Brought forth from water, Tifingor is the second-largest country in Calsin and has the largest total habitable landmass. It also has the honor of being one of the youngest countries in all of Calsin, being founded less than a thousand years ago, shortly after the events of the Dwarven Civil War.
Following the Dwarven Civil War, the Dwarven Empire had effectively been split into four nations. Taninor remained as the seat of the Empire, with both Tornor and Dirnor serving as schisms. Donisil, on the other hand, was now the only truly human nation in the world, a fact that the dwarves didn't like.
While Tornor and Dirnor more or less stayed out of the way and continued to fight among each other, Taninor decided to do something about the human "menace." At the time, only two countries bordered the Inland Ocean, that being Taninor and Donisil. Taninor viewed the ocean as a bit of a menace, as it extended deep into the ground, limiting the space that the dwarves could mine. In fact, dozens of dwarven cities over the years wound up drowning after accidentally tunneling into the Inland Ocean. The humans in Donisil, on the other hand, were dependent on the salty inland waters. The land had not healed enough for them to successfully feed their nation from the wildlife and crops there, and thus, much of human prosperity at the time came from fishing and trading with the merfolk.
Determined to stop the humans once and for all, the dwarves set out to poison the Inland Ocean. It was a task that sounded insane, but it was a task likely to succeed. One of the more decorated generals in the Dwarven army, a man named Corgeric, came up with the idea. And, in all reality... The plan should have succeeded.
It was a simple plan, really. The slaves began to help the dwarves in crafting enormous amounts of harm enchantments. They enchanted weapons, scraps, or even just small hunks of metal with powerful magic designed to injure or kill anything that touched it. It isn't known how many slaves died in this process, but it is known that following this desperate attempt at payback, Taninor was never able to fully recover.
The slaves transported the harmful enchantments out into the fields of Taninor, where they were buried in the soil that would soon be planted with crops. Slaves that died during this part were simply buried as well, to provide fertilizer for the crops. Crops were then planted, springing up several months later as twisted, perverted versions of themselves. Testing on slaves proved that, as expected, the crops had taken on the deadly enchantments, rendering them deadly poisonous.
From this point, it should have been a simple matter to harvest the crops, take them to the Inland Ocean, and dump them in. However, so many slaves had already died that the Dwarven workforce was significantly diminished. The remaining slaves sent to pick the field soon found themselves dying as well, as the crops were so deadly that even picking an ear of corn was likely to result in sickness or death.
As it happened, an elven slave named Gersin managed to steal a small piece of silver from the dwarven forge that he was assigned to. When he was sent out to work the fields, he used the protection from the silver to survive touching the crops, then pretended to grow ill and die. He was thrown in the compost pile with the others, where he was then able to make his escape.
It is a testament to Gersin that instead of running back to Elsinor, as he would have had every right to do, he went straight to Donisil and warned the humans of the danger about to befall them. It is an even greater testament that he was the one to lead the strike force back into Taninor to put an end to the operation once and for all.
In the end, the battle was a simple one. The merfolk of the lake cast illusions around the army as they made their way along the coast, to the massive storage warehouses where the dangerous crops were being kept until they could be released. Already depleted from the war, the dwarven soldiers were hardly combat ready, and the strike force was quickly able to destroy many of the deadly caches.
As it happened, they were only halfway done when an emissary from Hartusic the Bronze tracked them down and informed them that the rest of the caches were being burned at that moment. The effort to poison the Inland Ocean had taken the lives of both slaves and dwarves, significantly diminishing the nation's power. To top it off, the harmful enchantments fused into the soil weren't going away, making all the crops that had been replanted in the ground deadly as well. For the first time in its history, the Dwarven Empire was going to need to rely on someone else for food, a fact that they weren't happy about.
Triumphant, Gersin and the strike force returned to Donisil. More effects continued to resound above the waters, but below the waves is where things got heated.
When the merfolk had been alerted to the crisis, the merfolk king had called an assembly from all the civilizations under the waves. Together, thousands of merfolk cried out unceasingly to Tirronfin, their primary god. Following the conclusion of the event, they turned their cries into praise, a glorious song that lasted for nearly a month.
After that month was over, though, the waters began to grow muddled. Most of the merfolk believed that Tirronfin had protected them, and had intervened in order to prevent the destruction of their entire species. A significant minority, though, believed that the event had been something different altogether. Led by a merman named Desnuris, they believed that the entire event had been a call of warning, a declaration that they were no longer safe under the water.
The merfolk king, on behalf of his advisers, immediately denounced the belief as heresy. Nevertheless, many merfolk across the Inland Ocean were terrified that another attempt to poison the ocean was a reality, and that they simply weren't safe when they were trapped in their single body of water, at the mercy of the air-breathers.
After much debate and more than a few violent conflicts, Desnuris and his followers flocked to a small cove on the western side of the ocean, where they began to pray for divine intervention. They gave themselves to Tirronfin, asking for a miracle. As they sang for weeks on end, merfolk from across the ocean swam to join them, joining their voices in song.
According to tradition, it wasn't Tirronfin himself who provided the miracle, though a miracle very much did take place. Their song became so loud and far-reaching that the land-dwellers began to talk about it, and word eventually reached the Scorched Lands. For reason still unknown (dragons don’t share their inner secrets well), five dragons left their only sanctuary and journeyed to the bay where the merfolk were gathered. The dragons used their own magic to summon a god, one they knew well.
And so, Sorosin appeared, a glorious image. He cast down his shining rays into the water, transforming Desnuris and all his followers into amphibious beings.
It certainly must have been a sight to see as thousands of the new species walked up on land for the first time. None of them had ever experienced legs before, none had ever used lungs. Once again, for reasons unknown, the dragons remained in the area for some time, helping the newly born aqahartis build up their first city: Rottin.
