Bannering of Ventaris

Though the deities had quit outright fighting each other, the war had essentially shifted to Nasria itself, with each deity gifting boons to their creations to give them an edge. No other god worked as feverishly as the Shepherd. He gave up the most of his essence to empower his children: the humans.

Humans had started out in a rather unfavorable position on Nasria. They were fairly average, with no particular strengths. The only real bonus they had was that they were highly adaptable to nearly any environ, which led to them becoming the most widespread of all mortal races.

With the help of the Shepherd, this changed. He infused all humans with an innate sense of tenacity. Humans became obsessed with their legacies and accomplishing as much as possible in their short times on Nasria (being one of the shortest lived races). Within a few generations, massive human empires sprang up across the western continent. The Shepherd's work almost destroyed itself as these empires began to spread toward one another. No other race waged war as ferociously against their kin as the humans did.

Refusing to let his creations kill themselves, the Shepherd personally oversaw the tutelage of the one he saw as the great hope of the human race: Artemin Ventaris. Ventaris came from humble beginnings as the son of a blacksmith, but he possessed such an incredible charisma that he was able to influence those around him with nothing more than words. By his twentieth birth year, he had been given sizable command within the army of his birth kingdom.

One summer, he led his army to a massive battle with forces from all human kingdoms. Before the battle, he rode onto the battlefield by himself. In full sight of each army, he removed his helmet and began to float off the ground. Suspending in the air, his voice boomed across the field, affecting the heart of every man present. He gave an impassioned speech, and at the end he commanded every man on the field.

He took his army to every human capital and expanded his empire with each step. Soon he owned all but the most inhospitable areas of the continent. With his united empire, the western continent was dubbed Ventaris.