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Lar: A Brief History

Lar has not always been a country. Located between modern-day Germany and France, it was simply an area of diverse biomes entirely surrounded by a very thick forest and populated by a large amount of dangerous predators and even more prey animals who used the cover to proliferate without interference from the newly established apex predator: bipedal apes. Near the edges of the forest, however, the animals grew smarter and at times mimicked these new creatures.

As time passed, these animals grew more dexterous and even more cautious. They saw what the humanoids were capable of, the good and the bad. They saw them building homes, making communities, and using tools. They also saw them hunting large creatures, fighting each other and sometimes en masse. While the predators formed their own groups, even creating governments, they created languages and drew loose borders, taking over various parts of the forest-encircled area. They formed their own languages and disagreed on a great many things. The only thing they all agreed on, was that these creatures should never be allowed to enter their forest. With very few exceptions, any that stepped foot into the area was summarily killed and their body hidden deep within the forest.

As time passed, a few individuals from a few species began to show special abilities others did not have. These abilities were touted as magic, and while some were condemned for it, others were praised. Over time, more of these individuals began to be accepted in certain societies and the various bipedal species outside the forest began to take notice.

To the outside world, the area became known as The Forbidden Forest, due to the tendency of its visitors to never return. Nevertheless, it quickly became known in folklore as the source of all magic. While a very rare few returning with the gift of magic, but never giving details, the rumors quickly drew more visitors. The resulting magicians were rarely not elven, for reasons unknown. It was believed that one had to be able to survive the elements and the predators of the area in order to have some sort of spiritual vision which granted you the ability, but it was never confirmed by anyone.

At times, kings sent armies into the forest, most of which would not be seen again. Sometimes survivors would speak of talking animals and often be treated as insane. The reason being that the animals who had evolved into the apex predators of The Forbidden Forest, were outwardly identical to the wild animals from which they descended. But their fingers flexed better and they were far smarter. They could communicate with each other, make weapons and were quite capable in combat at times.

The predator species dominated the area, keeping all other non-prey species out of the forest. Small tribes of intelligent flying predators, eagles, hawks, and various other raptors, were known as nuisances for all other species and eventually eradicated, the only intelligent flying species being completely benign. This set the final borders for the lands of each main species group.

== Spoilers Ahead ==

Sometime in the middle ages, there was a great war in The Forbidden Forest. The Wolf-descendent Grashen invaded the Fox-descendent Silth. With the help of various other species, including prey species which were previously hunted for food despite their intelligence, they defeated the Grashen and unified the forest. Two years later, they created a common language for all species, called Alas (Ah-lah-s). The region was then named Lar (l-ah-r), meaning 'unity' in Alas. It took years to adopt, but the language eventually became known by all intelligent species in Lar, their original languages only known by families wishing to specifically remember their old languages.

What followed was a period fraught with turmoil. Between a critical lack of translators and dissent regarding the side of the war your species was on, it was often dangerous to just exist near each other. Lar was led by a council representing all the species equally, replacing the previous monarchs of the various individual areas. They were disliked by many at first but it eventually was accepted. While most outsiders who entered the forest were killed, it definitely was not all of them.

Many entered Lar in an attempt to gain magic, the majority being humans. They often believed the forest itself to be a test and as a result would attempt to kill anything they saw as a possible threat or meal. This was usually met with deadly force by the Lareans. Elves were often vegetarian and tended to be a little slower on the rampant murder, which often meant they got to meet the Lareans. Acquiring magic often took months, if not years. They'd usually have to learn the language so they could communicate, learn to help the Lareans, and if they were very lucky, a master magician could teach them to use magic if they had the innate ability. However, most who learned magic did not leave the forest and opted to live with the people they'd spent so long with.

