Era III – Age of Hope
(736 AB – Present)

The broken promise and the blooming disaster.

The Sundering Voyage (736 AB): Twelve years ago, the Ironstride expedition made landfall, seeking the thermal refuge. The leaders, Skorva and Torvak Ironstride, clashed immediately over Torvak's "Genesis Seed" artifact. The expedition fractured before a single seed was planted; Skorva built Stormbreak on the coast, while Torvak took the zealots inland.

The Verdant Bloom (737 AB): Torvak activated the Seed. It did not terraform; it detonated. The resulting explosion of uncontrolled life created the Verdant Bloom, a jungle of twisted flora that consumed the southern tundra. Over the next decade, the spores slowly warped Torvak’s followers into the Emerald Dawn.

The Iron Footfall (744 AB): Drawn by the energy spike of the Bloom, the Rift Chasers arrived four years ago in The Arkive, a colossal walking fortress. They began industrial harvesting of the Rift Essence, destabilizing the region further.

The Present Tension (Current Year: 748 AB): Today, the island is a pressure cooker. Stormbreak fights for survival; the Emerald Dawn tends their alien garden; the Rift Chasers drill into the ice; the Drowned Court masses in the shallows; and the Wardens fight a losing war to keep the seal intact. Deep below, Naeros stirs, patient and hungry.