Dericost

The Dericost were ancient occupants of Auberean, some of whom occupied Ireth Lassel and its constellations of neighboring islands.

Known Dericostian locations are the frigid northern plateau of Gelid in the north of Dericost, the heart of the Kingdom, Dericost royal Province , with the seat of the throne in Vasmora , the town of Daralet  in the Dericost marshes , the Valley of Tresimaen with the town of Cannthalo in the northeast and the peak of Zemal in the southwest, the town of Antaoc in the lowlands of the Ashatiri region, whose inhabitants quarried the granite of Nehane Mountain, and the Fortress of Hirschi.

Early History
The first mention of the Dericost as a distinct people comes from a Falatacot text. In it, the Dericostians, along with the Yalaini and Haebrean, were said to have driven the Falatacot to the island of Killiakta, or Dereth as it is known by now. This event is presumed to happen either before or during the Arelis Eipoth.

Although uncontested in the rule of its continent for thousands of years, the Kingdom of Dericost truly rose to prominence with the arrival of the Falatacot refugees, who fled the island of Dereth due to global cooling of Auberean. In exchange for sanctuary in Dericost lands, the Falatacot shared their worship of the Old Ones and their magical knowledge. They specifically shared their knowledge of blood, death and entropy magics.

While most Falatacot practiced their magic within ethical bounds, the Dericost knew no such bounds. Soon the Dericost nobility came across the darkest of the Falatacot refugees' rituals which hold out the promise of eternal life. The Dericost were not aware that these magics involve the death of the physical body and the tying of the person's spirit to its decaying form. Once the initial shock of this discovery wore off, the Dericost found this an acceptable price to pay and many of the nobility transformed themselves into undead. Among the first is a figure called His Eternal Splendor, along with those in his inner circle, Lady Aerfalleand Lord Rytheran.

The Dericoi Eipoth
The Dericost Kingdom reaches the height of its power approximately 5,000 years after the arrival of the Falatacot refugees.

Although generations of the Kingdom's subjects lived and died, many of those who originally accepted undeath were hidden in a great cavern beneath the Kingdom's seat of power. This vast cavern was called Vasmora and carved from the permafrost below the Plateau of Gelid. From here, His Eternal Splendor ruled the Kingdom, using the living nobility as puppets. To maintain his control over the living, His Eternal Splendor kept the rituals of necromancy secret for millennia. Fear of true death was inculcated in the hearts of the living nobility from birth and becomes a powerful tool for His Eternal Splendor. Through this manipulation, the subjects of the kingdom were kept ignorant of the fact that it was an undead caste which truly rules over them. The living nobility still enjoyed many privileges and advantages, as long as these did not conflict with His Eternal Splendor's decrees.

However, as the numbers of undead increased, so did their arrogance, and for some the idea of hiding from the living seemed contemptible. A schism developed until the undead divide into two opposing sects. The two original Dericostian factions, the Latzimestal and the Filinuvekta warred for ages. The Latzimestal believed that as the generals of Dericost they controlled the true power of the Kingdom, and should be able to rule it as they saw fit - openly as undead. The Filinuvekta were Dericost nobles and the secret leaders of the Ice Throne, and wished to continue to rule their kingdom in secret.The Latzimestal seized the realm from the Filinuvekta.

The Lord and the Lady of House Mhoire fled the court from Dericost to Dereth when Lord Cynreft Mhoire learned that Prince Geraine IV had become undead.

The situation reached its climax when the living King Sarvien II was transformed into an undead and proclaimed, after his conversion, that he would not step aside to allow a new living ruler to take the throne. Previous challenges to His Eternal Splendor's rule had been swiftly swept aside, but Sarvien II's political maneuvering with other disaffected undead allowed him to resist the forces loyal to His Eternal Splendor. Sarvien is also aided by the Filinuvekta's unwillingness to expose themselves to the living. Since the Lords have no such compunction, Sarvien II reveals that an undead caste rules Dericost, of which he is the King. All resulting unrest in the Kingdom is put down, and Sarvien sets his sights on expanding the Kingdom.

