• Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us!

The Unification of the Antramarian Empire: Part 1

Often seen as the pinnacle of unity and prosperous peace on Aphal, the collective of provinces commonly known as the Antramarian Empire has known nearly as many names as it has controversies.

The Second Union, the Neo-Unitine Empire, Greater Gimsonia, Antramar has left a distinct imprint on the history of Aph, even if now its legacies virtue is debated, none can argue that much is certain.

It began, as the ancient bedrock history of most modern nations of Aph do, in the Dark Age, the mythical time immediately following the catastrophic War in the Heavens between the Great Flame Allunas, and the Father Wyvern Exandese.

This war had left Aph cold, and godless, with the only remnants of the old influence of the once omniscient and ever present Divine Spirits being the now lifeless Lunan and Lanan, who circled Aph as the Red Sun and Green Moon.

There were, however, other traces to the old world before the War, faint vestiges of the ancient realm of men that once coexisted with the Divine Spirits, and held dominion over the peoples of nearly all of Aph, the Empire of Unitine.

It was in the supposed half sunken ruins of the old capital of Unitine that the story of Antramar begins, for it is in this setting that many scholars believe that the “Epic of Dilon” is begun.

Dilons epic is a tale well known to those in the southwest of Aphal, it speaks of the mythical seafarer from Aazor who led some chosen few from the collapsing ruins of the old world, in hopes of finding a new home across the sea’s of Aph.

Whilst on this fated journey, it is said that Dilon and his Aazorians landed on many shores, and encountered many hostile lands that seemed to reject them, until at last, a great shimmering Goddess in the form of a gilded silver star shone light on a path that would lead them to their destined home.

At last, Dilon and his Aazorians arrived at the Trident peninsula, and founded the city of Antrum there on the central prong of the 3 sister peninsulas of the land within the ruins of an old Unitine outpost, with Dilon taking the Starry Goddess as his wife, and her gilded silver star as an emblem of his house of Hastorius.

Dilons Epic is a favorite tale of the supposed descendants of these Aazorians, although later it would be dismissed as myth, even by the future Hastorius heirs, seeing as how it conflicted somewhat with the notion that Midlon was in fact the true heir of the GodKing Centinuus of Unitine.

Regardless of the factuality of the Epic of Dilon, it is certain that by the common conclusion of the Dark Age, Midlon Hastorius was known to many as King of Antramar.

By this time, Antramar had spread its influence drastically, for when the Aazorians first landed they found many lesser tribes of men that contested their claim to the Trident Peninsula, groups such as the Nexoni, the Sporosi, and the Proximites, commonly lumped together in early Antramarian texts as the Centinaalian Tribes.

Whether it was through Dilon’s leadership, one of his heirs, or Midlon, Antramar slowly came to subjugate these tribes, either driving them further into the mountains, or making vassals and tributaries of their city.

Antramar during this time even began to found colonies within the Hastorian Sea, colonies such as Wavehaven and Humbart that would soon grow into powerful autonomous cities that still owed some vague allegiance to the mother city of Antrum.

It was during this period as well that Antramar came into contact with the predominant power in western Aphal at the time, the Freehold of Antasia, a conglomeration of many tribes bound together from their capital at Gersrick, a city that was a supposed remnant of the ancient times before the War in the Heavens.

Antramar and Antasia shared enough vast untamed land between them that they never once strained at each other's ever expanding claims, and on the contrary managed to trade and exchange services and culture regularly, until the Wyvernfall event that saw Gersrick suddenly razed to the ground in a single night, the supposed victim of a Father Wyvern descending on the city.

This led to the rapid dissolution of Antasia following several attempts to regain control by its many feuding noble houses, eventually leading many Antasians on a massive migration south to Antramar, fearing the possible return of the Fathern Wyvern.

Antramar had now handily usurped Antasia’s place as the superpower of western Aphal, and despite the unease regarding the now supposedly cursed lands of the former Antasian’s, began to expand northward, reclaiming abandoned settlements in the region and bringing the scattered few towns that had stayed behind into their realm.

At some point during this expansion and reclamation of what would become the Antramarian province of Gimsonia, Midlon Hastorious met with a group of five sages from across the Hastorian Sea, from the mystical realm of Searsh.

These wisemen informed the King of his supposed divine heritage aside from the Hastorius lineage, claiming that Midlon was in fact an ancient heir of Centinuus, the god king of ancient Unitine.

They also shared with Midlon the secrets of the fabled Searshish metalworking, utilizing basic aspects of Magic to be able to quickly arm a large force with more sophisticated arms and armor than were commonly seen across the continent at the time.

These new armaments combined with the already advanced tactical style and formations pioneered by the Antramarian generals now made their military the most elite fighting force in the west.

It was soon after this fated meeting, at the Zenith of Antramarian military power, that they would come into contact with their two most storied allies of the Age, the established realms of Rivea and Gailen.

Both of these kingdoms had supposedly been founded by holdouts of Antasian nobility, similarly being partly comprised of those who had fled the Wyvernfall crisis to seek new homes, as such they both quickly found a common aspect of kinship with the Antramarians who had taken in so many of their kinsmen in good faith.

The ruler of the Gailens, Yogriff Yorin, feasted and drank with Midlon in his hall in Laklund, and swore to promote and maintain friendship between their two people’s, although was staunch on keeping Gailen as an independent realm.

Portfolio entry information

Author
Centinuus
Read time
5 min read
Views
818
Last update

More entries in Short Stories

More entries from Centinuus

Top