Though no one knows what or why, some cataclysmic event gave birth to Yothrigurr the Ancient.

Yothrigurr, as with all the other gods of the world, are sentient bubbles that orbit around the
Matteria in the vast sea of the Immateria. Gods are bright spheres of a universe entirely
different, with different physical properties and functions. Gods are born of enough people truly
believing in them and showing support (whether through small acts of praying or acting within
their god’s virtues or impressive acts of sacrifice or mass conversions, if the god’s virtues allow
for it), and grow and shrink proportional to their followers. When a person dies, their soul flees
the matteria and enters the sea of the Immateria and is slowly attracted to one of the gods,
where the dead person will live for the rest of eternity. The souls are attracted more to the gods
which they showed the most affinity and worship towards, though the size of the god directly
changes the attraction. Meaning that they are far more likely, unless they were a truly zealous
believer, to live out their lives in the larger god. This means that people lacking a strong
conviction will simply head to the largest god. If one has a conviction, but not one so strong that
it could fully reach a niche god, they are most likely to reach a larger god nearer to that god. For
example, someone who worshipped a god of hail without incredible conviction might instead
end up in the God of Ice, since a god of hail is far smaller than a god of ice, and the god of ice is
located right nearby, as the two are quite similar. Currently, there is a god (Niobassh, the God of
Life) that is so much larger than all the other gods that it is referred to as the ‘sun.’ As it is so
large, it is bright enough to illuminate the sky when it is in view of half of the Matteria. When it
is not, all the other gods who are normally invisible due to the brightness of the largest god
suddenly become visible until the largest god comes back into view. During this time, the dark
sky resembles that of what we would call a starry night, with each of the trillions of gods slightly
illuminating the night sky. But in the beginning, it was only Yothrigurr the Ancient, who was a
quite special god. Yothrigurr possessed a unique property that allowed him to create life,
though only to the extent of his size. He created a land of logic and reason for his spawns to
dwell, the matteria. His spawn, creatures that resemble large toads with tentacles like that of a
squid, knew nothing of the pitiful stupidity that would befall future species, they knew
everything, and intrinsically knew Yothrigurr to be their master. When the first Old One, as they
would come to be known, was born, it would enlarge Yothrigurr due to its natural zealotry,
which would allow Yothrigurr to give life to more spawns, forever continuing the process.
Yothrigurr would continue to exponentially grow for millions of years, until one day he became
too large, imploding in upon himself and destroying most of the universe. Though it is said that
the universe was a beautiful tapestry of colorful goddust for millenia afterward, this was
nevertheless a period of great destruction and change. Yothrigurr was sent across the universe
in near infinite pieces, creating magic, souls, life, and much, much more (for example,
demigods are creatures who interacted with an unusual amount of Yothrigurr’s lingering
residue during pregnancy, creating a human born with much of the powers of a god). This
explosive event also led to the fabric between the Earth and Faeland slowly breaking. Luckily for
the spawn of Yothrigurr, who lived inside Yothrigurr after their deaths, much of Yothrigurr
manifested as new gods, quite literally offspring of Yothrigurr. Over the years, life has been
growing and evolving throughout the Matteria, and new gods have been created and
disappeared over the long timeline of the world, though it would seem that worship of, or even
knowledge of, Yothrigurr’s offspring has dwindled over the years, with most simply
disappearing out of existence, along with all their inhabitants. The Matteria is spinning on a
tilted axis at millions of miles per hour, taking roughly 24 hours to complete a full spin. With the
Matteria being split in two, with Earth and the Faeland appearing like opposite sides of a flat
disc, Niobassh is visible to one half of the Matteria at a time, illuminating the sky. This means
that during the 12-hour daytime of Earth, it is night in Faeland, and during the 12-hour daytime
of Faeland, it is night on Earth. As previously mentioned, the Niobasshless sky isn’t completely
devoid of light, with the countless smaller gods appearing like the Stars that we see in the night
sky. Additionally, the Cold Rune, the largest shard of Yothrigurr, thus far brighter than a
standard god, is also visible in the night sky, easily equatable to the moon of our reality. Within
the two distinctions of the Matteria (Earth and Faeland), lay further distinctions. Within Earth
exists the Overworld, the aboveground area of forests, oceans, and everything familiar to us.
Below the Overworld is the Underworld, similar to a massive area of caves and treacherous
waters. Below the Underworld is the Biomass, which makes up the bulk of Earth. It is somewhat
similar to the Underworld, except every inch, every wall, and every stalagmite is covered in the
Biomass, an ancient and slimy ooze that has been reaching its organic tentacles through the
Underworld and will eventually destroy all life that has called the Earth home. The metaphorical
blanket that separates the differing physical laws and notions of the Earth and the Faeland is
wavy and inconsistent, with it being weaker and stronger in certain areas, itself in a constant
state of fluctuation. At one point in the ‘blanket’ is a hole, joining the two worlds. From this
point is where the fluctuations begin. At this point is a large tornado of purple color on either
side of the ‘coin.’ These chaotic storms of magic inverted and conjoined into each other is what
gave birth to the Aelves.
Countries/Cultures
● Worshippers Of Yothrigurr. Some worshippers of Yothrigurr’s offspring still exist, but
must gather in secret for they are outlawed universally around the world (mainly for
worshipping a god that would completely annihilate and change the known world).
Though they are often talked about as secretive cults, they are usually sprawling cities. It
all starts when the inhabitants of one of the Yothrigurr’s offspring, knowing they’re
eventual demise with their god is soon, send divine wisdom, or as it’s often called ‘the
Call of Yothrigurr’, to someone, usually a peasant of some sort whose disappearance
wouldn’t be all that noteworthy. They inform this person of Yothigurr and his Old Ones
and their infinite wisdom, but that they are dying out as no one is worshipping them,
and that they need the peasant to spread the message in a permanent way. Typically, this
takes the shape of mass conversion and the founding of secret cities for the converted to
live and reproduce, keeping the cult alive and growing for centuries. Secret societies of
Yothrigurr that become large enough can more easily resurrect an Old One and easily
entice them into staying loyal. As they are sprawling underground cities of illegal
activities, they naturally have become a breeding ground for crime of all sorts, as most
crime lords and fugitives will likely meet up or hide in one of these cities.
● Technmen. A culture of pyramids and Technmen (Humans with the exterior of a robot
and the interior of a human), they have a strict hierarchical structure, with Biologicals,
who lack any external metal and are the slaves of the Technman society, occupying the
lowest tier. Though as a people they’re known as the Technmen, the land they dwell upon
is known as Tecca by foreigners and Brummakh by the Technmen. Their cities and
structures are adorned with statues of the Techmessiah, a strange metallic man who
claimed to be from the future and agreed to modify their genome. After this, newly born
babies, after being fed the correct pills for the first six months, their body will have
reached a state of that like a cyborg. Unbeknownst to the Technmen, each Technman's
genome, as long as they were fed sufficient pills as an infant, are incredibly susceptible
to the commands of the Techmessiah. Feeling his time had come, he returned for the
second and last time, this time in secret. He bestowed upon the Immortal Dynasty, the
first Dynasty to submit to the Techmessiah, the Tecrystal, an emerald crystal which was
enchanted to allow the Techmessiah to command the Technmen. During his life, the
Techmessiah would often take command of the various lords, ancient undead rulers of
the state and faith (The highest tier of society, lords, were the only ones allowed to use
Necromancy without it being considered against the faith), and so did the Immortal
Dynasty, however briefly, after his death. Rather quickly, some bandits and mercenaries
raided and robbed their palace and, not knowing of the Tecrystal's importance, sold it to
some trader. Ever since then, every single Dynasty has been searching endlessly for the
crystal.
● Goblins. Goblins are tiny, silly little green creatures who dwell inside mountains. They
live in communities of complex societal hierarchies and primitivistic feudal tribes. When
a goblin is impregnated, it will eventually give birth to one of the following Goblinoid
creatures, each with a strict place in society, listed below, from highest to lowest in
societal hierarchy: Hobgoblins (Extremely rare Goblins that appear much taller and more
muscular and are the only female Goblins, when born or encountered will fight the
tribe’s current hobgoblin to the death to decide the new queen), Brainies (Somewhat
rare, are easily noticeable by their large head and tend to rule over various subtribes of
Goblins on behalf of the queen or become alchemists), Stinkies (Standard Goblins, tend
to manage the young and the slaves, become soldiers, hunters, or chefs, and create
weapons), Gremlins (Appear like smaller Goblins with wings, tend to be slaves and are
often used as literal cannon fodder). A tribe is an immense group of thousands of
Goblins that are all under the rule of the queen, though split under the rule of many
kings (typically the smartest Brainies) and many delegates below them. When a
hobgoblin is impregnated, it will hibernate for a few months then lay a few thousand
Goblinoid eggs, storing them in a Sacred Pool room that every tribe has. Hobgoblins are
said to be the most paranoid people on the planet. They will sometimes even kill all of
their recently laid eggs out of fear that one may be a Hobgoblin. After the eggs are laid,
the various Brainies will play gambling games to determine which eggs will belong to
which subtribe. When a Brainie challenges a fellow Brainie of the same subtribe to
become the king, the two Brainies will engage in a battle of wits and trivia as the rest of
the subtribe cheers for their preferred candidates. The questions are usually very strange
and esoteric to an onlooker. The system of trivia and intelligence deciding the Brainie
who will lead tends to keep newborns and those unwise out of the competition. Though a
non-Goblin may think that Goblins are savage and tribal, they have a deep respect for
hierarchy, laws, societal structures, property, and alchemy. Goblins value creativity,
ingenuity, and puzzle solving capability. Though most Goblins live in mountainous
tribes, there are a few other types of Goblin societies. For instance, a tribe is typically
formed when a Hobgoblin leaves the wild goblin nest and mates with a goblin, giving
birth to many goblins and starting an empire, but the goblins who have yet to do so are
called Feral Goblins, and still live out in the forests and jungles as most of their ancestors
once did. Most Goblin tribes will inevitably collapse (as an example, if the queen were to
die and no other queen had arrived or been born), and when they do, those Goblins
naturally end up becoming Feral Goblins. Sometimes, a Hobgoblin will be born who,
though they don't manage to slay the current queen, manage to escape with their lives.
In this case, they usually will simply find a mate with another goblin and found a new
tribe, but some don't seem to appreciate the idea of a tribal society in a cave, so some will
attempt to recreate societies of other cultures. For example, there is a huge empire of
millions and millions of Goblins who live in tree structures inspired by wood elves.
Sometimes, Goblins will be banished from their tribes for not sticking in with the
societal norms. In this case, they often become bandits and thieves, though many have
come together and created a sea-based empire of Goblin pirates known for their unique
hats, peglegs, and strange tactics of ship cannons designed to shoot Gremlins as
opposed to cannons. Though this is rare, some Hobgoblins get necromancers to curse
the birthing pool so Goblins are born undead, living forever. Nilbog, a well-respected
god amongst goblins, picks a goblin, typically one of low stature, and imbues them with
powers befitting a demigod. These goblins, now called Nilbogs, quickly rise to power of
their clans and become well known even amongst outsiders. A strange mutation
amongst a tribe of Goblins subjugated by a notorious wizard turned them into the
Verdan, a more intelligent creature better adapted to the social norms and customs of
Aelvankind.
● Orks. Orks are large green people with huge teeth and long, sharp retractable claws.
When Orks are younger, they may easily change their skin color to match the surface
they are nearest to when they stay still. Orks can live up to ~600 years, but most die in
their early ~100s due to constant war. Long ago, the Orks were a race that peacefully lived
in northwest Angronnia with the Humans and Hobbits. One day, a magical plague struck
the land. The nails and teeth of those infected begin to infinitely grow until they die. A
corpse of someone suffering from such disease looked uncannily similar to an Ork, so
the people began associating the Orks with this vile pox. Rather quickly, Ork schools,
shops, and homes were burned and pillaged and Orks themselves were banished en
masse. The various groups of mass refugees would end up forming groups that would
eventually grow into distinct cultures. As the various refugee groups would approach all
nearby empires, kingdoms, and cultures, each and everyone of all races rejected them,
not wanting to risk the ‘Ork Pox.’ Orks’ struggle to learn and adapt, and most are thought
of as highly unintelligent, but Orks can actually learn at speeds much higher than most
other people. As such, though most Orks are some of the most unintelligent people,
other Orks are some of the smartest and most well read people. When Orks were
integrated into general society, they were peaceful and some of the smartest citizens, but
after they were expelled, they descended into anarchy and the remaining groups of
refugees, now under various tribal governments, lack the needed education institutions
and the ability to build such buildings. Over a thousand years have passed, and they now
must rely on raiding and pillaging simply to survive. Many, many Orks have learned to
take advantage of Goblins, as their hierarchy can be easily hacked to help the Goblins.
Because of this, Ork tribes will often attack Goblin tribes and subjugate their queen.
Because of this, a Goblin tribe is now entirely under the control of and used as a home
base for Orks. Many different tribes exist and all are equally different, but here are a few
examples: Green Wolves (a tribe of Orks that were sea merchants before the banishing of
Orks that, upon seeing their banishing, put up a skull and bones flag, loaded the
cannons, and set sail. They quickly started working with the Haroldheim culture,
learning their raiding techniques and, through bloodfusing, their druidic wolf
lycanthropy.), Frostmarchers (a tribe of Orks who went east to join the [I forgot the
name, russia inspired], but were refused. An ice dragon quickly stumbled upon the large
group of Orks and saw it as an opportunity to benefit herself. She offered to give them
powers and change them to make them easily live without shelter in the snow if they
assist her in a planned attack against Musscot City, which they agreed. They are now
Orks with more hair, who wear heavy fur clothes, can easily survive in subzero
temperatures, and have ice powers.), Blooddrinkers (Orks who, instead of seeking refuge
elsewhere, tried everything to reclaim their land. After years of fighting, they were
pushed back and, more desperate than they ever thought possible, they sought the
attention of a nearby witch coven to enchant them to spread an actual Ork Pox. Though
the self-imposed curse failed at its purpose, it still did give them and their future
offspring interesting properties. They now have longer teeth that are razor sharp, they
can visually shapeshift into a creature whose blood they drank, they can heal harm from
drinking blood, and their blood, when exposed to the outside, is literally boiling when
they’re angry, though they need to drink the blood of another creature in the same need
that a man must drink water.), Ork United Scholarly Guild (A highly reputable guild of
theologians, alchemists, and scientists who were some of the best scholars until Orks
were banned. After they were banished, Doctor Straunmen searched the continent for
fellow scholarly Ork refugees, slowly reuniting the guild one Ork at a time. They are now
highly elite Orks who raid sparingly and possess advanced wizardry and druidic
knowledge, living for almost double the lifespan of an Ork. Compared to most Ork
tribes, they are highly feared by human cultures and a fascination of Elves and
Dwarves.), Followers of Yothrigurr’s (a tribe of Orks who, while refugees, stumbled upon
a city of Yothrigurr’s followers, who promptly converted them. They now spend most of
their praying to the ancient ones, taking over Goblin tribes and converting them all,
turning their tribes into religious sites, and going on raids of burning everything in the
name of Yothrigurr the Ancient.), Ironbacks (a military legion of Orks who fled to the
local dwarves, who’s king took pity upon the dwarves, ordering his subjects upgrade
them with metal and top-of-the-line technology, turning them into cyborg like
creatures), the Bonecrushers (an elite group of former mercenaries who fled to the
desert and have since become an elite and feared fighting unit dating back centuries)
● Haroldheim. The Haroldheim are humans who live across the sea from [Placeholder:
English farmers] and northwest of [Placeholder: Russians] who spend their days raiding
the [Placeholder: English farmers] and exploring far away lands with their advanced
sailing technologies. They are split between small tribes with a complex web of alliances.
Feasts are very important to them, and they tend to eat far more food than the
[Placeholder: English farmers] across the sea. Despite their aggressive reputation, they
are very hospitable and friendly, even to citizens which they are raiding. Raiding is very
important to the Haroldheim for one specific reason, it is an awarded act of piety from
all of there three gods. The three gods want largely the same thing from their followers,
so Haroldheiman’s work in the name of all three. The first is Arnulf, the god of
Nourishment. He gives you luck after feasting. The second is Hildir, the god of war, who
expects you to die in battle, which will prompt him to resurrect you as a ghost. The third
god is Stormhild, the god of nature. When blood of a pious Stormhild follower is
splashed onto a non-follower (being how the follower became a pious worshipper as
well), they are assigned an animal form of their choosing (typically wolf, bear, or a
raven). During battle, if they have earned enough respect by Stormhild (through regular
worship), they can embody parts and traits of that animal. The most pious ones can fully
transform into the animal. When a Haroldheim dies heroically in combat, he is
resurrected as a ghostly Haroldheim warrior in their tribal lord’s capital by Hildir to
continue serving in the military until dismissed by the local tribal lord. A soldier can be
killed again in ghost form as damage that would be inflicted is manifested as holes in
them, and once the majority of them has disappeared they finally leave the Matteria for
their afterlife. Sometimes, a leader is considered tyrannical if they don't dismiss their
ghostly warriors after enough time. This is what makes a Haroldheim tribe, even if small
in numbers, strong. To put it simply, an invading army has to be killed twice, and the
second time they are far harder to kill. The armies also make extensive use of mammoths
to ride into battle. A rarity for the region, they also have some armies which are
exclusively female, the valkyries, elite winged warriors who use cavalry tactics to confuse
and destroy their enemies in the name of their gods. Though this has only ever been
recorded five times throughout history, pious tribal lords can sometimes convince their
gods to let them issue a korstog, temporarily bringing back all dead Haroldheiman’s
from the grave, in whatever condition they were in. For example, a man buried long ago
who has completely decomposed would not return, as there is nothing to return, but a
decomposing man would return in whatever state his body is currently in. Not only can
these half-composed skeletons be easily commanded by the lord who raised them, but
they can each visibly shapeshift with ease, only revealing themselves after sustaining a
wound. Haroldheiman’s use their three gods, which, at night, look like a triangular
constellation, to navigate the great seas.
● The Grand Supreme of the Tiliaqu. The Grand Supreme of the Tiliaqu, or Lizardmen as
they’re more commonly known, are a vague culture of various cold-blooded, reptilian
humanoids. Some of the first civilizations to exist, many cities, centered around
impressive temples, populate the jungles of the world. Nowadays, the Grand Supreme of
the Tiliaqu has loosely united almost all Lizardmen under an indirect empire of mutual
alliances and tributes. Ruled by a wyrm for over one thousand years, the loose
confederation of the Grand Supreme of the Tiliaqu is ruled by an emperor for life, and
the crown is passed to his eldest child, though Emperor Huitztecol has been the first and
only ruler. With each passing year the Emperor gets more and more paranoid that his
colossal empire will one day collapse when the myriad of city states simply refuse to pay
their tribute. There is no one strict governance system for the city states, but most
operate under some type of theocratic emperorship. Marriage and monogamy are a
concept entirely foreign to Lizardmen, and the concept of limiting oneself to one or any
strict number of partners is strange and confusing to Lizardmen. In Lizardmen
societies, it is considered lazy to worship the god of another person’s favor. Instead,
Lizardmen are expected to worship a god of their own creation relentlessly in order to
have enough fervor to go there, though it is very rarely successful. Lizardmen hold
sacrificial ceremonies every saturday at the local temple, sacrificing one’s own limbs, a
slave, or, though this is quite rare and news breaking, themselves. The tributes, in
addition to gold, rare gems, and conscripts, can also include concubines for the
emperor. Lizardmen are highly offended by the term Lizardmen, viewing it as a term of
cultural oversimplification. Lizardmen don't see themselves as hundreds of different
races that are each greater in difference than Dwarves, Humans, and Elves. Therefore,
Lizardmen will never refer to themselves as one race, as it is viewed as highly distasteful.
Just a few of the many races include Skinks (light footed little goblinoid-appearing
lizardmen who have smaller legs yet nearly supernatural speed, compensating for their
weak legs. They range extensively in colors, with bodies that can appear like a spectrum
of colored scales. Though they are often thought of as gremlin-akin silly lizards, they are
usually highly intelligent philosophers and theologians.), Pterameleons (winged lizards
who can adapt their scales to camouflage into their surroundings), and Seasauros
(amphibious dinosaurs who neck can grow and shrink when needed). In Lizardmen
society, learning common, the language of barbarians, what they call the more
humanoid races, is taboo.
● The Grand Empire of Konno. The grand empire of Konno was a very powerful nation that
had recently been united under the archlich dragon Tanjiro from the previous state of
civil war it was in. The territory of the old empire was huge, but when a powerful dragon
staged a coup and took illegitimate control over the empire, the warlords fought back,
killing the dragon and fracturing the large empire into many small warlord states. But as
previously mentioned, archlich dragon Tanjiro would end up uniting the once thought
long-gone empire. The revived empire quickly entered a state of golden age. Tanjiro’s
soul is connected to the Temple of Konno, a strange building dripping with magic.
Though no one knows why, time is warped inside the Temple of the Konno, and every
year that passes outside the temple is 10,000 years inside of it. Tragically, the Empire
would suddenly be wiped out by the Reckoning (described below). Due to the powerful
innate magic found in the Konno Temple, the reckoning did not affect it, so the only
people of the empire not instantly killed are Tanjiro and his warrior servants. Tanjiro and
his warriors began training in the temple for 1,000 years, or simply .1 years outside the
temple. After they finished the millenia long training, Tanjiro promoted them to
warlords. Tanjiro and the warlords, who were at this point each the strength of a
demigod, began the first few incursions to take back settlements. Of the 12 warlords,
they kept four inside the temple to reproduce with each other. Since 10,000 years
passing inside the temple is only a year outside it, after a few years, there are thousands
of warriors ready to be deployed, all led by one of the twelve original warlords. After
being born, each warrior trains for roughly 30,000 years, becoming elite warriors who
rival demigods. They now fight day and night, tooth and nail against the hordes of
demons who stole their territory in endless war.
● The Grand Empire of Lu’an. The Grand Empire of Lu’an is a massive empire to the
southwest of Konno. In the prehistoric times, before the migration of the Aelves, the
Katayn, a large Kuo-Toan species, populated the Lu’an, or as they called it the Xcleoh,
named for the Xcleoh River Valley. For a millennia, this culture flourished. They deeply
admired pottery and burials as worship for the dead. The arrival of the Aelves saw the
outbreak of many deadly diseases onto the local Katayns. As the Katayns slowly receded
into the ocean, many Aelven descendents began to populate the area. In ancient times,
modern day Lu’an was made up of 5 large cultures: The Lu, a highly populated
civilization based along the tremendously long Lu river valley. The Lu people valued
philosophy and pottery, potentially borrowed from the grand, though short-lived Katayn
trade network. The Lu were the first people to create the Terracotta Gaud, an inanimate
clay soldier enchanted to defend a target in the name of their creation. They become
animate when nearby danger is discovered. Though they would eventually use them to
guard treasuries and estates, they were originally used to guard burial sites.
