Ardonia

Ardonia is a continent to the southeast of the Azure Ocean, from which the humans, Emeri, Elvae, Terosians, and Alayrcae originated. During the 412th year of the Ardonian Age, Ebor Mountain in the center of the continent erupted, spewing ash and fire into the air. As the bones of the continent were ripped apart by the force of the eruption, the five races fled west into the Azure Ocean, initiating the voyage that would come to be known as Dorian's Odessy.

Geography
Most of the records about Ardonia were destroyed either during the Ardonian Catastrophe or during Dorian's Odessy, so little is known about Ardonia's geography or history. It is known that there were three main mountain ranges in Ardonia, called the Ebora, Shevean, and Kildred Ranges. Ebor Mountain is part of the Ebora Range, which is near the center of Ardonia. The Kildred Range, in the north, shielded the Alayarcae from the rest of the races, and the Shevean Range was the primary home of the Emeri. The Terosians lived in the steppes between the Ebora and Shevean Ranges, and the humans lived on the southern plains as nomads. It wasn't until the last half of the Age of Ardonia that permanent human settlements started to appear, with Sheve being the capital. A great forest existed in the east, wherein the Elvae resided.

The Alayarcaen Age
During the time before humans, Emeri, Elvae, and Terosians, and before the Thousand-Year War, the only sentient inhabitants of Ardonia were the Alayarcae. Almost nothing is known about this time, since the Alayarcae rarely contact the other races, and when they do, it is only in brief visits.

The Thousand-Year War
Ardonia was the site of the Thousand-Year War, where Arkhan came up from Vilecius and attacked the Alayarcae. In order to assure victory, he granted his drakons the power to survive in a world other than Vilecius, but this turned them aberrant and more corrupt than they already were. The raw destructive power from Arkhan and his minions caused the Ardonian landscape to become scorched and volatile. When Arkhan was finally defeated at the Battle of Ever, order was restored to Gaius, cleasing Ardonia of the worst of the effects of Arkhan's destruction.

The Age of Ardonia
After the Battle of Ever ended the Thousand-Year War, the Alayarcae migrated to the north, not to be heard from again for hundreads of years. The humans, which then encompassed the humans, Emeri, Elvae, and Terosians, stayed in the south. After the course of the Ardonian Age, the humans divided into the four groups that exist today. The humans, the nomdas, became capricious and adaptable. The Emeri, the miners, evolved to live in the darkness of their subterranean cities. The Elvae, the hunters, adapted to their leafy forest, and became masters of nature. The Terosians adapted to the arid steppes. There was virtually no inter-racial war, as each group stayed mostly to itself, only interacting in order to trade and exchange information. Little changed, and all four groups grew prosperous. It wasn't until the Ardonian Catastrophe that the four races finally banded together to build the arks that would carry them to Exarion.