A predominantly-Orcish civilization, from the middle-age of The Founding Era. Nestled deep in the region known today as The Direlands, their fortresses mostly lie abandoned- but surprisingly, intact. Circumstances of their downfall are vigorously disputed among historians, as spurious Voranite accounts from ages past have since been debunked by scholars. It is speculated that these southern neighbours of the Voran Ridge were either wiped out by up-and-coming Dragonkin broodlords, a bloody (but common for the era) internal conflict, or, perhaps, one of the many horrific diseases spawned from their punitively hostile environment. The truth of the Ghyserian Horde's decline into oblivion is likely some combination of these, along with extraneous elements we've yet to consider. For instance, a recent archaeological expedition to the ruins of their once-mighty keeps tells of hardened, fluorite-coloured ichor deposits found deep within. Further study of the strange substance was deemed ill-advised, when the arcanist who first attempted to identify one of them gouged their own eyes out in a fit of madness, during a sojourn into the former Ghyserian stronghold of Hagh'rinok.

Once a mighty and expansive power whose territory spanned most of the Smoothstone Range & Mort'hano Highlands, the Hemlan Empire collapsed (according to best estimates) sometime before 1133 FE. Most associate them with The Great Sow of 1147 FE, as what few surviving historical records which depict the infamous realm-wide catastrophe describe armies of 'barbaric aggressors' sweeping across the civilized world. Most historians today believe the Hemlans are the likely culprit behind much of the chaos that ensued.

Within a mere three generations of their rapid expansion south, however, they were beset by a series of devastating events that brought their civilization to its knees. A series of incredibly destructive storms and brick-shattering earthquakes rampaged through their mountain homeland, leaving it in ruin. Their colonies to the south were overrun by the combined efforts of their revitalized foes, with nearly all traces of their southern exploits annihilated in the wake of what we know today as The Bitter Reap of 970-983 FE.

• Spectrali Civil War

• The Crimson Tide Movement in Spectralos gains significant momentum, calling for renewed hostilities with Voran and independence from Antür.

• Loyalists/Pacifists manage to fend off Crimson Tide's coalition of radical movements/oppressed peoples: anarchists, Ostrenszeran tribes, Drow supremacists (Materistes stay neutral). Governor Xhelem Braechii and most of his cabinet are killed when his manor house is burned down– Loyalists blame anarchists, but no group claims responsibility.

• Spectrali Provisional Council, becomes interim gov't while infighting within Antüran Conclave causes no candidate for Governor of Spectralos to gather sufficient votes for appointment.

• Hyperinflation occurs as SPC begins to issue debt scrip in lieu of 'metal' wages.

• The Coin Riots

• Antür deploys fleet let by Admiral Velen Kalthias, but won't arrive for at least two weeks due to inclement weather.

• Spectrali Provisional Government collapses

• Spectralos devolves into chaos: communities hoarding resources, forming militias as warlords rise to power from the Royal Guard's officer corps.

• Antüran navy arrives, and two groups immediately offer assistance in rooting out rival warlords: one backed by the Materistes, the other by the West Daring company. Admiral Kalthias accepts, and they retake the archipelagos in under a month.

• Spectralos henceforth operates formally under Antüran governorship, but in practise is an anarchic society living under free companies'/a fundamentalist Materiste sect's authority.

Hammerdon Dynasty