The Millenium War
The Latzimestal, under leadership of Sarvien II, launched an aggressive campaign of military expansion. The Dericost Kingdom attacked its neighbors Haebrous and Yalain, igniting the Millennium War in DE 5000.

Throughout the Millennium War, Geraine IV and the other Filinuvekta watched the Latzimestal without interfering, but finally the Filinuvekta abandoned Vasmora in disgust at the Latzimestal's failures and excesses. The Filinuvekta created hidden fortresses in other parts of the world, notably Dereth, which they called Killiakta. Here, Lord Rytheran found the Mhoires. Rytheran used the Book of Eibhil,  to destroy the Mhoire estate and torture and corrupt the people. All of the House Mhoire was destroyed, with only the graveyard remaining, which was eventually swallowed by the earth.

During the Millenium war, the Yalaine Imperial Island of Atermore is invaded and plundered and the Dericost Fortress of Hirschi destroyed.

The departure of the Filinuvekta sets the stage for the combined forces of the Haebrous and Yalaini to push their way to the foot of the Plateau of Gelid.

In DE 6174, the Ice Throne of Dericost is overturned by a coalition lead by the Kingdom of Haebrous, under King Jailne, and the Empire of Yalain, under Empress Alaidain. After nearly 1,000 years of conflict, the Haebrous and Dericost lands are devastated.

Occupation and the flight of the Gelidites to Dereth
After the Dericost were slain by the Yalaini and the Haebrean forces at the end of the Millennium War, the Gelidites were driven from their fortresses on the plateau of Gelid in the north of Dericost and were forced to live amongst the Yalaini.

The living Dericost nobility were marched away in chains from the Plateau of Gelid to reservations in the Haebrous lands, but the victors were kinder to the common folk of the Dericost Kingdom and allowed them to remain in their homelands. Yet all Dericost, no matter the station of their ancestors, remained scorned by the ruling Yalaini classes and never truly achieved equality in the Empire. Although the Yalaini deliberately expunged knowledge of the dark magics accumulated by the Dericost nobility, it could not be completely destroyed since Sarvien spreaded detailed knowledge of these rituals throughout his ranks during his rule.

The ancient crafts were forbidden, and the Dericostians were guarded with mistrust and later on, faced persecution and torture. This occurred especially after the Black Rains, because, remembering the dark magics used by the Dericost Kingdom, the Yalaini tried to pin the blame for these Black Rains on the descendants of the Dericost. The Elders claim it was the actions of these descendants' ancient ancestors that has caused the Light to curse the land and turn the sun dark, and for this all must do penance.

The discovery of an ancient Lich hidden deep in the mountainous regions of Haebrous prompted fears that the Dericost were practicing forbidden magics. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as most Dericost have come to hate the undead for abandoning them to the Yalaini's rule. Harsh persecution follows and descendants of the Dericost nobility, who call themselves Gelidites, flee the Haebrous reservations.

Trusting upon a prophesy, which predicted that the Gelidites would turn to power again during a Great Frost, the leaders of the Gelidites decided to wait this out and to found their own city, which they named Frore because of the prophesy. For this, they sailed to the island now known as Dereth. The Gelidites explored Dereth: some, under Frisander, searched the mighty peaks of old Velacixque, "Blood-Heart" to the Falatacot. The Yalain were present in large numbers, forging coins of magical alloy in the depths of the mountain. Turning back north, they were halted by a call. They encountered Lord Rytheran of the Filinuvekta and nearly killed him, which gave the Gelidites the room to kill off the remaining forces and travel on.

Ultimately, they founded the Lost City of Frore in the Lost Wish Mountain Range in Dereth and extended their lives at terrible cost to buy the needed time.

The Third Sending of Darkness
In ancient times, prior to Asheron's discovery of portal magic, they were persecuted by the Yalani, whose soldiers invaded the town of Daralet and deprived Avoren Palacost of access to food or water, resulting in his death, and the subsequent unfocused aggression of his father Ilservian, who went off into the desert surrounding Daralet, where he encountered an ancient entity (who Aerfalle calls "nameless") and underwent some kind of transfiguration. After this transfiguration, Ilservian probably recruited several children to form an army that laid waste to the Yalani invaders responsible for denying his son Avoren access to food or water. The act of recognition which Ilservian experienced, in retroactively assessing the stream of contingencies which culminated in the loss of his offspring, gave rise to a set of emotions which, in connection with some escalation of commitment trust bond formed with the one Aerfalle refers to as nameless, gave rise to behaviors which the Isparian councils felt necessary to contain and ultimately banish from Auberean.

