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originally populated by gnomes the
continent east of the great sea was
struck by various waves of migration
beginning with the dwarves a stout
hearty race who loved mountains and
crafting the next to arrive were the
long lived and shay during the age of
migration elves sailing on white ships
fleeing a cataclysm on their homeworld
engaging in a number of wars with the
dwarves the elves eventually established
realms throughout the north building
magnificent palaces of stone and living
in harmony with the natural world
roughly 2 000 years later the
conjunction of spheres caused universes
to interconnect allowing travel between
dimensions while bringing forth a new
form of energy that could be harnessed
into magic
as a result of the conjunction of
spheres otherworldly monsters beasts and
peoples came pouring onto the continent
of the elder races including the first
human population which may have
originated from another world they
destroyed
while some humans settled in the south
the short-lived dalk and wazgar peoples
established themselves in the far north
where they may have introduced worship
of the goddess malitale one of the most
widely revered deities in the continent
a world populated by many sentient races
gnomes dwarves elves and humans lived
alongside other intelligent creatures
like wherebubs in the south the female
nymph species and their various
subgroups living in woodlands and rivers
as well as unicorns sylvans leprechauns
vampires godlings merpeople dragons
trolls and others some of whom were
driven to near extinction by human
expansion then there were the halfling
people who never established a realm of
their own instead living and working in
the settlements of others dividing their
history into years before and after the
resurrection the next wave of human
migrants came around 760 ar when the
nordling people landed at the mouth of
the yaruga river
the first human to harness the power of
magic jan becker trained sorcerers to
perform elemental enchantments using
their abilities to help establish
settlements
though some elves and men did attempt to
peacefully co-exist their cultures were
radically different and so war
inevitably came to the north leading
many elves to abandon their cities and
retreat into the mountains believing the
age of human dominance would eventually
pass like a drought or heavy winter
taking advantage of this opportunity
humans started to populate these former
elven settlements making use of their
expertly crafted buildings and
prosperous locations to establish cities
and realms yet the rapid expansion of
humanity not only resulted in war with
the elves and other races but also
against each other as they competed for
resources and authority seeking to unite
their people keep the peace and take a
more active role in the administration
of the nordling kingdoms magic users
throughout the north formed the
brotherhood of sorcerers which became
one of the most powerful and prominent
organizations in the continent in order
to deal with the more primitive beings
which roamed their lands nordlings
created the order of witchers young boys
trained for years as expert warriors
minor magic users and specialized
champions dedicated to eliminating the
threat of beasts and monsters
while governments and borders changed
over the years by the 13th century
nordling realms included kovier and
povis the hang fours league rodania
kedwin eder lyrian rivia temeria cedarus
carrick verden bruge soden sintra the
island of skeliga nazaire matina and
ebbing while southern powers included
tucson mecht jizo ettolia gamera
vikocaro and nilfgaard with hackland and
zaracania remaining independent from
both factions
as humans spread throughout the north
the legendary leader sambok became the
first nordling king establishing a rome
in the lower panpar while his descendant
king radovid the first united the
surrounding lands to create the powerful
kingdom of verdania
from this mighty lineage also came the
realm of kovir and povis in the far
north founded by radovid the first's
brother prince troydon
although originally part of rodania the
king took little interest in kovir and
povis believing it to be a worthless
distraction to keep his brother from
causing trouble however he gravely
miscalculated as these lands were
discovered to possess great mineral
wealth growing rich and prosperous until
winning their independence during the
reign of king radovid iii signing a
treaty where they vowed to remain
neutral in the wars of the northern
kingdoms
many years later the kingdom of kovir
and povis suffered their own civil
conflict when their easternmost lands
broke apart to form the hang four's
league as an independent realm
built upon lands once occupied by elves
novograd the original capital of rodania
was a former elven settlement along with
tretigor and the city of oxenfurt home
to the largest university in the north
radovid the first considered the ideal
model of a great king was followed by
his son dambore the black and grandson
vestabor the proud who fought the seven
years war against temeria where they
lost a large part of the realm including
novograd causing tretigor to become the
new capital
