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=='''Tismo'''== ====The Shattered Edge Mountains==== A vast mountain range of sheer cliffs and jagged peaks, the tallest disappearing into the clouds. Known as the Shattered Edge mountians, this range is a maze of dense narrow valleys and clusters of peaks that stretch north to south for miles. This is a dangerous and precarious place, with hardly any room for cities or villages. Dangerous and wild, a variety of beasts and monsters call this place home. Perhaps worst of all are the horrific creatures known as the Xiklik species. The Xiklik are of an unknown origin, though it is theorized that these mountains have always been their home. They are endlessly numerous and vicious horrors. The Xiklik live in deep caverns and caves of the Shattered Edge mountains, and it is believed that they infest nearly the entirety of the range. Below the surface, far from the light of the sun, they reside. Gnawing and multiplying without pause. To get lost in this range of mountains is very dangerous, for every moment spent here is another moment that you risk wandering into one of their lairs or being found by some number that have come to the surface world for unknowable reasons. The minds of the Xiklik are alien to humans. No signs of compassion or intelligence show in their eyes. They build nothing and do not appear to speak any language intelligible to any other beings. In truth, they need none of the trappings of civilization that other races cling to. They live in a vast and dark system of caves and tunnels that wind and web their way through the mountains in a dizzying fashion. While seemingly mindless to outsiders, they truly posses a terrifying intelligence that is hard to discern. For most people simply avoiding the mountains all together is more than enough to avoid a gruesome fate. However, once every 50 or so years they burst forth, the mountains no longer being able to contain their swelling numbers. They spread across the neighboring lands in a horrifying swarm of death and savagery, attacking everything that moves or breathes with a seemingly mindless recklessness. But mindless they are not. While the minds and ways of humanity are as alien to them as they are to us, they are more than mere beasts. Everytime they rampage they seem to have more specific targets and seemingly begin to account for the tactics or defenses of their prey. Avodining firing lines and circumventing defenses. They are an ever present threat to all who call the eastern half of the continent home. ====Crocida and Crocuba==== Crocida is a loose federation of crocodile men living in a peninsula full of warm marshes. They are generally solitary and mostly want to be left alone so they are ruled by a minarchy of bureaucrats who are the only ones interrested in running even a minimal state. Their technological level is roughly at a Middle Ages level and they don't care much about magic outside of some basic magitech simplifying the maintenance of their infrastructure but the marshes are inhospitable for most other races and they have very strong natural form of regeneration making them almost unkillable through violence. Their main export are wresting matches for Kornheiseria and stories about the crazy shit some of them do. Crocuba is almost the same but the higher population density forced them to have a bigger government so they settled on a socialist state doing everything for them, the relative simplicity of their society and how little politicians and bureaucrats can gain means that is it mostly working fine. They are a little more advanced than Crocidians and are mostly known for being less crazy than them and having the only decent doctors in the region. ====Dún Cósta==== In the northern edge of Tismo sits the lands named Dún Cósta, or the Coastal Fort. So named because the inhabitants here fled the powerful empires of Autia before they fractured and crumbled. The people moved here and built a series of forts and tower houses to protect themselves along the edge of the continent and a few islands off shore in the barren sea. The coast of this area is often steep and rocky, and small rain showers occur almost daily being swept in off the barren sea. The land is flat or comprosied of rolling hills and is frequently a lush green. Trees are few due to frequent cloud cover but smaller vegetation can grow in abundance. Farming and pastoral life is efficient here. The people here are proud and clannish, with infighting not being uncommon. They claim an old and proud lineage that they travelled back to before their exodus from Autia. Though feuding is common, the people here are of a shared identity and always rally and unify for mutual defense against outside threats. They subsist off of farming and livestock, which provides them with all the necessary food they could need, often having large underground stores for hard winters or times of strife. The clans tend to congregate around their fortified tower houses, which is where the land gets its name. These range in size from simple three story buildings to large structures with walls and additional defensive fortifications. A powerful clan can have several tower houses to their name, often with a preeminent holding being the central point. Most of their modern arms were initially obtained through trade with outside powers, but they have since begun to replicate and create weaponry of their own to match that of the more powerful empires from over the sea. The people here take to war readily, but firearms are still less widespread in this land than in others. It is considered a mark of manliness and bravery to go to battle with conventional melee weapons, though there is no taboo against the use of ranged weaponry. The locals hold to the legend that they fled here as the first human empires of old took hold of Autia. Their greatest hero was reportedly named Balor Manannan, a leader of a small clan, he was a renowned sailor. It was said he could commune with the seas and knew the language of the waves. He was the first to recognize the danger their people faced, and he alone urged them to set sail and head east for a new land. He was challenged on this by the leader, or rí túaithe, of the largest and most influential clan. This came to a head when the two engaged in a duel to settle the matter. The younger and smaller Balor won the fight, and most of their people then agreed to take to the ocean and leave. Balor Manannan seemed to know the exact course to take and exactly when to leave, guiding the clans over the rough seas to their new home. Balor called this place An Baile Glas, or the green home. Here they would start anew, prosper, and flee no more. Balor Manannan is regarded as a near godlike figure by his people. They say he still sails the world centuries later, always roaming and exploring. It is said should they ever face destruction again, Manannan would return from over the waves with his guard and save them from such a fate. The Balorians, as they now refer to themselves, fight war in mixed units of men with rifles and others with melee weapons. They are not above a well coordinated ambush and often consider it an exceptional talent to catch the enemy off guard. When facing a foe in a pitched battle, the rifle armed men tend to let a few volleys loose to weaken and disrupt the enemy, which is quickly followed by a rushing charge of those wielding hand to hand weapons. Cannons have begun to make an appearance in their forces, which they prefer to use at shorter ranges right along side their rifle fire to maximize damage and the psychologically disrupting impact it can have on the enemy. When the ancestors of the modern Balorians arrived on Tismo, one of the first tasks they undertook was to erect their traditional Standing Stones. These sites are religious and magical in nature. It is within these standing stones that the people gather under the guidance of the draoithe, or druids, to engage in ancient rituals and ceremonies. From these locations the people are said to have opportunities to commune with the dead or glimpse aspects of the future. It is here that the most dire of matters are settled, the most desperate of prayers made, and the most joyous of festivities are held. The druids of the land are held by custom to be impartial in the affairs of the clans, so that they can fairly arbitrate disputes and that their power cannot be used against their own people. It is when their lands are threatened from the outside that the draoithe act with the height of their powers. It said they can conjure storms, powerful gales and whipping rain to hamper their adversaries or shroud the land in so thick a mist that invaders would wander almost blindly through the countryside. Rumors abound that through sacrificing one of their own, they can even conjure the wailing spirits of the dead to run rampant through the fog and assail the enemies of their people. Balorian men are not an entirely uncommon sight outside of Tismo. Those that are low in line for inheritance or have fallen afoul of their own laws will often end up venturing into the world as adventurers and even mercenaries. Their services are often welcome amongst the prominent empires as they are typically adept scouts and skirmishers. The Balorian Pipers are fabled for the cry of their music and seemingly magical nature of its sound. Through haunting and echoing wails of the pipes men are strengthened to valor, given fortitude beyond their natural means, granted the might of two men, and even gain a swiftness on foot that is seemingly unnatural. A piper accompanying an army or even a simple group of fighting men can be a force multiplier all their own. The proper song can even break the moral of opposing men or disorient their forces in the chaos of combat. The origins of this magic is unknown to all outsiders, and it is a tightly kept secret. Even a Balorian vagabond in distant lands would keep tight lipped about the nature of this power. While not connected to their faith or the druids, the songs of the pipes are ancient and mystical in their own right. Tradition maintains that Balor Manannan himself devised the instrument, and taught his people the tones, sounds, and songs of power that they now send howling out of them. Being a piper is a lifelong pursuit. Often these men forgoe titles and other life paths to dedicate themselves to perfecting the myriad of songs that are passed down through the generations. These individuals are not barred from other avenues or ambitions, but the pipes are nigh sacred, and a professional piper is worth far more than their weight or stature could ever convey. Even a small clan can be stronger than they would otherwise be capable if they have the loyalty of several accomplished pipers. Bagpipe bards. ====Skvoenbard==== Skvoenbard is a dark and twisted land on the continent of Tismo. A land once comprised of noble Knights and horsemen, it's Lords warned upon their neighbors for centuries till the reign of King Heinrici. You see King Heinrici and the petty Lords of Skvoenbard had long worshipped the Deadicorn, under the name Posen Lord of Horses, since the lands creation with the Dark god looking at their worship with amusement but Lord Heinrici wanted to summon the full power of the god itself. He called upon all of the mages of the land, all of the Knights and Soldiers in the kingdom, for one great ritual that would see them blessed with the power of their god. But the ritual twisted them into abominations, Centaurs, and stripped the life from their bones giving them an unnatural existence where they would be forced to consume the souls of sentient creatures or see themselves fade into nothingness. With the great and evil land often calling Black Hunts across the continent to bring more food back for the masses. ====Sheeple Folk Confederacy==== The sheeple folk are an half-human, half-sheeple race living in a band of mountains and surrounding marginal lands. Sheeple women are lithe, fast centaur-like humanoids while the men have a more robust bipedal body plan and an affinity for air magic. They are organized in clans generally ruled by a female warrior and a male shaman-wizard and most are part of the sheeple folk confederacy, a loose intertribal state mostly regulating interactions and judicial matters between clans to avoid blood feuds. Males rarely fight but either do most stenuous menial labor and craftmanship or become shamans Shamans almost always learn to both draw power from countless local godlings and master a form of arcanic elemental magic highly specialized in winds and air. Women are either warriors, messengers or most jobs relying on speed. There are of course exceptions like war shamans, craftswomen and so on but they generally only exist on a individual level. ====Ssthvarak socialist republic==== For the longest time the various races of lizardfolk in Tismo were relatively unorganized and very tribalistic, only really banding together when their shamans saw the sings of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal Nergal], signs that heralded the next Xiklik incursion upon their lands. When such signs did appear all the tribal chiefs would put their differences aside and gather their warriors to face the horde. Century after century they kept this up, and century after century they ended up being less and less of them, it was clear that things needed to change before the only thing that was left of their people was dust in the wind and the laughter of thirsting gods. Each one of the surviving tribes send out a team of their strongest and most cunning warriors to search for answers beyond the western sea. The Son of chief Suusaandar blackscale, Isiratuu the soothsayer Brought back gunpowder, and new methods of smithing from the mainland of Autia, thus greatly improving the quality of their gear and production methods. The son of chief Balathu yellowscale, Nikanuur the clairvoyant managed to trade magical secrets with the The Unravelers expanding the capabilities of their shamans making something closer to proper wizards. The daughter of chief Kurigalzu greenscale, Zakiti the stalwart brought back knowledge of some of the greatest Autian architects and engineers giving them the ability to create structures that would easily outlast their creators. And then... there was the son of chief Asardin redscale, Shagaraktiyash the bold... he drifted off to IBRU (Isekai'd Brazil Russia Union). He was taken to soviet brazil and brought back, much oh so much forbidden knowledge. Shagaraktiyash or as the locals started calling him, shaggy brought back communism. Okay it wasn't just communism. His accidental contact with the people of IBRU granted him much knowledge that no mortal from that plane should have ever held. ====Dalavchtai Khanate==== It is a name whispered in hushed tones by the people of Tismo, that of the Dalavchtai Khanate. As beyond their borders lie endless steppes, unchanging minus the great peaks that stretch up beyond the clouds all throughout. And these lands were, and still are inhabited by a group of ancient tribes of undiscernible origin. The only thing that is known of the Dalavchtai peoples is what has been scavenged from the ancient tombs scattered across the continent, monuments to ancient khans with whoever formerly guarded them being long gone too. Initially the steppe clans were as separate as usual, but instead of targeting their aggression upon other forces they instead repeatedly battled each other. Wearing themselves down it was no problem for their vast territories to be quietly taken by the Empire of the Jade Pyramid to their east. And