Five hundred years ago a mighty maritime people called the Annwyn Empire ruled the seas of The Thousand Isles (and a fair chunk of the entire world) from their island homeland far in the east. The An built tall ships such as the world has not seen since, crafted from a magical wood called Lignum Vitae and armed them with cannons and magic far beyond anything now known.
The An were masters not only of the sea but also of magic, especially spirit magic and necromancy. Legend holds that their Ships were crewed by ghosts and spirits as well as flesh and blood.
While their rule never lay heavy on Valtentis, thousands of leagues from their home island, they built scattered trading colonies up and down the Mythran coast and settled The Inner Archipelago heavily. While most of their colonies and anchorage’s have fallen to ruin, their great naval base of Haven Towne (originally called West Haven by the Empire) is still the most populous city of the Thousand Isles and many of The Merchant Houses have Annish blood running in their veins.
Five hundred years ago the An fell to their doom. In their final days of desperation they Recalled their fleets and armies to their home island far to the east, where some climatic battle occurred, a battle that legend says destroyed the entire island of Annwyn. None know for sure what happened exactly, though legends and rumors exist in multitude, but no-one returned from that battle, no inhabitant of Annwyn or the surrounding lands have been seen since those final days, their ships are gone from the seas, and any ship sent to those waters never returns.
The vacuum left by this withdrawal often led to severe social disruption, wars and economic collapse in the regions formerly dominated by the Empire. Warlords and local governments attempted to fill the gap, but the role the Annwyn Navy played in securing the sea routes for trade was impossible to fill, and as piracy ran rampant, trade declined, poverty and starvation quickly followed.
The Annwyn Empire may be gone, but their culture still has an outsized influence on the lands they touched for so many years, and the ruins of their mighty fortresses and fleet havens still dot the known world. Ruins that are often haunted by strange spirits but also contain wealth and magical treasure.
