(WIP) Shattered Realm - Fantasy Setting

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I. The Eras of Mankind

THE ERA OF CREATION​

For millennia, creation was a sprawling, chaotic, and lawless entity. Time did not flow so much as it warped and twisted along random paths. It was the First Gods, themselves born momentarily from this madness, that sought to bring order to creation. First they siphoned the stars from their own brilliance to bring lasting light to the darkness. As the first stars began to wither and die, the First Gods gathered up the remnants and with them created the world, placing it comfortably within the path of a brilliant white star.

When the world settled, the First Gods then gifted it with life. They populated the world first with trees and grasses, then with the proud ancient beasts. Then the First Gods created Man. Man was crafted in the image of the First Gods, and given time, were to be the ones to inherit the world. But Man lacked sentience: they were but one animal among many.

Man existed for thousands of years, struggling in their world. One God took pity upon Man and gifted them with sentience and allowed them to hear the voice of the First Gods. This God, Haesis has he came to be known to Man, kept this revelation a secret from his fellow Gods until he could no longer conceal it. Outraged at this betrayal, the First Gods banished Haesis to the mortal realm.

Generations passed. Haesis sired scores of demi-god children with mortal women, granting Man its first Magi. Though the Magi could not manipulate the entity the First Gods referred to as "the Essence" with nearly as much abandon or power, they were rapidly outnumbering the First Gods. Fearing for their power, the First Gods devised a plan to dispose of Haesis. Taking the forms of mortals themselves, they infiltrated Haesis' inner circle and seduced the God's favored mortal Dazielle.

Dazielle called to her God and he answered without hesitation, falling directly into the trap laid by the First Gods. Enraged by her betrayal, Haesis obliterated Dazielle's mortal form, casting her soul adrift in the Essence as the First Gods stripped him of his power and shackled him to the highest peak in the world and cast wards to ensure that the traitor God would never again break free.

Dazielle watched as the First Gods left their creation behind, believing Man to be unfit for their continued attentions. She hid herself deep within the Essence, looking on as the First Gods shattered Man's connection to the ethereal realm. This truly severed Haesis from the world, both physical and immaterial, and left Man without a guardian spirit to protect and guide them.

THE ERA OF STRIFE​

What followed after the disappearance of the First Gods came to be known as the Era of Strife. War, famine, and disease ravaged Man, throwing it on the verge of extinction. Much of history and culture was lost as Man fought constant wars for resources and land. In the absence of Haesis, the collective leader of Man, warlords and tyrants rose up and cobbled together what bands of their fellows they could, creating feudal kingdoms and autocracies from out of the ashes.

All the while Dazielle watched as her former kinsmen tore into one another, too weak to act. As the violence of the Era of Strife reached its zenith, Dazielle was reborn in the physical world, as powerful as the First Gods in her own right, wielding the entirety of the power of the Essence with her, the First Gods having discarded this tool when they left the world. She destroyed the world and rebuilt it as Haesis had intended. Man was once again allowed to access the Essence, and magic flowed through the world, permeating it and safeguarding it from the threat of the First Gods should they choose to return. She undid the bindings on Haesis and together the two returned to the Essence, both weakened by their burdens. There they remained, Dazielle recovering from her expense of energy, Haesis from his imprisonment.

With the Era of Strife ended, Man entered its golden age.

THE HUMAN ERA​

The Human Era began with the reestablishment of the Essence and the resurrection of Dazielle. It is believed that with a deity once again to guide them, humanity's more savage tendencies were tempered and the world no longer could threaten them as it once did. Though the return of the Essence meant the proper return of the world's more dangerous beasts such as the much-feared drakes and the monstrous trolls, these creatures had existed throughout the Age of Strife, and humanity was more suited to combat them than ever before.

During the Human Era, much of what humanity had lost was recovered. The Colleges of the Magi were established to hone the talent of the Magi and the Second Kingdom of Ordonis was founded after the rediscovery of the ancient city of Kingspyre. By the end of the Human Era, much of the known world was under the control of the Second Kingdom of Ordonis. When the Kingdom's main lineage was severed by an impatient son not willing to wait for nature to take its course, the Second Kingdom shattered into several warring nations, beginning the current era: the Common Era.

