[An Excerpt from “An Empire’s Hymn”, written by Proclus Zimisces, an Archesian Scholar. Written in Year 138 of the Third Era]

“Perhaps one of the greatest things that the Empire of Archios of Yore had left behind was a legacy of civilization. A Hymn to all those that would come after, where this book gains its title from. Of those that we find in the lands of Alfýr we find there are five distinctive peoples who inhabit her land as grand kingdoms and self-proclaimed empires. Beyond those are the scattered and delicate formations of tribes or petty kingdoms who have arisen from the lesser races of the lands.

That is not to say that these people of lesser races are inferior to the power of man in which these lands are now occupied, rather, unfortunate due to circumstances of which fate has thusly laid upon them. For example, the Valamir [High Elves] from eons ago in which the Empire of Archios had laid their foundation on the ruins of their old and crumbling Empire. Henceforth the Empire of Archios has been emboldened by the Valamir people, our cultures over the span of thousands of years creating a culture of extreme importance, knowledge, and skill unlike any that had come before.

Nor that of the Dvärgur[Dwarves] who hail from their mountain keeps and hill homes. Who’s skilled craftsman have aided the Archesian people in their highest and lowest of days. Much of the great works of stone that can be found in the Empire of Archios has been wrought of Dvärgur hands or design. In no other people would one find the skill in which to work metals or stone in the same fashion. But the commanlity between the Dvärgur and the Valamir is their seclusion. They reside themselves to city states of great power often surrounded by foreign peoples and powers. A handful of Valamirian city states can be found upon the coasts of Archios, where they continue to guide and be friends with the Archesian people like their days of old.

Though, now I speak of the hymns written to our people by the elder peoples of our lands, I now speak of the hymn left behind to those who had once been part of our great empire. To those who had squandered their opportunities, of betrayals, letters of love to what was our once great empire, and where they now draw themselves from.

First and foremost we shall go over and discuss my own people; The Archesians.

As stated previously the Archesians have drawn their success and power from the elder peoples of our world. Our stone and metals wrought for us by Dvärgur hands in our early years. Our practices of warfare, academia, and politics from the Valamir. Yet, from this odd combination of peoples from the mountains and coasts of our lands we have created something wholly unique in of itself. What would be, to date, the largest empire to ever grace the lands of Alfýr, spanning further in land and power than any who had come before.

In our Golden Age, our Pax Archios, the lands of Archios spread from Thyriac Coast to the Lorkir Straits. Efforts had gone underway to bring the various peoples and cultures of our vast empire within the fold of Archios, creating grand cities within their states. From which forums would be created to share ideas and learn, all the while being able to give them a voice within our Imperial Structure. Libraries in which to learn, of which the scholars would teach the people of Archesian ways and languages to better understand one another. Aqueducts to bring clean and fresh water to the grand cities that laid beyond the ancestral lands of Archios. From which drinking water was found, irrigation for their crops, and the ability to form public fountains and baths.

The influence and impact of the Empire of Archios is without question. The lands of Alfýr have been laid with the foundation of our peoples, giving those that now occupy it a chance to thrive upon our own creation in which we have failed. Though through our own failure we have striven to become something greater.

There is one thing about Archesians that I have come to learn over the last sixty years of my scholarly life. ‘Ex Cinere Resurgemus’, ‘We Shall Rise From the Ashes’. It has never been in Archesian nature give up. Nor do we make the same mistake twice. Our history represents that. How our people have carried themselves through the ages represents that. We are the great phoenix that, from its own death wails, burning to ash, rises stronger than before.

[Remaining Chapter continues about Archesian History and what would be its later influences on the modern peoples of Alfýr]

[Section: The Barbarians]

Though the Empire of Archios has tried many times in our past, even during the Pax Archios, the idea of bringing civility and order to the barbarians of our borders has never been an easy task. We had learned in our formative years that one cannot simply reject and throw away the traditions and culture of which had been conquered. From such practices rebellions and revolts had formed. We had learned this in our conquering of what is today Colvinia, a land subjected now to the Eldurian Empire. Though, to call what the Eldurian’s have an empire is an insult to the senses and the very meaning of the word.

Before the Empire of Archios had been a thought of the peoples, we had once been a grand republic formed upon the original ideas and thoughts of the Valamirian peoples who had guided our hand through the ages. Though, it had appeared we had not learned enough from them on how they had once taught us, and guided us.

When our armies had conquered what is now Colvinia, the senators and generals who now held power over them treated them as slaves and lesser to the new Archesian nobility that now controlled the lands. This sort of treatment lead to what is now referred to the ‘Burning of the North’.

Though not as northerly as our peoples would conquer and settle in later years, this was the furthest that any Archesian had ever been from their home beyond the great thousands of islands that reside along our coast. The matter of the subject though is not of our distance, but rather what had happened because of it. This being the greatest stretch of land in which our people have ever resided we did not entirely know how to control it, nor the people within. Our borders were often clashed with barbaric tribes that did not bend the knee to our rule, resulting in villages and towns burned to ash. Not only that, but those that had bent the knee were treated as slaves.

