Editing Autia (section)

====The Tortle Realms====

Dotted across the Emerald Isles are a series of lush and picturesque islands teeming with strange life that seems to exclusively be centered inside the region, these lands are collectively known as the Tortle Realms due to the excitable and positively ancient race of bipedal turtles inhabiting them. As the story goes, in a time where no nations dotted the Earth a great rift between the Sea of Souls and the planet split open as the divine turtle Aru-Tama swam forth seeking a calm region to settle down and hibernate in. For the next 900,000 years she slept without disturbance, however during that time she dreamt of many great and fearsome things. Chief among these thoughts were the desire to foster children like her and this intense desire manifested in the still-opened portal to the Sea of Souls releasing several turtlefolk who awoke to see a vast lush landscape of islands that had formed from portions of their mother's shell and the vast and magnificent Great Turtles that swam across the coast. Soon after exploring their strange and new surroundings as children would they set up small wooden villages around the time the Ogrillons began to form and nationalize and slowly studied their surroundings, soon discovering and beginning to research the art of alchemy. Their intense isolation and amiable relations with the then-formed Khimere Empire in the Crescent Isles, sadly reduced to ruin in the modern age allowed them to devote all their time into this endeavor. And through strange diagrams that grew in complexity as they discovered the specific combination of materials needed to invent and manufacture the wonderous material now known as gunpowder to the modern races when they finally figured out how it worked themselves many years after the Tortles. This bizarre invention was considered their greatest work yet and a fascination to experiment and further develop uses of it grew to the forefront of every Tortles mind.

Decades after their initial discovery of gunpowder by their forefathers, the use for gunpowder to serve as a propellant for this device was brought up. This led to an entirely new interest in the material and it quickly returned to the primary material for research into, eventually returning to the form of a simple firearm. This quickly escalated into devices such as fire spears, cannons, better guns, better cannon sized guns and a slew of other inventions. These were placed onto everything, their forts, ships, homes (for celebratory purposes as fireworks) and even on top of the Great Turtles they had since allied with and sailed alongside their newfound fleet of turtle ships, great armored boats serving as their primary means of transport. During this following period of slow weapons creep an earthshaking civil war broke out in the Khimerian Empire with the opposing sides in the conflict using the mighty weapons the Tortles had sold them alongside their own magitech doomsday devices, and as some fool of an official targeted their own island during this war to clear off the enemy it lead to a sudden and painful destruction of everything they had built. Horrified and partially at fault for the destruction of their greatest trade partner and ally the Tortles split themselves off from common society for a century as the Eldrian Empire expanded and entered a period of quiet reflection choosing to breed the Great Turtles and produce even stronger variants. While research continued, it was at a far slower pace however they remained the top producer of ballistic weaponry and as the current era crept forwards the time to reconnect with the surrounding world had arrived. By developing canals they sailed their fleets into the Sea of Souls, the portals to which remained open as they resisted the corruptive effects of the plane, being originally born from it and all.

They appeared outside of many a settlement offering to trade wares such as Great Turtle shell armor, one of the toughest materials in the world and indeed, some of their guns. Weapons such as great whirring turrets firing a an deadly volley in a few seconds went up and for the richest buyers, some sort of rare "automatic" rifle, though of course such claims are most likely bogus. How could such a thing exist after all? Through their wares they became well known by supplying blueprints for new models and deadly weapons throughout the world, uncaring about who they sold to so long as they swore to use them only for self-defense and their Great Turtles. Living battleships of beasts that tower over hydras and are covered in mounted turrets and other such weaponry should combat somehow ensue. And most likely to serve as a warning never to overstep boundaries with the Tortles, lest the wrath of their firepower be turned upon you and conveniently sold specifically to all your military rivals in a week. Back at home the great school of alchemy they founded years ago still stands and produces fresh new magitechnicians and engineers while their trident wielding sailors serve as an honor guard and expert riders of the Great Turtles.

Recent events: Travel through the Sea of Souls has vastly increased in danger recently. Even the most well armored Turtle Ship has the capability to be stealthily snuck up upon and boarded by the Puppet Clans who call this strange portion of the aether home. With their foul mutant berserkers, skin fighters, corruptive mages, two-headed wyrm and other ungodly creatures many a traveling ship has been overwhelmed. To make matters worse with the revolting powers they have been gifted with, even the noble Great Turtles can be corrupted and shifted into the temperamental and maddened monsters the rest of the Clans warbeasts are. Thus war has been declared against the Puppet Clans inside the Sea of Souls to finally end their foul taint.

Religion: Soon after awakening upon the Turtle Realms the Tortles found that the ground beneath them was not as unliving as they once thought, rather a massive resting organism resembling a turtle had been the basis their homeland was made from. They soon deified this creature naming it Aru-Tama, the god-turtle and while they do not know the exact circumstances why she is sleeping, they still give prayer and thanks for all the life inhabiting the islands of her making. And in a traditional Tortle funeral, the deceased individual is put inside a casket and lowered to the bottom of the sea near the head of the god-turtle, which resembles more of a great cliff than a real head. This is so they may join the god in her great rest and when she finally reawakens one day, their souls will follow her to a new paradise.

Currency: Tortles accept nearly all forms of currency when trading however at home they prefer to barter and give favors rather than employ a common currency.

Language: Every Tortle is well versed in Turtlith, their native language however traders learn to speak Common Nantic or the most commonly used language in wherever they trade the most.

People: The Tortles are as they sound, a race of long-lived bipedal turtles. With natural armor in the form of a shell and a tranquil nature when at home and undisturbed many a Tortle devotes their life to furthering the knowledge of their combined race and maintaining the knowledge of the past.

Magic: The Tortles primarily have a focus on magitech rather than magic, producing wares such as a magically supported bubble surrounding a Great Turtle’s shell, making it so the weapons mounted upon it do not lose effectiveness and the Tortles remain able to fire them when the creature dives underwater. However, talented water mages have been known to come from the land and can create distruptive whirlpools and call to the surrounding wildlife to focus their attention on assault of the unfortunate target the spell was aimed at.

Army: Due to their fascination with magic and gunpowder weapons development, considering it a field of alchemy a well-equipped military had been structured by the Tortles over time. This self-defense force as they call it, consists of volunteers given the best weapons and guns affordable by the ruling body of village chieftains that serve as the de facto leaders of the islands. Alongside this they constantly breed the colossal Great Turtles for combat and a league of ironclad turtle ships with several massive turrets strapped onto them. This pattern of weapon mounted wildfire remains in use on land as well due to the presence of the Sharpshell Tortoises, a massive variant of a standard Tortoise and descendant of the Great Turtles. These serve as a hardy transport and are commonly mounted with a swiveling cannon or two for a rider on top to attack with. Some especially powerful tortoises are outfitted with a secondary armored shell of steel to wear, essentially turning them into a biological iron beast.