and the excavations produced by Eankabi slaves.

TENTH CYCLE: THE CHIWAN CYCLE

The Chiwan are a kind of segmented interdimensional parasite that are known to use the Eankabi webs as doorways between worlds that would eventually kill off large numbers of Eankabi by coopting the reproductive process of the Eankabi. The larval stage of the Chiwan is laid along with the eggs and infests them, entering cracks introduced in the hurling process. Incidentally, the Chiwan would eventually come to control the vast slave dens of the Eankabi, selling them both to the warlords of future Kazmora and also in the flesh markets of the Outer Realms. As the influence of the Eankabi wavered, the Gir-Kla would eventually war with the Chiwan, pushing them back into their current domain within Olorun. Despite their parasitic nature, the Chiwan are intelligent and masterful builders who famously created ornate chambers lined with silver, platinum and other lustrous metals with polished, natural facetwork designed to emulate the crystalline deposits of beryllium and other metals common to their distant point of origin. This area of the underworld is often referred to as 'The Squeeze' as the Chiwan were quite small and the metallic materials are very difficult to dig through, necessitating either of Dyen-Beji towers or arcane travel. Since the Chiwan rely on the Eankabi for reproduction, contemporary Chiwan are known to maintain domesticated Eankabi which Chiwan rulers fight for control of.

ELEVENTH CYCLE: THE KAZMORIAN CYCLE

Under the stewardship of Shi'Xul descendants who have returned to land after frequent dealings with the Chiwan and other surface races, the civilization of Kazmora ascends to power, prompting an eventual war with long-subterranean descendents of the Dyen-Beji as they attempt to access the secrets of previous ages. In almost every way, Kazmora's culture pervades future cycles and serves as the mythological and real foundation for the beliefs and traditions of later generations. The Kazmora-Buzur This cycle ends with what is called the 'The Great Burial', a thick layer of ash all around Geron brought about by a cataclysmic chaos of unknown origin. Grass appears in art for the first time just before the end of the Fourteenth cycle, suggesting that the plant developed at first around this time. Towards the end of the Kazmorian Cycle, some Kazmori fled to the First City of the Shi'Xul in the remote south of the world, evidenced by the presence of Kazmori artifacts and art which chronicles the return of the Dyen-Beji.

TWELFTH CYCLE: THE BUZURIAN CYCLE

During the Buzurian cycle, the Dyen-Beji reigned with impunity over the survivors of the Great Burial and tunneled through the ruins of Kazmor, consuming and partially digesting metal equipment, coins and magical artifacts. This extensive network of middens remains choked with partially digested mounds of Kazmorian treasure. For many ages, even scholars thought that the Dyen-Beji were intelligent and had hoarded this treasure impulsively, but recent archaeological expeditions show that signs of intelligent, complex cilization in this cycle came from Gorn who fled the destruction of Geron's surface after the Awakening of Ganderwa. But where did the vast wealth which fueled the lost kingdom of Buzur really come from? Scholars now believe that the Dyen-Beji cast out these treasures in a kind of pellet, much like an owl does with the bones of a mouse. These 'middens' as they were now called were known to the enslaved Gorn.

THIRTHEENTH CYCLE: MERUIAN CYCLE

Survivors of the Kazmoran diaspora rekindle civilization in the region now known as Meru after discovering a massive Chiwan library built in the remains of an ancient World Tree. Avoided by the Dyen-Beji for unknown reasons, this so called 'Tower of Meru' became a legendary refuge within the mountains of Shambala from which the empire of Meru grew, well above the ice and snow that fell after the Great Burial.
From this hidden place of safety, the Meru struck out across the great fields of ice which blanket much of Geron. The Meru cycle ends not in catastrophy, but with the gradual retreat of the ice and a shifting balance of power.

FOURTEENTH CYCLE: THE THADRIAN CYCLE

Emmigrants from Meru discover ruins of the Gir-Kla, exposed by the run-off of retreating inland glaciers. Extensive excavation of the Gir-Kla tombs and the recovery of wondrous treasure lead to the rise of a powerful political bloc within the council of Meru who eventually becomes the defacto seat of power, known as the Thadrian State. A number of 'lesser races' are employed by the Thadrians as a source of labor, including the Frodran, Gorn and Skenmir. The Thadrians believe that the Gir-Kla and the Chiwan lived in conflict with the Ganderwa, that Ganderwa and Tree of Knowledge were actually two sides of one complete deity. Over time this theological foundation has its own schisms, leading to increased hostility between the Fodran, Gorn and Skenmir, eventually dividing the kingdom into several smaller states during a bloody civil war known as The Three Kings War.

