Timeline of Cintorias
Long past, the World of Cintorias was governed by the three goddesses who walked alongside their mortal childer; Goddess of Fire & Earth Ignisterra worshipped by her Dwarves, Goddess of Shadow & Death Umbramortis who was mother to the monsters of the world, and Goddess of Light & Air Luxcaeli worshipped by her Elves and Humans. The world was in a golden age in which all peoples could freely channel the elemental source and through it cast magic. Elves, Humans, and Dwarves settled upon the western edge of the Continent Estrath and the Monster occupied the central territories mostly filled with mountains and forests.
All peoples, even the Goblins and Orcs, were able to get along with each other until the appearance of a human male by the name Caius Julius Vi Escanor which had been born with Hero Syndrome. Caius and those who fell underneath him, were fervent believers that the monstrous races were constructs of true evil which must be vanquished for Humans and Elves to flourish, and lead a first strike against a peaceful tribe of Orcs. Watching her childrens' death, Umbramortis cursed her sister Luxcaeli and drove the monsters to rage, raiding the City-States of Imbard on the southwest plains of Estrath. Caius brought the city-states and tribes in-line to form the Kingdom of Escanor in year 419 GE; where the only goddess worshipped was Luxcaeli and the hunting/killing of monsters was the foremost profession for soldiers and mercenaries.
The Noldori Elves broke from their relations with the humans to enter self isolation at the behest of Prince Isthandir Elessindyl who had become acting ruler after the passing of his father, killed in the berserk raids of the monsters. The Kharaz Dwarves broke all treatise of trade with the Humans and returned their attention to their sanctuary-fortresses in the northern mountains of Estrath. War between humanity and the monstrous races continued for another two-hundred years, only broken in the year 0 SE when Caius Julius Vi Escanor was interned and his eldest son Alanor Von Escanor I was crowned as the new King. Whereas Caius had brought the kingdom's forces against Orc, Goblin, Kobold, Imp, Minotaur, and Troll alike; Alanor sought to remove the grasp the undead held upon the Kingdom of Escanor.
Alanor made it his life's mission to uproot the undead from his kingdom, eventually causing the removal of highly-lauded noble lord Vladimir Tepes, who would later take the name Vlad Tepes Von Dracula and be known as the great ancestor to all vampires, from Escanor. Vlad took the secret of the Blood Kiss Ritual with him and brought his undead kin to the eastern shores of the continent. Vlad and his wife Isabelle bore three children which were the originators of the three Royal Bloodlines of Dragmir, Trizimere, and Nosferatu. Eventually, these children would grow as Vlad built the Undead Kingdom of Drakenhof and her Capital City of Drakina, and sire six more Noble Bloodlines. These were the Macavelius and Toreador (Dragmir), Penumbrae and Mekhet (Trizimere), Gangrel and Moroi (Nosferatu).
It was 199 SE; At the same time Drakenhof's foundation was being constructed, the Kingdom of Escanor had finished assimilating the outlying human duchies and city-states to form the Sacred Empire of Escanor under Emperor Alanor Von Escanor II. The new Emperor had succeeded in the wishes of his namesake by ridding his new empire from all undead influence, and now began a twenty-year crusade through the westmost half of Central Estrath only stopping when the Goblins, Orcs, and Trolls had unified into one singular ruling body known as the Gruumsh Commonwealth. The Goddess Umbramortis entered the body of an Orc Chieftan by the name of Gruumsh in order to bring about these events and smote the crusading army's military leader, General Petyr Aguilon II.
The crusading army, headed by the acting military leader Captain Parcival Bonvalet, retreated from the field of battle to the Sacred Empire where the people heralded the crusaders as living saints but behind the scenes each of the two Knight-Commanders as well as Captain Bonvalet were heavily punished. In 234 SE, Emperor Alanor Von Escanor II lead soldiers and mercenaries personally recruited by his own seneschals and lead in a joint-command of both himself and General Ector Grancourt III into another crusade against the Gruumsh Commonwealth. Commonwealth military was weakened and pierced on the left flank, which was then reinforced by the arrival of a legion of 1,000 Skeletons.