From there, the aqahartis simply spread out as far as they could. The land had been orcish territory up until only a century earlier, so most of it simply wasn’t colonized. Slowly, the aqahartis expanded, from the Inland Ocean all the way to the mountains that held the orcs and the vampires in place. They stretched up to the border of Sintison all the way down to the sands of the Vamsick Desert. And, to this day, they’re still there.
Rottin
Rottin was the first city founded by the aqahartis, immediately after they emerged from the ocean. Most of them had extreme difficulties walking on land, or even learning how to breathe properly. Were it not for the help of the dragons, the fledgling species may have perished then and there.
It didn’t take long before Desnuris was hailed as a saint among the refugees. Already a priest of the merfolk order, he was quickly elevated to the position of Tirfin, the leader of the new aqahartis religion.
As the new head, Desnuris attempted to talk to the dragons to reveal the identity of the god that had saved them. They refused to answer, and needing an explanation to give to the people, Desnuris gave the entity the name of Sorosin, as he believed that the specific name was less important than the fact that they had been saved. Be built up an alter in Sorosin’s honor, the first construction of Rottin.
The dragons then used their magic to build up walls around the monument, sealing a large area off from the outside. Upon that completion, they left, winging back to the Scorched Lands. The aqahartis soon began to build, filling in the space between the sea and the walls. They also began building walls out into the ocean, in defense. Though no attack would come for over 100 years, they wanted to be prepared.
Even as the aqahartis spread out through the land, Rottin remained as the point where the aqahartis had broken free. It has survived merfolk attacks, and even a dwarven invasion. Despite plenty of open waters, the aqahartis refuse to build another major port where ships can dock, believing that Rottin should always stand as the sole access point between Tifingor and the Ocean.
Diglidon
Diglidon was the second city founded in Tifingor, built up only a few short years after the emergence. At that point, the entire aqahartis population numbered only a hundred thousand, which didn’t allow much room for error. While Desnuris remained in Rottin, believing the aqahartis still had a duty to the sea despite being freed from its bondage, he anointed a man named Clausis as his high priest. It was obvious that the slowly growing aqahartis population simply wouldn’t be able to stay in one place for long, as they were rapidly consuming the food supplies available.
Clausis, upon receiving his elevation, lef fifty thousand aqahartis out into the countryside, and simply headed west. He wasn’t sure what he would find, but trusted Sorosin to guide him.
The caravan was beset with troubles, almost from the beginning. The land had never been colonized because of all the orcish blood magic and traps that had been built up over the years. Despite warnings from traders that had come through Rottin, the aqahartis quickly found themselves unprepared for the harsh reality of the wartorn land. Spectral beasts rose up in the night, slaying people in their sleep. Oasis appeared on the horizon, only to instantly kill the first to set foot inside their borders. It was estimated that five people per day were killed, which was greatly worrisome to say the least.
By the time they finally came upon a true oasis, many in the crowd refused to believe that it was true. Trees rose into the sky, surrounding a series of small ponds. The vast majority of the crowd refused to believe that it was true, but Clausis knew that they had found their destination. He was the first to set foot in the water, the first to enjoy its blessing.
The survivors of the caravan truly had found a paradise. They settled down and quickly began building up walls. To this day, the pools of water are at the center of the city, open to any and all aqahartis that want to visit (though other species are banned without special permission from the high priest of the town).
Idin
While the aqahartis population certainly didn’t begin to rival other species for quite some time, it did expand quite quickly. With their relatively short lifespans, the population soon began to outgrow Rottin yet again, forcing several tough decisions. While Diglidon had been around for fifty years at that point, and a well-established road had been paved, no one was in any great hurry to repeat the experiences of the previous caravan.
In a surprising twist of fate, it was Taninor that came to Tifingor’s aid. Still struggling to recover from the deadly enchantments placed on it several decades earlier, the dwarves were finally withdrawing from some of the more contaminated areas. The outer edges of their kingdom, near the end of the mountains, was one of the first places to go.
The mayor of the city, Gurisic, knew that once his starving population was finally forced to retreat into the mountains, he was going to be treated with scorn and likely exile. In a brilliant move, he decided to sell his city to the aqahatis. The young species wouldn’t have to worry about building walls, and he could have enough wealth to retire in style. And, with luck, the aqahartis would finally fall to the enchantments intended for them half a century earlier.
Desnuris’s successor (the saintly aqahartis had died about a decade earlier), Bresdir, quickly took the deal. One benefit of living in the former orcish nation was an abundance of ancient ruins, from which they had pulled more gold than they knew what to do with. They sent over half of the country’s reserves to pay for the city, and the dwarves quickly left.
Bresdir appointed another high priest, Juleris, to head the expedition to the new city. When they arrived, as the dwarves had planned, they found only barren and rotten wasteland around the city. However, by that point, the aqahartis had grown quite exceptional at navigating heavily enchanted areas. Despite several deaths from the enchantments, they were able to cleanse the land in a few short years, giving them a city like none they had owned before. Idin soon became a center of trade, as the dwarves both hired the aqahartis to cleanse the rest of their country and sold mined goods to the growing nation.
Inovel
Tifingor grew rapidly as trade with Taninor buoyed the nation. It was around that same time, sixty years after the war ended, that the human leader Bartholomew was founding the nation of Distisil. The humans hadn’t colonized much of the land, and were slowly expanding, much like Tifingor itself.
After sending and receiving several emissaries between the two countries, Bresdir appointed a third High Priest, Nuselis, to meet the humans for a joint city. Bartholomew matched Bresdir’s contributions, each of them sending one thousand settlers to meet on the plains near the Inland Ocean.
This city likely has the happiest tale of them all. Human magic was strong, easily able to clear the land and raise massive walls around them. Aqahartis magic aided in hunting, and the society soon grew into a thriving center of trade. It also stands as one of the least-attacked cities in all of Calsin, as the only major conflict it has ever seen is a single vampire assault that came up from Notirot.