Among the Dericost who remain on the isle, Lady Aerfalle and Lord Rytheran remain among those most influential. They have positioned themselves around Ireth Lassel probably due to the concentration of ley activity beneath the surface of the isle. Rytheran comes from Menilish, located at 64.6S X 43.7W. Aerfalle probably makes her home on the isle of Aerlinthe. From contents of love-letters it appears that Rytheran is in love with Aerfalle. Aerfalle herself whispers through chains of agents to trigger events in the world, and takes issue with other dericost who have attempted a less subtle approach to world leadership.

Dericost individuals, who came to be known as Geldenites, I think, traveled to Frore and discovered "the great work" which was the first of the fragments from the explosion which created the Obsidian plains to be shattered. These Dericost understood some kind of magic which allowed them to tunnel underneath the earth and probably channel some of the energy in the ley lines through the crystal to perform acts of geomancy. These Dericost purported to be unaffiliated with the two principal Dericost factions, which were the Lords and the Winds. The Winds are currently controlling a faction including many influential Isparians called the Eldritch Web, which seeks to harness the ley activity that is abundant under the isle of Ireth Lassel.

The Gelidites
Frisirth, a Gelidite Acolyte, discovered one of the Soul Crystals which held Ilservian Palacost imprisoned. Frisith studied the crystal and deemed the crystal harmless. The Gelidites, including Ferundi started experimenting with it. The Gelidites named the Crystal The Great Work, and used it to capture the heat from the earth, cooling off the surface of Dereth in the process. Though Ferundi and Frisander, after strange experiences during the rituals and after reading the ancient texts found in Frisirth' cave, had their doubts about the risks using the crystal, they continued their magics.

The Lost City of Frore was discovered by the exploration party of Sir Joffre Tremblant of the Knights of the Golden Flame. The party, including Sir Tremblant, was slain and turned into undead slaves by the Gelidites. A second party of Isparians was more successfull. They killed the leaders of the Gelidites (Ferundi, Fenngar and Frisander) at the Gates of Frore. Deeper in the tunnels they found Frisirth, defended by the now undead Sir Tremblant, and killed him. After this, The Great Work was destroyed.

Latzimestal - "Lords of the World"
Chalicmere Castle is the fortress of the Latzimestal faction The Sand Kings served the Steward of Chalicmere and therefore the Latzimestal.

Filinuvekta - "Winds From Darkness"
Lady Aerfalle is known to have cooperated with the Virindi, who are also interested in harnessing the flow of energy through the Ley Lines. At a meeting documented in Claude's mind, she insulted a member of the Lords faction, who was subsequently slain by another transfigured Dericost, Ler Rhan, aligned with Ilservian and the nameless Aerfalle refers to.

The two factions worked together during The Fourth Sending of Darkness to fight the forces of Bael'Zharon

House Mhoire
At some point after Wintersebb, 17 PY and before Wintersebb, 18 PY, Lord Rytheran entered the hidden library below the mage academy and read from the Book of Eibhil. He did so in an attempt to refresh his fading mind, which according to his letter to Aerfalle was successful. However, his reading from the book caused the graveyard to be unearthed and the spirits of the Mhoires to awaken.

The floating Mhoire Castle over the Graveyard was invaded by Rytheran's forces, and used to keep Hoshino Kei captive before her wedding.

The House Mhoire Undead have chosen to join the alliance with the peoples of Dereth. These Undead are refugees from an ancient curse laid upon House Mhoire by the Dericost.

Rulers
The imperial bloodline is also referred to as the Ice Throne.

Internet Articles

 * Gelidites
 * Journal from Frore

Factions

 * Filinuvekta - "Winds From Darkness"
 * Latzimestal - "Lords of the World"
 * Gelidites
 * Disciples of the Blood
 * House Mhoire
 * High Desert Nomads