FIFTEENTH CYCLE: THE THRASKIAN CYCLE

The Three Kings War ends with the Skenmir kingdom of Thrask taking control of Thadria and Old Meru. For their disobedience, the Fodran and the Gorn are restricted to slave-castes and treated as 'prisoners', while the nobles of Thadria are exiled. Central to Thrask is the idea that the emperor commands both the 'Serpent and the Tree' which together make 'The Yidras', a force of both knowledge and destruction. A bloody civil war between the Fodran and the Skenmir spurred on by crackdowns on Fodran disobedience by the Thrask army ends in widescale rioting and the burning of Tower of Meru. There are debates as to whether this act summoned Ganderwa or whether the church of the Yidras was some how able to bring about a second Great Burial, but Thrask, Old Meru and Thadria were then destroyed once again. Familiar with the mines they toiled in, the Gorn are said to have fled into the Archaea and formed the kingdom of Buzur which would later lead to the rise of the Freg, Alfar, Humans and Dwereg in future cycles.

SIXTEENTH CYCLE: THE KUTO-ITHAQUAN CYCLE

As the second great Age of Ice befalls Geron, The inland Duab of Kuto enter into a period of prolonged peace and stability, unaware of the rise of the Ithaqua, an offshoot of the Fodran said to worship the snow and do battle with the remnants of both Thrask and the Tekel'i after discovering and taking refuge in the First City, a mythical and ancient place said to be the final refuge of the Shi'Xul. To reward them for freeing them of the Tekel'i, the Shi'Xul give the Itaqua their favor. Driven south by the ice and by the Ithaqua raiders, survivors of the fallen kingdoms of Meru, Thrask and Thadria are forced to flee to distant warmer lands like Qabir and Olorun. In their abandoned cities, the Ithaqua, Fodran and Kofai take root, creating supplicant feifdoms loyal to the newly freed Shi'Xul.

SEVENTEENTH CYCLE: THE LENGIAN CYCLE

The Leng kingdom reaches the peak of its power during what is called the Later Ithaquan Winter, an event which turns Leng from a dry desert to a beautiful paradise. Kunideg are reconstituted and born in record numbers, waking to a verdant landscape of Eankabi ruins and Eankabi nymphs which provide a readily available source of food and livestock. Little is known of their society due to a lack of material goods as the Kunideg rarely made their own goods or art, instead subsisting off materials gathered for old Eankabi webs or the neighboring ruins of Morikun. Perhaps due to the influence of Ithaquan-Shi'Xul influence, the denizens of Leng came to venerate Skedwer, learning the secrets of travel through the the Eankabi rifts to Akashar. The appearance of the Kunideg on that world is thought to have heralded a small war between the kingdom of Leng and Akashar, bringing an end to the Lengian cycle.

EIGHTEENTH CYCLE: THE ELDRIAN CYCLE

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The first of the Eldrian or 'Great' Houses are established by the Shi'Xul and the smaller, more docile Kofai and Human subrace of the Fodran and Gorn in the wake of the retreating Ithaquan Winter. Without the interference of their foes, the Shi'Xul are able to actively steward what will eventually become the races of Man, weathering religious infighting, political betrayals, and even the destruction of Alara and Ythill during the War of Princes. in the mid Eldrian cycle, strange incursions to Geron by unrecognizable creatures from the dying world of Akashar appear through the Plateau of Leng and strange portals deep in the Archaea. This period of time is known as the War of Aberrations. The Eighteenth cycle ends with the arrival of Nugab] and the Akkan-Shai and the surrender of the Eldrian House of Kasbenir, thus renamed Aklon.

NINETEENTH CYCLE: THE AKLONIAN CYCLE

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Consolidating power through a series of ruthless pacifications and wars, the Akkan-Shai with the exception of the Freg, [[Dwereg]]] and Alfar. After a period of peace and stability which lasts for a thousand years, the First Heroes lead a rebellion against the Akkan-Shai which shatters the Floating City of R'Lth. The spires of Aklon are consumed by the tidal wave, as is much of coastal Geron. This event is known as the Deluge, a cataclysm which causes a widespread revolt of the servitors races known as the Great War. As the war drags on, many Akkan-Shai escape to the depths of the sea with the help of the Quinok where they take refuge in what is known as the Torpor, an ancient restorative ritual intended to preserve the Akkan-Shai until the return of the Herald.

TWENTIETH CYCLE THE SHINARIAN CYCLE

The descendents of the Deluge survivors live primarily in a series of walled cities which dot Geron, informally maintaining rural border regions. In the last century, merchant explorers have begin to string together a series of unsafe but manageable trade routes between these bastions of safety, many of which happen to pass through the former Akkan-Shai fortress of Ebih. Seized during the Great War by the Forebearers of Shinar, Empress Shuban of Shinar has recently declared Ebih a 'Free City'. Calling it a 'great wheel of commerce' through the empires of Geron are free to conduct trade without special taxation. This move comes on a the heels of a war between Toprakkis and Shinar, North and South kingdoms of the once grand nation of Kalam.

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