Ondelsour
Continuing the tradition of trade, the settlement at Inovel truly brought countless additional resources to Tifingor. After ensuring that the city would last, Bresdir, as he began to decline in health, ordered a third border city established with Sintison.
This proved to be one of the most disastrous mistakes of Bresdir’s run as Tirfin. The entire aqahartis population had reached roughly 150,000 after seventy-five years out of the water, but the population wasn’t ready to tackle another large project. Most of the young people of the nation had already committed themselves to the two border cities already in place, there simply weren’t that many available.
Nevertheless, the Tirfin’s word was the Tirfin’s word, and around 1,500 aqahartis assembled to strike north to the border of Sintison. The only problem was that Sintison wasn’t that interested in trading with Tifingor. The distance to Sintison’s capitol was so great that none of the emissaries sent back and forth were able to reach the caravan before it set out, and thus, their fates were sealed.
The aqahartis arrived at the northern base of the mountains in early summer, shortly after the frosts had ceased. They picked a favorable location and quickly began building walls and shelters, preparing to survive the winter in only six to eight short months. It was the farthest north that they had ever gone, which for an aquatic race, was by far their first problem.
The second problem came in the form of the Sintison army that came marching down to meet them, towards the end of summer. Word of their existence had finally reached the king of Sintison, who wasn’t at all pleased with the efforts. They already had ample trade with both Elsinor and Taninor, and didn’t believe that the aqahartis would do anything but drain their resources. In addition, due to the lack of communication, the aqahartis had been building on land claimed by Sintison.
The army quickly besieged the small community. The nearly defenseless aqahartis game up immediately, allowing the army to escort them to a far less favorable location about ten miles away, across the border. The aqahartis, with fall nearing, began building as desperately as they could.
That winter proved to be deadly, as over half of the settlers perished in the cold. In the end, the only reason they survived was due to the Sintison army stationed nearby to watch them. While the army was certainly better fitted for survival, they rather coveted the walls that the aqahartis had, and soon moved in. Working together, the survivors were able to weather the winter, though relations deteriorated almost as soon as the spring winds began to blow.
Upon receiving the news of the disaster, Bresdir fell dead on his bed. He was succeeded by a man named Zorich, who immediately left Rottin with a contingent of priests and made his way to Ondelsour to meet with the Sintison army himself. He was soon able to talk them down, and after several years there, was able to establish a true and lasting peace.
Sontornou/Indifi
Zorich eventually returned to Rottin, where he continued to rule until his death many years later. In his time, he refused to allow for any further expansions, effectively managing to do so by refusing to anoint any other high priests. While the four current high priests could retire and anoint their successor, without a new one, it was nearly impossible for the aqahartis to expand.
The only issue with this plan was the fact that a new generation of aqahartis was rising. Dozens of young explorers snuck away into the wilds, determined to seek their fortunes among the still-unexplored ruins. Few returned, but this didn’t give many of them pause.
It’s impossible to know who first started the settlement, but the brave individuals sneaking out of town soon found themselves lost and lonely in the wilderness. While most of them continued to explore, never truly settling down, small camps began to spring up through the wilderness, locations where young adventurers could stop to take breaks for a week or two. While most of these camps died out, others began to grow, becoming fantastic and wonderful towns used to push the boundaries of the wilds. Despite warnings from Zorich, they became almost legendary among the young people of the nations, great jewels out beyond the horizon.
When Zorich passed away, he was succeeded by a man named Visic, who had grown up in awe of the legendary towns. He recognized the wisdom of not sanctioning any more settlements, as the population was still quite sparse. On the other hand, he knew that many of the young aqahartis were running off into the wilds simply because it was forbidden, and many were forsaking Tirronfin and Sorosin because of it. In order to combat the growing heresy, he anointed two new high priests and sent them out, with instructions to find the two largest of the settlements and claim them as official aqahartis cities.
The two priests, Nulschar and Cresia, soon found dozens of small settlements scattered throughout the land. After some urging from the explorers, they chose the locations now known to be Indifi and Sontornou. Aqahartis flocked to the new cities, braving the treacheries of the land simply because it was now allowed. The two settlements grew rapidly, and Visic quickly became one of the most popular Tirfins of all time.
Ritovam
While Visic certainly understood the aqahartis lust for growth, he was aware, as his predecessors were, that the aqahartis simply weren’t large enough to sponsor any more cities. When he passed away and was succeeded by Xesis, Xesis knew much of the same thing. At that point, Tifingor was flourishing, and had no particular need for expansion. Most of the young aqahartis were continuing to explore, while the tradition of establishing small villages here and there continued. Xesis decided simply to allow it to continue, and made no moves in his lifetime.
When Xesis died, the aqahartis nation was fit to burst. It had been thirty years since the founding of the last city, and while the population wasn’t expanding too much yet, the citizens simply wanted to expand. When the new Tirfin, Fersiv, was elected, it was with the knowledge that he had to do something about it.
At the time, the nation of Notirot was in its early years as well. Little more than a splinter from Distisil, there was no particular value in establishing trade with it. That said, there was little to lose from the action as well, and within his first year, Fersiv anointed Nirses to establish a border city with Notirot.
When emissaries were sent to the king of Notirot, he dismissed it as a joke. However, when he sent emissaries back, they found nearly five thousand aqahartis standing on the edge of the desert, ready to put down roots. The king sent back his blessing, and the settlers got to work. Walls went up, wells were dug.
Which is when Nirses realized the true danger of being so close to the Vamsick desert. While the dry and arid conditions certainly weren’t fantastic for aqahartis composure, the larger issue were the vampires living deep within the sands. As settlers were carried off, only to return weeks later as undead, Nirses cried out to their allies for help.
The results were instant, as dozens of warriors and mages from Inovel swarmed down to help fight against the undead. The vampires were put in check for a short time, though it was quite obvious that the problem wasn’t going away anytime soon. The undead creatures were immune to thirst, and thus could survive in the desert far easier than anyone else could.