The end of the Human Era marked a transition from the golden age of humanity's rebirth to the return to its mundane state within the world. Humanity, now independent from any deity and secure within itself, could dictate its own destiny and create its own progress without the need of divine intervention.

THE COMMON ERA​

The early Common Era was characterized by constant civil war. As the Second Kingdom of Ordonis splintered under the control of an impetuous boy king, several powerful nobles seized control of their respective provinces and politically or militarily conquered their weaker neighbors, consolidating their power. For a century this conflict continued as noble houses were created and destroyed, borders shifted, and princes slain. Many scholars feared the coming of a second Era of Strife as the wars threatened to drown the known world in a constant struggle for territorial supremacy.

A century passed and left five great houses fighting for supremacy of the known world. Realizing that their bitter conflict would drag on for an age and a half with no clear victor, the five houses agreed to an uneasy truce that laid out how the land would operate from thereon. House Vielmond, still in possession of Kingspyre, would serve as the ruling entity. In the interest of maintaining equality among the houses, the powers of the monarch were not endless. The four other great houses - Hanthrain, Karvoshka, Morecher, and Wynder - would form a council that would meet to discuss matters of importance to the collective state in Kingspyre. The monarch could not raise taxes, call for conscription, or undertake various other actions without approval of the council first. To further ensure that the monarch did not hold absolute power over the remaining houses, each remaining great house was given a place within the monarch's administration, thus limiting the effective power of the crown.

The current year is now 233 CE, 233 years after the beginning of the Common Era. The Third Kingdom of Ordonis has existed for little over a century and has seen three successful, bloodless transitions of power. Though civil conflicts are still a common occurrence, the crown has been able to consistently intervene either politically or militarily without jeopardizing the legitimacy of the union. Though the five great houses are still very distinct political entities, the Third Kingdom has proven to be a robust enough system to keep the peace.

II. The World of the Common Era

THE THIRD KINGDOM​

Each of the great noble houses left in power today can trace their roots back to bloodlines stretching well into the Era of Strife. Several among them claim to be descended from Haesis himself, though many of their claims are unsubstantiated. The inner politics and traditions of each great house have endured through the generations and were left unmarked by the coming of the Third Kingdom. Great houses are mostly autonomous under the rule of the crown: they must pay taxes proportional to their wealth and power, provide for the common defense of the Kingdom at large, and abide by the decrees from the Commune Concilium. They are, however, able to go about meeting their quotas by any means they deem fit and each of the great houses still maintain their own tax laws, standing armies, and bureaucratic organizations.

Together, the great houses form the administration of the Third Kingdom. To maintain balance and limit the power of the monarch, the original treaty bringing the great houses together under one banner dictated that each house be given their own respective branch of the administration:

House Vielmond - the Crown, the Commune Concilium, and the Justicar
House Hanthrain - the Iron Vault and the Moneyers
House Karvoshka - the Royal Guard and the Master of Arms
House Morecher - the Master of Trade and the Royal Bureaucracy
House Wynder - the Council of the Interior

Once annually, the five houses meet in the Commune Concilium within Kingspyre. Here, all matters of the state are discussed from taxation to grievances between the lesser houses. The Commune Concilium is comprised of 36 members; seven come from each great house, one serves as the Lawspeaker and is chosen from the ranks of the Justicar. The Lawspeaker recites laws and chairs the meeting of the Concilium, and may cast his vote in the case of ties. Since the Concilium is ever rarely in full attendance, ties are a common occurrence. The laws, amendments, and other rulings by the Concilium all require assent of the ruling monarch. Though a monarch has yet to deny any measure passed by the Concilium out of fear of instability, it is common for the laws passed by the Concilium to fall somewhat in line with the monarch's stance.

The representatives sent to the Concilium are chosen by their respective houses and are approved by the crown at least one year prior to their ascension. In this manner, the crown exercises more than its fair share of control over the Concilium, for even if a member dies unexpectedly it takes a full year to replace them. The members of the Concilium serve as long as their respective houses allow them to. The Lawspeaker is presented by the ruling monarch and approved by the Concilium; if a Lawspeaker dies between sessions of the Concilium, then the monarch temporarily appoints one of its own accord until such a time that a vote may be called.