Traditionally, the noblemen had intricately crafted tombstones each guarded by a
terracotta guard molded after the very deceased they were guarding. Thousands of years
later, these soldiers still stand, guarding the graves of the fallen. The Lu had impressive
logistics for their farming, with technological innovations surrounding the harvesting of
Rice and Millet that are still used today. Today, the Lu are remembered for their massive
wet rice fields; The An (pronounced Han) neolithic people settled along the Green Sands
River. The Green Sands river is highly unusual for its at-times rapid speeds and its
unusual coloration properties, turning the nearby soil a vibrant green. The people were
fascinated with river-fairing techniques, silk production, and a heavily fish-inspired
cuisine. Today they are famous for their small yet numerous pyramids dotting the Green
Sand River. These pyramids were coated in a carpet-like surface which felt and looked
like the nearby grass. As a member of the An culture, you would end up being given three
names. The first was at birth, in which you were named after a close relative. At 13 or 18,
depending on the local cultural practice (with a large cultural divide between West Anese
and East Anese), you would be given a new name now that you have had a chance to
develop into a person. Typically these names were short nouns, often metaphors for the
person. Thirdly, a new name was bestowed upon you after death. These names were
largely ceremonial and were typically quite long, acting as a story of their life. For
example, a literal translation of a name for the deceased might be
Smart-Long-Lived-Warrior-of-An. After a large amount of trading between the Lu and
the An people, the two cultures began to hybridize, slowly, after thousands of years,
creating the Lu’an culture; The Tal were a large culture found throughout the dense
jungles in the southeast of modern-day Lu’an. Some of the jungles they occupied were
Deepjungle (which work similarly to Deepwoods, see Tree Aelves for more detail). Unlike
the Lu and the An, they were extremely isolationist, so a lack of trade left their culture
unique and foreign to the Lu’anese. Living in dense rainforests and jungles, the Tal
people constructed massive homes atop the dominating trees. They quickly
domesticated the local elephants and closely integrated them into their society and
logistics. The people were some of the first in the world to invent writing, engraving the
bones of the deceased. In fact, the Tal’ese had a massive appreciation for bones, taking
the bones of deceased loved ones and writing messages on them or strewing them about
the communal houses. It was a sign of hatred to hide someone’s bones, and it's
considered a crime worthy of death; The Gnea were a prominent neolithic culture who
settled predominantly along the Gnea river. The Gnea river was once a large river that
flowed far west of Lu’an. As the river dried up, so did the people. Much of the culture is
lost, only seen by the many ruins surrounding canyons which once made up the Gnea
River Valley. As the river began to dry up and the fertility slowly fell, the people migrated
north to the vast North Katayn Steppes. The people eventually became nomads and grew
a culture of horse riding and raiding using ranged horsemen. The culture has garnered a
reputation of raiding and pillaging. They are feared across Lu’an and are often
prosecuted as criminals. Gnea’s who have assimilated within Lu’anese culture typically
have a reputation of murder and crime, though it isn’t often true. As the frontiers of
Lu’an expand north, the Gnea are forced further and further into the territory of
Minotaurs and Centaurs, so they are close allies and often act as middlemen for the
Minotaurs and Centaurs (whose heated rivalry stretches thousands of years); The Katayn
were once prominent, though they receded into the ocean rapidly after the arrival of the
Aelvenkind. The last landed ones coexist in the jungles with the Tal. Though they
technically ‘coexist,’ wars often erupt between the two. All of the landed Katayn’s live atop
a Realmship. Realmships were large vehicles whose enchantments were kept secret by
the now long dead enchantresses of Katayn. Though the memories of them and their
techniques are forever gone, one of their creations still stands. Realmships are massive
floating vehicles. Though they can only fly around at about 2 MPH, they have no problem
existing in the Immateria. In the Matteria, the spherical orb surrounding Realmships
are invisible and unnoticeable, but in the Immatteria they are very visible, shielding the
Matteria from the surrounding Matteria, keeping the Realmship residents safe. While in
the Immateria, they cannot move traditionally, with no physics to speak of, so the very
thought of movement is what propels them throughout the Immateria. In the
Immateria, they need some way of remaining self-sufficient, which is especially
challenging considering the lack of sun or water. This is why they typically inhabit a god
for a few years before rationing their food and traveling across the vast Immateria to
reach another god. It is hypothesized that 15 Realmships were built, 3 were destroyed, 11
are in the Immateria, and one still inhabits the Matteria (the one I was describing
earlier). Realmships are massive, and they can provide permanent residence for roughly
5,000 people. Realmships are large and multi floored, though they are not square
shaped. They are green, mossy, covered in vines, and tentacled. There are two large,
floating tentacles which act as eye stalks, moving around and looking for danger. At the
bottom of the realmship are four vine-covered tentacles which feel around the floor for
landing spots and can hold onto the ground to anchor the Realmship. The Katayns have,
for centuries, tried to signal their lost brothers. With three realmships destroyed, their
ruins worthy of glory and wealth, they’ve been the target of adventurers for centuries,
both factual and fable. One was found 350 years ago, and since then its underwater ruins
have become the cultural and economic capital of Kalv’nx, a small underwater republic
east of Lu’An. Before the collapse of Konno, they often fought wars with each other, so
Lu’an built a massive wall between the two. After Konno fell to demons, they renovated
the wall to defend against the demons and the inferno. Ever since the renovation, the
country has been guarded by the notorious Terracota Guard, a feared regiment which
becomes animate when alerted. The Grand Empire of Lu’an has long been the most
powerful empire, able to exert its influence across the region. The empire was once run
by a wyrm. Below the wyrm are dragons, and below the dragons are wyverns. At the
lowest level, down to settlements or districts of large cities, administrators were
standard dragonkin. For the most part, dragonkin were also the non-ruling elite of Lu’an
society (such as businessmen and clergy). Lu’anese philosophers believed that the
various dragonkin capabilities have a divine right to rule, but gods will make it clear that
they have lost faith in the rulers through storms and general bad luck. Shortly I will
begin diving into the Imperial History of Lu’An, so it's important to note that most
Emperors of An’ese origin continued the 3-naming tradition of their ancestors, so I will
be referring to them as their dynasty, then their adult/monarchical name following a
dash, followed by the metaphorical meaning in the now dead An’ese language in
parentheses, and then their posthumously known name within apostrophes. It is also
important to note that for most of Lu’Anese history they have used wildly different
calendars from region to region, with over 115 documented calendars. Under the reign of
Song-Chengping (Accomplished Peace) ‘Great-Divine-Administrator,' he mandated the
adoption of International as the universal calendar of Lu’An (with the exception of the
Tal’ese who threatened rebellion) to simplify the trade and taxation across the empire.
Although the standardized calendar structure was widely embraced for its practicality,
the International callender's Niobassh-inspired year count was never fully adopted by
the people. Most regions clung to the starting year of their original calendars, which
were deeply rooted in their cultural and religious identities (particularly the creation
year of their god, which most of the pre-standardization calendars were based off of).
Some of the major variants include International (Tialdor), International (Celdum),
International (Ibus), International Ilo), and much more. Therefore, I will be using the
International (Central Lu’Anese variant) calendar when reciting dates as it is the most
widely accepted variant. In -237 CLA (Central Lu’Anese), the first United Wave hit. That is
to say that the powerful Minotaurs, Centaurs, and Gnea people, usually wasting their
might fighting each other, unified under one nation or alliance. This has happened twice
in history, and both times it was disastrous for their neighbors. During this time, there
were three warlords, two located along the Green Sands River and one located on the Lu
River valley. Dating all the way back to the -400s, a period today known as the Terracotta
era, most armies were entirely composed of terracotta soldiers taken as taxation from
the peasants who molded them, to be returned post war. Since the clay statues were
typically modeled after their creator, it looked almost as if the army was composed of
stone clones of each citizen. In order to enlarge their armies, rulers would offer as many
terracotta related classes and tools as possible, usually free for all. During this period,
numerous warlords rose and fell, but none ever came close to uniting Lu and An as one
culture, an inconceivable idea at the time. When the united hordes of Centaurs,
Minotaurs, and Gneans launched their attack, converging on the An’ese warlords, their
unprepared terracotta armies swiftly crumbled. A year later, the last An’ese village had
been pillaged and subjugated. A year later, the united hordes launched an attack on the
Lu’anese people, under the rule of warlord Haoran. After months of watching their cities
pillaged and conquered one by one, a miracle occurred at the second battle of Iksong.
Though the battle was technically a loss for Haoran, it resulted in the death of warlord
Domugha. Domugha was the linchpin of the united wave. It was him who kept the
unspoken agreements alive, and his death marked the end of alliances. . Twenty five
years ago, right after the destruction of Konno, the nearby nomadic centaurs raided
Hefei, a colossal city, and completely razed it, an unprecedented success for the nearby
centaurs. In addition, a disastrous drought in the fertile bay brought famine to much of
Lu’an. With all these factors and the collapse of the adamantine standard, the people
revolted against their masters, who they believed to have lost the favor of their gods.
After one of the bloodiest wars of all time, during which they had to balance fighting the
demons to their east, the masked rebellion (known as such for the iconic masks the
rebels wore) had ended with the expulsion of dragons and dragonkin. They instated Leo
as the new Grand Emperor of Lu’an. Under Leo’s rule, he began the Grand Push Forward.
During this process, the businesses and farms of Dragonkin were forcefully destroyed
and distributed to the Human peasants. The majority of Dragonkin began to be exiled
for one questionably illegal crime after another. The policies of economic redistribution
resulted in a longstanding famine which resulted in the death and general
dissatisfaction of many Lu’anese. After a relatively small-scale Dragonkin revolt, Grand
Emperor Leo died under suspicious circumstances. Leo had five children, though the
first and fifth died at the hands of a vile plague, the second was the illegitimate child of
Leo and a concubine, and the third was a woman, who were only able to receive the
throne if no other options were available during the reign of the dragons. This left his
fourth child, who was six years old. During the early reign of his fourth child, named
Emperor Liao, it was an open secret amongst the various rulers below him that his court
diviner had essentially become an unofficial regent over the young emperor. A couple
years later, the emperor’s guards found out that Wei, the unofficial regent, was a
shapeshifted dragonkin. When they tried to execute her, many soldiers secretly hired by
her revealed themselves to be Dragonkin and betrayed Liao. Though the guards managed
to protect Liao, a war had still broken out in the region which just recently fought a
massive rebellion. Wei called upon countless battalions of Kobolds (more on them later),
dragonkin, wyverns, dragons, and even a wyrm to battle. The many thousands of
Terracotan Guards, once tasked with guarding the temples and offices of the Dragonkin
government, rose up in unison and joined the fight after the current regime, unable to
deter them from protecting their former masters, began efforts to destroy them. After a
year of bloody warfare, Wei’s forces had almost been defeated. Right before Wei’s
inevitable capitulation to Liao loyalists, a dragonkin, feeling that his rights were being
stomped on by the humans, bombed the harbor as Grand Emperor Liao was leaving his
ship. 212 civilians, 55 soldiers, and the Grand Emperor were killed. Quickly Xiao Lang,
Liao’s sister, assuming she is the crown’s rightful heir, declared herself the Grand
Empress. Quickly, Chen Jiao, the son of Liao’s illegitimate brother, claimed that since the
new successional constitution, though it does say that the Emperor must be succeeded
by his eldest male blood-related child, does not specify what constitutes a ‘blood-related
child’ and that therefore, despite his father’s mother being a concubine, does not say that
his father is illegitimate. Because of this, Chen Jiao believes that the crown should not
have passed to Liao and should have instead been passed to his father, which would have
then been passed to him after his father died. Xiao Lang rejected this notion, claiming
that Liao was the correct successor as the rules of succession use the same rules as the
Era of Dragon, except when otherwise noted. Finally, Liangxin also claims that he is the
rightful heir. When the dragons were overthrown, Leo and Tao both ended up in a ruling
position, though Tao was only the ruler of a province. Leo and Tao both wanted to keep
their dynasty powerful, so they both agreed that if they, or one of their descendants,
lacks an appropriate heir, then their respective title would be given to the title holder of
the other dynasty member. This is why Liangxin claims that Chen Jiao is incorrect and
Liao was the rightful successor and that therefore Leo’s descendants lack an appropriate
heir, so the title Grand Emperor of Lu’an. Xiao Lang disputes this though, claiming that
she is an appropriate heir as there are no legitimate male offspring. Summing up, Leo
had five children, one of which was illegitimate. When Leo died, the title went to the
younger Liao because Yawen was illegitimate. Chen, son of Yawen disputes this,
claiming that he is not illegitimate under the new constitution. Both Xiao Lang and
Liangxin, a distant cousin, disagree, claiming that the new constitution actually does
through its vagueness. Though Xiao Lang and Liangxin agree on the constitution,
Liangxin believes that, since he gets the title of Emperor if no heir is available, he is the
rightful heir, though Xiao Lang argues that she is an appropriate heir, though Lianxin
argues that he is a male, which is legally preferred. There is also a rumor that Liangxin
killed his mother, which, if proven, would invalidate him from the title for kinslaying.
Additionally, the People’s Council of Cadres, headed by Cadre Chairman Wo, revolted
(primarily in de facto Liangxin territory) after years of violent protests and revolts. The
People’s Council of Cadres has been the largest movement since the First People’s Revolt,
the People’s Council of Cadres’ name for the Great Dragonkin Overthrow, though it was
banned years ago and hunted down by direct decree of the Emperor. During the
Draconic overthrow, there were two dominant ideologies, the Unitaries and the
Populists. The Unitaries, which ended up succeeding in the revolt, believed that, though
it was unfair that the corrupt Dragonkin ran the country, the inherent principles of the
Lu’an people must be upheld, thus a monarchy must still exist. The Populists, on the
other hand, believed that it was the Lu’anese principle of Divine Harmony that
perpetuated the problems found under Dragonkin rule, therefore it must be rejected in
all forms. Divine Harmony was the philosophy that the highest positions in society
should be entrusted with the strongest relationships with the gods, and therefore each
and every citizen should act in peace and harmony with the laws and mandates of the
upper class to maintain order between man and the stars. Though the populists were
crushed by their fellow revolutionaries, they have returned in the form of the People’s
Council of Cadres. The populists argue a separation from the gods and the government,
that each citizen is entitled to any form of god worship, and that the government should
be a federative council of elected representatives, not by one totalitarian ruler of a
hereditary council. The council has always been made up of 12 councilmen, one for each
province of the hypothesized ‘People’s Lu’an.’ Though the initial head of the council, a
temporary position set to be destroyed after the revolution, was Tale-Ta (a Tal, a small
culture facing extinction in the face of Lu’anese migration), Chairman Wo ascended to
his position after his death due to the bombing of Emperor Harbor, the same act which
killed the Emperor. Ever Since, Wo’s philosophy has caught on, especially amongst the
youth of the movement. He, and by proxy the New Wave, the name for his philosophical
peers, believe that God Worship itself has led the Lu’anese down a path of corruption and
evil, so the Lu’anese culture needs to be cleansed of all lasting signs of god devotion. The
New Wave believed that the Dragonkin overthrow was simply the first revolution of
three. The first was the overthrow of the Dragon. The second, and believed by the New
Wave, will be the overthrow of the Human Masters, and the third will be the overthrow of
the gods. The New Wave is notorious for the burning of sacred statues and temples.
Though there was always some level of hostility between the New Wave and the Old
Guard, it wasn’t until the Great Schism, caused by the assassination of Tale-Tu, Tale-Ta’s
son and a prominent competitor to Chairman Wo, that open hostilities truly broke out.
After a couple weeks of inter-party fighting, only worsened by the ongoing civil war, the
Old Guard officially broke out from the Council of Cadre’s and formed the Council of
Revolutionaries. Under the leadership Chairman Tile-Tru, the Council of Revolutionaries
initiated a grand retreat to de facto Liangxin territory, far away from their hostile New
Wave adversaries. The Grand Empire is now split into five states, all of which believe they
are the rightful title owners, who go in and out of states of war.
● The Kingdom of Concordia. The Kingdom of Concordia is famous for its cultural and
technological uniqueness. Once a part of the Empire of Man, Concordia declared its
independence for religious reasons. The people of Concordia have long worshiped
G’vahr, the god of Enlightenment. Following G’vahr means listening to those
meritocratically ahead of you, though this eventually evolved into a strict societal
hierarchy of economic classes where citizens are expected to pay more to society than
that of the clergymen and ruling class. Neighbors of a prominent Dwarven kingdom, the
extensive trading led to the humans of Concordia adopting the advanced technology of
the Dwarves, with a human spin. Using their industrious technology, these humans
start hive cities by hollowing out mountains. The technology involved in the initial
removal of the mountains and the subsequent extraction of the mountain’s resources
produces copious amounts of black smoke, which fills the air. Built atop of removed
mountains, these massive cities of millions stretch far into the sky compared to the low
skylines of the other medieval cities. Almost universal across the Kingdom’s vast
collection of hive cities is that the societal hierarchy is often literally represented by the
verticality of their homes and jobs. The skyline is nearly pyramidal in where the tallest
structures are located. At the base of the cities are the slums, the largest areas of the city.
The slums resemble a dystopic version of late Victorian London, with toxic black smoke
pillowing throughout the city. This smoke has given rise to Black Cough, a lethal disease
which starts with pneumonia and the coughing up of black sludge, and evolves into
black sores growing across the bodies of those afflicted, eventually killing them. The
slums are populated by the working class, which includes the tens of thousands of sickly
children who are overworked and underpaid working in the logistics or mines below and
come home to their underfunded orphanages, missing their once Black Cough afflicted
parents. Most of the adult residents are often sickly and malnourished, having to make
the heart breaking decision between spending their limited money on food for
themselves or food for their sickly children. Massive criminal gangs also take advantage
of the limited police and lack of police in the slums and undercity (explained below),
dividing the slums into territories and exploiting the poor residents for cash. Below the
slums is the undercity, a complex web of mining tunnels and hollowed caves. They once
acted as the start of the hive city, but now exist as its backbone, extracting all its
resources. These industrious sectors unfortunately generate the aforementioned smoke,
spreading Black Cough to the sickly men, women, and children above. Most of the
people that work down here are residents of the slums or slaves of the mining
companies. The municipal governments are notorious for purchasing the resources from
whoever sells it cheapest, so most of the companies, many of whom started out noble
and respectable, use any and all means, no matter how dangerous or evil, to extract and
produce the resources and goods for the rich individuals above. These vast mines and
factories are now essentially lawless zones of gang warfare and starving slaves, willing to
do whatever it means to simply survive another day. Above the slums are various levels of
housing, slowly going from the lower middle class all the way to the most elite, who
reside in massive mansions and airships. Within the grand halls of these chateaus the
various meetings and gatherings of the city officials take place, writing legislation,
making corrupt deals, and expanding the city's influence over the nation. The various
municipal leaders of the hive cities are called Consuls, and appointed directly by the
Consuls of Avdamoore, the kingdom’s capital. Each city council is made up of 12 Consuls
(one for each district) and a representative of the faith, made to enforce the rigorous
rules of the corrupted teachings of G’vah. Though it is called the Kingdom of Concordia,
it hasn’t had a king for over 500 years. In its place is the Grand Consul, who serves for life
and makes certain executive decisions over the empire. The Consuls of Avdamoore, the
aforementioned consuls of the capital and appointers of the nation’s rulers, are
technically democratically elected, though the Grand Consul must approve the
candidates and the elections are more or less a kleptocracy. The Grand Consuls serve
until death and are elected between one representative of each city’s municipal council,
and the current Esteemed Grand Consul of the Grand Kingdom of Concordia (his official
title) is the Esteemed Grand Consul Argos Silisio of Silisio (the Hivecity he is from,
named after his great grandfather) of the Grand Kingdom of Concordia. He is seen by
the people as an incompetent ruler who only was voted for because of his great
grandfather’s stature. His great grandfather led the G’vahr revolt against the Empire of
Man, gaining independence for the Kingdom of Concordia and paving the way for a
government run by the morals of G’vah, a meritocratic society ran in the good spirit of
G’vah that would quickly collapse into a dystopian kingdom of the sick and depressed
ran by the elite, the very thing that Argos’ great grandfather had fought against. In a
cruel irony, Argos now represents everything his once beloved great grandfather had
fought against. Though the upper half of the various hive cities are run by the elite
establishment, the lower half is effectively run by gang lords, with the government only
coming down to take the citizen’s dues, the taxes and tithes to the faith. The capital of
the Kingdom and Holy City of the faith is the Avdamoore, a shocking sight to behold. It
is far, far larger than the other hive cities of the Kingdom, reaching just above one and a
half miles. It is not made up of the same buildings of the hive cities, getting
progressively taller and taller and built higher up on the hollowed mountains, but
instead a series of colossally sized blocks which are magically suspended in the air and
slowly rotate, each one getting smaller and smaller. Each of these ‘blocks’ are like their
own city, with hills, trees, buildings, and churches. Unfortunately, the city is just like any
of the other hive cities, with the bottom few rungs starving to death and the top few
living lives of luxury at the peasants’ expense. In fact, the rule of thumb across the
Kingdom is that the larger the city, the greater the economic disparity, so Avdamoore,
the largest, has the most extreme wealth inequality. Twenty Four years ago, Grand
Consul Argos was elected. Unfortunately for Argos, the year after his election a region
spanning war with the Empire of Man broke out. This war would be all encompassing
and cost the Kingdom of Concordia a great deal of money, collapsing the Kingdom's
economy. A decade had passed since the war had ended, and the economic turmoil of the
nation hadn’t faded. This was a very bad look for the upper class, and especially Argos, as
the citizens, most of whom were undergoing such extreme levels of economic burden
and hardship, would look to the leadership and see luxury, expensive living, and even
parties. Though no one can quite pinpoint when, a revolt had started in the minds of the
citizens. Slowly, each and every citizen, disillusioned with the government, would join
various anti-establishment groups. These were never seen as a threat by the elite, after
all these groups, though popular, only existed in the slums and undercity. This would all
change after a Bloody Tithe, a notorious date in the minds of the elite and commoners
alike (though for different reasons). As expected, the clergy had come to collect their
dues of 35% of Silisio’s slum’s resident’s income (an extreme amount, especially when the
various other taxes are added up, because of the expansive debt incurred from the
expensive fighting). To the shock of the tone-deaf elite, not sensing the true outrage and
rebelliousness of the public, the citizens all refused to pay their tithes. The next day, in
response, the municipal consuls sent in the army to extract the payment. The army, after
being refused by the brave citizenry, ended up massacring thousands of citizens. The
news of this sent shockwaves across the country, and the citizens rose up in open
rebellion. Though the rebels would fight hard for years, they were not enough for the
industrious might of the Kingdom’s army. By the end of the war, commonly referred to
as the first rebellion, millions had lost their lives, many districts had been completely
razed or destroyed through urban warfare, the crime syndicates had only gotten
stronger and stronger, and the government had created the National Guard, a secret
armed force whose sole purpose is to maintain the order of the kingdom. The National
Guard, using Concordia’s unique technology, appear like late Elizabethan era redcoats,
with magically explosive bullet shooting muskets. Twelve years later (the year the game
takes place), the economy has only worsened (in no small part due to the rebellion), the
taxes and annual tithes have skyrocketed, and the people are angrier than ever. New
rebellious groups, this time stealthier and better equipped operate from the shadows.
The movements are getting larger and larger with each passing day, with some of the
gangs allying to them and the movements even starting to spread to the upper classes,
with some secretly allied agents in the offices of the elite. The Grand Consul (who the
citizens often depict in hand drawn caricatures circulated around the cities as an
incompetent absurdly bloated obese crying baby), rightfully paranoid out of his mind,
sends detachments of the National Guard to search and root out all formms of rebellion
or government distrust (Mostly weekly, though it's intentionally unclear when the next
search will be), though this often involves the abuse and assault of citizens, the loss of a
life or two, or the cause of a fight, making near daily national headlines. This makes life
of those rebellious a series of secretive gatherings, arming, negotiations with crime
lords, and the occasional encounter with the National Guard, leading to an intense
urban battle and the fleeing of the rebellious group into the shadows somewhere else.