Fascinated by the close proximity to the vampire nations, experts in the undead quickly set up shop in Ritovam, and soon, an undead academy was opened, designed to train individuals in combat against the creatures. It still stands to this day as one of the five premier academies across Calsin.
Ourfidrinot
Shortly after the success of Ritovam, Fersiv secretly sent emissaries to Sintison, asking permission to build a second border city. He didn’t want to stir up lingering trouble from the previous disaster, but knew that the aqahartis spirit for adventure was still alive and well. The king of Sintison sent back his regards, and plans were made. The high priest Gersic was anointed, and word was sent out.
Once again, the response was incredible, as aqahartis from across the nation swarmed up to the new border city. This time, despite another massive Sintison army to keep an eye on things, everything proceeded smoothly. In fact, when the Sintison army withdrew, they carried with them tales of a race more dedicated than any they had ever seen before. In response, fearing an aqahartis invasion, the king sent his own settlers down to meet them, to build the town in joint. It was an effort that, despite being motivated out of fear, served its purpose well enough. The city still stands to this day as a center of trade between the two countries, and often serves as a visible reminder of the treaty between the two nations.
Tirinoufin
Early-on during the exploration of Tifingor, rumors began to arise of a magical spring. It was described in wildly different manners, from being a glade of trees fed by a crystal pond to being an underground chasm filled with water more pure than was imaginable. The stories grew into legends, and were some of the driving forces behind the aqahartis expansion.
Nonetheless, the spring was never properly discovered, as no explorer that found the location could ever find it again. Two people working together were never able to locate it either, only single individuals on their own quests. And thus, it was relegated as a simple legend. At least, until the time of Tirfin Desnuris II. The first ever Tirfin to take the name of a previous Turfin, Desnuris II believed that Sorosin was going to perform a miracle. And… He was right.
A caravan of merchants, traveling from Ourfidrinot to Indifi, came upon what they could only describe as paradise. It was a mountain, rising out of the plains, with a pure spring feeding a lake hundreds of feet wide and equally as deep. After spending multiple days at the spring, they returned to civilization and began to spread word. Despite not being believed by the vast majority of the country, thousands of explorers set out to see if they were telling the truth.
This time, every single person who set out to find it, regardless of which direction they started moving, found their way to the spring. The moment that word reached Desnuris II’s ears, he packed up the entirety of the religious order and set out to reach the Pure Spring.
The moment that Desnuris II set foot in the water, magical writing revealed itself on the mountain, words that declared the spring would forever be under the control of the aqahartis. Walls grew up around the spring in an instant, with Desnuris II officially declaring the spring both the center of aqahartis religion and the new capital of Tifingor.
Sondonis/Drii
Construction on Tirinnoufin took the efforts of the aqahartis nation for the better part of the next century. While the foundations and walls were certainly erected before that, such a divine spring needed proper housing, and thus, Tirinnoufin grew to become the third-largest city in Calsin (behind Nettingo and Tingortir). For that time, exploration more or less stopped, since the pinnacle of exploration had been found!
Nevertheless, the spirit of aqahartis exploration couldn’t be stopped for long, and soon, explorers began pushing west yet again. In a very similar manner as Indifi and Sontornou, small villages sprang up as stopping points for explorers. After enough time had passed, two more High Priests (Iselc and Porsilis) were anointed to officially found two more cities, fleshing out the growing nation once more.
Idi/Ondrifare/Tirtin
Unlike the other cities through Tifingor, these mountain fortresses were actually in place long before the aqahartis climbed out of the ocean. Several centuries before the Dwarven Civil War, the dwarves and the elves banded together to push the orcs back across the mountains, sealing them onto a massive peninsula. To prevent them from simply running back across the mountains again, two cities were built up, Tirtin and Ondrifare, to house powerful enchantments that cast a border up and down the length of the mountains. Dwarven and Elven biological magic was used as well, sculpting a species made from living rock to guard the orcs as well. The gargoyles still roam the hills, ever doing their duty in keeping the orcs in line.
Shortly after these two fortresses were built, it was discovered that the orcs had kidnapped vampires from Donitor and placed them in their own secluded country. While the vampires had no particular reason to leave, the elves and dwarves decided not to take chances, and constructed the third fortress of Idi to keep the vampires protected.
Unlike most cities, which relied on trade, these fortresses were constructed to be more or less self-sustaining. Because of that, they could go a decade without receiving a trader or sending off a young adventurer back to another country. As such, they had never even heard of the aqahartis until the time that Tirinnoufin was established. The news concerned them little, as the species wasn’t hostile, and so they remained at their post.
As the aqahartis continued to expand west, it wasn’t long before explorers came across the inhabited fortresses. Initial contact proved bloodless, and only a few short years passed before aqahartis, still desperate for new adventures, began signing up to join the fortresses.
While it certainly didn’t happen all at once, as the aqahartis began to fill the fortified halls, many dwarves and elves saw their chance to go back to their own species and leave the fortresses behind. And so, without ever intending to do so, the aqahartis slowly took over the fortresses and integrated them into their own country.
Following the acquisition of the fortresses, the aqahartis simply ran out of places to expand. The desert to the south was uninhabitable, while everywhere else was claimed by other countries. The merfolk of the western ocean were just as unfriendly to the aqahartis as the merfolk of the Inland Ocean, and thus, aqahartis spirit began to turn to intrigue and deception.
This path had extreme consequences to the species as a whole. While not warlike, Tifingor became feared among other nations, as its well known never to try and out-think the careful and crafty creatures. Additionally, the Tirfin was soon forced to step down as the leader of the country, as his devotion to the gods prevented deception, but simply navigating political waters required it.
Regardless of their direction as a species, though, the aqahartis remain as one of the most unique and entrepreneurial races in the land. If there’s a new land to discover, they’ll be there. If there’s a new discovery made, they’ll be on it. And, if the rumors are to be believed, some aqahartis have been brave enough to explore the western ocean in an attempt to discover lands beyond Calsin...