The country continued to be almost entirely isolated from the outside world, until 1938 when the dwarves of Gerstadt to the west decided to push through The Forbidden Forest in an effort to sneak into La Jehn to the East. They faced heavy opposition, however, finding many obstacles between the rough terrain and even rougher defenders. Lar was ill-prepared for an outside invasion, however, and was forced to draft many Lareans to defend the country into what was called the Furred Strike Force. Industry quickly shifted to weaponry production to make up for the low quantity they had on-hand. While the country had put a lot of work into learning about the weaponry and technology of the surrounding civilizations, they had not manufactured enough to repel an army. Production was slow due to the complexity of the weaponry but they had time due to the fact that the invaders did not expect active resistance going through the forest. The defense of Lar was mostly sabotage and guerilla warfare.

The Lareans delayed them long enough that they began to invade other countries before being done with Lar, which had to move its capital West to avoid capture. By 1943 they Gerstatians had spread themselves thin and began to lose ground in Lar. In early 1945, the Lareans had effectively pushed the Gerstatians out of Lar before meeting up with the bipedal forces, as they called them. The invaders were mostly dwarves but the allied bipedals were made up of almost all species found outside of Lar. In exchange for the help in taking over Gerstadt, Lar received resources to rebuild, having lost two thirds of their country at one point, and a promise to keep Lar a secret from everyone involved.

After the war, the Furred Strike Force was trained into an internal police group, replacing the previous Civilian Defense Force, which had proven to be inadequate for protecting from foreign attack. By the early 1980s, the FSF had begun to use much more technology to aid in apprehending criminals and stopping insurrections. A revolt had begun, however, because The Isolationists were not happy with how open The Council had become to trade with other countries. Things escalated over time, The Isolationists gaining popularity and funding, growing bold enough to attack FSF bases in an effort to take over the government.

The FSF quelled the rebellion and things went back to peaceful for a while, maintaining a mostly isolationist policy but increasing trade across the borders. Eventually, as the world often does, it went to war again, mostly taking place between various human-centric areas, Lar staying completely out of it outside of a defensive and diplomatic role. This meant that while the world focused on warfare, the Lareans focused on space exploration. Between privately purchasing technology and leveraging military accidents for information, Lar was able to send its people into space and became the first to colonize outside of the planet. They didn't really claim it so much as take up enough space that no one else was interested in it, but Lar took a moon from the largest planet in the solar system.

As the number of nations colonizing space grew, so too did the conflicts with them. Nations began to form larger coalitions, often trying to get Lar to join them as well. Eventually, one such group attempted to take several planets that had been claimed, bodies outside the original solar system being considered outside the original international space neutrality laws. One of those planets was under the control of Lar, which led to them joining the Galactic Federation of Planets simply by having a common enemy.

As the war escalated, so too did dissension among the ranks. Three of the twelve planets controlled by Lar secretly changed sides to the Interplanetary Coalition, not liking the GFP's policies on immigration. Their leaders deceived their militaries and created enormous covert operation groups. They briefly turned the tide of the war but it only lasted a few years. When the tides turned, the planetary leaders began to disband the covert operations groups and destroy equipment, changing sides back to the GFP and helping defeat the IC, effectively uniting the known universe into one giant government with special provisions for a certain amount of each country's former laws and each planet's special needs.

== About the Stories ==

The stories I write will be set in different areas and different times. The common areas will mostly be different parts of Lar, though occasionally it might include Gerstadt and La Jehn, sometimes even a different planet. The time-frames will vary even more. Generally, pre-, para-, and post-unification war being set in the middle ages, para- and post-WWII, modern day, and mostly post interplanetary war, though I might do some para-war era as well. I have several stories I've written at least partially, many of which haven't changed along with the universe and therefore aren't up to modern canon, but depending on the story I will likely update them before posting them!

Most of the stories will follow Lareans, adorable anthropomorphic animals living in their homeland, but every once in a while there may be stories of others. I have a story I started following a homeless dwarf from Gerstadt and I'm sure I'll end up writing something involving elves, humans, or various other creatures typically found in high fantasy.

Hope you enjoyed this brief history of the Larean region!

Written November 23, 2022, © Pedro "Reynard" Loustaunau