I - The Birth of Ancient Kingdoms and Empires

(5000-4300 YA)

5000~ YA

During the creation war with Iblees, Malin and his children are isolated from his three brothers and driven across the sea to Axios. With the help of the druidic dragon Taynei’Hiylu, they defeat Iblee’s forces on prehistoric Axios and make their way back to Aegis to deliver the Archdaemon’s final defeat alongside Horen, Krug and Urguan.

Iblees enacts his curse upon Malin and Aerial delivers her blessing, effectively giving birth to the Elven race as we know it.

4900~ YA

Malin departs with his Elven children from Aegis, back to Axios, where he founds the Kingdom of Malin. The capital city is built on the center of the modern day Isle of Malin (Spawn isle). The elves spread across all of Axios, building cities where they go.

Capital of the Kingdom of Malin - elcihi Malinor

The art of Druidism takes solid root within the elven people, guided in part by Malin himself. The Aspects begin to grant their powers to the elves. As a result, the Meldamiriel are born. Ents with the purpose of safeguarding the elves. However, the guardian tree-folk soon go haywire, and the elven people are forced to slay that which once protected them.

4700~ YA

Metzli, in her first attempt at creating a patron race, uplifts a species of primates in the Southern Asul Jungle. This new sentient race of bipedal monkeys become known as the Hou-Zi, and are led by Hou-Shen, their god-king gifted with immortality by Metzli. They develop rapidly in their jungle, building their capital city of Jing-Taiyun.

Jing-Taiyun, grand palace of the Hou-zi

4400~ YA

Human migrants from an unknown place of origin arrive in the north of the isle of Tahn. They settle in the deserts and found several prosperous trading posts, which eventually evolve into sophisticated, highly advanced cities- the largest and most important of which being Al-Damunhur. Peaceful relations and small-scale trade occur between them and the much larger Kingdom of Malin.

Al-Damunhur, the desert jewel of Masur

4300~ YA

The First Hou-zi War

The Hou-Zi, guided by god-king Hou-Shen, erupt out of the southern jungles, and the first Mali-Houzi war begins. The Hou-zi conquer all of the isle of Asul, the southern chunk of Ceru and coastal regions of Tahn. They are repelled by the elves forces from taking the rest of the Kingdom of Malinor’s territory. The war grinds to a standstill, although the Hou-zi keep their conquered territory, giving birth to the Hou-zi Empire.

Maximum Hou-zi territorial expansion after the first great Mali-Houzi war

4100~ YA

The elder Archdruids of Old Malinor present an ancient magic to Malin, one which can harness and weaponize nature in order to defend elven lands. This is a word altar, using the power of the elven tongue to assume complete and full control over an entire forest. Malin authorizes its development, but when something goes wrong, an entire forest goes haywire and savage. Many perish, and an entire ecosystem is thrown off-balance. Horrified, Malin orders the banning of word altars, and all existing ones are buried deep beneath the earth, guarded by Ents.

A word altar

II - Collapses and Fragmentations, and Unifications

(3900 - 2600 YA)

3800~ YA

First Downfall of the Hou-zi

Hou-Shen decides he has gone too long without expanding his Empire. The 100 year ceasefire between the Elves and Hou-zi comes to an end. The Hou-zi strike at the isle of Malin, aiming to conquer the capital of the Kingdom of Malin to annex the elven nation in its entirety. Malin and Hou-Shen fight a great battle on the isle of Malin. Hou-shen is slain, causing the Hou-zi army to be routed and slaughtered.

The elves under Malin begin a bloody reconquista of all lands formerly taken from them by the Hou-zi. Hou-zi colonists in these lands are slaughtered en-masse. Without Hou-shen to guide them, the Hou-zi only manage token resistance. Eventually they flee back to their heartland, the jungles of Jing-Taiyun.

The old god “Poison” descends down to taint the Hou-zi capital of Jing-taiyun. The Hou-zi scatter into the deep jungles to live in hiding for centuries. When the elven army arrives, they see nothing but a ruin, and promptly leave.

