Middara is an enduring land. On its strange continents, vast empires still rule. It is not at all unusual for the newcomer to view these nations as immortal, unchanging across centuries. Culture and laws change almost not at all, trapping citizens in the strangling grip of whatever authority came first.

Haltus looks like this, where the Brahamian Empire dwarfs a handful of smaller neighbors, extending across the continent from one coast to the other. For those obedient to the tenets of Faulkism, this may not be so bad. The Dragon Emperor offers stability across generations, after all, allowing a court of obsequious hangers-on to grow fat and complacent. A stable nation need not innovate, nor explore. For the Empire of Brahama, they were already the wealthiest and largest power. Where dangers appeared, they always eclipsed the risks. A new temple unearthed from some long-lost civilization, or rumors of wealth to the east? Worth a passing notation on a map at most, to be shuffled into a dusty closet to rot.

This state might've continued forever, Middara does allow for the agelessness of its people. But for those pushed to the margins, those without the enormous wealth of family name and no taste for licking boots--this is not an option. Even survival may not be guaranteed, for those holding heretical beliefs or practicing a 'deviant' lifestyle. The Empire has its inquisition in the form of the Grim Deacons, swift to stomp out any who dare raise their heads a little too high above the orthodoxy.

Those who rise too tall are swiftly felled. Those with wisdom instead chose to bide their time, planning and plotting and carefully considering what to do next. To move too quickly against oppression is to be used as its next terrifying example. Only through wisdom does another option appear.

Long have stories drifted west from the space beyond Brahma's edge. Vast cities were rumored to rise from the jungle there, ancient wisdom lost to the minds of modern Middara. Some said their builders were not even human, burrowing deep passages and clandestine laboratories into every inch of rock.

Incredible wealth, it was said, waited to be discovered in these ancient ruins, by any soul bold enough to venture within. This would come not only in gold and precious stones, but also in objects of incredible enchantment, magical arms and industrial machines dating to a more civilized age.

Such stories occasionally lured fools to venture east or south of the Brahamian border, often to never return. Or worse—some of them did come back, only twisted and contaminated by a horrifying plague known as the Blight. This disease spreads in most living things, moving slowly enough that hosts may go years before they finally develop lethal symptoms. Left unchecked, a single Blighted Guardian can infect a whole city, leaving carriers of this death plague to scatter and bring sickness with them.

Brahma's Dragon Emperor heard reports of this terror, and decreed all expansion to the East would cease. By his command, forts rose up, and were soon staffed by the staunchest soldiers of the empire.

For a century or more, these forts were a position of glory, the first sign of anything brazen enough to challenge the Dragon Emperor. Time passed, the last of the Guardians fell, the eastern forts no longer seemed so wise. Soon they became a punishment post, as well as the forsaken corner of the Empire waiting for all those bold enough to seek to rise too far above their station.

At Brahama's easternmost extreme, where the mountains droop low and rumors fester of the largest population of ravenous Guardians--here stand the Solemn Company. Once, these men and women were the bravest in all Brahma. Now they're mostly fools, spending their term of service in irrelevance. So it was in 1890 by the Earth Calendar that the founders of Elenia would first meet.

They were both recruits, taken from different parts of the empire to serve out their first tour. Brahama's military was largely a ceremonial apparatus in those days, atrophied from many centuries of disuse. Most who filled its ranks were functionaries, bureaucrats, and other such sponges of public resources.

Not Balthazar Arsen or Lo Jeong, however. Tales vary on the specifics--whether both came to the idea independently, or else one convinced the other. Regardless, the outcome was the same. These men stood atop the walls of their crumbling fortress, looking south and east of Brahma's border, and they wondered.

Only the Solemn Company was permitted to violate the Emperor's decree and venture beyond the border into the region called Elenia, and only while on patrol. Most viewed these trips with fear, threatening their safe careers practicing calligraphy on official scrolls and collecting their substantial salaries.

