The Heldannic Order - Vaults of Pandius

HISTORY AS THE IMMORTALS KNOW IT
The Heldannic Territories. The Heldann
Freeholds. Nordurland. Vanitaheim.
Numerous names have graced the
coastal land north of the Ethengar
Steppes, reflecting the succession of
powers that the inhabitants have endured.
As the Immortals know, the Heldannic
Knights are but the most recent invader
since the glacial ice released this ancient
land.
The Land of Ice and Fire
The modern Heldannic Territories were
once a region buried beneath hundreds of
feet, perhaps thousands, of ice. Only the
massif known as the Altar of Vanya
crested above the blue-white landscape.
Ancient dragons and giants occasioned
the area during the infancy of man, but
their presence was never large. When the
forgotten Blackmoor civilization was
nearing its technological zenith, the
region’s dragons disappeared altogether.
This state of affairs might have
persisted were it not for the worldshattering
Great Rain of Fire.
The Rain unleashed a torrent of
destruction upon Mystara and produced a
realignment of the planetary axis. The
dominant human culture, deprived of its
technology, was thrown into a new stone
age. Groups fought one another as they
struggled to re-master ancient techniques
such as working with bronze, hunting,
and agriculture.
Another consequence of the Rain was
the migration of the glaciers that
composed the polar ice caps. The eastern
ice flowed over Heldann enroute to the
Norwold coast.
Different groups of dwarves and
humans made appearances in the region,
as did the giantish clans from the south.
The most important population was the
Antalians.
The Antalians were an ethnic tribe that
first appeared on Norwold’s coast in
2550 BC subsisting on fishing and
reindeer hunting. They were one of
many groups that belonged to the
Northern Neathar stock of man, but their
success with bronze gave them a
technological edge over their
competitors.
For 800 years, the Antalians expanded
their authority. They drove the rival
Valoin people north and their fellow
Neathar south. Other human groups were
similarly displaced. The Antalians even
smashed the giant clans in an epic
conflict over Norwold’s coast.
The south became increasingly
important in driving the Antalian culture.
As the need for expansion and conflict
dwindled, craftwork, magic, and
agriculture grew. The Vanitar tribe was
especially important in this respect. It
was from this group that the Immortals
Frey and Freyja hailed. The Vanitar
eventually travelled to modern Wendar,
where they assisted the newly arrived
Genalleth elves in surviving the
hardships of the region.
The Antalian Collapse
By 1725 BC, the Antalians had
established a culture that stretched from
Heldann to the Great Bay in Norwold.
Though still able-bodied, the lack of
competition and the softening Vanitar
cultural legacies left the Antalians
unprepared for what was to come.
From the west came the Great Horde of
King Loark. Countless legions of
humanoids poured into Norwold, and in a
few short years, the Horde destroyed the
Antalian culture. Vanitaheim was the
last Antalian outpost to fall.
Though the damage to the Antalian
culture would last for centuries, Loark’s
occupation was short-lived. Betrayed at
Chongor upon the Ethengarian Steppes,
his forces retreated into the Broken Lands
or scattered elsewhere.
This reprieve disappeared in an instant
as additional calamites fell upon the
Antalians. The Glantrian Cataclysm sent
poisonous clouds over western and
central Heldann. Just as the people were
recovering from that even, successive
waves of hill gnolls, trolls, and giants
migrated southward through the land.
Human survivors were left in isolated
family groups.
This pattern of events came to
characterize the region. Each time the
people were poised for a recovery, giants,
or Ethengarian raiders, or warring elves
interrupted. The old Antalian nation had
dissolved into a patchwork of
independent tribes and villages often with
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little communication between them.
Occasional leaders would succeed in
unifying a few neighboring communities
but the harsh landscape and the resistance
of the tribes to authority doomed all of
these efforts.
Over the centuries, the land acquired a
new name – Nordurland.
The Nithian Era and its
Aftermath
Far to the south of Nordurland, the
Nithian Empire was reaching its zenith
both culturally and militarily. Priests and
magi explored much of the Known World
including the humanoid capital Oenkmar
and the western Ethengar Steppes.
It was only a matter of time before the
Nithians captured the Northern Reaches
and Nordurland. Local tribes fled as best
they could (e.g. the Renatic people of
Wendar). Others, such as the Hattic
clans, were enslaved and transported to
outposts on the Isle of Dawn or Davania.
Those who remained in western
Nordurland soon found themselves
fending off annual attacks by humanoids
or the wizard Khazad, while those along
the mountains had to contend with gnolls.
Coastal dwellers survived this period
relatively well, until the Immortals
destroyed the Nithian culture in 500 BC.
Without the protection of their Nithian
overlords, the coastal residents were
again terrorized by giantish clans, pirates,
and trolls.
Hattian Pride
Meanwhile, the slaves that had been
transported to Davania quickly revolted
and made their new home alongside the
native Hinterland tribes. In 600 BC, the
Davanian tribes were threatened by a new
expanding empire, the Milenians.
Under mounting pressure, three of the
former slave tribes took to the sea. The
escape was secured by the delaying
actions of a Kerendan warrior-princess
named Vanya.
The Thyatian, Kerendan, and Hattian
people ultimately landed on the eastern
coast of modern Thyatis, where they
defeated and absorbed the local
populations. The horse-riding Kerendans
claimed the western lowlands, the