New Æthelstan: An Overview

Lol I bet you expect there to be actual content added here. Nah. Not yet. 

Suffice it to say that this will be written from the perspective of Samhira Smedge, a (natural?) historian in the setting's equivalent of the late Renaissance. She's going to be talking pretty much exclusively about the continent of New Æthelstan, and its history, economy, society, etc.

This will cover this world's equivalent of the setting's High Middle Ages through Late Renaissance.

History is measured in Epochs. At the time that this is being written, New Æthelstan is fast approaching the end of the Third Epoch.

• First Epoch

  • Romulaud Æthelstan is part of a campaign to free humans from tyrranical dragon control. He, along with members of his party, form The Concord.

  • Dragons look for new places to live since humans are like nah. Not wanting to be displaced, The Radiant Mother, The Glittering Queen, and The Golden Magnate (three dragons, although RM and GQ are glamoured to appear as humans) team up to form systems of government/economy/religion and drive all of the (other) dragons from "Dragon Island", using much the same rhetoric and tactics as Romulaud Æthelstan and his team.

  • The Radiant Mother's religion (The Order of the Sacred Flame) is THE religion of Dragon Island, and because trade is a thing, it gains a small following on the main continent. Brother Mihalis (another glamoured dragon) seizes the opportunity to leverage this following into founding a sect called The Children of the Radiant Mother. The original "religion" preaches tolerance of dragons and suggests that peaceful coexistence is possible if both sides are chill about it (but also you should try to build a big hoard and give her it as tribute). Brother Mihalis "bastardizes" the teachings so that people give them all their money and also steal so they can give him other peoples' money too. They become a violent, fanatic cult and cause a lot of problems for The Concord, while also still gaining a small but strong following.

  • The Æthelstan family, who lead the concord, try to be like "Stop it." and are promptly Romanoff'ed by The Children, breaking the concord and sending the continent into chaos.

• Second Epoch

  • Sydrich Æthelstan (legitimized bastard of the Æthelstan ruler), along with some companions, lead a revolution against The Children and try to reunite the city-states under one banner. 

  • They drive The Children back to some territory up in the Northeast, but they're holding out and also Brother Mihalis is prob using dragon magic to devastating effect on the revolution. To combat this, Magus Viane Leuccipus basically nukes them all by making a big volcano erupt. It's real bad. Devastates the ecosystem and everything. Sleeper's Valley is created as a result. 

  • Sydrich marries Elyhan Descuri and they unite the citystates under The Sovreignty of New Æthelstan. Under the new banner, Sydrich tries to root out all the remnants of The Children/The Order but it fails and they end the campaign. 

• Third Epoch

  • Major advancements in magic and science are made after the standing army is disbanded

  • Printing press is invented, increasing literacy around the world and ushering in a boom of economic development and enlightenment as formal, state-funded education becomes more widely available.

  • New trade routes between places grants access to new natural resources and magical components

There are some major  individuals/families that really shape the history of New Æthelstan. This section talks about them.

Notable Figures:

• Romulaud Æthelstan (1)

• Brother Mihalis (1)

• Sydrich Æthelstan (2)

• Elyhan Descuri (2)

• Cyprianus Leuccipus (2) 

• Magus Leuccipus (2)

Notable Families:

• Æthelstan

• Descuri

• Leuccipus

It's a big lil continent. There's "cities" that are really more like city-states, or they were before the unification replaced The Concord (which disolved after the massacre of the Æthelstan family) the Sovreignty of New Æthelstan.

Notable Places include

• Steepgate

• Flydd

• Oldsmar

• Wildecross Mountains

• Sleeper's Valley

• "Dragon Island"

There are a few major cultures in New Æthelstan

Major Cultural Groups:

• New Æthelstanians

• Wayfarers

• Flyddians

• City-States

Major Religions/Pantheon:

• Suvi, goddess of life - responsible for the creation of humans and bestower of human magic in the world main diety of humans

• Aada, goddess of death - main diety of dragons and nomads

• Order of the Eternal Flame - previously more popular on the continent, now banned in New Æthelstan, started by The Radiant Mother

• Children of the Radiant Mother - "sect" of the Order of the Eternal flame, responsible for the assassination of the Æthelstan family, created by Brother Mihalis

Innate magic is rare (pre calamity) and inaccessible to those outside of the highest echelons of society. In the First Epoch, it was noble families like House Leuccipus have extensive private libraries that they build upon.

Most magic comes from natural materials. Spell effects happen. It's basically just chemistry with magical ingredients. Magic is just science + an additional element. Magic has to do with the sort of spiritual core of people and things.

Early in the study of magic, people were generally categorized into 3 areas:

Sorcerers

Practitioners

Arcanists

Prior to the third epoch, formal education wasn't really a thing. After the war, after the disbandment of the standing army, there were a bunch of displaced soldiers that needed productive work, as well as holes in the labor market, especially for skilled labor. This created a boom in apprenticeships and trade-specific education. 

In addition to the trades taken on by discharged mundane soldiers, the New Æthelstan military had also been training a division of magi soldiers, largely comprised of magically-inclined individuals that were scarcely past the age of maturity. During the war, their skills were cultivated for combat and tactics. When the conflict ended, Sovereign Elyhan opened the first