Right, due to summer festivals and other commitments we didn't have a game session two weeks back to inspire the next chapter of Draconic Shenanigans so it is time to have another lore dive, this time into the Hestia Locator, that great work of the renowned explorer Marcus Poli-Poli and his descendants. This great work still sits on the shelves in King Tatsuya's study, updated as it is by the on going efforts of the Poli-Poli clan and is one that he regularly consults to keep an eye on his neighbours. In the game of international chess, King Tatsuya and his family do not take chances with the unknown.
This time my players have asked for an overview of the whole world in which they are playing and I have attempted to provide. I hope that what I have made is what they were thinking of.
Hestia Locator
Hestia
Hesita as a planet is geologically activate, with many mountain ranges, both major and minor, a well as distinctive environmental bands and a diverse biosphere, supporting many different races as well ultra predators such as the dragons.
Surprisingly, the theory of continental shift is already beginning to circulate within the learned circles of the races of Hestia, although this is helped by the fact that both the dwarfs and elves have much longer lifespans than humans, so what to a human is the stories of their grandfather's grandfather is childhood memory to an elf or dwarf. Added to that is the reverence for history and tradition that both races are characterised by and the result is a much greater body of evidence documenting the changing face of Hestia. It also helps to explain why the great body of water in the centre of the continent is a salt water body and not fresh, theorising that it was originally part of a sea that lead to the ocean that has since been isolated by the shifting of the bones of the land.
There is also evidence that the over all ocean level was lower at some point in the past, with diving species such as the Coral Dragons reporting the discoveries of submerged cities below the waves in the, comparatively, shallow coastal shelf areas of the oceans. This hints at the land masses being larger at some point in the past, though even the longest lived races cannot say when, some even speculating that it was before the events of the God War.
It should also be noticed that the surface of Hestia and the depths of her oceans are not the only habitat of Hestia and travellers should beware of creatures rising from these more hidden environs to hunt.
Regions
North West
Furtherest to the north west, separated from the main land by a channel of the ocean, is the ruined Island Kingdom of Albion. As discussed in the Draconic Encyclopedia, this once thriving island heart of the Albion empire was decimated by the attentions of the Tomb Dragon Armasar Mockblight one thousand years ago. Having driven the expansion of the Albion Empire beyond sustainability, he watched it fall to the ravening energies of the Day of Reclamation and claimed the destroyed Capital as his lair. Warmed by an ocean current bringing hot water from the tropics, Albion is a temperate island and would be pleasant, if it wasn't for the fact that the land now crawls with the undead. The victims of the Day of Reclamation shamble and crawl across the land as the sun goes down, those who's bodies have decayed completely billow and wail as disembodies spirits, trapped in the last moments of free Will they possessed before the ritual destroyed them. Some gather around ruins that bare the signs of being schools at one point as if seeking the children that were once theirs. If any children survived the Day of Reclamation it is unknown but unlikely. If they did and managed to build a secure settlement then they have never managed to contact the outside world, leaving the status of the once globe encompassing Empire unclear. The few adventurers that have braved the shores of the Isle of Albion report a gloomy, mist shrouded country where the sun is never bright even at midday, the vegetation is dark leafed and unpalatable and large animals are absent. The largest carnivore appears to be foxes, the largest omnivores are badgers and the largest herbivores are hares and rabbits. There has also been a behaviour shift among the badgers with these big, shuffling mustelidaes now a day time forger, retreating to their burrows as the sun goes down. The only creatures apparently safe at night being insects, owls and bats. In short, the Isle of Albion is a hostile place with nothing to trade with the outer world. The only influence it still has on the outside world is the fear that the ghoul court may organise its madness enough to try and invade the main continent again, or that Armasar Mockblight's descendents may cast greedy eyes across the sea to the main land and come hunting for other civilisations to destroy.
On the continent, just to the east of the narrowest crossing point between the Isle of Albion and the mainland is the minor mountain range of the Kebneesian mountains. Hidden within this mountain range is the Kingdom of Sushnomi. Isolated both physically and culturally from the outside world, the Kingdom of Sushnomi seems to have no ready wish to interact with the outside world, or indeed, even speak with their neighbours. This appears to stem from a cultural shift that happened roughly six hundred years ago and may even be a result of the destruction of the Albion Empire, the long term fear of that event causing a generational shift in thinking that eventually cascaded into the fervent belief in the protective power of their god. Unfortunately their religion appears to be what some would call 'high demand' and as such they do not welcome the influence of outsiders. What traders who do manage to gain permission to take goods outside of the kingdom's boarders trade in furs, walrus ivory, timber and preserved fish.
The Kebneesian Mountain range is divided in two by the Benezda gap, which Sushinomi is to the north of. This track of salt water and the Mustan Sea into which it runs is wild, unpredictable and violent, cut by many bottom tearing shoals and reefs as it flows up deep fjords to inter lace with the mountains. The weather is also cool, with mild summers and cold winters with heavy snow fall. This weather pattern is common to much of the area around the Mustan Sea and has resulted in a cluster of fairly small kingdoms that are controlled by how far travel can be reasonably be expected to be managed in the weather of winter, usually dictated by the out lying ridges of the mountain range, marshes, bogs, fens and other such environmental features, as well as the hunting patterns of some of the more aggressive predators and more magically infused beings. Crones are common in this area of the world, as well as other members of the less pleasant fae creatures and courts. Local guides are advised and as they are a proud people, the traveller would do well to not gain say their advise, least they discover themselves abandoned on the road.
Further south, to both west and east, the kingdoms are larger and more politically active along the coast of the channel dividing the main land from the Isle of Albion. In recognition of the threat still posed by the Ghoul Empire, many of these Kingdoms have standing armies and advanced taxation systems to fund them. As such they are economically and politically engaged with their neighbours, sometimes even indulging in short lived, seasonal wars as they struggle against each other. These conflicts are usually limited as the fear of the Ghoul Empire and the orc hordes that call the mountains and wild places home remind the people that if they spend all their strength on destroying each other, then they will have nothing left over to defend themselves against the larger threat.
As the coast starts curving down to the south west you come to the kingdom of Portasia. Bordered on the north and east by the minor range of the Guardiao Mountains and on the south by the major range of Althulas Mountains, Portasia is a sheltered, stable kingdom, carefully nurtured by a line of kings that have brokered trade deals and diplomatic relationships with its neighbours beyond the mountains, often acting as a neutral ground for negotiations and peace deals. The Kings of Portasia seek to be a stabilising influence on the world around them for the good of their own people but are not a sentimental family. People have their worth and they will find it and use it for the good of the society around them or the Kings of Portasia will make them do so. They are also known to forge teams out of wanted criminals to deal with more aggressive threats, both within their borders and without. There has been speculation that these 'King's Specials' have been involved in the past with, shall we say, rather direct interference in the succession of the neighbouring royal bloodlines but nothing has been proved so far.