Recently, the National Guard’s searches have intensified ten-fold with the first open
rebellion since the first rebellion in the hive city of Duruga, a shocking success. In
Duruga, a prominent rebellious faction had gained the allegiance of most of the
undercity’s gangs (one of whom was notorious for being rumored Worshipper’s of
Yothrigurr) and the slum’s residence, with many spies and double agents within the
elite’s circles. After nearly Four years of planning, the people of the slums and undercity
rose up in complete revolution, quickly securing and swaying the loyalty of the upper
cities. In a matter of days, the city had completely fallen. The city’s revolutionary
government, the Chancellery Estate, a government devoted to Republicanism and an
early form of proto social-democracy, seeing the Kingdom mobilizing its army, declared
total mobilization across the hive city. A violent siege has been taking place ever since,
with the revolutionaries having been completely entrenched around the city and the
government fighting in siege battles reminiscent of the french revolution. Ever since
then, it seems that, paradoxically, the kingdom’s grip over the people is strengthening
and the resolve and powerfulness of the elusive factions are getting larger and larger
with each passing day. In some districts, national guard investigations are nearly daily
now.
● Dragonkin. Dragonkin are often considered the third racial category of Angronnia
(Aelvanoids and Lizardmen). Dragonkin were created by Szalama, the god of War,
worshiped by many Skinks approximately 1,000 years ago. As a reward for her Skink
worshippers, she bestowed upon them an army of soldiers, whom she called Dragons.
These were human-shaped creatures inspired by Skink, with scales and a few other
similar traits. She created 10 out of the 5,000 of them to be stronger, to command the
rest. These special ones had the ability to transform into a large flying beast (what we
would today call dragons). Szalama didn’t know what terrain these troops were fighting
in, so she gave the original batch the ability to mutate to their environment needs. When
these troops were first sent into battle, tragedy struck. A massive storm disorganized the
massive naval fleet transporting the many dragons. Entire battalions ended up in
regions and climates completely alien to them. These battalions would quickly mutate to
match their environment. Twothousand years later, the vast descendents of these lost
battalions still exist, their bodies matching the mutations of their first generation
ancestors. To this day, a tiny chance exists that a dragonkin is born with the ability to
transform into a Dragon, though this seems to get rarer and rarer with each passing
generation. Of course, as alluded to in the previous sentence, the terminology has
changed around Dragonkin. Dragon no longer means the people born from Szalama,
but instead what some Dragonkin, the new name for the race, can transform into.
Depending on their ancestors, dragonkin and their dragon counterparts can range
wildly. As an example, the following are examples of Dragonkin: Red Dragonkin are
dragonkin whose ancestors never got lost in the ocean. As such, they and their dragons
have remained largely unmutated, appearing as Szalama originally intended. Because of
this, they are considered the ideal physical form of Dragonkin, the ideal dragonkin
amongst draconic circles. Due to their high stature in society, they can often come off as
entitled, thinking of themselves as the apex of life, the design of a god of war. They are
also very, very devout worshipers of Szalama for similar reasons. They appear like scaly
humanoids, sometimes with tentacles. Though their name would imply that they are
red, that is a misnomer. They are most commonly red, though they range in most colors
and shades. As dragons, they appear like classic high-fantasy dragons. They breathe out
fire; Tortles are dragonkin whose ancestors took refuge in the hands of an aquatic race
(perhaps Merfolk or Helen) instead of finding land. Their ancestors quickly mutated to
live underwater, becoming humanoid-shaped Turtles. With a huge respect for other
cultures, they often come off as worldly, accepting, and wise. In dragon form, they
appear like massive dragon turtles, and have a reputation for being powerful. They
breathe out steam; Owlins are Dragonkin whose ancestors took refuge in dense forests,
mutating to appear like Owls, with dense feathers and the ability to fly with their wings.
Due to their strange mutations, they love to read and follow mysteries. They are the
symbol for intelligence across Angronnia. In dragon form, they appear like dragons with
large owl-like heads and colorful feathers. They often end up forming or running
universities, with nearly all magical universities run by Owlin dragons. They breathe out
a sonic screech; Serpentfolk are Dragonkin whose ancestors became stranded in vast
deserts (just west of the Technman), their bodies adapting to the arid environment. They
possess elongated, serpent-like humanoid forms, covered in sand-colored scales that
provide excellent camouflage. Known for their agility and venomous bite, they are adept
at desert survival and resourcefulness. They are often seen as individualist and practical,
despising those who deal in the theoretical. In dragon form, they resemble enormous,
wingless serpents capable of burrowing through the sand, breathing out deadly plumes
of poisonous gas. They have built an elaborate and powerful society of nearly exclusively
serpentfolk with buildings inspired by the culture and architecture of the Techman. The
pyramid-adorned society is obsessed with serpents. Not only do they love serpents,
treating them as equals, but they use them practically. For example, Serpentfolk ride on
carriages transported by fantastically large snakes. The streets of their cities are covered
in aqueducts; Lionen are dragonkin whose ancestors’ found themselves in expansive
savannahs, their forms mutating to take on leonine features. Lionkin boast strong,
muscular builds, thick manes, and retractable claws. Proud and noble, they value
leadership and strength, often organizing into family clans led by the most powerful. In
their dragon form, they combine the traits of a lion and dragon, with large wings and a
ferocious roar, capable of breathing scorching flames; Crocodragonkin hail from
swampy, marsh-filled regions. With tough, crocodilian skin, massive jaws, and aquatic
prowess, they are masters of ambush warfare, striking from murky waters. They possess
a society focused on patience and stealth, highly valuing cunning in battle. In dragon
form, they transform into enormous, heavily armored swamp creatures, devastating
foes with their biting strength and surprise attacks. Because of their geographic vicinity,
they know and trade with the Grung extensively; Descendants of a Dragonkin battalion
stranded in the frozen north, Wolven have thick fur layered with scales. Their enhanced
senses and pack mentality drive their military strategies, making them excellent raiders
and defenders in cold climates. Their society is bound by loyalty and unity. In their
dragon form, they take on the appearance of massive, wolf-like creatures, able to move
effortlessly through snow, unleashing freezing breaths. They often ally with the
Haroldheim, going on extensive raids with Angronnia with them; Viperkin are
descendants of Dragonkin who adapted to the dense rainforests, their bodies becoming
lithe and venomous like vipers. Their green and vibrant scales help them blend into the
foliage, making them deadly ambushers. Their society thrives on cunning, with
assassination and political intrigue prevalent. As dragons, they transform into large,
winged serpents capable of delivering toxic venom breath attacks; Grungs are the
descendants of Dragonkin who found themselves in the wetlands. They appear like small
frog-like humanoids possessing vibrantly colorful skin colors (determining their
poisonousness), which divides their societies into strict hierarchies. Their skin is toxic to
the touch and they do not like or trust other species, but will do anything to protect their
clan and/or family. They breathe out poison; Crabkin are Dragonkin whose ancestors
adapted to life along the coastlines, developing crab-like exoskeletons and pincers.
Known for their defensive nature, they are nearly impervious to damage and excel at
protecting their territories. In dragon form, they resemble massive crab-like creatures
with powerful claws capable of crushing ships and fortifications, breathing out torrents
of steam. They are very different from other Dragonkin and will get their own in-depth
explanation later; Techdragons are dragonkin whose ancestors sought refuge amongst
the Technman, adopting their ways and technology. Because of their geographic vicinity
to the Serpentfolk, they are also very similar. They are seen as masters of machinery and
are often lawful even when it does more harm than good, believing the maintenance of
society's order to be more important than anything. They appear with sleek, metallic
scales resembling polished steel, and their bodies are visibly replaced by mechanical
parts. Some may have clockwork wings or glowing, cybernetic eyes. As dragons, they
exhale superheated plasma, capable of melting through almost any material,
representing their fusion of fire and technology. There are many, many more types of
dragons, such as Void-touched, Elemental, Time Dragons, Glass Dragons, Star-forged.
Most of the previously mentioned were born of something outside of mutation, such as
the work of a necromancer or the magical storm between Earth and Faeland. Though
dragonkin are interspersed around Angronnia, largely coexisting with Lizardfolk and
Aelvankind (oftentimes becoming the ruling class, such as in the far east), they also exist
in large societies made up entirely of dragonkin. In most of the highly militaristic (and
often highly aristocratic) red dragonkin societies, worshiping Szalama is mandatory.
Anything other than religious fervor for Szalama is seen as blasphemous and highly
taboo, to such a point that renouncing Szalama will easily get you killed. After the
Redknights rebellion forty years ago, in which many Red Dragonkin rose up against the
local skink rulers, the red dragonkin were expelled from the local skink territory. The Red
Dragonkin could feel that their embarrassing military effort had lost them favor with
Szalama, so quickly launched a triumphant raid in the very counties that banished them,
pillaging much of it to the ground. Despite Szalama’s initial favor towards the local skink
for their military prowess in squashing the Redknights rebellion, Szalama now lacked
faith in the skink following their total defeat in the recent raids. To regain Szalama’s
favor, the skink quickly attacked back. Thus began the war of Szalama, which hasn’t
ended. A constant struggle between a god of war’s patrons and its creations, it has been
one of the most horrific wars in centuries, with nearly all citizens on both sides spending
much of their day in worship to Szalama, soldiers killing as most as they can as gifts for
Szalama, and Szalama bestowing military prowess and abilities (ranging from luck to
massive, ground shaking creatures of immense, god-like power) to whoever she
currently favors. Though Szalama had been the second largest god for a long, long time,
the war, with its mass conversions, had led to Szalama’s massive increase in size,
appearing like a fairly large celestial object, about the size of our moon. When Szalama
designed the Dragonkin, she gave them innate powers, so some Dragonkin and their
relatives have draconic sorceries. For similar reasons, dragonkin can breath harmful
substances as an attack, but the substance changes from variant to variant. For example,
red dragonkin breath fire and Serpentkin breath melting sand. The various Draconic
battalions were created to be led by one Dragonkin, who Szalama intended to be called
the Supreme. These dragonkin are far stronger than all other dragonkin and, thanks to
one of their powers, immortal to age. Most of these Dragonkin, today called Elder
Dragons, exist today, though they are almost exclusively in their Greater Wyrm form.
Though no one knows what, it would seem that these elder dragons cracked some sort of
mysterious code within the universe, having the capability to easily travel to the
Immateria. Of the very few dragonkin lucky enough to have the gift of being a dragon,
some are even luckier, being Wyrms. Dragonkin capable of being dragons typically vary
from Wyverns, Dragons, or Wyrms (with the Elder Dragon being Greater Wyrms). As a
dragonkin gets wiser, braver, and larger, its dragon form too gets more powerful. While
most dragonkin only live up to three hundred years, those capable of being dragons can
live thousands of years, or even hundreds of thousands if they’re wyrms. Obviously not
all lucky dragonkin even turn into what we would call dragons, with, for example, the
crabkin turning into monstrous crab-like creatures. When a dragon gets impregnated
from another dragon, the baby is born as a drake, a less intelligent and more feral
dragon of weaker power, unable to turn into a Dragonkin.
● Helens. Helens are one of the oldest Aelvanoid race, even though they are not technically
Aelvanoid. For many thousands of years, Helens were the pets of the Aelvs. Small
creatures with skinny arms and legs, they were not treated as equals. Pets of the Aelves,
they were bred to be more and more adorable. After thousands of years of breeding,
their bodies had a round shape, teeny-tiny legs and arms, and had an extremely low
stamina for exercise, needing to rest for hours after only an hour or so of sprinting. After
many years, an alchemist invented a potion that became a sensation around Aelvland.
The potion allowed the many Aelven pet owners to magically supercharge the intelligence
of their pet Helens, making them just as if not more intelligent than their owners. The
novelty of being able to talk to their pets and get them to do chores quickly wore off as
they began to resent their roles as mere pets. On one fateful night, the rebellion years in
planning took place, sending the Aelves and Helens on a path to war. Knowing they
couldn’t compete with their Aelven overlords physically, they took over warehouses upon
warehouses of Subaqua Discs. Subaqua Discs were a product common amongst the
Aelven nobility, allowing their pets to visit popular tourist destinations (such as the
trendy Merfolk cities) with them. The discs could hover above the ground and were
airtight, allowing Helens to follow their owners with ease. The saucer shaped vehicles
were large enough to fit one Helen and were outfitted with everything needed to keep
the Helens’ low stamina and high-maintenance needs met, with arms controlled by the
Helens eventually added to the Subaqua discs. The many Helens, now equipped with
flying saucers, retreated into the water. The many merfolk empires, most of whom had
just fought a large war against the at-the-time Alven empire, were more than happy to
take in the Helens as refugees. Over a thousand years later, the Helens have built their
own empires. Though some smaller Helen cities exist, the overwhelmingly vast majority
of them live in Atlas (the namesake for the Atlas Ocean). Atlas is an underwater city that
rivals the size of entire empires. Around the colossal city is a massive glass dome, sealing
it off from the ocean. This one city has the military and diplomatic powers of the
strongest empires of the world, forcing itself into the diplomatic negotiations of empires
far, far away. Since all of the inhabitants are Helens or tourists given flying discs, the city
was not built with walking in mind, so hundreds of buildings are stacked on top of each
other, stretching for miles. The layout of the city was designed for high-speed disc travel,
so massive ‘highways’ have formed, areas designated for the high-speed travel on discs.
On these expressways (designated by floating signs marking their boundaries), millions
of Helen's fly at 80-120 MPH (depending on the model) to their work or home every
single day. Because of their rapid transport ability, the economics of Atlas are very, very
different from most of Angronnia, being more of a 20th century capitalistic system
where Helen’s clock in and out of corporate-owned business every day and night. Luckily
for the Helens, the wealth equality amongst the Helens is unprecedented around the
world, with all Helens being able to afford most products of their highly-commercialized
society. In Atlas, it is considered a basic right of every Helen to be given at least one disc
by the government. The culture and architecture of Helen society, and especially Atlas in
particular, was heavily adopted from the Aelves. The Aelven society and culture of then is
far different than the contemporary Aelvan culture, so the Helen’s seem to have a strange
and esoteric culture, with buildings like that of what we would call Ancient Greek and a
culture of strange and at-times cryptic ceremonies. Philosophy has always been
important to the Helens. Unlike the rest of Angronnia, a philosopher is an actual job.
Current, late-stage divine skepticism has taken over, the philosophy that argues that the
divine not only does not matter but that they should not be worshiped. A believer in
late-stage divine skepticism would argue that, since gods inhabit the Immateria, a world
dictated by human thought, they only act to serve the imperfect needs of Aelvenkind and
other species of the Matteria. Instead, they would argue, it is best to avoid prayer,
worship, or sacrifice and remain as neutral as possible, as whatever god you end up
living with will match your true, subconscious needs, not your imperfect human desires.
Though life may seem utopic on the surface, their leaders are a strange, mysterious
force. If you asked a Helen who their leaders were, they would say the current Grand
Chairman of the democratically elected council, but the truth is far more sinister. The
council members and other officials the people believe to be electing are actually
Ancients masquerading as Helens. Ancients, though a more detailed explanation of
them will be found in their section of the outline, are the last remnants of some previous
world. Noone quite knows what, and very few even know of its existence, but a world
predated this world. The Ancients are so foreign and alien that this previous world
must’ve been entirely different in physics, cosmology, and life. Someone, or something,
no one truly knows, tasked these beings with wiping the slate clean, destroying the
universe. And, evidently, it must’ve worked, though those same beings still exist,
meaning they must be the last remnants of whatever the previous world was like. Left
with nothing to do in a new and alien world, they explore the Immateria and Matteria,
two foreign concepts to them. So powerful and otherworldly, these inexplicable beings
have the power to manipulate the collective perception of the universe. For some reason,
impossible to tell as these beings don't act in the same ways as life in the current world
do (In emotion, wants, needs, etc.), these beings infiltrated the Helen society, using their
mass illusionary capabilities to trick the populace of atlas. This imposter government
also seems to censor much of Helen history and contemporary actions of Atlas’
government. It is entirely possible that the ‘alchemist’ who caused the Helens boom in
intelligence might have been an Ancient all along, manipulating the strings of Helen
history. For residents above the water, seeing a Helen is a surprise, though it's typically a
nice one. Since Helen are so rare, look so unique, and act in such unique ways (mainly
because they live inside their strange vehicles), seeing a Helen is usually a one in a
lifetime experience, one you will tell your children stories about. The questions
Aelvenoids often have for Helens may come across as offensive, though it's coming from
a place of ignorance and interest, not hate.
● Riftwalkers. [?Canon?] Riftwalkers used to be called Calla, a large protectorate of the
Aelvarian Empire located just west of the [Placeholder name: Russia]. The land’s counties
and duchies were ruled over by Vampires. Vampires, though feared and hunted across
most of the Empire (in the name of their god Niobassh), were respected across Calla,
mainly due to Calla’s religious differences from the Empire. The people of Calla
worshiped Adonnus, god of cycles. Believing the world to be of a cyclical nature, with
life-afterlife-life being the way they believed the world worked, they believed Vampires
to be superior to mortals, as they were able to avoid the cycle completely. As such,
Vampires and Dhampirs, their biological children, were usually on the top of society.
Though they primarily worshiped Adonnus, they were also considered a melting pot of
spirituality. Unlike the rest of the empire, they had a strong appreciation for
lycanthropes, particularly werewolves, from the Haroldheim, a strong use of witchcraft
from [Placeholder name: Russia] to their east, and much of the religious iconography
and superstitions from the Technman to their south. Because of this, their cities were
adorned with religious symbols and churches, all of which were very confusing to
foreigners. Adonnite, named after their god Addonus, is an underground resource that
contains copious amounts of Adon, a lethal gas. Appearing like a cluster of living,
breathing bubbles of Adon gas held in place by a slimy leather-like oozy structure, they
contain a powerful metal that can be carefully extracted for much gain, albeit at a risk if
anything were to go wrong. Addonite is a very rare resource, but under Calla it is
everywhere, which is what attracted so many settlers in the first place. One night, a freak
accident occurred. Maybe it was a rogue wizard, maybe it was an incompetent miner.
Nobody really knows, but what everyone knows is that it was catastrophic. Whoever, or
whatever, caused the accident caused a massive explosion in the Underworld below
Calla, causing a chain-reaction, incinerating the underworld. The horrible loss of life of
the Dwarves and Aelves in the underworld below Calla was quickly overshadowed by the
high-levels of Adon gas rising to the surface. The citizens of Calla had begun preparing
as soon as the first reports of Adon gas had reached the cities, donning their Plague
masks. Plague masks were previously worn in the recent plague that had afflicted
suffering onto much of north western Angronnia. The people of Calla eventually started
wearing Plague Masks, believing them to protect them from the recent plague. Plague
Masks appeared like Plague Doctor masks with a droopy beak connected to a rubber-like
black hose reaching into a box connected to the wearer’s side. The box, containing many
medicinal herbs and magical runes, purified the air. Around the mask was a leather sac
which surrounded the wearer’s face, only permitting them to see out of the large goggles
in the plague mask. The plague masks could only help out the frantic populace so much
as the rising gas caused a series of volatile earthquakes, leading to the entire region
becoming an uninhabitable wasteland of nearly endless chasms, rifts, and ravines. Adon
acts as a lethal nerve gas, killing anyone who enters the region. As such, the people of the
barren hellscape have had to keep their plague masks on at all times. For the first couple
months, the inhabitants gathered in groups and assembled elaborate and almost
mad-maxian style vehicles. These over-the-top aggressive vehicles served to transport
the ruling Vampires, as such they were built atop and around coffins. The Bloodcrawlers,
massive and muscular animals appearing like a large, 3-headed mastiff, originally meant
to drive the vehicles forward quickly died of starvation, so the vampires resorted to
necromancy. These complicated and massive wheeled fortresses carried by 4-32 undead
bloodcrawlers can transport anywhere from 4-800 plague-mask-wearing soldiers (and a
vampire, sleeping inside the coffin in the center). The vehicles have strange, overly
religious iconography plastered all over the walls. Twenty years later, it has now become
tribes of former leaders and ambitious warriors fighting over control of the ruins of
former cities in the gas-filled wasteland.
● Raptor Wranglers. The Independent Confederative State of South Cancordia (Cancordia
being the mountain range near Concordia), or ‘Raptor Wranglers’ as they’re colloquially
called, were intended to settle a previously uncolonized frontier in the name of Wesx,
the Grand Consul of Concordia at the time. Before they began the colonization process,
they revolted against their Concordian masters. Though no one quite knows why, it can
be assumed to be because of one of three reasons; either a personal dispute between the
Esteemed Grand Consul of the Grand Kingdom of Concordia and the Consul of South
Cancordia Settlement Initiative, the general reluctance towards Concordian culture
amidst the settlers, or the generations of failed colonization attempts amounting to
nothing but losses of money and deaths. What is known, however, is that Tabu, the
former head of an exiled cadet branch of the immortal dynasty of the Technmen, seeking
an ally to assist him in a coup against the current head of the immortal of the immortal
dynasty (which would be foiled due to Tabu’s untimely demise at the hands of the house
head’s assassins), assisted the revolting settlers with technology, weapons, and money.
