Greater Volkyria

What is now Greater Volkyria was once a center of operations for arcane, primordial spirits known as the Primespawn of Rathnir. As evidenced by ancient, local glyphs, these Primespawn were responsible for restoring beauty to all existence and containing the dark spirits for which Rathnir is named. According to these same glyphs, in olden days, when the world was young, one could feel the ever-present, restorative love of the Primespawn flowing through their very bones. However, lingering evils from the depths of the Nether, with the help of mortal cultists, put an end to the Age of Bliss and drove all mortals to madness. And as Rathnir, a world for which the Primespawn had sacrificed so much, began to tear itself apart once more, the grief-stricken primordial protectors vanished from the eyes of mortals, never to be seen again for millennia. This emboldened many tribes of Rathnir to worship wicked spirits, thus causing the masses to lose sight of true divinity.

However, unlike their mortal counterparts, the Volkerst people upheld the ways of the Primespawn, and for this were shunned and oppressed by their neighbors. In an attempt to escape this oppression, Arlyn of Ebynir, otherwise known as Arlyn the Great, appealed to the Sterling Crownlands to fund a southerly migrant expedition. It is said that when the courageous Arlyn, captain of the Volkerst migrant ship Providence, first set foot on what are now Volkyrian shores, he was overcome by a sense of divine bliss. This, he soon reasoned after later experiencing a vision of a Primespawn spirit known as Stoney, was a sign from the Primespawn that he and his people were destined to rule over this "rugged, new land."

And so, upon declaring himself the Arcane Imperator of the Volkerst Peoples, and after months of talks with both the Sterling Crownlands and the Kingdom of Bardonia, Arlyn the Great and his band of Volkerst pilgrims were finally permitted to settle a strategic island and its environs near the northern shore of Bardonia; thus allowing for the founding of the City of Volkhaven and officially birthing Greater Volkyria. In celebration of this momentous occasion, the first Arcane Imperator constructed the Shrine of the Unknown Spirits, stating "we Volkerst peoples must remember those who have blessed us if we seek to endure." Although shortly after this most of the original settlers succumbed to starvation and disease, Arlyn the Great remained determined to make the most of the Volkerst people's newfound homeland, and swiftly pioneered the construction of the City of Volkhaven. Upon inception under the joint mandates of the Sterling Crownlands and Arlyn's own Volkyrian Trade Company (VTC), the city and the Greater Volkyrian Commonwealth adopted a flag of white, black and orange representing newfound peace, solemn solidarity, and divinely-ordained providence. At present, the City of Volkhaven operates as a corporate settlement of the Volkyrian Trade Company, but further democratization will likely occur as the population is further bolstered. So far, the young settler-state of the Volkerst peoples has kept a low profile on the world stage, favoring direct involvement in aggressive trade over direct involvement in aggressive warfare. Through relentless determination, economic expansion, and cunning diplomacy, the City of Volkhaven and by extension Greater Volkyria hopes to become the new shining star of the north, all the while honoring the legacy of the Spirits that came before.