The Wonder has managed to retain a level of stability compared to the rest of the Crownlands in the face of the Corruption, with its leaders safely ensconced in the Ambergrove. Leaders that can live for centuries and the relative peace of the forest has caused society at large to stick to itself. Wonderfolk with more wanderlust in their hearts have felt the call to adventure to explore many lands and the Wonder has never turned down visitors from the other nations.
The battle and subsequent corruption of Thornsthorpe came as a great shock to the Wonderfolk, perhaps they considered themselves free of the threat in their magically protected forest? Nevertheless when the Corruption set its sights on the forest it did not hold back and the Wonder suffered its first major national setback since its creation.
Other areas of the Wonder are lost to the Fading but the memory of Thornsthorpes destruction has caused the Wonderfolk to venture beyond the shade of the tree and into the world little by little.
The further death of the previous ̠belgard Dryad, Naja Gardenspark, in a Corrupted attack at the re-signing of the Pact of the Nine a year before the present has further shown the Wonderfolk that they cannot hide in their forest forever Рthe time to act is now.
Strong relationships with the Crownlands are paying off and the Wonderfolk are seen working together with their peers more than ever before.
The Fading
Immediately following the Pact, the event known as the Fading has further prevented new progress in the nations; this was some sort of unknown magical calamity which affected and continues to affect the spread of information and its retention – both on paper and in the minds of all people across Elandra.
Land beyond the boundaries of the Corruption is no longer remembered as it should be; it is as if the memory of it has been washed away, and the records of such are blank or missing too. Information from before the Pact is similarly difficult to find, and impossible to recall for those who lived through it.
Other information is similarly missing from recall by all the remaining powers of Elandra, though some snippets of the past are found in oral traditions, festivals and the echo of memory on culture of each nation.
The study of history has been devastated by this calamity, as it is no longer possible to be certain of fact with so many relied-upon sources being unavailable. The record-keepers and historians of every nation have tried to maintain some form of order, but there is a lot beyond mortal knowledge that was once known to all, and it is an ongoing exercise to share what little remains.
Scholars generally blame the Corrupted for having caused this – severing connection to whatever is beyond their borders using foul magic of some kind, but the search to recover what has been lost is a massive international effort.