Not Lo and Balthazar. They volunteered for many such patrols, traveling as far south as they dared and gathering valuable intelligence about the land called Elenia.

What they found confirmed many of the ancient reports. The dangers were real—many strange creatures infested this place, not yet tamed or culled by human expansion. At the same time, the prizes of conquest would be substantial. They saw rich valleys of black soil, and numberless white ruins rising from the landscape. An ancient culture had built them, older than the Empire they served. Someone should be bold enough to explore it, but who?

At first, they were loyal to their office. The two wrote reports of their observations, and passed them as far up the chain as Brahamian courtesans would permit. This got them nowhere, except a transfer from the Solemn Company's post to forts more central to the empire.

This was probably meant to be a reward--applauding their tenacity, while silencing an element of danger before it could upset Brahma's careful balance. Take your gold and go home.

The two took their gold, but they did not fall out of contact with each other, or forget about what they'd seen. Eventually, their terms of service were complete, and both were released. What would they do with this newfound freedom?

The answer, as it turned out, was focusing every possible effort on this welcoming land to the south. Thanks to their own service, Lo and Balthazar knew exactly what security was in place to keep anyone from trespassing. They had many friends in the Solemn Company, willing to whisper patrol schedules for a little gold to weigh down their pockets.

They could go south, but to what end? The future Diarchs could not conquer the new land alone. They had already learned of its dangers, and been rebuffed whenever they pushed too far to the south. The Blight was no mere superstition, so reports of worse things found further south and east were likely true as well.

If they wanted to take anything of Elenia's bounty, they would need an army. They did not have one, nor could they recruit enough interested parties from among their fellow veterans. Few were the soldiers who actually joined to fight in those days. Elenia promised great wealth, but also that not all who ventured would return. They could not recruit too openly, since their expedition was a flagrant violation of the Emperor's will. Even if any who joined them agreed with this proclamation, the same would not be true of the Grim Deacons.

With no way to make an Elenian expedition happen, the desire waited on a shelf for a time. Neither came from particular wealth, and the salary of a soldier would take a very long time to build high enough. The Empire of Brahma might not have a Caste system as such, but its social hierarchy was very firmly entrenched. For a time, Elenia remained a dream.

None can say for sure whether the ultimate unions of Balthazar Arsen and Lo Jeong were cynical, opportunistic arrangements, or born of real love. Neither monarch is exactly willing to field questions on the subject. Whichever way you believe, it's undeniably true that both men made powerful matches. Balthazar married Kezia Lucero, while Lo courted Ida Fang.

These women both came from powerful families, albeit from opposite ends of Brahma. Both brought 'new' money to the table—yet not to buy small plots of land and settle into the established pattern of life in the Empire. If they had done so, Elenia would not exist.

Instead, Balthazar and Lo convinced their new extended families of the viability of the expedition, and the rewards that might await them. Yes, they would have to defy the will of the Emperor—but it was a very old decree, and little enforced. So long as they send wagons of gold instead of victims of the Blight back to the west, the Emperor would forgive their trespass.

It took years to amass the talented people and prepare the equipment. This expedition would be like none before. They were not traveling east to poke into a few ruins and scrape up what they could carry. No, they would move to conquer. When their vision finally became reality, they would become the rulers of a new city state. So they say, anyway. Scholars in Brahma dispute the account from here. Of course the future Diarchs would insist their initial intentions were noble, while openly admitting to defying the Emperor's orders. How convenient for them that they were obedient little lambs while plotting to capture the wealth that belonged to the Emperor!

It was in the Earth year 1928 that the secretive expedition finally set sail eastward across Brahama's sprawling countryside. They circumvented the Solemn Company by night. Their goal set not for Elenia directly, but a staging area in a city state called Fairedge.

This independent town beyond the border was relatively insignificant in the empire's view—soon to be erased by the horrors around it, so not worthy of much notice. Its noble King Wulfric smelled potential in the expedition, and so had permitted his city for use as a staging area and resupply base. Importantly, it also allowed the expedition to recruit many of their mercenaries—men and women who wouldn't sprint back and whisper into the Emperor's ear what was about to take place.

