Kingdom of Iregion

The kingdom of wizards, a bizarre land where magic rules.

History
Once considered a mythical kingdom of wood elves where cities and forests were one. It was part of the ancient Azure Federation, but the Imperium exploited the differences between the wood elves of Iregion and the high elves of the south to shatter their alliance and conquer them. After the Imperium occupied the land several new port cities were built along the coast to increase trade in the area. The majority of the population in these cities is still human, while the rest of the realm is dominated by wood-elves.

After the fall of the Imperial City Archmage Carric Lunelis rallied the surviving members of the Arcane Directorium and installed themselves as the rulers of Iregion, much to the detriment of the locals, who were powerless to resist the wizards.

Once they crushed the local resistance, the newly formed Kingdom of Iregion fought several bloody wars with its neighbors during the Succession Wars but they underestimated the strength of their neighbors. As the tides of war turned the wizards became more and more desperate: they starting summoning dangerous beasts and unleashed countless horrors on these lands. Despite all this, the wars ultimately all came to a stalemate.

Due to the threat posed by the Dwarven Dominion the Kingdom of Iregion joined the Silkstone Pact, but when it was time to come to the defense of Adestia and Hastogar they refused, which made the already unpopular mages of Iregion some of the most reviled figures in the Continent. Most suspect that some sort of pact was struck between King Carric and Thorin Ironfist, but no one among the public knows any details.

Life under Mage Rule
The government of Iregion was peculiar in the sense that it was a magocracy, the mages were the ruling class and had veto power over many of the kings' decisions (that didn't happen often though, they were all wary of King Carric). The cities of Iregion often have dozens of elaborately built wizard towers, one of the most common status symbol among mages. The old nobility scraped by but most of their privileges had been curbed, those families that thrived did so because they saw the changing of the times when the mages took over and invested heavily in the arcane education of their descendants. All this in the hope that one day they will hold an important position in King Carric's court, a sentiment often shared by even middle class people, which led to the saying: "In Iregion you can only climb with magic.".

The wizards of Iregion unleashed all sorts of horrors to win the Succession Wars and the Civil War, many of which have been lost or escaped their masters. These abominations now lurk in abandoned regions, preying on the ignorant and the foolhardy who would enter their domain.

Civil War
For over a century the people of Iregion have been toiling under the rule of the mages, who cared little for the grumbles of the commoners. This all changed in the year 488 when a shadowy figure known only as the Angel Queen orchestrated a coup against the ruling King Carric. In the coup over half of the Council of Archmages perished, but Carric managed to escape. It soon turned out that the Angel Queen's organization had penetrated all levels of Iregion society and the failed coup led to civil war.

The common people (and former nobility) flocked to the Angel Queen's banner, resulting in an almost overwhelming numerical advantage to their side. But the majority of the mages remained loyal to Carric, and within weeks they have unleashed armies of golems, undead and other monstrosities. Within months the unrestricted use of dark magic turned the Iregion Civil War into one of the bloodiest conflicts of the century.

Civil War II
After the Angel Queen's rumored death in the Imperial City in 490, wizards still loyal to Carric Lunelis tried to seize power in Iregion, and the disagreement between them and the generals still loyal to Andromeda led to another civil war, after barely concluding the first one. Three months of fighting followed, mostly centered in northern Iregion and around the capital city, Orannaes.

Two months into the war, however, the question of rulership was settled once again: the Angel Queen herself has returned from the dead, and stunned her enemies and inspired her followers when she appeared at a battlefield in Orannaes. The civil war concluded in another month, and the rebel wizards disappeared and were never mentioned again.

This approximately coincided with complaints from the outer villages and of wealthy merchants, who reported unusual presence of undead and blocked trade routes. If these complaints reached the Angel Queen, she must have decided that these villages were but a fringe population, and the issues were minor ones, as no actions were taken for the following two years to deal with the undead attacks.