Unification of Masur

The various human merchant city-states begin to war with one another. The conflict between the Hou-Zi and Elves had provided them with boundless wealth and fortune due to wartime profits and selling to both sides. The increased wealth meant more to fight over between the desert-dwelling humans. Eventually, a general named Imab Achure rises to power and conquers the entire desert peninsula, uniting all the squabbling human cities under his rule and forming the Kingdom of Masur.

The Masurites created knights out of clay, then used unique magics to animate them, turning them into automatons of war.

3800 - 3100~ YA

The Kingdom of Malin enjoys a few centuries of peace and prosperity, once more the largest dominant power within the isles of Axios.

3400-3300~ YA

The Dwarven Wars

The Dwarves sail down from their homeland of northern Athera to the isles of Axios. Motivated by iblee’s curse upon their race- greed. They seek lands and wealth for their people.

The Dwedmar land upon the southern isle of Asul and begin to ransack the elven cities and townships there with their golems of war.

Malin, shocked by this sudden and lightning invasion, detaches a large army to sail south to Asul to meet the Dwarves in battle. Several major encounters between the two armies are had. Ultimately, the elven host and their command over the wilds decisively defeats the Dwarves and their golems, repelling them to the sea. Some say that an ancient and now forbidden magic known as a Word Altar was used to take direct command of nature to repel the invading armies. The scars of this battle are seen today in the northeastern end of Asul.

The Elves of Malin’s Kingdoms fight the Dwarves on northern Asul

3100~ YA

Larihei, an influential leader in the Kingdom of Malin and founder of Malinor's grand library, discovers the golden pools in old, primordial enclaves of Axios. Drawn by their power, her and her followers begin bathing in them, beginning the centuries long process of transformation into High Elves. Little changes in the short term.

3000~ YA

Birth of the Dark Elves

Veluluai, an explorer and close advisor to Malin, comes across the ruins of Jing-Taiyun and enters it for documentation. The “Poison”, still enacting its influence, is infuriated by the insolence of these mortals. He curses Veluluai and all her followers to have skin as black as ash and be burdened with insanity.

Veluluai and her followers escape the ruins of Jing-Taiyun. They crash their ship and wash ashore by a local coastal village. Driven by their curse’s insanity, they slaughter the local population. Horrified, Malin exiles Veluluai and all her followers to the frigid mountains of Northern Tahn.

Veluluai seeks the blessing of the moon spirit Luara, who grants her and her followers their sanity back, in return for their worship. Veluluai accepts this offer and together with her people create a kingdom deep beneath the mountains- Magara’lin. The dark elven race is born.

Magara’lin - Capital of the first Dark Elven nation under Veluluai

3o00~ YA

Malin becomes concerned with the experimentations and attitude of Larihei. He sees her philosophy of research and progress to be unproven and potentially dangerous, and thus orders a cease and desist on her voidal studies and bodily alteration via the golden pools. Larihei refuses, and her people simply move their grand library deep underground where the golden pools are hidden, continuing their work.

Malin, for reasons yet unknown, disappears. As a result, the glue which held the Kingdom of Malin together quickly falls apart. This proves to be the seminal event which leads to the fracture of the Elven race.

2900~ YA

The High Elves Emerge

Larihei and her people have become noticeably taller, sleeker, and lighter of hair and skin. This draws mixed reactions from the old “proto” elves of Malin’s Kingdom. The High Elves begin developing a society revolving around science and the arcane, feeling no real loyalties to Malin’s teachings, as he had abandoned them. Eventually, feeling ostracized by their older elven cousins and feeling under threat of violence due to their highly divergent way of life, they exodus from the cities of Malin’s Kingdom, to the far west- where they live in isolation for centuries. They found Elcihi'thilln, the capital of Haelun'or and seat of Larihei's power.

Elcihi'thilln, the center of high elven civilization on Ancient Axios.

2850~ YA

Birth of the Wood Elves

Irrin Sirame, a former war hero of Malin’s Kingdom during the Hou-zi wars, becomes a voice of devout theism within the elven people. She is a devout worshipper of the Aspects, who Malin revered. Seeing the high elves isolate themselves and abandon the “old ways” for arcanism and science, and the dark elves in exile worshipping a moon spirit, Irrin Sirame attempts to rebuild the much diminished Kingdom of Malin into a state built around worship to the Aspects, what she sees as the truest elven values.