This formed a resentment within the formative tribes of Colvinia. A Wolf-Queen would rise through their ranks, leading one of the greatest and largest force of tribes and warriors from the land. Her name being Colvia, where the modern peoples now draw their own from. She had lead her great host of barbaric warriors south, across our border. There she had sacked countless villages, towns and cities. Yet when met with the great majesty of the city Archos she faltered. Unable to drive those within to surrender, she had assaulted her walls for years. The constant state of war had brought the Republic of Archos almost to its knees. Yet, our people even then did not falter.

Where the Senate had failed in leading our people, a Dictator would be elected to lead our peoples in a time of war and struggle. A man from the Southern Isles had been elected to lead during this time. His name was Servius Vergilius Vipsanius. What remained of the legions he had gathered together. Archos has served as a bastion from the northern invaders, the southern lands able to consolidate and prepare for war. The First Dictator Servius lead the Legions of Archos north from the southern lands, meeting the Wolf-Queen Colvia and her armies in the valley. Though the barbarians of the Wolf-Queen outnumbered our own ten to one, it proved fruitless for the invading forces.

Our legions were twice as trained and three times as equipped compared to even the highest barbarian warriors. There in the chaos of battle, though, the Wolf-Queen Colvia was able to witness her own losses of her people. That entire tribes begun to route from the fight. She knew she had lost before the might of our soldiers and the strategic mind of the First Dictator Servius. And thusly, she surrendered. Surrounded by her elite Wolf-Guard she was approached by Servius. And rather than be put to the blade as many had wanted of her, she was offered peace.

This choice of Servius, without the consent of the Senate, would prove to be what would propel our people into Pax Archios. The Wolf-Queen Colvia was offered peace. She would be able to continue her reign over her peoples, but under one condition. Her lands were to join our own under our flag. Her peoples would be educated in Archesian ways, and offered the chance to gain Archesian citizenship through a myriad of ways. And even her people would no longer be treated as slaves and lesser by any Archesian nobility that would reign over them.

A cosmopolitan approach that would prove to be fruitful in the coming years of the Republic that would turn Empire. Of which transformation I shall not be going over as that subject alone could be reserved for a grand trilogy of titles.

But it is from this cosmopolitan approach that Colvinia has arisen as it is now. A grand state of nobility, art, honour, and bravery. They had taken the best of themselves, and the best of which we had to offer them and combined them to make something better than where they had once come from. Following in the footsteps of our Empire, their people are, though not Archesian, the closest the world has come to civility and grandness from what were once a barbarian people.

Through the formative years of our Empire, Colvinia had proved time and time again to be one of our most staunch allies. An Archesian Legion would always be happy to have a Colvinian Auxiliary force besides them. Even now some of the Nobles of Colvinia have continued this tradition. Aiding Archios where and when it is able. Though it now resides under the thumb of Eldurian barbarism it still retains the nobility that it had achieved for itself.

Many of the cities and foundations that the Empire had laid out for the Colvinian people were still widely used to this day. Even now the nobility of the lands are of Colvinian and Archesian decent. To say they are bred from strength and power would be an understatement. And not too unlike when the Republic had conquered their ancient ancestors, the yoke in which Elduria has placed upon their shoulders has begun to grow heavy. A fire, much like the Wolf-Queen Colvia, has begun to burn in their hearts.

[Remainder of Chapter provides a more in depth structure to Colvinian Society, social structure, military prowess, and arts. Of which include sculpting, stone carving, and vinting. Much of it appears to be a love letter to the Colvinian people.]

[Section: A Burning Empire]

Though we had come to teach the Colvinian tribes to better represent a civilised people it appeared that these teachings and methods were later forgotten during the later years of our vast Empire. Already our legions had swept into Eldurian lands, beginning to form colonies within their borders and offering the same benefits that we had once given the Colvinian tribes, yet this was on the waning years of Pax Archios. Trouble from the southern seas were beginning to brew. And generations of unworthy emperors would sit upon the throne of Archios.

The cosmopolitan approach that had served the Archesian people for nearly five hundred years was, in the span of a single Emperor’s life, forgotten. During the reign of Emperor Dious the Second a new law was enacted. Where once the Empire maintained and even promoted the religions and practices of their conquered people, now such traditions would be made illegal, forcing the people who still held onto the roots of their ancestors to convert or face punishment. Many other scholars attribute this law to be the first stone to be pulled from under our great empire. Though, in the interim years much history was lost.

The colonies and cities within the Eldurian borders begun to grow discontent. Many of the Elders of the lands continued to practice their religions and traditions quietly, away from the prying eyes of the Empire. Yet it was not until one such meeting was discovered that a deep suspicion was set within the Senate and Emperor. A new State Order was formed. The Revelate. A form of elite men who acted as spies for the Empire within its own borders, seeking out dissent amongst the ranks, and illegal activities of those within their Empire.