The settlers, donning their wargear, quickly marched on Concordia. Taken by surprise,
the settlers manage to secure four hive cities, a tremendous blow to Concordia. Fully
mobilizing every soldier in their arsenal, the Kingdom of Concordia quickly entered a
state of total war, willing to do anything, lose any amount of lives, in order to retake
these cities. The settlers, adopting and fusing the Technmen technology with their
Concordian technology went from having soldiers appearing like 18th century red coats
armed with muskets to ww1-style soldiers fused with their technmen technology, with
some having robotic faces and others having cybernetically enhanced limbs. These
soldiers wore helmets with elaborate golden depictions of gods and a large, central
spike, making their helmets look like Pickelhelms. As soon as the first wave of offensives
by the Concordians began, the Cancordians entrenched themselves, knowing they
couldn’t defend themselves otherwise. After a few weeks of fighting intense trench
warfare in the highly polluted areas, the soldiers of both sides adopted drab trench coats
to blend better into the environment. The warfare went on for years, and it was home to
some of the worst battles in the history of Anngronnia. The frontline stretched for miles
and was dominated by the complex network of trenches which soldiers were fighting
over, no-man’s-land and the areas surrounding the trenches irreparably damaged. Near
the trenches were hundreds of manufacturing plants rapidly dug into mountains, the
many workers forcefully drafted into the factories. The factory's smoke would forever
damage the nearby soil, destroy most life (including the nearby forests), and kill
countless numbers of soldiers who had to breathe the smoke year after year, with the
survivors left with bodies that were diseased, shriveled up, and dying. The factories,
along with imports from the nearby dwarves, fuelled the conflict for years. The import of
Adon, a dangerous chemical from Calla, now called the Riftwalkers, was used to paralyze
the enemy soldiers. This was a very lucrative market for Calla, who sold the soldiers Adon
to use against the other side and Plaguemasks to protect your side. In general, the war
was a very business for merchants and countries alike, with many merchants charging
exorbitant prices to assist escaping refugees and countries selling mercenaries, supplies,
or weapons. The bleak landscape around the trenches was black, with soil polluted by the
smoke, chemical weapons, and countless dead bodies, the sky covered in black smoke,
and the air filled with dark chemicals. With the trees, plants, and animals shriveled up
and dead, soldiers would often resort to cannibalism. Later in the war, facing logistical
issues, the settlers would import animals from the Grand Supreme of the Tiliaqu to take
the places of horses. These were mainly raptors, though some triceratops and other
dinosaurs were also imported. The cavalry forces of Cancordia, who mostly rode atop
raptors, is what gave rise to the name ‘Raptor Wranglers.’ Near the end of the war, the
Cancordians sensing their inevitable defeat to the Concordians, gave full power to the
most powerful necromancers of the land to resurrect the millions of fallen soldiers as
zombies. The millions of zombies, under the control of a few necromancers, would bring
some life, ironically, back into the war effort, with the Cancordians feeling like a
possibility that they may win after all. Unfortunately, not all was to go well for the
Cancordians, with their final stand at Wesx. Wesx, whom the Grand Consul was named
after, was the de facto capital of Concordia, with the most people, many cultural
landmarks, and the commercial hub of the kingdom. Not only was Wesx an important
logistical hub and strategic target, but an incredibly moral-boosting target. The
Concordian offensive to Wesx was the most costly, with tens of millions dying in that
singular offensive. After a few months, the Cancordians had been pushed back to the city
of Wesx. With the offensive splitting the frontline, the majority of Cancordia’s forces
were in Wesx. The majority of Cancordia’s forces, with their backs to the wall, lined the
Undercity in magical explosives, able to be set off at any moment. The citizens were
forcefully conscripted, and refusal to do so was a death-sentence. The army, after the
mass conscription of Wesx, was mostly women and young children, as the men of the
city had long ago been conscripted and sent off to the frontline to die. As the enemy
forces closed in, the soldiers barricaded the streets and homes of the city, completely
unaware of the bombs poised to destroy the entire city at any moment. When the
Concordian forces arrived, the untrained soldiers fought valiantly, with the Concordian
soldiers exterminating the young children, pregnant woman, and sickly elders that
made up the army with ease, sickening the most cold-hearted witnesses. As the soldiers
were fighting over the Wesx market, an important cultural landmark and important
trade hub for the continent, the explosives were denoted, with the city, starting from the
bottom to the top, collapsing. Every single soldier, citizen, and witness died in a matter
of seconds. The sound of the miles-high hive city collapsing could be heard for miles, and
many feared that they knew the sound. The Consul of the South Cancordians was
promptly labeled a war criminal, and after intense fighting, his battalion was destroyed
and he was detained. He was tortured to death and the local guards, in an effort to
destroy the last of his reputation, left his body out in the street, allowing the citizenry to
do whatever they wished to with it. After the battle of Wesx, the South Cancordians
surrendered, though most of their soldiers would flee. The war had finally ended, with
horrible atrocities committed by both sides. After the war, the four hive cities originally
occupied with the South Cancordians had been completely destroyed. The economy of
Concordians had completely collapsed and political unrest and protests, existing as far
back as the war’s start, were stronger than ever. The fleeing soldiers, following their
necromancer generals, arrived in the desert (the one they were originally intended to
colonize, ironically) with nothing but their battlescars (both physical and mental), their
guns, their cybernetic enhancements, and their battle raptors. Along the previously
unsettled frontier, they would establish many cities. A petition for the necromancers to
allow their zombies to move onto the afterlife, which they refused, was the tipping point
in the already simmering tensions between the citizens and the necromancers. After a
short war, the necromancers were exiled, though they simply settled the nearby swamps,
keeping the hordes of zombified veterans they possessed. After a couple years, gold was
discovered in the desert, so many settlers from around the continent came in droves,
massively expanding the population. The area is now a highly-diverse population living
in cities reminiscent of 19th century western American towns. The people, some with
cybernetic enhancements, have a culture, fashion, and weapon catalog very inspired by
the old west, except the citizens possess raptors (and occasionally other dinosaurs)
instead of horses. Children of veterans, they have a strong culture of fighters and
monster hunters. Their soldiers still appear like they did over 100 years ago, with WW1
reminiscent helmets and weapons. Over the past couple years, some necromancers have
begun raids against the cities of the Independent Confederative State of South
Cancordia. Though no have fallen yet, regular zombie encounters have become a daily
occurrence for many citizens. Much more rural and lawless compared to the
surrounding nations, organized crime is huge in the towns and villages of the
Independent Confederative State of South Cancordia. The Independent Confederative
State of South Cancordia is more or less for players who want to have a monster-huntin’
cybernetic cowboy who grew up fighting zombies, robbing banks, riding their pet
dinosaurs, and encountering crime gangs or the cybernetic ww1-esque army.
● Djodi. Long ago, Djodi was a god of birth, fertility, and parenting. She was on her last
legs, with one believer. Feeling that she was about to cease existing, ending the lives of
those spending their afterlife in her, she watched her final believer carefully, desperate
for a way to continue life. Tiny, she was too weak to manipulate the world in any
meaningful way. In the tremendously large battle of Second Waves (an intense and
incredibly strategic battle in the war of Enk, a colonial war against Kuo natives), Djodi’s
sole believer was mortally wounded. Feeling her imminent demise, Djodi attempted to
create a healing potion near the injured soldier. In her frail strength, she instead created
a potion full of some silvery ooze. The soldiers, shocked by the sudden potion
manifestation, fed it to the dying soldier. Though the silvery ooze, which turned out to
be sentient, failed to heal the soldier, killing Djodi. Two nights after the battle, the
soldiers dropped off the fallen soldier’s dead body to his pregnant wife. The wife, after
crying herself to sleep, was home to an unexpected visitor. The silvery ooze, after
crawling out from the fallen soldier’s mouth, crawled into his sleeping wife’s mouth.
Three months later, she gave birth to her baby. But her baby wasn’t typical. It had silver
oozy skin. This wasn’t the ooze, but a new being, a Djodi. The ooze had entered into a
parasitic relation, transforming the baby into a Djodi. The Djodi’s mother was quickly
burned at the stake, the locals assuming her to be a hag to give birth to a changeling. The
Djodi baby would be taken in by a group of changeling outcasts. As the Djodi got older, it
became a friend to the local changelings. It wasn’t evil, in fact it seemed to act just as it
would if it had been born a person. It made many attempts to join society, inspired by
the beauty of the city. The Djodi was chased out of the city, tail between its legs. At Least
this is the wives tale for the first Djodi, with many scholars and historians debating this
commonly known story. After adolescence, Djodi began regurgitating out silvery oozes
bi-monthly. These oozes, usually regurgitated in quantities of 1-4, would go on to
continue the cycle, mutating a pregnant woman's baby in a parasitic relationship.
Anatomically, Djodi are very similar to the mother’s race, except they have melty,
maulable, and slimy silvery skin, lack reproductive organs, and have white eyes. Djodi
can range from nearly identical to oozes to slightly oozy humans. Though Djodi are
exceptionally rare, they are found all across Angronnia. They are received very differently
across Angronnia, all depending on the culture. In some cultures, such as the
Angronnian Empire and the former grand Empire of Konno, they are killed or arrested
onsight, viewed as an infestation who corrupted the babies of wives. In some cultures,
such as Minotaur tribes, Raptor Wranglers, and Goblins, Djodi are celebrated as
bringers of fortune and strong children. In many other cultures, such as the
Haroldheim, Lizardmen, and Helens, they are viewed as victims, normal people who are
born with genetic mutations from a parasite, and unable to not spread to parasite to
more new victims, and as such should be treated as friends and equals, but watched
carefully. Djodi are very common in the undercities of Concordia, finding it to be a great
place to seek refuge.
● Enforcers. A few centuries ago, it was becoming popular to worship Marut, a god of
order. Despite Marut’s rapid rise, it was viewed as heretical by most faiths. The idea was
that Marut, once he was made powerful, would begin bettering the world by enforcing
truth, the following of contracts, and guiding souls to their preferred destination
through the establishment of a river of souls (some of which would instead be brought to
Marut to continue the growth of Marut). As the followers of Marut grew, Marut felt that
he was now powerful enough to begin the chain of events which would cause his rise to
power and the creation of the above doctrines. He began by changing himself, turning
himself into large halls containing every formal agreement ever made, an impossible
catalog of every handshake, devilish contract, and faery pacts. Secondly, he converted his
most pious followers into warriors incapable of going against his wishes,
incomprehensibly powerful and loyal warriors of order and contracts. He transformed
them into a variety of warriors, and here are a few: Kolyarut are monstrously
humongous robotic humanoids with 4-arms. They use their near-impossible magic and
strength to destroy those who would illegally end or disrespect a contract; Maruts,
named after their creator, are colossally large and possess strength worthy of myth. They
appear like massive robotic humanoids with a large central eye. It is their duty to destroy
those who seek to avoid death and those who manipulate the souls of the dead; Abaruts
were Beholders who worshiped Marut, turned into massive robotic beholders who
commanded the Enforcers, explained later. Thirdly, Marut birthed the Enforcers, armies
of robotic humanoids who served the former worshipers with unparalleled loyalty.
Marut gave his robot army varying amounts of limbs (2-4-6-8). In the beginning, they
each had 2, but as they fought and gained more experience in combat, they would grow
more limbs. Limbs became hierarchical symbols, allowing the 4-limbed robotic warriors
to command the 2-limbed, and the 8-limbed to command nearly all other Enforcers.
Enforcers were made to be 100% loyal to Marut, and as such followed his former
followers exactly. Directly after the creation of the enforcers, the Order of the Black Rose
annihilated the bulk of the Enforcers and killed, imprisoned, and tortured. With his
armies gone and his followers dead or converted, Marut faded into obscurity. He is now
a tiny god with no real power, unable to command his forces or influence the world.
Now, a few centuries later, the few Maruts, Polyaruts, and Abaruts are left lost in the
world, with no god to follow and no library of broken agreements. Of impossible
strength and of heretical status, they are chased out from society, now living in caves and
other secretive lairs. Though they now lack a specific direction, they are still obsessed
with order, despising most of the civilizations of the world, conducting raids against the
cities that once kicked them out. The few remaining Enforcers, on the other hand, didn’t
have an in-built need for order, but a drive to follow their superiors. With their superiors
gone, these friendly robotic humanoids have largely join Aelven societies. They still do
have some of the shared traits of their ancestors, with the vast majority having a liking
for order and often getting irritated from uncontrolled chaos. In most societies, they are
not trusted and viewed as the creation of a heretical god, and therefore treated as second
class citizens. This is not universal, with the Grand Empire of Lu’an being very
welcoming for Enforcers.
● Aelvarian Empire. The Aelvarian Empire has been one of the strongest and most
influential empires for Angronnia for over three millennia. It goes by many names,
Millenium Empire (a recent name), Empire of Man, Holy Aelven Empire, or the Empire
of Angronnia, though the Aelvarian Empire remains its official name. In the ancient
times, when Aelves first began to colonize Angronnia, the northwest of the continent was
split between the five sons of the emperor Aelvo, a sort of proto-Aelven Empire. The
brothers, though they started out allied and cooperative, would eventually begin
competing over the new frontier. Fortunately ællia, the emperor of Aelvo, would always
keep his sons in check, preventing wars between the brothers. Near the end of his life,
his body stricken with age, he knew he couldn’t keep his children in check forever, so he
worked on a way to prevent war. Aelvaria, the first city founded by the Aelven settlers and
a crucial trade town, was to be evenly split between the brother’s realms. This new city
would begin the process towards a unified empire. Within the walls of the city was the
Sovereign's Estate, a large building where the brothers would elect a sovereign. This
sovereign was to oversee the five realms, keeping them from invading one another and
centralizing the foreign policy of the empire. Thus was born the Aelvarian Empire. Over
the next couple thousand years, the Aelvarian Empire would settle more of Angronnia,
dividing it into more domains. Though the brothers, and later the dukes of the Empire,
can elect anyone to Emperor, it is very rare for a non-duke to be elected. During the five
brother’s lifetime, only the brothers or their descendants were ever elected. As the
empire would continue to grow, the elections would evolve. At the turn of the last
millennium, the Empire held a summit with all 14 Magnarchs, 543 Magnarchs, and 2,376
Vorrs. After several weeks of negotiations in a locked and undisclosed location, the
various constituents of the empire had agreed upon a revised system for the empire. The
new system stripped Magnarchs and everyone below them of Constituent status. Now
only the fourteen Magnarchs could vote. After a sovereign is elected, he serves for life. A
sovereign’s power has risen and fallen over time. At certain times in the empire’s history,
the emperor was more or less an advisor for the Magnarchs below him. At other times,
he had more power than the Magnarch in regions, despite the fact that the Emperor’s
were only supposed to facilitate trade, keep the leaders of the region in check, and unify
the foreign policy of the region. Drawing from historical examples, the empire has a
political system reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire. Within the government is a
complex system of hierarchical layers. To name a few, Magnarchs are at the highest level,
ruling over territories approximate to a kingdom or Empire, called Magnars, High Vorrs
oversee the lesser titles of their Magnarch, all subsidizing their Magnarch with a portion
of their taxes and levies, Vorrs (or Verrs if they’re feminine) rule over the Verrdoms of
their Magnarch, Highthanes are nobles who a Vorr or someone of a greater title has
entrusted with large properties, with the Highthane maintaining the properties workers
and residents while paying the Vorr and leaving him space to reside, Thanor’s are very
similar to Highthanes, expect they are leased fortified properties, typically along
frontlines or frontiers, Syrants are typically in charge of administering towns and
settlements, though they are not hereditary, Knights are landed warriors who are given
territories as payment, and Wardknights are landed knights who are given hostile
territory and expected to subdue resistance. Most titles are hereditary, so keeping track
of children is very important, so the high nobles (a landed noble) refer to the sons and
daughters of title holders as if their title was their fathers, with an added A (feminine) or
I (masculine) before the title. In addition, they differentiate between the children by
denoting their age ranking amongst the siblings before the title (first, second, third,
etc.). For example, if you are the Third A-vorr of High Noble Elzra, that means you are
the third daughter of the Vorrdom-owning Elzra. Though most titles are inherited
hereditarily, some are elected or chosen through other means. After the summit, leaving
only the Magnarchs with electorate status, house Estbow, controlling 5 of the 14
Magnars, became completely dominant over the empire, always capable of electing the
emperor they wanted. This was terrifying to the high nobles of Aelvaria, who saw the
Estbows as religious zealots. To combat this, 6 Magnarchs secretly agreed to work
together against the Estbows. This left 3 Magnarchs neutral while the empire was split
between a house and a noble coalition. House Estbow is a large family of Red Dragonkin
strategically bred throughout the previous generations to possess some of the strongest
draconic sorceries. They have a very strong love for Niobassh dating back hundreds of
years. Though the coalition was never public, it was quite well established, it being nearly
impossible to disguise once competing houses all voting in agreement. Over the next
couple centuries, the two factions would compete over the empire, with the death of an
emperor setting the stage for the next contest between the two. As magnarchs would rise
and fall, allegiances swapping year by year, emperorship would sometimes be awarded
to an Estbow, who would enlarge the power of the Emperor and pass Empire-wide laws
(a rarity and an offense as the High Vorrs and Vorrs are meant to control the laws of their
local lands) benefiting house Estbow, and other times a coalition Emperor would be
elected, weakening the power of the Emperor. After much time of vying for power, all
nobles were seen as either pro-Estbow or pro-Coalition. Though the tensions between
the feuding houses were stronger than ever, civil war would surely cause the destruction
of the empire, with only trust capable of keeping such an empire united, so a careful
battle of tensions existed in which the nobles would do anything for Estbow or the
coalition, but couldn’t do something so overtly destructive to cause civil war. Times were
uncertain for the empire. War seemed inevitable at so many points, but a temporary
agreement was always reached just in the nick of time. This is not to say that blood wasn’t
spilt, with many Estbow and Coalition nobles alike being assassinated or dethroned.
Fourhundred and fifty three years after the summit, the numbers of Magnarchs had
risen to 19, with many created to facialite new allies. The 19 Magnarchs were 9 Estbow or
Estbow affiliated and 10 were Coalition. Around the same time, a revolt broke out in
Concordia (back when it was a vassal of Magnarch Crys). The revolt had no chance of
succeeding, but Magnar North Cancordian (the name of Concordia before
independence) was Coalition allied, so house Estbow secretly assisted the revolters. After
years of conflict, Concordia was granted more autonomy from the Emperor as a
protectorate. It is important to note that this was not the conflict that involved Silisio
and the independence of Concordia, but the conflict that set the groundwork for that
conflict, Concordia was still not viewed as an independent nation. Importantly,
Protectorates are exempt from voting for the Emperor, so the Empire was now split 9/9
over Estbow or Coalition. The tension was at its highest, both houses knowing it was the
time to strike to forever gain control over the empire. Right as civil war seemed
inevitable and control over the empire seemed almost like a flip of the coin, the East
Frontier was granted vassal status, becoming a Magnarch. As was tradition with largely
unsettled traditions, the Magnarchs of the realm were gathered in the Emperor’s Manor
to decide who shall start the rule of this Magnar, starting a dynasty of rulers for
generations. Everyone knew what this meant though, with Estbow-Coalition support
evenly split across the empire, this addition would be selecting the faction to rule the
Empire. With this likely being the last unsettled territory the empire could colonize, this
was the final shot, the final battle of sorts. It is important to note that the Emperor
typically does not colonize lands, as the Emperor is supposed to act as the middle ground
between the many countries, but sometimes the Emperor can call for an Executive Order
to colonize, levying citizens from across the realm. Executive Orders are typically
frowned upon, and it is likely that it was only done as the Estbow-loyal Emperor saw a
chance for his house to secure dominance. As the votes within the central manor were
announced, it came down to a tie, all nine Estbow-loyal magnars voting in favor of an
Estbow loyal Magnar (unsettled Magnars are technically not allowed to given to
magnar-owning houses to prevent a single house from taking over, the an Estbow loyal
house was voted for instead) and all nine Coalition magnars voting in favor of a Coalition
house. After a tie, the Emperor was assumed to be the one to break the tie, but Coalition
members threatened to succeed if the obviously Estbow-loyal emperor did such, so the
vote was given to the high nobles, most of whom were waiting outside, understanding
the significance of the day’s events. Such an event was disastrous for house Estbow, a
worst-case scenario they longed feared. When the news of the noble-wide vote was
announced to the high nobles waiting outside the manor, tensions started to grow.
Though no one will ever know who or what started it, a fight broke out between two
nobles, one loyal to Estbow and one loyal to the coalition. This fight grew exponentially,
and violence broke out between the thousands of nobles. Though it started out as fist
fights and brawls, the high noble guardsmen were eventually called in, and the fight
became a battle of thousands of knights, all of which the elite royal guard of each
noblemen. After an hour or so of fighting around the area, things settled down, though a
few hundred noblemen had been slain. The final vote was counted and, miraculously for
Estbow, the injured noblemen, coerced through the local garrison to cease combant,
voted in favor of the new Magnar being Siealsia, a high nobleman favorable towards
Estbow, possibly due to the number of injured Coalition noblemen. Following the
triumph of the 4th of Winterfall (the event just outlined), the Emperor declared executive
law, giving the Emperor executive power, using the fight between the noblemen as an
excuse. Under this temporary power, the Emperor enlarged the administrative powers of
the Emperor. Though the various Magnar’s were still independent countries, the
Emperor imposed the Chronicles of Aelv, a document outlining basic laws which the
Empire should follow. As the coalition rightfully feared, these laws centered around
religious worship, mandating the ‘intrinsic right’ of the people to education and worship
of Niobassh, the god of life, so large it appears like a sun. As the years would pass, House
Estbow would try to amend the Chronicles of Aelv, adding new and stricter
amendments, though they would repeatedly be stymied by the Emperor’s limited power.
Reflecting this, the Emperor created the Executive Authority of Niobassh, or the Arch
Priests as they’re often called. These elaborate uniformed worshippers of Niobassh
execute extraordinary levels of control over the countries of the Empire of Aelvarian, able
to enforce many rules the Emperor simply can’t. Though it didn’t happen at once, a
gradual change occurred over a slow period of time. By the end of it, the Arch Priests
held more control than the Emperor, and they controlled the local Magnars and vassal
states nearly as much as the actual Magnarchs. A highly militaristic group, the Arch
Priests invaded many countries and former holy sites in holy wars, winning most and
claiming them as Magnars for the Empire. After a couple years, the collective army of the
Empire’s countries was weaker than Arch Priests, though many small scale rebellions
against the new de facto rule would take place, all of which were violently ended in the
mass executions of assisting civilians, labeled Heretics to the great Niobassh. In just a
couple years, the Aelvarian Empire had gone from a loose federation of independent
states led by an Empire to a dystopic theocracy (though the church was never officially in
charge, just possessed the military and the capabilities to enforce any laws). Though the
empire was seen by many as a corrupt dystopia (especially by Witches and Lycrothopes
who were hunted down and burnt), the economy of the empire began to prosper. The
countries were still independent of each other, but a large entity was always watching
over their shoulder. Many neighboring states would consider joining the Empire
(typically for defense or trade) were put off by the idea of harsh religious control, so the
Emperor decreed that ‘a country who wishes to join the Aelvarian may opt into
protectorate status, becoming exempt from the Executive Authority of Niobassh at the
expense of electorate status and trade benefits.’ A few countries would end up joining
under this paradigm, most famously Calla, or as they’re now known, the Riftwalkers.
The Executive Authority of Niobassh was a highly centralized and hierarchical system.
With few exceptions, only men were permitted to the church. Though this is not a
comprehensive list of clergymen, the Executive Authority of Niobassh consists of the
following: The Arch Patriarch is the head of the Arch Priests; an Archpriest is one of 12.
They watch over and manage the higher-level logistics of the church; a patriarch (or
matriarch in one specific case) is someone in charge of a holy order; Lord Heralds deliver
messages and commands from the Arch Patriarch to Arch Priests; High Heralds deliver
messages from the patriarch to his apostles; Heralds deliver messages and commands
from Clergymen to High Nobles; Apostles are the backbone of the many holy orders,
doing the fighting, converting, and enforcing of the church; High Apostles are senior
Apostles who command the apostles and speak directly with his Patriarch; Lowborn
Apostles aren’t officially differentiated from the Apostles, but they are apostles not born
of nobility or clergy, and are typically assigned to less important tasks; Cardinals are
similar to Apostles except they serve the Arch Priests directly instead of a holy order.
They are capable of commanding any Apostle; High Cardinals command Cardinals and
speak directly with Arch Priests; a Martyr is a powerful warrior who died for the church
resurrected to continue fighting. They are highly respected and feared, though they are
viewed as hypocritical from the citizenry who watch them prosecute necromancers for
sinfulness; Grand Priests oversee large territories, enforcing the holy rules onto the
people; Priests oversee smaller territories for their Grand Priest; Inquisitors oversee the
countries of the Empire for heresy, destroying any sign of it; Grand Inquisitors used a
form of lichdom, a secretive formula held by the clergymen rumored to require great
evils, becoming terrifying undead Inquisitors; Missionary Apostle/Cardinals are
Apostles/Cardinals assigned to foreign lands to convert as many as possible to Niobassh;
Nuns and High Nuns are expected to heal wounded and sickly soldiers, travel to foreign
nations (commonly Concordia) and convert people there, and are forbidden from
combat; Monks are called in for advisory purposes. They exist in Congregations and are
expected to cease all worldly pleasures; Magi are Apostle/Cardinal Warriors who excelled
in magic, promoted to Magi to specifically fight with their magic; Paladins are similar to
Magi, but there unique healing capabilities set them apart in their promotions. Though
Lichdom is hunted down and extremely illegal, liches are very common within the clergy.
Though this isn’t a complete list, Holy Orders are the primary militant side of the Clergy.