Should a dispute be too fierce for the Concilium to remedy, such as when a vote consistently fails or the crown is in disagreement with a majority of the houses, then at recommendation of the Lawspeaker the matter will be arbitrated by the Justicar. Comprising three high-ranking justices, the members of the Justicar are all prior Lawspeakers or judges of lower courts appointed to their position at the leisure of the crown. They serve their terms as long as the ruling monarch sees fit, or until they relinquish their post (usually upon death or dismissal by the monarch). The Justicar hears out all parties before delegating a final ruling. Though the members of the Justicar are supposed to be neutral, the crown often plants members loyal to the ruling monarch or house.

II.a The Noble Houses

HOUSE VIELMOND

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The current bearers of the crown, House Vielmond is the most powerful political entity within the Third Kingdom. The current royal line can claim to trace its roots back to the original Kingdom of Ordonis, established before the Era of Strife rattled humanity. The more learned, or cynical, counter that this narrative was crafted to give legitimacy to a power-hungry and brutal regime. When the city of Kingspyre was founded, the Vielmond family, then using the surname Ordonis, lay claim to the city and took it as their own by force. There, they instilled themselves as the dominant power until an impatient prince butchered his family in their sleep and instilled himself as king. His vassals rebelled, leading to the bloody Century Wars.

When the dust cleared, the then-Ordonis family had traded much of their power to another house in exchange for survival: the Vielmonds. Since that day, the Vielmond family has been the dominant power upon the continent. It was they who first bartered the truce and rallied the support of the masses behind their claim to the throne. They were the ones to draft the workings of their new government. The gamble of the Ordonis line had paid off, and a new great house was born in its stead.

Through intrigue and ruthlessness, the current queen regent, Sabeth Vielmond, has maneuvered her way into a powerless Commune Concilium and loaded Justicar. The other great houses have openly accused her of circumventing common law in achieving her goals, to which she has responded with military force. Royal troops, under decree of the monarchy along with the approval of the Concilium, have displaced several border fortresses, replacing great house troops with ones loyal to the crown.

It is hoped that once her son comes of age to rule in two years' time, Sabeth will step down and allow for a more tempered (and easily manipulated) monarch to take the throne. Rumors have circulated the land stating the queen regent even plans to take her own son's life to hold herself in power. None can lay claim to fact on the matter, but the current ruler of the Third Kingdom has challenged many of the institutions that hold the realm together. Such is her thirst for power that much of her own house's administration has been purged and replaced with simple yes-men, hurling the Kingdom on the verge of a civil war.

HOUSE HANTHRAIN

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Gold is nearly worthless in the Third Kingdom of Ordonis, as it was in the Second. Iron has served as the main currency since the beginning of the Human Era. According to historical texts, iron was chosen over gold and other precious metals due to its role in crafting weapons: paying with iron was, in a way, backing your payment with the mettle of your blade. So it was when the Second Kingdom rose that the Hanthrain family seized the iron mines to the west. Bribing their way into power, the Hanthrains saw to it that went the Third Kingdom was founded, they would be a force to be reckoned with. House Hanthrain was granted control of the Iron Vault, the bank of the Third Kingdom, and delegated the task of tax collection and enforcement.

To curb the power of House Hanthrain, a clause was added to the treaty that placed vast restrictions on the amount of iron the house was allowed to place in circulation at any one time. Any time House Hanthrain wishes to forge more coins, it must first pass through the Concilium. Iron for war production is left unregulated, but the crown often sends auditors from the office of the Justicar to ensure that the coins moneyed match the coins reported. It is an inefficient system prone to corruption, and House Hanthrain always seems to have enough funds to cover their expansive standing army, their taxes to the crown, and then some to spare.

House Hanthrain has long been suspected of funding some of the crown's more unsavory actions in return for cuts to taxes and political favors. If this is true, then no member of the Royal Bureaucracy has yet to catch the pair in the act. The house's current patriarch, Illiard Hanthrain, has attempted to distance himself from the current regent in the belief that if a civil conflict involving the crown breaks out, it is better to be distant from the source. When House Vielmond seized fortresses via the Concilium, House Hanthrain's lands were largely untouched, much to the suspicion of the entire realm. Both Hanthrain and Vielmond forces were reported to retreated from their border with Vielmond lands and instead turned their attention south.

