Ages, even eons ago, there was a Kingdom. Its name has been either lost to time, or it has only been called ‚the Kingdom', even in its time. It was ruled by a council of powerful beings, each of which ruled part of the kingdom.
It isn't known how it came to be, but terrible war befell the Kingdom and brother fought brother — eventually only a single city remained in the Light. The armies of Evil marched against its gates, but its resolve proved far too strong. A decade ticked away and the city's walls still stood, defenders still manning their posts.
After much deliberation, the great Evils have devised a plan — they will perform a grand ritual, in order to level the city, Martem, into the ground.
The defenders could do nothing but watch as the Evils brought sacrifices in front of their gates and chanted terrible spells. As the ritual neared completion, Balance intervened. The world itself cracked at its foundation, as reality thought against what the Evil were about to accomplish.
Finally, enduring a terrifying earthquake, the Evils accomplished the ritual and a star of dark energy completely destroyed Martem and everyone within it. As it did, however, the land beneath the city cracked open.
No one is sure how life managed to survive what happened next — but it did, otherwise I wouldn't be here, writing this. The planet cracked open. Most of the land was consumed by void energies, some drifted away into nothingness, but some remained more-or-less intact and one, the city of Karthia, safeguarded life.
It took more than a hundred years for civilization to re-emerge. The city of Martem became a cautionary tale — the dark star in the distance an ever-present reminder of what evil can accomplish.
231 years post Martem (or P.M), in the city of Karthia, a mage-engineer managed to construct a ship so light it would glide across the void torrents, allowing humans to venture beyond to other ‚islands' within the void. The age of exploration had begun.
Within 50 years, the first colony was established, on the fertile island of Sung, giving exploration ships a place to re-supply other than the capital, allowing for actual exploration of the deep void.
In the year 301, the ‚void whales' were discovered and dragged to Karthia. They were later tamed and are still used to this day as transport ‚ships'. At this point, the Karthian republic is 6 colonies strong.
304 — contact is made with the elven theocracy of Annail. The two states' friendly relationship stands to this day.
336 — the former colony of Sung is declared a pirate haven by Andrea Il'Musalla, the Pirate Queen.
350 — mage-engineers in Karthia successfully manage to transplant magically enhanced bionics into a human, putting down the first steps to the Karthian marine corps.
352 — Karthian marine corps is established and sent to take control of Sung back.
353 — both the pirates, as well as the invading void-beings called Krik'kang'teckg, are soundly defeated by the KMC and Sung is take back by the republic. Andrea Il'Musala is given freedom and an outpost, on the condition that her fleet safeguard the eastern corner of the republic's border — the one it shares with the Kriks.
356 — a void seer manages to make conversation with a void whale in an attempt to prove that their use as ‚transport ships' is unethical. The whale instead demands to be fed less as she is „getting fat and the other whales are making fun of her". Although a spectacular failure, his methods are later used to train the whales for war, giving birth to one of the republic's most fearsome weapons.
359 — a being claiming to be a ‚God' emerges out of the void, demands to be worshipped, the republic refuses. His rampage is only stopped when a similar being, claiming to be the God's wife, also appears.
364 — The republic's council names Amarna An'Khan ‚protector of the republic' and gives her unconditional power to quell a dwarven uprising in Sung. After a failure to take the city by assault of the KMC, Amarna cracks the island in two, literally ripping Sung out of the ground and swinging it into open void.
427 — The rebellious city of Sung re-emerges, being dragged out of the void by three void whales and demands to be allowed to rejoin the republic. As thanks for being let in, its leader, Great Seer Anghotep, promises that Sung „shall never again rebel," and that „the great city of Sung shall server the republic dutifully."
428 — laborers in Sung rebel against the oppressive Great Seer. The rebellion is put down in a bloody strike, leaving nearly half of the city dead.
430 — the mysterious ‚God-in-void' re-emerges, claiming his wife made him apologize and gives humanity a S'turm conduit — a machine capable of harvesting pure void energy and turn it into arcane for the humans to use. This marks the starts of the republics golden age, as technological progress skyrockets due to the machine.
442 — Annail suffers a complete breakdown in society
443 — Annail's theocracy is reformed and more closely incorporated into the republic. The Karthian republic is now consisting of over 230 cities, 45 colonies, 3 uninhabited islands and 1 sovereign fleet.