At this stage, secrecy remained imperative. It would take some time to reach further east than the army could follow. Bringing a large force over land would’ve been impossible, not without significant demolition. Fortunately, the Wulfric family owned several large airships they were willing to offer for the expedition, for the right price.

Soaring over the dangers of the passage, 1929 brought the first permanent base in Elenia. They named this small base Tanathea, nestled into a narrow gap in the mountain pass near the western Veran Mountains that would later be known as the Great Divide. This would not come easily—the land here was filled with hostile creatures, none of which were eager to share with human interlopers.

A fierce battle commenced, with human forces fighting their way up the mountains from below while bombarding them from the airships above. When the smoke cleared, the city was theirs, though not without suffering their first casualties. When the dead were buried and the funeral was over, the expedition was victorious, and the ruined city was theirs.

Here the relics were not buried and eroded by vast lengths of time—instead, white stone towered over the mountains, clinging to the edge despite their incredible age. After a fierce battle with its defenders, Balthazar dedicated the structure and all it contained to the Jeong House.

Soon, the empty shells of stone structures would house the largest permanent settlement of the expedition, quickly taking the place of their first fortress. Lo Jeong named it Castikoff. It was from here the full scope of their ambition finally became clear. Elenia was overflowing with beasts never observed, of which the Guardians were but one terrible fraction. They needed reinforcements.

So it was that Lo and Ida Jeong set sail to the East, bringing an artifact recovered from Castikoff as evidence of the wealth Elenia could offer. It was time to call in the big guns.

Few had attempted to journey through the Middle Passage in those days. Those few who entered on foot did not return, and it wasn't like Elenia had an overflowing flood of explorers. Thanks to one of the Wulfric airships, Lo and Ida made their return trip through this treacherous canyon. There the winds blast with arctic cold all year, concealing the valley in a fog that never clears with the sun. Specific records of this journey back are sparse, though we do know that not all members of the crew survived. Whatever happened during that trip, the Jeong family did not seem eager to record.

Fortunately for the ongoing Elenian expedition, their desperate pleas for reinforcements did not go unanswered. When they returned the following spring, it was with hundreds of men, and a long caravan of supplies too heavy to bring by ship alone. Moving so much equipment and manpower risked the notice of Brahma, and indeed there are some rumblings of imperial attention beginning at this time. None in the Emperor's court could have imagined the scope of what was to come.

Emboldened by strong reinforcements, the expedition began its second wave, pushing north and west of Castikoff. Every mile was a challenge, given the prevalence of the Blight and many wild Loa not known in Brahma. Yet for as deadly as these threats could be, nothing as united as the forces in Castikoff appeared. Not until they discovered the ruins of Elenia.

Nothing like the Elenia City ruins had ever been observed before. Towering marble monoliths, tapering hundreds of feet into the sky. Huge glowstones suspended over a sprawling metropolis half swallowed by shrubs, brush, and trees. Ancient monuments of unspeakable age weathered away to nothing. A river sliced through it all, suggesting trade with nameless neighbors long gone to ruin. On one end, a towering castle fortress stood vigil over a lake, protecting the flow of water through the city. On the other, two spires rose higher than all others, their once white surface covered with moss and dirt from incredible age.

At first, the expedition was not willing to enter, hearing voices and activity in the city beyond. Someone clearly lived there—a mighty civilization. Whoever they were, they could build grander masterpieces than anything ever seen in Brahma. Lo and Ida were the first to steal into the city by night, and return with an account of what they had seen. There were no people at all, but a huge population of inhuman creatures.

Many were Animate, standing eternal vigil in the structures where once their masters had created them. These beings of armor and metal had somehow come to tolerate the animals infesting their homes, but they would not do the same to humans. When the expedition entered, a bloody battle began.

