Before the Great Flood, a massive Beorc empire spanned much of Duat. The full extent of the Morean Empire remains unknown, but ruins have been found on most of mainland Duat. Generally, it is agreed that the Moreans at one point controlled all the land west of Anatolia and south of the Sabaean and Eshnunna peninsulas. In addition, the remains of colonies on Abydos and most of the islands to the south have been found, and records indicate that most of Sosso-Sharun was under Morean control at the empire’s height.

Most people know little about Morean history, though some chronicles survived the Great Flood. In addition, many of the older Dragons alive today were alive during the time of the Morean Empire. Few people outside of the clergy have access to the chronicles, though, and the Dragons’ accounts offer only a very limited perspective. Nevertheless, Morea and its fate have significantly shaped Duat’s current state of affairs.

For much of its history, Morea was an aggressive and expansionistic nation with a military that was unmatched for much of its existence. Many Moreans believed that the Goddess herself was on their side, and as they expanded throughout Duat, the Church of Ashunera became increasingly tied to the Morean Empire and the whims of its rulers. One relic of Morea’s glory days is Ascalon, a spear that survived the Great Flood and is now in the possession of House Larsa, the Plocenian Empire’s royal family. The spear is said to have been blessed by the Goddess and is upheld by many as a sign that Morea was blessed by her.

There was a dark side to Morea, however. Whenever the Moreans conquered Laguz lands, the Laguz inhabitants were either exterminated or enslaved. Dragon accounts corroborate the extermination claim; there are no accounts of Dragons being enslaved by the Moreans, but there are multiple accounts of Morean forces killing any Dragons they encountered, regardless of fighting capacity. Skeptics question the Dragons’ claims, though there are no known Morean records of enslaving Dragons or sharing land with them. Morean behavior in the Southern Islands has also had a significant effect on Crocodiles’ general attitudes toward Beorc. Many tribes were enslaved by Morean settlers, effectively destroying the tribes in question, and several others were outright exterminated. Morean ruins still dot the northern coastlines of most of these islands.

In 72 PP (72 years before the Great Flood), a Snake Laguz slave named Tabon led a revolt in what is now southern Saka. Claiming descent from the main branch of House Kamara, Tabon decried the Morean Empire’s Beorc-supremacist laws, saying that the Goddess Ashunera created the Beorc and Laguz to be equal. His rhetoric drew many Laguz and Marked to his banner, though he also welcomed the few Beorc who agreed with his ideas. Though Tabon’s revolt was crushed in 63 PP and Tabon himself executed, his ideas spread throughout Morea, sparking many similar revolts, though none gathered as much support as Tabon’s original revolt.

Initially, the rulers of Morea attempted to quell the rebellions with extreme brutality and use fear to keep the rebelling slaves in line. However, Morean forces were spread too thinly to effectively combat so many rebellions at once. Recognizing the slave situation as unsustainable, Emperor Theodore IX called for reform, making slaves subject to Imperial law rather than the whims of their masters. In addition, he provided slaves with a legal means to gain their freedom. Though the reforms helped placate the Laguz, Beorc-supremacist elements objected to them, and some Beorc nobles attempted to overthrow the Emperor.

In Morea’s final decades, the throne changed hands fifteen times as the Laguz question fractured the empire. One Emperor would call for enforced slavery, then he would be overthrown by an Emperor who wanted to placate the Laguz, only to be himself overthrown by a pro-slavery Emperor. Some nobles even called for total emancipation, others calling for the total extermination of Laguz. Beorc violence against Laguz, as well as Laguz violence against Beorc, became commonplace as the Empire descended into chaos. Finally, in the summer of 1 PP, the Great Flood devastated the entire continent, destroying every nation on it, including Morea.

There were survivors, though. Some wanted to restore the Morean Empire, but most simply carved out their own realms. By MP 50, dreams of a reunited Morea were accepted as just that—dreams. As the Church adapted to an existence without Morean influence, discussion of what led to the Great Flood began. Most bishops and priests were able to agree that the Great Flood was punishment for Morea’s sins, but what exactly those sins were remains a topic that the clergy has not reached a formal consensus on. Officially, the Church of Ashunera has not said why the Great Flood happened, but the most common view is that the enslavement of the Laguz, coupled with the resulting violence between Beorc and Laguz, is what convinced the Goddess to act. Some elements, however, believe the Great Flood was punishment for treating the Laguz as equal. Though such a view is frowned upon by most clergymen, it has not been formally denounced by the Church.

Centuries ago, Anatolia was a confederation of eastern Beorc nations, each ruled by a Grand Duke. Officially, they were all subordinate to the King of Anatolia, but in practice, each duchy was independent, and it was quite common for them to be at war with one another. This lack of unity proved to be the confederation’s undoing in 805 when the Dorian Empire invaded. Some Dukes refused to aid one another against the invading bear Laguz due to past grudges. Others instead swore fealty to Agdy, the King of Dor, sparing their realms the Bear King’s fury on the condition that they aid him in his campaign and pay tribute to him.