Though Portasia does not employ a standing army as such, all males over the age of adulthood are required to spend the afternoon of the day of rest on the village green, practising with either the long bow or the crossbow under the supervision of the local marshal and weapons master. Some woman have even insisted on learning the crossbow, stating that orcs do not respect their persons when one of the hordes in the surrounding mountains gets it into its head to come a-raiding. It is almost concerning that these woman tend to have a greater drive for proficiency than their male counter parts. Portasia also reports being bothered by the occasional raid of the legendary Ash Elves but these reports are dismissed as fantasy by other kingdoms who know that these beings are legend alone.
Beyond the eastern curtain wall of the the Guardiao Mountains begins the forest home of the elves. These enigmatic people are divided between many different sects and some would say races, though it is difficult to tell if they themselves categorise themselves as such. To those outside the mysterious courts of the elves the peoples of the elves seem to be as such:
Sidhbe
Also known as High Elves (some say High-and-Mighty Elves, particularly the dwarfs). Known for their exquisite artwork, poetry and literature, the Sidhbe also produce weapons of wonder, spells of world breaking power and vendettas that last for generations. Though these family intrigues rarely erupt into full violence as such behaviour is considered unseemly by the Sidhbe, they are none the less bitter and vicious. Families can rise or fall based on the out comes of one mistimed word at a social gathering. As Sidhebe elves can live for six hundred years or more, these family disasters can have long lasting repercussions.
Sidhbe warriors are also without peer, fast, graceful and skilful beyond measure. There are very few that can best them with the blade and their battle tactics leave foes reeling and bleeding from death by a thousand cuts. About the only reason that they do not rule the world is because children are rare and cherished among them. That and they look down their elegant noses at all others.
As far as Sidhbe elves are concerned humans and dwarfs are smelly, short lived barbarians hardly better than orcs and due about as much regard. Indeed the only advantage that humans have over elves is the sheer speed with which they can breed but that is not enough to bring them any measure of respect from the Sidhbe courts. The Sidhbe are isolationist and keep to their cities and glittering towers, ignoring the rest of the world and barely interested if anyone from outside their circles come calling. Perhaps it is best to leave it as such.
Metsaan
Also known as Wood Elves. Slightly less aloof as their cousins the Sidhbe, the Metsaan live in close communities within the depths of the forests that circle the Sidhbe courts but appear to deal with them almost as rarely as humans do. This appears to be because of a cultural difference between the two races, one so ingrained that it has lead to a slight differentiation in appearance as well as attitude. Whereas the Sidhbe are tall, thin, pale to ghostliness with white to golden hair and blue eyes, the Metsaan elves are slightly shorter, of a stronger built and tend to be tanned, with corn gold to nut brown hair. Their eyes also tend to be various shades of brown, with occasional individuals that have tawny or ever yellow eyes. Their skill with the bow is legendary and their guerrilla fighting tactics have resulted in their lands being declared untouchable by all who have an ounce of sense.
Those who are allowed a look at their settlements come back speaking of wonders and marvels. Their houses are grown from living wood, doorways set in the living boles of trees, windows hidden among the branches, birds nesting in the foliage above and bats flittering at dusk from cavities left especially for them. There is no hard and fast boundary between the forest and the homes of the Metsaan, only a slightly higher abundance of food trees and shade tolerate crops dappled around the settlement. Indeed these food forests are now being experimented with by some human settlements to result in a communal food reserve in case that the more common crops fail due to bad weather.
Though Metaan families can develop feuds and rivalries, they rarely take on the depth and anger common among the Sidhbe. Their communities are marked more by a common effort and working together to keep each other safe and a respect for the balance of the natural world. They fear fire and drought and have a long standing enmity for orcs and dwarfs, orcs for their wholesale trampling and noise, while the forges of the dwarfs take the trees and produce pollution. The Metsaan are cautious of humans as humans can be as destructive to the forest as the fore mentioned races but there are those that have learnt to respect the Metsaan ways and trend lightly among the trees. Thus the Metaan are more likely to judge humans on a case by case basis than their instinctive distaste for orcs and dwarfs. Of the orc cross-breeds, they have a more reserved opinion. Though historically they have despised them for the same reason as their contempt for the orcs, they have in more recent times been able to come to an understanding with this magically created race. If the orc cross-breeds stay on their side of the border and keep the larger predators and herbivores from the mountains away from the forest then the Metaan Elves are willing to not shoot across the border and start a war. Whether this peace will be long lasting is any one's guess.
Ash Elves
These people are the feared legend of the Underworld. Before even the God War it is said that there was a eruption within the ranks of the elves involving a rebellion against another race called the Begetters. Legends say that the Ash Elves remained loyal to the Begetters and retreated into the caverns, caves and shafts of the Underworld after the Begetters lost their war.
Skin of charcoal grey with hair of ash white, these tall people are said to be vicious and sadistic to the greatest degree. Though many people dismiss reports of Ash Elves as legends and myths, some countries still maintain that they are raided by them on a semi-regular basis, with property damaged and people and valuables stolen away underground into the Ash Elves subterranean home. Indeed, records of Portasia state that, on occasion, people have been discovered stumbling in the wilds, ragged and wounded, babbling with madness, shaking with the memories of what they have survived. They gibber of cities built underground, of slave pits and vicious dark skinned elves that delight in pain and torment. They speak of haunty Matriarchs and warriors that fight to the death for their pleasure. They whimper of noble houses that claw and fight and tear at each other to become masters of mighty clans, each only holding power as long as they are the most ruthless and merciless to the others. These broken souls do not last long after their discovery, the trauma of what they have survived sapping their strength and will to live. They rarely last more than a month after discovery. Some physicians who have actually examined these patiences speculate that they are fed a slow poison as part of their captivity but there is no conformation as to this theory.
Despite the disbelief of many, there are books that calm to be in depths studies of the Ash Elves and their ways. These books calm that the Ash Elves are a society that is matriarchal in the extreme, with all power being held by the females with greatest status. They are divide into clans, each named after, usually, an animal of the underworld. The within each clan, the word of the Matriarch is absolute, there is no arguing with her. Below her is a hierarchy of females, each scheming and plotting to exult her station and further her position.
Of the males of the clan, their sole purpose is to serve their women. Each male must compete continually for the favour of the females and death is a regular occurrence. Among male Ash Elves the only status and therefore the only safety, lies in becoming the favourite of a female and therefore father of her children. An Ash Elf male who father's daughters is nearly guaranteed a permanent legacy within the clan. The only other method to escape a life of continuous strife and battle is to become a Pupil of the Begetters. These appear to be scribes, historians, craftsmen and possibly wizards of the Ash Elf race and offers the only other path out of the short, brutal life that is the lot of an Ash Elf male.
Female Ash Elves cannot be killed within the clan and even a politically weak female may rise in status if she bears enough children but the scheming and plotting for position can carry heavy penalties. These can range from having their daughters assigned dangerous missions within and without the underworld to isolation within the citadel to the very worse which is the transformation into a Disgraced. Ash Elf females that have been punished in this fashion are rendered sterile and monstrous. Most go insane and are driven from the citadel to live out the remainder of their lives as fearsome predators of the Underworld.
Shulmi - Of the Great Depression
Sometimes called Wild Elves, Shulmi are not actually part of the main elf lands.