Whatever deals may have been made between Vielmond and Hanthrain remain unclear to the realm at large. Lord Illiard simultaneously bemoans the ill-begotten ways of the monarch, yet has done nothing but submit to its demands. House Vielmond has either secured an unwavering ally or Illiard is a fool with titles.

HOUSE KARVOSHKA

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Ever since the Era of the Strife, legends have been told about the men of the southland. How they practiced cannibalism and hunted dragons half naked in the snow. How each of them were seven feet tall and half as wide. Though the legacy of southlanders has been one of firelight tales, the men and women of the south are among the hardiest in the land. The legend of the Karvoshka line goes that a young man was born beneath a blood moon upon the eve of the Era of Strife, destined to one day unite his people under a single banner. The young chief led a conquest across the southlands, bringing his people under one ruler. When the Human Era began, the southlanders remained independent of the Second Kingdom, remarking that they did not need a king to rule them throughout the Strife and certainly did not need one now. It was not until the Century War that the Karvoshka line distinguished itself from the rest of the southlanders. Bargaining away their independence for influence within the realm at large, the Karvoshkas rallied their nation of warriors to the cause and joined forces with what would become House Wynder, lending their savagery and prowess to the upstart nobility of the southwest.


When the treaty to end the Century War was completed, the Karvoshka line pledged their loyalty to the Third Kingdom of Ordonis. In return, they were granted complete autonomy south of the city Vinlas. In exchange, the newly-established House Karvoshka would contribute their best warriors to the common defense of the Third Kingdom. These warriors would form the bulk of the Royal Guard, the crown's personal army. Furthermore, in times of unrest, the Karvoshka would nominate and send a Master of Arms to lead the armies of the crown.

For the first time in over a decade, the Royal Guard are being mustered within the southlands. On whose order remains unclear, but a Master of Arms has yet to be named to lead them to war. House Karvoshka's presence on the border remains militant, but the sudden shift has left the realm puzzled. Not being ones to let in outsiders, attempts to send courtiers and spies into the southlands have failed to produce any meaningful revelations. Much of the Karvoshkan delegation was absent from the previous Concilium meeting, further adding to the confusion, for their voice was not heard when the order to seize the border fortresses was delivered.

HOUSE MORECHER

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All throughout the Era of Strife humanity was caught in a desperate struggle for survival. Pirates, raiders, bandits and a host of other brigands and thieves plagued the cities and countryside as the battle for resources grew ever fiercer in an increasingly chaotic and lawless world. It was here that House Morecher first began, though it would not become an official entity for many centuries yet. Under cunning pirate lords, the Men of the Sea as they became to be known raided up and down the coasts of the continent, sacking what they willed, seizing what they desired. They became as feared as the Karvoshka savages to the south, if not more so by the time the dust settled and the Human Era began.

When the Second Kingdom of Ordonis was established, the fabled dreadfleet captains had already staked their claim all across the territory hugging the oceans and was beginning to seize part of the mainland as well. Once the Second Kingdom shattered into dozens of warring states, their descendents grabbed all that they could and fought alongside House Vielmond once it became clear they would emerge victorious after the Battle of Kingspyre.

In the time since, House Morecher has never truly given up its more violent, sea-bound roots. With an iron grip over the trade routes running along the continent's rivers, lakes, and seas, House Morecher serves two important functions within the new administration. First and foremost they police the trade routes of the Kingdom, lending their best and brightest ship crews and captains to the service of the Crown in exchange for political favor and tax credits.

Secondly, when the treaty to end the Century War was signed, in becoming the Masters of Trade, House Morecher pledged to help administer the newer government. As is befitting of managing much of the of the day to day operations of the Kingdom, House Morecher's administrators and bureaucratic minds are sent to Kingspyre to become magistrates, solicitors, and scribes of all sorts.