yet the tribes cared not in their lust to have their own people be secured as the mightiest in the steppelands to please their foul horse god known as Khar Mori. An alter ego of the Deadicorn, Khar Mori had appeared in ages long past within the minds of several senior warriors and khans. Granting them the promises of deadly horses beyond comparison in endurance and strength to these warriors who sought such beasts to traverse the cold and windblown plains, merely in exchange for following his tenets of travelling the lands and laying wastes to everything you could see. The khans of each clan were awed by the visions showed to each of them and all swore fealty to the horse god. Soon a competition then being held where the leaders of each tribe battled with the winner being crowned Supreme Khan and being the high priest of their new god and overlord of the clans. The contest lasted for weeks on end with no Khan willing to back down, however with the power of his great griffon mount, massive even by griffon standards swooping down and in less than a day bringing the khans to heel. Formerly the victor of the competition was merely known as Temur, khan of the mountain dwelling Dalavchtai people but he was soon crowned Supreme Khan Temur and high priest of Khar Mori. And as promised by their new god, right after the celebration the nomad's scouts had discovered a new breed of horse wandering the steppes. Massive, strong and most of all wrathful, this new breed of horse proved a challenge for the nomads to drag to their festival grounds due to attacking the ones dragging it but once the deed was done they were named takhi or to outsiders merely greathorses. With such a powerful new creature at their disposal the nomads who had been renamed the Dalavchtai in respect of the original clan of Temur began breeding and in time they had amassed a host of horses and riders thousands strong. Alongside this, being the new rulers of the Steppes the formerly isolationist original Dalavchtai people revealed their own army of griffon riders, as the griffon is claimed to have originated from these lands as over time it migrated across the seas to rest in more peaceful lands. However the griffons who stayed behind are nothing like the noble griffins of Autia, rather they are far larger and feral beasts who need to be forcefully wrangled and have an iron mask put on to restrict their eyesight to properly ride. Alongside this the Dalavchtai nomads have a tradition of stealing griffon eggs and training them specifically to be mindless killing beasts or carriers to drag their magical flying yurts kept afloat through a similar means as the flying carpets of the Sultanate. With this force they mounted a revolt against the gnomes who dared to claim the steppes for themselves. Through an endless wave of both horses and undead resurrected by the dread powers of Khar Mori the gnomes were repelled from the territory with a neverending battle going on between both sides for ownership of the steppes for the next hundred years. During this time the khans, who had essentially become liches by this point due to the effects of the dark god they worshipped had planned eastward expansion. As such a large force of griffon riders was amassed setting east to discover what was there to see. To their great misfortune however a sudden typhoon broke out weakening the griffon riders as they struggled to maintain a grip on their beasts and when they finally reached the lands they desired they were quickly shot by the alarmed air mages of the Jinsan empire reacting quickly to the new threat. An attack that would have previously not phased them in the slightest was the one to finally bring the force of outriders down due to their exhaustion from the journey and the survivors reluctantly headed home to the fury of the khans. With their dreams of eastwards expansion quashed with the scouting force they sent being repelled due to bad luck and a lack of a real seafaring navy to have a second go at it seeing as all griffon riders were sorely needed in the conflict the khans instead just continued business as usual. Since then an Autian alliance had served to eliminate the colonies of their far luckier gnomish rivals and the new forces have been curiously observed. They greatly mistrust horses unlike the nomads who in this long period had made several advances such as the bomb catapult, a device they carry dozens of into battle which each fire a powerful explosive known as a naptha bomb decimating anything it hits and their numbers now in the millions befitting their status as an endless horde being enough to prevent all attempted incursions on their land and caches of stolen firearms replacing the arrow for their weaponry. And in the modern era this balance has remained for the most part with constant battles against the Balorians, Gnomes of the Jade Pyramid, Khuluritai and even their possible allies the Ar-Haughta and Skveonbardians. This animosity against followers of a similar god as them is stemmed from the fact of them despising other worshippers of Deadicorn for their repulsive obsession with rainbows and the vast majority of them not truly going with the destruction aspect of the god. And in terms for their current state of events the Dalavchtai have had a stroke of good luck raiding a Yrrian colony of scientists. Fascinated by the iron beasts who were observing the human scientists and attempted to fight off their griffons swooping in from the sky to no avail, the steppe nomads through months of relentless beatings and other forms of torture have "convinced" the scientists to produce a model of iron beast for their use shown in pic related in a procession being followed by several other similar machines. This tömör alkhagch or iron walker in common Nantic has served as a deadly warmachine they have began to manufacture following their seizure of several small factories within other raided settlements and through this power aim to finally destroy the neighboring gnomes and their nation. People: Most Dalavchtai nomads are Jinsanic humans, albeit with slightly darker skin and a slightly more muscular body due to the region they live in. These men and women are the primary population within the steppes with any outsiders being either killed or scared off by a group of angry charging nomads. As such there are no other races living in the region minus liches. These liches are the still living bodies of ancient khans given unlife through the dark powers of their god alongside incredible necromantic power. Due to their fervent hatred for newcomers and usage of all the stolen technology at their disposal making it quite impossible to get into their homeland, Unkor is commonly seen as the home of undeath yet the steppes serve a similar purpose with the dark blessings of Khar Mori permeating throughout them letting skeletons walk the earth freely. Religion: While Khar Mori, god of horses, strength and darkness serves as the god most worshipped among the Dalavchtai each tribe still worship their old gods they possessed before the rise of the horse god. This practice is discouraged by the Cult of the Dark Horse, the official name for the Morian cult however knowing antagonizing their kin to be a foolish endeavor worship of these gods still continue. Some of these gods include Bugdaav, god of griffons, marksmen and the sky and Agruu Ej, goddess of fertility and war. Magic: While natural magic still has the same rare chance of existing as it always does, necromancy and dark aetheric magic has grow far more commonplace with a ritual of self mutilation being undertaken before an altar of Khar Mori by a cultist to get his attention and blessings. These blessings manifest in the aforementioned magical powers no matter the original power of the user and allow riders shot down in a charge to rise up and battle again alongside the corpses littering a battlefield to be put to better use. One final known use for the nomad's necromancy is the production of enchanted spices. One such spice is a strange purple powder put inside a bomb and fired from one of their massive mortar/catapults into a crowd causing mass hallucinations and panic attacks among the unfortunate souls it was fired upon. Economy: Ever since the establishment of a Supreme Khan, a standardized currency has been established with a novel new idea being used at its forefront ever since its creation. Rather than the typical precious coins employed by most nations small strips of paper with a value on them have been put into effect instead. This currency is backed up by a large deposit of silver and gold coins allowing this far easier to produce system of banknotes to exist. As for trade, while extremely hostile to outsiders it is known for the Dalavchtai to trade warm animal furs, porcelain crafts and most prized of all rare griffon made materials. No sane Belkan or Ercaenmedian would be willing to do anything like sell parts of his or her prized pet so the sharp and deadly griffon claw daggers and weapons sold from this land alongside griffon feather hats and cloaks are quite valuable. Military: War has and remains the greatest calling for a nomad to seek, with a whopping 60% of their population either serving in the greater army or taking up arms to defend their tribe. Each of these warriors have about 3-5 horses they use while travelling to either carry a load or to switch between to quicker cross a location. Khans have been known to possess a herd of horses numbering in the hundreds and when not being mounted these horses are let loose into battle with their great bloodlust making them willingly charge forwards. Other then the massive hordes of horses and riders fielded by the army which seem to have no end in sight when charging at an enemy, with this sheer amount of numbers being their main tactic bomb firing catapults and mortars are also brought into battle. These serve to cause great fear and damage within the heart of enemy ranks when they are fired however the most fearsome and famed group of warriors are the Dalavchtai griffon riders. A force that seems to blot out the skies with their numbers and great wings the griffon riders have unchallenged maneuverability and control over the sky with their wingbeats being the last thing most warriors hear before being mauled to death. Logically this is where their army would end yet looting has always been considered a viable option among the Dalavchtai as they commonly embark on raids across Tismo solely to steal the fanciest looking technology. This has led to results such as the aforementioned Iron Walkers alongside stolen Alkorian guns becoming the main projectile weapon for the hordes instead of arrows once they occupied enough munitions factories. The only issue is quite often they do not know how to operate these devices leading to some rather humorous results. ====Kingdom of Sostenfiel==== In the east, beyond the Emerald Ocean and the machinations of the Nantic States and their vassals lies the continent of Tismo. A strange land filled with beastly cultures of humanoid animals, ancient empires, and numberless hordes of worshippers praising vile gods. In such a land the influence of the common man is always impeded by these forces, being at the frontier of eastern civilization. However nestled within the vast mountain ranges shielding it from the murderous hordes of nomads lie the heartlands of the vast Kingdom of Sostenfiel. Characterized by foreigners for its piousness to their gods and a constant aching for invention shown in the great whirring gears and dials littering their cities working towards some convoluted purpose, it remains a bastion of order shining all throughout Tismo in defiance of the mongrels who yearn for chaos and destruction. And yet the origins of the realm describe of a great struggle to reach this point. Centuries ago as the Sartyrians made their rounds around the world and bringing ruin to whoever crossed them on their warpath the original Sostenfielians started out as an isolated group of mountain men in the north. They had built small settlements in the mountains they called home and became extremely adept at traversing them as their mountain god Fiel was said to do. Meanwhile in the south of their homeland a league of sailors had colonized the land choosing to sail the coast and build elaborate stone churches to their own god Sosten, a representation of their ideals of building and expanding. Very little contact between these two vastly different groups of people and they chose to stay separate due to no pressing threat. This tactic and their slow expansion worked perfectly for the time as they remained cheerfully naïve of what lay beyond their mountains. This blissful ignorance would soon be stripped away as right outside their territory within the vast steppes of the nomads Temur had just been crowned Supreme Khan. The great khan turned his maddened and lustful brain towards greater conquests following the unification of the nomads under his command. His push against the Gnomes of the Jade Empire had been successful, why not seek to expand instead of simply repel? His machinations then turned towards the rest of Tismo, as a detachment was sent towards each corner of the continent. To the southwest a relatively small force (by their standards mind you), merely an outrider force of two hundred griffon riders and three thousand greathorse riders armed to the teeth. Such a force was incomprehensible to the mountain dwellers and even though several riders died on the tight mountain passes there were enough cavalrymen and griffon riders to successfully siege and raze their capital. No matter how staunch a defense was led against them it was fruitless. As they retreated to the south they eventually reached the settlements of the sailors who were extremely confused at their sorry state. After seeking a meeting with their lords the once proud and defiant nobles of the mountains prostrated themselves before the southerners pleading for a truce to be negotiated and their skills shared so they could repel the remaining invaders. The only issue was that their leaders seemed to always have conflicting interests with each other and as they quibbled over who should be represented most in the upcoming treaty valuable time was wasted. A cause was needed to rally around and eventually it seemed like religion could be this driving force, for a holy war can be a very convincing motive for some. The newly made treaty reflected this as it stated that an official church would be established worshipping a new god, a fusion of both their gods known as Sostenfiel. While no side was particularly pleased with this outcome they both agreed to rally behind this new deity in order to work together in a counterattack to banish these invaders. And so it was that a war of reconquest began or as they called it a "Reconquista". Having held the line for long enough the defenders of the mountains who had been left behind had finally been slaughtered down to the last man, having thinned the numbers of the encroaching Dalavchtai by a respectable margin. That night the vile nomads celebrated believing that the land was theirs now that they'd occupied the north of it, little did the expect the series of assaults and traps sprung upon them in the mountains over the next week by a force twice as large and far better equipped then before. Through skilled use of hit and run tactics using superior knowledge of the terrain to trap their enemies in several choke points the newly established Sostenfielians had emerged victorious and had taken back their lands finally unifying in the process. Their crusade travelled