The Raising

The Raising, also called “The Awakening of the Great Ones” by Goliaths, was a major event that changed the course of history for all of Jord. In many ways Jord was created by The Raising. Prior to The Raising the entire land of Jord was ruled by the Vela’haar Empire. The texts that date back to the Empire’s days say that the lands within Jord were the heart of the Vela’haar Empire, but that it had many outlying provinces. It is assumed the outer provinces were cut off when the Godwall was created and eventually degraded into the bleak desert now known as The Outland. During The Raising a massive amount of structural damage was dealt to the Vela’haar Empire. Entire cities were leveled all at once, and even mountainsides collapsed, burying thousands trapped in the cities below them. Every city within Jord was damaged heavily, and most of them were never rebuilt. After The Raising the Empire struggled to remain a unified force. A lot of fighting took place over the supplies each city had. Some cities asked for a large amount of aid, and when it wasn’t willingly given to them some cities attempted to take it by force. In the north the Vela’haari mages took power and gathered the forces of all the cities they managed to sway to their side. In the west there was an overwhelming cry to call to the Gods for assistance. Divine magic made it’s way back into the Vela’haari Empire like never before. For the first time in the known history of Vela’haari clerics prayed to the Gods in numbers unheard of before The Raising. Later the Vela'haari mages would reclaim the west and its rich illithyst viens to help fuel their magic technologies. Much of the western ethnic minorities were enslaved and became a serf caste that was primarily used to mine for precious Illithyst crystals and other rare minerals and ores. In the east the Stone Lords of Falhast retreated into their mountain homes and severed all formal allegiance to Vela'haar. To the south the barbaric tribes that once swore themselves the allies of the Vela’haar royal line turned on each other, fighting over scarce resources, and began a cycle of war and death that would last nearly 500 years. In the centuries following The Raising many would try to pass over the great Godwall. Those that succeeded found a terrible and bleak land inhabited by savage bands of cannibalistic men and monstrous creatures. Those that tried to make their way across the deserts, but any that did never returned. These lands would come to be called the Outlands.