Our latest Chronicles of Terranis article details the tragic events of the Tritanium War, as well as the rise of the Terranis Alliance. Read on for more!

AF 261: Lucilia Doramor finally passes away in this year. Though she had retired from the crown several decades prior, passing the throne to her eldest son, she had remained a popular figure in the public eye of her country, as well as that in some of the other countries of Terranis.

Shortly before her death, she receives several visits from representatives of the Order of Light. The exact nature of the visits is unknown, but soon after she begins advising her son, king Adrian I, to make efforts to form an alliance between all the nations of Terranis, for the sake of further unifying mankind against the Great Enemy and the threat of war between its peoples.

Adrian is at first reluctant to agree to this. Though Terranis has been relatively peaceful for the last twenty years, relations between the different nationals are cordial, if not necessarily warm. Trade and commerce exists on the international market, but the rate of minor disputes over resources, land, and other territorial needs has been slowly increasing for several years, leading to a general air of distrust between the nations. With no external threats to fight against, the nations of man again become restless and distrustful.

However, with sufficient pleading, Adrian, aided by the Order of Light, begins efforts to call for talks between the nations. These efforts are slow in their progress, and it is nearly twenty years before the first major conference is held.

During this time, in AF 274, a series of trade disputes between Saniel and Kaldoris erupt. These trade disputes are further escalated following a joint military campaign in the mountainous desert regions located between the two countries. Nearly a century prior, a demon army had emerged from these sand-blasted mountains to almost topple Saniel, and, following their defeat, the demons had continued to plague all roads through the desert region, making direct travel between Kaldoris and Saniel virtually impossible, and requiring a circumventive route through the Weijin empire to the north.

After the campaign was successfully concluded, and the monsters largely eradicated, large deposits of the exceedingly rare alloy known as tritanium are discovered. The deposits are believed to be wreckage from the spaceships which once fought in the skies above Terranis, before their destruction and crashing to earth. Though any hopes of finding pre-Fall technology are quickly dashed, due to the corrosion of the elements, the raw materials are still easily salvageable.

And while no nation on Terranis at this time possesses the metallurgical knowledge to properly smelt and forge tritanium, its value is still extremely high due to its rarity. As such, because the deposits are found in the deserts, outside either nation, both nations immediately stake a claim to the materials, refusing to allow the other to keep it.

News of the find quickly spreads, and efforts by both Doramor and the Weijin empire to mediate the dispute utterly fail. The situation quickly erupts into violence when the Kaldoris army launches a sneak attack upon the Saniel garrison located in the desert, annihilating it in a night-time battle, and seizing the tritanium deposits.

Saniel immediately declares war on Kaldoris. The Weijin empire refuses to allow either nation to pass through its borders, forcing the two countries to fight in the deadly heat of the desert mountains. Both sides suffer horrendous losses, but Saniel, still able to maintain its trade with the two port city-states of Jekith and Jorandek, is better able to keep its armies supplied with vital food and water, and pushes through the desert into Kaldoris.

Breaking through the main lines of Kaldoris’ army, Saniel is able to march on the capital of Kaldoris, and razes the city to the ground, killing virtually all eighty thousand of its inhabitants. Following the destruction of the capital city, and the annihilation of its barony, Saniel retrieves the tritanium resources, and officially annexes the remainder of the country. The burnt remains of Kaldoris City remain abandoned for centuries, a silent monument to the horrors of war.

After the conclusion of the Tritanium War in AF 277, the international community calms down greatly. Most of the other nations of Terranis are outraged over the atrocities committed by Saniel. To improve its international reputation, Saniel engages in extensive reparation programs to the survivors of the war, and also trades portions of its tritanium deposits with the other nations. Within ten more years, Saniel has apparently redeemed itself in the eyes of the global community.

Major efforts by Doramor to begin negotiations resume in AF 289. By this time, however, King Adrian has himself retired from the throne, passing the crown to his first-born daughter, Elaina. While Lucilia and Adrian before her were renowned warriors, Elaina proves herself to be a diplomat without peer, and, once again aided by the Order of Light, she is able to convince each of the nations of Terranis to meet.

Of course, while the initial meetings are hosted in Doramor, the representatives of the other nations strongly protest to the idea of Doramor permanently hosting any sort of alliance. In fact, the representatives are completely unable to agree upon a meeting place, until the delegation from the Order of Light suggests the island of Daeldren.

Located near the center of the Middle Sea, the island has never been inhabited by man, and thus has never been claimed by any nation. It is the closest thing to a central point between all the nations, and its rough, mountainous terrain and seeming lack of natural resources has ensured there has been little interest in it. The delegates agree that the island will make a suitable meeting place.

A combined army of all of the nations of Terranis, under the leadership of the Order of Light, lands upon the island and begins to scout it. They quickly discover, however, that the island has become home to a tribe of towering humanoid monsters known as storm lords. The creatures possess terrible magical powers, and the armies, at first caught off guard, are brutally slaughtered. However, they quickly rally and a major campaign is undertaken to purge the island of the creatures.

As the armies slowly but surely push across the island, they reach the heart of the mountains. Here, in a series of valleys, they discover an even more terrible foe. Massive creatures, covered in filthy green fur and sickly skin, possessing sunken, dead eyes, and rotted teeth, emerge from the valleys and strike against the humans. The creatures become known as behemoths, each towering several times the height of a man, and weighing as much as a score of them.

Undaunted by these horrific foes, the paladins of the Order of Light take to the fore of battle, and their courage rallies the soldiers around them. First one of the creatures is slain, and then another, the humans growing bolstered by every towering creature that slams to the ground defeated.

Finally, the last of the monsters seem to be defeated. Six months after the first boats landed upon the island, it is declared secured, and work begins to build a mighty fortress in the heart of the island.  Several years pass before the fortress is complete. Upon its completion in AF 295, the delegations of each of the nations of Terranis take up residence, and the formation of the Terranis Alliance begins. The fortress becomes known as the Bastion.

Over the next several centuries, the Terranis Alliance becomes a vital organization which averts countless wars between the nations of Terranis, and gives the nations a means of unifying their efforts against uprisings of the Great Enemy, as well as to combine their efforts to continue to search the furthest corners of Terranis for any remnants of pre-Fall technology that might not yet have been discovered.

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