through swathes of land to their north and east helping any other civilizations in the area who were being overrun and as they travelled their culture slowly grew in scope creating metal and glass cathedrals to Sostenfiel recruiting new converts from the rescued to pray in them. In this pattern of melding cultures their nobilities also married into each others bloodlines further establishing the newfound bond and four regions were marked out acting as the provinces of the kingdom. Naevare was the southern section belonging to their sailors, Aragonia was to the north encompassing the mountains that shielded them, Castilles was their eastern section and Portugel their northwestern territory. Having established themselves throughout the southwest of Tismo by this point their armies returned home to great fanfare as the focus shifted from military expansion to border defense. Revolutionary inventions were pumped out with the tercio formation being particularly useful against horses from further Dalavchtai raids on their borders alongside several massive cannons and handgunners accompanying them utilizing their newfound discovery of gunpowder as a byproduct of their first encounters with the Tortles. However their crowning achievement was the discovery and mass production of airships to defend their borders from the neverending onslaught of nomad griffon riders that seek to break through. This was accomplished initially through the work of their mages, the vast majority of which being enchanters or artificers as they are known here. These mages enchanted balloons to lift up seemingly impossible loads with the aid of magitech produced by them lightening its weight. This is a pattern repeated even now with their aerial fleet (the largest fleet of airships in the world in fact) deploying unfathomably large airships whenever possible with enough guns to singlehandedly destroy whatever is troubling them. Meanwhile back on the ground the increasing sophistication that was being found in their airships had also began to apply to the Sostenfielians as well, with their artificers constantly pushing out new sketches for inventions with reckless abandon. Their sketches commonly incorporate several gears and levers in their design, enough to bewilder and confuse a normal person in how this mess even works. These nightmarish contraptions of dials and gears have spread into their cities as well with exotic animals being converted into fully functioning and tireless machine versions of themselves and devices such as trains and guns being enhanced with a bevy of expensive modifications being applied. Overall it just feels like too much for most. These enhancements have also become widespread in their military with even their lowest soldier having just enough to commission a suit of plate armor and have their rifle shoot twice per shot. People: Sostenfielians greatly resemble Nantic humans in appearance, having a fair skin and typically with brown or black hair. Other characteristics such as typical strength are also shared but fashionwise they choose to dress quite flamboyantly dressing themselves in black or brown clothes with a puffy white collar for men or colorful robes or dresses for women. Religion: Sostenfiel, god of mountains, building, home and invention is the only worshipped god among the Sostenfielians. His church is the one of the most powerful entities in the kingdom, directly advising the monarch and his family and is led by a pope. Magic: The gift of magic among the Sostenfielians is about the same as a standard country of men, with the vast majority of mages being enchanters. Strangely enough they mostly take up positions as inventors, allowing the strange clockwork contraptions that the nation is known for to exist with their work alongside various magitech pieces. Examples of magitech include technology that lightens an object that it is attached to and a limited gift of intelligence to their clockwork animals allowing them to automatically activate the levers and subsections of their body needed to perform certain actions. Economy: As wonderful as their contraptions seem when in action, the materials needed to develop them are costly and their creators eccentric. This means that the nobility funds the majority of endeavors related to their technology with these devices being quite expensive for an average citizen. This does not mean they are inaccessible however as through the nations export of magitech, olives in both their original form and as olive oil, weapons have left them quite rich and through family businesses selling these products citizens make enough money to comfortably buy a weapon modification or two. Additionally in some cases with enough bribes you may convince a trader to sell a clockwork animal. It would be a hard sell for sure but should you successfully attain one you'd have a beast with very high resistance to most forms of harm that never tires unless its mechanisms are opened up and broken. The term "clockwork animal" has become more up to debate as of recently however as rumors have been circulating that a primitive man with skin of iron that moves around by a series of levers and weights has been made. This metal man has been named a "robot" and is assumed to essentially be a golem functioning without the aid of a magic core. Lastly the final method of making money the Sostenfielians have made is through tourism, as their lands are about the only location on the continent being very welcoming of visitors leading to the kingdom's nickname of "the gateway to Tismo". Military: No matter how odd in clothing and behavior the Sostenfielians may seem, when it comes to battle they cast aside their petty concerns and with grim determination perform their duty. This is a byproduct of the Reconquista, as ever since that day the invading Dalavchtai were repelled they have forever earned the ire of the nomads who embark on great incursions against their mountains with armies that seem to grow in size every time they try. As such the military is very well funded by the nobility with foot troops armored in plate armor wielding ranged weapons such as rifles or blunderbusses and either a mask or a helmet with a feathery plume on top. Alongside this they do possess melee weapons such as spears, pikes, halberds or rapiers as backup, all traditional weapons of their land. All well and good, however the most exciting point of enlisting for most is the tradition of each soldier modifying their weapon. These modifications are performed by the artificers in their regiment adding things like a mechanism allowing their guns to shoot several times in one shot or perhaps a magitech ring which makes bullets shot through it gain the added properties of lightning. The longer one has served in the army the more modifications of this manner they have. Following these dauntless warriors come a bevy of devices such as the aforementioned clockwork animals, iron beasts with three revolving turrets to serve as cannons, mounted knights with a mechanical steed and a lance mounted gun and other such wonderous contraptions. However the nation has its greatest strengths in aerial combat with massive airships releasing small fighters and metallic birds to sabotage vital points for enemies, blow anything below it to smithereens with several payloads of bombs, cannons and turrets or simply serve as a means of travel. When not defending their own borders some regiments help in defending the boundaries of other nations such as Dun Costa and the Sheeple Folk Confederacy. However there exists one more force within their borders, one well hidden from the public eye with the orders of "preventing dissent". The members of this order are known as Inquisitor Artificers and are outfitted with the best magitech weapons and armory available commonly inventing and using their own tools as well. They ensure there is no corruption among the nobility and serve as the spies of the church of Sostenfiel. Miscellaneous: The Sostenfiellen fleet is divided into three legions each commanded from a Heavy Battleship-class Cruiser The First Air Legion, Headed by Marshal Alara Ailes is mandated with protecting Naevare. The most pretstshous of the legions, it has the most battleships under its command and is primarly served with defense of naval trade routes. Ailes , known for his good looks and charm has become a bit of a celebrity among the nobility. The Second Air Legend, headed by Marshal Shah Reik patrols Castilles. As the Crocidians provide little threat, Reik has seen fit to embed themselves in lavish luxuries. Rumors of their parties have stretched across the kingdom and drawn the ire of their church for their disregard for mandates. The low threat has lead the second legion's airships to be the smallest of the three. The Third Air Legion, patrolling Portugel is headed by Marshal Ora Ora Ahnt . Faithful to a T, she rose through the ranks of the Inquisitor Artificers before being "kicked upstairs" after a critical mission. Formerly the least armed of the legions, recent pressures from nobility have led to a build-up of arms on the border when the Khanate. Many feel Ahnt will pressure the Pope, whom she has a close bond to, into declaring a Fatwa against the Khanate as she and several members of the clergy are part of an aggressive faction of the church that seeks to expand the glory of Sosten by force. The current Monarch opposed this plan, but as they approach death, political forces circle like vultures to push this war. The fourth region, the mountains have no dedicated fleet due to their relatively sparse population and hard to navigate airways. The monarchy is elective, members of the nobility, clergy and militray are assigned votes based on prestige which are then used to select the monarch upon the currents demise or incapcitaion. The voting power of each voting party is weighted. The Pope has the most votes with 1000 while the lowest rank of soldier has 1. The commander of the first legion has 400 the second 300 and the third 200. Ora Ora Ahnt has been using the militray build up fo her region to pad her faction with enough votes to pick a zealot as the next monarch. Story: The following letter, marked urgent and bearing a pair of bloodied handprints, was discovered on the corpse of a messenger, 200 yards from the city gates. “To Force Commander Javier, Fort Ticonderoga Weekly Update Report #32 The scouts I sent on patrol have returned. Three died within sight of the fort, the other two are on deaths door, their wounds festering from poisons that we have no antidote for and are expected to pass by sunrise. They have sacrificed their lives to deliver the safe passage of a defecting servant of the Khan, one who claimed to have attended his former lord at a meeting between the Khan and the representative council of the Maritime Khurultai. Between his statements and what we have gleaned from our stubbornly silent prisoners, we have confirmed a number of the speculations surrounding the forces of the Khurultai. First, the good news. We have confirmed that the silks, leather, fur and bones ‘accessories’ are actually indicators of rank and speciality amongst their military forces. Only the feathers attached to the helmets appear to be personal adornment of an independent nature, while the metal armor itself is prized for multipurposed functionality, rather than any sort of indicator of experience. Apparently the pattern and placement of bones indicate rank, while the quality of leather and fur indicate their assessed speciality. The silk tassels they wear indicate their training, woven in highly complicated patterns to indicate which of the twenty roles they have knowledge in, and while we know that the length of the tassels indicates more completed training courses, we’ve yet to identify the corresponding symbols for each regime. We now know that all ranks carry a pair of inbuilt katars in their gauntlets as weapons of last resort, as well as compact repeater crossbows, which are typically loaded with poison laced bolts. Only the frontline medics carry the antidote, which may be as few as one in fifty infantry members. Those who do not handle the poison deftly are soon drummed out of the military. We’ve also confirmed that many of the more exotic weapons we’ve seen deployed- giant cleavers attached to lengths of chain, towering shields that resemble axe blades, anti-cavalry blades that resemble slabs of sharpened stone and the serrated rotating chakrams affixed to the arms- are thankfully rare. The larger repeating crossbows, however, are given to two in every ten of a platoon. Sadly, that’s the end of the good news. We’ve been utterly wrong about the sheer scale of their military strength, as well as the population in general. If this servant’s story is to be believed, and it bears some sincere weight, considering he is also on death’s door from the poison rained down upon my soldiers, the Maritime Khurultai might possess one of the largest military forces of the known world. The representative council made it quite clear, despite the surprise of the Khan, that they possess seventeen combat command zones. Two are honor guards, confined to their largest cities for home defense on both continents, each at minimal combat strength and mostly serving as recruitment corps. Seven stand at full combat strength, four attached to the border on Lapus and three on Tismo. The remaining eight have varying levels of combat strength, three of which are spread across their nine fleets of ships as security. Though this requires verification of the highest priority, this testimony indicates that the Martime Khurultai possesses well over one hundred million infantry forces, with enough naval capacity to move upwards of thirty million troops overseas in a matter of days. This is without factoring in the mountain sized tigers we’ve heard so much about. Needless to say, we share the Khan’s opinion of the sheer incredularity of such a capacity for war. My lord, I’ve just been informed that a fire has started in the infirmary and that the prisoners have escaped. I am cutting this report short and handing it to a messenger to ride posthaste on my fastest horse. I fear we might all be dead by morning. Please, send my love to my wife and children. Fort Captain Maximillion Estavez IV For Sostenfiel.” More Miscellaneous: The great bulls of Sostenfiel are the national animal of the kingdom and a symbol of their god due to its resiliency. As such bulls are venerated by the Sostenfielians and it is a tradition for brave warriors to prove their strength by battling a bull in one of the many bullfighting rings spread throughout the nation. Should they succeed it is seen as a sign of favor by their god and their power is considered legitimized. Alongside its theological connections, the bulls and cows in general that inhabit the kingdom are remarkably easier to tame and ride than most other places. This has led to it essentially being the workhorse of the nation and their workaround to the stigma against horses. Alongside this mounted knights have since the nation's birth ridden atop great bulls with their heraldry shining proudly on the creature's sides and serve as shock cavalry for the Sostenfielian ground forces. Employing their powder-lances as they call the lances with firearms attached to them that they wield to get a few shots off from a distance, these knights are fearsome opponents capable of wreaking havoc in enemy lines from a charge. Quick sidenote, clockwork animals are still used among the knights. Some instead choose to ride mechanical versions of the common bull or more exotic steeds like rhinos or elephants