Society in Malin’s Kingdom stagnates and declines. Frustrated by her lack of progress in reformation, Irrin Sirame declares city life to be decadent and not true to the Aspect’s realm. She leads a large band of followers into the deep forests, where they separate into nomadic clans. These clans become known as seeds. The Aspects bless these elves with darker skin and shorter stature to survive in their new environment. The wood elves are born.

The first Omentahu, gathering of Wood Elven tribal Seeds

2600~ YA

The old cities of Malin’s Kingdom are eventually abandoned entirely, as the last remaining “old elves” either join the wood elven seeds in their deep forest, or the high elves in their isolated silver city, assimilating into both groups. Elven kind is now truly divided three ways. The High Elves of the west, the Dark Elves of Magara’lin, and the Wood Elven seeds of the deep forests. Never again would Elven Kind be truly united, politically or culturally.

Political map of Axios, circa 2600 years before the present day

Taynei’Hiylu, the druidic dragaar, is awoken from her deep sleep by the Aspects. She becomes the prophet of the Wood Elven people, a figure that all the squabbling, fiercely independent Seeds can get behind. She forms a clergy of druidic priests and a tribal council (the Omentahu) to ensure all wood elves maintain their cultural foundations.

III - Those Who Adapt Survive

(2500 - 900 YA)

2500~ YA

The Second Hou-Zi Rise

Metzli recovers the soul of Hou-Shen, the immortal king of the Hou-zi. She rebirths him in a body of pure white fur and golden skin. He returns to the jungles of Asul, where the jubilant Hou-Zi jungle tribes flock to him. They had been living in post-apocalyptic conditions for centuries and saw their king’s return as the beginning of their second golden age.

Under Hou-Shen, the Hou-zi reclaim and rebuild Jing-Taiyun, restoring it from a ruin to a thriving capital once more. The Hou-zi nation and culture undergoes an effective full revival.

2400~ YA

Hou-Shen sees the elven race is fractured. He decides now is the time to strike to rebuild his empire. The second Mali-Houzi war begins.

A Hou-zi scout during the second Mali-Houzi war.

The Hou-zi find each elven subrace too well adapted to their specific environments to conquer. The wood elves wage a fierce guerilla war in their forests, never accepting a pitched battle. The high elves utilize their advanced magics to repel the invaders, and the dark elven caves are simply impregnable.

A united council of elves gathers on the isle of Malin to discuss the Hou-zi threat. For the first time since Malin’s dissapearance, wood elves, dark elves and high elves unite to form one common army to fight the ape-men. Hou-Shen diverts his armies to strike at the isle of Malin. There, he is repulsed, and the Hou-zi retreat back into the Jing-Taiyun jungle.

The united elven council offers Hou-Shen an ultimatum. Never expand out of their jungle again, nor build any settlements aside from Jing-Taiyun. With no other choice left to him, Hou-Shen accepts, concluding the second Mali-Houzi war.

2400 - 1900~ YA

The Final Hou-Zi Fall

The Hou-zi Empire begins a gradual decline. With no tribute flowing in from their now lost provinces, noble families turn on one another in wars over wealth. These are known as the Jade Wars. Hou-Shen has little remaining power, commanding little influence following his crushing defeat against the elves.

Hou-Shen disappears into the jungle, perhaps having lost the will to lead, or live. He is never seen again.

Jing-Taiyun slowly crumbles under the weight of its own decadence and stagnation. Eventually, the old god “poison” returns to finish the job, slowly tainting Jing-Taiyun so thoroughly that no peoples could ever live there again.

The Hou-zi, leaderless and disparate, scatter into the jungles once more, forming small villages that live off subsistence farming and fishing. Imperial Hou-zi culture would never rise again, nor have the Hou-zi ever reclaimed their former glory ever since.

1800-1700~ YA

Fall of Masur

Labourers in the Kingdom of Masur discover deposits of ‘rainbow sand’ in the east of al-Damunhur while constructing new housing. They soon discover the sand has supernatural properties, granting those exposed to it profound, lucid dreams. It is declared sacred by the King of Masur.

