Iyanus City

In the third era, the Human Empire of Iyanus rose in the fertile riverlands of Krevna. Ruled by the strongly pious Emperor Vrathar II Merwynn the Grim, the empire’s fortunes were blessed by the Gravewarden, Nirvorn, the god of the cycle of life and death as well as the realms of safe-keeping and forethought.         The Dwarves of Daragon issued a formal decree of a grudge war for their birthright: the Great Fortress of Kiphox. For the first time in the two nations history, dwarven and human arms met on the field of combat. So much blood was spilled that it was said the river Kwell turned ruddy all the way to the city of Jathan. At the end of it all though, the mercantile military of Daragon had won their pyrrhic victory and had claimed the fortress for themselves again. In vengeance, they expelled all humans young and old from the fortress which caused the once grand city of Iyanus to swell with impoverished refugees. These people would form the basis of the lower classes till the modern day with many staying to scrape by in the slums or setting out to brave the northern ranges for a chance at a peaceful life away from war and urban poverty. The dwarves immediately set about replacing the exiled with cheap labor from former slaves with orcish and elvish strains of smithing and metalworking competing for grandeur. The great foundries were rebuilt but those who knew many of the formulas were humans themselves. Those who fled to Iyanus were often never heard from again and word was they were being imprisoned or killed for their knowledge and so many fled to the four corners of the world and several traditions of metalworking directly stem from these metalworkers.        Zerris II by this time was older and wiser and he saw the foolishness of his rash pleas to the god of forethought. To this end he took a page from his own father’s plans and invested in his nation. A new academy of magic and dedicated temple to the deities of magic were constructed with the aid of new stone-cutting guilds from the northern ranges which harvested from quarries on the edge of the Ulark Fissure and the northern run of the Kwell. These quarry towns boosted trade significantly in Korgroff which later allowed stone brick houses to become common in the older and more civilized areas of the northern ranges. The Azdara Academy was founded outside the city along the river Kwell to double as a watchtower for the possibility of dwarven invasion. Furthermore, the stone quarries were used to build a grand wall around the city of Iyanus to offer increased protection for a much-withered empire from a foe they were quite sure they hadn’t seen the last of... Back in Iyanus, the overpopulation problem created by the refugees forced some citizen to move south.        During the War of Prophetic Doom, the Daragon Republic decided they would attack Iyanus itself and end the reign of their hated foes. Armies marched and soon a siege was at the very gate of the capital of the empire but when the final conflict arrived, the walls of the city, blessed by priests of Nirvorn as a worthy use of forethought, were essential to turning back the invaders and saving the city from conquest.