into battle however these knights come from high ranking noble houses possessing several votes with poorer nobles and squires settling for bulls. As such about 60% of knights ride bulls with their organization being similar to most other nations with knights having knightly orders. These knights however are officially endorsed by the Church of Sostenfiel and when inside their headquarters look more like preachers than seasoned warriors. Their fanatical nature and zeal in battle helps further cement this point. While Sostenfiel may seem a nation heavily automated with great contraptions whirring away to accomplish some convoluted goal and an advanced army this rampant industrialization is mostly contained within an ever expanding sphere from each city. The countryside even today is renowned for stunning scenery with beautiful mountains and rivers. While a vast number of the population live inside the massive cities of the kingdom, the people who live out here are farmers and use the land to grow food for the greater populace. Alongside this nearly every noble house throughout the whole of Sostenfiel has some kind of retreat they visit in the warmer months or whenever they seek respite from the constant intrigue and schemes in the city. Some even take to exploring the roads and visiting the other regions to find worthy champions to duel. Dueling in question is a well respected art among the Sostenfielians where knights and nobles alike seek to challenge each other to duels of finesse and strength. It's a sort of unofficial prerequisite for Sotenfielian military commanders to have some dueling experience with many duelists being enlisted as melee specialists. The most renowned of these men and women are said to rival even the elves with their keen sight and speed and even a peasant who takes up the rapier should they be skilled enough can earn noble titles and knighthood. A known subgroup of duelist are the conquistadors, a sort of mercenary captain employed by the state who patrol the kingdom and beyond doing as they please so long as they send money back home. This includes raiding of Crocidian/Crocuban settlements and from the lizardfolk beyond as on their journeys they pick up skills beyond the rapier such as deft use of firearms and use of poisons. Conquistadors who show up in a battle may not have the equipment of Inquisitor Artificers but their tactical and martial skills alongside foolish bravery more than make up for it as they are sent to assassinate enemy targets. Diplomacy with other nations and races are quite a mixed bag for the Sostenfielians. They first and foremost are eternal enemies with the Dalavchtai nomads to their northwest and as such see it fit to dispatch the Sostenfielian Free Armada to assist the sheepfolk of the Sheeple Folk Confederacy in fighting back the hordes. This has led to good relations between the Sheeple and the Sostenfielians as the sheepfolk have no national military force and as such the aid has led to an alliance between the sides with shipments of high quality wool, crafts, animals and scrolls of air magic being sent out of gratitude. The last one in particular is invaluable among the Sostenfielians as artificers employ the magic inside the scrolls to power the magitech devices used to remove the need of a massive open balloon to make an airship work by making the deck far lighter. Meanwhile in the south the Issbjarns are seen as trading partners and both sides simply trade and leave each other be. As for their stance on Autian nations, so long as they haven't been attacked by a nation they welcome just about anybody to come visit their nation to see the sights or engage in diplomacy. The main source of contact most Autians have with the Sostenfielians are the Free Armada who are currently stationed in Autia having been hired by the EU to bring the allied air force out of the picture in the invasion of Ercaenmedi, a job they have been performing quite admirably as of now. They have been holding back the Zeppelins, Aero-Cruisers, Aero-Maschinen and Aerofortresses sent by Belkan alongside its allies airships at the moment even with their status as the smallest Sostenfielian aerial fleet but the situation hasn't resolved just yet. The Free Armada are essentially the fourth and smallest Air Legion belonging to the Sostenfielians being made up of mercenary vessels and endorsed by the church to travel outside of their borders and battle for the highest bidder. It is led by Marshal Nil Vaca. Back in Tismo and their homeland however, the Sostenfielians are quite pleased with their affirmation of strength to the outsiders. The vast majority of their technology is still hidden to the Autians but what they've unveiled so far is enough to ensure no nation will desire to challenge them openly lest they find themselves at the business end of their aerial fleet's weaponry. Back to the races of Tismo however with the Empire of the Jade Pyramid. It exists on the exact opposite end of Tismo resulting in a situation where both sides know each other but haven't met very often. This leads to a neutral feeling between the two parties as neither really care enough to cross the whole continent just to engage in a diplomatic meeting. The Xiklik of the Shattered Edge Mountains also apply to this rule with legends of great insects swarming out of dark holes in the earth coming to the ears of the Sostenfielians but no incursion has reached their territory just yet. The Xiklik usually are softened up by the Gnomes of the Jade Pyramid and when they keep going west are finished off by the Dalavchtai once they enter their land. Dun Costa is just seen as a foreign race of strange people and little contact has been made resulting in a neutral impression between both parties of each other, quite a similar situation to the gnomes. This is the point where positive diplomacy ends as the Sostenfielians have either declared war or are heavily disliked by Ar-Haughtra, the Khuluritai, Skvoenbard, Crocidia/Crocuba and the lizards. The Ar-Haughtra and Skvoenbardians have raided Portugel on a few occasions tearing a path of carnage across the farmland. However after two days time the provincial capital of Libonna noticed what was going on and dispatched a regiment of foot troops alongside the order known as the "Knights Algraveia" to put down this incursion repelling the intruders back to their homeland and making an enemy of both races. A fairly recent threat has been the infuriatingly enigmatic Maritime Khuluritai, constant reports of contradicting and clearly false intelligence have frayed the minds of the military at the amateur nature in how ludicrous the information they receive is in addition to the difficulty to even get this information in the first place. As a preemptive measure the Khuluritai have been marked up to being the second most pressing threat to the nation, second only to the Khanate with the Third Air Legion being on standby to deal with a possible assault. For now it seems the threat is sufficiently prepared for but the mysterious nature of the Khuluritai have led to the Artificer Inquisitor Zé Cardoso embarking into the lands of the Khuluritai seeking to bring home a broken captive willing to give away more definite information about the nature of the Khuluritai and their forces. And lastly the lizardfolk to their east are seen as ripe pickings for many conquistadors who venture outwards and sack their temples searching for both magic and precious materials such as gold and gems. Any further action has not been taken as the lizards refill their temples with new artifacts and gold to make up for what is lost leading to the exact same measures being taken of looting what can be found in the night and not getting eaten by the fauna. As of recent one of the worst possible scenarios that could unfold has come to pass. When the Khanate comes charging at the borders of Sostenfiel the primary advantage between the forces has always been aerial superiority. While encirclement tactics and ambushes have worked well in the Dalavchtai's favor more often than not their griffon riders, regardless of the massive numbers they are fielded in have been defeated by airships. In a battle against the hordes of of the Dalavchtai in the mountains a group of frigate-class airships were cornered in the convoluted mountain passes by a force of griffon riders a thousand strong and were boarded and overrun. The poor souls of these unfortunate vessels were then dragged to the nomad's camp stationed next to the mountains on the other side with the wreckage of their ships and were subjected to unspeakable torture until they would reveal the secrets of building airships as they do. Eventually the pilots of the frigates gave in and production has slowly began of great red ships with bomb firing mortars stacked on each layer of the pagoda at their center and all throughout. And now when the Khanate rides to battle, as they always do they adapt the technology of whatever they take for themselves into their combat tactics. And these red ships now slowly stalk behind their giant eagles, griffons and black dragons. ''This is a sort of apology as I went way too far when making these guys. Here are the most important weaknesses related to the Sostenfielian army which will serve to counter some aspects of it.'' 1. The spending necessary to maintain a professional military meant to defend the nation alongside the money needed to purchase magitech, specialized airship parts and clockwork animals and other such machines is quite frankly ridiculous. This has led to a relatively small force making up the army which actually functions as I’ve described in other descriptions of it. 70% of the army (which still is nowhere near the size of nations like the Union in the end) is purely just fodder levied spearmen, pikemen and halberdiers with a few arquebusiers thrown in who usually die on their first actual mission, lack any real discipline and have very little experience. The combination of these two issues often lead to Sostenfielian forces being dangerously outnumbered on the battlefield regardless of their technology. 2. The interests of the church and the military often collide leading to spats between the clerical representative in a regiment and the leader, this in turn leads to contradicting orders and a great deal of confusion among the ranks should the two be purposely stirred up into arguing. 3. The noble houses who have children serving in the army often work independently from any greater authority. This independence leads to many regiments having completely different goals than others with situations such as a leader leaving halfway through the battle because he saw his rival who he’d been aching to kill for the last few years was injured and alone in his tent leaving a prime opportunity open for the assassination. Immediately after hearing this the leader and his best men left the battlefield leading to a resounding defeat on the western front of the battle. This self-centered and arrogant leadership embodied by several leaders has been a massive problem for Sostenfiel ever since its founding. ====The Troll Holds==== People: As the region known as the Troll Holds is split up into four individual warring countries, naturally each would be home to many types of trolls. In the northwest there are swamp and forest trolls, in the northeast there are ash trolls, in the southwest there are rock and crystal trolls and in the southeast there are sea trolls. Swamp trolls are a subspecies mutated from living their whole lives in poisonous swamps that are feared for their ferocious stench which is likened to a deadly poison. They often battle and sometimes tame the giant alligators living in their swampy homelands as pets. They are good friends with the forest trolls. The forest trolls, through staying in gloomy woodlands filled with mushrooms have became a host for many of these organisms as fungi freely grows on many parts of them. They use this fungi to practice a primitive form of medicine and grind it up into a powder and consume when the moon comes out going into a frenzy. They are good friends with the swamp trolls. Ash trolls are the rarest out of all the trolls that have gathered in southern Tismo and evolved from living right next to volcanoes and bathing in them. They are massive, even more so than other trolls with a resistance to any forms of fire and black skin. They spend most their days sitting around lazily in pools of lava or geysers, using the scalding liquid like hot springs to stay alive during the cold winters. Rock trolls live next to the great mountains that dot Lurk (the southeastern section of the troll holds) and are far more rotund than most other trolls, being quite durable as a result of this. They have a very chubby neck and commonly drag boulders around to throw at animals and each other as a sort of sport. The one who can throw a boulder the farthest is instantly crowned the leader of of their own tribe. Crystal trolls have chosen to live inside the mountains of Lurk unlike the rock trolls who live atop them and have gained a far paler appearance because of it, having massive crystals growing out of their back. They rarely venture out of their caves where they spend most of their days sitting around chewing on crystals and rocks as a food source but when they do it's very reluctantly as they hate the sun. They absorb the crystals they eat into themselves leading to the crystals sticking out of their skin and can take on the traits of what they eat, with a troll who ate diamonds for example having extremely durable skin far surpassing plate armor with stronger teeth as a result of how hard it is to chew on diamonds even for a troll. Sea trolls live in the southeast nation of Burk and as their name implies have learned how to swim due to the nearby islands having a wealth of food to eat. As such they live on both of the islands near Burk and on the mainland and are distinguished from other trolls by having a far smoother body and a fishy looking face. Religion: Trolls are animists, believing the earth around them has a life of its own and it is what their ancestors become a part of following death. They build towers of rocks scattered throughout the Troll Holds as a form of homage to their ancestors. Magic: Trolls do not have magic, instead they have a high regeneration factor and the ability to adapt to a new climate extremely quickly. This is why the trolls of the Troll Holds are so different from one another and why they in turn are different from the trolls in other continents. Military: The trolls do not maintain a professional army because they simply lack the intelligence needed to manage to logistics of a proper army. This does not mean they can't defend themselves however as individually a troll is quite tough to take out because of their regeneration factor, tough skin, giant weapons and their size being somewhere in between ogres and giants. Because of this a proper army isn't needed as when a troll sees intruders they will gladly smash them apart with their hammer. They use crude stone weapons such as giant stone warhammers, stone clubs, stone staffs etc. for their melee weapon. Alongside this each troll species has a secondary means of fighting with forest trolls releasing deadly spores, swamp trolls using their stench, ash trolls spitting out hot ash, rock trolls throwing boulders, crystal trolls using the traits gained from their food and sea trolls outspeeding opponents with their greater maneuverability from other trolls. The trolls do sometimes bring monsters with them such as giant alligators, lynxes, huge cave lizards