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Erdevan historians generally attribute the first human migrations over the White Mountains to somewhere between 2000-2500 years ago, although the veracity of these claims is nebulous at best.
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When mankind first crossed the snow-covered White Mountains, fighting and wiping out the beast-folk of the yet untamed lands, before bowing to the Dragons. When the Altari first set out from the lost shores of their forgotten homeland, before landing on the shores of Dragonkind. When the world was young, and Gods yet ruled among us. So much has been lost to time, unremembered.
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Supposedly between 1600 and 1500 years before the founding of the Empire, the Altari crossed the Great Sea, from their homeland of Old Altaria, landing on and colonizing the island that would become Illabon.
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According to Altari records, the first Altari Shiplords landed on the shores of Eredeva on a date often calculated as 1000 BE, although the so-called "Skeptics" reject this well-rounded date, preferring to argue that the Altari probably landed anywhere in a five-year range.
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Otherwise known as "The War of Dragons and Elves" (although I will try to avoid using elf because it makes no sense in the universe and is a generic term) the Great War saw the Altari Empire send vast hosts across the Great Sea, with ships landing on Eredeva's shores, both as conquerors and as colonizers. Although the Dragons were much more powerful individually, the Altari, unlike the Dragons or all Humans up to this point, possessed powerful magic that allowed them to destroy the dragon race.
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Originally a human settlement on the cliffs of Dourou, though its name is forgotten, the Altari captured what would become Colien Jono, using their powerful magic to construct a fortress of seamless, textureless ebony stone that would stand unassailed for nearly 1000 years.
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Constructed in the Bay of Lilies by the Landlord Nuvaro and the Spearlord Uctava, Veluthumiel was built as a supply hub for the Altari ships heading south to the River Izel, expanding quickly with the influx of human slaves. It had developed into a town with proper walls and gates, some of the stones of which are preserved in the city's temple two thousand years later.
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Constructed upon a forested hill by the Alatari, Tumiel was the northernmost border of the Altari Empire for 900 years and is regarded as the modern border between Norvlak and Dourou. After its conquest by Daurion I, Tumiel was renamed "Seven-Gated Star" before reverting to the name Tumiel by order of Amaryl I.
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Two hundred dragons fought against what legend states was one hundred thousand Altari, under the command of the Eternal One. (It was forty thousand). The massive Altari force, after an initial clash, saw the Dragons hover above for months, launching hit-and-run attacks on the host, while the Elves maintained their formation. Eventually, their powerful spells killed even the mightiest of the dragons. It's said that Izel, the Mother of All-Dragons, wept such that a river was born from her tears.
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The last dragon to be killed during the Great War, Bath'alaseur, Lord of the Snow, is slain by a coterie of thirty Altari mages during the Battle Above the Northlake
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The last battle recorded by Altari chronicles, the Battle of Loredge, saw a valiance, or one hundred and twelve Altari spears, attack the village of Loredge, which had reportedly been a base for humans who had raided the Altari's supply wagons.
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Tens of thousands of Altari, including the entirety of the mages in Eredeva, load onto ships in the keyports along the Dourou coast, intent on returning to the Altari homeland after their presumed victory over the dragons and their human subjects.
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It is said that a black wind fell upon all Eredeva, and all the children of Altaria were laid low with a terrible, raging pain throughout their bodies. Some were left weary, barely holding onto their constitution, while others went mad, proclaiming they had heard things and seen visions of a horrible calamity, while others were rendered catatonic. Seven days and seven nights are said to have passed, and on the eighth day, all Altari rose, proclaiming their homeland destroyed.
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From his small palace in the growing city of Veluthumiel, Landlord Nuvaro declared himself "Governor and Protector of the People-in-Exile," often referred to as the Ethnarch, beginning the period recorded by future historians as the Altari Occupation.
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From the fall of the Altari homeland until the War of Liberation, the land of Eredeva, also known as Halera in Altari, was ruled by a series of Altari hegemons, often, though not always, military leaders, who instituted a brutal regime of raiding, slaving, and colonization for just shy of 900 years.
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The first Ethnarch, Nuvaro, Landlord of Veluthumiel, had scarcely begun to lay the foundations for the Altari's new realm in Eredeva, when his spearlord and fellow founder, Uctava, led a coup d'estat, killing Nuvaro and usurping his position as the hegemon of the Altari.
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After a period of negotiations, first by Ethnarch Nuvaro and continued by his successor, Ethnarch Uctave, the Altari cities and forts of modern Dourou bent the knee to the proclaimed hegemony of Veluthumiel.
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Eredevan tribes, still loyal to the Draconic gods of their fathers and grandfathers, launched a series of raids on the fortified ports, inland outposts, and holdfasts of the Altari. In response, Ethnarch Uctava led a sweeping campaign that destroyed any offending Eredevan villages, and saw even those tribes that did not engage in hostilities forced to contribute bushels, barrels, beasts, and bodies to the invader's cause.
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The Palace of Casedemar, the main port and second capital of Altari Illabon, is attacked by the crew of the Suthmera, and after a day of brutal street-to-street fighting, it falls. Fleetlord Bendulo declares that he will bring order to the island in the Ethnarch's name, adding one more faction to the chaotic scramble for the island.
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As the Ethnarch Uctava solidified the Altari hold over what would become Dourou, one of his lieutenants, Sealord Bendulo, took one of the original scouting vessels, the Suthmera (South Maiden) and attempted to sail the Eldarsea in the hopes of finding the remnants of the Isle of Illabon.
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Arriving on the island of Illabon shortly before the end of Autumn, the Suthmera found that while the population had survived the Fall, they had done so at great cost, seemingly driven mad by it, and reduced to dozens of petty factions and families squabbling over the rule of Illabon.
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Halaritana, the first place the Altari landed after they departed from their heartland across the western ocean, is captured by Fleetlord Bendulo, the crew of the Suthmera, and some allied Illabonese Altari dynasties.
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After the defeat of the last hostile strongholds on Illabon, Fleetlord Bendulo remained on the island, while the Suthmera under returned to Veluthumiel, captained by its crewlord, who informed Ethnarch Uctavo of the events that had transpired since the Suthmera's voyage. After a hasty deliberation, the Suthmera returned to Illabon with an order declaring Bendulo the master of all matters regarding the island.
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When Medrawd Ducalon and an army of Hillsman invaded the lakes and forests of Laklan, sacking numerous kingdoms, the Lake-Kings would unite under Uair XXIV, King of Safirmere, declaring him High King of the Lakes. They would defeat and slay Medrawd Ducalon at the Battle of the King's Rock, and would further repulse an Altari attempt to dismantle the High Kingdom, being the first to disprove the myth of Altari invincibility.