What was lost was found

Plato once spent a considerable amount of time detailing the destruction of the city of Atlantis. Historians have argued that this is an allegory, while others have argued that it was a real land, a place of wondrous power and potential that was cast down by angry gods or hubris. Perhaps Plato overheard a sailor speaking of the fabled lost continent or even witnessed its destruction first hand. Regardless, in the world of Crimson Shadows, the lost continent of Atlantis is not lost, having reappeared around 1500 CE.

The Nation of Alera

Stretching from the North Atlantic down into the Caribbean and close to the coast of West Africa, the lost continent of Atlantis reappeared some 500 years ago and has played a role on the world stage ever since. "Atlantis" is known today as the nation of "Alera", serving as home to the Aleran people. Alerans are for the most part human, and are the descendents of a Roman legion that disappeared sometime between 75 CE and 120 CE. Somehow this lost legion was taken elsewhere, into a different world. There they learned a strange type of magic which has a genetic component that seems to have triggered in the foreign Romans who landed in this new world, and continued to develop the longer they remained.

Around 320 CE, a small group from that other land managed to return to Earth, intending to determine the likelihood of bringing the rest back too. They discovered that for each millennium they spent elsewhere, only a century passed here on Earth, and that the magics of Earth were not as strong as where they'd been. Those who crossed could not return. Their leader scattered them across the planet with a secret mission to wake and strengthen the Earth's elements with their final plan coming to fruition in 1502 CE when all the Aleran descendants finally succeeded, coming together and working a mighty magic on the world: They raised Atlantis from the depths.

Read more about Aleran History.

Aleran Magic: Furycrafting

Alerans use a type of magic that few people have ever seen and which no magician has ever been able to duplicate. Alerans are able to tap into and use the elements as more than just a source of power. They can also embody the elements into beings they call Furies, which are known to the Magi as Elementals. Alerans insist that Furies exist in everything, everywhere, and something in their blood allows them to tap into this essence and direct the elements to their will. Each of the elements grants certain aptitudes or proclivities. For example:

• Earthcrafters are able to increase their physical strength by drawing "strength from the earth" or reshape the earth according to their whims.
• Aircrafters are capable of flight (even supersonic flight), of increasing their physical speed and reflexes, using air to veil themselves from sight, or to bend light in the air in such a way to act as a telescope, microscope, or magnifying glass.
• Watercrafters are healers, and have innate abilities that allow them to sense emotions and read the truth in people, and can use their abilities offensively well, manipulating ice and snow.
• Woodcrafters are archers and trackers without peer, able to create great feats of camouflage, and manipulate plants and trees of all sizes.
• Firecrafters can manipulate the emotions of others and are the most offensively minded of the elements.
• Metalcraftersare swordsmen and weapon masters, able to enhance the strength of metallic objects or shape metal to their need and desires, they can use metalcrafting to shore up their mental and physical resistances, to improve their capacity to absorb damage without harm or to block off pain.

Read More about Aleran Furycrafting †

Aleran Society

Aleran society today is a mixture of ancient rites, modern practices, and the history of tradition. They are one of the few cultures on Earth that practice slavery, although in Alera it is generally only criminals which are enslaved. Alera is one of the few countries in the modern world that merges the features of a republic and that of a monarchy.

On the Monarchy side of things, the First Lord of Alera serves as head of state, chief executive, commander-in-chief, and head of government. The heirs of the First Lord are known as Princeps or Principessa respectively of gender. Beneath the First Lord and the Princeps are the High Lords. The High Lords are gathered together in Houses, all of which trace descent from a single founder who was ennobled or created. High Lords are the equivalents to Earth's Dukes. Beneath the High Lords are Lords, Counts, and the Steadholders. Lords typically oversee a single city, possibly several cities, assisted by Counts who in turn over see the Steadholders. Steadholders oversee large sections of country which are farm land and devoted to crops and livestock. Rank in the Monarchy is solely determined by the First Lord, although the High Lords received their ennoblement in perpetuity.

On the Republic side, the highest body is the Senate, which drafts legislation which is then submitted to the First Lord for approval or rejection. Senators are elected by Citizens of the realm, and serve in 4 year terms before they are up for election again.

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Alera in the Modern World

Since its foundation more than 500 years ago, Alera has always been a little bit unusual to the rest of the world, not to mention exotic and fascinating. Alera has participated in both world wars, sending its legions to support the cause, and dispatching its High Lords as generals in the field. It has even been invaded on several occasions, always to devastating effect for the invaders. Every foreign army that has ever landed on Aleran shores is driven off. The countries that fielded these armies are usually counter-attacked shortly thereafter by elite teams of Aleran agents known as Cursors. With the end of World War II, Alera witnessed a power that even made it stop and stare in awe: the nuclear bomb. Since the 1950's Alera has enjoyed excellent trade relations with the United States and many European powers.

Read More about Alera in the Modern World †