and other such creatures that live near them. Economy: The trolls do not interact with the outside world much and hunt their own food so the only form of economy they have is occasionally exchanging items with each other in a form of trade. Trolls do sometimes leave their homeland should one be captured or bribed with a surplus of food with these trolls serving as warbeasts in the armies of others. History: The four nations of the troll holds have been there since time immemorial as the trolls within got acquaintanced with the surrounding world. Occasionally trolls stumbled upon each other leading to fighting over the best berry bushes and lakes and the trolls grew to resent each other. At one point however their leaders decided enough was enough and told their subjects to share the food as there was enough for everybody. Each hoped to make their trolls into a power strong enough to push against the Empire of the Jade Pyramid as while the gnomes never succeeded in their invasion attempts as they was always smashed apart the trolls never were able to take parts of the gnomes lands for themselves. The leaders of the trolls then tried to hold a conference so they could officially state their new truce but when they arrived at the conference table they realized there was one seat to little. None of them wanted to stand but as the delegate of the swamp trolls pushed aside the rock troll delegate to sit in the last chair, the rock troll struck the swamp troll hard on the head with a nearby boulder killing him. This drew the forest troll delegate into a rage as he attacked the rock troll with the crystal troll coming to defend his ally while the other trolls were aching for a good fight and started fighting each other too. The meeting collapsed and the troll onlookers decided that they were now allowed to fight each other and they started hitting each other with their hammers. The one chance the trolls had at becoming something greater was ruined by a single chair. In the end nothing much became of the trolls as the national divisions remained and they never made peace, leading to the current situation. The gnomes were never able to be invaded but they in turn could never enter the troll holds and the isolation of their lands from other threats led to the trolls never evolving past their current state. ====Ral-Kota==== Beneath Tismo, under the sheeple and khanate, lies a subterranean civilization of humans. These people refer to themselves as the Ral-kota and they have called the depths their home for a many generations. Their skin is pale and clammy, with eyes well adjusted to darker places. Their hair is often thin and jet black. Their civilization is centered around a great cave in the shape of a natural dome. They have carved their city and homes directly into the rock. The people survive off of the lake that sits centrally in the floor of their great cave, catching eyeless wriggling fish and harvesting mushrooms that grow along the banks of the water. These people rarely leave their designated home, for the dark beneath Tismo is no stranger to vicious creatures and treacherous passages. They have on three occasions in their history been subjected to Xiklik swarms, and all three times they survived only by collapsing the tunnels the insects were attacking from. They only wield primitive magic, and their weapons are dependent on the strength of arms to be effective, having none of the guns invented on the surface world. They are larger in number than may be assumed, with their great home cavern be very densely populated. How they got done here isn't known by any other peoples, but it is thought they must have fled sole great calamity on the surface ages ago. ====Sin’rava==== One of the graceful Solar Elves that inhabit Tismo. They were once a group of Sartyrian colonists, quite similar to the Desert Elves of Flickfowl who had began to try and set up a Sartyrian presence in Tismo. Their viziers spoke of a great valley under the sun on the continent where their dragons could freely rest in and they could establish a highly defensible base of operations to continue their expansion into Tismo from. This strange valley seemed a perfect place to establish their holdings in and as such the Sartyrians travelled far across the mainland whilst repelling the then-young Sostenfielians, Sheeple and Khurultai until they finally found this valley filled with life right next to the nations of the Lizardfolk. The valley was named Sin’rava the suntouched plain and a magnificent fortress was built as a city grew around it, a stark contrast from the traditional citadel to the World Flame typically made when a new city is founded and a reflection of how the Sartyrians at the time were steadily growing less reverent of the flame. Soon their lack of faith was noticed and subsequently punished by the World Flame as in a cruel act the Smelters Disease, which still remains the deadliest known disease in the world to this day emerged. The immortality of the elves proved meaningless as they perished in droves cutting their once plentiful and widespread population down to the far lower numbers seen today and as they watched their kin suffer the elves of Sin’rava came to a harsh realization. Even with the great speed of the Sartyrian fleet they were too far inland and far away from Ignis to be able to reach Ignis and receive the cleansing ritual of flame offered by the World Flame to cure them of the disease in exchange for their morality. With only a short period of time before they would all inevitably succumb to the disease and be wiped out the elves grew frantic trying to find any possible alternative means of purging the disease. Through the tireless efforts and theories of their mages a possible solution was eventually discovered, by which point half their number had painfully perished already. They would construct a great enchanted basin made of thrice-blessed metals and cover it in runes to absorb the sunlight coming down that permeates through the valley which a mysterious group of plants absorb and convert into magical power to grant the land the magic-enhancing properties it has. The basin was soon ready and was placed atop the Radiant Fortress of Sin’rava as the sunbeams which touched it were absorbed and contained within forming a glowing pool. The nobles of the city would bathe inside this liquidified sunlight and should everything go right absorb a portion of it which would burn away the disease. Initial tests proved this process to be fully functional however an unexpected consequence occurred, the amount of energy absorbed was far greater than expected emptying out the basin meaning only one elf could be cured per day. Replication of the device was impossible as they simply didn’t have the materials needed to make another one meaning that only a small portion of the population could be cured before the rest would die from the disease. A council was held that day with a somber air as the most valued citizens among the elves would be chosen to be cured while the rest would be damned to a painful death. Over the next few days these chosen few were cured through the basin as the gates of the fortress closed blocking the others out sealing their fate. The elves remained holed up in their fortress for the next few decades in order to start repopulating their number who has been vastly changed in both their appearance and traits. These newly dubbed “Solar Elves” due to their survival being through the sun which they had deified by this point as their new god had a fairer complexion than the ashen look of the Sartyrian, a far cry from the paleness of the Nicsenoreans due to the warmth of Sin’rava but still noticeably different from the Sartyrians. In addition to this they had lost the pyromancies that let them repel the races of Tismo in the first place during the cleansing in exchange for light magic. This magic allowed them to control the flow of energy itself to both heal others or remove the flesh from their face through a beam of searing light depending on what was required. As of late they have ended up spreading out from their fortress now having regained a similar population to what there was initially and repopulating their valley and some lands beyond. Even then there still is a overall melancholy in the air as a result of the oldest elves among them still remembering those who succumbed to the disease. Their present objective is to merely get used to the new state of the world they’ve found themselves in and to take the lands of the lizards to their west for themselves as they originally intended to do. ====Tartes Imperium==== People: Having originally started out as one of the Sorgos colonies, the Tartes Imperium retains a population of mostly Sorgos humans with a relatively small population of harpies, centaurs and satyrs having also came over from Soukos. Their long isolation from their homeland has led to the Tarteans possessing a far paler complexion than the slightly darker skinned Soukans alongside being slightly shorter. The monstrous races also living in the imperium live closer to the outskirts keeping watch for possible enemies. Because of this they are well respected amongst the people living in these border towns and garrisons, a sentiment not shared by those who live in more civilized sections of the nation who treat them with mild apprehension which thankfully rarely escalates to anything beyond that level. The same can not be said to the neighboring hobgoblins and the strange ashen people of K'eyi Meda however. Both are seen as barbarians by the Tartean senators and are commonly used as scapegoats to convince citizens to enlist in the army to defend their nation out of fear of a possible incursion into the imperium. Any among those two races who are caught within the borders of Tartes are subject to a most gruesome fate as their bodies are nailed to enlargened holy symbols to the Tartean/Soukan pantheon where they inevitably die from asphyxiation. These poor souls are proudly placed next to the roads and cities of the Tarteans where their forms writhe in pain. Lastly there are the merchants and mercenaries, those from far beyond the nation. These foreigners are treated as honored guests among the Sartyrians due to the wares and information they bring of events far beyond Tartes. In exchange the Tarteans sell goods such as olive oil, furs, rare dyes, pearls and most importantly of all, animals. While the merchants sell their stock in the streets, mercenaries are commonly seen sitting in the courtyard of a Tartean captain's villa writing out the terms for a contract. These mercenaries fill out multiple useful niches which aren't the primary focus of the military such as advanced long range firepower which could be strengthened by a hired regiment of Yrrian Iron Beasts or trench warfare which a platoon of Belkan riflemen could cover quite well. Most of these visitors are from Soukos due to the nation being the closest one to Tartes and are vital to the imperium because of the deadly magical ballistae and enchanted cannons they send over to maintain their technological superiority. This is particularly important when facing the gnomes to their south who hunger to restore their fallen empire and are a constant threat in the south constantly having to be fought off. Advanced technology helps particularly well against the wee men as unlike the infuriatingly fast and dangerous warriors of K'eyi Meda who constantly raid the western imperium, the gnomes see little value in stealth and wear thick plate armor you can see a mile away and line up a shot towards. Religion: The Tarteans incorporate a modified Soukan pantheon into their daily lives as well. Many gods such as Zeupiter and Hadiese remain the same but other gods have their names changed such as Mercuros, god of travel, trickery and thieves being a renamed version of a similar minor Soukan god who is much more important in the imperium due to the greater rate of travel between cities. Additionally completely new gods are added in some cases with Baelona being the Tartean goddess of war and strategy. The high priest of each major god's church all have a seat in in the senate reserved for them and leading to the religious side of the imperium holding a great deal of power because of how many churches there are. Magic: Similarly to their former homeland of Soukos, magic is regarded very highly among the Tarteans. The strange inherent magical potential within Soukans is not mirrored here however due to the long isolation from their homeland leading to a loss of that particular trait. While the percentage of people with magical potential among the Tarteans has been lowered to normal odds, it does not exactly mean they have lost the blessings of their gods. The most zealous of Tartean warriors may have the chance to be acknowledged and directly blessed by their god, becoming true paragons of their deities ideals and demigod warriors that are often seen directly leading Tartean legios. Conventional mages are still seen within Tartean forces however as whenever a citizen with magical potential is discovered, they are immediately recruited into the garrison and are directly trained by a mage of the magical school they choose to specialize in which can greatly vary due to the large amount of magical schools utilized by the imperium. These mages are given the great honor to bear a banner of their legio and wear a blessed lion pelt to signify their status as a fully trained mage. Economy: As mentioned earlier, the Tarteans primarily export olive oil, furs, rare dyes and pearls. There are two exports however which serve as their main products sold by the imperium, slaves and animals. Their animals are particularly important as many of them are magical creatures like hydras specifically bred to be sold to other nations for multiple purposes. These creatures sell for vast sums to outside buyers due to most nations flat out refusing to sell their warbeasts to others in order to maintain the advantage such creatures bring. Most of the wealth in Tartes is held by a mix of senators and high ranking military personnel who use it to build magnificent villas and commission great artworks to be built, the common folk have to deal with a far more humble and frugal existence. History: During the golden age of Soukos it had seemed like the Three Fates had unveiled the world itself for them to explore. Day by day more land in southeast Autia was being seized but the slow the land was being settled at meant the city-states soon hungered for more while waiting to properly colonize the land. Currently their efforts were all focused directly to their east and while it may have proven a worthwhile investment with Aesanaeria being filled with natural resources and the dwarves of Brazilistan greatly improving their technology the west was still untouched. And so, in order to expand the ever growing republic a great fleet of triremes (I say triremes instead of neo-triremes because this was a long time ago so they just used magic triremes) made from the strongest of woods and given sails of folded silk was gathered together. Following several slight modifications allowing them to survive longer on the open ocean the ships set forth on what would be an arduous journey as triremes weren't meant for long voyages across an ocean. Storms of increasing magnitude broke out throughout the expedition and the loss of supplies and precious food in these events meant many ships were lost to the sea. This voyage did not end without a proper discovery however as when the triremes finally reached land they discovered a vast, warm land with plenty