From the Guardiao Mountains, along the Northern edge of the Althulas Mountains the elf lands stretch, claiming the western end of the Chasyl Alu Mountains and the northern shore of the Calen Gaer land locked sea. It is at the north to south running Lug Anc Mountains that the lands of the old world elves comes to its most easterly border. Beyond this range of mountains the land is parched, cast within the rain shadow of the Lug Anc Mountains. As such the terrain ranges from super arid to arid to semi-arid. The areas of semi-arid land are fed by rain very rarely, a once in a life time storm sometimes rolling down from the north to bathe the land in the life giving water. Instead they are more often watered by flash floods and trickling inundations that flow down from the northern coast as the storms of winter lash the coast and the snow melt of spring runs off into the depression that forms the land of the eastern proportion of the continent between the Lug Anc Mountains and the eastern most coast. These seasonal inundations provide just enough water to support a patch work of ranches, home steads and wild up lands. There are few towns and fewer cities, as such there is little centralised power, with most folks having to provide their own protection and own justice.
It is in these wild lands that the Shulmi roam in their tents that are shaped like wheels laid flat upon the ground, their rims made of thick cloth. Many of these are collapsible and are transported by pack animal, some how ever are mounted on platforms suspended between truly massive wheels and pulled by teams of hardly, stout bodied horses that roam the land with the Shulmi elves. Shulmi elves are the shortest of the elvish races, though still tall for humans, with broad faces, high foreheads that continue into the line of the nose without interruption and copper to bronze skin tones. Their eyes are dark and their hair is nearly universally black, usually worn as a tight braid in both men and women and threaded with feathers. They wear clothes that are usually trousers and a calf length tunic buttoned high on the right shoulder, the wide sleeves can either be pushed back to be out of the way or pulled down over the fingers to protect the hands. The toes of their boots are usually upturned to facilitate stepping in and out of the stirrup. Shulmi elves spend almost more time in the saddle then they do on their feet.
The marked difference between the Shulmi elves and their cousins are said to be the result of the fact that the Shulmi elves are a refugee race. The Shulmi elves maintain that they are originally from the Burning Continent, their forbearers only just escaping ahead of the Day of Destruction, warned of the coming disaster by the greatest hero of their race. Their numbers were still decimated by the natural disaster that rendered the Burning Continent inhabitable and it is only because their birth rate is slightly higher than their cousins that they have managed to recover at all. This is another reason for their nomadic lifestyle, they would rather flee from a confrontation than risk the lives of their women and children. However, if pushed to a fight, they are vicious and fight with no apparent fear. "It is a good day to live, it is a good day for you to die!" is a common battle cry among the Shulmi Elves. Very often it is their enemies who die, the Shulmi elves being masters of light horse cavalry tactics, trampling up dust clouds to hide their movements and then swirling round their enemies to rain them with arrows. If it comes to hand to hand combat, the Shulmi Elves favour compound shields and small hand axes that can either be swung in the fist or thrown with deadly accuracy. A few have heirloom swords passed down in the families that survived the Day of Destruction and the crossing to the old world. These swords are single edged, light, curved sabres, that are effective at both the slash and thrust techniques of warfare and perfect for mounted attacks after the volleys of arrows have done their work to break up the enemy formations. If travelling into the lands favoured by the Shulmi elves it is best to be ready to pay homage to their elders and their shamans. Shulmi elves have a magic that it deeply rooted in the land around them. They pay homage to the land and the land protects them. If you rouse their ire then their curses can pay you back in a thousand nasty little ways. If you earn their respect or better yet, their brotherhood, then you will find tracks and trails open up to you that few others can find and the bounty of nature will follow you all of your days.
Tiansin
Also known as the Land of the Astral All Father. Along the eastern coast of the continent there is a band of land that is watered by monsoonal rainfalls. The people of this land have built the expertise to harvest, store and ration this water, building water ways, canals, dams and sometimes whole lakes. Their have terraced the sides of mountains and created fields that become ponds for a grain crop that needs high amounts of water to survive in its earlier stages. They have tended orchards that have roots going back to a time before the end of the Empire of Albion. They have created artwork, literature, poetry and science that rival the Sidhbe Elves (though the Sidhbe elves would never admit to such a thing) and crafted ocean going ships that carry whole gardens on their decks so that their sailors never need fear the shipman's disease.
All of this though comes at a price. In the Land of the Astral All Father everyone must have their usefulness to the Astral All Father or be disposed of. All must serve or be disposed of. Men must toil at their father's trade or be apprenticed to another, as well as train to serve in the All Father's army. Women are to bare sons for the Astral All Father's service, their place is being on the arm of their assigned men to maintain their homes and train their daughters to accept the marriage that their father will arrange for them. Once married, usually to an older man, they will be servants to their mother-in-law, bowing to her every whim and dictate until their eldest son is old enough to marry, where upon their son's wife will become their servant. If a women's husband dies before her, she becomes the property of her eldest son. If she has no son old enough to accept that duty then she will either be sent to a nunnery or be remarried to a more junior member of the family, depending on whether she is still fertile. In the lands of the Astral All Father a girl of sixteen is considered a flower on the way to withering. Girls must also be pure upon their wedding nights, any who are not are disposed of.
Though the merchants of Tiansin have sailed to the shores of the southern continent, they rarely make their way round that land mass to trade with the north west of the Old World, considering the people there to be barbarians and savages who do not give their kings the respect that they deserve. There is also the fact that there is little to nothing that the north west has that the Astral All Father wants. As such trade is minimal and stifled by the distance, the goods of Tiansin usually only making their way to the markets of the North West via the trade routes from the southern continent and are as such, inhibitively expensive.
Children of Kronzyn
The only exceptions to the expectations that rule life within the lands of Tiansin are the Children of Kronzyn. These sect of necromancers are a society within the larger society of the land of the Astral All Father. Worshipping the strange Death God Kronzyn, these sorcerers can cast spells of protection, illusion and control through their unearthly music. They pay the families of the poor and destitute for the remains of the dead, in many cases before the person's actual death. A member of the needy can go to the Children of Kronzyn and make a trade with them, usually being enough money to buy the Apprenticeship of one of their sons to lift the family out of poverty. In exchange, when they die the Children of Kronzyn will come to collect the mortal remains, sparing the family the cost of a burial as well. The Children of Kronzyn never kill those who have made such bargains, they wait for time and destiny to take its course because to kill would be to cut short the story dedicated to Kronzyn. Once time and destiny have taken their course the Children of Kronzyn come for their due. They are never early and they are never late, they always arrive as the last words of the funeral are spoken and in silence they collect the mortal remains, carrying them forth to perform their own rites. Within these rites the body is stripped of all flesh and the bones preserved, bound by threads of twisted silver. After that they are animated by the strange music of the Children of Kronzyn and serve them servants and labourers. There are no slaves in the land of the Astral All Father, mining, large scale construction and night soil processing being performed by the puppets of the Children of Kronzyn.