HOUSE WYNDER

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House Wynder comprises all those lesser houses that pledged fealty to House Vielmond during the Century War. When the war ended and the Councilium was established, rather than elect representatives of every nobling with a plot of land, the Crown opted to group those houses not yet consolidated under one family with strong ties to the Crown. Since House Wynder's holdings sprawl a wide, often inconsistent, array of the Kingdom, they became integral to the interior operations of the Kingdom. Once this became evident, the Crown appointed House Wynder Master of the Interior, granting it control of the roads controlled by the Crown and the Colleges of the Magi.

As the goal of the Ministry of the Interior is to promote interior security and stability, many of its duties overlap with the roles provided House Karvoshka. In actuality this means that while House Karvoshka manages the armies of the Kingdom comprised of brutal, professional soldiers, House Wynder manages the militias and watchmen of the Kingdom.

House Wynder also fulfills its responsibilities as the Master of the Interior by keeping up the Colleges of the Magi scattered across the continent. They log all attendants of the Colleges and brand them for easy identification, classifying them as Red, Amber, or Gold dependent upon their attunement to the Essence. These records are often kept close to House Wynder, but the Justicar and Royal Bureaucracy can request the records of any given College at any time.

In addition to maintaining records of all registered, trained magi present within the Kingdom at any given time (a daunting, often ill-carried out task even by the best bureaucratic minds), House Wynder maintains a small, elite regiment of dedicated Magi Killers known as White Magi.

II.b The Essence

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The exact nature of the Essence still remains unknown to humanity. Some scholars believe it is an abstraction designed by religious scribes to help describe a concept beyond humanity's ability to comprehend. Some instead insist that the Essence is a realm parallel to humanity's own, rooting the world to its primal spirit. Others still instead claim that Essence is the stuff of pure chaos, and that the First Gods created a breach in the natural order of things by establishing control over the Essence. Whatever the Essence may be, it is experienced by humans as a powerful force capable of allowing arcane feats otherwise impossible. All humans alive today share some connection with the Essence, but an innate connection is not enough to make use of it. Some enjoy a connection to the Essence stronger than most while others can do little more than harness its power to perform simple tricks.

Regardless of one's talent in harnessing the Essence, the manner in which power is drawn is similar for everyone. The individual in question merely extends his or her mind into the Essence and enters a trance-like state as the mind leaves the body's mortal bindings. Once in this state, the individual may draw forth energy for use by the body from the Essence. The amount of energy and how quickly it may be called upon varies from individual to individual due to a host of factors - experience, formal education, and other indistinguishable distinctions. This energy must be stored in a physical container to prove to be of any use to the individual in question - for most, this ends with the body, which is the most inefficient and ineffective means of storage. Energy stored in the body may only be used by the body. Those more skilled or inherently talented may instead store this energy in inanimate objects such as the air, or (if the caster is truly a master) even other humans. Once the individual has stored energy within a vessel he or she can then manipulate that entity utilizing the stored energy.

While in the Essence, the individual is completely unresponsive. His or her muscles will remain functioning so long as the body has energy, and it is not unheard of for particularly cunning magic users to remain in the Essence to sever their connection to their body to block out sensations such as pain or discomfort. One Magi in particular has been recorded as being enveloped within the Essence for as long as six days before succumbing to his earlier injuries.

There are three broad classifications of Magi as determined by the Colleges of the Magi. For one to attain the status of Magi, one must receive formal education from one of the Colleges - all Magi are magic users, not all magic users are Magi. The three classifications are determined by one's skill or inherent talent, with Red Magi being the lowest and Gold being the highest. One must first be a Red Magi before they are an Amber Magi, an Amber Magi before they are a Gold Magi. The process to receive official training as a Magi is a long and expensive one, with relatively few members of the Kingdom ever attained the rank of Red Magi, let alone Amber or Gold.

Individuals receive a specific type of brand dependent upon their rank as Magi assigned to them after completing the formal part of their education. Red Magi receive a circle crossed by a curved diamond. Once the individual becomes an Amber Magi, another diamond is added to the first. Gold Magi receive a full circle in the middle of the symbol. This brand is placed at the base of the Magi's neck for ease of identification. Unregistered individuals who practice magic, or unbranded Magi, are prosecuted by the White Magi of the Inquisition of the Interior.

