Aquila

Aquila, also known as the Overworld to its residents, was one of many dimensions within the universe and the basis for the story of White Eyes. Aquila was a relatively small, diverse world that sat close to the center of the universe, and uniquely war-torn after thousands of years of strife.

Notable Events

The universally accepted dating system within Aquila is based around the date of Notch and Herobrine's birth.

BE = Before Emergence

AE = After Emergence

• Birth of Avus and subsequent creation of Aquila - Approximately 300,000 BE
• Makrozoia's arrival in Aquila - 912 BE
• First defeat of the Nightmare Legion - 870 BE
• Start of the Hundred Year Darkness - 758 BE
• Birth of Notch and Herobrine - 0 AE
• Death of the Mad King and dissolvement of the Aquilan Empire - 4,353 AE
• Battle of Aragon and start of the Kilran War - 4,398 AE
• The Great Desynchronization and founding of the Knights Thash - 4,415 AE
• Return of Herobrine - 4,702 AE
• Start of the Resurgent War and final defeat of the Mad King - 4,703 AE
• Destruction of Providence and present day - 4,704 AE

Places of Interest

Bold denotes a broad region or continent

Italics signifies a specific location, such as a town or island

• Kilran - The largest continent in Aquila and the location of the Kilran War, the conflict between Herobrine and Notch
• Sivistys - A relatively recently discovered continent uniquely rich in resources; now one of the centers of art and innovation in Aquila
• Ertdor - A sister continent of Kilran, sparsely uninhabited and mostly lawless
• Elitia - An island continent mostly inhabited by isolationist tribes
• Occa - Arguably the richest and most powerful continent and home to the largest faction in Aquila, the Kingdom of Medriaas
• Audax - One of the first continents settled by early Occan pioneers; lacking in natural resources yet still home to many prosperous citystates that control much of the west Aquilian trade
• Voshe - An island continent with little hope of large-scale human settlement thanks to dangerous wildlife
• The Surladan Islands - An almost completely unexplored region encompassing Ciraca, the Hinterlands, and the Spoils of the Ancients
• Avunian Ocean - The largest body of water in Aquila; widely misconceived as being completely empty when the area is dotted with countless small islands, some even inhabited by lost explorers or curious natives
• Keiro Ocean - The most heavily traveled body of water due to its close proximity to several large trading ports
• Surlada Ocean - A sparsely traveled ocean sprawling with ancient shipwrecks and other mysterious occurrences
• Wayward Sea - A quiet, still sea that acted as a buffering zone between civillization and the beyond
• Palama Sea - A vital sea for commerce and trade; heavily patrolled by Medriaan boats
• Gulf of Mes Raina - Formally controlled by the citystate of Aragon; areas in and around Mes Raina were heavily contested during the Kilran War
• Lost Passage - Seldom traveled and suspected to be haunted by vengeful ocean spirits
• Hesperdes - AKA the "Point of No Return," one of the most remote locations in Aquila
• Waffle - A small port city, one of the few in Elitia
• The Wreck of the Black Warrior - The site of a major maritime "accident," details unknown
• Kuwaktana - The site of Lady Thash's death and the founding of the Knights Thash; now devoid of wildlife and avoided by explorers due to its dark reputation
• Magdeleine - A major trade center and base camp for Ertdorian explorers
• Thel Olihim - Long abandoned capital of the mysterious Aquilan Empire, ruled by the infamous Mad King
• Hog Bay - Major fishing center
• Apollyon - The highest known point in Aquila; the site of Notch's death
• Sanctuary - Abandoned safe haven for wanted criminals
• Vicis - Slave trading center
• Kalga Bland - An apparently cursed island where the warriors of the Nightmare Legion were sealed for several decades
• Elverum Trench - The lowest known point in Aquila; fittingly avoided at all cost by traders and pioneers
• Belial - The largest citystate in Kilran
• New Tempus - A small, short-lived settlement
• The Crag - A large stretch of tall mountains and the location of Herobrine's tomb
• Aragon - A notable Kilranian citystate and one of the victims of the great Kilran War
• Krak - Abandoned military stronghold
• Camp Dengar - A large settlement for bounty hunters and mercenaries funded by the Kilran citystatess
• Woodbury - A quiet town gripped by rampant crime
• Tempus - A small town close to one of Herobrine's arcane shrines
• Valencia - A prominent center for arts within Medriaas
• Sforzando - A prosperous city in Audax home to several major corporations; the center of trade between the citystates of Kilran, Occa, Sivistys, and the rest of Audax
• Corvus - A small town that served as the home for the "Outlanders" before being burned down
• Arcadia - Hidden underwater factory and base of operations for the corporate magnate Clockwork
• Thaddeus - Military stronghold for Medriaas
• Sidon - Small Sivistyan town
• Morstock - A natural focal point for phantom energy and the site of the discovery of dark energy
• Merth Docto - The site of a large crater that functioned as a portal from Aquila to "the beyond"
• Basilica - Abandoned holy site for the Knights Thash
• Abaddon - A phantom energy focal point and location of an ancient Slip Device weapon
• Humberto - Prominent Medriaan city
• Providence - Former capital of Medriaas, destroyed by the resurgent Mad King

Background

Inception and Pre-history

Like all other dimensions within the universe, those born within Aquila are bound to the world upon birth, preventing them from accidentally or deliberately traveling to other overworlds during void travel (this was the doing of the primordial and benevolent deity Gamma) Aquila was created some milennia prior to the founding of Corvus shortly after the god Avus, one of the many children of the primordial being Moros, the so-called Ancient Fear, was immaculately born. Avus had a hand in designing the world, though its creation was mostly left to chance, its vast plains and deep oceans woven together by the invisible and omnipresent threads of Dark Energy. Prior to the Great Desynchronization, Aquila was a tightly knit world composed of one single supercontinent surrounded by endless ocean.

