The World Of Yalvia — An Overview

Secret Paths is a NFT brand built around the fantasy world of Yalvia. An ancient world marked by the continuous clash of magic, nature, and ambition.

An Overview of Yalvia

The source of all life in Yalvia originates and feeds off a magical substance called yalvust. Yalvust is a very fine, shiny, dust-like substance with very particular properties; it can flow through all mediums and is not affected by gravity. It emerges both on Yalvia’s surface and subterranean environments but its origin remains a mystery.

While humans and elves settled down in the beautiful fields and forests of the mystical world, dwarves quickly built subterranean operations in their never-ending quest of mining precious gems and materials. Resources they would use to create the most beautifully crafted items, weapons and structures Yalvia has ever seen. However, it was during their continued descent into the depths of the world that they made a shocking discovery — they were not alone.

At first, dwarves discovered yalvust springs emerging at great depths. The presence of yalvust on the surface was always synonymous with life, which led to the controversial idea that there may also be life below. It wasn’t long until controversy turned to flesh when the dwarves came face to face with the “inferior races” that later became to be known as the core hordes.

These so-called inferior races, which consisted of demons, faeries, and imps had been building their civilizations within Yalvia’s depths, identically oblivious to the existence of the surface world and their races.

The dwarven discovery rapidly confirmed two things:

• Firstly, both the surface and subterranean worlds required yalvust to survive. Without yalvust, neither surface plantations nor underground fungus farms would grow. Yalvust was as necessary to the inhabitants of Yalvia as oxygen is for us: it is the mana that fuels everything on Yalvia.
• Secondly, hostility with the “inferior” subterranean races was inevitable. The two worlds were competing for yalvust in an endless quest to survive.

The dwarven miners were quickly forced to retreat to the surface by the core hordes, who were larger in numbers. They closed the entrances and shared their discoveries with the other surface races. Dwarves had no choice but to change their mining methods and put in place strict legislation to prevent exploration below certain depths in order to ensure the master-mining race went unnoticed as they worked.

Meanwhile, the subterranean civilisation, filled with curiosity, followed the dwarven tunnels back up to the surface and discovered the existence of the surface world and its inhabitants. Minor confrontations began, however ultimately the core hordes were no match to the superior weapons and armed forces the surface races possessed and were driven back into their underground galleries.

Peace reigned in a world where the different races were still small in numbers. For centuries, it remained and the Yalvian races began to flourish separately.

Centuries later, the panorama changed drastically.

Yalvust supply wasn’t limitless, and the populations of the principal surface and subterranean races had grown considerably.

Humans, elves, and dwarves had been unsustainably exploiting yalvust resources. Given yalvust’s ability to flow, and with such high surface consumption, subterranean yalvust was being siphoned up to the surface and destroying subterranean fungus farms.

Faced with famine and an impending cataclysmic event, the core hordes were forced to wage war against the surface races. Centuries had passed since their first altercations with the surface and the core hordes had been planning ever since. This time the fight would not be so easily won.

Demons, faeries, and imps opened two huge rifts and emerged from the depths in massive numbers.The core hordes had developed technology and grown armies far beyond the extent that humans, elves, and dwarves could have imagined, leaving the surface races no choice but to put their differences aside and form an alliance, the Alliance of the Sun.

The war which came to be known as the “Rift War” was long and violent. Even some of the rarer, neutral creatures living in Yalvia took to battle, however not all fought on the same side…

Eventually, the Alliance of the Sun managed to force the core hordes to retreat back into Yalvia’s depths and sealed the rifts behind them. The victory largely due to the creation of sentient war machines, called mechborn, as a last ditch effort to turn the tides of war. Peace was restored to Yalvia, and Yalvust a prize for the winners.

The world changed rapidly

Sixteen years after the war ended, those who earned glory on the battlefield and fought for their factions struggle to find their place in a world where swords and magic are no longer as valued as they once were. Instead commerce and politics rule the course of events.

It is at this point that we meet our hero/heroine and the Secret Paths text adventure begins…

Next up — the following medium article will delve deeper into the 10 principle races of Yalvia; humans, dwarves, elves, imps, faeries, demons, werewolves, treants, mechborn and dragonkin

Thank you for reading.

Secret Paths Team