By 1320, the continent known as Vitaveus, home of the Venerated Republic, had been divided. Maps of the continent pre-dating the Torment displayed, quite proudly, a single unified nation of numerous territories and states that had stretched across one mighty landmass. By early 1320, however, cartographers had begun to paint a new picture of the Republic, a land divided not by war or political agendas, but by famine and death. Upon this map had been three boundaries, each with its own story to tell.
Upon the eastern side of the continent lay what was known as the Eastern Baronies. This collection of states and territories represented the culmination of the Republic’s culture, faith, and technology, and it was from here where the roots in which the kingdom grew from centuries ago. The eldest and most influential cities in the Republic had been located on the eastern side of the continent, branching outwards from the Republic’s former capitol of Tor, known colloquially as the First City.
The Eastern Baronies had been rendered relatively safe as early as 1315 by the combined efforts of the Church, Legion and Inquisition. Before the Torment, the cities of the Baronies were strong and powerful in their own rights and, for the most part, were able to contain the Torment during the early months of 1313 as well as the events following the Darkest Dawn and the Witchkin Purge. Coupled with support from the Church and Legion, the Baronies were spared much of the horror witnessed in other parts of the Republic. By 1320, life had been tolerable in these areas of the Republic, if not for suffering the authoritarian rule of the Church, overcrowding in most all of the larger Municipalities and city-states, and the occasional food shortage due to disruptions in the supply lines from the Midlands.
Most of the eldest cities in the Republic had been located on the eastern side of the continent, branching outwards from the coastal capitol of Tor, known colloquially as the First City.
Somewhere between the Western Territories and Eastern Baronies laid thin designation of land that had stretched many thousands of miles, reaching from the northern mountains to the southern coasts of the continent. This area was known as the Midlands, and it was here that the first efforts in retaking the lost lands of the Republic took place. By 1320, the Midlands were still a chaotic and dangerous place, serving as the veritable border between the civilized and safe sections of the Republic, and the Western Territories that had been hit the hardest by the Torment. Most all military units in the Republic that were not tasked with peacekeeping in the Baronies had been commissioned to the Midlands to secure a foothold. This foothold would serve as a base of operations for the grand task of exploring the Blacklands of the Western Territories, both in an attempt to recover the lost portions of the Republic as well as to hunt down the Resolve. Additionally, the Midlands served as an imperative strategical asset to the Republic, for without their workable arable land and the significant amount of agricultural products it produced, the Baronies would collapse under it’s own unsustainable needs of food.
As for father west, little information concerning the fate of the Western Territories was available in 1320. Handfuls of refugees had occasionally made their way into Midlands between 1315 to 1320, harboring tales of horror and madness; where the Torment hadn’t claimed lives, lawlessness and civil unrest had. What little presence the Church and Legion had in the Western Territories prior to the onset of the Torment and the horrors that followed had been futile, as most battalions had been cut off from orders, supplies and reinforcements since the middle of 1313. The Western Territories were, essentially, a no-man’s land, a portion of the civilized world that had succumbed to anarchy, plague and chaos. Where little bastions of order did remain, they operated without the official guidance or procedure from the Church proper.
By 1320, the Midlands were still a chaotic and dangerous place, serving as the veritable border between the civilized and safe sections of the Republic, and the Western Territories that had been hit the hardest by the Torment
When asked of the Resolve, the only answer refugees of the Western Territories could ever give had been that they had gone west, farther and farther into the horizon, leaving a trail of misery and destruction behind.
Intent on both re-securing the lost territories of the Republic and to track down the insidious cult, the Church and Legion worked diligently to fortify their positions in the Midlands, and to prepare to embark on a crusade unlike the vontinent had seen since the ancient days of the Reclamation. By 1324, the first expeditions were made into the Blacklands of the Western Territories by battalions of both Church Templar and Legionnaires. These expeditions would continue for nearly an entire decade, yielding little gains and offering even more losses. Yet there had been some headway; for with passing year, a scant few towns and territories were retaken, the veritable frontlines slowly moved farther and farther west. Slowly but surely the campaign to reclaim Vitaveus sauntered forth, deeper into the ruined lands of the Western Territories and in to the unknown. By 1322, it had even been believed that one day Republic forces may even reach Angelspire herself; a monolithic construction seated in some of the farthest reaches of Collatia, a territory deep into the Western Territories, and for many, represented the idea that the Republic could in fact reclaim order and reel back from the edge of anarchy.
In the year of 1333, however, that belief had been crushed by a peculiar report from a collection of Republic colonies far to the east of the continent of Vitaveus, situated upon a chain of islands known colloquially as the End of the World…