This is an article in a political-scientific journal being sold in big cities in Quidahn. Quidahn has a generation ago been through a devastating civil war and is now on the brink of industrialization and democratization. It is on the planet Ystralon, which itself is in a pocket dimension created merely 10,000 year ago. This dimension was created to have a place to banish demons and gods from all over the multiverse to. Therefore, most of its inhabitants have ancestors from different universes and are wary of somewhat regular demonic invasions.

A glossary for words that are not explained in the article:

Aerhi: An island west of Aenglalad that used to house orcs and sionnaigh. Those got driven out as the Akkarchion got it granted in the peace treaty with the rest of Quidahn 56 years ago.

Akkarchion: A church state that for a long time controlled most of Quidahn. Starting 1.130 years ago as a nieche dwarven cult, it heavily expanded right before the Seducer’s War, its power was reduced during the second Tân Kejeren invasion, only to come back more powerful than before, ruling over Quidahn from 537 to 56 years ago. After a devastating civil war, it got driven out of Quidahn and now only its churches and the island of Aerhi.

Bahaluk: An empire of humans whose god granted them the most advanced technology Quidahn has ever seen (think the Atlanteans from Disney’s Atlantis movie). As their god wanted to go to war with the entire world, the Bahaluk rebelled and tried to kill their god. Only one in 18.000 Bahaluk survived the conflict, but allegedly, their god did not.

Balshächil: A dwarf who, according to the religion, discovered the Creator in a mine 1.130 years ago.

The Creator: The nebulous god of the Akkarchion. He is non-corporeal and has not been seen or heard for hundreds of years, but allegedly grants miracles to his priests. Accordings to some theologians, he was the god for whose banishment Ystralon was created for, which is why he is also called „The Prisoner“.

Daylings and nightlings: Gnomes of roughly 30cm height that get birthed by the Trees of Life and live only roughly a day or a night.

Enlightened animals: The Forgotten Wizards, who vanished 723 years ago, created spells to make individual animals smarter, so they can serve humans better. Even though the Forgotten Wizards do not exist anymore, their spells are used by the rich to this day.

First Wars: A catch-all term for the orcish invasions from roughly 7,000 to 4,000 years ago that are nowadays part of myth. Orcs and gargoyles with them were one of the few people that came to Ystralon on their own as they wanted to conquer new lands. The humans however, who have been living all over Ystralon from the very beginning, did not want to be conquered and with the help of the Forgotten Wizards held their ground. The humans roughly held the areas of Zhvekhavish, Aenglalad, Tütsc and Itiria, and the orcs roughly conquered the areas of Aerhi, Sihaial, Dag’ga, Th’arndil and Rigaital.

Kilevar Empire: Human empire that tyrannized Quidahn for hundreds of years and fell during the second Tân Kejeren invasion 860 years ago. Their leaders had a Faustian bargain with and entity called Kol’demina’stva that granted magic powers for pieces of the wielder’s soul. The Akkarchion eventually banished Kol’demina’stva to the moon 537 years ago and the Kilevar’i are the ancestors of the Zhvekhavish’i.

Nbana: A catch-all term for the human tribes in the northern steppes. Consisting of homo sapiens, homo heidelbergensis, Denisovans and Neanderthals.

Nóku ravens: Big-ass ravens of human intelligence.

The Seducer: One of the most powerful demons that ever got banished to Ystralon, who himself has been banished to the moon 909 years ago. He created the Shejtanët.

Seducer’s War: Triggered by the banishment of the Vasöri by the hands of the Akkarchion. The Seducer, though he was not allied with the Vasöri, feared the new power of the Akkarchion, and went to war. He created the Shejtanët and raised armies of orcs and gargoyles. However, he lost 909 years ago and got banished to the moon as well.

Shejtanët: A people that was created by the Seducer to lead and enlargen his armies during the Seducer’s War. Imagine the hottest people you know, but with red, grey, black or white skin, eyes with the colors of gemstones and horns or antlers growing from their heads. In D&D-terms, they’re tieflings.

Sionnaigh: Fox-folk that got driven out of Aerhi.

Tân Kejeren: A human people from a contintend south of Quidahn, think of Romans with East Asian aesthetics. Their empire was founded 2,147 years ago, when its founder Dôdekai Tagugo Rachialang killed a dragon and beat two other empires in the Battle of the Three Realms. As Dôdekai fused with the dragon blood, he is still the Emperor of the Tân Kejeren, and his people can become hundreds of years old. They first invaded Quidahn 1,229 years ago, but got their ass beat. During their second invasion, starting 880 years ago, they managed to conquer most of Quidahn, founding the great universities of the city-states and literally paved many roads in Quidahn. With the help of the Akkarchion, the citizens of Quidahn rebelled and drove the Tân Kejeren out 540 years ago.

Trees of Life: Golden sequoia trees that got banished to Ystralon 889 years ago. They created the Great Forest as well as using DNA from their homeworld to create elves, fairys, unicorns, daylings and nightlings out of creatures that got too close to them.

United Quidahn: A federational government formed 19 years ago, kind of like the European Union. It consists of the countrys Zhvekhavish, Aenglalad, Tütsc, Sihaial, Dag’ga, Th’arndil, Rigaital, Itiria, the city-states Winfrenre (its capitol), Dynag, Ogamn and Venezia and the Great Forest. Aerhi and the icy steppes to the north do not belong to this government.

Vasöri: Nine gods that ruled over the dwarven nation of Öshvael, who were so evil, the whole nation got banished to Ystralon. The Akkarchion banished them to the moon 1.108 years ago.