Treaty of Valdin
The Treaty of Valdin was a written agreement established at the end of the Demon Wars that entrusted certain nations to guard the Aard'Vorn. After they were assembled to defeat the demon Abraxas, there were rumors of what sort of cataclysmic event could happen if they were all together, or if one nation had more than one at a time. As such, the Aard'Vorn were distributed to whatever nation had the most cultural history with a specific Aard'Vorn.
It would be considered a breach of the agreement if an Aard'Vorn were to ever cross borders into another nation with one. Even if a nation were to go to war with another, it would be considered a violation to use the Aard'Vorn as a direct offensive weapon in enemy territory. Likewise, nations were also forbidden from using the Aard'Vorn to aid another nation unless all signatories had a five out of seven approval.
Signatories
- Leir Empire - Entrusted with the Worldstone.
- Kronen Empire - Entrusted with the Wind Diamond.
- Fraengal - Entrusted with the Seasoul.
- Xeng Empire - Entrusted with the Flame Sigil.
- Vedfolnir Republic - Entrusted with the Runebound Foundry.
- Sero Silva - Entrusted with the Seed of Menara.
- Heilinthar Empire - Entrusted with the Star Crown.
History
The treaty was named after Kronen's former capital Valdin, the city that was destroyed by Abraxas upon the start of the Demon Wars. Most of the nations receipients of the Aard'Vorn had no issue taking custody of the Aard'Vorn as their ownership was very clear from the start. However, the Seasoul and the Runebound Foundry were particularly complex when it came to ownership. While the Palvari of Windseeker Eyrie were the cultural owners of the Seasoul, they had no interest in taking responsibility for guarding such a powerful artifact - given that they were already well under way to migrating to Khyorgan. Up until the Demon Wars, the Palvari had regarded the Seasoul as a myth and did not have much attachment to it. As such, Fraengal chose to take it as they had greater infrastructure to be able to support it. This naturally led to concerns over a sudden shift of power in Eidyn.
The Runebound Foundry was actively disputed over ownership between the Vedfolnir Republic and the Kingdom of Teleios as both had staked claim over its cultural ownership. The Vedfolnir Republic is said to have only taken it as they were the more technologically advanced of the two nations which led to continued tense relations between the two. To compensate, the Kingdom of Teleios was gifted a large portion of land area as a reward for their efforts during the Demon Wars. There was controversey whether to even accept the reward, but they begrudingly took it as no one at the time was quite ready for another war between the nations when the Demon Wars had just ended.
An additional complication with another Aard'Vorn was that while the Heilinthar were the rightful owners of the Star Crown, there were some reservations over willingly handing it over to a nation considered to be isolationist and xenophobic with supremacist ideologists. The Heilinthar had only aided Leir and the other nations out of convenience during the Demon Wars, and the other signatories of the Treaty of Valdin were skeptical that an alliance with them would last much longer. Approximately three hundred years later, their concerns would be realized.
Upon the outbreak of the Leir-Heilinthar War, the Heilinthar Empire breached the contract by bringing the Star Crown into Leir territory when the goddess Luminiferah invaded. When Luminiferah was defeated, the Star Crown fell into Leir's hands, and they were unwilling to return to the Heilinthar for obvious fear of retaliation. A meeting was planned to be reconvened to decide what to do with the Star Crown, but the Leir emperor died before that meeting could take place. With his more aggressive grandson taking over, the Leir Empire began a campaign to secure all the Aard'Vorn for themselves, effectively rendering the treaty null and void.