Street by street, block by block, the Elenian expedition worked. At first it was simple butchery, drawing out dangerous creatures to fight while scattering animals to the surrounding wilderness. By the time Lo and Ida reached the White Spires, something was different.

Creatures of all kinds mounted a defense of the building, throwing themselves at the human expedition. They soon learned why—a terrible force waited in the spires, one that claimed dominion over all Elenia. This being was called Hogrifar—an unspeakable aberration from an era long forgotten. Lo and Ida couldn't know yet why he fought so viciously to keep control of the spires, though they would soon learn.

Meanwhile, the other half of the expedition fought through the castle. Balthazar and Kezia faced off against a demon at the height of the castle. After a terrible battle, the two enlisted the help of Yun Jeong to seal the immortal demon, as he could not be slain. Wielding forgotten sorcery, Yun created a contract strict enough to bind the demon Azule Bathine, imprisoning him in perpetuity. The future Arsen Castle was captured.

After days of protracted siege of the white spires, Lo's half of the expedition finally drove Hogrifar underground. They attempted to follow, but soon realized how vast the subterranean complex really was. The Spires were only the iceberg in a massive underground city, bigger than all surface ruins combined. Instead of hunting Hogrifar down, the expedition elected to seal all passages leading to the lower levels, and claimed victory.

Lo's party had just discovered something far more valuable than any ruin or enchantment. Just within the white vaults, barely beneath the loamy soil, was a Portal.

Until this very moment, the Elenian expedition could hold to its shroud of legitimacy within the Brahmanian empire. Yes, what they were doing was a violation of the emperor's decrees, but such things only matter when you're wrong. If they were successful, clearing away hundreds of kilometers of new land, it would be only natural for the Dragon Emperor to claim it was his will all along. To this day, scholars still debate whether this was the expedition's original goal, or if it was seditious from the start.

The discovery of a portal represented a final Rubicon for the future Elenians. A single portal had the potential to provide limitless wealth, and the flow of immigration from earth to form a new population. To Brahma, a second port would represent an incredible increase in power, securing total dominion over Haultus.

This is not what the future Diarchs decided. Instead, Balthazar ruled the discovery concealed. Handsome payments were made to all who knew of its existence, with rich promises of use to come when it could be exploited. For the moment it would be sealed away, with warnings of the Aberration Hogrifar to frighten any overly curious explorer.

The portal stayed hidden, as the ancient Elenia was not yet strong enough to exploit it. Even so, it's clear the expedition's sponsors knew of its existence, because the flow of troops and manpower increased considerably. From Fairedge, the Wulfric family lent every airship they owned to the cause, sending them back and forth with mercenaries and supplies.

Despite all the work securing and reinforcing Castikoff, Elenia City was instantly and definitively chosen as the growing nation's future capital. All their engineers would be relocated there, with instructions to begin repairing infrastructure and clearing roads. The conquest of Elenia also marks the end of the expedition as a single unified force. From then on, explorers and soldiers separated into smaller groups, searching for resources and land to turn into their future holdings.

One such smaller group was the Hyde family, which discovered a network of mines high in the mountains, rich with the exotic elements of Iridium and crystal Itlum. These resources made the settlement worth fighting for, even when powerful waves of Blighted descended on its walls. When they held, the city of Hyde was born. Forges soon sprung up on the mountainside, with docks high in the sky for airships to transport cargo and drydocks for constructing more vessels.

Meanwhile, Lo and Ida were determined to chart the rest of Elenia, convinced that more remarkable discoveries were waiting to be found. This belief was eventually confirmed in Greyhaven, a vast fortress with an intact, ancient Float Core at its center. They faced another wave of native opposition here, where near-human abominations called Soul Butchers made their home in a perilous canyon called the Eerie.

All attempts to explore or conquer the Eerie failed, with Lo's army forced to retreat after suffering heavy losses. Where they fled, they heard the screams of their comrades as they were devoured echoing through the canyon. Even worse, knowledge of human settlement spread quickly through these creatures. Soon they were making regular raids against Greyhaven and the supply caravans, stealing food and troops to devour.