Following the Dwarven Civil War, the Dwarven Empire had effectively been split into four nations. Taninor remained as the seat of the Empire, with both Tornor and Dirnor serving as schisms. Donisil, on the other hand, was now the only truly human nation in the world, a fact that the dwarves didn't like.
While Tornor and Dirnor more or less stayed out of the way and continued to fight among each other, Taninor decided to do something about the human "menace." At the time, only two countries bordered the Inland Ocean, that being Taninor and Donisil. Taninor viewed the ocean as a bit of a menace, as it extended deep into the ground, limiting the space that the dwarves could mine. In fact, dozens of dwarven cities over the years wound up drowning after accidentally tunneling into the Inland Ocean. The humans in Donisil, on the other hand, were dependent on the salty inland waters. The land had not healed enough for them to successfully feed their nation from the wildlife and crops there, and thus, much of human prosperity at the time came from fishing and trading with the merfolk.
Determined to stop the humans once and for all, the dwarves set out to poison the Inland Ocean. It was a task that sounded insane, but it was a task likely to succeed. One of the more decorated generals in the Dwarven army, a man named Corgeric, came up with the idea. And, in all reality... The plan should have succeeded.
It was a simple plan, really. The slaves began to help the dwarves in crafting enormous amounts of harm enchantments. They enchanted weapons, scraps, or even just small hunks of metal with powerful magic designed to injure or kill anything that touched it. It isn't known how many slaves died in this process, but it is known that following this desperate attempt at payback, Taninor was never able to fully recover.
The slaves transported the harmful enchantments out into the fields of Taninor, where they were buried in the soil that would soon be planted with crops. Slaves that died during this part were simply buried as well, to provide fertilizer for the crops. Crops were then planted, springing up several months later as twisted, perverted versions of themselves. Testing on slaves proved that, as expected, the crops had taken on the deadly enchantments, rendering them deadly poisonous.
From this point, it should have been a simple matter to harvest the crops, take them to the Inland Ocean, and dump them in. However, so many slaves had already died that the Dwarven workforce was significantly diminished. The remaining slaves sent to pick the field soon found themselves dying as well, as the crops were so deadly that even picking an ear of corn was likely to result in sickness or death.
As it happened, an elven slave named Gersin managed to steal a small piece of silver from the dwarven forge that he was assigned to. When he was sent out to work the fields, he used the protection from the silver to survive touching the crops, then pretended to grow ill and die. He was thrown in the compost pile with the others, where he was then able to make his escape.
It is a testament to Gersin that instead of running back to Elsinor, as he would have had every right to do, he went straight to Donisil and warned the humans of the danger about to befall them. It is an even greater testament that he was the one to lead the strike force back into Taninor to put an end to the operation once and for all.
In the end, the battle was a simple one. The merfolk of the lake cast illusions around the army as they made their way along the coast, to the massive storage warehouses where the dangerous crops were being kept until they could be released. Already depleted from the war, the dwarven soldiers were hardly combat ready, and the strike force was quickly able to destroy many of the deadly caches.
As it happened, they were only halfway done when an emissary from Hartusic the Bronze tracked them down and informed them that the rest of the caches were being burned at that moment. The effort to poison the Inland Ocean had taken the lives of both slaves and dwarves, significantly diminishing the nation's power. To top it off, the harmful enchantments fused into the soil weren't going away, making all the crops that had been replanted in the ground deadly as well. For the first time in its history, the Dwarven Empire was going to need to rely on someone else for food, a fact that they weren't happy about.
Triumphant, Gersin and the strike force returned to Donisil. More effects continued to resound above the waters, but below the waves is where things got heated.
When the merfolk had been alerted to the crisis, the merfolk king had called an assembly from all the civilizations under the waves. Together, thousands of merfolk cried out unceasingly to Tirronfin, their primary god. Following the conclusion of the event, they turned their cries into praise, a glorious song that lasted for nearly a month.
After that month was over, though, the waters began to grow muddled. Most of the merfolk believed that Tirronfin had protected them, and had intervened in order to prevent the destruction of their entire species. A significant minority, though, believed that the event had been something different altogether. Led by a merman named Desnuris, they believed that the entire event had been a call of warning, a declaration that they were no longer safe under the water.
The merfolk king, on behalf of his advisers, immediately denounced the belief as heresy. Nevertheless, many merfolk across the Inland Ocean were terrified that another attempt to poison the ocean was a reality, and that they simply weren't safe when they were trapped in their single body of water, at the mercy of the air-breathers.
After much debate and more than a few violent conflicts, Desnuris and his followers flocked to a small cove on the western side of the ocean, where they began to pray for divine intervention. They gave themselves to Tirronfin, asking for a miracle. As they sang for weeks on end, merfolk from across the ocean swam to join them, joining their voices in song.
According to tradition, it wasn't Tirronfin himself who provided the miracle, though a miracle very much did take place. Their song became so loud and far-reaching that the land-dwellers began to talk about it, and word eventually reached the Scorched Lands. For reason still unknown (dragons don’t share their inner secrets well), five dragons left their only sanctuary and journeyed to the bay where the merfolk were gathered. The dragons used their own magic to summon a god, one they knew well.
And so, Sorosin appeared, a glorious image. He cast down his shining rays into the water, transforming Desnuris and all his followers into amphibious beings.
It certainly must have been a sight to see as thousands of the new species walked up on land for the first time. None of them had ever experienced legs before, none had ever used lungs. Once again, for reasons unknown, the dragons remained in the area for some time, helping the newly born aqahartis build up their first city: Rottin.
From there, the aqahartis simply spread out as far as they could. The land had been orcish territory up until only a century earlier, so most of it simply wasn’t colonized. Slowly, the aqahartis expanded, from the Inland Ocean all the way to the mountains that held the orcs and the vampires in place. They stretched up to the border of Sintison all the way down to the sands of the Vamsick Desert. And, to this day, they’re still there.
