The history of the Kingdom of Ricardia
Age of Mystery
According to legends, the path to the lands of what is now Ricardia, was revealed to the humans by a ceremony of spirits and gods. Before that, the lands were ruled by an evil entity with an unknown name. This ancient evil was killed by the First God. The First God also led the humans towards Ricardia. He was horribly injured, however, and succumbed to his wounds. His son, Ricar, took his father's ashes in his hands, and made it into a seed. The seed grew what would become the Tree of Ricar, an important cultural and religious monument of Ricardians. The tree wasn't planted in where it is located now, however, but at an unknown location, presumably in the Arlan forests. The tree was relocated towards the heart of the bustling fishing town of Vahnz because a fire demon attempted to destroy it. The existence of a First God is highly doubted by worshippers of the Gorka outside Ricardia.
There are only rumours that Ricardia was united in ancient times. What is sure is that the sub-continent was divided into a hundred small kingdoms afterwards, and that Greydar was an independent entitiy aside from the rest of the Ricardian kingdoms throughout most of history. A thousand-and-one wars were fought between the kingdoms for thousands of years. Occasionally, they fought together against foreign threats, whether humans, beasts, or demons. There are stories of strange fish demons having walked from the sea unto the beaches and terrorised the humans, and that occasionally, trees and shrubs came alive, and strangled humans in an act of revenge for cutting down woods. Though most of the peasants consider these to be legends, multiple sources from multiple locations address these terrifying invasions.
The lack of spirits in Ricardia is explained by the notion that the lands were cursed during the rule of the ancient evils. Another popular saying is that humans chased spirits of the land because of fear that they would rebel and kill the humans. This paranoia against spirits would be accounted towards the frequent invasion of supernatural creatures. Spirits do still exist in Ricardia, however, they are mostly hidden away from the humans, though.
The first mention of House Thrall are within some scrolls that suggest that they were kings of a small kingdom in the south of Greydar. At the time, Vahnz was ruled by a council in some form of merchant republic. Not much is known of the Thrall's early expansion, except that the kingdom housed some of the greatest pike cavalry. Eventually, they managed to siege and conquer Vahnz, immediately making the city their seat of capital. The Thralls changed their sigil into a representation of the Tree of Ricar and ammassed enormous wealth. An economic alliance between the Thralls and the Denver Isles made them even richer. After some time, a diplomatic crisis ensured the Thralls a personal union on a significant part of the Denver Isles.
The Thralls invaded the Snape and Arldar with massive forces and annexed them without too much effort. The main resistance were inside the Arlan forests, where large numbers of beasts united under the goblins resided. The goblins were fed false information, making them believe their target should be the Ontilians in the south-east. The Ontilians barely managed to fend off this invasion, and the Thralls quickly cleaned up what was left of both armies, then annexed the Ontilian kingdoms. The goblins were enslaved and put to hard labour in a large scale.
War of the Thralls
The first major civil war happened around 400 BMI. The king at that time was one Ludibalt Thrall, according to the legends a king of laziness and apathy. His taste for life diminished when his beautiful wife passed away from a disease. He had two sons and two daughters, the heir of the kingdom being Prince Zenhalt. The crown prince was loved throughout the kingdom. He represented strength, power, but he also had a strong sense of pride for his people. He invested in numerous charities and personally aided the Ricardians in their construction projects. The younger son was Prince Funtai, a famous minstrel/bard that also travelled outside of the kingdom to garner fame and praise. While performing in Azhkar, he fell in love with an Azhkari entertainer. He brought her back with him, and a feast was thrown to celebrate his return.
During the feast, Prince Zenhalt made remark after remark how Funtai lost his love for Ricardia, how he preferred foreign things and how much he disapproved of it. Funtai kept his cool, but the rest of the court heard enough. Zenhalt ordered his brother a few days later to head to the Snape to solve a diplomatic crisis. When his Azhkari lover saw that goblins were used to prepare the envoy, she protested, and as such, Funtai released them. Zenhalt, perplexed by this action, ordered the immediate death of the goblins