When the first Walls were constructed, humans of the region flocked to the new settlements. Excited and relieved that they now had a place they could call home that was protected from the behemoth creatures that had harassed and killed them for so long in The Wild. Each region in which a Wall was raised learned their own methods for agriculture and industry, and humanity flourished. This also led to a degree of isolation, as the newfound safety of the Wall was too tempting to give up in order to keep in contact with other settlements. Hunters, once protectors of their tribe, now had to find a new way of life in this safety. They did this by doing what most humans now would never consider, they left the Walls and wandered The Wild in search of useful materials and information to assist in the bettering of their settlement.
Hunters began to bring back new plants to aid in feeding the growing populace and improve agriculture. New materials found in the bodies of defeated creatures, such as hardened bones, leather, and gem like stones found in all creatures, were used to construct unique and useful items. New ore was mined and utilized in the fortification of the Walls and buildings, as well as the creation of more durable tools and weapons.
This system lead to the founding of the Hunter Order, a place where the Hunters could bring their discoveries and barter them for items to make their own families lives easier. Each human settlement had its own Order and the Hunters earned a margin of respect and prestige from the towns they helped. Soon, Hunters began to compare their achievements with one another, boasting particular kills of especially difficult creatures or the knowledge of ore veins that had granted them wealth. This competitive nature spurred the Hunters to wander further from the safety of the Walls and deeper into the savage lands of The Wild.
Years pass and the Hunters have become a focal point for their settlements. The gathering of rare and precious materials takes precedence over the bettering of their settlement as the humans had become self-sustained within their Walls. Hunter Order buildings grow large and extravagant as the focus shifts from survival to comfort, and Hunters are forced to travel even farther from their settlements in order to satiate the peoples demand for new and better goods. This desire for the new sparks a change in the way the people of the Wall will live, as Hunters, now forced to travel enormous distances to find new creatures and material come into contact with Hunters from other human settlements.
News of the rediscovery of other settlements spurs the Hunters once more, though this time not for materials or goods, but the relocation of their isolated brethren from other settlements. Hunter Orders make contact with one another after years of separation and diversification, and the creation of a new Order was made, The Traders Guild. Heavily reliant upon the Hunters Order, the Traders Guilds begin to hire Hunters in order to map out easily traversed paths through The Wild that would connect them to other settlements, and the creation of the first trails was under way.
On the Western continent, the southern desert dwelling Hunters of Egni made contact with Hunters from the central settlements, Raivaust in the East Prairie and Limll from the Western marshes. These settlements had been constructed in close proximity and had already begun trading. Both Raivaust and Limll had also made contact with a settlement further north in the vast grasslands named Gaile. This meeting created a boom in trading on the continent, in which all four settlements regularly had merchants of their Traders Guild in each town, sharing and trading in local resources as well as information on some of the more dangerous creatures that lurked in the nearby Wild.
As the Western continent began constructing more reliable trails to keep contact with their newly rediscovered brethren, so too did the Eastern part of the world begin to stretch out and make contact.
On the Southeastern Island continent the settlements of Bravima, Velraeth, Karisyll, and Virere began trading in earnest. Bravima gathered the bounty of the sea, which they acquired at the base of the cliffs at which there settlement was located, and traded them for fruits and other foods from Velraeth’s vast farmlands in the grasslands. They received livestock and medicinal herbs that were staple items in Karisyll’s prairies, and also traded for lumber, leather and spices that Virere gathered in abundance in the forested lands it called home. Bravima also had another valuable commodity the others lacked, which was easy access to the main continent and the trade routes connecting to even more settlements.
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The closest settlement to the southern shores of the Eastern continent was Mystes. Mystes held control over a vast portion of the grasslands it resided and benefited greatly from the trade brought from the Bravima merchants. Mystes formed trading routes throughout the Eastern Continent, connecting Cohrson directly to the North with Androf, Pelivahl, and even Dreg located far to the Northwest. With these settlements all using Mystes as a trading hub, Dreg could barter its plentiful ore for spices from the South, Androf could showcase its unique tool production and merchants from Cohrson sold items and information to the Hunter Orders from the material rich creatures that roamed about the tundra. Pelivahl was the only settlement that didn’t have much in the way of materials, information, or goods to barter in Mystes, but the Hunters hailing from the cloud forest settlement boasted the most strength, even going past Dreg into the rough terrain of the Northern mountains to hunt the hulking behemoths in the area. The techniques the Hunters brought from Pelivahl garnered enormous attention as they were highly detailed and diverse methods of tackling even the most daunting of creatures.
This system of travel and commerce had its share of faults though, as in good years 40% of the goods meant to be bartered or sold never made it to their destination, and in bad years nearly 80% was lost. “The Wild always takes its cut,” became a common statement when caravans never returned or were so badly set upon they were forced to return to their Wall without even breaking the midway point.
Hunter Orders flourished and grew as trade increased, as strong and trusted guides through The Wild were a must for anyone braving the trails.
This era of trade continued for a century before another human settlement, this one located nearly directly in the middle of the mountain range connecting the East and West continents made contact with the Hunters. This new group of Hunters seemed to appear to both the East and West simultaneously, effectively bridging the two routes and becoming the newest trade center for the entire world. Traders Guilds from both ends of Melio immediately converged on this settlement in hopes of being the first to bring home new and exciting goods from the other side of the world. Naerhelm, as the new settlement was called, also introduced a new method for tool production. Utilizing the small gems that could be found in most creatures in The Wild, gem powered tools flooded the trade routes. These items, such as a box that kept fruits from Velraeth cold and unspoiled during the long trek from Mystes to Egni, caused a huge sensation and even larger industrial development boom to the settlements.
Soon Hunter Orders were overrun with requests from crafters and synthesizers for the creatures “Spirit Cores,” as the traders from Naerhelm had called them. All manner of strange and wonderful creations began to appear as these cores were as diverse as the humans who sought to utilize them. As each settlement began experimenting with the cores they found locally and from afar, Naerhelm sent representatives from a unique group of scholars that resided in the Northern mountains. These scholars quickly began to gather all crafters and synthesizers in the settlements to form the Crafters Guild. The Crafters Guilds main purpose was to seek new and innovating methods of utilizing Spirit Cores, as well as cooperate with the Traders Guild to trade not only the creations, but spirit cores from around the world.