Some major holy orders include: Blood Martyrs were powerful apostles/cardinals revived
through the final emotions they felt; rage, bloodlust, and Fury. Revived out of anger, they
are in a constant state of anger and anguish. Undead soldiers of rage, they are kept in
cages. Unlike most orders, their patriarch is not like them. A calm soldier throughout
most of his life, he was selected as a good commander to balance out the soldiers. The
soldiers are famous for their elaborate red battle armor. They are usually sent into pivotal
battles to act as shock troopers. Because of their undead state, revived through their
emotions, they must continually fuel their bloodlust through murder and battle or cease
to exist; Order of the Sanctity Rose is one of the largest orders, established after the fall
of Eternal Rose (also known as the great Heresy). The order of the Sanctity Rose, though
most mistakenly believe its official name to be its more common name, Order of the
Black Rose, is one of the most well known orders, with it commonly being lumped into
the ‘four roses’ order, an unofficial categorization of four holy orders. They are famous
for their violent, oppressive, and shockingly uncaring tactics. Their primary task is to
annihilate all signs of heresy. Many a noble and peasant alike have been massacred by the
Order of the Sanctity Rose for unbacked claims of heretical ideas, making the Sanctity
Rose Patriarch a valuable friend to have, giving you the power to have anyone killed. The
order of the Sanctity Rose has a long history of killing their own clergymen and spying
on their soldiers. They are well known for their holy fire. They use fire as a way to cleanse
sin from the world, preferring to burn down buildings or villages full of suspected
heretics than fight one-on-one. They also execute by holy fire at every possible execution.
Their Coat of arms is a lively red rose with a backdrop of fire; The order of the Undying
Rose is another order often lumped into the ‘order of the roses.’ They are not dressed in
typical clergy or militaristic attire, but instead dressed in layers of thick clothing and a
plague mask, believing it to save them from the diseases they encounter. They are a
dually a militant order and a medical one, responsible for healing the sick, fighting
zombie and other similar infections, and executing those who are at risk of spreading a
vile illness. Their size grows and shrinks over the years, with them becoming very
influential during plague outbreaks or zombie infections; The order of the Eternal Rose
was once a backbone of the clergy. The first holy order, they were directly responsible for
the creation and design of many of the largest orders. They were a jack of all trades order,
their purpose being to do just about everything. After they began forming and splitting
off into newer orders, the actual assignments they were given gradually decreased. This
would be their biggest curse as the Patriarch, a lich named Sisk Doux Lu, grew more and
more tired of his fading spotlight, so he desperately struck a deal with a devil. The devil,
seeing his desperation, offered fame and the spotline in return for the signing of his
contract, which Sisk promptly did. The soldiers of the order were quickly corrupted,
their skin turning reddish and teeth growing. They immediately tried to convert as many
orders as possible, explaining that the current clergy is corrupt and evil, themselves
heretical in their worship of Niobassh. Only one other order, the order of the Cleansing
Torch, joined, though they were immediately purified to death at the hands of the Order
of the Sanctity Rose. Immediately after the fall of the order of the Eternal Rose, more
commonly called the Great Heresy, a large war broke out between the holy orders,
eventually spilling out into the public. After years of horrific fighting, during which the
northwestern Magnar of Angrrim was nearly flattened, the Eternal Order was mostly
destroyed and its patriarch went into hiding. The oldest order, their customs and armor
appeared almost esoteric and strange. After the great heresy, they were often referred to
as the Unholy Order of the Fallen (or Crushed) Rose. To conceal their identity, they wore
these horned red masks. These masks, which almost appeared like goblins, gave them
the nickname Red Goblins. The Great Heresy sent shockwaves throughout the empire,
tightening the clergy’s grip on society and creating the Order of the Sanctity Rose.
Eversince the Great Heresy, the clergy has been extremely paranoid. It has gotten to the
point where a mere accusation can cause your dismissal and even execution in the name
Niobassh, though this is typically saved for those who have a strong argument for their
heresy. Their leader, though in hiding, was still training an army, and he would
eventually come back, being a factor in the eventual fall of the Empire; The Order of the
Sacred Light is one of the newest orders, created to combat the growing Biomass threat.
Often fighting in the underdark, they don elaborate white robes and, with the help of
their Patriarch’s powerful magic, glowing masks faces (whenever there is no light). They
often find themselves in far flung corners of the world in the name of slaughtering any
remnants of the Biomass threat; The Holy Order of the Cannonnesses is a rather unique
Order. It does not have a Patriarch, instead being commanded by a Matriarch. The Order
is made up of Nuns (also known as Cannonnesses) who were too powerful, either for
their shocking strength, faith, or magic, to not be militarized. Shocking to the highly
patriarchal Aelvarian Empire, they are the elite military forces of the clergy. Since most
holy orders are made up of the Clergy’s apostles, compared to the Holy Order of the
Cannonnesses, which is made up of the best of the best Nuns, the Cannonnesses are
simply stronger. They are typically deployed to pivotal battles and to defend holy sites;
The Holy Order of the Divine Martyrs of the Cannonness is a holy order of the undead
warriors 0f the Holy Order of the Divine Martyrs of the Cannonness. Unlike most
Martyrs, who were elite soldiers revived by the Clergy into undeath, the Divine Martyrs
of the Cannonness possessed so much faith and love for Niobassh that Niobassh allowed
their soul to return to Earth to keep fighting. Instead of being Skeletons, Liches, or
Vampires like most of the Martyrs, they are ghosts, floating and transparent people who
fight through possession and invisibility. They are often “seen” defending holy sites and
visiting universities to spread their divine wisdom; the Champions of Russ are a group
composed solely of former Haroldheim raiders who have been converted to the ways of
Niobassh. They wear a hybrid of their former northern cultural attire and The holy
uniforms of Niobassh. These typically include working fur coats into just about
everything. Former experts of naval combat and raiding, they are often sent to convert
and punish those from far away, foreign lands. Masters of the rigid cold, they imbue cold
spells and monsters into their attacks. Their ranks are often filled with undead warriors,
revived through traditional Haroldheim ways, as opposed to Martyrdom; Order of the
Repentance Rose is an order with a despicable reputation. They are disgraced worshipers
of Niobassh who were punished by years of servitude with the Order of the Repentance
Rose. They wear drag and gloomy outfits and lack many of the holy symbols The other
orders adorn themselves with. They are typically sent to the Frontline or to fulfill the
worst tasks. If they prove themselves, these warriors are often drafted directly into
another Holy Order; The order of the Forever Tree, named after a tree celebrated by an
Aelven subculture who long lived and cherished a tree which they viewed as a gift from
Niobassh, is devoted to destroying gods whose morals are so opposed to Niobassh’s that
they cannot be left alive. To accomplish this, they hunt down the worshipers of gods
deemed too heretical. Most of these gods are devils, dating back to the celestial war. This
order rarely fights Aelves however, though devil worship isn’t unheard of in Aelven
circles. Instead, they use the mask of Devil Hunting to attack the Kuo-Toans, who are
seen as implicitly worshiping devils. The Holy Orders, on occasion, have let their
inter-clergy rivalry expand into interfaith wars. The weaponry, culture, and architecture
of the Alevarian Empire resembles high-medieval German gothic. They celebrate many
holidays, but there are a few that stand out: Martyr Maryst Day. Martyr Maryst was an
esteemed saint who sacrificed himself in the name of the first Kuo-Toan war over a
thousand years ago. Kuo-Toans have a strong disdain for the Aelves’ reverence for Maryst
due to his genocidal acts against the Kuo-Toan people. To celebrate Maryst, parents leave
presents littered around the house for their children to find, telling their children that
the spirit of Martyr Maryst had hid them. Folklore states that Martyr Marsyt lives in the
frozen forests of the east, crafting toys and treats for every child of the Aelvarian Empire
with his trusty Garden Gnomes; Aelvo Celebration Day marks the death of Aelvo. Aelvo
the Great, as the Aelvarians refer to him, was, of course, the founder of the Aelvarian
Empire. The Aelvarians have an immense respect for him, with fables counting the
moment he died, when allegedly every god in the night sky lit louder and shed a tear
(though no historical evidence has ever been found for this ludicrous claim). The
Aelvarians celebrate his death by honoring veterans of the Aelvarian Empires many wars,
both alive and dead; XXXXXXXXXX. Due to the Aelvarian belief that the rise of
Aelvenkind was a result of Niobassh’s reconstruction, an Aelvarian theological doctrine
believing that it was actually Niobassh who reconfigured the universe over a period of
365 days, long after Yothrigurr, instead of being a direct result of Yothrigurr’s death, the
Aelvarian calendar is 365 days. Most Aelvarians believe this occurred about a millenia
ago, so they count the current year as 1348. Aelvarians also believe that Niobassh
designed the world in 12 phases, so the calendar is split into 12 months, each named after
that month’s creations. From earliest to latest, it goes Aelve’t (the ending T is silent and
identifies it as a month and not the noun), Trance’T (named after the Aelven trance-like
sleep state), Fae’t (the only where in which the T is commonly pronounced, though it is
still considered improper to pronounce), Earth’T, Divination’T, EverlastingTree’T (often
representing the creation of civilization in holy stories), Snowfall’T (believed to be the
creation of weather for agriculture), Plant’T, Animal’T, Forest’T, Darkness’T, Love’T.
Many centuries after the calendar’s initial adoption, a series of prophets and
self-proclaimed Niobassh manifestations taught that Niobassh had intended for a third
month at the end of the year to be a time of rest, much like the day of rest at the end of
each week, so they evened out each month’s days and allocated the remaining to the new
thirteenth month. This left each month with 29 days, or 4 weeks, and the thirteenth
month with 17 days. It is customary to rest as much as possible and put in only work that
is essential. Those who believe that these were false teachings and refuse to recognize
Niobass’T as a month are Traditionalists. Most of even the most patriotic Aelvarians find
the traditional Aelvarian Calendar’s months to be far too esoteric and nonsensical to be
commonly used, so most use a similar naming system to International’s months
(explained below). This is referred to Aelvarian-International Hybridization by
Calendareoligists. Most of these beliefs come from Disciple Darius, a supposed
manifestation of Niobassh who lectured across Aelvaria in 965, forming the modern
Niobashh faith. Also found in darius’ teachings was that Niobashh wished for every
seventh day to be a day of rest and prayer for Niobashh. Thus, the seven-day calendar of
the Aelvarian calendar was formed. From earliest to latest, it goes Savatow, Tretee,
Tretortee, Petee, Ketee, Paratee, Tartow (day of rest and prayer). The calendar was
finalized by Emperor Taot who was from an ethnic and linguistic minority in the south,
causing the names to sound quite alien to the Aelvarians. Mainly due to the foreign
pronunciations, the Aelvarians have never formed a strong cultural connection with
their calendar much like the Talese have for theirs. Due to this, after the Angrimmian
revolution and recreation the calendar under ‘anti-imperialist’ names. The many
rebellious and anti-Aelvarian citizens across the Empire began using this calendar as a
sign of resistance against the centralized government, so it has spread to poorer
communities. Due to its high use amongst the poor population, it has gained a
reputation synonymous with the poorly educated. Most of the Angrimmian Calendar, as
it is officially called, is nearly identical to the Aelvarian calendar, except for the days of
the week that now match a dialect much more similar to the people. The first Emperor of
Angrimm adopted International’s days of week for the name, though his strong disdain
for Niobassh led him to changing Restday to Rhesusday, naming it after himself. In
succeeding him, Emperor Tallus felt that his name should also be memorialized into the
calendar, though he didn’t want to replace the founder’s name, so he changed the first
day of the week to Tallusday. Thus was born an imperial tradition, naming the next
unnamed day of the week after yourself. Since there have only been four emperors, there
are three open slots (still using the International days). It is the curiosity of many what
the Imperial Family will do after the seventh Emperor and there are no names left. The
Angrimm calendar is now, from first to last:, Tallusday, Ciceroday, Visselday, Epday,
Rainday, Marcoday (named after Rhesus’s half-brother to replace the religiously charged
Marystday),and Rhesusday. Though the Angrimmian calendar uses the same month
names as International, emperor Rhesus removed Niobassh month for similar
secularization reasons as the removal of Restday and Martyrday. For international trade
and diplomacy, most countries use a modified version of the Aelvarian calendar, with the
days of the week more easily understandable to foreign cultures. In International, the
days of the week are Soulsday, Prullday (named after the inventor of International),
Kneboliteday/Cowday (Originally named Kneboliteday, it was later changed to Cowday
to appeal to broader cultures. Nevertheless, some still call it Kneboliteday while some call
it Cowday. Named after the famous Knebolite rocks of the White Crags, many in the far
east found it confusing and cumbersome to pronounce. It was changed to Cowday after
a now antiquated Aelvarian custom involving the slaughter of cows. An old wives tale
playfully suggests that the men of the Aelvarian Empire thought it disrespectful to milk a
cow on any day but Cowday, thus Cowday was born, though it is an obvious myth. This
myth is mainly spread throughout Lu’An, where the Aelvarians have a reputation for
being incompetent), Epday (no one quite knows why Prull named the fourth day of the
International week Epday, and it has been a source of debate for generations), Rainday
(At the time, it was considered bad luck for it to rain on Petee, so the International
equivalent was named after the superstition, though it has now been seen as a sign of
fortune and divine intervention for it to rain on rainday), Martyrday (Also known as
Martyrday by the youth, it is named after Martyr Maryst, a love of the inventor of
International Julius Prull), and Restday. To further appeal to far distant traders, Prull
changed the name of the months to be less Niobashh-mythos centric. The new months
are named the following, from first to last: Frostmelt, Plowstart, Warmbreeze,
Flowerblossom, Brightsun, Lunarshine (originally called Niobashh but replaced after the
introduction of Niobassh’T), Foreverlight, Harvestcome, Chillwind, Lastlight, Winterfall,
Deepfrost, Niobashh’T. (Niobassh’T was added far after Prull’s death directly after its
addition to the traditional Aelvarian Calendar by a unanimous vote of the Prull
Committee). Their landscape is dotted with exceptionally large cathedrals dedicated to
Niobassh. 3,000 years after its founding, Aelvaria, the founding city 0f the Empire, still
exists. Not only does it still exist, but it has become the most powerful city of Angronnia,
home to an immense amount of people. The trade hub of the world and a sprawling
metropolis made up of millions of yearly immigrants, its languages, cultures, and
architect are a microcosm for all of Angronnia, with Lizardmen, Helens, Raptor
Wranglers, and nearly every other culture of the continent making up the population.
More recently, a series of tumultuous events has led to the downfall of the Empire.
Firstly, anti-Clergy and anti-Imperial sentiment has been growing for a while now,
especially in territories like Angrrim which were devastated by the Great Heresy.
Secondly, a strange disease spread amongst many of the plants of the Northeast,
nicknamed the Breadbasket of Angronnia. Though its origins are shrouded in mystery,
the disease was very similar to Zombification, at least in results, mutating plants into
humanoid, albeit braindead and barely functional, zombies hungry for nutrition. Not
only did this plant-zombie altercation cause the loss of many lives and the calling in of
many Holy Orders (especially the Order of the Undying Rose), but it caused a massive
famine, taking the lives of millions of peasants. Thirdly, the people of Angrrim, already
angry about the Emperor and the Clergy because of the destruction caused by the Great
Heresy, felt that the mass famine was the last straw, and revolted, quickly storming their
capital and taking over Angrrim. Opposed to god worship, viewing it as a tool for
corruption, oppression, and control, they inadvertently created a highly militaristic
proto-fascist society that will arrest and possibly execute you for alleged god worship.
Their military campaign for independence was shockingly successful, leaving them with
a frankly terrifying army of Black Knights, a powerful force of powerful and often-times
magical warriors wearing all black armor and fiery weaponry. This is a very abridged
version of their history, culture, motivations, and society, and a more in-depth one can
be found below, but suffice it to say, this was a major blow for the Empire. This was the
first Magnar to be lost in a number of centuries, and it freaked out the oblivious
noblemen who were completely unaware of any resentment amongst the peasants.
Fourthly, following the Angrimmian Revolution, the paranoid elite began largely
increasing the size of the Empire’s army and introduced new laws, limiting the size of
the Magnar’s armies. This not only offended the Magnar’s, who felt that their rights as
independent rulers were once again being encroached on, but the populus who felt like
the Empire was trying to take control. With the armies of the Empire largely being
centralized, the drafted combatants no longer felt a sense of patriotism for their army,
not caring too much about some Imperial Authority, at least compared to their devotion
to their hometowns. Fifthly, and this one is very recent, a massive plague struck the
land. Unprepared, and frankly unable to do anything, the plague ravaged the lands. 45%
of the Empire’s population died, a staggering number. Most jobs left unfulfilled, the
economy crashed, and it wasn’t helped by the paranoid Emperor’s refusal to downsize
the army (which was, at this point, bankrupting the Empire). This is also an extremely,
and I do mean extremely, abridged version of the plague’s history and its long lasting
effect. This is a very important event and will be explained thoroughly in the Plagling
section, a creature created from the mass graves of fallen citizens. Lastly, the outbreak of
war with the İhsan Empire was the final straw. The Great War of İhsan succession, or the
Great Süleyminç war as it was known at the time, was a region-wide war over the
succession of Emperor Hazım III of the İhsan Empire. The İhsani Sultanate was a large
empire east of the Aelvarian Empire that stretched as far east as the [PLACEHOLDER
NAME: INDIAN PRINCIPALITIES] and as far South West as [PLACEHOLDER NAME:
Morocco] with tributary states stretching even farther. Though the Aelvarian and İhsani
Sultanate had been historical rivals for many centuries, the reign of Hazım I ushered in
an age of diplomacy and reconciliation. The treaty of West Timur relinquished most of
the İhsani claims over Calla and the treaty of Ünyay, signed under the reign of Hazım II
‘The Aelvarian,’ guaranteed Aelvarian trade rights through the İhsani Sultanate to Lu’An
in return for the Technmen entering the İhsani Sultanate’s sphere of ‘influence’. Though
Hazım III ‘The Pragmatic’ introduced a few Anti-Aelvarian policies, relations between
the İhsani Sultanate and the Aelvarian Empire remained largely cordial. After Hazım
III’s death, Hazım IV succeeded him. An infant, the many nobles of the Empire gathered
to discuss a possible regent. Süleyminç, the well connected cousin of Hazım III and an
outspoken critic of Hazım III’s pro-Aelvarian policies, was the natural selection. Though
regents are typically supposed to be castrated to prevent ulterior motives (to prevent him
from having offspring who could benefit from his decisions), Süleyminç simply refused,
and, mostly due to his popularity amongst the noblemen, they simply obliged. Due to his
strong Anti-Aelvarian ideals, the Aelvarian Empire was wary of him as regent, so
attempted to sign many treaties with the İhsani Sultanate to cement their relations and
prevent aggression, though each treaty, likely due to the corrupt meddling of Süleyminç,
was refused. The following year, whether truly an accident or murder by Süleyminç,
child Emperor Hazım IV died. The next day, Süleyminç gave a somber speech to a crowd
of noblemen. At the end of speech, he promised to maintain order by crowning himself
Emperor (becoming Süleyminç II). Though the crowd cheered with much enthusiasm
and the many vassals of the west were overjoyed (due to their belief that the previous
Emperor’s policies had encroached on their rights and made them economically weak),
many noblemen in the Empire were outraged. A month after crowning himself Empire,
a faction of two dozen noblemen, mostly from the east of the empire, demanded his
resignation and the crown’s immediate passing to Hazım IV’s brother, Ünyay, who they
felt was the rightful successor. After Süleyminç (II) refused to abdicate, most of the
Empire’s various vassal states rose up in rebellion. Due to his anti-Aelvarian rhetoric, he
managed to secure the western vassals’ loyalty. Once the central Angronnian hub for
trade, the İhsani Sultanate has become a shell of its former self (economically speaking).
The citizens felt this deeply and desperately wanted to be wealthy again. To remedy this,
Süleyminç II announced his strategy to bring the İhsani Sultanate back to its former
greatness and had it widely circulated around the Empire. His plan was bold and incited
much tension across the region. He declared that in order to make the İhsani Sultanate
rich again, it had to assert its dominance over the region's trade routes and reconquer its
‘rightful territory.’ In order to do this, he needed to rebuild the Green Legion (the name
for its central army) back to its former glory. Then he needed to renationalize the trade
routes to Lu’An. Finally, he needed to reconquer the Technmen, the [PLACEHOLDER:
Indians], the [PLACEHOLDER: Persians], and much of northern Tiliaq land, all of which
he argued was rightfully İhsani land. Himself a Callan, he was never shy about
‘liberating’ the Callese from ‘Aelvarian oppression.’ This rhetoric invigorated the İhsani,
so they flocked to his army in droves after the outbreak of the civil war. After nine
months of warfare, with the hordes of motivated İhsani citizens, Süleyminç II ‘The
Populist’ had pushed beyond the highly-populated and rich west, which had remained
loyal to him, and was now fighting in the rural east. As the war dragged on and
Süleyminç II seemed closer and closer to victory, the united Technmen coalition, fearful
of Süleyminç’s reconquering vision, launched a preemptive attack on Süleyminç II.
Though their initial campaign into Southwest İhsan was largely successful, sacking the
city of Fatmüd, their fate was reversed when, to the surprise of the top Technmen
generals, Süleyminç II redeployed a sizable portion of the Green Legion, currently
fighting in the civil war, to the Technmen invasion. After a crushing defeat at the second
battle of Fatmüd, the United Technmen forces were routed all the way back to their
home. As the united army was trying to recover, the top generals from each Technmen
country agreed less and less, their own motivations getting in the way of unity. Slowly,
the generals started working more and more independently and the army eventually
broke down into several fully independent armies, with almost no communication or
teamwork. At the siege of Akçayurtaç, two formerly united armies even engaged in
hostilities, largely due to personal grievances between the generals. Independent and
disorganized, the Technmen armies were easy to crush. Each Techmen nation quickly
conceded, allowing the complete annexation or subjugation of their land. Over the
course of the invasion of Technmen land, Süleyminç II sacked and pillaged as much land
as possible to force a quick surrender. With many Technmen citizens (and even
Biologicals) continuing to fight, albeit asymmetrically, after the surrender of their
leaders, Süleyminç II could not withdraw his troops fully, so the civil war was prolonged.
