As far as any sage can tell, Gaia has always been. But sometime in the mists of time, life was created, mostly as an extension of herself. These early beings were highly magical, to the point of creating disturbances in the world around them, inevitably leading to the necessary development of more mundane variants. This led to a highly diverse ecosystem, where the rare magical creature preys on or sustains a large number of weaker, normal animals or plants.
Some time after life first formed, Gaia created the Faeries. Intelligent and powerful, these beings quickly dominated the world, forming their own hierarchy of powerful lords. Ageless and patient, disagreements smoldered slowly, eventually splitting the alignment of the Faeries into the Seelie and Unseelie division which still exists to this day.
The Seelie lords believed in a passive existence, living off the magic of the land and working together with it. The Unseelie opposed this idea, wishing for the advancement of the race in a more immediate fashion, despite the short-term effects it may have on the planet.
Disagreement led to ambivalence, then to more direct opposition. Being long-lived creatures, the Faeries conducted their battle of ideals slowly, posing action and counter-action on a small scale, stretching over centuries. So it was that the Faeries, to this day, remained in a deadlocked struggle for the desire to ascend into a higher being, and in so struggling, begin to achieve their goal.
Though Gaia loved the Faerie races, their existence was a drain on her resources, their highly magical nature sapping her strength. To counter this, she first created the Edouna Nach. Still magical in some ways, the Edouna Nach were long-lived, and created a stable society that lasted for centuries, while the Faeries were still squabbling.
The Edouna Nach were a calm and very easy to care for race, but they lacked drive. After centuries, Gaia became restless again, and the Humans and Fahael were created. This occurred at the same time as a chance accident of an unknown nature nearly destroyed the Edounan civilization, leaving a void to fill.
The Fahael were similar to the Edouna Nach in temperment, retreating to the swamps and rivers to tend to the land, and rarely contacting the other races. The Humans, meanwhile, formed small bands and laid claim to various areas, competing with one another in terms of increasing their size and survivability. This eventually led to open warfare, a concept unheard of by the Faeries or the Edouna Nach, and the advancement of technology in ways that were not conceived of before.
As the small bands of Humans grew, they began to form alliances for mutual protection. Like-minded bands claimed an area for themselves, carving out their own laws and society. At first, these fledging nations had fuzzy borders, often coming into conflict with one another. The Faerie races, however, had taken notice of the Human nations and the problems they caused with their own maneuvering. They quickly organized and declared the nation of Loren, defining borders and working out trade and peace accords with their neighbors.
Loren quickly became very successful, despite their relatively sparse population. Seeing the advantage gained by this more highly-developed form of diplomacy, the then small country of Solumas, on the northern continent, duplicated these efforts. Occupying a convenient trade route, Solumas rapidly became a secure and stable country, backed by extreme wealth that would prove the key to their later control of the then-unnamed northern continent.
The Soluman example was duplicated by Alden on the southern continent, followed closely by Cass and Madeira, each nation setting down rules of conduct with its neighbors. Over time, many smaller countries formed on both continents, creating a somewhat stable political climate and the beginning of an international trade standard.
After roughly two centuries of stable advancement, the Faeries had relaxed somewhat, returning to their ages-old argument. Gaia, as an actual spiritual entity, was barely known among the Mundane Races. In fact, many of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts were worshipped as psuedo-gods by the Humans. It was common to ask for a blessing from one of the greater Faeries when preparing for a difficult task, a custom which amused the Faeries to no end.
No one thought that the Humans would dare to challenge their gods.
The wielding of magic was still in its infancy among most of the nations, and only the Faeries practiced it widely, making them seem even more above Human judgement. So it came as a large surprise when a small group of magicians, thirteen in number, siezed control of the northern part of Tamaril, one of the larger nations on the northern continent. Few paid any real notice, at first, as the mountains they laid claim to were slowly being covered by glacier.
These magicians, calling themselves the Magi, soon declared themselves the rulers of the continent, already making threats toward the southern continent even as most of the northern laughed at them. The Faeries of Loren, however, were very concerned. They approached several of the nations on both continents, bringing attention to the depopulation of the Faerie races near the Magi stronghold. Within a 100 league radius of the Magi, not a single Faerie remained. More to humor their allies than out of real concern, several nations sent a combined force on a diplomatic investigation of the Magi, to ask their intentions.
The Magi demanded the immediate surrender of every nation, threatening invasion if their desires were not fulfilled. They also asked for every Faerie creature to be surrendered to them, but refused to say why. Despite their obvious numerical inferiority, the Magi refused to negotiate. The combined nations, now very concerned at this turn of events, combined their efforts to send a small force to take the mountain stronghold.
The Magi destroyed the entire company easily, raining down vast magical power onto them. A few escaped, telling of the horrors of the spells that brought down their comrades. A hasty alliance was formed, soon leading to a full-scale invasion and war.
In the 22 years that followed, Gaia revealed herself. The very planet opposed the dark magics used by the Magi, choosing champions to represent her from among the Humans. The Faeries tried hard to aid in the war, but were particularly vulnerable to the Magi spells. After losing the majority of the greater Faeries, they retreated to Loren, spending their time supplying the Human armies with enchanted weapons of great power.
It was at this time that the Time Hounds first made an appearace, somehow drawn to Magi magic and seeking to destroy the wielder. At first thought to be another creation of the Magi, twisted by their spells into a servant, the Time Hounds quickly became a rallying point in any battle they appeared. The Hounds themselves did not seem to care, tracking down blatantly powerful spells with an obsession that frightened the most hardened soldier. The Magi lost two of their number to these powerful beasts, before a solution was found.