RED MAGI
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Red Magi are the weakest of the three categories. All Magi at the Colleges start as Red Initiates before passing their first trials. Once they pass these trials they officially become Red Magi. Many end their education here, register with the College and leave to pursue other tasks. Due to the relative ease in becoming Red Magi, they are the most commonly seen Magi, though that is in itself misleading as "proper" Magi are a rare breed to begin with.

The capabilities of Red Magi are limited to the self. The energy the Magi draws from the Essence can be stored temporarily in the body to perform incredible physical and mental feats. Red Magi can heighten their reflexes, improve their muscle strength, steel their nerves against pain, resist temptation or torture.

To better harness the more physical nature of a Red Magi's talents, the training of Red Magi is more unorthodox than most expect. Red Magi undergo intense physical training so that their bodies are as honed as their capacity to harness the Essence. Part of any Red Magi's training involves extensive practice in one martial art. Often Red Magi are seen working as skilled bodyguards, sellswords, or even professional soldiers as a result of this emphasis on martial training.

AMBER MAGI​

After a Red Magi further meditates on his or her newly acquired talents for a period of at least two years, if the Magi so chooses, he or she is eligible to personally train under a master to become an Amber Magi. Such masters are typically Gold Magi who elect to train a handful of students each year at the Colleges. The process to become an Amber Initiate is highly selective and utterly dependent upon which masters elect to teach in that given year. Often times Initiates will train under several masters over a span of many years to finish their formal education.

Though Amber Magi are expected to maintain a level of dedication to the physical talents they honed as Red Magi, the education of an Amber Magi begins with a strong basis in philosophy and rational thought. The goal of these exercises is to open the mind of would-be Amber Magi to alternative uses for the Essence. Throughout the five to ten year process of becoming an Amber Magi, perhaps only a third will be spent on actually practicing manipulating the Essence.

Once an Amber Initiate is believed to be ready to begin learning how to further manipulate the Essence, he or she is instructed in how not only to invest energy into the self but the surroundings as well. In doing so, Amber Magi can better harness the Essence to manipulate the physical world around them by investing energy to harness fire, stone, and wind like one might a craftsman's tools. Amber Magi are frequently seen in armies as powerful "Battle Magi" that can obliterate swaths of men at a time with well-placed blasts of flame, wind, and water. Often the expense of carrying the materials necessary to allow for Amber Magi to function within the scale of a massed battle make them impractical, but particularly crucial engagements will always see a handful of Amber Magi trading blows.

GOLD MAGI​

Those wishing to further still their understanding of the Essence may tread further down the path and seek to become Gold Initiates. Each of the Colleges houses a Grand Vizir, an unparalleled scholar and master of the ways of the Essence. Prospective Gold Magi must seek out a Grand Vizir wishing to teach them, a process that is lengthy and expensive for a Grand Vizir's time does not come without its fair share of cost. It is uncommon for a Grand Vizir to instruct more than two or three Initiates at any given time, and unlike the instructors of Amber Initiates, it is unheard of for a Grand Vizir to suddenly leave his or her students in all cases except death.

The journey to becoming a Gold Magi begins with a six year apprenticeship under the Grand Vizir in which time the Initiate will constantly challenge his or her understanding of the Essence. Gold Initiates are not only instructed in how to perfect their ability to manipulate the external world but also how to manipulate other conscious beings as well. Gold Magi are taught to harness their senses within the Essence to not only see the flows of energy but of fellow minds as well. A trained eye can spot the disturbances minds leave upon the immaterial realm and invest energy into these disturbances. Once a Gold Magi reenters his or her body, manipulating the other becomes as simple as manipulating the self. Upon their final examinations and trials, each Gold Initiate is instructed to craft a massive sphere of stone from the Uruvelle Mountains, a process that in itself takes a year to do properly.

When one has been ensconced with energy from another Magi, they are temporary slaves to that Magi's wishes so long as the energy holds out. With an extension of his or her will, a Gold Magi can make a foe weak, cloud his or her wits, come across as persuasive, and so forth. Were it not for the intensive process making such an education difficult and costly as well as the rigorous education in philosophy and ethics necessary to reach such a point, the world would be dominated by such Magi without the capacity to differentiate between proper and improper uses of their power.

