Phase I: The Founding
Erde was once an uninhabited plate in the unchartered expanse of the solid sky. No known soul was witness to its creation. Rather, Erde was discovered and populated by nomads and refugees from other spheres, who found Erde as a lushly-vegetated planet without animal or human life. The only natives to Erde were a few dozen species of insect.

Erde was discovered during an age when the sky throughout the entire universe was light continually; there was no darkness. The lack of darkness (and resulting drop in temperature) allowed expansive exploration throughout the breathable atmosphere. Travel between neighboring spheres was possible with the use of the larger variety of birds, dragons, and pegasi, as well as ship-like structures leveraged by the beasts. Most of Erde’s founders arrived with the assistance of these animals, but it is rumored that the innovative elves and dwarves also had primitive hot-air balloons.

Erde was populated over a period of roughly 75 our-world years known collectively as “The Founding.” A variety of groups and races came to Erde from different homelands and settled in Erde’s various regions, laying the seeds for Erde’s distinct cultural blocks.

Most of the settlers came in small numbers. The south was speckled with lone adventurers and pioneering families, most of which were Germanic-speaking humans known collectively as the Volk. The first elfin settlement was started by an escaped criminal named Lucifax who staked claims in a forest in the central regions. A small group of giants took up residence in the middle plains after being thrust from their homeland as abnormal. More families of elves and dwarves, some fleeing persecution and political unrest, scattered across the sphere according to their lifestyle. The only wave of immigration with a large number was a group of about 150 elves that broke from their home country and relocated to Erde’s northeastern mountains.

Phase II: The Great Darkness
Near the end of the Founding period, the sky began to fade – and eventually turned black. For approximately two our-world months, the universe was solid darkness except for occasional explosions in the distant sky. Some believe that the explosions were caused by planets and other celestial beings freezing and self-destructing in the eternal cold caused by the lack of light. By the time the light returned, only a few distant green dots remained in the sky beneath Erde. Communication with other planets was lost forever as the cold of darkness made travel deadly.

Erde was kept habitable in the south by the warm winds that blew up from the Underside. In the north, the advanced society and organization permitted survival. Groups in the center regions either banded together or relocated.

The fight for survival drove societies together and began to shape the distinct cultures. The farmers of the south and center regions sustained themselves off of their previous harvest and managed to coax some crops to grow in the darkness. Nomadic groups foraged or wandered in search of food and ultimately turned to their animal husbandry for sustenance. The frigid north, nearly plunged into the depths of ice, depended on their industry and innovation to forge survival indoors.

Eventually, the sky grew light again – only to darken a week later. The light fluctuated irregularly for around a month and then settled into the rigid day-night cycle, setting Erde on its endless path of days. After “The Great Darkness,” as the period of solid night is often referred to, the “fading” cobha of Erde set in. The day now showed its age by fading; the rest of the world fell prey to this fate as well. It is rumored that natural objects on Erde faded prior to the Great Darkness, but now all beings suffered from this irreversible cycle.

Phase III: The Middle Years
After the Great Darkness, a relatively uneventful period of 400 our-world years followed, known as the “The Middle Years.” During this period, the various cultures in Erde took root and the inhabitants multiplied and firmly colonized the land. The world recovered from The Great Darkness – and almost forgot about it entirely. It is during this period that the inhabitants of Erde built up the despondency and hedonism that sets the stage for the current political scene.

In the north, the advanced cultures attributed their survival of the Great Darkness to their organized society. Taking that mentality to the extreme, the north built rigid kingdoms ruled by strict politics and regulations. Borders were harshly defended, international relationships were bitterly regulated, and reproduction was legally enforced to preserve society. Communistic governments were common.

The various tribes of the center regions clung to the group pride gained during the Great Darkness, pride which quickly morphed into deadly racial divisions. Groups banded together closely, races specialized and sub-divided, and highly unique cultures arose. War and racial divisions encouraged the various tribes to mark territory for themselves and defend their holdings with force. These hastily-drawn borders were unstable at best.

For the humans of the south, political and social identity was of no issue – but land was. The people were content to lump themselves under the general name “Volk” and focus on farming the land. As crops became more precious, farmers came into conflict over the land, and those that had resources to defend their holdings won. Mighty landlords came to power and formed self-sufficient estates; serfs joined themselves to estates for employment and protection. Soon the land was divided amongst dozens of landlords; no neutral “cities” existed. The landlords cared only for their own advancement and were happy to war for more land, setting the south up for the bitter battles that would lead to the founding of the Federated.

Phase IV: The Land Crisis & the Rise of Unions
As Erde transitioned into the second half of the millennium, a new era arose with the dawn of a national crisis – the earth was growing old. In some regions, the rock that formed Erde’s base was beginning to show its age by fading into white. And as the rock turned white, it started to crumble.

This aging first became apparent in the southeast. The soil in the southeast faded, producing increasingly poorer crops. A three-year drought hit the region, forcing the landlords and their farmers to move north. The southeast lay barren until the drought ended; by the time the rains returned, the soil was nearly white. Only dry grasses could take root in the unfruitful soil, making the southeast a wasteland for wild animals and scattered tribes of hearty foragers.