Soon after their formation more and more sects of these illegal pagan sites were discovered and brought to ‘justice’. Though to call it justice is untrue. Perhaps in their eyes it was, but with the hindsight of today and what has come of our Empire one would consider them atrocities. They burnt down these people’s holy sites, and slaughtered their elders. Many of those that were persecuted in the early stages of these events left what is now Elduria, crossing the Lokir Straits to the Fýðracian Isles. There the original practices and religion of the Eldurian peoples continue to this day.

Yet, the Eldurian people proved themselves strong and unrelenting, just as they had done once before during the wars between our peoples, before our legions had conquered them. Those that remained continued to resist the new laws enacted against their pagan beliefs and practices. Little of this time remains to be recorded within any history book, as much of our knowledge of the time has been reserved to a few select tomes and scrolls that had survived the following wars with the Eldurian people. Much of what we now know of the wars is from oral tradition passed on by veterans and nobility of each side of the conflict.

A terrible host of Eldurian warriors rose underneath their King, Alaric the Bear. A host million of men strong, fuelled by their rage and anger against the crimes committed against their people by the Empire. Their elders slaughtered and hung for what was simply their traditions in which they had lived with their entire lives. And like a flame they rolled through the Empire, leading southward across the empire. City after city was sacked and burnt, leading into the lands of Colvinia, and reaching the mountainous borders of Archios.

Though what remained of the Legions we had were able to hold the barbarians at the mountain passes, they were unable to defend our long ally of Colvinia. The Eldurian host swept into the fertile lands of Colvinia, proclaiming themselves as their rulers, stating the Archesians had betrayed them. Left them to the great and terrible host of the North while they cowered behind their forts and mountain keeps. With only a handful of legions in the area to defend the lands of Colvinia there was little that the Empire could do to prevent their conquering by Eldurian hands.

Though to attribute the victory solely to the Eldurian horde is unjust. A plague had wracked the lands of the Empire only but fifty years prior, killing many able bodied and well trained men. An a threat to the south had formed in our years of complacency. The Mjarabian Dynasty, formed from the fertile coastal lands to the south, created upon the backs of Slave Armies. The Empire of Archios had been surrounded on all sides by enemies and threats, and yet even now our great Empire continues.

Though, a fraction of what it once was…

[Section ends here. Proclus Zimisces begins to cite tomes that can be found within the Imperial Library of Archios that can shed more light on the matter of the Empire’s fall]

[Section: The Noble Barbarians]

In their formative years the people of Fýðracia, though derived from the refugees of the Eldurians to the isles across the straits, have proven themselves to be some of the most noble and loyal of barbarians that the Empire has ever come to know. Though their association with the Empire is young their stories and traditions have run deeper than even the Eldurians could recount. They derive from a faith of warriors, bound by honour to their Gods. Faithful not only to their traditions, but to one another.

They have proven to be some of the few warriors who could even come close to the prowess of our Empire of Old. The Northern Giants, the Vóreigard, as some people call them. Mercenaries that have come from afar to serve one man and one man only. The Emperor of the Archesian people. Through them many connections have been made with what was once thought a brutal and unforgiving set of islands. Where once even our greatest of sailors could not tread the dangerous and rocky waters of their fjords and wharfs they seem to do with ease. They have brought to the Empire various goods that are rare within our own lands. Rich and thick furs from great beasts. Strong and ample wood for construction and wood working. But most of all, their skills as soldiers.

The Vóreigard serve only one man, the Emperor. Through the Vóreigard the Emperor’s will is made manifest. They are his fist. They are his word. They are the first warriors into the fray, and the last ones to leave. Those that go against the Vóreigard do not do so without consequence. Even if they are to be defeated it is not without a doubt that the price of which would be steep. For every Northerner to be felled it is certain that they had taken at least five with them.

They are loyal to a fault, for better and worse. Since they are paid only by the Emperor, and they given a kingly sum for their payments, none could even dream of coming close to swaying these men from their duty. Their life is bound to the Emperor. Without the Emperor they are no longer the Vóreigard. Without the Vóreigard there is no Emperor. It has become such a tradition within these Northerners to join that even great nobles and princes offer their services to prove themselves to their people as capable warriors and leaders.

Though they be Barbarians, they are of the most noble kind. Comparable even to that of the Colvinians.

[The section continues on in state the wealth that has poured into the Empire and Fýðracia through their mutual friendship. Furs, wood, and soldiers flow into the Empire as silk, silver, gold and wine flow into Fýðracia.]

[Section: End Statements]

This tome has been made as a guide to the Imperial Citizenry of Archios as a way of understanding our past, present, and possible future. It is through these relationships that we have made, and destroyed, in which we are risen up or entirely destroyed. Be they Archesian, Colvinian, Eldurian, or Fýðracian each had come from a troubled and powerful background. These peoples have endured the hardships of the ages, and would not stand as the pillars of Alfýr that they are now without such.

Through the noble and powerful Colvinians, to the barbarous and destructive people of the Eldurians, each has found their footing in the lands of their people. I just pray to the Divine Spirits that Archios may continue on and on forever, as the eternal Empire that it had once dreamt of being.

** Editor's Note: More to be added, edited, or removed depending on various times of world building hysteria that find me at random times.