Antora

Always at odds with the empire of Shaladar, this kingdom resides in the North Eastern part of the land. Even though they have a smaller region, food problems, and lower populations and a harsher climate, they have a very tough and durable people. They also train their mages very rigorously, leading to some of the best magical warriors in the world. They train their mages for war, and are not afraid to train in dark magics unlike the Shaladar neighbors. They even train some necromancers in their armies to help give them an edge when it comes to war. They regulate the necromancers pretty heavily, as in the past there was a revolt and a necromancer tried to take over.

Being such a magical kingdom, they have something similar to Shaladar’s Magic Ark, however, they derive the power from a darker source. An ancient evil died beneath their capital city of Drakenbor, and they use its remains as a source of power. Even though most mortals attempt to extract magic from a source like this will eventually lose their sanity and may even die, they have found a way to circumvent those issues. The great mages of Antora have devised a way to gather its power without its corrupting influence. They use Giants from the mountainous region as conduits for the dark power. Giants naturally have no magical aptitude, but have a high tolerance to its influence. So they capture Giants and imprison them in a pit with the remains of the Chaos beast. The darkness infuses with the Giants, granting them larger mana reservoirs, then the mages shiphon the magic from the Giants when they need it. While the chaos magic makes the giants stronger they are imprisoned in iron maidens like structures so that they cannot wreak havoc. They call this the Shadow Well. Eventually, the Giants will die from thise process, but will replace them.

Along with their Shadow Well, they have a menagerie of beasts that they use for their magic. They imprison the beasts and then have enchanted stones that tap into their souls. Then a trained mage can summon clones of the beasts to fight for them. The mages that do this are called Summoners. The summons are primarily used as a shock troop to disrupt and break the lines of their enemies before their human front line goes in. The summoning of a creature can only be done so many times before the soul of the creature finally breaks and it dies.

With their magical might, they can pose a threat to even Shaladar. While smaller in size and population, they are willing to go to lengths that Shaladar are not willing to do.