of space to set up holdings in. Overjoyed by this discovery, the crew quickly made landfall and began construction of a small village to serve as a home as civilization was brought to this new land. What they didn't expect however were many hidden pairs of eyes observing them performing their work belonging to those who had already inhabited this land, the men of K'eyi Meda. While a similar situation had happened to the Soukans before with the Sparticia Mountain Clans raiding their newly established city-states, initial contact was far later and this problem could be solved by building better defenses. This strange new foe would not allow them the time to build proper defenses however as the scouts observing the encampment quickly mounted their amphibious steeds known only as "Kbahalis" and set back home to notify their chieftains of the newcomers. Sensing a splendid opportunity to captures these foreigners as exotic slaves, the chieftains petitioned to their king to travel to their western lands and attack these foreigners. Permission was granted and their swiftest warriors were mobilized to head east. Later that night the Soukan settlement would be attacked by a group of strange winged monsters known as "Kongamatos" who under the cover of dark flew above their homes and each dropped a bomb to wreak mayhem inside the settlement. This caused the settlers and their hoplite bodyguards to run outside in panic to find out what was going on, exactly as the black skinned warriors intended as many citizens were captured and flown away that night to be displayed before the chieftains as a sign of their superiority over would-be invaders. Those who survived the initial assault chose to take all their valuables and flee the settlement before another attack would begin and ran back to the triremes. Before a second attack would inevitably commence, a group of sailors were chosen to head back home and request a greater force be sent to the west to battle this unexpected resistance. Using their greater understanding of calmer regions across the Ignis Ocean the sailors made it home to Soukos safely and begged for aid before the senate to send more troops to take this new land which they'd taken to calling Tartes. Thankfully the senators back home still lusted for this new land and wrote off the Medans who were already inhabiting this land as weak savages who had to resort to stealth to win their battles. Almost immediately following this meeting, general Caelus Titillus volunteered to travel to Tartes. Caelus was a general of great renown among the Soukans for his role in clearing the Sparticians from Voluntas, a campaign that had earned him the title of consul given by the senate. He had volunteered for this new expedition in order to test a new system of warfare he had thought up and had been building up an army of his own to utilize. These new tactics utilized several groups known as maniples, each a hundred men strong and made up of several ranks of soldiers such as Hastati or veteran Triarii each given enchanted shields capable of taking an arrow from a longbow without issue and javelins alongside a spear, sword or something else entirely. These formations would be led by ranks of monsters meant to disrupt enemy lines while the main force would get in and the artillery right behind them would fire away. His force of 500,000 men each dressed in his personal colors of red set sail later that week as the crowd gazed upon them with great curiosity as they were far more used to seeing hoplites. After what was now the third voyage back and forth from this new land Caelus's forces set foot on land and their greater numbers and training meant they had made a fortified garrison by the end of the day and a force of Velite skirmishers found the remaining original settlers hiding inside a cave. What commenced would be a fierce series of wars as while the Soukans may have had a force of veterans followed by monsters aplenty, the Medans had a greater understanding of the geography of Tartes, possessed dangerous creatures themselves and had a far larger force stationed in Tartes. Initial Medan attacks on the garrison were failures as ballistae had been stationed to shoot down the flying monsters the people of K'eyi Meda were using to scale the walls but counterattacks ended in failure as maniples were very easy to spot and were repeatedly ambushed in both woods and mountain passes by wrathful warriors with iron weaponry and cowhide shields and terrifying giant serpents with elephant heads known as Grootslangs. To make matters even worse Caelus's subordinates were repeatedly coming down with illness due to some kind of voodoo magic being performed by the Medans from a distance. The magical warding of his armor protected him from such a fate but this campaign was steadily getting more and more difficult than what he initially expected. During the battles he had been in against the enemy tribesmen he had noticed one high exploitable weakness in the Medans structure however. Each tribe seemed to have been sending their own warriors who very rarely cooperated with those from other tribes. This meant that instead of trying to fight everyone at once, as long as his headquarters remained defended the general could send his army out and take out one local tribal militia at a time. Additionally he began to reach out to a few tribes with many luxurious gifts and magical tools being given as a means to ensure their cooperation, having them sabotage their allies under the belief that they would become the most powerful among the tribes that made up the Medans if they performed their job and received more weapons to arm their warriors with. While his forces may have been reduced to half by this point, he began a slow series of victories which eventually stacked up until the final Medan forces were encircled. Terms of surrender were negotiated and the remaining leaders, who led the tribes bribed by Caelus in fact were let free in exchange for ceding Tartes to the Soukos Republic. Having triumphed over the tribesmen, construction of a proper capital began as Caelus crowned himself the provincial king of this territory. Over the next decade many Soukans immigrated into Tartes as it was swiftly becoming one of if not the most prosperous colony of Soukos and they sought to take large sections of land in the colony for themselves. Unexpectedly, this stream of newcomers would suddenly be shut of soon after as the city-states had initiated yet another civil war with almost all military personnel in the colonies heading back home to help in the conflict. This would not be the same for the Tarteans however as the great distance from their homeland alongside their leadership being mostly outside the standard Soukan hierarchy meant that many of them had started to feel a sense of separation from their homeland. So it was that the Tartes Kingdom as it was known at the time lost contact with its homeland and grew more involved in domestic matters. There were no longer city-states, instead there were simply more cities which while smaller than a city-state were far more closely linked together and to the capital of Rema. The years of isolation brought with them many times of change as well, chief of which was the White Coup. This coup, named such for the bloodless nature of it as the current king was strangled in his sleep was a plot against the royal bloodline who had gotten decadent and cruel. The ineffectiveness of the current heir would be his undoing as the Tartean senate who had been relegated to the position of advisors organized an assassination. Following the successful killing, the senate elected a new leader who would have earned his place through pure merit instead of inheritance. As such an emperor was crowned and the land was renamed to the Tartes Imperium. Military: The army has evolved and adapted much since the times of Caelus Titillus, with several reforms since the White Coup having changed how it is structured alongside modernizing it to keep up with their hobgoblin and Medan neighbors who both have adopted gunpowder in combat. The army is organized into multiple legios (legions in the tongue of the Tarteans, which is quite similar to the language of Soukos with a few minor changes) each 100,000 strong. These legios are comprised exclusively of human citizens alongside their warbeasts and are spread throughout the imperium and in some cases beyond its borders. The other monstrous races who serve in the army form a secondary arm of it known as the Auxilia with about a million auxiliaries existing as backup support. The mercenaries hired by the imperium in droves also count in this category as they are non-citizens. The standard Tartean soldier is known as a legionary, well disciplined warriors with many being veterans. They wield blessed scutum shields, multiple kinds of swords (depends on who's training them in their legio), spears and in recent times firelock guns. The strength of these soldiers comes from both their versatility given the variety of weapons a legionary knows how to use and their tactics. These tactics typically involve luring the enemy into a battleground specifically suited for the legionaries to fire into from a distance through gaps in a shield wall meant to deflect enemy small-arms fire whilst a hidden battle mage fires at and destroys artillery brought into the battle. Legionaries are led by centurions with the lower ranks wearing reinforced laminar armor whilst their higher ranks wear full plate and are given exotic enchanted weapons. Some other forces in the army include the Pegasus Equites, an extremely fast flying cavalry division and their Death Rays, the name is self-explanatory. Miscellaneous: Flaws in the Tarteans strategies such as a lack of large aerial weaponry i.e airships are covered either through mercenaries or just buying it from Soukos as the two nations share common ancestry and haven't ever directly attacked each other (though the Tarteans have had a hand in starting up the civil war back home so the attention of their homeland would be away from them and they could gain independence) leading to them trading freely. They do have big fiery dragons who live in the area as shown in an earlier picture though, they just aren't as big as a zeppelin per se. They utilize advanced mechanical mangonels and eagle headed cannons as their artillery. The aforementioned Death Rays also count in this category. The rays in question are essentially just an enchanted mirror absorbing sunlight and firing it off as a projectile when needed. Their navy is entirely made up of hired neo-triremes as the Tarteans aren't particularly fond of water and prefer for others to do the naval combat for them. Their monsters are also mostly just a select number of the ones found in Soukos with the exception of some creatures like the Caladrius, a mysterious pale blue bird with healing properties used by the doctors of each legio. I say select number of monsters as they're missing things like minotaurs and warsphinxes. ====Hagmann's Colony==== Oskar Hagmann, a Yrrian scientist who used to work in a small research colony located between Crocida and the Amberscales. His colony was attacked by the Dalavchtai Khanate and forced to give up some of their prototypes. Enraged by this, Oskar has secretly helping a local barbarian tribe known as the Group of Ghaunbo to help him sabotage the Khanate. ====Group of Ghaunbo==== A depiction of a town in the land owned by the Group of Ghaunbo, a portion of the great series of interconnected trade routes spread all throughout the continent of Tismo known as the "Jeweled Road". The art shows many Ghaunboans walking throughout the town center where many events are occurring simultaneously such as some merchants from the Shahdom selling some fine carpets and a Monk of the Iron Crown who through some strange fate ended up here performing his daily prayers in the town. The Jeweled Road as stated above, is the term used to describe the many linked trade routes going through wealthy trade towns all throughout Tismo. It was originally named such by some Nantic merchants from the old Nantic Empire travelling west from the Tartes Imperium (still just the Tartes Kingdom at the time) where they had arrived some time ago who had just entered the red savannah of K'eyi Meda and approached a tribe looking to trade. Their expectations were quite low, a byproduct of the savage appearance of the locals meaning they most likely didn't have very many products so you could imagine their surprise when diamonds were offered as one of the products the Medans were willing to trade. These raw diamonds were said to have been taken from the cave of a Groostlang, a terrifying creature said to have driven the dragons of Tismo east into Tartes and is known for hoarding such gems in the caves they dwell in. Since that time, the abundance of such resources considered highly rare in most other regions of the world in the trade routes of Tismo have led to this moniker. Nearly all nations in the continent participate in the Jeweled Road in some way with the exception of some more monstrous nations such as the Troll Holds, Skvoenbard, Ar-Haugthra some more isolationist lizardfolk tribes and Caridia due to its isolation, quite unfortunate for the sociable creatures living in it. Even the Khanate with its bloody nature has a presence on these roads as the Great Khan grudgingly acknowledges the uses of fairly purchasing goods sometimes with an explanation of their uses instead of looting everything and having no idea how to use what you've stolen. Because of this, caravans from some of the more civilized nomad tribes travel out to sell their wares of mighty steeds and porcelain crafts. Similar situations to this are echoed in all other civilizations participating in the Jeweled Road with each being visited by outsiders for unique goods produced by them such as the Sheeple for example selling some of their fine wool which soothes the nerves of those who wear it. Under the promise of attaining such rare materials for far cheaper costs than they would from other lands, merchants flock to the Jeweled Road in all sorts of transport from a camel-drawn carriage to a small airship. The main nations which are safe for traders to start their journey inland and trade in individually are the Dun Costa, the Kingdom of Sostenfiel and the Tartes Imperium with the Maritime Khurultai being slightly trickier to make landfall in due to their isolation. The roads are not always safe however, as traders are at the risk of encountering some more unfriendly parties from a nation they're heading through such as some Dalavchtai looking to raid instead of trade, some lizardfolk believing a group of merchants to be would-be invaders and in some especially unfortunate cases stumbling upon a few Xiklik who have somehow ended up aboveground when not performing an incursion. The last threat has become increasingly more concerning as of late to traders and the nations participating in the Jeweled Road as Xiklik have begun creeping out of the Shattered Edge Mountains, a trickle which will soon become a flood when an inevitable incursion occurs. ====Songhills==== The great steppes known as Songhills are a territory between the Khanate and two of the Jade Empire's enclaves. Technically it is part of the two enclaves, as several Jade towns and vital trade routes are present all across the steppes. Recently however this changed as several hordes of the Khanate had secretly marched into lands. Originally these where prepared to launch a surprise attack on the Jadeians, but that changed when a soldier named Ozbeg decided