After the legendary Heroes vanquished the Gods of Heaven and Hell, a period of peace fell over the tribes of Man. For many, many years this peace endured, but as is the way with Men, as it is with Gods, conflict arose. No one is quite sure what started the first Great Schism, but one thing that is known for sure is that the descendants of Lohengrin the Lyon came to wage war against the descendants of Rosmily the Raven. Loengard, the Twelfth Lord Lyonhart, lead a force of men against Vermandre, Rook of the Crowlands. Their battle lasted for thirteen days and thirteen nights until Vermandre and his son, Ragan, were struck down atop the Ghestspire. The tribes allied to Vermandre were absorbed into Loengard’s own and an unstable peace ruled the realm of man for several centuries more.

 

The Second Great Schism occurred when the Electors of Limerot rose in rebellion against Dormella, Empress of the Viridian Empire. The Electors, led by Sir Veridot, considered Dormella’s rule illegitimate as she usurped the throne from her older brother, Lido, forgoing the ancient statute of Corbo’s Law. The Green and Whites, as they were called, marched on Dormella’s fortress at Apocatylo. In an epic battle, Dormella’s forces were defeated, the Imposter Queen was captured, and another period of peace returned to the lands.

 

The Third (and final) Great Schism happened nearly a thousand years later. The tribes of Men had scattered far and wide after the Cataclysms, and no one single king ruled over them. Regents, barons, archons and viziers lorded over cities, marches and petty kingdoms. A charismatic fiend named Nishiji came to lead the country of Volgorod. He’d convinced Jothem, the Widow-King of Volgorod, to invade the neighboring land of Surogorod, and in the midst of battle, Nishiji spinelessly murdered the Widow-King and stole his crown. Some would later say Nishiji wielded terrible dark Magick, or that he drew his power from the Gods themselves, but in some strange fashion he managed to ally himself with other powerful warlords in an attempt to conquer the entire world. He was finally defeated at the Battle of the Dimwood by the Lilac Alliance, a courageous alliance of kings, princes and nobles. A treaty was signed and a relative peace has persisted, broken here and there by sporadic conflict, ever since.

The rune-inscribed monolith marking the location where Vermandre and his son, Ragan, met their demise at the end of the First Great Schism.