The Grand Supreme of Tialiqu, hearing that, what is to them, a mostly unknown and far
away power promising to invade their northern tributaries, decreed that their northern
subjects begin rapid militarization. Süleyminç II, hearing of this, decided to seize his
brief window of opportunity and launched a full-scale invasion across many northern
tributaries, diverting many of the soldiers fighting the civil war and putting down
technmen revolts. The countless naval invasions were mostly successful, allowing for
Süleyminç II to push deep past many of the initial military targets. During this
campaign, an İhsani regiment accidentally pillaged a Tah’ta city, a neutral Serpentfolk
city, mistakenly believing it to be a tributary of Tiliaqu. This outraged the Serpenrfolk
populace who demanded Lord Zzah’ta declare war, which he promptly did. Around this
time, Ünyay succumbed to tuberculosis, an ailment he had struggled with for a long
time. His son, Hazım V, succeeded him, quickly becoming known as Hazım V ‘The
Unready.’ With many ties to the formerly İhsani-colonized [PLACEHOLDER NAME:
NORTHWESTERN INDIA] and [PLACEHOLDER NAME: PERSIA], he convinced their
leaders to join in the war on his side, though a few of their rivals took this chance to
invade them by supporting Süleyminç II in the civil war. After months of Süleyminç II’s
largely ‘yesman’ generals scapegoating the various Techdragon militias’ support for the
Technmen insurgents' success, Süleyminç II ordered the invasion of the neighboring
Techdragon kingdoms, where they were likely headquartered. Though the small
Techdragon kingdoms were quickly capitulated, an act which drew international
condemnation, it worried the Concordians, who feared that their nearby colonial
possessions would be attacked much like the Grand Supreme of Tiliaqu’s tributaries
were. To combat this, the Concordians sent over massive amounts of soldiers to defend
the land. Over the next few months, several small-scale skirmishes would occur. Despite
these skirmishes, the Concordians attempted to retain their cordial relations with the
İhsani Sultanate through the continued export of Knebolite, crucial to the İhsani war
effort. Relations were drastically deteriorated when General Theodore, an overly
ambitious man assigned to defend [PLACEHOLDER NAME: Concordian Dune Colony],
launched a full scale attack into İhsani territory. Though no one quite knows his motives,
he was convicted of treason and sabotage and sentenced to death. After this incident, in
order to normalize relations, the Concordians agreed to logistically support the İhsani by
temporarily handing over their colony for the course of the war, though they still
remained largely neutral in the conflict. As the scale of the war grew, so did the fervor of
the people, and they continued to flock to Süleyminç II’s green horde in increasingly
large numbers. Though the İhsani Sultanate largely worshiped Niobassh, they did so in
ways considered heretical by most of the Aelvarian clergy, so the clergy took advantage
over the İhsani momentary weakness and launched eight small scale invasions into the
İhsani Sultanate, seven of which succeeded, each capturing strategic strongholds. After
İhsani relations with Concordia renormalized and the arms race fizzled out, Süleyminç
II’s redeployed most troops garrisoned near the Concordian colony, some troops from
the civil war, and most troops from the invasion of Northern Tialiqu (as it had largely
stalled into a stalemate) to the border with the Aelvarian Empire Suddenly, Süleyminç
II’s green legion counterattacked into the clergy’s conquered castles and strongholds.
Later that day, shocked by the murder of clergymen, Arch Patriarch Peter II gave a
rousing speech to many high-ranking clergymen promising the start of a holy war more
total than any before it, pledging the complete annihilation of İhsani heresy. The next
day, Emperor Dragases XIV followed and declared war on the İhsani Sultanate. Though
both the clergy and central government were fighting the İhsani Sultanate, the officials
on both sides were more focused on the power struggle between the two than fighting
the İhsan. The central government had long feared that clergy was getting far too
powerful, and the clergy had long felt that the central government was continually
impeding their holy acts. Additionally, considering that the holy orders were larger and
paid better than the Central Army, most clergy considered those who decided to go with
the Central Army to be Niobassh-haters. The holy order of the Sanctity Rose planned to
bring a swift conclusion to the war by liberating the northern tributaries and Technmen,
though the central government forbade this, believing it would alienate the
non-Niobassh worshiping populace of the region into rebelling. Outraged, the Order of
Sanctity Rose’s patriarch ordered the attack despite the central government’s orders. As
news of the illegal attack hit the Central Government, they, to the shock of many,
instated a blockade on their own troops, stopping all supply from reaching the Holy
Order of Sanctity Rose. After their swift retreat (mostly due to the self-imposed
blockade), Emperor Dragases XIV had the Order’s patriarch excommunicated and
forbade all participating soldiers from ever entering Martyrdom. Outraged, most of the
holy orders rebelled, so the Central Government quickly rescinded the excommunication
and martyrdom ban, though they never reinstated Sisinnius as patriarch of the Order of
the Sanctity Rose. After a year or so of brutal warfare, the Aelvarians (both the central
authority and the clergy) had pushed quite close to the İhsani capital. Around this time,
three strategies were routinely brought up. The first was to simply continue the slow and
methodical push towards the capital. Though this was almost guaranteed to succeed, it
was very unpopular due to its time requirement, time the already crumbling empire
couldn’t spare. The second strategy was the Central Army’s preferred strategy, to secure
naval dominance over the White Crags sea (where most of the occupied territory on
either side was located), blockade all shipments of Knebolite to the İhsan Empire,
therefore removing their ability to produce magical weapons, and fund the İhsani’s
many opponents (Hazım VI, Hazım V’s brother who had to largely replace him after his
numerous injuries crippled his administrative capabilities, the northern Lizardfolk
tributaries, Serpertfolk guerrilla fighters, Technmen and Techdragon Freedomfighters,
and the various aquatic kuo-toan tribes who were occupied in order to secure important
logistical pathways). In theory, this would cripple their ability to wage war from the
inside out. The third strategy, this one preferred by the clergy, was to secure the sea and
invade many of their coastal holdings, opening up many new frontlines, spreading their
army thinner and thinner until their entire frontline collapses. After near endless
debating, the two factions of the army agreed to the clergy’s strategy. After a long naval
campaign, the Aelvarians had largely secured dominance over the White Crags Sea. On
the day of the first invasion of an occupied northern tributary state, Emperor Dragases
XIV, still reluctant to follow the clergy’s plan, decided to implement his plan without so
much as a word to the clergy. He ordered the occupation of Catro and demanded
Concordia cease all relations with İhsani and halt all Knebolite exports. Though the
halflings of Catro were unable to put up any organized resistance, the Concordians did
not fold, continuing to export Knebolite to the İhsani. Outraged, Emperor Dragases XIV
‘The Petty’ (today known as ‘The Horrible’) declared war on Concordia. To his shock, the
industrialized army of Concordia, far outclassing the heavy cavalry and
greatsword-wielding men-at-arms of the Aelvarian army, quickly pushed into the
Aelvarian Empire. The clergy reluctantly had to withdraw their troops from the sea
invasions to the Concordian frontline to prevent a complete collapse. This was the final
straw for the already furious clergymen. The Order of the Sanctity Rose marched to
Aelvaria and surrounded the capital, demanding the Emperor relinquish all control over
the centralized army (integrating it into the Order of the Sanctity Rose) and reinstating
Sisinnius, who had become a deeply popular symbol of the clergy-led Anti-Central
Authority movement, as Co-Patriarch (the current Patriarch did not march his army to
Aelvaria to be replaced, but he was far too unpopular, with the holy warriors viewing him
as a puppet to the central government, to rule over his order any longer). The Emperor,
not wanting to be cleansed, conceded his army, becoming mostly ceremonial. With
Sisinnius reinstated, due to the Order of the Sanctity Rose’s sheer size after the
integration of the central army, there were effectively two leaders of the clergy, and by
extension, especially with most powers of the Emperor conceded, the country; the
Archpriest and Patriarch Sisinnius of the Order of the Sanctity Rose. After three years of
warfare, the Concordians agreed to a white peace, fearing another class revolt, leaving
the Aelvarians to fully target the İhsan Empire. Unfortunately for the Aelvarians, far too
long had passed, and Süleyminç II had mostly won the civil war and consolidated his
army, now far more ready to take on the Aelvarian threat. After the initial Aelvarian
attack, the İhsan Empire counterattacked deep into the Aelvarian Empire, sacking
several important cities. The clergy’s inability to defend effectively was partly due to
Emperor Dragases XIV’s continued attempts at meddling in the army’s tactics. With
citizens dying in battle, the economy collapsed after the recent and devastating plague,
and the war being lost, the people were outraged. Even more outraged was Patriarch
Sisinnius, who had become the most powerful and influential man in the empire and
believed that the Emperor was to blame for the military defeats. No one will ever know
quite what happened, but we do know that Emperor Dragases XIV and Patriarch
Sisinnius had some sort of meeting and directly afterwards the emperor abdicated his
title. In his last act as Emperor, he destroyed the title of Emperor. After 3,000 years, the
last Emperor had abdicated, and with it the Empire had ceased to exist. Shortly after
this, likely to preserve his fledgling Empire, Süleyminç II agreed to a ceasefire. For more
on Süleyminç II, how the Technmen remained independent, how the [PLACEHOLDER
NAME: Morocco] has remained a territory of the İhsan Empire, and what has happened
in [PLACEHOLDER NAME: Persia], see İhsan Empire. The very large region is now made
up of thousands of completely independent high noblemen, with no Emperor to keep
them allied. The region now resembles medieval Europe, with countless numbers of
Magnarrs, Vorrs, and other titles all vying for power in an intense game of thrones,
titles, and nobles. Though the Empire and its laws are dead, the Clergy still exists, and is
stronger than ever. Despite the countries being fully independent and often-times
warring, the clergy exists as almost a dual country with every country in the region. A
last artifact of the Empire, it is despised and many countries fight war with it to abolish
it from its sovereign soil, though they rarely succeed, facing harsh punishments. The
Estbow family is still very powerful due to the number of titles it and its many cadet
branches hold in the region.
● Tree Aelves. Evolved from an Aelven Mutation, Tree Aelves are tall creatures with lanky
bodies. They’re bodies made out of wood, they have a very tough exterior. They dwell in
large and dense forests that resemble the pacific northwest. They are famously peaceful,
with pacifistic societies devoid of borders, hate, money, and possessions. The forests the
Tree Aelves dwell in are Matteria weak spots, areas where the boundary between the
Immateria and Matteria are unstable. If you can find a way to hop the weaker border,
you are in a strange fusion world of the Matteria and the Immateria occupying one
space. This world appears like the Matteria, with the same structures, layout, and laws,
but acts like the Immateria, with everything being amplified by thought. For example, if
the collective unconscious of the local people all believed a certain mushroom to be
delicious, it's extremely delicious, and if the collective unconscious believes it to be
monstrous, it is a terrifying and alive monster shroom. This fusion area, often called the
Far World (although one is typically said to be in the Interim whilst residing in the Far
World), is typically characterized by fantastical flowers, many new colors, and
fantastically psychedelic plants, animals, and buildings. The Far World exists as a
modified version of the Matteria. After entering the Far World, it essentially ‘refreshes.’
In the process of doing so, it ‘forgets’ the modifications made whilst others were
previously in the Far World. In the Matteria, the vast societies of the Tree Aelves appear
as drab staircases winding up large trees with the occasional landing atop the tree for a
simply gray structure, but in the Far World the cities appear as the Tree Aelves like to
believe they are, beautiful cities full of lights and festivities. The Wood Aelves almost
never spend time in the Matteria, so they don't bother building civilization in the
Matteria. As such, their grand cities are nearly invisible, and almost impossible to track
down. In the ancient times, the local Tree Aelves discovered a rare mushroom that, when
fused with the blood of Aelven sorcery (Draconic Blood also works but can have some
unpredictable effects), sent them to Far World. This discovery, with the rare mushroom
local to the Tree Aelves forest (often called Forest of the Mushrooms). The way the Far
World ‘refreshes’ (refreshing when people stop experiencing locations and ‘refreshing’ as
people set eyes upon the geographic location again) means that Tree Aelves are often
stationed in certain areas to keep that Far Worldn area constant. Tree Aelves are also
often, though for the opposite reasons, sent away from an area when they want it reset to
be more like the Matteria. Despite the incredible openness of the Tree Aelves,
immigration to the Mushroom Forest is quite low because of a large stigma against Tree
Aelv society, with its lack of possessions, ownership, and armies. Not only do the Tree
Aelves live in perfect harmony with their fellow forest-dwelling animals (with Tree Aelves
having the Speak with Animal cantrip thanks to their Aelven sorceries), a great
understanding and respect for all the world’s gods, and often mentally project
themselves into the Immateria, but they completely lack racism, and they
mathematically cannot have it. All Tree Aelves are born the same skin color, a birch-like
wood. As Tree Aelves age, their skin color darkens, so a Tree Aelv’s age can easily be
discerned from its skin color. The fashion of Tree Aelv’s has been constant for many
centuries, with flower-adorned robes and implanted gray beards, themselves incapable
of growing hair. As such, their hair is also highly fancy and braided. Their clothing also
lacks much color, typically made of just one or two types of leaves and wood. Their
complex language has 5 genders, (1 for both male and female newborns, 1 for a male
child, 1 for a female child, 1 for an adult male, and 1 for an adult female) and the females
tend to run the society. Though they only have one unique language, it is two separate
written languages. Traditionally, Traelvin is written in ᛗᚠᛤᛘᚱ (roughly translated to
Traelnt due to its Ent origins). Traelnt is carved into the local wood. As such, it is made
of abstract and angular shapes, the easiest way to engrave writing. The other written
form is ᬍᬜ (translating to Modern), written on leaves. It is relatively new and made for
trade. As such, it is made to be more compatible with the paper-written languages of
beyond. Due to it being written on leaves, it cannot have the angular shapes of Traelnt,
as it would be nightmarish to write on a leaf. Instead, it is written with round and
cursive-like letters. Regardless of Traelnt or Modern, the language is made up of six
letters. Each letter has a different sound, making up the core of the languages. There are
roughly 12 marks which can be added onto any letter, denoting a pronunciational
difference, so there are 72 different letter-sound combinations. For example, if ᛘ means
the sound ‘AH’ and two dots above a letter means it is stressed, then someone unfamiliar
with the language can still determine the pronunciation of the letter as it is built in.
Using these 6 letters and 12 pronunciation modifiers, entire words are strung together.
In Traelvin, there is no uncertainty with word pronunciation, as each letter’s phonetic
instructions are built into each letter of the word. Though the male Tree Aelves are by no
means unintelligent, the females of the species are definitely smarter. Despite most of
the very, very few Tree Aelven soldiers being male, the male of the species isn’t any
stronger or weaker than the female of the species. Male Tree Aelves, on the other hand,
do tend to have stronger sorceries. Despite the cultural differences, it can be difficult to
differentiate between male and female Tree Aelves, with the Tree Aelves packing any
physical differences except for reproductive organs, with the Tree Aelven infants lacking
the need for milk. Though Tree Aelves have a lifespan of thousands of years, they rarely
live such a long life. You see, living in the Far World has its drawbacks, and the physical
body starts to be affected after about a thousand years in the Far World. This initially
causes fissures between their physical form and the world. For the first couple hundreds
of years, this manifests as lightning springing from their body. At will, and sometimes
without control, lightning flies out from their body, typically just from their hands,
though the capability slowly travels up their arms as the ‘Ghostly Infection’ spreads. As
Tree Aelves use their lightning, it slowly chars their wooden skin, so after a few decades
of this they possess brittle, burnt black skin around their hands and arms. After
spending more time in the Far World, their body and its connection to the matteria
further weakens and their skin is slowly replaced by a ghostly translucent blue. This is
both a sign of wisdom and imminent death. This disconnect of truth and thought gives
these Aelves more wisdom, allowing them to view the entire universe from a new
perspective. Unfortunately, this spells doom. At this point, the ghostliness is irreversible
and will only get worse. Eventually, their entire bodies will have disappeared. In these
last few years, these Tree Aelves, renowned as Elders, are some of the wisest and most
sought after individuals in the continent. There is a variation of lichdom, covered in the
Lichdom notes, that requires individuals to enter this state. The Tree Aelves harmonious
utopia of flowers, love, and sharing is not long for the Earth, with many existential
threats to it appearing in the last couple years. First, the arrival of the Biomass affected
the Tree Aelves far more than the rest of the Overworld. Entire Megatrees, colossally
large trees which were hollowed out and settled in, were covered and taken over by the
Biomass, some being taken over by Morphlings. Secondly, Plantgeists, as described in
the Aelvarian Empire, are similar to a zombie infection, being waves of plants turned
into humanoids, looking like undead and shambling plant people who hunger only for
humanoids and other plants, turning them into more creatures just like them. The blood
of these Geists become like weeds, being tiny plants that spread rapidly, spreading their
ailment to new settlements. Thirdly, the Tree Aelv’s polytheism has gone on for far too
long, as far as the Holy Orders of the Aelvarian Empire is conquered, so there has been a
religious invasion of the Forest of Mushrooms for a few years. These holy orders,
especially the Order of the Sanctity Rose, have been using fire to burn down the Tree
Aelv’s forests, circumnavigating their guerilla tactics. Despite the tiny military of the
overwhelmingly pacifistic society, the Tree Aelv’s military has a terrifying reputation.
There’s a well known saying that if you encounter a Tree Aelv soldier, it’s already too late,
and you and your entire battalion is dead. The Tree Aelves do not fight in traditional
manners, instead using advanced guerrilla warfare tactics by entering the Far World,
only reentering the Matteria when their enemy is cornered. That is what makes fighting
the Tree Aelves so difficult, their cities and armies are in an entirely different dimension,
watching you, until suddenly they all appear and destroy you when you least expect it.
Though the Tree Aelves are often quite amicable with the Entz, they are often perceived
as their mortal enemies. Entz are solitary Forest folk who appear like large animated tree
creatures. They travel in small prides and are often seen as savage and monstrous,
though they perform elaborate ceremonies at their sacred trees. They are often equated
to the Ogres of the Forest, though they are actually quite intelligent and spiritual. In
recent years, the Tree Aelves and Entz have found themselves teaming up against the
existential threats to their shared forests, the Tree Aelves finding the Entz warlike
culture, though they are typically repulsed by it, very useful in the circumstances. A
much deeper explanation can be found later. Loxodon, a type of Dragonkin, long ago
migrated and assimilated into Three Aelven culture, becoming very, very similar to the
Tree Aelves. The primary forest of both the Tree Aelves and the Entz is the deepwoods of
Salicar. Deepwoods are a rare type of forest, famed for their Tree Aelv population. The
Far World seems to be far more reachable in the Deep Woods than anywhere else, though
no one quite knows what properties of the Deepwood cause this. Deepwood trees are
monstrously tall, stretching far into the sky. If you venture into Deepwoods enough,
you’ll encounter the first ‘ring,’ a vast drop in elevation. These massive drops are not
marked by shallow slopes but steep cliffs. Most Deepwoods have 3-4 rings, though the
largest has 8. Coupled with the Deepwood’s tendency for large rivers, the world’s most
majestic waterfalls are found in the Deepwoods. Despite the fall in elevation, the height
of the forest stays more or less consistent, meaning the deeper down the trees, the taller
they are. At the first ring, the trees are no taller than that of a rainforest. At the lowest
level, the trees are truly gargantuan. Similarly, the height and general size of the trees
completely blocks sunlight into the lower rings. The lower the ring, the more dangerous
it is (at least in theory). Most Tree Aelves will only settle in the first two rings, with a few
brave frontier men settling within the third ring. Ettercap are essentially the same, only
willing to brave the first two rings. Entz find themselves in the 2nd and 3rd ring.
Anything lower than the 3rd ring is typically covered in rare resources, ones completely
untouched by civilization, but most won’t dare attempt to attain them (and frankly the
Tree Aelves are content enough to leave them alone). This hasn’t stopped a couple of
foolheaded mining teams from conducting expeditions, all of them meeting their
storied ends at the hands (or teeth as would be probable) of Spiders, Dire Wolves, and
other unspeakable monstrosities. The lower rings get more and more dangerous, but the
contents of them are far more unknown and mysterious. The 3rd and 4th rings typically
house Blights, a vile tree folk which Tree Aelves often equate to the Entz for the Entz (as
popularized in the saying, “Blights are as the Entz are to us, to the Entz”). The deepest
rings are rumored to house Drow Aelves. Most of the higher rings have vast bridges
crossing their circumference constructed by the Tree Aelves. Sadly, the lowest rings
(mostly the 5 or 6th ring of larger deepwoods) have been overtaken by the Biomass. The
deepwoods of Salicar, sort of the (cultural) capital of Tree Aelves, is the rumored home of
Rasseeka, the goddess of Spiderkind. Rasseeka is not technically a god, but she is a very
powerful mage with vast power over Spiderkind, controlling all of Salicar’s spiders.
Ettercap and Drow Aelves all worship her as the Spider Queen. Drow Aelves very much
resemble Aelves, which had led to ancestral presumptions for centuries (though they
should not be confused with Dark Aelves, the nickname for Aelves who live in the
Underworld). They exclusively inhabit the lower rings of deepwoods. All Drow Aelves
worship Rasseeka as the only true deity, with all Drow Aelven offices swearing allegiance
to Rasseeka (with varying levels of loyalty). Drow Aelv cities are adorned with stone
depictions of Rasseeka and her 12 children (Nik'zar I, Lolth I, Xarkovx I, Nik'zar II, Lolth
II, Xarkovx II, Nik'zar III, Lolth III, Xarkovx III, Nik'zar IV, Lolth IV, and Xarkovx IV)
and Rasseekas, large temples in her name. Their stone cities share a remarkable amount
of architecture with the Aelvs. Following in the footsteps of their Spider Queen, their
society is decidedly matriarchal. 99.5% of Drow Aelves have never seen sunlight, and
many (12.8%) don’t even believe in it. The only other civilized species most Drow Aelves
will ever encounter are the Tree Aelves, and even then they are quite the oddity.
Occasionally a Human or Aelv will encounter a Drow Aelv, though the encounter is
believed to be harrowing. Only few overland folks have ever laid eyes upon a Drow Aelv,
though every man and woman have heard of them. Thought of as an evil counterpart of
the Aelves, they are believed to be evil in every sense of the word. Each story of
encounters has been exaggerated for centuries, the knowledge of Drow Aelves morphing
into folklore and myths more than anything else. The beliefs about Drow Aelves varies
wildly from region to region. Some think they eat their own babies to survive, others
think they birth spiders, and some doubt their existence completely. In reality, the
settlements of Drow Aelves are rarely as monstrous as depicted, though their lives are
certainly worse than that of a human. Every year, Rasseeka hosts a tournament for the
sanctified. Held in the 8th ring of Salicar, reaching the tournament is a near
impossibility in itself. When the tournament actually begins, the one hundred
participants (first come; first serve) fight to the death, one-by-one. The winner is
sanctified, becoming a Drider, a sacred servant of Rasseeka. Being so low down,
Rasseeka was one of the first to encounter the Biomass. She’s also been perhaps the only
one to have done anything concrete to halt its advance, having declared an eternal holy
war on the Biomantic threat. Drow Aelves were long believed to be Aelves who ventured
into Rasseeka’s dungeon, though recent archeological evidence has thrown this dogmatic
belief into question. On the long abandoned island of Sca, an island deserted after a
volcano decimated the island, skeletons matching that of the Drow Aelves were found.
This island was deserted before the colonization of Angronnia, so it would make zero
sense that the Drow Aelves are Aelves who encountered Rasseeka dungeon (with it being
on the continent of Angronnia). For some reason, the Clergy of Niobassh is seemingly
trying to censor this information. Throughout the deepwoods, Dyradic eyes are said to
appear. Dryadic eyes are two flat, floating circles of golden color which appear out of the
corner of adventurers’ eyes. They’re two circles are about the distance of two eyes from
one another, creating a remarkably creepy sight. They are documentable and certainly
real, but they’ve never interacted with anything of the Matteria nor been interacted by
any Aelvenoid. In some cultures they are seen as a sign of terrible luck, an ill-omen of
dire doom. They seem to only appear in areas where venturing into the Far World is
possible. Tree Aelves who claim to have seen Dryadic Eyes in the Far World describe
them as inexplicable and world-view changing creatures of the Immateria. They are
called Dryadic Eyes due to their color similarity with the Dryads, who are coincidentally
found in the same environment, the Deepwoods.
● Halflings. Catro was once a province of Concordia. Granted autonomy due to its ethnic
minorities, the autonomous district of Carto was composed primarily of Dwarves and
Aelves. The district was made up primarily of refugees displaced by the recent conflict
with the Aelvarian Empire, causing the district to have a uniquely large anti-war
sentiment. The arrival of thousands of Tree Aelven refugees, displaced by the fall of the
Acrad Megatree, only strengthened their pacifistic philosophies. With Catro being
located in an extremely resource rich environment, their hive cities were being exploited
for every drop of every chemical they have. Despite being some of the most exploited and
miserable lands of the kingdom, it never saw rebellions on a scale like that of the rest of
the realm, though they were some of the least happy. One day, a local dwarven scientist
invented a new form of energy harvesting and manufacturing. Drawing from Niobassh’s
light, the new technology doesn’t create the dreaded smoke of the traditional methods.