Despite their ties to Death, the Children of Kronzyn are also tied to life, providing medical care to all status of society, spells of protection and regenerative serums that can heal injuries that could otherwise leave the sufferer crippled and a burden to their family. This strange duality is the result of their beliefs in their god. Kronzyn is not a hungry god, ever devouring the dead, he is a god of care and indeed, one could say, love. He is said to have a four armed form and no fixed face. The icons of Kronzyn depict him as having a blank mask for a face, androgynous and expressionless, round his waste hang masks of every race and every gender. For every person he meets upon the black sands, he wears the face that will bring them the most comfort. In one hand he carries the sickle of reaping, of ending and destruction. In the other he cares the pin hammer of making, of beginnings and creation. His other two arms are usually depicted outstretched in a gesture of welcome and comfort. Kronzyn does not judge, nor condemn, he listens, making the relic that encapsulates the person's life as he does so. A busy life of great duality may result in two relics, it takes an exceptional life to produce three.
The Children of Kronzyn share an equality within their work and society not enjoyed by many within the land of the Astral All Father. Indeed the reason that they wear masks while performing their duties to Kronzyn is to disguise the fact that their women are as powerful practitioners of their craft as their men are. They ways are different from the ways of the majority of the people of Tiansin and they are only accepted because they are useful. In return, they do not flout their differences before the people of the Astral All Family.
Sumwesi
To the south east of the lands of the Astral All Father, across an ocean channel lies the scattered lands of Sumwesi. This archipelago of islands, some as big or bigger than the Isle of Albion is lush, tropical and rich in wildlife. However, explorers report that those that visit, Sumwesi find neither human or elf, dwarf or orc. Instead the lands of Sumwesi are ruled by animals that walk and talk as men and women. They are also said to possess a strange type of magic based on the five elements of fire, water, wind, metal and wood, their spells summoned and performed by the motion of hands, feet and body. They build homes, forge weapons, trade with each other and have, at times, gone to war with each other. Those that are blood takers (carnivores) tend to live closer to the coast, feeding off fish and fighting wars with the ocean mammals , while blood givers (herbivores) live closer to the centre of the islands, tending gardens and farm lands. There have been conflict between the two types and there are not manage who can manage living within the communities of the other kind. Badgers and otters are the blood takers most comfortable at living among blood givers and rats are the blood givers most comfortable at living among blood takers.
Most blood givers are peaceful until threatened, building walled Abbeys that are havens of peace and good championship. However, to those that would bring them war they are vicious fighters, who give no quarter in the defence of their homes and families. The badgers and hares are the most soldier like, often building mighty castles to provide bastions of defence for softer lands, while the squirrel and otters form roving bands of defenders who orbit the more established settlements.
Many blood takers are bandits, mercenaries, thieves, marauders and worse, living nomadic lifestyles, fighting and taking where they can, more on from more aggressive defences. Often their spend their ire upon each other, the strong robbing the weak. Those that want a more settled life often build coastal towns, trading around dock yards and fishing fleets. Boat building is a prime trade among these communities. Not many of them are capable of building the true ships of humankind but their swift, open decked sailing ships are narrow, fast and of a shallow draft. Their square sails drive them swiftly before the wind but cannot tact, meaning that they must have a large crew of rowers to drive them when against the wind. While some of the large vessel that have multiply decks may use oar slaves, most, being single decked are rowed by their own warriors, which has the added benefit of meaning that the crew have not enough time to be bored and are fighting fit when they reach their destination.
There seems to be no limit as to which species appear as the people of Sumwesi, with colonies of seals on the coast barking their own tongue and fighting a running conflict with the canines and musteloids of the islands. Though mice, hedgehogs, squirrels, hares, otters, badgers, voles and shrews are the most common in the communities of blood givers, with foxes, stoats, ferrets, weasels, rats, pine martins and cats being the most common in the communities of blood takers, there are scatterings of other species with deer, raccoons, wolves, mink and hamsters occasional being seen.
Completing the triad of this archipelago are the birds. Having fewer digits than the animals, only two plus a primitive thumb on the leading edge of the wing, they do not build as finely as the animals but they more than make up for that with intelligence, wit and ingenuity. That and the fact that they can fly gives them a huge advantage. Of all the creatures of Sumwesi the birds show the most division in purpose along the lines of species.
The Corvids are the clerics, priests and monks, keeping their rough voices quiet and serving others in their copse and clearing holy places. They provide medicine, care, healing and in the end, the rituals of death. However, like all religions there are those who seek to twist the good and the kind into self-service and self-obsession. Beware a Corvid that has fallen to this dark path, the Crocked Ones lose none of their intelligence and wits. If you must face one of their plans prepare to face plans within plans within plans.
The Raptors are warriors and soldiers. Ranging in size from the agility kestrel to the heavy weight eagles, their Wings of warriors have beaten many invaders back from the shores of Sumwesi. Of all the creatures on the Isles they take the most collective view, vowing to protect all the islands from the attentions of the 'fur and featherless'. That is one of the kinder descriptions of the none animal peoples of the world they use. 'Monkey people' is an insult, as is 'unbalanced ones'. Even elves are considered with suspicion by the Raptor warriors. Unfortunately some Raptors have been infected by the same need for more that is suffered by the 'Fur and Featherless', collecting war bands of not just bird people but also blood givers and blood takers. The most famous of these was Ching Song, a black shouldered Kite, who gathered a fleet of four hundred ships and ruled the waves up and down the coast of Tiansin as well as Sumwesi itself, sometimes sailing as far as the land on Jamhodan to claim tribute and raid. Her blood red eyes became a symbol of ruthlessness and strength as she rose from humble beginnings to own an estate of her own in Tiansin and be given the title Hou by the Astral All Father of then. She also had holdings on the North Isle of Sumwesi, as well as establishments in Jamhodan. Some say her influence even spread to the Southern Continent. Ching Song died in peace in her old age, having bargained for her pardon and peace from the Astral All Father and retaining much of her wealth and even a portion of her fleet. The Pirate Queen of the Birds is still a legend in the East.
The Owls are sages, scholars and scribes. Some serve in the Corvid temples, recording their observations, organising their libraries and guarding their knowledge. Others are wandering observers taking to the high roads and by roads of the land to record what they see and hear. Some are map makers and historians, hammering down in detail the past of each community so that knowledge is preserved, discovery is recorded and data collected. Others hunt for lost knowledge, scouring old ruins to find the identities of those who once lived there. They preserve relics and try to make replicas to better understand the ways of the past so shine a light on the future. They speak rarely, study fiercely and watch constantly. There are also those that retreat from the world, taking up residence in far off places to contempt the ways of the world and the turning of the heavens in quietness and peace. To these sages power and perfection are truly over rated, while peace in ones self is sadly understated. However, do not mistake their meek and mild mannered appearance to mean that they are defenceless. They are warriors in a garden, not gardeners in a war. Not many of the Owl folk have ever fall to the path of self over community but when they have it has has been a horror. As great scholars they have opened doorways to monsters and forces that should have been left alone. Not a few have become liches, poisoning the land with their presence alone. One of the islands of Sumwesi still smokes and spits fire, riven by the last great horror that rose from its depth. It is said that the ritual that cleaved the land of the Isle of Albion on the Day of Reclamation had its roots in the study of the Smouldering Sect, a pact of Owls that had fallen to the study of dark and dangerous things.
