General History

Metrianda, to modern historians, is split up into 4 main eras- Escherin, Kingdom, Council, and Republic. We will use these as a basis to organize our information.

Pre-Matan/Escherin

Escherin is the word used to refer to Metrianda prior to the fall of the Matan Kingdom during the Tenebris Coup. When The Matan Kingdom fell the government that took its place- The Council of Dragons- renamed the entirety of Escherin to Metrianda.

Metrianda (which we will use for the remainder of this document when specifically referring to the whole of the elseworld) itself is a cylinder of black glass on which a world sits. Above that world, supported by 2 load-bearing towers is a massive sheet of glass. In the modern day this sheet of glass is jet black and opaque to the naked eye, but in the days of Escherin and the Kingdom of Matan it was clear. Clouds rested on its surface, condensing into crystal clear water that would fall over its edges and pool in the crevices atop it- creating beams of rainbow light and sparkling mist as the light of Metrianda’s now long-dead sun shone through. When compared to modern day the landscape, which now exists fully in the pitch black ever-night, was verdant and diverse- and home to many creatures, peoples, and cultures- and, once more unlike the modern day, most of the people dotting its surface were born, not summoned- thus rendering the nigh total population of Escherin mortal folks. This is because, at the time, Metrianda was unable to summon anyone or anything in large batches. Rarely folks and items were brought through the veil, when they were they did their best to entwine themselves with the groups present in the places they were brought- often becoming immortal pillars of communities- like Dr Mayor Oxi Gyn, who still does his best to serve in the interests of his long-dead people, Seya the Red who continues to serve the last remaining Goblin Clan in lieu of the council he was at the service of, and Genesis of Lordsong working for The Escherin Coalition- whose mother was summoned long before the arrival of The Matans and the Council of Dragons, outlived the community she was summoned to, and then disappeared shortly after the fall of The Council of Dragons.

Escherin was not a land of explicit peace- while there were ages of it, it was just as tumultuous and strange as any world might be. Kingdoms argued, land and resources were fought over, and people lived and died. There were a variety of indigenous cultures and species that existed back then that are no longer present now, and many more that have been long forgotten for a variety of reasons. The only present remaining factions that hold any power are the Nevergreen clan- representing the goblins of Escherin- and the Toohle clan- representing the original bugbears of Escherin. Both exist as a part of the Escherin Coalition and are heavily defended by the forces of the Coalition and The Republic itself.

For thousands of years Escherin was mostly undisturbed as Metrianda exists on the “badlands” and “outskirts” of The Elseworlds themselves- far away from the warring Founders and aggressing nations that might seek to disrupt its peace. The land developed unimpeded yet not innocent of the violence they are lucky enough to be outside the range of- travelers often visited the elseworld and brought tales and treasures with them, stories that were excitably exchanged for safe passage through the lands. In addition- Metrianda’s sister Elseworld Cenian (the only one close enough to travel to in less than a lifetime with non-founder technology) was filled with summoned peoples who lived alongside their mortal counterparts and often traveled out of Cenian and into the hotzones of The Elseworlds- only to return demoralized or dead. Communication was difficult between the Elseworlds, but present, and they kept each other safe and informed as worry spread that Founders would soon find their way to them to overtake and destroy their worlds.

The dragons arrived first. From the smoke and the subsmoke came a clan of dragons and dragonoids eager to claim land above the harsh subsmoke- headed by the monarchic Tenebris Family. The eldest, Elyiusum Tenebris- a violent emperor who had been responsible for conquering the land in the subsmoke surrounding Metrianda- took his troops up the side of The Elseworld and raided the bordering settlements, killing many and claiming the land for himself. He had a daughter, Emperyeon (for who the Emperyon ocean is named after), who took over the empire at the young age of 14 when her father was killed in battle fighting against the Nevergreen Empire- who, at the time, were the largest and most ruthless of the factions in Escherin. Emperyeon was just as bloodthirsty as her father, if not more, and was singlehandedly responsible for the Tenebris Empires’s near total domination of Escherin, wherein over her thousand years of reign she slowly grew her land to encompass over 75% of the Elseworld. She had a daughter, Evangelion, who she was preparing to have take the throne from her. Though before she could, another group entered Escherin.

