The Gun Republic

The Gun Republic

The Republic of Runar is the largest imperial entity in Terrata, with holdings in all three continents, Helna, Afara, and Asta. Over 200 years ago, the Runarans successfully refined a mystical ore called Malterra, and invented the gun.

This weapon propelled the Republic into a super power and enabled it to enjoy hundreds of years of unrivaled expansion. As Runaran imperium spread, so did this once exclusive technology. Now, for the second time in a decade, Runar is at war with the Republic of Belaria, which has likewise seen great expansion with the use of guns.

As war degrades into protracted, deadly trench battles, with constant artillery barrages and thousands of lives being ended almost every day, the Republic faces its darkest days. Will it overcome its enemy and emerge victorious, or wither into collapse?

The Republic of Runar

After two hundred years of foreign kings ruling the city, the Runarans were led to the sword by Marcus Galius and reclaimed their independence. What came then was a Republic, a body of rulers sworn to reconquer the lands once lost to barbarians and shine the light of civilization throughout the world.

After 800 years of driving barbarian kings out of the lands of the classical civilizations, the Republic faced its greatest threat. In western Helna, Gala, the fiercest barbarian kingdom the world had ever seen, was overruning the Runarans. In the darkest hour, the Galans pushed the Republic back all the way into central Helna and threatened the very gates of the city.

That was when the gun staff was introduced. Using the ore known as Malterra (often called 'Demon Rock' because it was said to be the body of a demon slain in the Upper World, which then fell to the earth), the staff, which stood taller than a man, would spit fire and stone. In little time, the Galans were driven back and defeated.

With Gala conquered, however, the use of the gun came into queston. This technology allowed them great success against the Galans, but the implications of its origin did not sit well with most of the nobility. Leading this movement of opposition was the famed general known as the Lion Warrior.

As the Lion Warrior seized Gala for himself and brought several political factions under his banner, the Republic went from one war immediately into another. This time, however, it was Runarans fighting one another.

Even without guns, the Lion Warrior's ingenuity kept defeating Republican forces, keeping Runar at bay for nearly 20 years. This became known as the War of the Lion, and although he was eventually defeated by the gun, there are those in the Republic to this day who revere him and the stand he took against the use of guns.

Terrata

Three continents make up the world of Terrata. Asta, to the southeast, is the largest and least known; Afara, to the southwest, is home to the first great civilization, Agipa; In the north is Helna, home to the great Greckani. At the center of these continents is the Middle-Sea. On the southern end of Helna is the peninsula known as Ilata, home of the Runarans.

In the early years of the world, the Siran civilization came to prominence in Asta around the same time the Agipans did so in Afara. These civizations dominated the world, spreading far east and south. The Sirans came to a peninsula called Greckana in eastern Helna. The Greckani were a shaky confederation at the best of times and a collection of warring city-states locked in bloody free-for-alls at the worst.

The Greckani were united under the great warrior Aletas, who drove the Sirans out, and then set about conquering most of the known world. Aleta's empire spread from central Helna, down the eastern coast of the Middle-Sea and onto the northern coast of Afara. Both Sira and Agipa were conquered and Greckani hegemony reigned for one hundred years.

However, the Upper World was overrun by demons and the Old Gods were killed. This sparked the Age of Chaos, when barbarian hordes descended upon the Greckani empires, carving out large kingdoms and leaving the rest of the civilized world besieged.

A generation into this barbaric world, four brothers led Greckani refugees into Ilata and founded a city that would come eventually to dominate the world.