Far to the south and east of the lands of the Hundred Kingdoms and the City States lie lands that exist on no map known to mankind, even the wide-ranging exploration fleets of the Old Dominion, for they quite simply did not exist at that time.
These are the lands of the last successors to the legacy of the Old Dominion; they are the cabal of Sorcerer Kings who transcended the limits of mortal magic by binding themselves to the Incarnate Souls of Balance, the Primordial Elemental Lords, and channeled their awesome primordial power to bring down their mad God, Hazlia, and usher the Fall.
Fleeing the destruction of Capitas across a chain of volcanic islands they raised, they were ultimately forced to bind the last of these islands into an entire continent their burgeoning power allowed them to raise from the very seafloor. Barren and desolate, the four surviving Sorcerer Kings: Erme, Who moves the Oceans, Dyelin, Pyre of Gods and Men, Hormus, Who Lays Mountains Low and Alessa, Weaver of Winds and Fates, gazed upon it and called it good.
They settled upon this new land and founded their realms, bonding their mortal servants to their elemental counterparts, seeking thus to guide their newborn elemental children in the gargantuan task of turning the desolate new continent into one capable of supporting life.
Feeling the call of the power and responsibilities they had suddenly assumed would soon call them away, they established a formal hierarchy among their servants, tasking each of them with a separate task in bringing forth the bounty of this new land.
The Elemental Courts thus established, the Sorcerer Kings then withdrew to master the awesome powers and responsibilities they had inherited with their primordial mantle turning their attention to stabilizing the continent they had raised and the weather phenomena that the Fall had unleashed only to find their efforts hampered by unexpected primordial foes. Quickly drawn into an escalating conflict beyond the sight and understanding of their mortal followers, the elder Sorcerer Kings abdicated their titles to the most powerful and competent of their followers, tasking them with seeing their appointed task to completion. Without the guidance and authority of the elder Sorcerer Kings, these hierarchies soon burgeoned in complexity and size as the sheer scope of the monumental task overwhelmed the nascent Elemental Courts. Old ranks were dusted, and new titles were invented to catalog, organize and structure the expanding bureaucracy. The ancient titles of Sultan, Vizier, and Emir rose to share space with Dukes, Marquises, Marechals, and Barons. Countless rank systems were created amongst their servants and followers giving rise to the Marids, the Djinn, the Efreet, and the Rakshasa just to name a few.
The Courts initially cooperated in the creation of Enclaves where the mortal servants and families of the Courts were to be settled. Though of lesser status than the Courts, these Enclaves were granted every need they might have with abundant mineral resources, clean water, temperate weather, and lesser elemental assistance and have thrived to become paradisiacal metropolises that surpass any upon the old continent.
The cleverest, most gifted, and most beautiful of their numbers would ascend to the Elemental Courts in elaborate ceremonies upon which riches and largesse were bestowed upon their families. These gifts and bounty earned the Courts the undying gratitude of the Enclaves, which in time would morph into outright worship, further twisting the fabric of an already strained system.
In time, a large population of refugees followed the first Exodus to this new continent. These hardy survivors crossed the raging oceans and a steaming archipelago with no assistance but the final blessing of the Goddess Ninuah, who sent her chosen servants and what wildlife remained in a final migration in a desperate attempt to safeguard the remaining trapped population of Capitas and its environs.
Unplanned and unaccounted for, these Tribes were barred from accessing the bounty of the Elemental Courts and Enclaves for both of these were more interested in promoting each other and themselves than accounting for the needs of unexpected visitors. Claiming they were never part of the Elders’ plan, the Elemental Courts took no further action other than to destroy the archipelago that had allowed these survivors to reach them in the first place. The Enclaves quickly closed their gates and walled their farms, excluding the Tribes from the wealth that had been bestowed upon them.
Rejected by the servants of the Sorcerer Kings, these Tribes rejected them in turn, turning to the worship of Ninuah, whose final, fading blessing ensured that they not only survived on the barren lands of the new continent but slowly thrived. Adopting the life of nomads and ranging the vast sem- barren flats of the new continents, these tribes came to depend on their herds almost entirely. As the Long Winter eased and the capricious courts ever so begrudgingly fulfilled their mandated role and brought life to the plains, their numbers began to swell. As the seasons turned, their numbers grew until their population pressure pushed them into the fertile but guarded lands of the Enclaves.
The relentless conflict between the idyllic Enclaves and the now heretical tribes would ultimately draw in the mighty Elemental Courts, setting the stage for a massive confrontation that would awaken the Elder Kings and shift the balance of power in these new lands forever, setting them on a course to collide with the civilizations of the old continent after centuries of isolation.
