MIZNIA
Miznia is a chiefly jungle province in the southlands, located at the
southern fringe of the Westlands. Beyond its extreme southern border is
the province of Orexia. The current capital of Miznia is Mizniaport. A
noted tourist attraction in this
province is the Miznia Jungle Skyway. Built in 882, this skyway flies
over the Miznia Jungle. Dividing Miznia from Grubbo-by-the-Sea is an
enormous swampy region known as the Miznia Marshlands, or simply The
Moors. Miznia is known for its annual Miss Miznia beauty pageant, and
an old proverb: "It's no use crying over cracked nutshells."
The
entirety of Miznia Province, utterly dominated by dangerous and
unattractive jungle and swampland, has long been viewed as a relatively
boring area without a history of any kind. In fact, this attitude has
become prevalent simply because Miznia and its surrounding environs
were not important during the era of the Flathead Dynasty, the time at
which most Quendoran world history has been written. The truth of the
matter is that Miznia was one of the first villages established
following the Brogmolithic Epozz. While several of the residual
families broke off to different regions,
a majority of the humans had congregated in primitive huts along the
outskirts of the Miznia Jungle, wore vulgar loincloths, and derived
entertainment from sitting around bonfires, yelling and hollering at
the sky.
Centuries before the coming of Duncanthrax, Mizniaport
was a thriving and important trade center at the heart of the Anatian
Empire until its demise (c. 800 BE), in which it was split into the
Gurth, Mithicus and Miznia provinces. Long before the Kingdom of
Quendor came into existence, and
many centuries before the spread of magical knowledge through the
provinces of the north, magical culture was alive and well in Miznia,
as evidenced by many legends of Y'Syska that still survive in that
area.
In an unparalleled attempt at using magical powers to gain
mastery over nature, Miznian locals decided to build their capital city
right at the heart of the inhospitable jungle. Calling it Dolo Finis,
or Sorrow's End, they summoned all their magical abilities to hold back
the encroaching swamp and the jungles, preserving Dolo Finis as a kind
of monument to their power of nature and called it Dolo Finis, because
it was like an oasis in the heart of the most dangerous and miserable
country in all the Westlands. Time proved them wrong. The jungle and
swamp crept right back in no matter how hard they pressed to keep it
out, and eventually they abandoned it. The ruins of Dolo Finis still
stand today, attesting to the eventual failure of their vain and
ambitious project.
Between
660~662 GUE, Pseudo-Duncanthrax along with province of Gurth and
Mithicus, brought Miznia under Quendoran sway and gave them new
provincial administrations. It should be noted, that he made no attempt
to conquer Orexia, on the extreme southern border of Miznia, as he was
to unwilling to combat the disease and dangers of the Miznian jungles
and swamps in order to reach Orexia itself.
With the collapse of
the Empire in 883 GUE, the confederacy of Quendor was dissolved.
Borphee, concerned with its mercantile interests in Miznia and Gurth to
the south, discarded the bulk of the ruined empire to the north,
creating an immense territorial vacuum between the Southlands and
Northlands.
In
about 956 GUE, the Great Terror, having escaped from its imprisonment
beneath Largoneth Castle, moves lowly and secretly into the southlands
and settled in the swamps of Miznia, in the ruins of Dolo Finis, near
the border of Orexia. There it waited and gained strength while its
influence crept slowly and inexorably across the world, corrupting all
it touched. One by one, even the greatest enchanters and wizards
succumbed to a creeping fear. They crawled into their guildhalls and
shuttered their windows and did nothing. Just before the collapse of
the Age of Magic in 966 GUE, the Great Terror was defeated, freeing the
land from its terrible oppression. Also, those days saw the end of
Thriff's wanderings--the entire village was gated south of the Miznia
Jungle from North Frobozz via the Ethereal Plane of Atrii, where it
still remains to this day.