Kingdom of Matan/Metrianda

A kingdom established by Meter Matan on Escherin/Metrianda when they arrived almost 10 thousand years ago. Headed by Meter Matan, youngest legitimate son of Emperor Lucian Matan, they entered Escherin hoping for peace- being refugees of the Matan Empire, one of if not the strongest and ruthless Founder Empire in Central Elseworld Land. They entered with the intention of opening Escherin’s gate- which would allow summoned people to enter and help balance the entropy building up in the elseworld which would inevitably destroy it- and establishing a separate peaceful kingdom that would house the summoned away from the people of Escherin in hopes of finding a way to keep a peaceful balance between the immortal summoneds, the mortal Escherinians, and the long-lived Founders. His first agreements were made with The Nevergreen Empire- who readily accepted his aide in a losing war against the long-lived Tenebris and their corrupting and hungry magicks- and the Toohle Clan- who needed resources in order to maintain their land as both the Tenebris and Nevergreens pushed to gain any footing and they were quickly thrust into the crossfire. Meter took this matter seriously and soon after an agreement was set in place he started work. He made peace with the oldest god in the region he could find- Robasarai, the goddess of the old tower Robasa and then Goddess of Death- and built his camp up and away from the battle- aboard The Glass. For years he and his people helped push the Tenebris back and, shortly after the birth of Evangelion’s son, Yevie, Meter successfully killed Emperyeon and Evangelion and dismantled the Tenebris Empire. Despite a demand from Robasarai to kill the infant prince on her steps, Meter kept him alive and sent him to be raised alongside his own children.

The Kingdom of Matan, The Nevergreen Empire, the beginnings of The Escherin Coalition, and Seya the Red and his association divided the land seized by the Tenebris back up amongst the remaining factions who survived the Tenebris Genocide and ushered in an era of peace. The Kingdom of Matan worked to build and open a gate, but found extreme difficulty in doing so. So, instead, in order to put in place a bandaid solution that they could fix later before it became too late to siphon out the already bloating entropy within the Elseworld, they opened permanent microgates or “fires” in their towers as they built them that would summon people to Escherin. The kingdom itself was built around Robasa’s tower- mostly above The Glass with the express desire to keep them and the summoned peoples away from Escherin. This model continued as The Matans built the remaining 11 towers seen in modern day and the cities that would sit above them. For almost 2 thousand years, The Matan Kingdom and the people of Escherin lived in peace.

The Council of Dragons

The Young Tenebris staged a coup in 1299. He was newly 17, and had just been rescued by the Robasan knights Odie Thomas and Kora Shigar from a months-long abduction by a religious organization that claimed him to be a messiah-like figure and prophet. Prior to this abduction Yevie was a kindly, nervous man pursuing a study in medical sciences and suffering with epileptic visions and prophecies that were wearing down on the base of his brain stem and causing fits of weakness and instability- requiring him to have constant assistance. Following his abduction and months long absence his condition seemed to worsen significantly. He became aloof, erratic, eccentric, withdrawn, and unstable, having been returned horrifically ill and clearly suffering from a mental break likely due to a lack of treatment for his visions and general abuse at the hands of the religious organization- which the group presumed to be fully eradicated. Unfortunately for them, survivors pretending to be medical professionals snuck into the manor Yevie was housed in and slowly ingrained themselves with the community that developed there and slowly over the course of the next few months pushed the young Yevie into full psychosis. During this time he garnered the belief that he was this messiah figure and that, in order to bring about the utopic chaos promised by the goddess he was an avatar of (&) he had to overthrow the Matans and take control of Escherin. These thoughts developed as he, reportedly, saw visions of past lives of the Elseworld, himself, and others, and how they affected the modern day. He took these visions and, with the help of the religious order and the many people he got on his side through promises, visions, magic, and charisma, he violently overthrew the Matan Kingdom- who were widely unprepared for a coup. In a few years he had successfully taken the kingdom for himself, executed the Matans, reestablished the Tenebris empire, and spent the next few years growing outward across Metrianda. He didn’t keep the name of Tenebris Empire- though functionally the new government worked under him and him nearly alone- and instead borrowed the name and organization of a pre-existing faction- The Council of Dragons.