Rottin
Rottin was the first city founded by the aqahartis, immediately after they emerged from the ocean. Most of them had extreme difficulties walking on land, or even learning how to breathe properly. Were it not for the help of the dragons, the fledgling species may have perished then and there.
It didn’t take long before Desnuris was hailed as a saint among the refugees. Already a priest of the merfolk order, he was quickly elevated to the position of Tirfin, the leader of the new aqahartis religion.
As the new head, Desnuris attempted to talk to the dragons to reveal the identity of the god that had saved them. They refused to answer, and needing an explanation to give to the people, Desnuris gave the entity the name of Sorosin, as he believed that the specific name was less important than the fact that they had been saved. Be built up an alter in Sorosin’s honor, the first construction of Rottin.
The dragons then used their magic to build up walls around the monument, sealing a large area off from the outside. Upon that completion, they left, winging back to the Scorched Lands. The aqahartis soon began to build, filling in the space between the sea and the walls. They also began building walls out into the ocean, in defense. Though no attack would come for over 100 years, they wanted to be prepared.
Even as the aqahartis spread out through the land, Rottin remained as the point where the aqahartis had broken free. It has survived merfolk attacks, and even a dwarven invasion. Despite plenty of open waters, the aqahartis refuse to build another major port where ships can dock, believing that Rottin should always stand as the sole access point between Tifingor and the Ocean.
Diglidon
Diglidon was the second city founded in Tifingor, built up only a few short years after the emergence. At that point, the entire aqahartis population numbered only a hundred thousand, which didn’t allow much room for error. While Desnuris remained in Rottin, believing the aqahartis still had a duty to the sea despite being freed from its bondage, he anointed a man named Clausis as his high priest. It was obvious that the slowly growing aqahartis population simply wouldn’t be able to stay in one place for long, as they were rapidly consuming the food supplies available.
Clausis, upon receiving his elevation, lef fifty thousand aqahartis out into the countryside, and simply headed west. He wasn’t sure what he would find, but trusted Sorosin to guide him.
The caravan was beset with troubles, almost from the beginning. The land had never been colonized because of all the orcish blood magic and traps that had been built up over the years. Despite warnings from traders that had come through Rottin, the aqahartis quickly found themselves unprepared for the harsh reality of the wartorn land. Spectral beasts rose up in the night, slaying people in their sleep. Oasis appeared on the horizon, only to instantly kill the first to set foot inside their borders. It was estimated that five people per day were killed, which was greatly worrisome to say the least.
By the time they finally came upon a true oasis, many in the crowd refused to believe that it was true. Trees rose into the sky, surrounding a series of small ponds. The vast majority of the crowd refused to believe that it was true, but Clausis knew that they had found their destination. He was the first to set foot in the water, the first to enjoy its blessing.
The survivors of the caravan truly had found a paradise. They settled down and quickly began building up walls. To this day, the pools of water are at the center of the city, open to any and all aqahartis that want to visit (though other species are banned without special permission from the high priest of the town).
Idin
While the aqahartis population certainly didn’t begin to rival other species for quite some time, it did expand quite quickly. With their relatively short lifespans, the population soon began to outgrow Rottin yet again, forcing several tough decisions. While Diglidon had been around for fifty years at that point, and a well-established road had been paved, no one was in any great hurry to repeat the experiences of the previous caravan.
In a surprising twist of fate, it was Taninor that came to Tifingor’s aid. Still struggling to recover from the deadly enchantments placed on it several decades earlier, the dwarves were finally withdrawing from some of the more contaminated areas. The outer edges of their kingdom, near the end of the mountains, was one of the first places to go.
The mayor of the city, Gurisic, knew that once his starving population was finally forced to retreat into the mountains, he was going to be treated with scorn and likely exile. In a brilliant move, he decided to sell his city to the aqahatis. The young species wouldn’t have to worry about building walls, and he could have enough wealth to retire in style. And, with luck, the aqahartis would finally fall to the enchantments intended for them half a century earlier.
Desnuris’s successor (the saintly aqahartis had died about a decade earlier), Bresdir, quickly took the deal. One benefit of living in the former orcish nation was an abundance of ancient ruins, from which they had pulled more gold than they knew what to do with. They sent over half of the country’s reserves to pay for the city, and the dwarves quickly left.
Bresdir appointed another high priest, Juleris, to head the expedition to the new city. When they arrived, as the dwarves had planned, they found only barren and rotten wasteland around the city. However, by that point, the aqahartis had grown quite exceptional at navigating heavily enchanted areas. Despite several deaths from the enchantments, they were able to cleanse the land in a few short years, giving them a city like none they had owned before. Idin soon became a center of trade, as the dwarves both hired the aqahartis to cleanse the rest of their country and sold mined goods to the growing nation.
Inovel
Tifingor grew rapidly as trade with Taninor buoyed the nation. It was around that same time, sixty years after the war ended, that the human leader Bartholomew was founding the nation of Distisil. The humans hadn’t colonized much of the land, and were slowly expanding, much like Tifingor itself.
After sending and receiving several emissaries between the two countries, Bresdir appointed a third High Priest, Nuselis, to meet the humans for a joint city. Bartholomew matched Bresdir’s contributions, each of them sending one thousand settlers to meet on the plains near the Inland Ocean.
This city likely has the happiest tale of them all. Human magic was strong, easily able to clear the land and raise massive walls around them. Aqahartis magic aided in hunting, and the society soon grew into a thriving center of trade. It also stands as one of the least-attacked cities in all of Calsin, as the only major conflict it has ever seen is a single vampire assault that came up from Notirot.
Ondelsour
Continuing the tradition of trade, the settlement at Inovel truly brought countless additional resources to Tifingor. After ensuring that the city would last, Bresdir, as he began to decline in health, ordered a third border city established with Sintison.
