Rydia

-:: RYDIA ::-

Rydia has a long and complicated history. In the beginning it was nothing more than a cluster of incredibly tall mesas that stretched beyond the clouds. For a long while it was revered as a holy place and neither human nor dragon was allowed to scale its peaks. They remained forever hidden above the clouds. Then one day, water began tumbling down the central mesa in a magnificent waterfall. At first no one thought anything of it and carried on as usual proclaiming that the goddess Ayer had blessed them with an endless supply of sacred water from the heavens.

Before long, a second waterfall appeared, and then a third. The land beneath the mesas was no longer able to cope and flooded, creating a vast lake. The people retreated, confused and scared over what was happening. Some said they had angered the goddess by trying to get too close to paradise. Others, however, were not taken in by such things and eventually a small band of men, accompanied by the leader of the dragons, began the long and dangerous trek to the central summit in the hope of finally learning the truth.

After many days they finally reached the top and the sight that met their tired eyes was one of unparalleled beauty. A collosal crystal, bathed in a mass of undulating water stood against the pale blue sky and the endless sea of clouds. The peaks of the other seven mesas could be seen all around them but their bases remained hidden below the cloud line, giving the impression that the land they were standing on was floating in the sky. The men were in awe but it was then that the dragon spoke. He told them that the dragons had known of this place for many centuries and that a prophecy had been fortold of their arrival on the summit. It predicted that a group of men would finally learn of Rydia’s secrets and that those same men would return to become the leaders of their people.

And so that is what happened. The men returned to the world below and told everyone of what they had witnessed. Many years later a way of reaching the summits had been established and people were now settling upon the breathtaking landscape in the sky. The men who had ventured forth that day were elected to lead the people and together they formed the Council of Elders.

A huge city was slowly built and soon after it became the bustling capital of the Southern Lands. It wasn’t long before Rydia entered a golden age. Technology began to slowly tighten its grip upon the people and new and more powerful forms of magic were produced. People from all lands would travel to Rydia to study and marvel at its splendour, or to witness the massive crystal dominating its central mesa.

But this age was not to last. Around 1000 years ago Rydia suffered a string of misfortunes. First the High Elder of the time was found murdered, though not witnesses or suspects could be found. It was a tragic loss that threw the rest of the Council into turmoil. Together with the Arch mage, they elected a new High Elder, Artemis Semper. However his rise to power was not entirely well recieved by a community still coming to terms with their loss. Semper was still very young, too young in fact to be taking such a political position.

However, Semper had just as many supporters too and he raliied them together to aid his cause. The community stood divided. The Council was disbanded and Semper declared death upon any who did not fall in line with his visions of the future. War errupted and the people who still oppossed Semper marched west to Mae’Estaa to ask for aid.

Here is where Rydia’s history grows vague. Little is known about the events of the war as records from that time were mysteriously destroyed or lost. What is known is that Rydia was the battleground for the climax of the war and that when the rebel soldiers finally breached the city with the aid of the dragons, Semper was nowhere to be found. Just then a cataclysm of unknown origin ruptured the land beneath them. There are no accurate reports of the event but their is overwhelming evidence to support it. Rydia was literally torm apart and a resulting earthquake sent gigantic sheets of rock and crystal hurtling towards the ground. The original city was devastated, many people perished and Rydia was never the same again.

For centuries after, Rydia lay abandoned. Then, on one particularly clear summers day, the clouds surrounding the summit parted and a sight met onlookers eyes that filled them with shock and amazement. Huge sections of rock hung ominously in the air around the few peaks that survived and the ever flowing water that spewed from the crystals shattered surface fell to the surface below. In the time that had passed since anyone had last seen its summit, it was was as if somone had carved out a beautiful landscape in the sky.

With the aid of the dragons the land was deemed stable and eventually Rydia was rebuilt. It was no longer the bustling metropolis it once was but a testament humanities defiance over one man. It is believed that the power residing in the massive crystal is responsible for defying the laws of nature and holding Rydia’s broken landscape together. Even to this day, however, no one knows what caused the disturbance that tore it apart in the first place. Artemis Semper became lost to history.

<Copyright © Dean Oyebo 2008
None of the material or related characters may be reproduced without strict permission of the author