History

The History of Amikus is divided by scholars into different Ages. The defining characteristic of an Age is who held the most power, be it in influence of military might. Anything before the Age of Wizards is called the Pre-Ages. The Pre-Ages consisted of mostly tribal man up to the rise of the first city-states.

The Age of Wizards
The first classified Age is the Age of Wizards. In early history magic was abundant and available at the fingertips of anyone with any knowledge of how it works. As knowledge of magical use increased so did the importance of wizards in any military strategy. At first the wizard were used as weapons; a single powerful wizard could annihilate entire fields of infantry. Wars were decided by whose wizards could cast the most destructive spells. Then the wizards realized that they were the ones who wielded all the power and took control for themselves.

The kings and lords of Amikus could do little to stand against the wizards. Entire armies were laid waste by lone wizards with desire for power. These wizards took power for themselves and the first Empires were born. During this time people lived under the thumb of whichever wizard wielded the most destructive magic. Some of these wizard-emperors strove to be good rulers while others were only concerned with maintaining their power; the emperor of the Aemirri Empire would press his research with such haphazard concern that he accidentally cast his empire in perpetual winter.

The wizards would eventually learn that magic is not infinite, as they thought. On a day now referred to as “Depletion Day” the wizards found themselves no longer able to command their magical forces. Over the years they had consumed so much magic that there was none left in Amikus. Once the people learned the wizards no longer had the power they once had they rebelled and overthrew the empires.

The Age of Heroes

As the balance of power was thrown into turmoil by the fall of the wizard empires the common folk found themselves with a whole mess of new problems. With no stable leadership there was no one to command guards and military and many towns found themselves at the mercy of bandits and fugitive lords. Powerful beings willed into existence by the wizards no longer had masters who could control them and and went on destructive frenzies. The scarcity of magic caused a shift in the natural order of things, causing forests to grow wild and all manner of beasts to become ferocious and fearsome.

During this time brave men took up their swords and shields and took to a life of adventuring to deal with these threats. Many became the talk of legends. These heroes became celebrities, the more storied their career the more people idolized them. Their word began to carry a lot of weight amongst the common people. As fledgling kings and lords needed to recruit from among the common folk to fill the ranks of their military they had to be careful to wisely consider the words of the most famous heroes. For much of this Age the heroes found themselves with the ability to largely affect the world.

The Age of Tantus

Tantus was one of the most renown heroes at the end of the last Age. The lord of the city-state of Plainchase was so desperate to keep his favor that he gave him a position on his council. Tantus would manipulate this position and the influence he wielded to gain control of Plainchase's government, disbanding the council and ousting the lord from power. He turned Plainchase is a military state and launched a conquest of neighboring territories. The Tantus Empire was born.

Tantus himself didn't live to see the Empire become the force it eventually grew into, but his string of successors each expanded upon the territory until it dominated almost half of Amikus. All of Anitum was theirs, with the exception of the southwestern The Murk, as well as large chunks of Moxia and Desina. No other Empire in history has ever matched the size of the Tantus Empire at its peak.

A string of assassinations would mark the beginning of the end of the Empire's dominance. The last of Tantus's direct bloodline was snuffed out and the position of Emperor became filled by a man with no military experience. He too would be assassinated, but not before the Empire lost much territory to the Legion of Iuris in Desina and the newly risen Ferus nation just west of of Plainchase. His successor would cut the Empire's losses and withdraw their forces to more defensible borders.

The Age of Nations

The sudden withdrawal of Tantus from territory all across Amikus led to a mad dash for land by the most powerful lords and kings who still remained independent. Lesser lords and the rulers of the old city-states soon found themselves heavily outmatched by these newly empowered nations. These nations were desperate to compete with each other for land and had no qualms about stomping out these smaller lords to do soon. In a few generations all these lords and rulers had been forced to either bow before one of these nation's rule or be taken by force.

The great nations then went after one another to dispute territory. This age was filled with constant, brutal war which has caused some to nickname it “The Age of Blood.” Fittingly, the Age came to a climax with the birth of the Blood Kingdom. The Legion of Iuris and Custos were fighting for a large, resource-rich peninsula on Desina, south of the Evermist Coast, a territory that had been contesting for decades. Eager to end the conflict, the men of Custos activated an ancient magical artifact leftover from the Age of Wizards that their researchers thought would grant their men supernatural health. Unfortunately, 'supernatural health' turned out to be a mistranslation of 'supernatural life' and the peninsula became filled with undead.

After the incident the general of the Custos army, General Hallendale, was disgusted with the nation's leadership. He had been against using the artifact and was furious that they went ahead and did it anyway. He tried to stage a coup against the standing government but his plans were discovered and he was imprisoned and eventually executed for high treason, but while imprisoned he famously wrote a book “A Treatise on Military Power” in which he outlined his ideas that the power of a nation comes from its military, not its leaders, and without its military to enforce its word the nations were powerless. He suggested in the book many ideas that would become the basis for Guild Philosophy.

The Age of Guilds

The current age. Guild philosophy spread rampant throughout Amikus after Hallendale's book was released. Several nations erupted in civil war as people demanded the disbandment of nation-controlled militia in favor of a guild-based structure. A century after Hallendale's death the Legion of Iuris, the last hold out of old nation-philosophy, signed into law the disbandment of their state-controlled military. Military matters across Amikus are now in the hands of the guilds.

<p style="margin-bottom:0in;">Now, half a century more has passed. The guilds capitol of Ammis has become a vibrant metropolis and home to hundreds of guilds. Guilds range from adventuring guilds to paramilitary groups. For more about modern guilds, please check: Guilds.