The last hundred years have represented more upheaval than ever before in Morvalin history. A long period of stability was ended violently in the year 943 with the revelation that one of the Blessed Saints, the Saint of Roses Tereza von Läbelaicha of the Läbelaicha House of Dusk had plotted against her fellow Saints. The plan to poison and usurp them was foiled by Saint Tereza’s honoured Vassal, Marcelle von Lacrimosa, who was raised to Sainthood as a reward for their dedication to the nation. The purges that followed were a bloody time in the nation’s history; any Gravecallers thought to be connected to the plot were executed and their bodies put to the lowest menial tasks.
As the Corruption became more powerful and revealed itself as a real threat to civic order, the nation has had periods of isolationism, refusing to allow anyone through their borders for fear of bringing discord into Morvalis. This has gradually relaxed once the nature of the enemy has been better understood, however the Houses of Dusk have maintained an even greater aloofness from the general population than usual. The Blessed Saints are very rarely seen in public, and when they are it is behind veils, canopies or on litters, glimpsed only through a curtain.
When the opportunity to form an alliance with the remaining Nations of Elandra was suggested, Morvalis was one of the most reluctant, but eventually saw the Pact of Nine as a positive on the assurance that individual nations’ ways of life would be preserved. A delegation from the Evaeylir formed the diplomatic party who negotiated their involvement.
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.