to practice his throat singing while on break. Unbeknownst to him a gnome named Bimber was sitting close to Ozbeg wanting to practice his own musical skills, and upon hearing the music Bimber did not ran away to warn the others. Instead, he was so insulted that he had to listen to what apparently qualifies as "music" by the Khanate that he pulled out his trusty violin and played a song of his own. This understandably offended Ozbeg and he decided to call upon his friends helping him playing a tune to humiliate this manlett, but Bimber's fellow bandmates arrived to retaliate with another song. After a while the leaders of both nations became aware of this musical duel and decided to send some of their finest musicians in the hopes to achieve a spiritual victory before sending their armies to defend/invade the steppes. Fortunately, the war would have to come later as the duel is currently still a tie due to the surprisingly high musical talent from both parties. Nowadays Balorian bagpipe players and Sostenfielian flamenco have also come here to duel (mostly just for the fun of it). If the Songhills would ever go for more than two weeks without music both the Khanate and the Jadeians would be screwed, as there's a Xiklik colony underneath the steppes that is unintentionally being kept calm by the music. ====Caridia==== In the dense, clouded jungles to the south of the Jade empire lives a most unique race of creatures, dubbed Caridians. Best described as large flying shrimp like creatures, they live in loose knit, interconnected clans that build their settlements on top of the many large table top mountains that break through the choking canopy below. Their cities shrouded in clouds reputedly contain extortionary amounts of precious metals, gems and exotic woods, spices and and perfumes. Caridians are extraordinarily sociable, flourishing and taking delight in meeting new peoples and making new friends. This is hampered somewhat by the fact Caridian language is entirely magical with subtle changes like temperature, pressure, moisture and electrical charge conveying words and concepts. They have an auxiliary language used alongside there main language, utilizing there ability to change colour. This can be used stand alone on in conjunction with their magical language to convey more complex and esoteric concepts. Communication with other races can by done via writing or mages who can "speak" the language. Caridians on their part do their best to mimic vocal speech with magic to varying degrees of success. Much to the Caridians dissapintment, there homeland is practically inaccessible by most races, but that that does not stop the Caridians from occasionally visiting The Jewelled Road to trade, with anecdotes of one particularly large trading party selling so much precious metals that the price along the road dropped so much that many economies relient on it floundered for decades afterward. Caridians, despite being friendly to the point of naivety, are more than capable of defending themselves, sometimes quite viciously. Their style warfare is utterly unique, befitting their bizarre form. It consists entirly of arial combat almost entirly using magic, often strafing ground targets at incredible speeds with gouts of flame or dive bombing them with premade explosive and incendiary devices. In air to air combat they use tiny chunks of base metal and obsidian which they magically project and targets not unlike a rapid firearm. Compounding this they have an extreamly hard and robust exoseleton which is all but immune to arrowfire. Caridians naturally wear little armour, usually clooth with varius metal scales woven on and sharp blades on their lobes as last ditch attacks usually consist of swooping down and either attepting to slash the opponent or flip on its back and use its momentum and robusnuss to simply ram into the target often with the foce to shatter bones. *exerpt from the encyclopaedia Zooalogica* On the subject of the Caridians. The Caridians are reputed to live in the dense jungles to the south of The Empire of the Jade Pyramids. Primarily inhabiting the many, large flat topped mountains. Where they supposedly build their settlements. They are in appearance like little else alive, described as looking like a mix of a shrimp and a flatfish. With a flat body that tapers toward the rear and a mouth set in a small head with two large eyes set on protuberances not unlike a snail, though they are incapable of retracting them. On the bottom of the head next to the mouth are two limbs that are said to aid in eating and manipulation of tools. They also said to posses a most uncanny ability to fly despite no discernible means of flight, as multiple Gnomish eyewitnesses attest. The Greenscales, due west of the area they are said to inhabit have numerous myths about them. Claiming that they(the Caridians) are a thinking race much on par with any race and that they possess a great affinity for magic, and have the ability to turn invisible. Additionally the Greenscales provide accounts of them attacking in a most astounding way, apparently they fly in close formation steeply upwards before descending at great speed whist casting spells at the target now directly below them. In my opinion they are little but myth and fable misidentified dragons and other flying beasts, and the notion that such a strange beast is cognitively on par with the races is ludicrous. Biology: Aside from essentially being flying anomalocarids they have a few other abilities, they possess a cuttlefish like ability to change their colour at will and besides using this for obvious camouflage they also use this as a form of auxiliary communication. with different colours signalling different moods and emotions. They also posses an innate and instinctual ability to use magic with their own novel "Schools" they are evolutionarily adapted to using. Their main mode of communication is though a magic 'language', mainly consisting of magical pulses, toroidal vortices of magic and subtitle uses of matter manipulation such as heating or cooling air, raising or lowering local pressure and moisture and charging the air with electricity/magnetism. This makes communicating with them difficult for all but experienced magicians Society: Caridian society is loosely centralized but organized with broad 'Clans' united by blood relations with clans being united into larger political entities via a network of intermarriages and distant relations. Their settlements are typically built on top of large table top mountains inaccessible from the ground where they fashion magic hewn dwellings out of the rocks, around the many springs that flow out of the mountains. Technology: Caridian technology is almost entirely magitech in nature due to their biology limiting their ability to craft tools, using magic hewn tools from obsidian and base metals like copper tin bronze and iron and greatly value the gemstones occasionally found in there rainforest homeland for there ability to store complex spells and magical scripting which they utilize in small automata they use to mine ore deeper in the earth where there biology becomes a handicap. Culture: Caridian culture is surprisingly simple but strange, and probably best described as pragmatic. With a simple extended family model where rank is derived from blood relations to other powerful families where age is respected but the young have as much say as the elderly with deference usually given to elders. They generally adorn their bodies with complex ornaments that look like armour but in most cases are purely ornamental with the more ornate decorations signalling wealth status and rank where the younger where the most precious and ostentatious outfits generally of silver and gold along with brightly coloured bird feathers, usually as a way of signalling suitability as a partner, with the larger and more wealthy ones family the more outlandish and extravagant the decoration, once a pair has been married its considered vulgar and bigamous to wear such Adornments. the 'pragmatic' aspect of their culture is their ability to abandon their social norms if a situation calls for it, in times of war the most martial will take precedence, in times of famine and drought those with the magical knowhow and ability are the ones who manage the distribution of limited supplies. Rulers of their the villages and towns will willingly give up power or delegate it if the situation demands leading to a very decentralised power structure where each aspect of soceity from farmers to rulers work nigh autonomous of each other. This Tendency toward an almost utopian societal structure with no strife derives from their status as fairly close relatives of insects, giving them a stage soft eusociality, where each individual of society is an independent being with free will but with a tendency for tight social cohesion. Religion:Caridean religion is a decentralized ancestor worship, where the spirits of the ancestors re-join an all encompassing life force that permeates everything in existence. It is believed that whilst the dead re-join life they retain conscious and can be invoked to bring good fortune from beyond the grave Warfare:Caridians have a completely unique way of warfare due to their biology and lifestyle . They participate in a form of aerial combat where they perform various acrobatic feats whilst firing spells at one another, this combat has ritualistic significance and is used to settle quarrels between family groups with a single male from each family picked to fight. outside this context this form of combat is comparably rare as few, if any challenge the skies of their homelands. Caridians have no form of ground combat preferring to strafe over ground based enemies peppering them with offensive magic or dive bomb from great Hight in more coordinated formations. Caridian warriors wear fairly light metal armor made of thin metal plates attached to cloth worn on top of the carapace. Occasionally they will attach metal and obsidian blades to their lateral fins and dive in low and attempt to slash enemies. In rare occasions they will dive at enemies flip onto their backs and use the great hardness of their carapaces in addition to their armour to barge into foes at high speed often causing great damage. Caridians are particularly hard to fight because their combination of natural armour, swift flight and magic make them generally resistant to most ranged attacks arrows will mostly bounce off, bullets often lack the power to inflict substantial damage when they eventually hit and spells have to be fired with exacting precision to hit one mid flight. add the fact the jungle they live in is dense and the ground is uneven landscape for now at least there is little worth besides the abundant mineral welth and in the lands they control for most other races ====Ar-Haugthra==== Much like its distant cousin Skvoenbard, Ar-Haugthra's very existence is a blight on the continent of Tismo. History: Long ago, this region was a fairly peaceful one of humans (Balorians) and dwarves who enjoyed good relations with the nearby Sheeple Folk. Unfortunately, a small cult to Deadicorn became increasingly powerful and began breeding and summoning more and more horsemen and other servants of Deadicorn. Eventually the local human governments were overthrown and most inhabitants fled. The dwarves unwisely holed up in their mountain fortresses, but eventually even the strongest holds were breached and the inhabitants enslaved. People: The dominant race in this region are the horsemen, but other servants of Deadicorn can be found too like satyrs, kelpies, centaurs, unicorns, tri'coof, and sch'long-hoof. Slaves are very common; typically humans, dwarves, or sheeple folk. Culture: The inhabitants of Ar-Haugthra have few long term goals other than to spread death and misery in the name of Deadicorn. Horsemen and other part-mortal servants Deadicorn will sometimes bully their slaves to raise livestock, build crude forts, mine, or forge crude weapons and armor on their behalf, but this seems to be done more for the sake of cruelty than necessity. Even unarmed, servants of Deadicorn are frightfully strong and tough, and are often innately capable of powerful magic (typically Deadicorn classics like rainbow death rays, fireballs, lightning, inspiring terror, necromancy, and the ability to turn others into servants of Deadicorn, sometimes almost instantaneously). Relations: Ar-Haugthra is extremely hostile to all other nations, particularly its neighbours like Dun Costa, Maritime Khurultai, and the Sheeple Folk Confederacy. It has taken territory from all neighboring nations and either killed or enslaved the inhabitants. ====K'eyi Meda==== People: Nestled in the heartlands of Tismo, within the vast Plain of Red lie the ancestral home of the Medan people. They are a vast people, whose past is seeped in both battle and glory. The great heat of the land they dwell in has led to the appearance of the Medans to be quite a strange one to outsiders, possessing the deep brown skin also noted amongst the Malsolians (though the appearance of those people is widely believed to be the work of magic whilst the Medans seem to have received it naturally.) The tribesmen of Meda adorn this form of theirs with much accessories. A standard adornment cannot be found among them, as is inevitable with the many allied tribes who populate the Plain of Red or as foreign academics might call it, a savannah. Some noted accessories that have been recorded by and sometimes sold to merchants travelling along the Jeweled Road include colorful necklaces of varied material, body paints, headdresses made from the plucked feathers of birds, finely crafted iron earrings and, if the ledger of a Belkan merchant is believed even small metal plates. When questioned about the purpose of these ornamented plates which appeared too small to eat food on by his colleagues, he stated that the tribe he purchased it from shoved them in their mouths as a form of fashion! Religion: The aforementioned ornaments the Medans drape upon themselves with impunity are not without reason. As is generally believed by the tribesmen, these ornaments are symbols of great devotion to the "First Children", the term used to describe the many spirits who are believed by the Medans to dwell unseen inside nature itself. This form of pagan animism practiced by the Medan tribes is centered around a Priest-King. These shamans are integral to the life of a Medan tribe with all up to the very smallest of them possessing even one due to their ability to seek out and commune with the First Children. The Priest-Kings from their communion learn many a truth of the world and with this knowledge bring great fortune to those that have earned their favor. These individuals are medicine men, storytellers, priests, mages and many other things and under their guidance a tribe can flourish as it has never before with small twists of fate in their favor being a common occurrence as a byproduct of the supernatural pacts made by their shaman. There are no central figures in this religion, merely the assurance of knowledge stored within the land they live in, some tribes worship a specific local spirit over others however for their own reasons. Magic: Priest-Kings are the mages of K'eyi Meda, that much is clear to all. In reality their roles when using their supernatural powers varies greatly depending on what beings they've communed with and learned the secrets of with some practicing a form of voodoo magic where the shaman performs a ritual with an idol given particular significance. These effects can range