In the time following Agdy’s death in 821, the various newly-liberated Beorc-ruled nations began an effort to fill in the power vacuum. Rather than form a confederation as they did in the past, the new countries’ rulers exercised far more authority. By 1000, only six kingdoms were still independent: Paphlagonia, Chaldia, Istria, Travunia, Cilicia, and Seleucia. The rest had either sworn fealty to the King of Hellas, been conquered by Calis or one of the aforementioned six kingdoms, or were still subjects of one of the bear Laguz kingdoms that formed after Agdy’s death.

Nowadays, Anatolia is an umbrella term for the aforementioned six eastern Beorc kingdoms, though some also include Paphlagonia’s ally, the Bear Laguz kingdom of Jaffa, in the group. Though there is talk of the countries uniting under a single flag, the matter of who would rule has prevented it from becoming anything more than just talk. The two most likely candidates are Paphlagonia and Chaldia.

Chaldia is easily the wealthiest country in the east, thanks in large part to its capital, Trebizond, being eastern Duat’s primary center of trade. Trebizond’s location at the mouth of the Rusalka River makes it the ideal place for Anatolians to trade with the rest of Duat; every Anatolian country is connected to the river or one of its tributaries, and even Tyre, Jaffa, Zemar, and Ugarit have access to the river, meaning even goods from the Bear Laguz nations tend to be common sights in Trebizond. In the past, Trebizond competed with Nauplia, but in light of the Achaean Empire’s decline, merchants have increasingly avoided Nauplia out of concern for their safety. This, in turn, has led to a dramatic boom in trade through Trebizond, and by extension, all along the Rusalka River. Trebizond’s population has recently risen to 300,000, making it second only to Nauplia and Aspandana in size, though it is likely to surpass Nauplia within the next decade.

Outside of Trebizond, though, Chaldia is very sparsely populated, most of the land being forested swamps and flatlands, occasionally interrupted by the estate of a provincial lord or a small town around a trading post or cathedral. The Tyrian Forest in the northeast happens to play host to various wild pegasus herds, which has contributed to the development of small towns run by Beorc merchant guilds. The local Eagle Laguz lords, however, resent the presence of these settlements, as they are always free cities despite being founded in their domains. In addition, Chaldian Eagle Laguz merchants tend to have difficulty staying in business in Trebizond, as their Beorc countrymen often collude to keep Laguz merchants from turning a profit. The King’s refusal to punish this behavior, as well as his turning a blind eye to the guilds’ seizure of lands that the local lords consider to be rightfully theirs, has led to a general resentment of Chaldian rule among the Eagle Laguz population, and rebellions are not uncommon.

The current King of Chaldia is Emmanuel II, though he is too young to fully assume the role of King. As such, the de facto leader of Chaldia is a council of regents consisting of two Beorc nobles, one Eagle Laguz noble, three guildsmen, and a priest appointed by the Metropolitan of Trebizond. Under council rule, Chaldia has become more decentralized than most countries, with provincial lords paying low taxes and being completely free of any obligation to give command of any of their levies to the King. In addition, guilds are subject to few regulations, bolstering trade in the capital, but furthering Eagle Laguz resentment of guild activities. In three years, the King will come of age and be granted full authority. Whether or not he will rein in the guilds and nobles when that happens remains to be seen.

Paphlagonia, on the other hand, is not as wealthy as Chaldia, but it has more than double its population and is by far the dominant military power in the region. The capital, Smyrna, is the seat of one of the seven Patriarchates, making it an attractive home for scholars and priests. Like Trebizond, Smyrna has benefited from Achaea’s decline, but in a different way; many scholars and theologians fleeing the collapse of the Achaean Empire have moved to Smyrna, making the city a major center of learning. Smyrna’s position at the junction of the Jinn and Rusalka Rivers, coupled with its role in Paphlagonian politics and status as the home of one of the Patriarchs, has made it a rather large city, complete with a sizable market of its own, albeit not as large as Trebizond on either count.

Unlike Chaldia, however, Paphlagonia has plenty of major population centers outside the capital. Provincial lords generally have smaller fiefdoms than their Chaldian counterparts, but the abundance of easy-to-farm land makes their fiefdoms far more productive and far more populous, especially in the south, where the forests eventually give way to grassland. Paphlagonia also has a large Bear Laguz population in the east, a common source of conflict with neighboring Arka, Zemar, and Sarepta, as well as a source of racial tension between Paphlagonia’s Beorc and Laguz populations. Unlike Chaldia, though, the King and his predecessors have been careful to avoid taking sides in these internal conflicts, and despite being of a different race than the royal family, Paphlagonia’s Bear Laguz nobility are, on average, more loyal than the Beorc nobles.

The current King of Paphlagonia is Damian. He has made no secret of his desire to see Anatolia united under Paphlagonian rule with Smyrna as the capital. However, he has thus far made no clear effort to achieve that goal by military means. At the moment, his focus appears to be more on easing racial tensions, improving the quality of life in his personal demesne, and keeping independent-minded vassals from causing problems. He is also set to gain Hellas as an ally once his son Gregory comes of age and marries Princess Eudoxia. Some of his detractors suspect this is part of his plan to unify Anatolia; once the marriage happens, the combined might of Paphlagonia and Hellas will be more than enough to defeat Chaldia in a war. Whether or not he actually intends to go to war with Chaldia is unknown, though.