The Kingdom of Gwyndell

During a skirmish involving some western Rashiutain lands, a strange disease wormed its way into a Gwyndel’ soldier. The Gwyndel’man’s body quickly perished and withered away after contracting the strange sickness. From his rotting corpse the disease burrowed into the ground and plunged most of Gwyndell’s land into a state of rot and decay. The air became toxic and unbreathable, and the soil became spoiled and gray. Most of the people sought refuge from the turned lands and fled into the caves beneath them.

        As the mass exodus started, most of the former Gwyndell Order fell during the discord, and the factions that sprung up in the chaos fought for decades for dominance for their underground. After several years of infighting, it was the Alliance of Reformity that raised their flag victorious, who then seeked to rebuild the former Kingdom of Gwyndell underground.

        For a few centuries, Gwyndell remained hidden from the outside world, instead living day to day in the half-dark of murky caverns. Hard rock floors lit by silver colored torches, sustaining oneself with broth and mushrooms. There were patches of sunlight and untainted grass in the caves, and with this, a few families of farmers brought along some animals and plants. But it was barely enough to feed an entire kingdom’s worth of people.

        Life went on up until 1678, when Danieal Highman, an eccentric and high-ranking Gwyndel’man in the kingdom’s society, heard the digging from a near-by Rashiutan mining company. Soon after he alerted the miners of his (and the rest of Gwyndell’s) presence, the culture within Gwyndell was split; Half of the population wanted to escape the caves; escape from the underground and live in sunlight and warm cooked meals again. The other half wanted to stay down in the caverns, keeping themselves in the dark in the sake of rugged tradition and pride.