THE COLLEGES OF THE MAGI​

Though there exist many ways to improve one's abilities in the manipulation of the Essence - from traveling hedge wizards to skilled arcanists running small schools throughout the Kingdom - to be recognized as a Magi one must attend one of the fourteen ordained Colleges of the Magi. The Colleges are scattered across the Kingdom, often in remote locations as to maintain security and avoid unwanted attention from the more suspicious common folk. Individually the Colleges vary wildly in appearance, but all of them follow a (more or less) standardized model. Every College is headed by a Grand Vizir, an official appointed by the Crown and maintained by the Master of the Interior. Each Grand Vizir is tasked with upholding the rigorous standards and expectations of his or her respective College, ensuring that all funds are properly allocated, that all Magi are branded, and so on.

In addition to the tasks delegated by the state to each Grand Vizir, each one also has an obligation to properly educate and prepare the next generation of Gold Magi. Each Grand Vizir has no less than three to four pupils at any given point, leaving them little free time. The Grand Vizirs of the fourteen Colleges gather annually in Kingspyre to address the Crown on the goings on of each individual College and to discuss plans for the future. As a result of such close ties with the ruling monarch, each Grand Vizir is incredibly powerful, often more powerful than nobles of the major houses.

Beneath the Grand Vizir is a board of Arch Vizirs, numbering anywhere from five to ten skilled Gold and Amber Magi. The Arch Vizirs are responsible for developing the curriculum taught to Initiates as well as advising the Grand Arch Vizir. Furthermore, the Arch Vizirs are all given a position of prominence within the administration of the College such as Master of the Vault, Grand Arcanist, and so forth. Beneath the Arch Vizirs are the Vizirs, the instructors of the College. Dependent upon the College's size, location, availability of funding, and so on the number of Vizirs can vary wildly from no more than ten to little under one hundred. The Vizirs are often the ones to instruct Red Initiates, with a handful instructing Amber Initiates. It is not uncommon for some of the Vizirs to be dedicated purely to the martial arts, since all Red Initiates are required to master their physical selves before they learn to control the Essence.

The Colleges are almost entirely self-funded by the tuition they charge their students. Becoming a Magi is an expensive process, one that only becomes more expensive the further along the process one goes. Whatever costs cannot be recuperated by tuition costs are provided by the Ministry of the Interior; Colleges are rarely profitable unless they lend their services out, which is rare but not unheard of.

Each College at any given point has between fifty to one hundred and fifty students. Most will leave as Red Magi, with no more than thirty students striving to become Amber or Gold Magi at once. To sustain these Initiates, the Colleges have laborers on-staff that produce food and maintain the condition of the College as to avoid extensive interaction with the outside world. Prospective students without the means to fully afford an education at one of the College can sign a contract that essentially endentures them to the College for six terms, or the time it takes to become a Red Magi proper. The Initiate works the land or helps in maintaining the College in exchange for a reduced tuition rate.

After completion of any stage of their education, Initiates are presented with the brand of the Magi. Dyed-red metal is heated by an Arch Vizir into a ring crossed by a curved diamond and branded into the back of the neck of the Initiate. Due to the excruciating pain of the ritual, Initiates opt to enter the embrace of the Essence to dull the sensation as lower Vizirs cool the metal into place. This process is repeated for Amber and Gold Magi as per the requirement of the Inquisition of the Interior to help easily identify Magi at a glance.

THE INQUISITION OF THE INTERIOR​

Due to the raw power of the Magi and the tendency in the past for particularly skilled Gold Magi to inflict mass amounts of suffering for personal gain, the Crown ordained the establishment of the Inquisition of the Interior around 122 CE, making it the newest branch of the Kingdom's administration. The Inquisition of the Interior consists of several of the Kingdom's best soldiers, Magi, and courtiers all trained to deal with and dispose of unregistered, corrupt, or aggressive Magi. Though the Inquisition of the Interior was intended to hunt trained Magi specifically, its duties often extend into all magic users regardless of training or background.