The Chooks are one of the most varied of the bird races, with appearance that range through chickens, grouses, pheasants, pigeons and even parrots. They are the most likely to have friends among the earth bound races. They are foragers, artisans and entertainers, trading what they find or make with others to earn their daily bread and a roof over their heads. They craft simple instruments and the ones that look like parrots can mimic not only voices but also music and noises. Theirs is the knowledge of the simpler folk, stories, songs and antidotes being used to teach the younger generation their history and the wide world beyond the edge of their settlements. They take care of their appearance but not obsessively so, good grooming is a sign of health and a well balanced mind among them. Their lifestyles are as mixed as their plumage, some travelling constantly while others have their homes built and deeply rooted to the land. Their flavour of evil is also different. Those that have turned to using their talents to spread discord are more likely to be the whisperers in the dark, encouraging discord, spreading lies and rumour, applauding ignorance, weaving spite into friendships, breaking communities to see them burn to ash. In some ways they are the most dangerous of the bird folk when they turn to putting self above community as it is hard to discover where the poison starts and who instigates the unrest.
Jamhodan
Separated from the rest of the continent by the Hemodos Mountains, the land of Jamhodan is lush and tropical, bathed in two seasons - wet and dry. The trees are hard woods for the most part and in the open river plains, the grass grows so tall that it can hide the massive beasts of this country. These include Diceroli and Anancii (Anancus singular). Diceroli are barrels of flesh and skin like armour plates. Their legs are short, their eyes small, their ears no bigger than a small deer's. They seem to navigate their surroundings more by smell than any other sense and they are aggressive in the extreme. Their bulk alone, larger than any warhorse, would be dangerous enough but they are led by a massive nasal horn that is three feet long and kept sharp by the animal rubbing it against rocks and tree trunks. This natural weapon is enough to impale young dragons and gut horses. If you avoid the thrusting horn then being trampled below its plate like feet will leave broken bones and shattered limbs. They are dangerous and best avoided.
Anancii are twice as tall as a Diceroli at the shoulder and seem to be the only creature the Diceroli respect. An Anancus have pillar like legs, grey wriggled skin, tails that look more like a length of string, fan like ears that flap in the heat and two tusk teeth of ivory that spear from the upper jaw. These tusks can be used to dig up the ground, gorge bark off of trees or used to kill in battle. The clash between two adult male Anancii in the breeding season sounds like a thunder storm and can inflict vicious wounds. However, they do seem to be more intelligent than the Diceroli and can be tamed with care. However, one should always be careful around them as their strength makes them highly dangerous if they should lose their tempers. Their most distinguishing feature is a long, tube like nose called a trunk. This appendage would look ridiculous except that it is totally under the control of the creature that it belongs to. As such it can grasp, manipulate, suck, squirt and punch like a ten ton weight. However, it can also be as gentle as a mother with her child. Treated with respect and care, they will respond in kind.
The humans of Jamhodan are arranged into small kingdoms, each with their own language as well as a common tongue between regions. Often at war with their neighbours, these kingdoms none the less have common customs and religious ceremonies, despite having an extensive pantheon, with every region having their own favoured god or goddess. There are also other religions in the land of Jamhodan that tend to form their own conclaves within cities and rural areas. Though not completely welcome among the people of Jamhodan, due to disagreements over religion, they are tolerated due to their skill sets, usually in trade, scribing, investing and accounting.
With low land grass lands, jungles, forests, mountain ranges and swamps, Jamhodan is like a world in miniature, with creatures of marvel and danger. One of the most endearing is its large cats. These spotty coated felines are the predators of the high grass lands and open woods but are also favoured pets of princes and kings, their affectionate natures, cheeping cries and loud purring earning them a place at the tables of the rich and landed. It is best to note that their faces are marked with 'tear streaks' also known as 'crying marks'. A spotted cat that lacks these marks is best left alone. They are also incredible runners, sprinting at speeds that take the breath away but only able to sustain it for only short bursts, after which they must take nearly an hour to recover. They also refuse to eat dirty meat, unfolding the skin of their prey to use it as a table cloth to avoid eating grit or dust.
Jamhodan is also the home of some very strange myths. In the towns and cities upon the coasts rumours and legends persist of creatures that rise from the waters to take their due of the population. These beings are said to be part sea creature, totally alien to human thinking, their gaze containing knowledge of ancient civilisations and comprehension of truths that shatter the minds of lesser beings. Their heads are described as being too big for their bodies, their physiques thin to the point of skeletal. Watching them move is said to be unnerving as they appear to drift over the floor without walking, their long fingers weaving in the air as they move. Their nails are said to be long to the point of being claws. Though many in authority dismiss these beings as being the superstition of the peasants, every year there are bodies discovered in the alleys of ghettos of coastal towns that have been killed by having their brains removed. There are also areas of the surrounding ocean and islands that the local sailors refuse to approach no matter how much money you offer them, citing storms that blow up out on no where to crack hulls and sink boats, inhuman faces watching the sailors from the water as the ship flounders. Other, darker things, are tied to these legends, whispers of cults and human sacrifices to hungry gods that wait, chained beneath the world, counting away eternity before they can return to take their revenge on those that betrayed them.
Rahman
Beyond the western end the Hemodos mountains there is a space of land before the eastern end of the Chasyl Alu mountains. This gap provides a rare entrance for the air streams of the south oceans to enter the vast plains roamed by the Shulmi Elves. In this temperate and well watered band of land provides the only truly arable land for the Great Depression, proving grain to the settlements further in land and receiving beef and mutton as well a wool in return.
The Chasyl Alu mountains divides the land of the old world elves from the lands of Rahman. In the southern edge of this mountain range, towards the eastern end is the city state of Garman. Located on a plateau that rises nearly shear out of the desert below, the city of Garman is ruled over by a Devourer Dragon who has ruled for several hundred years and will continue to do so for several hundred more. Trading the fresh water pearls that are grown in the cities water purification system for food supplies, the city has flourished. If nothing else, despite their neighbours dislike of their way of life, King Bobolonis, in his natural form, is one of the largest Devourer Dragons in the Rahman peninsula and his dragon kin children are some of the most disciplined fighters. They have never been defeated and some speculate that the only reason they do not rule the whole of the peninsula is that Bobolonis has no ready wish to challenge his kin and also understands that the effort of trying to wield the disparage desert tribes into one nation would be a task that would take the rest of his life and would result in a family bloodline soaked in blood, if it survived at all. That and he watches the horizon carefully, wondering if there is a tomb dragon out there that covets the ruins of everything he has built.
