Murr

Continuing on in the series of blog posts detailing the various settings for my stories, I decided to go with the world of Murr, which is the setting for most of the action in 'The Return of a Nagus'.

Murr

An agricultural world with a climate much like Earth's own, although slightly warmer and drier.  Murr is tectonically further along than Earth, its continents have drifted all the way around the globe and are now, once again becoming one land  mass.

As such it is a mostly mountainous world, with even the farming grass lands being comprised of rolling hills.  There is not a truly flat nature piece of land any where upon Murr and the architecture is strongly built, with anti earthquake technology in the more 'developed' areas and favouring extremely thick strong walls in the more 'basic' settlements.

The think walls of the native built dwellings also provide a natural form of climate control, with the stone keeping out the excess heat during summer and keeping in the warmth during winter.  Although Murr's climate is generally temperate the winters can be absolutely savage.

There is a small tropical belt, which the native Irnans leave untouched as the futile soil is actually very thin and once the trees are cleared, it loses its nutrients at a fearful rate as it is not being renewed by the leaf fall.

The Irnan people are short, but well proportioned, with strong limbs and a slightly tilted forward stance.  They are lemur-like in ancestry and have foxy faces and short soft fur.  Their fingers are very dexterous and they are swift learners.

Skylon

By Pre-Morgan Imperial Protocols Murr should not be counted among the Dynasty's planets, having not even experienced its first Industrial Revolution.  However, it was initially contacted by pirates who needed a planet away from Authority's Sights and with a native population that could not fight back.  It is not the first planet to suffer this fate and unfortunately is unlikely to be the last.  The pirates soon realised that they had an extra source of income right on their door step, so to speak and turned slavery, rounding up the native population for sport and exporting them for profit.

Ultimately it was this 'business' which lead to the discovery of what was happening on Murr.  The Dynasty Congress eventually gave the Rosinante the permission to cleanse the infestation of pirates from Murr.  However, many Irnans had already been 'deported' and understandably the Irnan's wished for the return of their brothers and sisters.  However, they did not wish for any further erosion of their way of life.

Under the Dynasty-Murr Agreement the pirates settlement was formalised into the city of Murr and distinct walls built around it to limit its expansion.  Within the limits of those wall Skylon is a space port city that is not much different from any other in the Dynasty.  Beyond those walls the way of life of the Irnans continues, with the pace of change bringing the 'modern' world more slowly to its people and the movement of Outworlders limited.

However, it is not the last time that Skylon played host to the more degenerate people of the Dynasty.

The Pirate's Palace

Original the mansion of the Lord Governor of Skylon and emissary of the Irnan's to the Congress, the Pirate's Palace became the home of a nest of pirates and slavers in the years before the Dark Wars.  It was cleared of its illegal occupants by a newly elevated Rosinante Templar, Elkin Uniroyal, who became an almost mythical figure among the Irnans for coming to their rescue when all others seemed indifferent to their plight.  However, Elkin Uniroyal had acted without the permission of the Congress and was put on probation for his actions and the fact that he felt no remorse for doing so.  He vanished only a few months before Narkre Victor rose to challenge the Dynasty and many believed that he had been killed by the Nagus in the time before Narkre felt strong enough to challenge the Dynasty directly.  Whether this is the truth remains to be seen.

The Monasteries

Outside of Skylon, the Irnans dwell in the most part in Monasteries.  Each is a self sustaining committee, watched over by a Matron, who can be either male or female.  Usually the eldest Irnan in the Monastery, the Matron is selected for their age, wisdom and knowledge.  The Matron is normally the head healer in the Monastery and/or its head archivist.  The Monasteries themselves are the depositories of all the knowledge that the Irnan race has ever discovered and the place that the 'found' Irnan's are brought to.  Most Matrons are skilled as 'Mind Healers' as well as healers of the body.

It is from the Monasteries that the 'Searchers' are sent out to discover the 'Lost'.  The 'Lost' are Irnans that were stolen from their kin and Searchers are special trained to go out among the people's of the Dynasty to find them and if possible, return them to their kin.  More often than not, it is more a mission to discover proof of their deaths so that the relatives can begin the mourning rites to send the deceased's spirit on to the next world.

All that come to the Monasteries with peaceful intentions are welcome to stay as long as they like.  The Irnans are a peaceable people and would much rather be left along to continue being farmers and such like.

Northend

The one exception to the peaceable demeanour of the Irnan Monasteries is the Monastery of Northend.  Located some where in the mountains where the northern end of the continent pocks up into Murr's Arctic circle, the Irnans of Northend practise the fighting arts that have been used against their people for so long.  Shunned by the other Monasteries, who believe that to use such skill will one day lead to becoming what torments them, the Wardens of Northend choose uncertain damnation over certain extinction.  As if in sympathy for their dark purpose, the fur of the Wardens tends towards the sable end of the spectrum and their are of dowry personality.

Whether they are soldiers just in practise or whether they have killed is unknown.  Either way it will be an unlucky pirate who ever comes across the Wardens of Northend.