The people, starving and sickly, saw hope in this clean technology. Thousands of them
followed the scientist to the capital. The people watched as the dwarven scientist pitched
the technology to Grand Consul Argolan T’v. Their hopes were high as the optimistic
scientist brilliantly pitched the idea, but their hopes were dashed when the Grand
Consul, without consulting the Consuls, refused to promote the new technology. The
scientist later appealed to the Consuls of Avdamoore, though they flatly refused. In the
council’s official statement, “Proclamation from manufacturing, energy consumption
technological hearing; direct decree of the council of Avdamoorian Consuls: following the edict of the
Esteemed Grand Consul T’v and the guidance of the esteemed Grand Marshal Aad of the Armed
Forces of Concordia, the Consul of Avdamoorian Consuls has issued the following ruling: Due to the
unstable and dangerous element of the ‘Niobassh energy’ technology, all further research and
implementation has been suspended until further notice. Until further notice, any research or
implementation, attempted or otherwise, will be considered a treasonous act and tried
correspondingly.” The decree did nothing but fuel the rage of the hopeful citizens of Catro.
And not a single citizen of Catro believed the ‘unreliable’ and ‘dangerous’ excuse, they
knew the truth, each and every consul of Concordia is heavily invested in traditional
tech, and any change could be catastrophic to their bank accountants. Still, the
desperate citizens persisted, this time in secret. After months of Carto’s consul trying
and failing to crack down on the new technology, the desperate Grand Consul, with the
unanimous support of the other Consuls, stripped Catro of all its autonomy, removed its
Consul, and placed it under direct military control. Under this police state, the new
technology was violently cracked down and many were massacred. The majority of the
province’s people, hopes washed away and stomach’s empty, began one of the largest
migrations in history. Over 70% of the province’s population fled to Stonegrave, a
depopulated island taken out by a series of harsh volcanic eruptions. The island, in the
middle of the White Crags. The White Crags is the largest lake of Angronnia. It has
historically been the most important area to control as most trade traveled through it.
On the west side west is the Concordians, the north is the Aelvarian’s, the Southeast is
the Technmen, the southwest is the [Placeholder name: Dune], and the Northeast is the
[Placeholder name: Ottoman]. All of these massive cultures, and their ancient
counterparts, controlled most of the power, and the second Aelven center of wealth, the
far east, traded through the [Placeholder name: Ottoman Empire] and hugged the coast
of the White Crags. Due to it being the world’s trade center, sailing throughout the
White Crags is an easy way to come across thousands of cultures. Most of the world’s
richest cities are also located near the White Crags. The White Crags are a large, mostly
inland sea. The coasts are large steeped, white crags which sharply slope down to
aggressive waves hitting against large white boulders, giving the sea the nickname “The
White Crags.” These large white, powdery rocks littering the coasts are made of
Knebolite, a material used for the enchantment of magically enchanted weapons and
armor. Raw Knebolite extracted from the rocks must be manually broken down through
a long process to be used, but the waves will, overtime, break down parts of the rocks
into easily-extractable pieces, which will inevitably wash up on the shore. Many
desperate sailors and farmers alike can be seen searching the coast for any sign of
washed up Knebolite, an instant pass to wealth. After moving to the island of
Stonegrave, which they named New Catro, the Dwarven, Aelven, and Human species
began to breed, and created the Halfling. For most generations, halfling was a slur used
to insult dwarven-Aelves, but recently the Halflings began using it as a word of pride.
Though the younger generations refer to themselves as halflings, the older generations
still see it as an insult, so it is proper to refer to older halflings as Dwarven-Aelves,
Dwarven-Humans, etc. It is debated the etymology of Halfling, with some believing it
refers to the short height of Halflings, roughly half the height of traditional Aelvenoids,
but others argue it refers to their half Aelven, half Dwarven origins. Their society was
built around this new, clean tech, so their society resembles that of solarpunk
architecture. Their buildings are made to appear organic and natural, so the roofs and
windows of their buildings are topped with grass and plants. Their power is derived
from large ‘Niobassh Receivers,’ large blimps covered in the receivers. The receivers take
in the light from Niobassh and convert it into a usable sludge. The process was invented
by a scientist who specialized in photosynthesis, so it should come as no surprise that
they’re similar to plants. These large blimps float around the cities, their exterior covered
in grass, plants, and flowers. Inside of them are complex machinery and residents who
live and work to maintain the blimps. Each and every house has receivers on them, but
they are far less efficient than the blimps as they are far lower down. Dwarven societies
appreciate nature, self-reliance, and sustainability.
● İhsani Sultanate. Ma’arja is a prominent religion stretching as far west as the Jannari
peoples and as far east as the Shuhad river and the many Akhfari kingdoms. Ma’arjis are
the worshipers of prophet Ma’arj. Ma’arj was a popular disciple of Asa, a now disgraced
preacher of Niobassh famed for his controversial teachings. He betrayed the clergy when
he alleged that Niobassh had selected him as the next prophet. Ma’arj claimed to have
received three commandments: Niobassh is destined to replace Yothrigurr as the world’s
central god, so the worship of Yothrigurr and all non-Niobassh gods is blasphemous and
worthy of severe punishment; Niobassh created man and woman for love and
procreation, so marriage before Niobassh is essential before any intimate acts.
Therefore, it is immoral to exhibit a high level of indecency to strangers, a crime worthy
of harsh punishment. This high level of decency expects all men and women to be
covered head to toe, with nothing visible but the face, hands, and feet. Being unfaithful
to one's spouse is a crime worthy of no less than death. The purpose of marriage is a
sacred one, to procreate once inside of Niobassh. Because of this, women are expected to
commit suicide upon there husband’s death. For the same reason, men, depending on
the culture and local religious norms, are encouraged to take on as many wives as
possible, so long as they are of age (9) and legally faithful. A woman is considered legally
faithful so long as she has never been charged of a faithfulness crime. Faithfulness
crimes are sentenced by the local town’s Committee of Faithfulness. An act of
unfaithfulness is considered any act done against a husband which breaks the
sacredness of marriage. Allegations of unfaithful activities are alleged by the husband
and approved/disapproved by the local Committee of Faithfulness, though an allegation
hasn’t been denied in decades. Technically, there is no rule prohibiting a woman from
alleging their husband’s faithlessness, though it is extremely rare and rarely permitted,
though when it is it makes regional news. Unfaithful women are unofficially labeled into
one of three categories according to the severity of their crime: White Wife if they were
caught skimping on household duties, Red Wife if they were caught appearing in an
indecent manner to another man (though this does not include explicitly sexual acts,
that is explained later) or physically harmed harming their husband, and Black Wife if
they were caught engaging in sexual activity with another man; Niobassh needs to be
maintained as the most prestine god for centuries to come. It is therefore necessary to
show total devotion to Niobassh. This is done through regular prayer, traditionally
observed every day before dawn, at high noon (when Niobassh is at her highest), and at
sunset. These prayers last 5 minutes and must be performed in Harakish, the language
of the Harak desert peninsula. These prayers must be completed facing Niobassh.
Additionally, in order to preserve Niobassh’s holiness, monumental cities and Muqdarrs
must be erected in Niobassh’s name. These cities and Muqdarrs (sacred sites of worship)
are to be maintained until the destruction of the Matteria brought on by Niobassh.
Ma’arj designated 6 sites to become Holy Cities: Fatmüd was designed to act as the first
Holy City. Sitting just northeast of Tecca, it is situated along the White Crags Sea. Being
the first holy city, it united the Ma’arji people and saw vast migration. It is world famous
for its awe-inspiring architecture and towering Golden Muqdarr, its shining spire
perfectly designed to align with Niobassh during high noon; Al-Istikhara (literally
meaning The Divination/Divine Guidance in Harakish) is said to be the location of
Ma’arj’s first divine commandment. Due to its infertile location in the Harak desert, it is
sparsely populated, at least relative to the holy cities, lived in only by the most pious
Ma’arjis. Being the first sign of Niobassh’s revelations, it is believed that one must visit it
in order to enter Niobassh with the perks of being a Ma’arji, so in many religious sects a
pilgrimage to Al-Istikhara is mandatory and traveled by every Ma’arji; Haram was the
third holy city, located in Tecca. Haram is the second most populated of the holy cities. It
is dedicated to Martyrs, both warriors and wives who sacrificed themselves after their
husband’s death. When a soldier or wife (though they must be pretty well known for this)
become a martyr, they are supposed to be buried in Haram, where the locals submit to
the fallen weekly. No enslaved biologicals are allowed to step foot in Haram; Sharifaya
was built on the Jannari Coast. Initially lowly populated, it saw much migration after the
Aurelian Empire banished the local Ma’arjis; Qoyahd was centered around Ma’arj’s home.
Because of that, it is located in the east of the Aelvarian Empire. For similar reasons, it
has never had a Caliph. It has long been a source of geopolitical tension and cause of
endless wars due to its contentious location. It is heavily fortified, the most militarized
of the holy cities. It is famed for its elaborate walls and massive defensive structures.
Militaristic magic excels here, making Qoyahd the center for magical innovation in the
field of war; Baiyada was the sixth and final holy city. Located along the Shuhad river, it
is in a prime location, both for farming and trade. It is a sprawling city, the center of the
Ma’arji world and trade hub of the world. It is perhaps the most important city of
Angronnia, though Aelvaria has much to interject. The cultural aim to preserve the
message of Ma’arja has led to an impressive culture of paintings and sculpture. This had
made the Ma’arji regions famous for their world-leading art and science (a field in which
they’ve mastered, partly due to the fall of Aelvarian science caused by the Clergy of
Niobassh’s superstitions). A people of science, they invented the modern scientific
method. The Central Dunes (also known as Madidiyah by its inhabitants) is a region
stretching as far south as north east Tecca (Brummakh), as far north as Anatoly (a region
comparable to real-life Anatolia), and as far east as the mountains of the Akhfari (a
region comparable to real-life Iran). Before the rise of the Ma’arja faith, the region was
split three ways. Controlling Anatoly was the Empire of Aurel, specifically under the
administration of the Eastern Aurelian Empire (After centuries of expansion, the
Aurelian Empire split themselves into three regions. These regions were practically
independent.). During this time, the Harak (Yes, it is known as the Harak, not simply
Harak) was split between a few clans, though there were almost no real cases of
centralized government. The Shuhad river was populated by millions of Kuo-Toans,
though they were being rapidly replaced by incoming Aelv settlers. Tecca was in a similar
state as today, divided under the rule of many Emperors and Pharaohs. Lastly, not much
is known about Akhfari people and their traditions. We know that Harak raiders led to
the end of the classical Akhfari civilization, but we don't know much about their culture
and history. From recent findings, it is speculated that they once had many exceptional
towns, the buildings lined with art. Word spread quick of Ma’arj’s bold declaration. A
new religion was rapidly forming around him, and the local governments were having
none of it. After their exile, the Ma’arjis sailed across the White Crags Sea. Landing, they
began the construction of Fatmüd. Though the region had swapped hands many times
over the past few centuries, it was currently under the control of the Aurelian Empire,
under the Eastern Administration. Though Ma’arjis initially faced persecution under the
Aurelian Empire, Ma’arja ended up becoming the dominant religion of the Zaibah, the
coastal region south of Anatoly and north of Tecca (including the holy city of Fatmüd). As
the years progressed, Aurelian influence over the region softened, largely due to
Technmen incursions. Five years after Ma’arj’s death, a populist revolt cemented Zaibah
as an independent nation, one based on the principles and laws of Ma’arja. Though the
land was split between multiple Sultans (though they are commonly referred to as ‘Kings’
in Aelvaria), they each swore allegiance to Tesa, Ma’arj’s oldest son. He quickly became
known as Caliph Tesa, the successor to Ma’arj. After a couple years, Caliph Tesa, wanting
to fulfill his father’s prophecy of founding all six holy cities whilst still attempting to
consolidate his power of Zaibah, sent his brother on a mission to conquer the remote
tribes of Harak and construct the second holy city, Al-Istikhara. Seventy years later,
Bideyea, the grandson of Gelesli, the brother of Caliph Tesa, had united all of the Harak
tribes (though this only included the populated south, the empty north and east had yet
to be conquered). The start of Al-Istikhara’s construction marked the coronation of
Bideyea as Caliph. There were now two competing Caliphs, Caliph Tesa II of the Fatmüd
Caliphate, the son of Caliph Tesa, and Caliph Bideyea of the Caliphate of Al-Istikhara.
Before the first Sultan revolt, the Sultanate of Ashkah had taken over all of the other
Sultanates, meaning one central Sultanate swore allegiance to the caliph, with the many
other Sultanates swearing allegiance to the Sultan of Ashak, not to the Caliph. This
effectively meant that the Caliphate was ruled by Sultan Ctesijahd and Caliph Tesa. The
two routinely used their military prowesses to settle governmental disputes between the
two of them. This all came to a stop when Sultan Ctesijahd revolted. Not wanting to lose
favor with Niobassh, he never exiled the Caliph or imposed any harsh conditions,
instead simply mandating that the Caliph disband his military and demand that his
great nephew do the same. Not wanting to lose power, Caliph Tesa obliged. Not wanting
the same to happen to him, Caliph Bideyea scaled his army back to the palace guard.
This led to a unique system where the Caliphates had no military power, but had control
of religious law. As time would pass and the various holy cities would be founded, three
more Caliphates would be founded. For hundreds of years, these Caliphates fluidly
gained and lost territory as the Sultans who swore allegiance to them collapsed,
conquered, and switched allegiances. Most of the Caliphates were temporary, lasting
until their Caliph’s bloodline had died out or another Caliphate had completely usurped
them. Whenever a weak spot became visible, any ruler, no matter how weak his claim to
descendancy, would claim caliph status and reform one of the five Caliphates. The
largest Caliphate was the Fatmüd Caliphate, which, at its peak, stretched from Zaibah to
Dalal (or Ictan as most of the world calls it), a peninsula consisting of Concordia and the
Western Aurelian Empire. After 800 years, the Caliphate of Fatmüd, under the İhsani
Sultanate, the Tuhg Sultanate, the Sultanate of Nusabey, and the Banishtul Sultanate,
began an invasion of south eastern Anatoly, marking the beginning of the three hundred
years war. The three hundred years war is a modern-day nickname for the series of holy
wars between the Fatmüd Caliphate and the Eastern Aurelian Empire. After three
hundred years, the Eastern Aurelian Empire had completely collapsed and the İhsani
Sultanate had taken control of most of the Anatoly Peninsula. This marked the beginning
of the end for the Aurelian Empire (a process the world is still undergoing) and the rise of
the İhsani Sultanate. After so many centuries of Caliphates rising and falling, the
religious differences brought on the Caliphates differing claims and beliefs had become
clear amongst the people of the Central Dunes. The people felt that Ma’arjis of different
caliphates were heretical and were extremely hostile to any Sultanate of a differing
Caliph taking over. As the İhsani Sultanate consolidated its control over Anatoly and
expanded its borders, it faced increasing resistance from different religious sects. To
combat the religious resistance, Sultanate Erman declared that the İhsani Sultanate no
longer swore complete allegiance to the Fatmüd Caliphate. To appease the followers of
Caliph Hun, he decreed that all currently controlled lands would remain under the
control of the Fatmüd Caliphate, but all newly conquered lands would be given out to
that land’s traditional Caliphs. In a shockingly rapid few decades of conquering, the
İhsani Sultanate had conquered an extreme amount of land. After uniting Anatoly, the
İhsani Sultanate conquered most of Harak (this is when the Green Legion first made a
name for itself). After this, Sultan Erman turned his almighty gaze to the east. After
conquering Shuhad river, his forces moved swiftly in conquering much of Akhfar. This
cemented Sultan Erman as ‘The Conquer’ in the minds of those generations to come.
Over the next couple centuries, his empire would continue to expand, at its peak
controlling as far west as Jannari and reaching into [PLACEHOLDER NAME: INDIA]. It
is clear to scholars and historians alike that the golden age of the İhsani Sultanate is well
behind it. Over the last couple centuries, its power and influence over the region has
waned. The Sultanate of Jannari was conquered by the Kingdom of Concordia (See
[PLACEHOLDER NAME: DUNE PEOPLE]), the Technmen are effectively independent
after centuries of treaties and revolts, and a recent civil war rocked the İhsani Sultanate.
On the bright side, the civil war may actually spell a second golden age for the İhsani
Sultanate, for if the promises of Süleyminç II turn out to be true, the Sultanate may
never be the same again. See the Aelvarian Empire for more information on the civil war.
Outside of the already discussed Green legion, the military of the region is quite
interesting. Sticking to tradition, the armies are separated by economic class. Though
the lower class would end up becoming simplistic spearmen and other militia members,
the middle class (sailors, merchants, doctors) would typically become Furūsiyya.
Furūsiyya are cavalry warriors trained in a chivalric code. They are renowned for their
training and morals. It is rare that a Furūsiyya retires after a war, for most simply carry
on their militaristic ways, albeit off the battlefield. Furūsiyyas often take it upon
themselves to police towns and help the needy. Very similar to Furūsiyyas, the upper
class (clergyman, sultankin) become Aswārān. An Aswār either commands Furūsiyyas or
serves in the Green Legion. They are heavily armored horsemen (though depending on
the culture they sometimes ride elephants) famous for their colorful plate armor and
chainmail. It is customary to bow down to an Aswār when he walks by. As opposed to the
Furūsiyyas and Aswārān, the lower class are almost always levies, whereas the middle
and upper class typically join voluntarily.
● Kuo-Toa. Natives of Angronnia, the Kuo-Toa people long predate the arrival of the
Lizardmen and the Aelvanoids. Originating from the Shuhad river, where water and
flooding is common, they evolved aquatic traits. They are a collection of species lumped
into the term ‘Kuo-toa’ by the Aelves, not an actual race in itself. As a counter to the
Kuo-Toa label, many of them have recently begun calling themselves Angronnians, or in
their common language ‘Guamunschka,’ reflecting their status as the indigenous people
of Angronnia. Before the arrival of the Lizardmen, there was no name for the Kuo-Toa,
they were simply people. After the arrival of the Lizardmen, the Kuo-Toa started to call
themselves Aquafolk (Talia-cuashc’ka) and the Lizardmen Landfolk (Talia-Cank’co),
though Scalies was also quite common. The arrival of the Lizardmen was a peaceful one.
The lizardmen largely only colonized unsettled land and traded extensively with the
Kuo-Toa. The trade and interbreeding between the two cultures ushered in a golden age
of philosophy and technology for both, as elements from both were transferred to each
other. The breeding between the two has even created some species and hybrid cultures.
In a stark contrast, the arrival of the Aelves was marred with violence and death. Since
the discovery of Angronnia, the Aelves had believed the Kuo-Toa and Lizardmen to be
inferior to the Aelv, likening them to the Helen (who were once the pets of the Aelves) .
The Aelves immediately began plotting the destruction of the indigenous people. By
supplying them weapons, they divided them into warring with each other. By invading
and burning their cities, they began conquering them. Divided and Conquered, the
natives would slowly fall. The Aelven colonizers immediately encounter two species, the
Kuo and Toa. Thus was born Kuo-Toa, a hyphen of species, one neither the Kuo, Toa, or
the many other species lumped into the category much appreciated. Though over the
years the Aelves and the Kuo-Toa would fight back and forth, with the Aelves colonizing
their land and the Kuo-Toa raiding in a struggle for survival, the Kuo-Toa have largely
collapsed. After centuries of the Aelves burning every native artifact and razing every
city, there is almost no sign of Kuo-Toan civilization. Most of the surviving Kuo-Toans
are aquatic, able to largely escape the grasp of the Aelves. Over the many, many
centuries, Aelven views have evolved on the Lizardmen (in part by their historical
inability to colonize them), viewing them as near equals and a fascinating culture, albeit
their general knowledge of them is very limited. Sadly, the Aelven largely still see the
Kuo-Toa as savages, a war-like people who raid and conquer. Remaining land
settlements of the Kuo-Toa are sparse and rare. Long, long ago, before Niobashh’s
dominance of the sky, various devilish gods were quite powerful, though their beliefs
were quite contradictory to the largely kind gods of the Aelves (who would eventually die
out and give rise to the massive size of Niobassh). These gods would compete, trying to
spread their devilish or Aelven ideals across the primordial lands. In order to stop the
rivalry, to create a ceasefire of sorts, all the warring gods put their powers together and
made the Kuo-Toa to populate Angronnia, where much of the fighting was taking place.
These people were neither the spawn of holy gods or devilish gods, but a complete
fusion. Their souls, innately imbued with holiness, will not automatically gravitate
towards the gods, lacking a drive. Unfortunately, this means that they stay as unruly
ghosts in the area they died for eternity, bored and distraught. Fortunately, many
ceremonies exist to allow the soul to leave Matteria, with it varying from various
Kuo-Toan cultures. This is why many Kuo-Toans and sympathetic Lizardmen search the
lands for the mass graves of executed Kuo-Toans, performing ceremonies to lift them
from their curse. These saviors typically call themselves Soulsingers, with traditional
song being their most common ceremony. Though Kuo-Toans used to worship a hybrid
of the more Aelven-aligned gods and the devils, they have largely began worshiping
exclusively devils, viewing any gods who would support the Aelv’s genocide of the
Kuo-Toa as evil. The Aelves see this as an evil, a crime worthy of death. This is often used
to justify the mass persecution and execution of the Kuo-Toans. A great example of the
wars against the Kuo-Toans is the battle of Xclecian creek, the indigenous name for East
Saelvňian creek. An offensive by the Aelvarian Empire had forced the local Tecs, a now
exciting race of Kuo-Toans. The Aelvarian forces, assisted by the Order of the Eternal
Rose, quickly burnt the Tec settlement to the ground, leaving no trace of it. Of the few
remaining Tecs, all were brutally executed except the few who knew of the Tec’s armies,
though they too were brutally executed, but at a later date. The tec army had originally
planned to raid the local Aelvarian outpost, but the abundance of guards along the
nearest road forced them to reroute to the farther outpost, forcing them to use the
Xclecian river out of an abundance of caution. The Order of the Eternity Rose, following
the knowledge given to them by their Tec captives, guarded the road near the Atlaw
outputs for weeks, before executing the captives who they believed to be lying.