This proved to be one of the most disastrous mistakes of Bresdir’s run as Tirfin. The entire aqahartis population had reached roughly 150,000 after seventy-five years out of the water, but the population wasn’t ready to tackle another large project. Most of the young people of the nation had already committed themselves to the two border cities already in place, there simply weren’t that many available.
Nevertheless, the Tirfin’s word was the Tirfin’s word, and around 1,500 aqahartis assembled to strike north to the border of Sintison. The only problem was that Sintison wasn’t that interested in trading with Tifingor. The distance to Sintison’s capitol was so great that none of the emissaries sent back and forth were able to reach the caravan before it set out, and thus, their fates were sealed.
The aqahartis arrived at the northern base of the mountains in early summer, shortly after the frosts had ceased. They picked a favorable location and quickly began building walls and shelters, preparing to survive the winter in only six to eight short months. It was the farthest north that they had ever gone, which for an aquatic race, was by far their first problem.
The second problem came in the form of the Sintison army that came marching down to meet them, towards the end of summer. Word of their existence had finally reached the king of Sintison, who wasn’t at all pleased with the efforts. They already had ample trade with both Elsinor and Taninor, and didn’t believe that the aqahartis would do anything but drain their resources. In addition, due to the lack of communication, the aqahartis had been building on land claimed by Sintison.
The army quickly besieged the small community. The nearly defenseless aqahartis game up immediately, allowing the army to escort them to a far less favorable location about ten miles away, across the border. The aqahartis, with fall nearing, began building as desperately as they could.
That winter proved to be deadly, as over half of the settlers perished in the cold. In the end, the only reason they survived was due to the Sintison army stationed nearby to watch them. While the army was certainly better fitted for survival, they rather coveted the walls that the aqahartis had, and soon moved in. Working together, the survivors were able to weather the winter, though relations deteriorated almost as soon as the spring winds began to blow.
Upon receiving the news of the disaster, Bresdir fell dead on his bed. He was succeeded by a man named Zorich, who immediately left Rottin with a contingent of priests and made his way to Ondelsour to meet with the Sintison army himself. He was soon able to talk them down, and after several years there, was able to establish a true and lasting peace.
Sontornou/Indifi
Zorich eventually returned to Rottin, where he continued to rule until his death many years later. In his time, he refused to allow for any further expansions, effectively managing to do so by refusing to anoint any other high priests. While the four current high priests could retire and anoint their successor, without a new one, it was nearly impossible for the aqahartis to expand.
The only issue with this plan was the fact that a new generation of aqahartis was rising. Dozens of young explorers snuck away into the wilds, determined to seek their fortunes among the still-unexplored ruins. Few returned, but this didn’t give many of them pause.
It’s impossible to know who first started the settlement, but the brave individuals sneaking out of town soon found themselves lost and lonely in the wilderness. While most of them continued to explore, never truly settling down, small camps began to spring up through the wilderness, locations where young adventurers could stop to take breaks for a week or two. While most of these camps died out, others began to grow, becoming fantastic and wonderful towns used to push the boundaries of the wilds. Despite warnings from Zorich, they became almost legendary among the young people of the nations, great jewels out beyond the horizon.
When Zorich passed away, he was succeeded by a man named Visic, who had grown up in awe of the legendary towns. He recognized the wisdom of not sanctioning any more settlements, as the population was still quite sparse. On the other hand, he knew that many of the young aqahartis were running off into the wilds simply because it was forbidden, and many were forsaking Tirronfin and Sorosin because of it. In order to combat the growing heresy, he anointed two new high priests and sent them out, with instructions to find the two largest of the settlements and claim them as official aqahartis cities.
The two priests, Nulschar and Cresia, soon found dozens of small settlements scattered throughout the land. After some urging from the explorers, they chose the locations now known to be Indifi and Sontornou. Aqahartis flocked to the new cities, braving the treacheries of the land simply because it was now allowed. The two settlements grew rapidly, and Visic quickly became one of the most popular Tirfins of all time.
Ritovam
While Visic certainly understood the aqahartis lust for growth, he was aware, as his predecessors were, that the aqahartis simply weren’t large enough to sponsor any more cities. When he passed away and was succeeded by Xesis, Xesis knew much of the same thing. At that point, Tifingor was flourishing, and had no particular need for expansion. Most of the young aqahartis were continuing to explore, while the tradition of establishing small villages here and there continued. Xesis decided simply to allow it to continue, and made no moves in his lifetime.
When Xesis died, the aqahartis nation was fit to burst. It had been thirty years since the founding of the last city, and while the population wasn’t expanding too much yet, the citizens simply wanted to expand. When the new Tirfin, Fersiv, was elected, it was with the knowledge that he had to do something about it.
At the time, the nation of Notirot was in its early years as well. Little more than a splinter from Distisil, there was no particular value in establishing trade with it. That said, there was little to lose from the action as well, and within his first year, Fersiv anointed Nirses to establish a border city with Notirot.
When emissaries were sent to the king of Notirot, he dismissed it as a joke. However, when he sent emissaries back, they found nearly five thousand aqahartis standing on the edge of the desert, ready to put down roots. The king sent back his blessing, and the settlers got to work. Walls went up, wells were dug.
Which is when Nirses realized the true danger of being so close to the Vamsick desert. While the dry and arid conditions certainly weren’t fantastic for aqahartis composure, the larger issue were the vampires living deep within the sands. As settlers were carried off, only to return weeks later as undead, Nirses cried out to their allies for help.
The results were instant, as dozens of warriors and mages from Inovel swarmed down to help fight against the undead. The vampires were put in check for a short time, though it was quite obvious that the problem wasn’t going away anytime soon. The undead creatures were immune to thirst, and thus could survive in the desert far easier than anyone else could.