The dislocated landlords clashed with the kingdoms of the east-central plains in a series of wars. The southernmost kingdom met the immigrants with violence, driving the refugees further north. There, some determined landlords besieged and occupied small villages and cities, setting up new city-states. Some of these city-states managed to defend their independence; others were retaken by local governments with the assistance of elves from the nearby forests. Still other city-states joined themselves in treaty with nearby governments in unstable peace. The remaining landlords fled the fighting across the second river, where they were met by the unified northern kingdoms. The refugees were acquiesced and allowed to serve in society under tribute.

Meanwhile, the crisis of faded soil spread into the southwest. Already-precious farmland became useless. As landlords searched for more land, wars increased in frequency and intensity. But a fresh realization drove the tension to a new high – the rock beneath the soil was also fading. The rock that composed the southernmost half of the plate, originally a sand color, had turned white and was beginning to crumble. The edge of the earth became unstable; entire sections broke off. The inhabitants moved inward, where the ground was made up of a still-stable brown stone.

The mass relocation ignited the worst war the southeast had seen in over a century. The bloody fighting lasted for three our-world years. Entire estates were slaughtered or captured before seven landlords emerged as leaders. Realizing that they were damaging their industry and bloodying their farmland with the fighting, the seven lords called a truce and agreed to form an alliance. They chose a castle to be their neutral capital and set a king as its head. The land was divided evenly amongst the seven lords, who bound themselves together under a treaty. Thus the Federated was born, giving rise to a brief era of begrudging peace. (The Federated has been in place for five our-world years at the start of the novel.)

The kingdoms of the northeastern mountains also noticed that their world was beginning to fade around the edges. Deep within the heart of the red-stone mountains, white caverns could be found. Cave-ins of these aged tunnels led to mine closures and landslides, hampering the mining industry of the area. While these disasters were few and far between, the political leaders began to worry. They had no way of knowing how stable the rock beneath their villages was, or how long it would be before the fading spread to the surface. The political leaders kept their citizens in the dark about the danger while looking for ways to avert disaster.

Knowing that the only place to go was inward, governments began to reach beyond their borders and form partnerships and trade agreements with other nations, particularly those of the east-central and northwestern regions. The hope was that, if relocation became necessary, their friendships would make room for them elsewhere. Some of these partnerships were made with nomadic tribes, who then carried their treaties with them across the earth. Far away cultures became subtly linked, spreading northern influence southward, and vice versa. Many of these partnerships were formed between rulers in secret to prevent prejudice amongst their citizens – or to keep enemy tribes in the dark.

The cultures that were least affected by the land crisis were the various tribes of the west-central and northwestern regions. The brown stone in these areas was still colorful and the soil was still fruitful, allowing life to continue undisturbed. The diverse tribes were unconcerned with the south’s wars; some tribes were so secluded that they remained completely unaware of the crisis. As such, they remained preoccupied with their own business and showed no mercy to defeated landlords and serfs fleeing from the south. Some cultures formed treaties with the northern kingdoms, but only because it put them at an advantage over their neighbors.

One west-central tribe of giants, known in the south as the Rot-haarig (red-haired), was the exception to the apathy. After losing land in skirmishes with other giant tribes, the nomadic group turned their eyes to the south as possible resting place for their herds. Initially the landlords fended them off, viewing the giants as a threat, but one landlord saw his opportunity to get an upper-hand in the war. By promising to give the giants land after he won the war in the south, the landlord formed a secret alliance with the Rot-haarig, sending them to raid his enemies. The influx of giants into the war led to a series of destructive slaughters which drove the other landlords to form a truce. Seeing his hope of gaining control of the south was temporarily lost, the landlord delivered his prisoners of war to the Rot-haarig as a gift to extend the treaty. The Rot-haarig continued to roam on the edges of the south, waiting for the day when the landlord will gain control of the Federated and give them permanent resting place.

About Phase I... It makes me wonder about the other spheres the settlers came from, and also what insects were indigenous to Erde.

About Phase II... Did people seek to keep fires burning at all times since there was no light?

About Phase III... Were there instances where races of a certain region banded together, siding with those who lived around them rather than those of their race?

About Phase IV... Would crops that grew in fading soil be sparse, or instead grow in normal numbers but be fading like the soil and thus have less nutritional value?

On I... that information might be explored in the sequel which you are not supposed to know about.

On II... Yes, especially where fire was necessary for heat (like the north). There aren't a lot of details about this section, because there are no stories from this phase yet, but that could change...

On III... That's what happened in the south with the Volk, in a sense. As far as other races, definitely a possibility. Again, at this time I don't have any specific stories planned; I just have the general overview. In general, people today don't remember much about their history, but I'm starting to get into more detail on some cultures' history as I develop them specifically. So there might be more stories from this phase in the future.

On IV... Faded soil is like depleted soil in this world. Crops simply don't grow well, if they grow at all. But the crops themselves are normal.

Thank you for explaining.


Sequel? What sequel?


*just thought about how cool a short story set during the Great Darkness could be*

Who said anything about a sequel? I haven't heard anything about that.

I do want to write some short stories from the history of Erde (perhaps in the form of legends/fables/myths) sometime, partly as promotion and partly to explore these areas of history without committing to an entire novel. But if there are sequels, some of them might explore the history in more detail. It's totally wide open at this point. Right now I just have the overview, but as I'm getting into detail with some of the specific races' cultures, some of the history is starting to unfold. 'Tis very fun.