You were either raised among the outcasts and exiles of the ruins of
Altheria in the years before the Blight, or you were born in Altheria after
the Blight.

Before the Blight, the city of Altheria was mostly abandoned and in
near-complete ruin. It was built by the Ancients long ago and populated by
many different peoples and cultures throughout the course of history.

As a walled port city with a natural harbor, Altheria held strategic value
to different nations in the Old and New Kingdom eras, though its location in
a far-flung corner of the continent made it difficult to take and hold by
any single power for very long. It became a less attractive target for
military conquest or civilian settlement over time and as such an unofficial
agreement that the ruins of Altheria were to be a kind of neutral ground
arose. This left it more or less in ruins for the last few centuries with
only small groups of exiles and those with nowhere else to go taking up
residence among the ruins.

When the Blight came, Altheria was the place that everyone ended up fleeing
to, and with the appearance of the Barrier to keep the Blight out, Altheria
became one of the few truly safe places to go. That handful of exiles
suddenly grew to a huge community over the space of weeks.

Children of the people who sought refuge in Altheria born after the Blight
have no first-hand knowledge of how the world used to be. Altheria is all
they have ever known, and they have a limited connection to the old ways of
their people. Altherian culture is fluid and reflects the myriad
perspectives of the many different people that arrived there.

Altherians seek to better themselves and their new city. Their motivations
and desires typically stem from the realization that they are the best hope
for the world to survive the Blight. They are, in a way, Aelandris' second
chance.

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