The Republic of Telvar was an aggressive, militaristic dictatorship that arose in eastern Irombi in the wake of the First World War (1832-1838). Telvar arose from the ashes of several smaller nation-states and by 1870 had gained dominance over much of eastern Irombi and southern Fan Shoar.
Telvar's expansion was made possible largely through an alliance with two other world powers: Espaku, its neighbor to the west that had fought (and lost to) the Republic of Whales in the First World War, and Yamato, which had been occupied by Rukilia at the end of that same war and had just regained its independence in 1849. The three nations signed a pact in 1870, dividing the Eastern Hemisphere into "domains of influence" in which they would make no attempt to compete with one another. Espaku received most of Irombi, while Telvar took its eastern quarter and divided Fan Shoar down the middle with Yamato.
The details of the pact were kept secret for more than two decades, but the outward signs were obvious: Espaku, Telvar and Yamato began making plays for dominance over the half of the world where the Empire of Metamor and Quenardya were not highly active. If the three nations' leaders believed that they could avoid the wrath of Kyia and Artela by leaving Galendor alone, though, they were soon to learn otherwise.
By 1885 the world was in full-blown war again, as Yamato and Telvar moved to bring all of Fan Shoar under their control. The conflict was even more terrible than the First World War, and spells were used in battle that ought never to have been tested in even the remotest wasteland. Civilians died by the millions, and still the conflict dragged on.
Eventually, a joint Imperial/Quenardya invasion force was launched against Yamato from the Oriental Coastlands, while Whales and Metamor fought a holding action in Fan Shoar. Yamato was defeated in 1892 and occupied by Metamor peacekeepers. The war in Fan Shoar was brought to an end in 1893, with a truly horrifying spell that destroyed Telvar's capital city and led to the creation of the Rift. None of the Allied governments have officially acknowledged responsibility for the spell, but it is generally believed that mages from all three nations participated in its design and execution at the behest of the Whalish government. Certainly the pragmatic nature of the Whalish people would lend itself to using such a spell, but after the war all involved parties (including Whales) signed agreements that banned the use of such massively destructive spells.
With its government destroyed, its manufacturing base crushed, and six million of its citizens abruptly disintegrated, Telvar ceased to exist as a unified nation. Imperial peacekeepers occupied its surviving provinces for forty years after the war and helped to ease their transitions to nationhood. To this day most of these countries have generally friendly relationships with the Empire, though the continued existence of the Rift remains a sobering reminder of the unhappy past.