The peninsula below the kingdom of Garman is a dusty sandy land, covered in shifting sand dunes and oasis fighting not to sink below the grit of wind blown particles. This the land haunted by the Devourer Dragons, their long streamlined bodies gliding through the humming sands, the quiet rumble of their passages the only warning of their movements. The cities here grow around the oasis, walls of white being built to keep out the sand, gardens planted to conserve the water. The building are made of sun baked mud bricks, plastered with mud plaster and painted white to reflect the heat. The thick walls keep the heat out during the day and the heat in during the night. Only the richest have individual homes and gardens, the poor living clustered together in warrens of buildings build and rebuild, resulting in rooms that have eight sides to them as the floor is on two levels due to one of the rooms below it having a higher ceiling that the other. Steps and stairs are a common fact of life as people live, work and trade within their living spaces. The merchant's quarter can be a wild experience for any that have not attended one before, a sea of tents that cram into a corner of the city, their walls flapping and booming in the desert wind as the sunsets. Watch your ankles as guide ropes stretch into walk ways. Any journey into the merchant quarter will take hours and it is best to plan for it to be an all day affair. First one must expect to spend quarter of an hour chatting with each merchant, exchanging flattering phrases before one gets down to the serious business of the barter. It is a grave insult to not barter and one that will earn you unfavourable prices for evermore.
Though the peoples of Rahman share a common religious belief in the worship of Jagra, the kingdoms have united and divided again through out their history, the history of this region being written in blood and flame and war. The blood feuds and vendettas run deep and long. One of the few times that they have been close to a truly united force was under the rule of the Zvaks. Having forcibly welded the people of Rahman under their rule they then began expanding west through the land bridge between Rahman and the Southern Continent. This expansion of their rule stalled at the little kingdom of Muldwa. This tiny kingdom of small people seemed like an easy conquest for the followers of Jagra and indeed they flowed out of the Taniyn Mountain Range, they met very little resistance. Then they discovered the reason this tiny kingdom has survived for so long - Assassin Dragons. Two packs of them call the Taniyn Mountains home and they have a long standing bargain with the small people of Muldwa. Bargains are about the only thing that an Assassin dragons are willing to honour. The forces of the Zvak of then was sent packing within the week.
There are lingering relics of an older religion that are sometimes revealed by the shifting sands of time, seeing as they are only half buried. Away from the kingdom of Garman, dragon kin are not welcome or wanted, their births the evidence of dragon touched bloodlines and the religion of Jagra depicts dragons, all dragons, as evil beings who must be destroyed. When a dragon kin is born in Rahman it is immediately taken from its family and sent to be trained in secret locations. There, through cruelty, harshness and discipline, it is taught that its life is both worthless and valueless, an affront to Jagra and it is only by his mercy that they are allowed to continue to draw breath. That they have no souls and will be thrown into the outer dark upon death to never see the face of their god. That the only way that they can come close to redemption so as to be allowed to look upon the hem of their god's cloak is to spend their whole life in service and obedience, in prayer and pain, thus paying for the sin of their existence. Theirs is an on going battle with the dragons that prevent the holy expansion of the worship of Jagra and they are never thanked for it, what ever victories they manage are punished because they have never done enough to please Jagra. And yet there are always dragon kin born.
The only others who are persecuted in such away are the Master Smiths. These strange wizards are another brand of necromancers but their type of necromancy is strangely different to any other. Indeed they claim to not just reanimate the dead but infuse them with the souls of the damned. It is never the same soul as the one that just vacated the body but it is a soul. In this strange and mystic rite the body also becomes something other than human. No two Damned Souls are the same, some having many legs, some having no legs at all, some being as thin as skeletons, some being heavy set with muscle. They feed on blood and flesh and their masters have ever used them for destruction, desecration and to defile so their persecution is hardly surprising, though there have been some of the Master Smith sect who have tried to avoid creating trouble, withdrawing to the empty quarters to be left alone. Unfortunately there are always those who will hunt those that wish for peace and war is always the result.
The Southern Continent
Travelling down the land bridge that lies between the Calen Caer inland sea and the larger ocean, one eventually comes to the great Southern Continent. Joined to the rest of the world by the land bridge that contains Muldwa and the mighty mountain range of the Althulus Mountains the Southern Continent is a land of wonders and marvels, some of which will knock you stone dead. The most deadly are the infections and diseases of the continent but one should never underestimate the animals either.
The Southern Continent is home to a species of Anancii that bigger than its Jamhodan cousins but in many ways more secretive than their smaller cousins, traversing the forest, eating of fruit, leaves, bark and roots. Their digging for roots and water help create the water holes that other creatures depend upon, including human settlements. Their place as gardeners of the forest is challenged only by the Tropical Dragons that share their home. Indeed some speculate that the reason that the Southern Continent is so lush is because of the families of Tropic Dragons that are scattered across the land. That being said the forests to the north and south of the equator are more temperate in nature, though the triggers for the changes in the plants are different to that of the temperate zones. In the temperate zones it is the regular cycle of the lengthening and shrinking of the days that causes the changes in the plants. In the temperate forests of the Southern Continent the trigger is the advancing of the dry season that causes the trees to shed their leaves and shut down production for the season. The danger in this season is not blizzards but the dry season not breaking, resulting in a drought. As droughts progress and plant life dies as it runs out of reserves, the risk of wild fires increase. At this time the Forest Anancii are even more essential as they will push over the trees they can to strip the bark and dig up the roots to find what nutriment they can, thus creating natural fire breaks, preventing the wildfires from spreading beyond control.
Over such a vast area, multiple Empires are possible and only limited by the difficulties of communication and transportation of resources. Two such Empires share a boarder with Muldwa and look at that soft fertile land with covertious eyes, held only at bay due to the knowledge that every Empire that has tried to conquer Muldwa has suffered a cull among the ranks of its nobility and military. There is also the distinct possibility that they wouldn't be given long enough to launch the invasion, the Assassin dragons may make they move before the muster could even begin.
Else where on the Southern Continent Empires that have barely heard of the kingdom of Muldwa struggle and strive against each other. Over such vast distances cultural differences and practises vary vastly and local guides are an absolute must.
Against the Althulus Mountains is the vast stretch of the olifantbos. This huge seasonal forest stretches from coast to coast, home of the Forest Anancii, tawny coated giant cats and strange creatures with stripy legs, dark brown coats, long stiff necks and faces like deer. They are grazers of the mid level tree tops with tongues long enough to wrap about the backs of their own heads or reach up to pluck leaves and fruit from the lower branches of the trees. The people here do not ride horses but rather, deer like beasts that have twisting horns upon their heads. There are also many varieties of these beasts that live wild in the woods, feeding both man and natural predators.
There are eleven countries in this region of the world, each with their different cultures and religions. It is a country of magics strange to those north of the Althulus Mountains and spectacles of awesome power. However, if can be a land of deep envies and almost irrational angers. Indeed, one of the hardest tasks faced by the Tropic Dragons is keeping their people safe. Tropic Dragons, as mentioned in the Draconic Encyclopedia, nurture clans that a mixture of both their own kind and adopted members of the smaller races, with some clans dictating that their first marriage partners have to be from among the smaller races to tie the two peoples together. The dragon kin offspring of these unions are recognised and accepted as full members of the clan. Unfortunately, the lands that lack Tropic Dragon tenders can become almost irrational jealous of the countries that are under their protection, instead of trading with them, going to war with them to try and take by force the bounties of the clans.
