 |
Capital: Slir'Rik'Sril
National Alignment: TN (animalistic)
Population: 24 million
Size: 1.6 million square miles
Government: Clan
Ruler: Overqueen
Law: Tyrannical
|
General: Ch'Kr'Sril is inhabited by the fearsome Srik'Kr'Sril, a race of ant-like beings nearly eleven feet long (see creature entry). Located in the northern Choranil Desert, the Srik are currently embroiled in a ten-year old war with the orcs of the Ogre Nations for complete dominance of the Choranil. Fierce warriors, they tend to kill anyone and anything not Srik.
History: During the Shaping Wars, the Choranil Desert was actually the Vinladen Forest, home to the Empire of Vinladen, a four-thousand year old dynasty of elven rulers. Ethnically pure, the elves spurned all outside races, maintaining only elven druids, mages, warriors, and others; non-elves were either turned away at the border, or killed outright. The Empire of Vinladen had considerable power and magical abilities to back up its laws of ethnicity, and several of the empire's rulers poured considerable funds into magic and magical research.
The Storm Wars so altered the face of Gaeleth, that the Vinladen Forest began to dry up -- and then burn. In a fierce firestorm that consumed much of the dynasty, many of its wizards and mages died horribly. Pockets of magic remained in the ruins of the great cities, even after looters and the desert sands did their damage.
Ogran races quickly filled the void left behind by the Vinladen elves, and eventually their disparate tribes were united by the ogres roughly eight centuries before the Storm Wars. The ogres created several kingdoms, over-tribes, empires, theocracies, and even a republic over the years. Though beaten back during the Inquisitions in the aftermath of the Storm Wars, the Ogre Nations eventually rose under King Itzak, an ogremai of considerable power and insight.
The Ogre Nations spanned all of the Choranil, until the Srik'Kr'Sril exploded out of the northern portion of the desert. The Srik expanded forcibly throughout all of the north part of the desert over the next several years, establishing nests in ogran cities, and exterminating the ograns wherever they were found. The battle line was eventually drawn around the middle of the desert, near the Griktale Escarpment. The ograns had become a formidable fighting force, bending their talents to fighting the Srik'Kr'Sril.
King Itzak's viziers learned that the Srik'Kr'Sril had once been a small race of ant-like creatures, perhaps a foot long. They inhabited Asvilom Desert in modern-day Vridara, around the time of the Shaping Wars. The native human tribes in the Granite Mountains nearby, the Tremderi, referred to the insects as "Srik'Kr'Sril", meaning 'grand little ants'. The Srik were apparently harmless, except when their males swarmed during breeding season.
An egg sac of the 'grand little ants' had been stored in the research laboratory of a powerful elven mage in the Empire of Vinladen. After the firestorm wiped out the Vinladen elves, the egg sac remained within its protective pocket of magic -- for millennia. Even though several powerful wizards and ogremai tried to drain the various pockets of magic over the centuries, most failed, and few (if any) ever found the one with the Srik. The magics of the Storm Wars rocked the world, and altered the nature of the magical pocket of energy. The magics of the War of the Undead, and the second death of Nathel, unleashed destabilizing magics across the face of Gaeleth -- releasing the much-changed Srik.
The Srik Over Queen grew at a phenomenal pace, feeding off of the other denizens of the magical pocket, and then began laying her eggs. From there, the race exploded across the northern Choranil Desert.
Though King Itzak's viziers learned the name of the centaur ants, they did not pass the knowledge along. The ongoing war between the Ogre Nations and the Ch'Kr'Sril raised considerable concern among the nearby nations of Rakore and Kur Maeth, and for good reason. The mighty hammer of the Srik, and the anvils of Rakore and Kur Maeth, were forging a powerful race of ograns.
As the years of war turned into a decade, the high priest of Lul in Kur Maeth, Bishop Sivaless, undertook to learn as much as possible about the Srik -- both from historical records, and from the ograns themselves. Bishop Sivaless learned from ancient records of the Tremederik and the Empire of Vinladen, and pieced together a great deal more. Through prayers of divination, and through considerable research, he learned frightening things -- such as the semi-intelligence of the Srik, and the considerable intelligence of their queens.
Geopolitical: Bishop Sivaless' discovery sent shock waves through the various churches, adding to the chaos already rippling through them from the War of the Undead. The reintroduction of sorcery in the aftermath of five centuries of Inquisition, coupled with the ressurection and second death of Nathel, had created new alliances and fractured old ones among the churches. The priests of Elinthar had ruled, prior to Bishop Sivaless' research, that the Srik were a natural manifestation of nature, and therefore subject to its protection. The allies of the church of Elinthar joined with it, hoping the Srik would exterminate the ograns.
The increasing power of the Ogre Nations, against the awesome threat of the Srik, made the various churches loath to attack the ograns. The announcement by the high priest of Lul in Kur Maeth that the Srik were sentient sent shock-waves through the allies and enemies of the priests of Elinthar. The fact that the Srik were magically created added to confusion, leaving the various churches destablized. The church of Yatindar in particular, leader of the Fourth Crusades, found itself faced with a new enemy -- both the Ogre Nations, and the Srik. Few nations were willing to commit their troops to war with the Ogre Nations, and fewer still were willing to fight the Srik; none were willing to fight both. The continued chaos regarding the Fourth Crusades has left the Srik completely isolated.
Geographical: Ch'Kr'Sril is bordered on the south by the Ogre Nations, and that border changes constantly as one side or the other gains or loses ground. The Goordune Ocean borders it on the north, and the eastern sides are bordered by the tall Habernam Hills and the Avris Mountains. The western side is bordered by both water, the forests of the Olan Peninsula, and the mountains of the Rakoran Peninsula. Rainfall is sparse, and happens only intermittenly, causing floods and dangerous weather phenomenae. The majority of the desert is sprawling sand dunes, but a significant portion is simply dry and arid rock. The southern portion of the desert in particular -- controlled by the Ogre Nations -- is somewhat hilly and mountainous.
Previous of the Nations of Gaeleth