Forgotten Empires on Duria

The history of Duria prior to the Third Age of Man is deeply obscured in the mists of history. Even the dwarves of the Kingdoms of Derlos and Gundag have few records from this period that are relevant to the surface world. Over the last century, however, some evidence has been unearthed to suggest that forgotten empires rose and fell across Duria during these periods.

It is generally believed that the first nation, the dwarven nation of Kalazar, was founded on the continent of Duria, though the dwarves themselves cannot pinpoint precisely where this ancient nation existed. Fragments of literary evidence suggests that it lay on the Divian Peninsula, though to date no ancient dwarven ruins have been found on the surface there.

If this is true, it would be along the Divian Peninsula that the War of Dark Sorrow took place, where the dwarves were overrun by hordes of orcish raiders for the first time and driven deep underground. Unfortunately, all six of the major dwarven kingdoms have records of their defeat and diaspora into the world below. The vast distances between dwarven kingdoms suggest that either some dwarves fled over the surface of the world or else these kingdoms were founded independently with some loose knowledge of the War of Dark Sorrow and its aftermath.

While most Imperial scholars suggest that mankind on Duria was composed of little more than savage tribes scraping by with primitive tools, at some point during the First Age of Man humans on Duria organized well enough to push back the orcish hordes and conquer the lands that the orcs had taken from the dwarves. What is known is that when the dwarves decided they were strong enough to retake the surface world, they found humans reigning instead of orcs. The War of the Sun between dwarves and humans began around four thousand years before the foundation of Neptaris and while all but one of the dwarven kingdoms participated in the war (the dwarves of Derlos refrained from joining in), it is generally believed that the humans of Duria were strong enough to push back the dwarven legions in barely a century of fighting. Eventually, peace was established between dwarves and humans at a place called Gundagor somewhere on the Divian Peninsula around 1400 years before the foundation of Neptaris, during the Second Age of Man.

The vast majority of stories about the rise of the Tuatha de Dannan in the First Age of Man and the great world-spanning wars during the Second Age of Man make no mention of the continent of Duria, though stories from late in the Third Age of Man suggest that Math Mathonwy had gone into exile near the Webwood on the northern shores of Duria, which suggests that Math may have had strong support on Duria, at least in the waning years of Second Age of Man.

There is some evidence that the foundations of the city of Paeldain, the capital of Koramia, are truly ancient. Some scholars suggest that a city has existed in some form or another on that spot since before the dawn of the First Age of Man. The only direct evidence to support these claims are strange pottery and statuary brought up from deep beneath the sewers of Paeldain by intrepid adventurers that scholars have, to this point, been unable to identify.

According to the Annals of Davalor, when he was searching for a hermitage to conduct his mystical research during the time of the Zetian Republic, he was drawn to already ancient ruins on what would come to be known as Sapphire Mount in eastern Duria. Even the knowledgeable demiurge could not decipher precisely what culture had left the ruins behind… or even if they were human, but he was able to decipher several mystical texts he discovered there. The demiurge would eventually build the Citadel on those ruins, around which rose the city that shares his name and, eventually, the nation of Lun Dorak.

There is curious mention in some elven histories of a human Empire just south of the Webwood forest around 4000 years ago (which would place it firmly in the period between the First and Second Ages of Man), but there is no evidence of any ancient ruins on the northern shore of the Sea of Blades to substantiate these legends.

If there were major human empires on Duria during the First and Second Ages of Man, they either were not aware of Aurea and Gallorea, did not possess the means to communicate with humans elsewhere or they chose not to involve themselves in the affairs of the other continents.