eventually they won back many of these
lands and made peace with tameria by
declaring novograd a free city allowing
them to become one of the richest most
prosperous and advanced realms on the
continent
a kingdom dominated by those of noble
blood who primarily made money from
grain exports rodania used crowns as
currency and possessed the greatest
intelligence network in the north
during the reign of king vridenk the elf
nicknamed for his love of elven culture
rodania underwent one of the most
consequential events in their history
when the ruler divorced and banished his
first wife and their daughter to marry
the beautiful woman cerro and start a
new family
furious with how she was treated his
daughter falca from his first marriage
eventually led a rebellion to take the
throne where she killed her father his
second wife and their two sons her
half-brothers
as for their pregnant adopted daughter
rhiannon a child of the elder blood born
to the human cragonone of lawd and elf
laura doran she was taken prisoner by
falca and gave birth to twins in
captivity before falca died and her
rebellion collapsed she gave her own
recently born daughter to the prisoner
rhiannon who by that point was so mad
she could not tell which of the three
children was not of her blood
raising all three as her own two
suffered early deaths leaving only one
to continue the bloodline though none
could be certain if it was the lineage
of rhiannon or falca which survived and
eventually led to the birth of cyrilla a
child of the elder blood whose actions
greatly impacted the entire continent
the largest of the northern kingdoms the
cold heavily forested lands of kedwin
were ruled by the dynasty of the unicorn
reigning from the capital of art carrick
home to the bernard academy for male
sorcerers kedwin was located north of
dolbothana the last stronghold of elven
sovereignty to fall and west of the blue
mountains where surviving elves sought
refuge from human expansion
in time these elves formed the scoyatel
rebels comprised of non-humans seeking
to drive out human invaders and reclaim
their former lands including doblathana
with kedwin becoming a popular target
for raids and attacks
just south of kedwin was the kingdom of
edern home to cities like aldersberg and
the capital of wengerberg often in
conflict with their northern neighbor
edern was one of the richest realms in
the north due to their fertile lands and
production of metalworks wolves and
weavings
passing beyond etern towards the aruga
river was lyria and rivia a
confederation of small settlements
forming an allied realm comprised mainly
of the kingdoms of lyria and rivia
though these settlements sometimes broke
apart and ward with each other they
usually return to a state of alliance
through marriage pacts and treaties
located between the pontar and yaruga
rivers along the coast of the great sea
the kingdom of temeria was one of the
most religious realms in the north
primarily devoted to the worship of the
goddess malitale with the great temple
of malitale found just outside the city
of ellander
a well-known center of learning for
magic users the female sorceress academy
of aratuza was found on the island of
thaned acting as a counterpart to
bernard of kedwin
similar to their longtime rivals in
rodania temeria was built upon elvin
lands with the cities of gore's vallen
maribor and the capital of vezima all
former elven settlements
founded by the legendary king desmond
one of the first great rulers of the
north his descendants included the
famous king gedis who supposedly married
a purebred elven woman and had a
daughter that married king danbor the
black of rodenia
with orins as their official currency
temeria expanded beyond their original
realm to include the nearby mountains of
mahakam from which they extracted great
mineral wealth and the region of
pontaria once part of the kingdom of
amblonia which fell and was partitioned
between rodania and tamaria
though mahakam was considered a part of
temeria it was also the home of many
dwarves and gnomes who were largely left
to govern themselves as any interference
in their affairs risked the disruption
to their precious mineral and metalwork
exports
known as the four great kingdoms of the
north rodania temeria kedwin and etter
maintain tumultuous relationships with
each other sometimes warring and other
times allying or marrying between them
to the south west of tamaria was the
minor but prosperous situating kingdom
of cedarus whose capital city of the
same name was founded upon an abandoned
elven settlement the former pirate
stronghold turned kingdom of carrack
which won wars against neighboring
powers to proclaim a king in the 13th
century ruling from the capital of
carack as well as the kingdom of verdan
home to the fortified cities of razrog
bodrog and the capital of nostrog
another minor realm in this region the
kingdom of bruges was located next to
the forest of brokelaw which was
populated by dryad nymphs an intelligent
female race which aggressively protected
their woodlands waging war against any
human who neared their territory
yet despite the fervent defense of their
borders they could not stop humans from
deforesting much of brokelon over the
years though the dryads refused to