Many in Masur find themselves slipping away under the influence of the sand, seeking to live in the endless euphoric dreams they provided instead of in reality. None suffered more than the King, who reportedly spent 23 days under the influence of the sand in a coma. When he woke, he never slept again. Having gone mad, he trapped thousands of his subjects within a burial mound to suffocate.

In the aftermath of their mad king, the Kingdom of Masur fragments into many small townships. Human settlements would remain in the deserts of Axios for centuries to come, never again reclaiming their former glory.

1800 - 900~ YA

An Age of Peace for the Elves

With Hou-Zi civilization having disappeared into the history books, and the human Kingdom of Masur having long since fractured into squabbling city-states in the Northern Desert, the Elves remain the only major powers on Axios.

The High Elves of the west, Wood Elves of the deep wilds, and Dark Elves of Magara’lin enjoy a millennium of relative peace and coexistence. They are never united as one as they were when faced with war, but conflict between them is small-scale and inconclusive. It is during these centuries of peace that things settle into a lul.

IV - Rift Spread and Emigrations Follow

(800-300 YA)

800-600~ YA

The Wood Elves Splinter

Garthon, an Archdruid of the Naelu’ir, the wood elven druidic clergy rises to power. He begins preaching rhetoric that it is the wood elves destiny to conquer and subjugate all other elves, to bring the old ways back to them. Taynei’Hiylu (The Green Dragon), seeking to avoid war, has Garthon arrested. He manages to escape.

Garthon discovers a word altar, an ancient piece of forbidden magic created in the earliest days of Malin’s Kingdom. He utilizes its power for himself in order to force control over nature, giving him powers that rivals the Green Dragon herself. He begins rallying many wood elven seeds to his cause of conquest.

A great war erupts between the Wood Elves. Dozens of Seeds fight with Garthon, who would give them a glorious empire, and dozens more fight for The Green Dragon Taynei- their dragaar prophet, in the name of peace.

Taynei’Hiylu’s forces eventually win out in a climatic battle fought upon the isle of Malin, the traditional sight of the Wood Elven omentahu- tribal gathering. She confronts Garthon and pleads for him to surrender. Garthon manages to seal Taynei into the earth using his word altar in a last act of spite. He is then killed by Irrin Sirame, the now ancient war-lord and progenitor of the wood elves. Peace had come, and the wood elves would never spread to make war on the other elven subraces. But following the devastating effects of the war and Taynei sealed away, their people were shattered.

A final omentahu is called. It is declared that all Seeds must be abolished, and the wood elves must be as one. They then embark on a great migration to the lands of Axios, leaving their wartorn and cursed lands of Axios behind. There they lived, united and sedentary, eventually forgetting their old nomadic way of life. Seed Culture becomes a thing of the past.

700-600~ YA

The High Elves Flee

A young mali'aheral seeks to rise up in the meritocracy of ancient Haelun'or. However, is attempted advancements and arcane inventions continuously disgrace him. Finally, when a ward of his devising goes haywire and kills two members of the silver council, Larihei steps in personally and exiles him from Elcihi'thilln.

Lomal is enraged, and wanders the primal wilds aimlessly, until he finds an ancient piece of elven magic buried beneath the earth. A word altar. One of a few. He is confronted by the Daemon Tayl, who disguises himself as the spirit of a deceased Malin who has supposedly ascended to godhood. "Malin" makes a pact with Lomal, enhancing the word altar's power to be able to control and altar the physical make-up of elves via their true names. In return, Lomal must return Haelun'or to the 'rightful path' and worship Malin as a god.

Lomal returns, and immediately a rift is created in Elcihi'thilln. Many influential councillors and bloodlines support him, while many remain loyal to Larihei, who sees the word altar's physical modifications as an abomination to the values of purity. For years, influence shifts back and forth via power plays, seduction politics and grand balls thrown to curry influence.

War breaks out only when someone makes an attempted assassination on Larihei. Lomal's followers strike hard, and push Larihei's followers out of Elcihi'thilln. The last of the unmutated mali'aheral flee through a portal (supposedly of Larihei's making, as she had dissapeared unexplainedly shortly beforehand) and close it behind them.