There are twenty five countries in the tropical belt of the Southern Continent and they war with not only their northern neighbours but also each other, many seeking to control the resources of the land, particularly those under the control to the Tropic Dragons. The Tropic Dragons in turn do their best to balance the needs to their families and the need to mollify, pacify and neutralise the wrath of their neighbours. Where they can they will marry members of their families into the bloodlines of the local nobility and royalty. Tropical Dragons are pacifist creatures, they do not like wars. They will fight against a predator that threatens them or their families but they struggle the politics that makes war sound appealing. This is where their efforts to seduce and mate with other draconic sub-species shows its value, particularly their efforts to peacefully curtail the ravages of the Tomb Dragons. Young Tomb Dragons who have connections to Tropic Dragon clans can be persuaded to use their influence to bring kingdoms and empires that threaten the lands of their Tropic Dragon lovers to complete and utter smash, just to please their loves. The Tropic Dragons do not like having to utilise the darker base instincts of their Tomb Dragon kin but recognise that what they cannot do themselves must be done for the safety of their clans. After all, who better to know the evil that lurks and roils in the souls of men than ones who have swum in those choking depths and enjoyed it.
The southern most toe of the Southern Continent contains five counties, two of them tiny mountain hide aways in the Drakeberg Mountains of the country of Kwanatal. The larger three countries in this group have had their own social upheavals and violence but have managed to settle into something half way peaceable. This is possible due to the number of Tombs of Repulsive Fire that have been found in the area. These massive structures, some of which have been repaired in recent history are boarder with fences of a metal that does not rust and yet is as hard as steel. In massive anti-chambers that record the movements of the stars that have been seen in the last five thousand years and predict their motions for the next one hundred thousand, warnings in languages long dead are chiselled into the walls, some more recently than others, as if these places have been opened up since their construction so that newer versions of the warnings could be inscribed into the stones. All of them read, with very little variation thus:
"This is not a place of honour, no great deed or powerful king is remember here. Nothing of value is here, only that which brings death. We laid our hands upon that which powers all life and thought we could command it but we awakened the repulsive fire that smoulders within living flesh unseen. The repulsive fire brings no light and warms with no flame but it rots flesh from within. Hair falls away, teeth rot out, the skin ulcers, the infected weep blood and cough foam. If you open the inner door the repulsive fire will no longer be contained and we will have failed to protect you."
If one or more of these sites where damaged in times past, which is possible considering the repair work done on some of the sites, it would explain the more peaceable nature of the peoples of the surrounding areas. If the repulsive fire was released by an act of war and was able to do its terrible work on the surrounding people, then it would explain why the people now try their best to grumble at their neighbours and avoid an outright fight. It would also explain the abandoned towns and the mass graves in the area surrounding the repaired tombs. Nobody knows for certain what killed the numbers of dead, or if they died all at the same time but there are whole religions who are dedicated to ensuring that they remain in their graves and that the tombs remain undisturbed. The Repulsive Fire is a horror that has scarred this land and its marks will not fade, if the tombs themselves are to be believed, for a further one hundred thousand years. The fear is real and shrouds those who shoulder of burden of seeing that it does not come to pass again.
Opia
The Isle of Opia is a land of two environments. The south west is a land of rolling hills and thick jungle, broken only by the tracks of human settlement. The animals have been changed by untold aeons of time. The Anancii have become no larger than horses, their trumpeting crises higher and shriller than those of their main land cousins. The horned deer have also changed, shrinking until some are no bigger than cats. One of the predators of the land is a cat whose coat is blotched with massive rosettes, the pattern hiding it in the dense jungle shade. They stalk, unseen and silent, through the under brush yellow eyes intense as they hunt their prey. When they strike it is from silence and shadow. Beware the jungle if it goes silent, for then the hunter is close by.
The other predator that competes for the resources of the island is a type of drake. Longer and thinner but taller at the shoulder than their main land cousins, these cousins of the dragon races show a disturbing level of intelligence, almost sentience. Indeed it appears that the diminutive people of the Isle seem to be in the process of taming these beasts but perhaps coming to an understanding is a better way of describing it as the people always ask before they put bridle and saddle on the backs of these drakes.
The people of the Isle of Opia are small, some would say child sized. There are discussions as to whether they and the small people of Muldwa share a common ancestor. It is possible that Muldwa, having a small stretch of coast was colonised by people from Opia. It would certainly explain why Muldwa seems to be place where the highest number of walking monks are seen.
The north east of Opia are mountainous highlands and plateau's hundreds of feet above sea level. Moistened by sea fogs and mist, these sheer sided mountains are home to troops of cheeky monkeys that scramble up and down the cliff faces with no heed about how high they maybe. Here, hidden high in the mountains are cliff face communities accessible only by narrow trails and thin paths cut into the living bones of the mountains. Here they tend terrace gardens and study the movements of the heavens and earth. What these quiet scholars are looking for is not exactly known but they watch. Occasionally you will find a quiet monk, no bigger than a dwarf but not a dwarf at the same time, who does not seem to answer to any local sect wandering the bustle of a city in the North East or walking a dusty road on the Southern Continent or waiting for acceptance in the Ise of Sumwesi. They watch but what do they watch for? They do not say but they watch.
Misgardia
Even further into the tropical sea is the small island nation of Misgardia, roughly the same size as the Isle of Albion. Misgardia's jungle hover on the edge of turning into a temperate forest, balanced as it is on the latitude between tropic and temperate.
The animals here are like nothing else of Hestia, strange monkeys that have foxy faces and long fingered hands. Their thick tails do not bend like monkey tails but stream out strange behind them as they prance. They climb but do not walk on all fours when on the ground as their back legs are too long. Instead they have an upright prancing gait, almost like they are dancing through life. Though they do not talk a verbal language they seem to communicate with gestures, flicking their fingers in patterns and shaking their heads in definite gestures of refusal. They show a terror of humans and elves and this maybe tied to the ancient ruins deep within the thick forests of their home. They are cautious but not terrified of dragon kin and much of what we know of them and their home comes from dragon kin explorers who have made it to Misgardia.
Misgardia seems to have no settled communities of its own, the ruins deep within its heart land the only sign that it was host at some time past to a thriving community. Comparing the few inscriptions that have been found chiselled on the walls of caves in the limestone mountains of Misgardia reveals the language of the lost people to be one of the earliest carved on the walls in the anti-chambers of the Tombs of the Repulsive Fire. It is theorised that theirs might have been one of the civilisations destroyed by the rotting touch of the Repulsive Fire. If it is so then it proves just how dangerous that magic is and how badly we need to ensure that they Tombs remain undisturbed. Misgardia stands as one of the testimonies to the fact that there are some magics in the world that should remain undisturbed and untouched.
The Burning Continent
In the lands of Tiansin they have a saying:
"Further east than East,
Beyond the furtherest shore,
The Burning Land
Does to heaven soar."
This little nursery rhyme hides a deeper and darker truth, a tragedy dressed up as a child's jingle.
