Caramar

Caramar, from Maruvian caram or mother, was the largest kingdom of the Western Lands throughout the the Fourth and Fifth Eras. Protected by natural barriers, Caramar extended East to West from the Shores of the Aoldan Sea to the edges of the Great Pelagian Wild and North to South from the Hazvog Mountains to Cape Respite. Throughout much of the Second and Thrid Eras, Caramar was divided into about four seperate Clans of Old. These were the Amorakath, the Garorn, the Onelitha, the Woodkin,

Caramar's inhabitants, the Caramer, literally meaning children in Maruvian, were a diverse group of people due to Caramar's sheer size but were almost exclusively of mankin.

Geography
Caramar extends about seven hundred miles, west to east, and about eleven hundred miles, north to south, at its widest points. It is seperated, geographically, into three regions: the Highlands, the Lowlands , and the Woodlands. The Highland region consists of everything North of the River of Kings and East of the River Akar. The Highlands are seperated into two, lesser, regions by the East Brooke : the North Wold to the North and the South Wold to the South. The Lowlands consist of all the South East lands South of the River of Kings and the South Brooke. The Woodlands consist of all the land West of the River Akar and the River of Kings to the Great Pelagian Wild and North of the South Brooke.

Cities
Capital: Tallonrow

Large Cities: Villages:
 * Cordus
 * Fierdor
 * Port Shale
 * Isle Feth
 * Nrala
 * Westak
 * Eastak
 * Dixon
 * Saymor
 * Nedar
 * Ferth
 * Cape Respite
 * Candor's Watch
 * Merrime
 * Sutton
 * Stondeon
 * Briar
 * Oakview
 * Rockholme

Other Important Locations

 * The High Lyceum
 * The Mage's Academy
 * Wayshire Abbey
 * The Ruins of Dirge
 * Unalil's Meadow

Tribal Struggles & the Pax Caramara
For many years after Man's arrival in Caramar, peace prospered among the countless communities that established themselves over the vast piece of land. This peace did not last, however. Over time, these communities formed tribes under the rule of various chieftans. For hundreds of years these tribes fought for land, power, and wealth. Dominion over the many lands shifted an innumerable number of times and in these many centuries, many lost their lives in the constant turmoil that was the late post-settlement era.

It wasn't until the late twenty-third century (P.S.E), and with the work of Alaryn Aethondonil, that Caramar finally began to see peace once again. Alaryn, a warrior of the Kaardonand tribe, united the tribes of the Lowlands against Mirroth the Wyrm Lord who had been terrorizing the Lowlands for over a century from his fortress deep in the Harad Mountains. After Mirroth's defeat, the tribes remained united under Alaryn and made him their king. The result was a peaceful and prosperous kingdom which in turn attracted the many other tribes of the Highlands and Woodlands. This unification of Caramar brought about a time of peace and prosperity that lasted for more than a millenia and would eventually come to be known as the Pax Caramara.

The Shadow of Camorath
The dawn of the Second Era was brought forth by the abrupt ruination of the Pax Caramar by the hands of the Dark Mage Camorath who arrived in Nar'Gel from the isle of Maladrath and overwhelmed all of Caramar and murdered King Harad Advar II of Caramar with his army of Shadr in the Rudkin Londarim (Maruvian: Battle for Lordship). As a result of the massive invasion, the Second Era of Eirelor has since come to be known as the "Plague Years". For 892 years, the people of Thardonand lived under the subjugation that was Camorath's rule. Adnolas Miryven, a battlemage and captain of the Erililna Eroameth (Adaeneth: Illuminators of the Night), a group of men, trained by their mysterious leader, Adonthiel, Keeper of the Light, made it his quest to defeat the Dark Mage Camorath after his  city,Dirge, was obliterated after refusing to pay him tribute. In the year 893 of the Second Era, the Dark Mage Camorath was slain by the hand of Adnolas Miryven.

New Beginnings & The Rise of Magery
The slaying of the Dark Mage Camorath and crowning of Adnolas Miryven as King of Caramar ushered in the Third Era, otherwise known as the Era of Magery. After the crowning of Adnolas, Adonthiel, Keeper of the Light, who served as mentor to Adnolas and Leader of the Erililna Eroameth, was solicited personally by Adnolas to form an academy for the express purpose of properly teaching the art of magery so as to prevent the appearance of another Dark Mage and the occurance of another Scourge, thus the establishment of the Isle Feth Arcanium. Under Adnolas's rule, another establishment of high learning was introduced in the form of the High Lyceum where scholars, individuals who may or may not have lost the Gift of Qer, may go to train the many forms of academia.

