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Iobaria
(Region)

The land of Iobaria is located east of the nation of Brevoy, but is considered part of the continent of Casmaron. Found north of the Castrovin Sea, it was once a mighty empire, but was decimated two millennia ago by a series of plagues.[1] The empire, at its height, stretched from the Icewall, Ice Steppes, and the Lake of Mists and Veils in the north to the Myrfrus River in the East, the Icerime Peaks and Hills of Nomen in the West, and the Castrovin Sea to the south.[2][3]

Iobaria is low-density and sparsely populated. About eight of every ten inhabitants live outside cities in settlements that are smaller than hamlets elsewhere. Other, non-human races live as nomads in packs that are smaller than that of an average village. [2]

Geography[]

Iobaria map

The region of Iobaria

Orlov
The fomer coastal capital of Iobaria manages to retain faint traces of its ancient grandeur. Its scheming prince dreams of re-establishing the Empire, but in fact doesn't even have enough troops to fully man the city's ancient fortifications.[1]
Hask-Uktharan, the "Cairn of Many Torments"[4]
This is an enormous cairn of quarried stone blocks, marked in the script of the Cyclopes. The Record of Truan Iolavai describes how the scholar and his party investigated the cairn, against the advice of his local guides, only to be driven off by a howling mob of malformed giants led by the demon lord Kostchtchie.[1]


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History[]

Iobaria was originally settled by Ulfen explorers from Avistan around 752 AR, who followed the southernmost polar ice caps eastward.[5] It soon grew into an empire with colonies as far afield as Issia, (now Brevoy), and Mendev, in Avistan. The empire was brought down by a series of plagues, the worst of which was the Choking Death of 2742 AR. These diseases killed three quarters of the population, and even today a host of illnesses keeps the population low. Thus weakened, Iobaria lost control of its vassal states, which rebelled against its control, only to collapse themselves once they were cut off from central support.[1]


Timeline[]