The Council of Dragons was a fascist government divided into 2 parts- The Chromatic and Metallic- each made up of 12 and 9 dragons respectively that ruled over The Overglass and Underglass respectively. Under The Council of Dragons Escherin was renamed to Metrianda, and a variety of particular rules were put into place to keep power in the hands of The Council, and the Chromatic Council specifically. After the execution of The Matans the glass separating the Over and Underglass turned jet black- making it so no light could filter through to The Underglass, the climate shifted dramatically and, in turn, The Underglass went from being a prosperous verdant landscape to a dark, almost dismal land. Systematically Yevie killed and consumed every old world god he could find, save for the 13 tower gods in charge of maintaining the towers that supported his empire, and destroyed nearly every remaining old world faction until only The Nevergreens (who went into hiding) and The Toohles (who were swept up and assimilated into The Council) remained. Care for The Underglass was put into the hands of The Metallic Council of dragons- who were abused and forced into their positions by The Chromatic Council with the threat of mass death hanging over their heads- and all the failures of it were pinned onto them. Over the course of the next thousands of years The Overglass grew exponentially- becoming an almost utopia in comparison to the remains of the financially and resourcefully decimated Escherin beneath it. Yevie stepped down on the third iteration of his council after his daughter Bravophae Tenebris was old enough to lead. She was much gentler than her father but fully bought into his story of how the world must function and quite literally blind to the misery around her- leading to the continuation of the terrible rule of The Council, albeit with a much softer hand. However she was not dumb, and this, combined with the prophetic vision condition she inherited from her father- a condition that caused her blindness- she became more privy to the suffering of the world than her father ever let on. This led to her joining and supporting a growing coup effort that was born beneath her nose in Robasa- headed by then Citrine Robasan Hero Kian Shigar and Lapis Robasan Hero Maldreth Matriad. With her support- and inevitably her father’s as he wormed his way in- this group garnered favor and power enough to begin making large political moves. Many members entered the running for political positions across Metrianda and Maldreth and Kian eventually ran for Mayess- the highest position a non-dragon can hold, and one that holds a significant amount of sway against The Council. During the 50 year election run, however, a controversy spread amongst the group that led to the publicized execution of Maldreth’s only daughter- Levone- by her then lover Victory, gold dragon of the Metallic Council- both were members of the coup group. Maldreth, who had just then been elected Captain of the newly built Moon, dropped out of the Mayessel election race and he, and Victory, went missing for about a month. They popped up again later, both acting strangely- behavior that was marked up to be an effect of them losing Levone. 15 years later on election night (between Kian and Underglassian hero Abigail Daisy, then Captain of The Sun) Maldreth and Victory (under the new identity Pareidolia Di’or) drove The Moon and The Sun to the centermost tower in Metrianda where the election was being held and opened fire- killing most if not all Council Members and attendees and marking the fall of The Council of Dragons.