The Third Era held within it the longest time of peace that man had ever seen (over 4,000 years), so long in fact, that much of what ushered in the the era had long been thought to be myth. This caused man to become complacent and when it seemed that man no longer worried about the appearance of another Dark Mage, The Shade of Delithraldur  appeared.

The Shade of Delithraldur brought about the Third Scourge of Eirelor after systematically poisoning the eight Fonts of Nether with Dark Magic. This poisoning of the fonts caused a disturbance in the balance of magic and thus began the Corruption of the Mages where men and women of magic slowly slipped into evil, molevalent hatred, similar to that of a Dark Mage. This Third Scourge was prevented from fully coming to fruition by the Archmage Theiowin , commonly referred to as Shel, and his apprentice, Kayton Dunic when the Shade of Delithraldur was found and defeated by the two in the depths of the lost city of Nadresu in Daei.

The Prophecy of Haoviel
"And foretold by the prophet Haoviel, Auger of the Umaliath, was the coming of an age of everlasting peace, the coming of an age free from dark powers, the coming of the last age of Eirelor. The sun will set in death and rise as, sits upon the throne, a Champion of Man and Mage, thine harbinger of the new age. And when the sun rises its highest upon the mountains of Alainen and Qer hath shed tears of tranquility down upon the land, the children of Qer may be reunited in the land of dawn and dusk, the land of all."

-from the Tome of Umaliath

Following the Bane of the Shade
After the Shade of Delithraldur was slain in the depths of Nadresu, the Third Scourge was lifted and life in Eirelor returned, not to normal, but to an unprecedented time of peace and tranquility. The Archmage Theiowin, otherwise known as Shel set off in search of the Path of Eloreand.



Governance
Note on the Calendar

The Line of Aethondonil
The beginning of the First Era was marked by Alaryn Aethondonil's unification of the nine tribes of the Lowlands after hundreds of years of constant land disputation and war. These tribes were the Haohen, the Adroden, the Ralehar, the Kaardoand, the Eloithiel, the Rauwan, the Celadith, the Turyk, and the Adirn. Alaryn's kingdom became very prosperous and very powerful and, in time, the countless tribes of the Highlands joined, one by one, until at last the kingdom presided over half of all Caramar. The Line of Aethondonil ruled Eastern Caramar until the end of the First Era when the Dark Mage Camorath arrived from Maladrath and overwhelmed all of Thardonand with his army of Shadr.

Alliance with Nar'Gel
The Men of Caramar and the Aeori of Nar'Gel have long had a special bond such that no other two races have had before.

The trade routes between the two kingdoms have seldom gone untrodden but for times of great sorrow. The Aeori export Nar'Gelliad stone, metal, and precious jewels while the Caramer send mainly food (grains, fruits, and vegetables) along with a myriad of other goods.

Though there diplomacy has been tested in the past, namely in the third age after the Aeori were reluctant to go to war with Delithraldur after the discovery and defeat of the Shade of Delithraldur, but their ties have never been severed completely.

Struggle with Southern Isles Pirates
Relations with the Southern Isles have always been tenuous. There has long been an issue with piracy within the Southern Isles and every now and again, the pirates would board Caramarian ships. While this issue could be relatively easily resolved in a normal kingdom, the Southern Isles have no central government, to control the surrounding seas.

During the rule of the line of Miryven in the Second Era, many of the Miryven kings contemplated claiming the Southern Isles as their own, but the idea naver came to fruition.

People
The citizens of Caramar are a many and diverse people. Members of all the western lands flock to Caramar as it is the central trade hub of Thardonand. The most common of these races though are the Mankin, or more commonly, Man.

The people of Caramar generally try to do well by others and know much about the world they live in, though they are just still learning the ways of magery.

Values
As stated before, the people of Caramer value, above all else, the honor of aiding others along with the intelligence to know well the world they live in.

Religions
The majority of the people of Caramar, as does much of all Eirelor, celebrate the existance of one, omnipotent goddess: Qer. Who created the realm of Eirelor from her own self. Though many debate much of the story, this is the general belief.

There does exist many smaller religions that exist throughout Caramar. The most notable of these are the Children of Thulumara, a group of disciples that worship the deity Thulumara, a shemancer from the First Era whom they believe still exists in the Nether as the Lady of Death or ''One True Goddess. ''

Economy
The kings of Caramar began enforcing a tax at the beginning of the Third Era in an effort to help rebuild the kingdom after the ruination that was the rule of the Dark Mage Camorath. There was much resistance against the tax at first due to the required tribute that Camorath demanded all his subjects pay; the people of Caramar felt the tax was all to familiar. As soon as they saw all that the tax was doing to help restore Caramar to its former glory, most withdrew their earlier suspicions.