Q:Also also: I was looking at your worldbuilding post and thinking I want to hear more about the world itself - what's the history, what are the conflicts, have there been wars? Great empires that have since crumbled? That sorta thing.

buildgrist

WELL. Thiiis one might take a while. Lesse.

Tarin didn’t always look like this. In the earliest years of the first mortals created by the Gods (specifically Liaria and Manas), Creni was the only country inhabited. Allesya was unexplored. Thousands of years later, once the Goddess Harmonia had been released, Rahnika (as seen in the species guides) were formed and sent to populate Allesya. Soon afterwards, the Crenians, now armed with quite a bit of technology to supplement the magic they had been gifted by the gods, traveled to Allesya in search of land to colonize. Many early settlers were met with death at the hands of the rahnika natives. 

Eventually, thanks to their superior weapons, the Crenian settlers were able to  move throughout the mainland of Allesya. Internal conflicts between the settlers eventually gave way to the creation of three seperate countries; Andaikos (todays Andaikos and Miria), The Shikahni Empire (Shikahn and Soren) and the Kitainese Empire (Kitain and Nissayria). The Andaikans began to focus more on technology and slowly lost their ability to use magic, much like the Crenians who completely lost any ability for magic. The Shikahni and the Kitainese, however, focused very much on their magical abilities, honing them. This was the start of the rivalry between the Kitainese and the Shikahni still seen to this day. 

Eventually, war was imminent, and both sides prayed to the main pantheon of gods. The Fates, Children of the God of Creation favored the Shikahni, while the Tricksters, Children of the God of Destruction favored the Kitainese. With even the gods squabbling, the Goddess Liaria stepped in, and suggested a mighty contest to see which side would gain the blessing of the Gods. In the end, the Shikahni won, gaining the title of Shonia, or Blessed. Their magic became connected to the ‘Talent Gods’, the Tricksters, the Fates, the Gods of Life and Death and the God of Creation. The Kitainese, furious by this turn of events, called on the God of Destruction to aid them. And aid them he did, giving the Shonia the “Trickster’s Blessing”, cursing them with grey skin, and a horrible fear/weakness to the opposite of their talent.

The Nissayrians later got into a war with the Kitainese, wanting to worship Creation rather than the God of Destruction. As their strategy was better, though their magic weaker, they succeeded,  forming Nissayria to the east of Kitain. Miria split from Andaikos peacefully. Soren split very recently from Shikahn. Soren is rich with the gemstones used for talent necklaces (the necklaces that Shonia use to hold their magic), and was inhabited by Shonia who were nearly considered a slave cast. There was a rebellion, ending in their release and the subsequent creation of Soren.

200 years prior to the start of the novel, there was a great war between Andaikos and Shikahn over the deaths of Shikahn’s prince and Andaikos’ Princess. This war lead to the creation of the rahnika-like creatures called rakunan (species guide in progress). The war ended in an eventual truce, the culprit behind both deaths turning out to be the God of Destruction. 

More recently, there was a second Kitainese-Shikahni war, really only three years before the start of the story. This was due to assassination attempts on the King of Shikahn by the Kitainese.

… Fates that was a long answer. I think this is going to get a readmore in a second. Sorry for the wall of text!!!!