The portal experiences a disturbance, and the mali'aheral are ripped in two. Some would find themselves in Aegis, where they would join their elven cousins in the soon-to-be-founded city of Laurelin, and eventually assimilate. Some would end up in a primordial Asulon, where they would found a new Elcihi'thilln, which mysteriously would be in ruins when the descendents of Aegis made their way into those lands.

500-400~ YA

Magara’lin is Plunged into Chaos

Azul, the first son of Veluluai begins to resent the state of the Dark Elven people as pariahs and their servitude to Luara, the moon spirit. He appeals this to his mother, who scorns him for his way of thinking. Seeing no way else to progress, Azul poisons Veluluai, in an attempt to coup for power in Magara’lin and take control.

Uradras, Azul’s father and Veluluai’s Husband, is devastated and infuriated. He orders Azul killed, but Azul- with a large army of followers, retreat into the deepest caves of the Dark Elven mountains.

A guerilla war begins. Azul’s followers (the Azulites) fight in the name of freeing themselves from the servitude to the Moon Spirit. Uradras and his army of Vindicators fight to avenge Veluluai, mother of Dark Elves. The war ends with Azul is captured and brought to his father. The remaining Azulites, leaderless, are hunted down like dogs. Either killed or sent into exile on the surface.

Uradras presents Azul to Luara the Moon Spirit, who curses him with eternal life and painful insanity. He is locked up deep within the mountains, where he still lives today, howling and wailing like a beast.

Without Veluluai to guide them, the Dark Elves decide it is time to leave the caves of Magara’lin- a home she had built for them. It was time to forge their own fate. Having heard of the wood elven exodus to distant lands, they soon follow, landing on Aegis where they begin to intermingle with other elves who had already settled on that continent. Back on Axios, Magara’lin is eventually abandoned.

300~ YA

The Depopulation of Axios

As more and more Elves migrate to Aegis, a certain High Prince Native lays the foundation of the new capital city of Malinor. The Princedom of Malinor, an echo of the first ancient kingdom of the Elven forefather. Elves of all subraces would join this new nation, creating a polity which would survive two cataclysms, falling finally in Anthos after years of war and internal corruption.

Axios, over time, is largely depopulated. The High Elves leave to join their brethren in Asulon, while the remaining wood and dark elves sail en masse to Aegis.

The remaining humans of Masur had left by this point, sailing to greener pastures in other lands after having undergone a millenia of decline after their Kingdom’s fracture and fall.

The Hou-Zi remain, but in far too small numbers to be considered significant. They live out their days of meager survival in the jungles and ruins that were once their great empire.

Year 1571 - Common Era

All Descendent races- Orcs, Dwarves, Men and Elves, step foot upon the continent of Axios. They find a wild, largely uninhabited land dotted with various ruins. The elves who land, the folk of Haelun’or, the Warhawkes, and the Dominion of Malin, unknowingly, have returned to the soil of their ancestors, where their histories began.

Only time will tell of the stories of the ancient Kingdoms and Empires of this land will reveal themselves to its modern day inhabitants.

This thread will serve as the megathread in which all lore containing Axios map lore and history will be listed. This is to serve as a resource for people to draw from. Primarily for two purposes.

1) Anyone who wishes to write lore. The threads listed below will serve as a reference for you to go off of to ensure the lore you write matches this map’s canon history, and thus will make the lore you write eligible for acceptance.

2) Any ET wishing to make a dedicated event line involving can use the threads below to draw names, locations and what-have-you to put into their events.

This thread is open for anyone to view. However, bare in mind that very little of the history below is commonly known in RP. So, please do not suddenly roleplay that your characters have gained a complete understanding of world history! That said, enjoy the Axios megathread.

History Lore

Full Ancient History of Axios (TIMELINE)

Malin’s Kingdom

Origins of the Wood Elves

Origins of the Dark Elves

Origins of the High Elves

The Hou-Zi, Ancient Ape-folk of Axios

Kingdom of Masur (Human)

Deity Lore

Excerpt on Azdromoth

Guild Lore

Nephilim - Dragonkin of Azdromoth

Misc. Lore

Please keep checking this thread regularly, as it will continue to be updated as new lore is posted!