In the course of the war, many Humans and other Mundane Races had come to join the Magi, but their numbers were low. Outnumbered, and unable to use their most powerful magics unhampered, the Magi set about enchanting their own generals. Much like the Abominations they had created to serve them, these new generals possessed great power, far beyond that of a normal man. They were Humans to some degree, and could reveal their power when needed, only to hide it again before a Time Hound appeared.
With the aid of their new generals, dubbed the WeaponMasters by troops, the Magi began to gain ground. The Human nations and their Faerie allies began to despair, when the Magi suddenly faced opposition from their own.
Two of the remaining eleven Magi splintered from the group, protesting the wholesale slaughter that was going on. They brought two of the WeaponMasters with them, by the names of Talon and Malkrim, leaving only two on the opposing side. This caused a fundamental shift in the tide of the war.
With half their generals turned rogue, the Magi lost ground quickly. Within two years of the betrayal, the battle was at the foot of their stronghold. Human magicians clashed with the awesome power of the nine remaining Magi, while the WeaponMasters and their armies fought almost continuously for a fortnight.
Finally, the war was over. In a sudden surprise attack, the Faeries took a chance and rallied alongside the Humans, overwhelming and killing every remaining Magi. The WeaponMasters were killed or defeated, and the Magi stronghold sealed within the already advancing glacier.
The two Magi that had turned to the side of the Faeries renounced their powers, refusing to speak of them ever again, and went on to found the Soluman and Alden Elementalist Colleges. Talon had died during the final battle, and Malkrim wandered the planet for a short while, training two apprentices: Rilseth Ryantra, who went on to unite the Edouna Nach and carve out their own nation, and Tarlis Valta, who formed his own nation as well. The year was declared to be the beginning of a new age, with the Faeries much reduced in power, and the Humans enlightened by the knowledge of their creator. This was known as 0 AW, or 0 years After War.
Solumas rapidly expanded, its stable economy and wealth providing security to the war-torn lands of the northern continent. Soon, the continent was named Solumas, in honor of the only nation that controlled its abundant lands. War was not unknown, but the complex trade agreements kept large scale conflict to a minimum, with a few minor exceptions.
In the 50 years following the war, most of the kingdoms in the eastern portion of Anathas, the southern continent, had stabilized. The faeries claimed a large section in the northeast corner, and with their neighbors the Ryantrans, formed a buffer zone between the smaller kingdoms and the rapidly growing Soluman Empire to the north. As the formerly small nation of Solumas swept across the war-torn northern continent, the nations south of Loren and Ryantra formalized their boundaries in a series of minor, mostly cosmetic wars. Alliances and rivalries were made, most persisting to this day. The lands east of the Sun's Nest Mountains enjoyed over 200 years of relative stability.
The western portion of the continent fared worse, as they had been hit harder by the Magi Wars. The formation of Valta, with its rigid military heirarchy, was to be the most significant event in the history of the continent. Showing an efficiency and security that most of the people longed for, many of the kingdoms simply surrendered when challenged by the growing army of Valta. With a similar series of easy victories for Solumas in the north, it came as a shock to both of the fledgling empires when they met. The two military superpowers met in a clash that was to last for decades, and inadvertently leave the eastern part of the continent in peace.
Roughly a century after the Magi Wars, both empires were weary of war, and signed a peace treaty. Several skirmishes broke out over the next 150 years, and a bitter rivalry between the two lasts until this day, but the boundaries remained stable.
In 251 AW, the entire world suffered from a sudden, unexpected outbreak of war, against an enemy never seen before. The Kurr'd-ah appeared in massive numbers, throwing the western portion of both continents into confusion. Solumas and Valta each accused the other of reawakening the forces that began the Magi Wars, losing valuable time in heated arguments as their armies fell. Magic proved effective, but the bizarre and dangerous warping of reality itself around the insectoid creatures shattered morale and sliced through carefully-prepared tactics.
After massive losses, the two empires formed a reluctant treaty, allied against a common foe than now appeared to be from beyond the bounds of the known world. Still, it was too late to save much of their lands, as the Kurr'd-ah armies had grown with the addition of human slaves from their conquered territories. Each continued to lose ground, until Valta was but a shadow of its former self, and Solumas lost over two-thirds its lands.
The kingdoms of Anathas at first assumed the jumbled and confused reports of conflict was a simple reigniting of the old Solumas-Valta war, an inconvenient but not unexpected development. As the two nations organized, and the nation of Loren stirred in response to the pain of Gaia itself, realization that something was wrong slowly dawned. The first emissaries of Valta, sent to propose alliances and requesting military support, were met with a more open ear than otherwise. This was also due to the sudden appearance of strange, metal-clad ships in the seas, blockading the western portion of both islands from support and trade. Cass, the premier trading nation of the sea, was especially useful in applying pressure to involve the other nations in the war, and they have been staunch allies to Valta ever since.
As the Kurr'd-ah armies spilled over the Sun's Nest Mountains to attack, the kingdoms of the east were more ready than Valta had been. Though many suffered devastating losses, especially the hardened Kathmans, the advance was halted. Fighting was fierce, but the Kurr'd-ah had been stopped for the first time, thanks to a newly-united Anathas.
The current year, early April of 314 AW, sees the continued encroachment of the Kurr'd-ah into human-occupied lands. The progress of the alien army has been slowed to a crawl, but by no means stopped. Kathma, Valta, and Solumas remain the most active fighters, but the rest of the kingdoms are slowed by constant political maneuvering and debate. Loren and Ryantra are exceptions to this, with the former lending magical support to many of the forces on the fron, and the latter giving advice and training, along with sending small groups of elite fighters into Kurr'd-ah lands to search out weaknesses in the aliens. Armek, having little political organization, is also exempt from the squabbling of the nations around it. Though not allied with anyone, it is becoming common for many clans to send their younger warriors to aid the fight against the Kurr'd-ah, believing that it builds character.