The Foundation of Neptaris

This is an article on the History of Feyworld
Years: 1 NC to 45 NC
Age: The Long Night
Continent: Duria
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The History of Neptaris
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The Adventures of Zarakos	The Lineage of Ikthios

The first year at Neptag was hard on Zarakos and his men. Not being farmers by trade, at least one hundred and twelve of the original four hundred men with him died that first winter of starvation and disease. The following spring, Zarakos and a few of his men set about exploring the region around their settlement. They eventually met with a primitive tribe of elves who called themselves the Aris. These dark-skinned people were exiles from their own race and, through the magical translations of Anesthos the Younger, the two peoples established an alliance against the elements and dangerous creatures that prowled the nearby wood. To seal the alliance, Zarakos agreed not to cut down trees on the eastern side of the river they called Balinars (now called the Krios) in exchange for over one-thousand human slaves that the Aris had captured after a war with local savages. Fortunately, the slaves included women, and Zarakos and his men quickly set about expanding the population of their city. At Zarakos' order, marriage was prohibited, the women being kept as communal property of the men of the town. Despite his own order, Zarakos himself married a teenaged mute he named Aspruas, the Aebaran word for "silence." He was quoted as saying that she combined the best aspects of a good wife: beautiful, young, and mute. Zarakos begat sixteen children upon her before his death at age seventy-two.

Upon the death of Zarakos in 33 NC, the people of Neptag began arguing over who should succeed him. Two of his sons by Aspruas claimed rulership as well as several of his lieutenants and illegitimate children. Eventually, Anesthos the Younger settled the matter: he asked each contender to answer a series of questions. Only one of Zarakos' lieutenants, Ikthios of Zoandar, succeeded in answering all one hundred questions. Anesthos the Younger proclaimed Ikthios the regnant of Neptag and the people obeyed the proclamation.

The next year, in 34 NC, Anesthos founded the House of the Quill, a place where he could pass on his knowledge of writing and magic to young hopefuls. It was as Rector of the House of the Quill that Anesthos penned the Zarakeon, an epic poem that detailed the history of the city's founder. Most scholars today accept the Zarakeon as truth, mostly because of the caustic nature in which it described its protagonist. Anesthos continued to live and teach for the next decade before finally dying of extreme old age in 45 NC. Though there is no contemporary evidence to support the claim, it is said that Anesthos summoned King Ikthios to his deathbed to tell the regent of how he had falsified the test that had made him King... the questions he had asked did not have answers.