Above: Aquila (center) protected from alien threats by the Nether

The Rise of Makrozoia

Some centuries after the first inhabitants of Aquila were born, Avus fell in love with the mortal woman Minerva. The two had one child, Makrozoia, who was curiously born without godly powers, taking more from his mother than his father. The son quickly grew tired of living idly in his father's marble castle that orbited the world and set about making his own destiny below in Aquila.

Accepting the fact that few would believe the truth that he was the son of Aquila's creator, Makrozoia started from scratch, becoming a charismatic politician whom the people trusted with their lives. When the nefarious Nightmare Legion arrived in Aquila in droves from an unknown location, Makrozoia used his wits to seal the evil hordes on an island called Kalga Bland far off the coast of the supercontinent. Gratuitous, the people of Aquila accepted Makrozoia as their king.

Above: the known universe, held together by the deity Gamma

Makrozoia was initially a kind leader, but after decades of ruling, his mind was gripped by cruelty by some dark force unbeknownst to him. With his blade, the Invidere, Makrozoia slew his mother and father to ensure they would not interfere with his new regime, and then quickly set about ensuring the loyalty of his subjects. He waged a hundred year campaign of death and genocide, imposing his infallible will upon all of Aquila. To facilitate his rule, he awakened the deadly Nightmare Legion, convincing the evil warriors to serve him. From then on, Makrozoia was universally known as the Mad King.

Still, despite his all-consuming evil, he found love in at least one of his mortal subjects. An unnamed woman known only by her pseudonym of Yuuki ruled as the de-facto queen of Aquila. Though she was terrified of her husband's wrath, she loved him deeply, and insisted that there was still good in him. Slowly but surely, she was able to sooth her husband's rage, and though massacres persisted daily, they eventually lessened in their severity. The Mad King finally settled down, as it were, when his two children, Notch and Herobrine, were born.

The unseen darkness that initially corrupted Makrozoia, however, was not content to let him grow complacent. His bloodlust resumed, and one faithful night, Yuuki fell victim to his rage. The Mad King was horrified by his actions, but not to the extent of his twin sons, who could never have imagined the tales of their father's evil were true. They conspired for many months before enacting their grand plan, stealing their father's golden sword and slaying him with it in one swift stroke. Wielding the Invidere, Notch and Herobrine were able to banish the Nightmare Legion once more to depths of Urghast.

The Kilran War

With the power vacuum left in his father's death empty, Notch and Herobrine seized control of the Aquilan Empire and agreed to formally disband it, thereby allowing several countries to sovereignty. The two twin brothers remained hidden in the shadows, sometimes visiting settlements to feed the hungry or heal the sick with their famed magical powers. Both were a stark contrast to their genocidal father, and the people of Aquila loved them deeply.

The affliction that plagued his father still was not sated. Herobrine grew more wrathful by the day, refusing to help the weak any longer, claiming that they did not deserve to live as they could not keep themselves healthy. He also saw great weakness and corruption in the new countries of Aquila, particularly that of Kilran. He harnessed the power of necromany to raise an army of the dead, commanding them to indiscriminately raze the countless settlements of Kilran.

Unaffected by the strife that consumed his brother and father, Notch enlisted his own military force, the Army of Light, to contest Herobrine's undead horde. The Light quickly overwhelmed the undead, and when Herobrine was forced to retreat to his hidden mountain base, Notch reluctantly slew him, unable to convince him to see the error of his ways. With his dying words, however, Herobrine inflicted a great sickness upon Notch, which sapped him of his strength and would likely kill him in several years' time.

Only one motal was knowledgable and powerful enough to aid him: Lady Thash, a mysterious woman who had unwittingly amassed a sort of cult following that protected her from harm at all cost. Miraculously, she made great progress in healing Notch, but her powers were dulled by another entity that was enamored by her abilities. Moros, a primordial spirit of unspeakable evil and doom, relentlessly pursued her, and when she refused to acknowledge him, the being ended her life in an instant. Without Lady Thash's healing efforts, Notch quickly died a gruesome death.

The Great Desynchronization

In the wake of the Lady's death, her followers, led by the valiant warrior Triton, formed the Knights Thash in her honor, determined to cleanse Aquila of evil, starting with the mysterious being Moros. Guided by the unseen hand of Gamma, who needed mortal allies to seal his ancient enemy, the Knights Thash conducted a great ritual to expunge the Ancient Fear not just from their overworld, but from the universe at large - permanently. Upon the commencement of the ritual, Gamma and Moros briefly battled among the endless void of the universe, tossing each other across the stars to devastating effect. Gamma was ultimately able to throw Moros outside the bounds of the universe, but the battle grievously wounded him.

Above: the Ancient Fear, Moros, looking vengefully down at the universe after being cast out by Gamma and the Knights Thash

The devastation brought about by the clashing was experienced by nearly all worlds. In Aquila, the event was known as the Great Desynchronization - a cataclysmic event that broke apart the world's single supercontinent into several pieces, radically changing the geographical and political landscape of the overworld forever. With the Mad King and his children dead and the temporary nullification of the threat of the Ancient Fear, the people of Aquila set about rebuilding and expanding.

Continued in White Eyes!