Now a long dead and mostly forgotten empire, Danaëabd once controlled most of the continent of Yludel. Danaëabd was the seat of the largest empire the continent has ever seen, larger than Illythkos at its peak and much larger than Oro. Centered on the island of the same name, Danaëabd was a land of great history and culture, it was wiped off the earth by the Goddess Qati after their last queen Rihan attempted to usurp her throne.
Danaëabd is named after Danaë, a legendary princess who was the center of many men’s affection. Danaë was the daughter of a powerful king who was without a male heir. He asked an oracle if that would change, but she told him that he would bear no son, but his daughter would, and that he would kill the king. Intent to see the prophecy unfulfilled, the king locked Danaë away, but still, she bore a son. The king then cast her and her son into the seas, where she pled with the Gods to let her son survive, and they turned her into an island so that her son may survive the tides.
The son lived on the island, guided by the spirit of his mother, until he was of age, when he left the island to join a great war. On his way to battle, he learned of his prophecy, and not wishing to see it fulfilled, avoided the battle, assuming it would lead to the death of his grandfather. But in living his new life, he inadvertently made the prophecy true, when in participating in the athletic games, his javelin struck an aging king from a neighboring city, killing him.
Later, long after the death of her son, and after the island became inhabited, Danaë was the center of the Four Kings War. The Four Kings each controlled one corner of the island, but legends say that Danaë did not like being divided amongst four rulers, and desired to be united. Her spirit, incredibly radiant and beautiful, appeared before each king and promised herself to the man who could unite the island. The four kings fought for years and years before there was a victor. The victor was surprised when Danaë revealed her identity, but by then he was the sole ruler of Danaëabd and had little to complain about.
Danaëabd was sunk after the death of Rihan, the last queen of the Danaëabd Empire, attempted to usurp the Goddess of Magic, Qati’s, throne. When it was sunk, it took with it thousands of years of culture, research, artifacts, and history with it. Nowadays, it is mostly forgotten, only the learned, the scholars and researchers and even the curious, know of the dead empire. Its impact on the world is still seen to this day however, most are weary of mages with the rebirth of arcane magic, due to the conquest and oppression at the hands of mages during the reign of Rihan. Those sorcerers that weren’t killed after Rihan’s fall mostly fled back to the island of Danaëabd, where they were punished by Qati.
Rihan was the last stop on a long line of royal blood, effectively sentencing her entire nation to death. The bloodline was said to stretch all the way back to the king who defeated the other three kings in the Four Kings War to be the first true king of Danaëabd.