Kingdom of The Sun

For 2 years following the destruction of The Council Maldreth and Pareidolia ruled over The Overglass. They pushed back fighters all the way to Agora, decimated the remaining cities, and fought tooth and nail to maintain power. Beneath them, Kian Shigar and her friend and assistant Finnigan Leagallow gathered allies and survivors before moving back upstairs to fight. Fighting raged on for a month, bloody and horrible, until Pareidolia did something- something that is unknown to everyone in Metrianda but is noted quite clearly in the documents only Junpei is able to find- blueprints for both ships. She aligned her ship with Metrianda’s central tower- Ealie (now Whima)- and in the room the Gates were meant to be built in, cycled power up through the tower and into her ship. Visibly, the power condensed into 34 colored strings that could be plucked like an instrument- and while her actual intentions were unknown, as there is much that playing these strings could do to benefit her- she ultimately ended up playing a sequence of discordant notes that resulted in each of the 13 towers reverberating violently- killing everyone standing on or in the 13 towers to be shaken off, subsequently plummeting thousands of miles to their death against the glass. The war was silent for almost a year, with the only Overglass survivors being those on The Moon and The Sun, until Kian’s group resurfaced again and revitalized their fighting. While The Moon and The Sun had several decisive victories that nearly wiped out the almost pitifully small resistance forces, Kian Shigar ultimately got the upper hand when she garnered the support of the last remaining faction in The Underglass, and drove The Sun and The Moon back to their ships and into hiding. The Sun descended into the perpetual gas between the tower cities and The Glass to hide, and was not seen from again for centuries. The Moon was forced by The Sun- who, up to this point, had been puppeting the corpse of The Captain and keeping a tight grip of control on the almost defensively academic vessel- to be the scapegoat for attacks. Effectively this move caused the eventual disappearance of The Sun from the collective consciousness as The Moon became the center of the entire event and all attacks in the next 500 years.

Republic of Metrianda

After forcing The Sun and The Moon from Eaile, Kian Shigar took control of Metrianda. She was elected Mayess, ended the Council system, and established a mayoral system wherein each of the 13 cities functioned as separate city-states in the larger Republic government. Each position within would be elected by the people and would report to Kian- who effectively only controlled things at a federal level. This is the current system in place. During this time, The Republic cut off access to The Underglass and focused its defense and assault on The Moon- who did much the same back. For the next 500 years The Republic and The Moon/Sun existed in an almost cold-war like stalemate with occasional skirmishes and espionage attempts, but nothing as substantial as it used to be- until now.

Modern Day

About a year ago, following a failed heist on an Art Museum in Ealie/Whima, Pareidolia Di’or abducted her husband, Maldreth Matriad, Captain of The Moon, from the hanger bay of The Moon as he returned from his first outing off of his ship in 500 years. In the days following, she pulled all her people from The Moon, stole resources, and eventually set off a series of bombs across its surface with the intention to destroy the vessel’s engines and force it to fall into Robasa’s tower- which would knock down Robasa and kill everyone within it. This failed, as the moon heroes (notably Susan Giskard and Gaiya Shigar) broke into the old bridge, turned on the auxiliary generators, and forced the nose-diving ship back upright. It sailed up and out of the gas- startling everyone in Robasa who did not know the ship was so close- and emergency docked on the side of the city. Tense meetings were had between the remaining leadership of The Moon and Robasa’s mayor (Finnigan Leagallow) and heroes (notably Laucian Vance, Keith McCaine, and Kumo) that eventually ended with a very tense truce and agreement that the real center of the war was Pareidolia and The Sun. In a test of their peace mission, and in hopes of garnering the support of the *very* unwilling Mayess Shigar, who still felt The Moon was completely untrustworthy, a group of heroes was formed between Personal Heroes of Captain Matriad and the Heroes of Robasa. This group was sent down into The Underglass- which had not been explored by Republican forces since it was cut off centuries prior. During this time, the group gained new members, established new connections with previously uncontacted factions, and inevitably found themselves at the scene of a centuries-old crime in The Old Capitol- which was documented and brought back upstairs. Shortly after returning upstairs The Sun came fully out of hiding and started invading the central towers of Metrianda- bringing the war back full force. Whima, the capital, was evacuated into Metrianda and so started the new leg of The War. Matriad was briefly rescued, The Sun in response rammed into Whima and Zitaf’s towers (destroying them) and millions of people were killed. Matriad was abducted again, and a brief truce was formed as both factions attempted to garner support from unaffiliated groups- The Republic was the only successful group and established the Federation of Metrianda who exist solely at this point in time to destroy The Sun. Recently, during the Escherinian Olympics hosted by the mysterious Station GIVE, The Sun was completely humiliated and barred from the event- which prompted a retaliatory attack on Robasa. The Republic planned for this and used this as a means to trap Pareidolia and her forces in Robasa as they stormed The Sun- an attack that is still ongoing.