Erobos' Last Century

The world of Erobos has been rocked by a great revelation once again. The change that came with the Turning sent the world back decades. Generations of people who had grown up learning to operate magical machinery now had to relearn how to sow their crops by traditional means. Production of goods in many places ground to a halt. The repercussions were great, but the world worked together to rebuild, and relearn. 

Now, with the reveal of the power of the soul, the world is shattered in a new way. The people who walk by every day have a great energy inside them. Every person has the power embedded inside their very humanity to recover and replace the life of another. Indeed even beyond that they could be used to enhance great magics and any number of other things that are yet to be discovered. And already, that has been shared with each and every person in Erobos. Everyone has potential to amass a great power within their soul, and it can be obtained through immense evil, just as through virtuous good. 

There are two schools of thought that have emerged in the past century. Philosophers have debated the validity of the claim that this discovery has changed everything to no avail. The truth of the matter is, this power has always rested within the people. As far as we know, no one action has "released" the power of souls to the world, and the roadblock to harnessing it was simply the knowledge of its existence. As the war in Bicombe showed, the power of the soul is an overwhelmingly strong force; it also showed that it comes at an immense cost. The second school of thought declares that the discovery in fact changes very little about our understanding of the world. It is just the same as discovering a new metal or species. Yes, of course, one can now interface with the world in new ways but just knowing that the soul is a font of energy is not integrally different than the views of many world religions. 

After the completion of the war in Bicombe, Usan, Eoa, and Eutia formed the Bulwark Alliance. Through urgent talks, they decreed that research of soul energy at the cost of human life was off the table, and declared it an international crime. Qanea was offered the opportunity to sign the accord, but declined. The Dresden council, ever secret, has made no declaration on the subject. Intelligence has inferred that there are still efforts in Bicombe to further the understanding of the soul. There are also reports that some fringe researchers, after the declaration of the Bulwark Alliance, took off to Anfia to attempt research there. Anfia has never been claimed by any nation officially, due to its harsh climate, and has stayed a somewhat lawless land. The Bulwark Alliance stated that the continent would fall within international jurisdiction, however. 

A few short years later, Usan revealed that their emperor had fallen ill. There was great clamour in the country as the Shai Aheerah, the country's highest council, met for the first time in thirty years to discuss how to replace the emperor. It was decided that a national election would be held, and the representatives on the council would take the results to find the next leader. Election campaigns took place over the span of the next year, as the Emperor's condition declined. It boiled down to three options after a few months; The emperor's only son, General Entesh El-Qhadim, the head of the country's military, Arbiter Ephraim Kaliddi, the highest ranking official from the Madrasat Kuulishai, (Zamanna's most prestigious school of magic), and Maher'issi Alhayer, one of the representatives of the Shai Aheerah. After a series of stinging accusations towards each candidate, the final count came to elect El-Qhadim to take his father's place as emperor. As the seat of Emperor is a lifelong position, he had to wait until his father's passing until taking his place. The wait, however, was not long. The illness took the Emperor only a few short weeks after the completion of the election, and Emperor Entesh El-Qhadim's reign began. So far, his rule has come with great changes to the country. The Council has been reduced in size from nine to five, and with the resignation of two of the members after the coronation, the council has become something of a puppet show. The country's military power shifted over to the captain of the covert military branch, now General Mikhlab Shaytan, and with it, the military might has significantly increased. The intelligence community now recognizes Usan as the strongest source of military information in the world.

In Eutia, the Bicombian war struck the borders hard. The country had to pivot very quickly from fighting itself to protecting its shared interests from another enemy. King Cardigraff wasted no time trying to expand Bicombes borders once again. The hastily unified Eutian military was able to keep border secured, and after almost a year the fighting finally subsided. The issue now was trying to keep the peace afterwards. There were peace talks that were hosted by a group of people who had started to take shelter in the caves of the Godscar Chasm, who called themselves the Stonewardens. The peace talks were long and difficult, and after months of deliberation and threats they were finally able to agree on a tentative agreement that they would work on reunifying the country for the good of the people and for the prosperity of the land. The capital was re-established in Vinrisse, overlooking the Chasm. The two factions of the government worked with support of Eoan officials to rebuild and help the economy get back on its feet. After a few decades of relatively prosperous peace, there was a small faction of rebels called The Bear's Heart who slowly grew in size, stoking small flames of rebellion across the country. There were some small incidents over a number of years where members of the Bear's Heart made attacks on government officials or events to try and send the country into civil war again. It eventually became public that a former member of Eastern Eutia, who during the war was in support of Eutia as an isolationist country, was a leader of the Bear's Heart. The country rallied around the common enemy and there was a large effort to weed out the group. Eventually, it was announced that the leader had fled the country, and the attacks from the Bear's Heart stopped. The past few decades have seen Eutia focused on strengthening its economy and beginning to send expeditions out to neighboring Veleolzopyth, whose ecology has rapidly changed and evolved for unknown reasons. 

Eoa has seen little change over the past century. It's main intent has been to provide aid to the countries that need it most. It was the main source of support for Usan after the turning, and took in a wash of refugees after the onset of the war in Bicombe. It attended peace meetings in Eutia as a mediator, and has continued to maintain a strong relationship with Usan, establishing official international places of learning sponsored by Usan in the country. The Country has sunk a great deal of resources into trying to develop new technology to circumvent the turning. The development process has been incredibly slow and tedious, but some researchers say that there is a great deal of promise in the new materials acquired from expeditions into the mountains of Anfia and the Akostic Iron of the Godschar Chasm. As the war of Bicombe raged, the threat of increasingly strong groups of bandits in Eoa rose. It seemed that some of the technology around the power of the soul managed to sneak its way into the hands of these groups, and they ran with it. A group called the Abject Will was able to single-handedly make an effort to push back against the threat, as the Eoan military had been unable to dedicate significant forces to weed out the groups. The Abject Will declared that they had "cut the head off the snake" and that bandit groups would scatter. This was now 46 years ago. The bandits did scatter for the most part, and the Abject Will publicly retired shortly after, retreating to a life of safety and comfort. Afterwards, the country broke ground on a new project, the prison spire. Completed nearly forty years later, it is the highest security prison on the planet, meant to contain the most dangerous threats to Erobos. The prison lies on the southernmost isles of Eoa, in the Belt of the Wilder.