After several years of skirmishes and many lives lost, Lo and Ida Jeong led a decisive charge towards the Eerie, driving the majority of its horrors before them. The beasts fled just under the surface, expecting the army to follow and make themselves easy targets. Instead, they sealed the canyon with an impenetrable magical barrier. This Aegis stone trapped the Soul Butchers and their lesser minions underground, making Greyhaven safe for colonization.

After a decade of expansion and rigorous trade, Elenia began looking far less like a few wilderness camps and more like a nation. The Elenia City ruins had been fully cleared, and now held a few thousand craftspeople, off-duty soldiers, and their families.

Farms scattered further and further around them, until they no longer had to import food from allies abroad. The growing nation's need for metal and airships was soon met by Hyde, with seafaring trade flooding from Rhamsted into the rest of Elenia. Roads now connected each growing settlement, with a system of patrols to keep them safe. What had once been a horrifying wasteland now had all the signs of becoming a nation.

Brahma's aristocracy knew of the expedition by then. It was impossible to miss the rare artifacts appearing in their markets, and the flood of eager adventurers now crossing the eastern border. Many of the Solemn Company's finest had deserted over the wall to join it, and their replacements made no secret of permitting travel for the right price.

The Arsen and Jeong families were not unknown to them, and there was no secret of their ambition. But now at last they openly declared their intention, crowning themselves Diarchs of the new, Independent nation of Elenia. To secure the loyalty of many important allies, they offered covert use of the portal, extracting relatives from earth and reinforcing their numbers with immigrants from the earth city of Seattle.

It was at this moment that the Emperor and the rest of the Song family finally realized the significance of the expedition. Though the Portal itself remained secret, they must have suspected one had been found. No nation can survive without a portal, even one as open as Elenia soon became. Whether they knew or only theorized, this was the moment conflict between the Empire and Elenia began in earnest.

The Empire of Brahma was a vast colossus, ancient and confident in its power. If it had taken decisive action at this first opportunity, its army would've swept across Elenia with little opposition. Elenia had fewer citizens across its entire borders than the number of soldiers in their army.

But war was not what happened, not at first. Middara's leaders are less willing to send troops to their death, knowing the holes they tear in families will ferment discontent in their homelands that never truly fades. Every loss of an immortal life is a terrible tragedy. So they started slow—blockading trade, discouraging migration, and sending small teams across the border to probe at Elenian weakness.

There was no recognition given to the new nation, except to declare its new Diarchs as traitors and prescribe their execution. Unfortunately for Brahma, these restrictions came much too late. When supply lines through the Empire were cut, Elenia could rely on trading partners from the sea instead. What couldn't be bought was soon manufactured domestically instead, encouraging the rapid development of Elenia's native industries.

Elenia weathered Brahma's attempts to crush their growing nation without much difficulty. Instead of slinking east to avoid starvation, Elenia prospered.

Many of those who flocked to the south did so not for the wealth promised by Elenian ruins, but for the freedom that Elenia offered. Brahma's Faulkist roots meant a culture of numerous laws and harsh punishments for any who dared to stray from cultural orthodoxy.

From its earliest days, Elenia could not afford to be so particular with its citizens. When the wilderness beyond your camp is filled with inhuman monsters that want to eat you alive, you can't get picky about who your allies are praying to. It's a similar story with other cultural mores—where Brahma constricted, Elenia liberated.

Brahma's restrictions barely slowed the flood of immigrants into Elenia, though they did make the journey more dangerous, and the punishment for failure more severe. The nations of Middara can tolerate many things, but losing population is among the most devastating blows. Welcoming so many citizens of Brahma across the Elenian border might as well be a declaration of war.

Elenia had no intelligence apparatus yet, no way to know what was coming. Not until Brahma's troops landed outside Tanathea and began their assault.

