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Ramar is the world of Betrayal at Antara. It is an original world created for the game, and is not associated with Midkemia, where the Krondor games take place.
History
Artifacts uncovered by researchers in the Antaran Empire suggest that the world of Ramar was originally occupied by the Vell, a technologically advanced civilization without magic. Unknown factors caused their decline and disappearance, and the earliest recorded human histories describe human-inhabited territories peacefully inhabiting a homeland larger than their present-day holdings, sharing a simple, agrarian lifestyle. Nonhuman races of Ramar include Grrrlf, TrKaa, and Montari.
A concentrated attack by the Grrrlf forced humans away from their original holdings in a catastrophic event later called the Migration or Exile, fleeing "across mountains, desert, and ocean" to harsh lands where existence was difficult but there was a chance to regroup and rearm. There, though details are sketchy, magic erupted in the population in an apparently spontaneous wave, the result of mana leakages through extradimensional fractures from Etherea. While initially feared, mages rose to leadership and the displaced population returned to its homeland, reengaging the Grrrlf and eventually driving them northward after a final staggeringly brutal battle at the foot of the Ulrich Mountains. The Shepherds were then established to watch over the border, and, isolated in their garrison, grew contemplative and became the first humans to whom the Triune first revealed itself. Priesthoods arose from the garrison, which sent out missionaries to evangelise for each of the Triune's three faces.
Magic, also accessible to Montari mages, shaped the lives of humans during the Age of Magic that followed. Many magical techniques and artifacts were created whose crafts are lost to time, such as the Imperial Cloak, the Mirror of Smoke and Dreams, and the Vanguard Shield. However, an incident, believed to have been a deadly conflict between at least two mages, resulted in the horrific maelstrom of magical energy which destroyed most of Chuno and created the Waste. During the ensuing anti-magic Uprisings, human fear of more such catastrophes led to mages being persecuted and hunted out of human lands.
Over a period of twenty-five years, the visionary king Valorian I of Antara offered mages amnesty and used them, along with the priesthood of the Triune, to conquer neighboring provinces and form the Antaran Empire. Since that time, under a succession of Valorian's heirs chosen by the magical Imperial Cloak, the Empire expanded to cover most of the continent.
Geography
The Antaran Empire borders Mehrat, a hostile seceded territory to the north. It treats with Chail, also north of Antara but more easily accessible by sea, and with Grrrlfland, which lies north of Chuno. Also overseas from the Antaran continent are Linaga, famous for its expensive Linagan apple brandy, and the sovereign island of Fain.
Trivia
- Though not many pre-Migration artifacts survived, some artwork is still preserved at the Museum of Antiquities in Ravenne.
- The continent occupied by Mehrat, Grrrlfland, Chail, and the Antaran Empire has a vague resemblance to the continent of North America.