from good to bad and is very useful in incapacitating enemy commanders who quickly come down with illness upon entering their territory as a Priest-King performs all sorts of strange magics with a doll resembling them. Battle mages exist as well, though as it seems is commonplace among this organization of shamans there is a great deal of variation in their abilities. Some who have spent their days observing the movements of earthly creatures and various worldly phenomena call upon the aid of earthen spirits to cause great quakes below the feet of their enemy while others call down a thunderstorm at will wreaking much devastation. Lastly, mages of life take the form of travelling mystics or as I have called them earlier, medicine men. These healers bring with them mysterious creatures who they have chosen as their familiar who seem to help in some way in the strange Juju they utilize which can get a bleeding man right up on his feet. Economy: As found by merchants of the Jeweled Road, the primitive appearance of Medan society is highly deceptive when compared to the true wealth of those ashen people. Much like the mines of Westphallica which allows the nation to retain its enormous wealth, veins of gold and salt are found all across the Plain of Red and have historically been traded to passing merchants. Since ancient times and even now, these vast veins of precious materials have allowed the Medan collectives to essentially pay out the Jadeites to their east and force peace. This is what allowed their homeland to maintain sovereignty even during the height of the Empire of the Jade Pyramid. Of course, gold is not all that can be found across the plain. This is a feat that is past the capabilities of the current Medan people however, for in these days the once-unified people have long since failed to maintain a proper governmental structure. Nowadays there are simply too much individual tribes that hoard their wealth to themselves. This means that while their chieftains grow obscenely rich and powerful, challenging even the mightiest Unionary nobles and elven merchants in affluence, there is very little coin shed to help the nation itself. Only the greatest of Medan warriors receive a portion of this wealth with most of it being spent towards the elite's whims. Diamonds are another good that can be found if you're careful enough, though attaining them is quite a difficult task. This is because the sturdy jewels have caught the eye of the ferocious Grootslangs that haunt the savannah, and these twisted beasts do not let loose their favorite things very easily. As such, diamonds fill the caves of those serpentine pachyderms and only a truly talented thief or warrior bravest has any chance of wresting some from their lair. Regardless of those difficulties the jewels still find their way into the hands of men and as stated in my writings about the Jeweled Road serve as its namesake. History: When it comes to the origins of the distant savannah of K'eyi Meda, a strange parallel can be drawn between the founding of the land and of the formation of the Dalavchtai Khanate to its north. A sort of reverse parallel in a sense, for unlike the steppes where the tribes were unified into a greater nation, the Medans were once unified but have long since lost that unity. These tales are extensively spoken of in ancient stories spoken by the Priest-Kings and even with the great age of these tales and the differing means of storytelling used, a similar structure is retained. These tales begin at the same point, centuries ago when the Plain of Red was home of the beasts and few men were brave enough to enter, with those who did either being banished from their true home or had no other choice but to live there. The skies were harsh, the animal inhabitants savage and they fought neverendingly over the scraps of prey that could be found while the unfortunate men living here had to hide. This natural order of savagery would remain in place for a time, it would not last eternally for as it believed, an emperor without an empire strode into the savannah. He was said to have been the child of the sun itself for his energy and wisdom were infinite much like the sun watching above and even when faced with such a harsh land with such little people he did not flee. To them he was known merely as "Kokebi Gēta" or "Star Lord" for when he first appeared over a cliff it looked to the first Medans as if he had walked from the skies down to the earth below. Such divine origins are quite possible in fact, for this new visitor held fire itself in his hand without a torch. The Star Lord scared those beasts which were chasing the miserable pygmies off with this fire and in gratitude they began following him around. It was these men and women who bore witness to his many wondrous feats, for their new leader, much like them was smaller than the predators who dominated the landscape. Though there was one thing that marked this figure apart and indeed, other men from these beasts. This trait their wit. And wit was something that the Star Lord possessed in droves. He trapped the Ninki Nanka in its own watering hole, swindled the earth, sky and rivers into giving him their gifts and feasted upon the rejuvenating flesh of the Abada. With each passing day his renown grew and more and more creatures that once terrorized the people of the savannah were found lacking. His name became legend and newcomers who had no land of their own flocked under the banner of this figure as he'd inadvertently ended up gaining a following large enough to create an entire nation out of. And so it was that K'eyi Meda was first established and it was a glorious time as the newfound Medans learned how to live in this land as their population grew vast in size under the watch of the Kokebi Gēta himself. Wealth flowed through the Plain of Red in those distant times for there was no shortage of gold to be found and the exiles and criminals who populated soon changed their ways to that of. In this jubilation, they forgot how delicate this state was which would soon be proven when in battle, the luck of the Star Lord ran out and he fell. Without his guidance, the seeds of chaos began seeping into the individual chieftains who were once appointed as generals as their base instincts began to resurface. The unity that held the nation together began to slowly dissipate for the next few centuries as time crept on with the Medans only surviving through their mastery of ambushing tactics, tamed beasts and wealth. But out of nowhere the straw that broke the camels back, in this case the fragile alliance of the different Medan cultures who had grown in this time arrived from far off seas. The Soukan colonists, who would have been an insignificant threat at any other time now more than ever were had grown into a pressing issue for the Medans in their eastern lands. Their unknown tactics and weaponry seemed to matter very little at the beginning, for they were vastly outnumbered and the colonists quickly fled. Having seemingly repelled the visitors and taken some as slaves, the many chiefs and warleaders who each by this point were running an autonomous nation were content to leave the issue there and sent very little reinforcements to defend their eastern coast. As such, they were caught unaware by the second wave of now heavily armed Soukans and had to quickly amass whichever warriors were nearest and send them to fight. The ensuing war once again, was being won by the Medans through far superior numbers and the fanatical morale of their troops and the wizardry of the Priest-Kings harassing the would-be colonizers from a distance but the foreign general would not be content with that. He somehow learned of the schism in the current Medan hierarchy with each leader being left to their own devices and heavily capitalized on this, bribing the once-honorable Medans into battling each other for him in exchange for promised luxuries aplenty. This infighting tore the people apart and a great swathe of their territory was quietly lost. The defection of many generals and loss of their coast disgusted those who were still loyal to the nation, and those chieftains quickly broke all ties with their compatriots as they became fully independent. Since that time, little has changed for the better with K'eyi Meda only being a proper nation on the map. Occasional skirmishes are had against Dalavchtai and the now established Tarteans with little hope of regaining their lands as most chieftains are simply content to sit around and grow wealthier off trade. And yet, not all hope may be lost. Perhaps a man will emerge with the ambition to regain what has been waved away as lost? The backing and manpower to make this happen? The individual skill to ensure their success? Many of the lesser citizens have not forgotten themselves in indulgence and retain their honorable nature, it is quite possible. Though now, with the nomads on the rise more than ever before, the solar elves hungering to expand their inland dominion and some of the Jadeites being willing to break past alliances with the Medans if it goes towards restoring their lost empire, only time can tell if the people of K'eyi Meda favored by the First Children may rise to face the ever-shifting world. Military: In confusing the internal chaos of the Medans for weakness, many of their foes make a critical mistake. Individually each wealthy tribe is a powerhouse of their own, with their leaders in times of war being willing to push past old techniques and use their wealth to commission great pieces of modern weaponry to be built. While this may vary from region to region, their foot troops are almost always zealous in their will and are armed with finely crafted metal weapon such as great spears and shotels. Beautiful cowhide shields are also a common sight for a sidearms, with some instead using javelins enchanted by the juju of a shaman to seek out the one they envision in their mind, blowpipes spitting heavily poisoned darts or bows with much the same poison. Some forward-thinking chieftains see the uses in newer weapons such as firearms but even then their use is relegated to ground engagements by specialized warriors. This is because of the preferred Medan method of guerilla warfare, a means of battle of which they are undisputed masters of. At their current state, guns simply are too hard to maintain while waiting for long periods to mount and ambush and make too much noise. Some rarer weapons that have been spotted amongst the tribal warriors of include strange greatswords dubbed "Afrakena" which are of a massive size challenging even the swords of Falconhead landsknechts in raw power. There have been mentions of strange sabres being used which seem to have the glint of sunlight that typically is reserved for light reflecting off metal preserved inside of them, granting them a heat that adds to their lethality as it can cut right through stone with enough momentum. These sabres have been mostly noted in the grasp of their cavalry, who are quite exotic even when compared to that of the most mount loving nations. No horses are to be seen among them proving that even in such a distant land the fear of those creatures remains. As for what there are, some forms of cavalry mounts include strange fragile looking deer that can move at a lightning-quick pace, massive war rhinos capable of plowing right a tank in a charge, ostriches, raptors with enough cunning to jump right over their for and stab them from behind and most fearsome of all, their war elephants who seem to be of an entirely different appearance and disposition from the Miqdaadite counterparts, outstripping even the war elephants of that land with a height of 20 metres. This not even to count their flying creatures who seem to be relatives to the dragon species known as a coatl. These great serpentine beasts have strange crests that let them glide on the wind, with the largest of them growing vast enough to blot out the sky at some points. These massive snakes, alongside the colorful pteranodons known as Kongamatos are generally used as the counter to the griffons (and now the larger ones the counter to their looted airships) of the Dalavchtai and are the primary reason they could not strong-arm their way into the Plain of Red with a horde of griffon riders. Regardless of how many forms of Medan cavalry there are, it is obvious that a great deal of their trained beasts are either too slow or difficult to keep control of to serve as mounts. In these cases, those creatures are both used are beasts of burden and war. Such creatures can range from hunting packs of hyenas to leopards to the aforementioned Ninka Nankas, swamp dwelling creatures of such magnitude they could easily gulp up a hippo in a few bites should they so please. These is a great variety in Medan warbeasts with the largest tribes laying claim to all the deadly creatures that live in the surrounding area which means their numbers would be in the hundreds. Of these warbeasts, there exists one of particular note that is feared above all else. This is the most dreadful monster known as the Grootslang. It takes a bizarre appearance, with the figure of a giant snake but the body and color of an elephant, though its strange appearance does not hamper it in the slightest when tearing through its foes. These creatures trace their origins back to a time beyond remembrance, a time where the savannah was filled with the wingbeats of dragons. The Grootslangs were infuriated to see creatures of such noble nature roam the Plain of Red, for they are a malevolent species and were driven into a bloodlust of such magnitude that even the dragons who lived there were beaten and felt fear as they fled from the savannah into the lands that are now Tartes. Their great treasure hoards filled with all manner of invaluable jewels were stolen and used as homes by the Grootslang where they leave on certain occasions none but they know to terrify unlucky passerby and gorge themselves on flesh. While capturing one of these creatures alive is generally considered beyond the capability of a mortal force, sometimes with sufficient preparation by the Medans, a part of a Grootslang's treasure hoard may be looted. In these situations, should fortune favor them they may bring an egg (clearly a byproduct of the Grootslang's serpentine side rather than elephantine) or two back as well. With the guidance of a shaman to prevent the young Grootslangs from killing their handlers, these young monsters may become beasts of gargantuan size with cruel poisoned fangs that could bring a true elephant to its knees in pain. These fearsome creatures are often gifted to a chieftain once sufficiently trained and are dressed in bright colors with additional weapons such as tusk swords being added on to increase lethality. Lastly, and by far the most curious part of a Medan force are the strange animated idols made of iron that serve as the servants of Priest-Kings. While their appearance may seem childish to outsiders, none can deny the fine craftmanship that goes into each idol with the largest among them often serving as bodyguards to the Medan shamans. There exists a particular variant of them that is capable of wreaking great destruction. These take the appearance of small dolls but are in fact ticking time bombs, for they are inlaid with hidden compartments of gunpowder and enchantments meant to trigger and enhance the explosion. These exploding idols take on the personality of an excitable, sadistic child as they jump right into a crowd of enemy warriors and activate.
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