The Empire expected a slaughter, followed by a complete surrender. Few Middarans are willing to risk their eternal lives, especially when the conflict is fought for gold. Obviously the traitors would turn over the rebellious Arsen and Jeong families and surrender before anyone was hurt.

The Empire failed to realize just how brutal Elenian lands could be—this meant Tanathea was a fortress, with high walls and two dozen guns. Just as critically, they didn't see what Elenia already represented to its people. In preserving their nation, the people of Elenia preserved a place for them to live as they chose, love who they wanted, and worship the God that pleased them. Once experienced, few wanted to relinquish these freedoms.

A terrible battle commenced. Despite being outnumbered, despite the airships and the presence of the Grim Deacons leading the assault, Tanathea held. For seven days and seven nights they fought, until at last their supply of powder was exhausted. With casualties mounting and supplies running low, the city surrendered, and Brahma's weakened troops took the damaged fortifications as their own.

King Balthazar Arsen was not the sort of man to forgive an assault on their border. Despite Lo's opposition, he managed to convince Sophia Jeong, Lo's eldest daughter. There would be no negotiating, plotting, or scheming. Balthazar gathered all who would listen in the streets of Elenia City. He spoke of the brave last stand of Tanathea's defenders, and swore that he would not allow an Elenian city to fall into the empire's hands. Their Diarchs wouldn't send others to die in their place, he would lead the charge to take the fortress back.

Within the week, Balthazar had mobilized a makeshift army, and recruited enough airships to transport them to the weakened city of Tanathea. They descended on the conquered fort like an avalanche. The fortress fell in a single night. On condition of their surrender, Brahma's troops were permitted to flee on foot to the east, carrying their wounded with them.

The battle was over and the fortress won, yet Balthazar knew his victory could not last. Tanathea stood so close to the empire, far closer to their ability to reinforce than his own. It was Sophia who proposed their fateful choice: they would raze their own city.

Using captured fuel and powder from the Brahmians, Balthazar's army set the fortress and its surrounding farms alight. The fire burned for days, filling the sky with black smoke visible all the way to the Empire's own borders. If Elenia could not hold the city, no one would.

Balthazar's army withdrew, taking the survivors of the first battle back to Elenia City to rebuild their lives.

Tanthea might have fallen in the end, but its fires did not burn in vain. With the return of its defeated first wave, Aristocrats across the empire began to ask whether Elenia was worth fighting for after all. Its people were hardened by their brutal surroundings, with every man and woman willing and able to fight for Elenia's survival. The empire's forces were vast, and its advantages insurmountable. If the Emperor willed it, the war could have continued. Was one portal and a monster-infested wasteland worth the sacrifice of so many soldiers?

While debates raged in the capital, Ida and Kezia reached back to their families still living in the empire, informing the Emperor that Elenia wished for peace. They would negotiate, if he was willing. Incredibly, he was. The Dragon Emperor himself traveled to Fairedge along with several members of the Song family—most notably, his heir Ling Song. Ling stood as the staunchest voice against Elenia, demanding the Diarchy surrender and beg for the Emperor's forgiveness.

Yet the Emperor himself felt differently. In his eyes, the Arsen and Jeong families had secured the mandate of heaven. Their successes proved they were worthy to hold the land, so long as they could follow certain provisions.

The treaty that followed put an end to the fermenting war before it could overflow and served as Elenia's official recognition. From that point on, other nations could trade openly, the Harbingers could officially open their guild in Elenia City. With the signatures on the Fairedge accords, Elenia as we know it was born. 

Much could be said of the years that followed—the establishment of many cities, strengthening of institutions and national identity. As the millennium turned, the number of citizens who had arrived on Middara within Elenia outstripped its immigrants. With so many new arrivals, the idea of an Elenian identity became secure.

The diverse peoples of modern Elenia still welcomed immigrants from all corners of Middara, much to the annoyance of authoritative nations. United under one flag, the Diarchy stands tall against far larger powers. If the nation survives the next decade, it seems assured of its position among Middara's mightiest nations.