Ector Grancourt III was deeply wounded, but managed to buy time for Alanor's knights to smash the right flank and deal a lasting blow to the Commonwealth. As a last effort, a second legion of 1,000 soldiers joined the first against 5000 Soldiers, 1000 Mercenaries, and 100 Mounted Knights; allowing the commonwealth to evacuate their settlements and travel a hundred miles to the southeast Wrymwood Forest however were hounded by a cavalry detachment lead by Lieutenant Commander Parcival Bonvalet. In the end less than a thousand Orcs escaped while Trolls numbered in the Tens and the Goblins had been entirely eliminated to a one.
Other monsters were also exterminated on the way the crusading army made towards the Undead Kingdom of Drakenhof along with reinforcements bringing the total number of empire forces to 7,000 Soldiers, 1,000 Mercenaries, and 200 Mounted Knights. Unfortunately, before the second crusade could reach Drakenhof, Emperor Alanor had fallen ill and so the second crusade ended with the death of Ector Grancourt III and Emperor Alanor Von Escanor II. It wouldn't be until 671 SE that Emperor Sigmund Von Escanor, only the fifth case of Hero Syndrome within the past thousand and more years, called for the third crusade.
The Third Crusade was led by the Three Noble Generals of Cador Grancourt II, Parcival Bonvalet III, and Elyssa Aguilon though Cador Grancourt II was officially placed in-charge by Emperor Sigmund; Cador being the finest swordsman in the last six-hundred years and also being affected by Hero Syndrome, a condition in humans which caused them to grow a magic root and feed mana through their bodies both increasing the body's strength and agility to heights more in-line to Elves and Dwarves as well as giving them long-lived lifespans at the expense of extreme pain. Cador's court wizard Erec was successful in removing the initial barrier preventing entry into the outer territory of Drakenhof. There 10,000 Men-at-Arms, 1,000 Mounted Knights, and 100 Sorcerors faced against 6,000 Zombies, 2,000 Skeleton Knights, 500 Vampires, and 50 Liches lead by King Vlad Tepes Von Dracula.
6000 Zombies had formed the flanks and had been split into two units of 3000, each maintained by 15 Liches, while the 2000 Skeletons were the bulwark of the center supported by 10 Liches; able to hold against the numerically superior 10,000 humans who were bombarded with spells from the remaining 10 Liches. The 1,000 Mounted Knights lead by Cador Grancourt sought to flank the zombies on the right, but were counter-charged by a group of 250 vampires on skeletal horses, joined by King Dracula himself. The remaining 250 vampires had split into two groups, one group of 100 moving in and engaging the sorcerors along with Elyssa Aguilon while the second group of 150 braced at the center of the formation where the humans were in most numbers and had been joined by General Parcival Bonvalet III.
In the end, the undead held long enough for the wedge of 250 mounted vampires to break through the mounted knights, though had been reduced to little more than half their original numbers. Of the remaining (roughly) five-hundred mounted knights, they broke into a charge directly at King Dracula, resulting in a duel between Cador Grancourt II vs Vlad Tepes Von Dracula. This was where Cador used his last card, revealing the Artifact Dawnbreaker which had been handed to him directly from Emperor Sigmund and the only weapon which could outright slay an Elder Vampire. Vlad's own Artifact Nocte'altum was responsible for dealing several mortal blows to the human. In the end it was King Dracula's victory however he had suffered wounds which would require a thousand-year sleep to regenerate from.
With reinforcements from the Skeleton Baron Radagast and his two-thousand guards, the humans were brought to forced retreat under command of Noble General Parcival Bonvalet III, the only noble general remaining alive. Rather than cutting the humans down to a man, the vampires and liches moved to tend to Vlad. Eventually, Vlad would be interned into his sleep and Marcus Pericard Dragmir was chosen to become King-Regent. Since that harrowing time, there haven't been any great crusades against the undead with only minor skirmishes against the Empire. Relative peace has reigned to the current year of 998 BE. The undead kingdom has flourished, however the Sacred Empire has been in decline for these past nearly thousand years. Some say that the newly-crowned Emperor Alanor Von Escanor IV will purge the corruption eating away at the empire much like his namesake once has.