Did the apparent ‘death’ of the Al’Modian deities have any significant cosmological impact in the world? Beyond the purely social ones you discuss here, I mean. Any major changes in ‘how things worked’?

It wasn’t just the Al’Modian deities, it was everyone’s deities. The Silence of Saints was an event that happened sometime in the 730s when the gods no longer talked to the mortal realm. Many Listeners of the gods had also reported a similar ring in their ears the day that it had happened: A rattling of chains. This entire event in turn up-ended many power systems that had existed for nearly 500 years and plunged the world into an era of uncertainty known as the Age of Twilight. The new thing however was the expansion of the new Humarian pantheon which followed the concept of gods that had ascended from the mortal plane from human souls.

As various Al’Modian nobility broke from the empire (either out of personal vendetta or pragmatism), how were they viewed by their newfound allies? Conversely, how did they view their new allies? Did they fear they might be turned on, or was it a fairly ironclad alliance?

Things would have been shaky in the first couple years between everyone. All of them joined the Republic of Merchants for different reasons, and there absolutely would have been plenty of back-stabbing along the way. It kept a lot of people on edge as they rooted out the bad and aided in propping up the good, which would ultimately lead into further struggles along the way which would get only messier during the Sunless Sea War.

Glad you like it! ☺️

Nope.

Fine. Just working on stuff. Albeit very slowly.

There have been some attempts by minor factions within the Lordships but nothing that ever bared any fruit. Technically the Marren State is another independent claim since it’s within the Republic of Merchants as an outer territory. They vote for their own representation within the Republic and as such are given support via taxes.

Ya, the original population of the world was wiped out thousands of years prior. Humans arrived on the new world in what is now known as the Exile Event during the Zero Year and branched out from there, the Blackreaver Kingdom being the oldest in the world.

As for Gleamstones, they’re used all over. Private, Commercial, and Military; lots of people use them but they’re still valuable due to a variety of things such as quality, type, magic-types, industrial-uses, etc. A popular usage among the upper classes of the world is jamming them into weapons to apply effects directly into weapon.

Gleamstone is a magic-mantel that can be used to store magical energy. Certain types of magic-mantels are able to store more of this energy like the emerald colored stones. The reason why they’re prominent on the isles isn’t fully understood, there’s theories in-world that think that these magic-mantels are formed over the same course of time as other minerals but absorbed magical energy over the course of billions of years.

As for the ‘natives’ the natives were Blackreaver when they first showed up as the isles were originally uninhabited and were only found when Blackreaver was exploring in the early years of the new world. Divisions would occur in the centuries that followed and what exists now is a reminder of these events.

The economic interests of the larger powers would certainly influence the isles through means of war, propaganda, or cultural drifts. Many of these outside influencers would often fuel conflict on the isles by supplying weapons, medical supplies, and even mercenaries to try and gain more territory. Stuff like religion doesn’t play as much of a point as everyone follows along within the same pantheon of gods. This makes the conflicts within the isles more relate to wealth for the population.