The Burning Continent was once a mighty and noble civilisation, organising and nurturing a land that stretched from the northern snows almost to the ice sheets of the south. They were a civilisation of light, ruled over by elected heads chosen for their wisdom and care of the populace, stable, peaceful, enduring. Guarded by the ranks of the Paladins and their Astral Dragon mounts, it seemed that the Empire of the Far Continent would last a thousand years. Until it didn't.
It is still a mystery what happened there five hundred years ago but the shock wave echoed round the world with magics gone wrong, horribly, hideously wrong. It took three decades, nearly a lifetime for the ley lines to untangle and for it to be safe to practise magic again. Even protective charms warped and bent into curses that resulted in monsters crawling from the cradle to slaughter their parents. In some places they still whisper of the Jackson's Devil and the slaughter it committed on its own family. If not the Jackson's Devil then some variant of that tale. It was a time of horror and the heroes that had no choice but to take a stand against it. Humble folk could not wait for those in authority to act and instead had to take up arms and protect themselves. The dragons sickened, wilted or went mad and had to be slain. All things of the world shuddered as the Day of Detonation rumbled and echoed across the face of Hestia. It was only after the other lands had managed to secure their people and deal with the malformed monstrosities birthed in the years following the Day of Detonation that people could turn to the question of what could have caused the disaster in the first place.
In the northern part of Tiansin it was easy to see the most enduring mark of it, though the cause is still concealed. Where the Far Continent had once been visible on days of good weather now a rolling, churning cloud of smoke and ash and fire billowed and flared in the horizon, staining the clouds black with its cinders. Those sailors who were brave enough to sail to see if there were survivors who could be rescued reported that the water of the coast hisses and boils in uneven patches, stinking of hot iron, rotten flesh and marrows (for some reason). Those that were foolish enough to make land fall discovered the stone of the coast had melted and run like hot candle wax and creatures that appeared to be the hybrids of regular animals oozed and pranced and stalked through the warped forests that sprouted on the cliff tops. The air shimmered like a mixed of a heat haze and an aurora and tickled the skin. Of the few who made it back to more wholesome lands even fewer were still sane. Most ended themselves rather than live with what they had seen, speaking of plants that screamed with rage and ruined buildings that screamed with terror before they sort ways to end the nightmares.
Five hundred years later, the land now known as the Burning Continent still smoulders and people still fear that what ever it was that caused it may happen again. In most of the world, the common folk go about their business, never giving the legends of their eighteen times great fathers a thought but for the learned and the elves it is still a nagging worry.
In the land of Tiansin it is the reason that the Astral All Father supports as standing army. It is known that when ever the ash clouds of the Burning Continent come crawling across the sky towards them that bad things are going to happen in the Empire. This might even be why the society of the Tiansin has become so rigid and unemotional, a preparation at a societal level to be ready to do what must be done to protect the greater number of people. If there is no true affection between parents and children then it will be easier for parents to end their children when said children are born as non-humans Changelings.
What all of those who know and think about the Burning Continent agree on is that something, something malevolent and evil caused the Day of Detonation and there is no telling where it died in the maelstrom it unleashed or whether something of it lingers, gazing across the ocean with hate filled eyes.
The Underworld
Threading through the bedrock of the world is the Underworld, a dark realm of tunnels and caves, caverns and galleries dissolved by water through the living rock of the world. The openings to this place are many and numerous, some small, some large, some hidden, some obvious. It is a dangerous realm home to monstrous things. Said to be the home of the Ash Elves this subterranean land has enough natural dangers without inventing monstrosities. Besides the obvious risks of becoming disorientated and losing your way back to the surface there are also rock falls, cave ins, sink holes opening below you and flash floods. On top of that there is then the wildlife. The smallest creature in the Underworld are the kerveads. These light emitting bugs look as if they should be harmless but their sense of smell is amazing, enabling them to track the death scent of fresh carrion instantly. Anything dead within the Underworld will instantly attach these little bugs, which in itself is not a bad thing as it prevents rot and waste. However, if enough kerveads swarm then they stop differencing between the dead and the living, anything that cannot run away from them fast enough is under threat. Camping near the place of battle is particularly not advised as kerveads are known to burrow into the sites of wounds and gnaw their way back out.
As gruesome as their behaviour is kerveads are the bottom of the food chain in the Underworld. Above them are small gecko-like lizards that feed off both the kerveads and the smaller specimens of spider and centipede. If they are left undisturbed by casualty both centipede and spider can reach phenomenal sizes in the Underworld. Centipedes capable of snipping off a man's leg are not unheard of and the spiders can become even larger. As both of all of these species are venomous, avoidance is highly recommended. About the only none venomous species that lives in the Underworld are the giant lizards that the dwarfs sometimes use as beasts of burden.
Though many people believe that the fastnesses of the dwarfs are part of the Underworld they are actually wrong. The dwarfs hollowed out their fastnesses themselves from the bones of the mountains and they object to people calling it part of the Underworld. Thought their tunnels occasional intersect with those natural voids of the Underworld they have no ready wish to explore the Underworld, which just goes to show that they have more sense than some humans, despite their superstitious believe in 'the pointy eared sprites of the deeps'.
The Fae
Used to name both a place and a people as well as a sub-class of animals, the Fae is a strange realm that is both a part of and apart from the world of men and natural creatures. Perhaps it is best to think of it as a reflected realm, a place where life flows in an outpouring and a riot. Where as the Burning Continent is a realm where life has been twisted and warped into madness, the Fae is the joy of a child discovering a garden. Trees flower and fruit at the same moment, the sun is bright, the rain warm, the grass soft and free of tics, inviting you to lie in the meadow and hear the land sing, to fly to the sun without burning a wing. The Fae is the wonder of flowers to be covered, then burst up through stone, to the stars again. It is beautiful and mysterious and wonderful, when it is all of those things.
When it is not the wonder of childhood, it is the horror of childhood. It can be dark and warped and twisted. It can be the whispers in dark, the monster under the bed, the fear and frustration of being powerless and helpless and lost. In these areas of the Fae the monsters and real and some of them wear a human face. Crones are the most well know example of these children of the Fae, twisted parodies of women, who delight in spreading misery and suffering, be it mentally or physically. When you first meet them they seem like harmless old biddies, maybe the old woman pushing her hand cart down the street selling her pies to the weary traveller but gradually the truth creeps upon you but by the time you realise it, it is too late, the Crone has her hooks into you and you will wish for death by the time she is done with you. To be the victim of a Crone is a terrible thing.
The Fae exists and doesn't exist within the world at the same time. As such walking into the Fae is a difficult task. You can hunt for a doorway into the Fae all your life and never find one, or be travelling the road and find yourself in a land you did not expect the next moment. It is unpredictable and best left alone.
And there we have it, a overview of Hestia in all her glory and danger. I tried to tie in as many of the lore fragments I have mentioned in the chapters of Draconic Shenanigan and in Character Features such as the Draconic Encyclopedia as I could. If I missed any its because we have been working this project for over a year. Drop me a comment or direct message me on facebook if you picked up anything I missed and I will try to edit it in at a later date.
Now that is done, on to the next chapter!
