Malverand Empire

Overview

The Malverand Empire was an ancient human empire in Valrindor that grew from Maraveth under Barachiel's rule. At its height, Maraveth was its capital, the Maraveth Ascendant Consulate held its government complex, and the Guardians of Malverand administered provinces across much of Valrindor.

Later Valrindor inherits Malverand's artificial common tongue, ruined towers, constructs, surviving guardians, and buried technologies.

Territory and Rule

Malverand grew from Maraveth into a vast empire. At its height, the empire stretched from Xalmyrra to Skarnheim, and its former power remains visible in regions such as Morindel, Jazarel, Ashenford, Varnhallow, Durakarn, Brighthaven, Xalmyrra, and the lands later known as Shroudvale.

Barachiel ruled as emperor, supported by the guardians and by Arcanis's research. The guardians held immense regional authority: Michael governed Maraveth, Eremion developed Morindel and Blackcrag, Jeremiah founded Jazarel, Uriandel controlled the Calthorpe and Ashenford region, Sigvariel ruled Varnhallow province, Isandriel managed southern Malverand, and Prince Sariel was assigned to Xalmyrra before the province drifted away.

The empire's strengths also carried the seeds of its collapse. Its territory became too large for the guardians to manage cleanly, its essence use scarred the land, and the guardians relied heavily on Barachiel's personal authority. After his disappearance, the guardians argued over succession, provinces splintered, and Raphael, Eremion, Jeremiah, Uriandel, Isandriel, and Thamrielle pulled the remnants in different directions.

Civilization and Technology

Maraveth preserves Malverand's imperial style: white-and-gold towers, glass skybridges, great walls, orderly streets, constructs, essence lights, skyship docks, and the Ascendant Consulate. Blackcrag preserves stormglass and skyships. Brighthaven retains ancient Malverand constructs for military, trade, and everyday use.

Arcanis developed essence lights, essence cores, Malverand hearts, and gate technology. Essence lights made stored magic practical, essence cores let people draw on stored essence, Malverand hearts gave high-essence wielders regenerative bodies, and gate research pushed the empire toward Vireen through the failed Aethrendar Gate project. These advances deepened Malverand's dependence on essence extraction, dangerous artifacts, and immortal rulers.

Malverand also tried to control language. Arcanis developed Malverine to overcome language drift across the empire, and Barachiel later banned non-Malverine communication to keep the imperial language unified. Long after the fall, Malverine remains the common tongue across much of Valrindor and a marker of Malverand's reach.

Fall and Aftermath

The empire began to break after the Vireen gate test above the Aethrendar Sea failed. Khauren's manipulation through Oktlix turned the passage against Barachiel, the spiral shard split, and Barachiel was cast out of Valrindor. With the emperor gone, Sariel removed the shard pieces to Xalmyrra, and Michael was left to lead the remnants from Maraveth. Raphael, Eremion, Jeremiah, Uriandel, Isandriel, and Thamrielle each pulled the empire in different directions.

The Order of Thalion Zenith fought the guardians to end Malverand's remaining control. Thalion Zenith, Isandriel, Sylvia, Ignatius, Zero, Helena / Thalena, and their allies fought the guardians, destroyed or buried Malverand records, and made the empire disappear from public memory. Skarnheim, Haverloch, Thalassai, and Ulzathir preserved themselves partly by rejecting Malverand's rule and its surviving guardians.

Malverand's last human remnants around Maraveth faced the spreading darkness and turned to Zal'therak for survival. Malcairn, Zharrek, Zal'therak, and Malverand's remaining scholars developed the essence-infusion process that created the first essence shapers. Zharrek then forced the transformation across the people who stayed, and the old empire faded into Shroudvale.

Surviving guardians, buried records, vault artifacts, and altered peoples carry Malverand's danger. Raphael tries to restore the empire, Eremion seeks the vault and its artifacts, Garrik's forces contest Maraveth, and old Malverand constructs, stormglass, skyships, and artifact caches remain in later Valrindor.

Secrets and Mysteries

The Aethrendar Gate collapse throws Barachiel to Vireen, where he accepts his death after learning that Eira's future depends on Malverand falling.

Malverand's disappearance from history is deliberate. Thalion, Helena / Thalena, Isandriel, and their allies destroy records across Valrindor and beyond so the empire, the guardians, and the Order's actions fade into myth.

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Overview

Territory and Rule

Civilization and Technology

Fall and Aftermath

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