acknowledge these changes launching
continual attacks against any humans who
settled these regions
located along the yaruga river there was
the kingdom of sodom which lay east of
the kingdom of sintra another realm
whose capital city of the same name was
founded on a former elven settlement
though both boys and girls were raised
to fight ride horses and hunt with women
even able to inherit the sintron throne
male monarchs were prioritized over
female meaning that when a queen married
her husband automatically became the
primary ruler of the kingdom
using ducketts as their currency sintra
expanded their power over the years to
eventually hold the kingdoms of burden
and bruges as vassal states
sailing west of sintra there was the
fiercely independent realm of skeliga a
series of allied islands populated by
clans and ruled by noble yarls who
elected their king a unique realm of
great warriors and seafarers they
primarily worshipped freyja the goddess
of fertility love and beauty
to the south of the yaruga river and
amel mountains was the kingdom of
nazaire and its capital city of asengard
which for much of its history ward
allied and intermarried with the other
northern realms especially the
neighboring state of sintra
then there was the kingdom of matina
with its capital of the same name a
realm with a long and storied history
once home to elven mages who built the
tower of the swallow along the land of a
hundred lakes and the fabled human
sorceress queen zevalina who attained
her crown with the aid of the gnome
rumplestelt in exchange for her
firstborn child claimed through the law
of surprise an ancient custom where one
promised to give that which they had but
were not expecting yet when the time
came to pay the queen refused and
banished the gnome resulting in a curse
which killed both mother and child
finally there was the kingdom of ebbing
considered the southernmost realm of the
northlands a large territory home to the
rivers velda leet and aarit which
created the paraplet's swamplands
in addition to the various realms cities
and landmarks previously mentioned other
notable northern locations included the
disputed timber-rich region of angryn
south of lyrian rivia kercerin the
witcher school of the griffin in the
lands of povis karamorin the witcher
school of the wolf east of kedwin and
stiga castle in ebbing where the witcher
school of the cat was located for a time
whereas independent nordling kingdoms
dominated the northern half of the
continent the south was controlled
primarily by the empire of nilfgaard a
strong aggressive realm ruled from the
city of the golden tower by an emperor
with absolute authority advised by a
senate a land of ruthless and highly
competitive politics magic users in
nilfgaard were kept as wards of the
state forced to abide by strict rules
and regulations to prevent abuses of
power
using florence as their currency
nilfgaard grew beyond their original
settlement to conquer the nearby realms
of vicovaro gamera aetolia and jizo
converting them into provinces
expanding even further the eastern realm
of tucson became a vassal state to the
empire maintaining friendly relations
which allowed them to rule with a large
degree of autonomy and thus retain their
unique culture of flowery pageantry and
honor-bound night errands
a land with ideal weather and fertile
soil tusson became famous for their wine
and agriculture with their capital of
beau claire considered one of the most
beautiful cities in the world
under the reign of the usurper who
overthrew the legitimate emperor fergus
var emerus in the 13th century nilfgaard
began conquering northern realms by
annexing the kingdom of ebbing which
retained a high degree of autonomy but
was ultimately subject to the empire
then there were the realms of matina and
nazare which both became imperial
provinces followed by the kingdom of
mekt which insisted on maintaining the
illusion of independence by continuing
to elect their king however in reality
the election resulted depended on the
will of the emperor
though he greatly expanded their power
the usurper was eventually killed and
replaced by the former emperor's son
emir var emerus who set his sights on
further conquest toward the urugua river
in the north
in addition to the previously mentioned
realms cities and landmarks of the south
other notable locations included the
tiertokera mountain range which like
mahakam was populated by gnomes and
dwarves as well as the korath desert a
barren land of scorching heat and
dangerous monsters
among the many nations of the continent
only two lacked any form of allegiance
to either the northern kingdoms or
southern empire of nilfgaard the first
was the realm of hawkland located east
of the fiery mountains where they raised
the greatest horsemen in the world which
sometimes attacked the northern kingdoms
the second was the matriarchal realm of
zarikania north of the korath desert
known for their large fearsome female
warriors as they did not participate in
the wars between nilfgaard and the
northern realms zarrakenya was a refuge
for those seeking to escape the fighting
[Music]
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[Music]
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