A brief history of time

Timeline

~350 years ago

A rag-tag group of refugees, lead by a diverse cabal of arcane and divine casters has escaped some sort of catastrophe in another place, a journey that is now known as Exodus. Very soon the old rivalries and animosities, as well as seemingly welcoming territories of a their new home, a place that will later be named Hexpanse, fractured the leadership and scattered the survivors. The lack of centralized authority and cooperation lead to loss of the most of the old world documents and artifacts as well as the public knowledge of the events that transpired prior to Exodus.

~100 years p.e. (post-exodus)

Weird and strange but simultaneously rich and diverse natural environments of the Hexpanse allowed refugees to create multiple self-sustained settlements, loosely based on national and other identities from the original world. A number of old ruins was discovered by that time, protected by traps and infested by various monstrosities. Few daring souls, who managed not only to survive, but bring trophies from their expeditions, found themselves getting generally better at things and gaining new abilities without any apparent cause. The biggest settlement, Cradle, situated on the slope of White Mountain near cascading waterfalls, had the most luck with the raids. Very soon, the young adventurers become a threat to the established order and after the ill-fated attempt of suppressing the "rebellious elements" things have changed forever.

An Emergence phenomenon manifested on a wide-scale in the events that are now written in history books as the birth of Triumvirate. Young people, born in this world, spontaneously manifested abilities of all kinds, arcane, divine, martial etc. It was known to occasionally happen before but was dismissed as a hearsay until the wizard Sławomir Bala, one of the leaders of the freshly founded Triumvirate, put the data together.

After the public order was re-established, the Triumvirate sent out diplomatic representatives to other settlements. Only then the full extent of the emergence and the peculiar nature of the riuns became apparent. Some settlements were completely lost to pseudo-architectural growths (later dubbed hexmazes) as a result of uncontrolled and reckless arcane experimentation and naturally occurring magic extrusions. And on top of that, roving bands of powerful raiders, formed from desperate emergent youths threatened those towns there were still standing.

year 300 p.e.

The order, brought by both diplomacy and force, stands tall. The Triumvirate, now not just a trio of powerful people with a vision, but a group of representatives of Arcane Council, Church of Creation and Maréchal is the ultimate executive authority in the world of Hexpanse. The emergence is set to work, talented youths are carefully found and brought up to harness their abilities. The hexmazes, both tamed and wild, are mined for their material and magical treasure that is, in turn, used to feed the new ways of growing sustenance, construction, goods productions etc. Completely new methods and approaches to common tasks are invented and tried. The Mage-industrial revolution has started.

Present time

A steam train runs regularly from Cradle to Red Hill (second largest city in Hexpanse). Electrical grids had been built to light the streets of cities. A tower with dirigible port overlooks Cradle and there, in the clouds, you can see the lights of The Above, a temple built into the mountaintop that is not connected to a mountain (discovered in 321 p.e. and claimed for one of the monastic orders of the Church of Creation).

In 348 p.e., an object has fallen from the sky, that was tracked as emerging from one of the moons, the reddish Alpha. it was found to be a part of a naval ship with weird modifications and even more weird passenger. The multiple moons of the Hexpanse shine their tinted light, what secrets do they hold?