The Collapse

Called The Fracturing by some, and the Time of Discord by others, the Collapse is what modern historians have come to call the great split of the Massadorian Empire into a set of multiple factions that would first form the Nine Kingdoms of Almaran and ultimately evolve into the Nine Holy Cities of Light, Daybreak, Angel's Rest, Angelusia, Starguard, Dawnspire, Sentinel's Reach, Alvaheim, Guardian's Wing, and Keeper's Embrace.

In the days when the Human's Massadorian Empire was at its peak, their came a woman to the Imperial capital of Angelusia. Calling herself Korona Daria, the woman sought out the Emperor in his throne room at the Imperial Palace and presented him with a shining obsidian crown for him to wear. The craftsmanship of the crown was like none any mortal had ever seen or achieved. This was, unknown to the Emperor and his court, by design. It was not by mortal hands that the Crown was forged, but by the darkly divine hands of Aerona, Goddess of Chaos and Strife. Blinded by the Crown's hypnotic beauty, the Emperor readily accepted the gift, and declared that it should be an heirloom of the Empire for generations to come.

This was not to be, for it was soon after the Emperor took possession of the crown that the madness took hold. Subtly at first, and then more blatant as time went on. His once benevolent and peaceful rule was replaced by paranoid delusions and increasingly tyrannical decisions that eventually lead to the choosing of sides among the Council of Nine. War soon followed.

Thus began The Fracturing of the Council of Nine and the Collapse of the Massadorian Empire, no shattered into nine sovereign Kingdoms that put their own interests consistently above those of former Imperial Region as a whole. For centuries, war and devastation rocked the northern half of the Continent of Almaran as the Nine rulers of the once unified continent squabbled over whatever petty differences Aerona could exploit for her own amusement. Those who would not or could not fight fled to the south to take up residence on the Trade Coast, and form the mercantile nation of Marinia.

The first to sever ties with the Empire was King Zaldun Dawnsblood, ruler of the Imperial province of Ambrion. Seeing that the Emperor had lost himself to the corrupting influence of the Serpent Crown, Kin Zaldun declared that he would no longer support the edicts set forth by the mad Emperor, and implored his colleagues on the Council of Nine to join him in his resistance efforts. Unfortunately, the only one to do so would be Warrior Queen Marinel, ruler of the mercantile province and, later, independent nation of Marinia. The two severed ties and secured their dynasty by marrying and combining their territories into one realm.