Nova Braeden History

Cadair Braeden is an island situated far to the south of the humans lands and is part of a vast archipelago where pirates, not long ago, used to hide and look for protection from the vast armadas of the Northern Reach.

Precisely those pirates were the ones who discovered the isle and the potential for trade to be found there. However, they were to discover that it was a land torn apart by two brothers and a war that persisted for 1000 years. After years and years of sailing and plundering other isles, some of them grew tired and looked again to the land of Cadair Braeden.

By the time the settlers had returned, the order of the land had greatly changed. A magical barrier created between the two brothers to keep them apart had been broken, unleashing yet a more vicious sibling, a sister, whose soul had been locked for centuries in stone. Quickly she dispensed with the then King of Braeden, Jem, leaving Braeden bereft of a leader. But try as she might, Braeden always slipped through her fingers, and instead she held dominion over the darker land of Anderith.

Taking advantage of Braeden's lack of leader, the settlers moved in for peaceful trade, giving the position of Regent to a former blacksmith and his wife to maintain peace in the town.

Pirates still came, but were angered when they discovered that their safe port rebelled against them. But the citizens of Braeden had grown proud and galleon after galleon were rejected until the Pirate Princes found a new port from which to trade, courtesy of the Queen Isra of Anderith. There they found good trade in the ales, wines and fineries, not to mention the taverns that would suit their temperament and tastes.

Although the town remained relatively peaceful, skirmishes between the humans and the nightmarish creatures of Anderith were regular. The threat of war was also to continue. Cows were often sick, crops stopped growing and perished, people would get lost in the forests and even disappeared. The land of Anderith, in being led by the gargoyle queen, meant the life of the Braeden people was suffered by a need to lock their doors and windows and night, and in the safety of their cabins they told stories to their children about dangerous spirits lurking in the shadows and living in the wild areas of the lands.

With the ever looming threat of the nightmare land of Anderith, the humans formed an uneasy alliance with the high elves of Fey'dier. Between them, they kept the Ander at bay. However, a far greater threat was to occur and it was indiscriminate in who it attacked. The long reign of Isra was the first of the disasters to sweep the land, culminating in what became known as the 'Great Destruction' of which very few survived.

Nothing is clear about what happened after the destruction since the records found in the Keep stop at this point, but a ship of survivors managed to arrive the Northern Reach looking for refuge. They refused to talk about what happened, and they kept their silence until their last days. But with their passing, hidden documents detailing the location of the old isle of Cadair were discovered in the possessions of these survivors. Wondering what danger could come from these lands, the Northern Reach sent an expeditionary force to Cadair.

What they found was just the ruins of what was once the capital of the Kingdom of Braeden, only the Keep and some houses keeping its walls. The forest had recovered what was its territories. Aware of the riches of Cadair, and finding the records of the Keep, the nobles of the Northern Reach allowed the expedition to create the settlement of New Braeden, under the control of a new Queen.

More than ten years have passed, and now we, the citizens of New Braeden, cannot allow the story to repeat itself.