Fascinated by the close proximity to the vampire nations, experts in the undead quickly set up shop in Ritovam, and soon, an undead academy was opened, designed to train individuals in combat against the creatures. It still stands to this day as one of the five premier academies across Calsin.
Ourfidrinot
Shortly after the success of Ritovam, Fersiv secretly sent emissaries to Sintison, asking permission to build a second border city. He didn’t want to stir up lingering trouble from the previous disaster, but knew that the aqahartis spirit for adventure was still alive and well. The king of Sintison sent back his regards, and plans were made. The high priest Gersic was anointed, and word was sent out.
Once again, the response was incredible, as aqahartis from across the nation swarmed up to the new border city. This time, despite another massive Sintison army to keep an eye on things, everything proceeded smoothly. In fact, when the Sintison army withdrew, they carried with them tales of a race more dedicated than any they had ever seen before. In response, fearing an aqahartis invasion, the king sent his own settlers down to meet them, to build the town in joint. It was an effort that, despite being motivated out of fear, served its purpose well enough. The city still stands to this day as a center of trade between the two countries, and often serves as a visible reminder of the treaty between the two nations.
Tirinoufin
Early-on during the exploration of Tifingor, rumors began to arise of a magical spring. It was described in wildly different manners, from being a glade of trees fed by a crystal pond to being an underground chasm filled with water more pure than was imaginable. The stories grew into legends, and were some of the driving forces behind the aqahartis expansion.
Nonetheless, the spring was never properly discovered, as no explorer that found the location could ever find it again. Two people working together were never able to locate it either, only single individuals on their own quests. And thus, it was relegated as a simple legend. At least, until the time of Tirfin Desnuris II. The first ever Tirfin to take the name of a previous Turfin, Desnuris II believed that Sorosin was going to perform a miracle. And… He was right.
A caravan of merchants, traveling from Ourfidrinot to Indifi, came upon what they could only describe as paradise. It was a mountain, rising out of the plains, with a pure spring feeding a lake hundreds of feet wide and equally as deep. After spending multiple days at the spring, they returned to civilization and began to spread word. Despite not being believed by the vast majority of the country, thousands of explorers set out to see if they were telling the truth.
This time, every single person who set out to find it, regardless of which direction they started moving, found their way to the spring. The moment that word reached Desnuris II’s ears, he packed up the entirety of the religious order and set out to reach the Pure Spring.
The moment that Desnuris II set foot in the water, magical writing revealed itself on the mountain, words that declared the spring would forever be under the control of the aqahartis. Walls grew up around the spring in an instant, with Desnuris II officially declaring the spring both the center of aqahartis religion and the new capital of Tifingor.
Sondonis/Drii
Construction on Tirinnoufin took the efforts of the aqahartis nation for the better part of the next century. While the foundations and walls were certainly erected before that, such a divine spring needed proper housing, and thus, Tirinnoufin grew to become the third-largest city in Calsin (behind Nettingo and Tingortir). For that time, exploration more or less stopped, since the pinnacle of exploration had been found!
Nevertheless, the spirit of aqahartis exploration couldn’t be stopped for long, and soon, explorers began pushing west yet again. In a very similar manner as Indifi and Sontornou, small villages sprang up as stopping points for explorers. After enough time had passed, two more High Priests (Iselc and Porsilis) were anointed to officially found two more cities, fleshing out the growing nation once more.
Idi/Ondrifare/Tirtin
Unlike the other cities through Tifingor, these mountain fortresses were actually in place long before the aqahartis climbed out of the ocean. Several centuries before the Dwarven Civil War, the dwarves and the elves banded together to push the orcs back across the mountains, sealing them onto a massive peninsula. To prevent them from simply running back across the mountains again, two cities were built up, Tirtin and Ondrifare, to house powerful enchantments that cast a border up and down the length of the mountains. Dwarven and Elven biological magic was used as well, sculpting a species made from living rock to guard the orcs as well. The gargoyles still roam the hills, ever doing their duty in keeping the orcs in line.
Shortly after these two fortresses were built, it was discovered that the orcs had kidnapped vampires from Donitor and placed them in their own secluded country. While the vampires had no particular reason to leave, the elves and dwarves decided not to take chances, and constructed the third fortress of Idi to keep the vampires protected.
Unlike most cities, which relied on trade, these fortresses were constructed to be more or less self-sustaining. Because of that, they could go a decade without receiving a trader or sending off a young adventurer back to another country. As such, they had never even heard of the aqahartis until the time that Tirinnoufin was established. The news concerned them little, as the species wasn’t hostile, and so they remained at their post.
As the aqahartis continued to expand west, it wasn’t long before explorers came across the inhabited fortresses. Initial contact proved bloodless, and only a few short years passed before aqahartis, still desperate for new adventures, began signing up to join the fortresses.
While it certainly didn’t happen all at once, as the aqahartis began to fill the fortified halls, many dwarves and elves saw their chance to go back to their own species and leave the fortresses behind. And so, without ever intending to do so, the aqahartis slowly took over the fortresses and integrated them into their own country.
Following the acquisition of the fortresses, the aqahartis simply ran out of places to expand. The desert to the south was uninhabitable, while everywhere else was claimed by other countries. The merfolk of the western ocean were just as unfriendly to the aqahartis as the merfolk of the Inland Ocean, and thus, aqahartis spirit began to turn to intrigue and deception.
This path had extreme consequences to the species as a whole. While not warlike, Tifingor became feared among other nations, as its well known never to try and out-think the careful and crafty creatures. Additionally, the Tirfin was soon forced to step down as the leader of the country, as his devotion to the gods prevented deception, but simply navigating political waters required it.
Regardless of their direction as a species, though, the aqahartis remain as one of the most unique and entrepreneurial races in the land. If there’s a new land to discover, they’ll be there. If there’s a new discovery made, they’ll be on it. And, if the rumors are to be believed, some aqahartis have been brave enough to explore the western ocean in an attempt to discover lands beyond Calsin...