-5293 AR Earthfall. End of the cyclops Koloran Empire
-3923 AR Pit of Gormuz opens in central Casmaron
-1281 AR Taldor founded by Lost Azlanti and primitive native humans
-632  AR The Tarrasque, Spawn of Rovagug, destroys Ninshabur. Some hidden force turns the creature west across the Tovrus and into Avistan.
752 AR Ulfen explorers traverse the polar ice and settle into the taiga of northern Casmaron, founding Okormirr.
753 AR Okormirran explorers discover the Koloran Roads and begin building Orlov among an old ruined cyclops city. Orlov becomes larger than Okormirr by 764.
780 AR Founding of Orost.
788 AR Founding of Antoll.
795 AR Founding of Lenusya.
809 AR Founding of Mishkar.
818 AR Founding of Kirrosuli.
846 AR Founding of Kirya.
905 AR Iobar, son of Kjell of Orlov, conquers all challengers. He unites all territories under his own banner, claiming all lands from the Icewall to the Castrovin Sea as Iobaria.
937 AR Death of Iobar I at the Battle of Kridorn. Iobar's son Hrugil repels the pirate fleets from the east, spending the rest of his rule improving Iobaria's fleets, intent on eradicating the powerful mercenary pirate and corsair fleets of the northwestern Castrovin Sea.
975 AR Kridorn rises to become a port city, not a minor fishing town.
1080 AR Hroran and Kridorthrost founded in this year of plenty.
1106 AR The Tearplague scours all settlements between the Norinor and Finadar.
1240 AR Human settlers claim cyclops ruins in Caemorin, dubbing the settlement Mavradia.
1412 AR Founding of Zradnirras.
1466 AR Founding of Vurnirn after a 24-year-long struggle against Hoofwood natives.
1528 AR Founding of Mirnbay.
1634 AR The Chardeath sees many spontaneously combust in high fevers. The flames lead to the eradication of a third of all Iobarian settlements. This plague's source is revealed in 1869 as the necromancer Otyb the Undying.
1717 AR The red and blue great wyrms, Shrodniar and Voldmannasein, clash over Fangard. Some force from the forest depths strike Voldmannasein dead, while Shrodnair crashes near Antoll. Strange glyphs are discovered, burnt into the blue dragon, scarring even his bones.
1900 AR The centaur tribes of the Caemorin unite under the banner of Errindayn the Seer, sacking Mirnbay and destroying numerous humanoid settlements.
1986 AR Errindayn the Seer dies mysteriously after an unnaturally long life. The centaurs of the region abandon their warlike ways.
2108 AR Mirnbay refounded and defenses significantly reinforced. Centaurs barred from the city for more than 400 years.
2546 AR Ohjar's Plague kills a third of all male centaurs, orcs, and humans across the land in a mere 8 months.
2602 AR Humans and some native centaur tribes ally together to form the realm of Zastel in eastern Iobaria, its capital in Mavradia.
2654 AR Iobaria begins the Reclamation Wars against Zastel.
2686 AR Zastel reconquered and returned to Iobarian rule.
2742 AR The Choking Death. A respiratory plague suffocates more than 40% of Iobaria's adult population over the course of 8 months. The plague spreads west out of Iobaria (carried to Avistan by refugees) and devastates human populations in northeastern Avistan over the next 6 years.
2767 AR The Native Plaguestrife: Various druid sects, guilds, and politicians fan flames against those they deem "non-native Iobarians" by claiming no plagues ever happened until folk started coming east from Avistan. Skirmishes and vendettas weaken the power bases of many for decades.
2920 AR Earthquake rocks Taldor, Qadira, and central Casmaron. Coastal settlements along the northwestern Castrovin all damaged or destroyed by tidal waves.
3000s Exodus. At least three separate waves of refugees abandon Iobaria over this century to settle other colonial lands to the west and south or new domains east of the Castrovin Sea.
3150 AR The Pestilentropy infected many nomads and settlers in central Iobaria, causing fevers and madness ultimately leading to death by overexertion or by the blades of those its victims imagine to be their foes. The disease or its manic side effects destroy more than half of Iobaria's farms, villages, crops, and cattle, leading to a decade of lean harvests and starvation for the region. This devastation and the lack of support for the people leads to the final dissolution of Old Iobarian rule.
3212 AR Three warlords (one of Issian descent) and their allies band together to restore the nation of Iobaria. Rallying to banners and flags of Old Iobaria, support for New Iobaria rose quickly with their reclamation of Orlov from foreign factions and their local pawns. The Restoration War lasts for nearly a century before New Iobaria officially exists and rules its lands.
3283 AR House Arjal and House Korya betray allied House Narkys, sacrificing its leaders and troops to dragons of the mountains and wilds, their newer allies.
3304 AR The Restoration War over, King Irral I turns control and demesne of all the old cyclops ruins to their white and red dragon allies.
3679 AR The Great Horde. A collection of ogre, giant, and cyclops tribes rampage across Iobaria under the command of Burlor, a cyclops wearing the Crown of Mirim and wielding the Perobov Maul. These monsters remain a threat long after the death of Burlor beneath the hooves of more than 25 tribes of centaurs.
4000 AR Amid the blizzards of a long and particularly harsh winter, frost giants from the Ice Steppes invade New Iobaria, pillaging and murdering. They reach Orlov before being repelled.
4499 AR Iobarian Choral the Conqueror unites Rostland and Issia into Brevoy.
4519 AR The Drakeplague kills more than 60% of the dragon population within 3 months. The silver dragon Cithaythren and Finadar druids perform a ritual to end the plague before it spreads beyond Iobaria at the cost of that dragon's life.
4600s Sarkorian barbarians flee the expanding Worldwound, a number of tribes crossing the polar ice to Iobaria.
4607 AR Skirmishes and battles among Sarkorian refugees, native insurgents, and Iobarian troops begin the second fall of Iobaria with the loss of Mavradia to rebel forces. Battles and rebellions continue over the next 5 decades.
4659 AR New Iobaria reduced to the now-isolated cities of Kridorn, Mirnbay, and Orlov, each of whose rulers now claims to be the true ruler and heir of Iobaria due to blood ties to the dead kings.
4667 AR Red Revolution of Galt; many Galtan nobles flee north and eventually arrive in Kridorn.
4699 AR Royal House Rogarvia, descended from Iobarian warlords, disappears. House Surtova assumes power in Brevoy.

[6]

Inhabitants[]

The numerous diseases which emptied Iobaria two millennia ago have never disappeared completely, and still serve to keep its population very low. Most live in the endless forest wilderness in a state of semi-barbarism, and avoid the ruined cities of their ancestors altogether.[1]

Religion[]

Today, Iobarans worship a vast group of minor nature spirits. Most religious figures are druids.[1]

References[]

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