Fortunately, many reports had come from farmers along the Xclecian River that their
farms had been pillaged by Tecians, enabling the Order of the Eternity Rose to track
down the Tecian forces. After a few weeks of searching and evading from both armies,
the two armies had collided at Xclecian Creek. After a very intense battle in the creek,
during which many of the Tecians set themselves on fire and launched themselves into
the enemy ranks, the Order of the Eternal Rose had won the day, with no small help from
local garrison. The local commander ordered the ‘devil-worshipers’ to all be executed, so
each of the many thousands of Tecians were burnt alive, with the commanders being
hung from a burning tree. The soldiers, tired from the day’s combat, setup camp to lick
their wounds and rest for the next day’s march. The next morning, the soldiers were
shocked to be woken up by thousands of vengeful spirits, the ghosts of each soldier they
had executed, with no ceremonies to allow them to escape the Matteria. The many angry
ghosts began to throw objects around and possess the soldiers, doing every horrifying
thing they could to enact their revenge. After an hour of ghostly horror, every single
soldier had been killed, with not a single one to tell the tale. Two weeks later, with most
of the Aelvarian Empire believing that the Order of the Eternity Rose, who hadn’t
reported back, had experienced a humiliating defeat, a young farm boy made a shocking
discovery, finding the corpse-ridden battlefield. He noticed that the Tecians hadn’t died
from bows or arrows, but weren’t executed, with many of them being hung and burnt
from trees. Puzzled, his parents alerted some local adventurers, who concluded that the
Order of the Eternal Rose must have won from the camp setup and the executions, but
could not explain the dead bodies of the entire army, as if every single soldier of both
armies had managed to die. Centuries have passed, and no one quite knows what
happened here, and the Battle of Xclecia has found its way into the brains of Angronnia,
all of whom wonder what happened here. Many theories exist, like an incarnate of a devil
avenged his fallen soldiers, but no one will ever truly know. The infamous battle has
found its way into the stories of many bards and children alike. Though 98% of the
Kuo-Toan races have gone extinct since the arrival of the Aelves, here is a simplified list
of the alive Kuo-Toan races, though this is by no means a comprehensive list: Kuo are a
race of aquatic humanoids. They were once an accomplished race with a beautiful and
flourishing technological and cultural history, though they have been pushed
underground over the past few thousand years. They are now a far cry from their former
selves, with a barbaric and zealous society of dogmatic words who exist in the filthies
seas of the Underworld. Once possessing a great moral compass, their society has fallen
into a state of total degeneracy, with a complete lack of care about cannibalism, murder,
or incest. They are now seen as filthy pests, even by fellow Kuo-Toans, with many
believing the Kuo give the Kuo-Toa a bad wrap, literally taking up half of their collective
name; Toa appear like skinny humanoids with skin made of coral. They are an aquatic
race of humanoids whose sticky skin allows them to easily camouflage and adapt to their
 surroundings. With most of them living in coral reefs, their natural armor is typically
made of coral and rocks. They exist in solitary tribes who live in the deep ocean. Their
disdain for international trade and relations can sometimes lead to a lack of
technological innovation, and can cause their cultural customs to appear strange and
esoteric; Tritons are hybrids of Toa and Sea Aelves, combining the Toa’s individuality and
solidarity with

Monsters
● Biomass. Biomass (or simply Ooze), as it's commonly referred to, can be seen as the
scariest and largest threat to the humanoid people, that is if it continues at the rate it's
been going. Of course, the universe is made up of the matteria and immateria, and the
matteria is made up of a massive disc shaped world with the Faeland and Earth (Not
real-life Earth obviously, named after earth, not Earth) planes on either side, like the two
sides of a coin, but within the plane of Earth is of course the overworld, where most
people live. Below the overworld, naturally, is the Underworld, where the Dark Elves and
Dwarves live. Below the vast caverns and mines of the Underworld is the Biomass, an
area only few have ever dared venture into. So far below the Underworld that most of the
residents of the Underworld and Overworld long thought it to be myth. The biomass is
the largest layer of Earth. It is alive, appearing like tunnels of moist silvery ooze, and
may or may not be one controlled by one intelligent supermind (scholars of the
Overworld and Underworld debate this given the recent information, described below).
This ooze slowly slithers through the various cracks and crevices of the stone above. It is
likely to have been slowly slithering up for thousands-maybe millions of years. About
fifty years ago, the first of the ooze had reached the Underworld (though far, far more
was on its way, but farther below because of various obstacles or tighter spaces). More
recently, the first Biomass has reached the Overworld within the last five years. The
biomass is a horrifying and alien concept to the people of the Overworld and
Underworld, and the sight of it is barely comprehensible. The biomass acts in very
strange ways. The biomass has some sort of genetics, and when it kills a creature,
forcefully subsumming it, it absorbs the genetics of the slain creature, and after the ooze
kills enough creatures, it does something inexplicable. For whatever reason, a part of the
Ooze is removed from itself, becoming its own being, though this ‘being’ commonly
comes in one of three forms, though more are sure to be discovered. The first is the most
common, usually called a Morphling. Morphlings are supposed to blend in as
humanoids and take down societies from the inside (once again, no one quite knows
what ‘the ooze’ is or why it has any want to disrupt societies). However, this is not an easy
process. When a morphling is born, it appears like a vaguely humanoid shape of
malleable gray ooze. After it kills enough people it produces an offspring, a second
generation morphling. These have evolved to be humanoid enough to be uncanny, but
they are still terrifyingly inhuman and appear like unholy squishy amalgamations of
various species stitched together. After the process continues and they reproduce,
usually spawning many offspring, the new generation, the third generation, are more
humanoid, looking like believable people, though they are still uncanny and strange
enough to be easily noticeable as inhuman. The generation after that is perfectly human,
and only noticeable through precise surgeries, though they are still completely
subservient and all loyal to the ooze. These often infiltrate society, and it has happened
once (as far as the people of the Overworld know). More specifically, the Concordian Hive
City of Newport had its undercity monopolized by the Bridgertons, who were secretly
Ooze. The Bridgertons then declared open rebellion and the locals, sickly and starving,
joined them. After quickly overwhelming the local garrison, the Ooze consumed all of
their once allies, destroying all of the city and its inhabitants in less than a day. This sent
shockwaves throughout the Overworld, and none had known that it had reached the
Overworld yet, meaning more were surely on their way. Alternatively, it is entirely
possible that the initial ooze invasion of the hive city’s undercity was orchestrated by the
Empire of Man, implying that some of the elites previously knew about it. Ever since
then, rumors have been widely circulating about a new Ooze invasion in various
counties, cities, or countries, most of them false statements made by money-hungry
journalists trying to make an easy dollar off of the worldwide Ooze panic. Now, many
religious orders and inquisitions are specifically created with the mission of annihilating
the Bio threat. Of course, this has been a problem for residents of the underdark for
many more years, with some Dwarven kingdoms fully wiped out and others in states of
total war against the alien threat. Sometimes, though this is much rarer, Morphlings
don't attempt to take on the form of a living creature, but an object or even building.
Instead of evolving through offspring, these morphs slowly evolve over time without
reproduction, slowly turning into the thoughts of creatures they eat, typically
manifesting as the buildings they were within, like windmills or castles. These, especially
in a smaller object form, are often called Biomimics. The second form the ooze can evolve
into is a militant Ooze. Though the morph Oozes also excel in combat, evolving the
weaponry and skills of those they subsumed, militant Oozes seem to be specifically
designed behind whatever intelligence is controlling the Ooze. Militant Oozes tend to be
one of three types (Though no official names have ever been assigned, the following are
the commonly used names assigned by those that have fought against them, mainly the
Dwarves); Drones (smaller, flying Oozes carrying sacks of poison which explode upon
contact), Rollers (medium sized flat oozes that roll into balls to quickly maneuver
around), and Spiders (Eight legs which carry an explosive sack of venom that can widely
vary in size). The third form is colloquially called Airships or Clouds. They are offspring
of the Ooze who float off into the air, typically 100ft or less. These balls of organic
biomass are attracted to one another, so they often combine, overtime combining into
larger and large Oozes of slimy biomasses floating over cities, raining evolving bits of
oozes onto the speechless residents. Though it is extremely frowned upon, shockingly
rare, and illegal to the utmost, some still find themselves dabbling in the magic which
can influence certain Oozes. Such people are called Biomancers, and are seen as some of
the worst people to walk to Earth.
● Beholders. Beholders are creatures of immense intelligence. Though no one quite knows
why, beholders are capable of easily traversing the matteria and immateria, and it is
clear that they are creatures of both reason and thought. Predating Aelvan civilization,
they are often lumped into Aberrations. Born as eight-legged creatures with nine eyes
(one large central eye and eight smaller eyes littered around the front of its round face),
they eventually age into floating heads with eight eye stalks, having developed an ability
to fly, abandoning their underdeveloped legs. During adolescence, they begin developing
eye stalks to continue assisting their quickly growing intelligence. Initially born from
shards of Yothrigurr in the immateria, they enter the immateria whenever they enter a
sleep-like state. Typically raised outgoing and caring, they eventually turn selfish and
paranoid after centuries of extreme intelligence, thinking up countless ways they could
soon reach their doom. While dreaming (projecting into the Immateria), beholders often
metaphorically visualize their largest problems as beholders like them. In the
Immateria, a world which has no physical laws and is made up of the collective thoughts
of the dead and those residing in the Matteria, this trance-like state the beholder’s enter
often manifests as real, creating the beholder that the beholder dreamed of. Usually, as
this beholder awakens, the new beholder follows. After the beholder wakes up and the
two encounter each other, a fight to death happens, both feeling a need for self
preservation over the other. This is how most beholders are created, with only 2.5% of
beholders being created from Yothrigurr’s shards, though these beholders are called true
beholders and are typically much stronger than normal beholders. Depending on the
dream (and what the beholder in the dream represented), the newborn beholder
manifests differently. For example, when the newborn beholder represents a fear of
weakness, susceptibility, or aging, it appears like a massive floating ball of some
otherworldly metal with a humanoid face; when the newborn beholder represents a fear
of stupidity, failing mental fortitude, or confusion, it manifests as a beholder whose skin
and body are entirely a massive, oozing brain with eight eye stalks, typically possessing
vast sorceries (this one is very, very rare as beholders are quite slow to pick up their
stupidity); when the newborn represents a fear of slow death, mortality, or rapid aging,
it manifests as a ghostly beholder with ghoulish flying skulls for eye stalks; when the
newborn beholder represents slowness, it manifests as a non-flying beholder with the
body of a snail; when the newborn beholder represents blood loss, it manifests as a
smaller beholder whose eye stalks have been replaced with mouth tentacles, obsessed
with maintaining and sucking the blood of others; when the newborn beholder
represents loneliness, it typically manifests as many smaller beholders, taking the
appearance of the dreamer. These smaller beholders are so nonthreatening that the
beholder doesn't feel an instinctive need to destroy, so they usually end up befriending
the small beholders, nicknamed Spectators. Spectators love to serve, so they usually act
as guards for the beholder. Spectators, while still being very intelligent, are not
intelligent enough to drive them into a paranoid-filled madness. Spectators are not
viewed as a threat by most societies and are often treated as cool or nice; when the
newborn beholder represents blindness, fear of the unknown, or surprises, it manifests
as an observer, a smaller and less powerful beholder with four eyes and a central eye on
each side of its face. Constantly in fear of what it can’t see, it never builds a base like most
beholders, instead roaming the world nomadically in a constant panic. Because of their
weaker strength, hunters and combatants often mount their slain bodies as medals;
when a newborn beholder represents weakness (a rarity amongst beholders), it
manifests as an overseer, a terrifying monstrosity of death and chaos. It isn’t spherical,
but instead appears like a shadow in the shape of a tree, its roots and branches ending in
lethal eyes of destruction and death. There are many more, but those are some
prominent examples. Born from competition with another beholder, beholders hate all
beholders, except themselves. Beholders view themselves as the perfect incarnation of
life in every way, even though they view most other beholders as wretched spawns of
dust and a waste of life. A beholder's intelligence driven paranoia will lead it to doing all
that it can to protect whatever it views as valuable, usually itself. It will typically build a
massive dungeon or cave staffed with countless slaves, traps, and puzzles. This often
leads to Beholders taking over Goblin tribes. Beholders live for an immense amount of
time and have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, leading them with a want to amass
vast hordes of treasure and oddities. This makes them prized targets for adventurers,
though their pure might stops most would-be dungeoneers. Beholders often perform
experiments, turning their slaves into vile creatures. One such example is the Eye stalker,
a humanoid appearing creature with physic powers, patrolling the night for drunkards
along the beach to snap. When a beholder realizes its eventual demise from age, it will
do all it can to preserve its life, typically with lichdom, turning the beholder into a
shriveled up and undead version of itself, albeit one that will live forever. Beholders are
also notoriously easy to revive from the dead, meaning the zombie beholders, though
they lack the immense intelligence and brutal raw strength of a beholder, a powerful
asset for a corrupt military or rogue wizard. Sometimes, beholders have taken over
territory to expand to their ever growing need for protection. A prominent example of
this is king Lothigar. Born as a beholder of immense size and strength, he quickly made
a name for himself as a vile enslaver and thief of goods. One night, sitting in his
luxurious vault filled with the land's most beautiful treasures and most attractive men
and women (which he has no interest in whatsoever, but, puzzled by humans seemingly
inexplicable interest in them, kidnapped and killed them to assert his dominance). After
hours of reflection on the state of the universe and his eventual downfall, he realized that
he was soon to die, his years numbered (he was 11,544 years old). Realizing that all the
other gods are dumb and he would hate to spend eternity within one of them, he decided
he was the only one smart enough to design a god fit for a fine life form like him. After
decades of designing the perfect afterlife (a dystopian hellscape to most people), he ran
into his first roadblock: no one believed in this ‘utopic’ god. How was he supposed to
easily reach his god in the afterlife if it was only believed by few? But he was stumped to
figure out a way to convert millions to his god, a god which he believed he was only smart
enough to figure out the virtues of. Eventually, it dawned on him that he could simply
forcefully convert the many citizens of a region if he were their ruler. Looking at the
world map, he decided that Nevermore, a small region with little to no military defense
and decently high population, would be ripe for the taking. Nevermore is a peculiar
town. On the Earth-Faeland axis, it is unusually weak, and many Gnomes from Faeland
brought their culture and physical laws to this region. Nevermore, once an endless
region of winter forests, is now a fey region of dark buildings, bats, jack-o-lanterns, and
many other ‘spooky’ traditions largely isolated from the rest of the continent with the
vast forests. Lothigar, having found what he believed to be the perfect region, forcefully
marched his slaves across the large continent of Angronnia to Nevermore, successfully
subjugating the region. After establishing an underground base within the region, he
began administering the region, killing any who suggested that he delegate
administrative roles. Ten years later, his iron grip on the region tightened, but he
couldn’t escape the truth of the matter, most hadn’t converted to his ridiculous god. He
would begin creating more and more laws, trying to reduce the citizens free will and
force them into conversion. Life under Lothigar became hellish. Eventually, he would
have eight massive eye-stalks, the size of mountains, constructed around the region. For
each colossal eye stalk protruding out of the ground, he was physically able to control it
with one of his eye stalks, giving him literal eyesight over much of the region. Even with
the artificial eye stalks littering the land, he was still more paranoid than ever. Feeling
his certainly immediate death, seeing a lack of conversions, he performed a ceremony of
lichdom on himself, preserving his life in an undead state, promising himself that he will
be able to find a way to allow himself to enter the afterlife when ready. With each passing
year since his lichdom, paranoia mounting rapidly, he gets worse and worse. Completely
out of his mind, he invented a new way to spy on his subjects, earworms. Secretly
planting ear worms into each of his subject’s ears, allowing him to follow each of the
citizen’s over their entire lives and even giving him the ability to manipulate their
dreams, he had reached total control of his empire. With total control, and the ability to
manipulate their dreams, everyone began converting. Years later, with his empire
completely converted, as far as he knows, he began working on a cure to lichdom that
would allow him to reach the afterlife. His daily routine became watching his subjects
through the eye worms, looking around through the mountain-sized eye stalks, and
working day in and day out to find the cure he needs, all the while his paranoia is
skyrocketing out of control. Nowadays, many of his citizens want out of the dystopian
world they’ve found themselves in, but with no way to express it without being caught,
they stay silent. Whenever visitors approach, a rarity due to the town's bad reputation
and middle-of-nowhere location, the people try to hint at the problem, though they
rarely can figure it out. Whenever the occasional visitor starts to feel like something is
off, Lothigar makes quick work of them, killing them immediately. This could potentially
serve as a late-game story arc for the campaign, with them having to figure out the
problem with this weird, gothic-fey town, then outwit a lich beholder.
● Demons of the Inferno. Starting long ago, the Aeves (more on them later) began praying
to gods of fire, believing fire to symbolize purification and cleansing. This is expanded
upon below (See Dark Elves). After centuries of praying to an inferno god, the newly
famous Drow lich king, who made a deal with a devil found inside of one of their gods to
secure power, began a ritual to bring the god towards the Matteria, as the deal required,
a magic previously thought impossible and still shocking to learn about. When this
happened, the star came crashing down to eastern Angronnia, landing and destroying
everything in hundreds of miles, completely wiping out the Grand Empire of Konno.
This new land, a land of fire, lava, and death, is called the Inferno by the majority of the
world. This land is now inhabited by various Demons, all of whom ride around on
various carriages and vehicles (resembling the dwarves’ advanced vehicles) that are
biological and made of their own flesh. The same is true for the weapons, aswell. As an
example, imps have swords that are actually their bodily organs, made of their own flesh
with blood pumping through it. This lawless land is split between demonic tribes. Unlike
their Daemonic or Devil brothers, demons are primal and tribal and are far more
chaotic. Though most people and objects were destroyed from the blastwaves, the
surviving buildings and natural sites are made of fluid demonic flesh. Weather and
magic, due to this land being the crash site of a god, is different and unpredictable, and
demigods are far more common. The demons reproduce asexually, growing in size for
each living creature they consume (why they murder, as it is literally a need like food or
water). After they kill and eat enough creatures and become excessively large, they split
into two demons, so demons reproduce by killing and eating excessively.
 ● Liches. Lichdom is a state of self-caused undeath whilst keeping your soul. To do this,
liches have to fulfill some kind of prophecy, though it's always considered evil. It is
theorized by some that every soul has some kind of prophecy unique to their soul,
though the reason why is highly debated. There are many types of Liches, and they only
share a few things in common. For instance, all liches need to store their soul
somewhere, and all liches cannot die of age. Depending on what is used to store the soul,
typically called a phylactery, lichdom varies wildly. The most traditional lich, often called
a True lich, is one who stores his soul in an intricate arcane device. This magical device
sustains souls within it, but does so by extracting the essence of souls. Because it
requires souls to continually power the Lich’s soul, the Lich needs to continually extract
the souls of others to continue its immortality, otherwise it turns into a Demilich, a last
remnant of a lich, a floating skull with its very being slowly fading away as its phylactery
fails to sustain the Lich’s soul. The process by which one makes one of these devices is the
main barrier into true lichdom. Many other types of Liches exist, and though this isn’t a
comprehensive list, nor is it anywhere near the level of explanation as the Lich variants
warrant, the following is a list of Lich types: Vampires are Liches who

Statistics
Word Count

1. Basic Cosmic Summary - 1055

Races

● Aelvanoids
○ Tree Aelves
○ Dwarves
○ Humans
○ Helens
○ Merfolk
○ Kalashtar
○ Djodi
● Orks
○ Green Wolves
○ Frostmarchers
○ Blooddrinkers
○ Ironback Warriors
○ Orks
○ Clean Slate (players can worldbuild their own Ork clan, along with their traits
and history)
● Goblinoids
○ Hobgoblins
○ Goblins (range from Stinkies to Brainies)
○ Gremlins
○ Verdan
● Dragonkin
○ Red Dragonkin
○ Tortles
○ Serpentfolk
○ Lionen
○ Crocodragonkin
○ Wolven
○ Viperkin
○ Grungs
○ Crabkin
○ Loxodon
○ Techdragons
● Lizardfolk
○ Skinks
○ Pterameleons
○ Seasauros
○ Clean Slate (Players can worldbuild their own Lizardfolk race)

TODO

1. Minotaurs, a highly patriarchal society of nomadic warriors in constant war against the
centaurs.
2. Centaurs, a highly matriarchal society of nomadic warriors in constant war against the
Minotaurs.
3. Devils
4. Kuo-Toa, a racial grouping of Kuo (a native Angronnian race of fish-people who have
been driven into the sea caves of the underdark), Toa (A native Angronnian race of
fish-people who adapt to their environment by absorbing their surroundings. Usually
living in Coral reefs, they have natural armor made of coral), Tritons (hybrid species of
Toa and Aelves), Krytons (hybrid species of Kuo and Aelves), Merrow (a group of Kuo who
made a pact with a devil, turning themselves into fiendish creatures capable of longer
lives and stronger feats), Scrags (Trolls before they evolved to live on land), Jgsh’ka (Ogres
before they evolved to live on land), Locathahs (hybrids of Toa and Merkoth), and
Merkoth (who look like Merkoth).
5. Shadowsworn, a collection of monsters who are manifestations of prolonged intense
emotions in haunted areas.
6. River Aelves
7. Aelves. Aelves are often considered to be the second birth of civilized life (after the old
ones), though the Lizardmen are quick to disagree. Of course, the matteria is split
between the Earth and the Faeland, with certain points along the fabric between them
fluctuating and flowing, allowing for easier access to the opposite plane. In the middle,
of course, is a hole, which openly connects the two planes, and the hole manifests as a
tornado of swirling magical energy, a purple storm. Before the planar separation, caused
by the downfall of Yothrigurr, Aelvland was a large continent, but afterwards it appears
like a ring of land surrounding a violent storm of magic and energy. This violent storm of
magic and energy eventually gave rise to life, the humble Aelv. Aelv's appear like tall,
skinny people of variable skintone, often a Dust-like purplish-gray. With skinny limbs,
their hands and arms are very bony. The Aelv's, born from the swirling magical conflict
between Faeland and Earth, often possess intrinsic magic from Faeland and Earth,
making many Aelvs powerhouses of sorcerers. Because of their chaotic creation, they are
often born with major mutations, most of which appear intentional, though the reason
is unknown. Many scholars point to the collective trance state that the more standard
Aelves share during sleep and after death. The rapid mutations are what gave rise to
many of the different Aelv descendent species, such as Humans, Dwarves, Helens,
Merfolk, etc. All of the different Aelvanoid races possess shared traits, such as the trait of
Sorcery that many can be born with. 3,000 years ago, the primary evolution of Aelves
were the High Aelves, who were the ruling class. Some other descendant races were the
Merfolk, Helens, and the Treeaelves, all of whom varied across society. The Aelven
trance, as mentioned earlier, is a fusionary state between the Earth and the Faeland. In
this state, usually reached through dreaming or meditation, . At this time, all of
Aelvenkind lived in Aelvland. Around the same time, the Aelv were united under one
King. A tyrannical ruler, he
8. Kobolds were created to serve as servants for the Dragonkin.
9. Chwinga were created as scouts for the Dragonkin. They’re adorable outsiders who love
civilizations and give cute gifts.
10. Ettercap. Ettercap are purplish-gray humanoids with claws, an extended belly, and
fangs, making their face appear spider-like. They are some of the most solitary creatures
in Angronnia, only socializing with other Ettercaps to mate. Ettercaps are very
 cowardice, but love to amass a horde of wealth. Venturing into a remote forest, they
begin to corrupt it. First, they cover the entire forest in huge webs, making solid walls of
webs around the forest. Releasing a spider-attracting pheromone, attracting spiders
from many miles away to the forest. The webs, imbued with the many sorceries of
Ettercap possess, can slowly enlarge the many spiders attracted to the forest, becoming
giant human-sized spiders. The spiders become a semi-hive mind, with their needs
controlled by the Ettercap, though the ettercap cannot directly control or see through the
spiders.
11. Black knights of Angrim
12. Entz
13. Verdan
14. Gypsies
15. Rune Followers (Yothrigurr followers who believe that it is best to worship shards of
Yothrigurr as they are a better afterlife than the other gods and that ‘Yothrigurr’s
domination’ is silly and extreme, and that no one should be forced to worship a leftover
of Yothrigurr. Since they are typically pacifistic, they are not usually illegal, leading to
many Worshipper’s of Yothrigurr masquerading as Rune Followers to evade the law)
16. Drow Aelves
17. Blights