Map Lore No C'tis

The Final Empire had grown beyond its power and like all before it began to show signs of stagnation. Scholars refused to accept that Ermor would fall, as did its people. One race however saw these signs and trembled with joy at the opportunity presented by the slowly fracturing Empire. Shunned, resented and hated by all the C’tis lived in self chosen exile deep in the deserts surrounding civilization, waiting and watching for an opportunity such as was presented. The lizardmen came out from their sand swept holes in their thousands; they spread to all corners of civilization under the pretence of peace. Yet they harboured war in their hearts, brought anger within their being and death was to follow in their wake. One man alone sought to prevent disaster, the Ermorian Emperor Urbanus. He foresaw the destruction that C’tis would bring and spent nights researching a means to thwart their plans. He welcomed the Lizard people into his city so to learn more of them. It was a long night of autumn with the stars shielded by heavy clouds, all was quiet in the Forever City, until smoke started to rise up into the sky and an orange glow quietly grew until it became as bright as a dwarves forge. In the midst of the smoke and all-encompassing heat the Ermorian Library burned. The people gathered round the leaping flames and watched as the knowledge of countless works were lost to searing fire. One man alone fought to put out the blaze but to no avail. The sun rose in the morning to reveal the burnt out husk of the once magnificent structure and half buried under the crumbling ash of his precious research, the charred corpse of Emperor Urbanus lay, gently smouldering.
Chaos was the norm for the following dark months. Bandit groups and villainous thugs overran the Forever Empire. The army was crippled by power hungry generals and deserters. The city of Ermor itself became a trophy for whichever gang could control it. The people of Ermor fled, trying to escape the horrors they had seen, but all civilization had been destroyed by the dark schemes of the C’tis. Many now expected the C’tis to strike, seeking to enslave all under their rule. No lizard army came. Nothing happened. Civilizations were left crippled and leaderless, C’tis alone remained a beacon of technology and industry. It was thought they believed people would flock to their deserts like moths to a flame but, tales had spread, rumours had travelled and suspicions had grown. All across Aceon C’tis were feared and loathed, it was said they sacrificed any who entered their sand swept domain. So no one came, the beacon of C’tis dwindled and the people of Aceon began to rebuild.
It was during the winter of the great revival that it came. It started with deeper snowfalls and encroaching ice; soon it developed into raging blizzards, monstrous winds, bone-chilling frost and deathly temperatures. The Long Freeze had begun… A biting cold swept across the world, temperatures dropping more and more; blizzards covered whole continents for weeks on end and ice froze the fires solid in homes. The races of Aceon huddled together in their crumbling hovels with pitiful warmth and little food. The tales of Ermor soon became myth and legend, whispered by the elders of each race as a fantasy where people were happy and lived free. Aceon was locked in ice and snow. Populations dropped with each passing year. The inventiveness once encouraged throughout the land was crushed under the all-encompassing need for food and warmth. Ease of life and its betterment were unthinkable when the basic necessities of life were becoming a greater rarity with each passing month.
After nearly two centuries of an existence in a frozen hell all had given up hope. Until one day when the winds stilled their chilling path; the snow ceased its ever falling veil; the frost released its icy grip. The first flower in over a century reared its colourful head up to declare the suffering of all, at an end. Slowly with long forgotten joy in their hearts, the races of Aceon crept out of the recesses where they cowered, and travelled through the melting ice and snow, to find swathes of forest had grown unhalted. Millions of herds of hardy beasts now journeyed across the lands, ripe for hunting. The Long Freeze had ended; the world was alive with joy and freedom once more.
The people of Aceon had been decimated by the Long Freeze and little technology remained. With nearly nothing remaining the survivors of the Long Freeze went their separate ways as families and tribes to grow independently. The technology of ages past had been lost and forgotten; survival and safety were first in the minds of the people. A critical time approaches, in places discovery has brought people far ahead of others. Once many were gifted with powerful Magic, now mages are but a shadow to those who came before them. We now see the start of the rebirth of civilization, but will it take hold or will barbarians keep hold of their way of life?