Khorinis (island)
From World of Gothic
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Khorinis is a large island, with temperate climate, located in the western parts of the Kingdom of Myrtana. It's rich in natural resources, ranging from magic ore through timber and food to gold and animal wares. Throughout history, it remained an important, strategic even, island and element of trade and military.
Geographically, it can be roughly divided into three parts: the Valley of Mines, the land of Khorinis and Jharkendar.
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Economy
The core element of Khorinian economy was the magic ore industry and food farming. The island was one of the few large deposits of this valuable resource and was established as such centuries before the Second Orc War and erection of the Barrier. Hundreds of miners worked, delivering thousands upon thousands of tons of magic ore to trades in Khorinis, the capitol city of the island. The trade flourished, as did the city. The need for transporting such a large quantity of ore and goods fueled the development of the city and the creation of trading guilds. The profits from trading ore and goods was immense, and soon became the only major source of Khorinis' importance. When the war with the Orcs entered its final phase and humans began to lose, the loss of trade fleets impacted Khorinis greatly and resulted in it slowly decaying and losing prominence. This process was amplified by the destruction of the Barrier and an invasion of bandits on the mainland.
History
Ancient times
- Main Article: Jharkendar
Khorinis was an Island inhabited ever since ancient times. One of the first civilizations to appear on the islands, were the people of Jharkendar, an advanced society expert in magic and construction, often dubbed the 'Builders'. They inhabited mostly the north-eastern part of the island, with several buildings also erected in the known, western part of the island. Unfortunately, their civilization was extinguished by Adanos, when his followers became corrupted by the power of the Beliar's Claw and begun destroying one another together with the islands.
Many years have passed, and slowly a new civilization, the humans, took over control of the western parts of the island. They were scattered, but over time united into groups. These groups would eventually form their own guilds and construct their own buildings. Among the oldest structures from that time are the Old Citadel on top of the volcano of the Valley of Mines and the Monastery, where monks worshiping a nature deity (certainly not impossible that they were related to the people of Jharkendar) lived. Also during this time the island was inhabited by a human General who wielded Uriziel and fought using the runic ore armor in the First Orc War, part of which happened on Khorinis, as the island had a significant indigenous orc population.
After the First Orc War
The war was won, or at least lost by both sides, and while damages were done and lands ruined, humans were free to develop once more. Years after the war, Lord of Tymorisin established his rule, naming Bergmar as the Earl of Westfeld (Western Lands), whose domain included Khorinis and the Valley of Mines. The Valley was then sold to an indisclosed third party for 400 pounds (180 kilograms) of gold. The new owner governed his land from the Mountain Residence.
Years passed, the owner died and valley returned into the hands of the royal families of Myrtana. A castle was built in the valley and the residence was abandoned.
Second Orc War and the Barrier
- Main article: Valley of Mines
Eventually the Second Orc War erupted. Facing unprecedented demand for magic ore, king Rhobar II ordered all criminal offenders, regardless of their crimes, to be sentenced to a lifetime of mining the ore in Khorinian mines. To ensure that no criminal would escape, he ordered thirteen best mages from the kingdom (including Xardas) to erect a magical Barrier around the valley, an escape-proof magical curtain that prevents living organisms from leaving, but allows them to enter and is indifferent towards inanimate objects, such as ore.
However, the range and spell was warped by the presence of an ancient Orc demon, called the Sleeper or Krushak in Orcish., and enveloped the whole valley instead of just the Castle and Old Mine as originally intended.
This led to confusion among the royal guards, and this confusion was used by prisoners to their advantage - the guards were killed and soon the leader of the riot, Gomez, had supreme rule over the valley. Having no choice, the king offered him a deal, in exchange for magic ore, he would continuously supply the Ore Barons with whatever goods they needed, even women.
However, several were not happy with this ordeal, and decided to search for a means of destroying the Barrier imprisoning them, among them was the High Water Mage Saturas and Lee. They found the New Camp and the Free Mine. Tensions immediatelly started between the two camps, leading even to the Old Camp invading the Free Mine following the collapse of the Old Mine.
Meanwhile, Berion, a digger from the Old Camp, begun to have strange visions and 5 years before the destruction of the Barrier, founded the Brotherhood of the Sleeper, intent on waking up the sleeping demon.
Regardless, Khorinian economy flourished - for ten years the diggers dug up ore and exchanged it for various goods, and the middlemen merchants, including Fernando and the Araxos guild, profited from ferrying magic ore to the continent.
Following the fall of the Barrier
Eventually, the barrier was destroyed by a nameless convict. The camps dissoluted almost overnight, and the prisoners ran off from the Valley, as it was invaded by the forces of darkness (orcs, lizardmen..), led by dragons, all summoned with the Sleeper's terminal cry.
The bandits shortly begun to terrorize the island and the forces of darkness corrupted it. The outlaws were led by Raven, an ex-Ore Baron, who was chosen by Beliar to command his forces alongside the Undead Dragon and lead them to conquer Myrtana. To this end, Raven needed the Beliar's Claw and for this, he invaded Jharkendar and forced his way into the Temple of Adanos, causing natural disasters such as earthquakes to occur and badly damaging the structure of magic.
He was eventually defeated by the nameless hero, preventing the destruction of Khorinis.
However, the island could not withstand the corruption from the spawn of Beliar - Orcs established their military base in the Valley of Mines, presence of dragons corrupted wildlife, especially snappers and soon Orcish forces launched their attacks on the island. They were temporarily pushed back by paladins and the nameless hero, however, the hero needed to destroy the actual source of the problem, the remaining second commander of the forces of darkness, the Undead Dragon. Thereby, the hero left Khorinis on the Esmeralda and arrived at the isle of Irdorath, eventually destroying the dark creature.
Yet this deed couldn't save Khorinis, as the Orcs conquered it, slaughtering the remaining Paladins, and ferrying captured humans (including Thorus) to Myrtana as slaves and gladiators.
As of now, Khorinis remains under Orc occupation.