The Empire of Iron
- Status
- Fallen. Known through its ruins
- Ended
- 2025AI / 0AF, the year the Stormchasers date their founding to
- Evidence
- Three and a half months of excavation
The Empire of Iron is known through what is left of it: ruins under the shadow of the Urun Peaks, on the border between Curath and Caliharah.
Its fall is one of the few fixed points in the continent's history. The Stormchasers date their own founding to that year, and what came after it reshaped the peoples of Aropria more than the empire itself ever did.
In their own words
We’ve spent the last three and a half months meticulously combing the ruins under the shadow of the Urun Peaks (mountain range on the border between Curath and the Caliharah). The summer sun has been brutal. I started out this expedition excited but must admit I don’t find myself cut out for this sort of work. Up until now working with books had suited me just fine. I had begun to wonder if my lust for adventure had been somewhat ill advised and perhaps I should trade my muck boots back in for my scholar’s robes. But finally Eos has seen fit to bless our labors with that which we have sought these long months. I believe we have discovered what can only be a bonafid relic of the Empire of Iron.
At first I thought that the earth-covered pole was only a piece of petrified wood that the workers had uncovered. I idly dismissed it as refuse, deposited by a long since evaporated river. It was only when a cook tried to use it to tend a fire did I notice that it had a most unique glow to its material when exposed to heat. I took the item to my tent and inspected it closer. What I found was astonishing. The pole was not of wood turned to stone but a metal the likes of which I’ve never seen. Once carefully cleaned and polished, it was undoubtedly a sword, but I never imagined that a sword could ever be so light and yet as hard as iron. The metal was almost blue like silver and seemed to have ripples running through it but was smooth to the touch. One of the scholars who traveled with me was an expert in metallurgy and he could not identify the metal or determine how it could have been made. Wielding such a weapon would give any soldier an immense advantage over his opponents.
Legends of the Empire of Iron all tell of their superior craftsmanship and that they could forge materials in ways that have since been lost to time. I’m aware of items similar to this one being created with congruence in modern times, but only with congruence, and such items are rare and only available to the wealthy. The sword we unearthed was found in what we presumed to be a guard house of some kind, although it is hard to say. We inspected the area again, on the lookout for similar items. We found dozens. If we’d only found a single sword we could have passed it off as an anomalous artifact that these people had long ago discovered, but this find shows that they were common, enough that even ordinary foot soldiers would have been armed with them. This artifact, I believe, is irrefutable proof that the Empire of Iron is more than just a legend.
The mystery of how a civilization, that clearly possessed knowledge of the material world far beyond what we understand today, begs a great deal of wonder from many in my party. There are still so many questions we have that we may never know the answer to. I can only speculate that there were forces at play far beyond our current meager level of knowledge. What unimaginable force could have toppled such an empire and then seemingly vanished without a trace. Perhaps there are powers at work here beyond the physical. I can only ask Eos that whatever entity responsible for this remains dormant, lest we too fall prey to their wrath.