Once recruited by the Inquisition, an individual renounces any prior allegiances and swears fealty to the Crown (or, in this instance, the Council of the Interior who in turn responds to the Crown). The Inquisition maintains no official standards or colors, but instead its members opt to wear the Inqusition's sigil - an eye overlooking a black field, representing the vigilance necessary to keep those who would do the realm harm at bay. Those with an unabsolved criminal record, noble family members of the major houses, or untrained magic users may not enter the ranks of the Inquisition. This is to keep the organization pure, uncorrupt, and untampered with in its goals.

All members of the Inquisition are organized into small, loosely organized contingents headed by a figurehead within the Council of the Interior. These bands investigate and hunt rogue magic users, and may request writs of passage to wherever they please from the Council of the Interior should quarries prove elusive or well entrenched. Given the less rigid organization of the Inquisition at large, various bands of inquisitors have grown more accustomed to certain operations than others. Some lean more heavily on martial prowess, others on cunning and magic.

Regardless of its preferred approach, each band of inquisitors is formed of a core of talented fighters and spies. Each man in the ranks of the Inquisition is trained in identifying and counteracting magic users through a variety of means. Those officially trained as Magi receive further education and training in aggressively assaulting the minds of opposing Magi - these so-called White Magi are among the deadliest of their kind, able to kill swiftly with minimal effort. Unlike Gold Magi, White Magi are ruthlessly efficient only at overwhelming and killing individuals, which in itself often takes years of training and exuberant energy.

As a result of the clout the Inquisition holds both in terms of policing Magi and gathering intelligence, it has not been unheard of for a prominent Magi to suddenly have been found guilty of one misuse of power or another and disposed of by the Inquisition, usually on orders of the Crown and passed through the Council of the Interior. Like many features of the administration, the Inquisition is just one tool of many that appears to act in service of the kingdom but ultimately owes its allegiance and position to the Crown. In the past, the Inquisition has been used to bully opposition into line with the Crown's wishes and to dispose of those the Crown wants to see dead, giving the organization a dread reputation among dissenters.

MAGICAL ENTITIES​

Though commonfolk speak in hushed whispers of terrible spirits, fearsome dragons, and wicked curses that still linger the land, most of these rumors and old wives' tales are as insubstantial as smoke. Records of entities beyond humanity's ability to truly classify exist, and are written in such a quantity and within a context beyond that of holy texts that there is reason to suggest that at some point wyverns, trolls, goblins, sprites, and a host of other creatures roamed the world. These times are not as kind to such magical creations.

It is believed that when the Essence was shattered and reknit, all hope for these beings died out. There were no traces of these creatures for a large portion of ancient history, and only until after it is believed that the First College was established did sightings of these entities begin to crop up, though with less frequency. Those more learned or worldly no doubt know the truth that though magical entities do in fact still exist, they are but one animal among many.

Though legends recount brave dragon knights and giant slayers, to tame a dragon today would be to invite certain death and there has not been a giant sighted in centuries. It appears that of all the magical entities that might have once existed, only dragons remain - seemingly powerful enough to exist independently of the Essence. Large, brutish, and temperamental, these winged beasts are barely powerful enough to fly, and cannot do so very fast or for very long. Feeble attempts to study dragons have been carried out by many a foolish Magi, all ending in his or her untimely demise. The only certainty drawn from dragons has been that, since theirs is a more otherworldly existence, magic has little to no effect upon them. In fact, the scales taken from dragons found dead in the wild have proven to be quite effective in masking their wearers to the watching eyes of a Magi and have even dampened the effects of magical energies. Dragon scales are worth many times their weight in gold, and only a handful of these artefacts exist in the known world.

Beyond dragons, which seem content to prowl the wilds and stick to their mountainous refuges far from the influence of humans, there still exist what scholars refer to as magical abnormalities - strange, though seemingly naturally occurring, phenomena such as the floating rocks by Kingbreaker Peak or the glowing crystals mined out in the Iron Mines west of Kingspyre. These abnormalities all have a magical air about them, but remain unexplained by natural science or reasoning. Most learned minds believe that these are leftover random occurrences from the days when the Essence and Existence were not just theoretically equivalent but essentially the same material, a relic from when the First Gods still existed.

II.c The New Faith

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From the onset of the Era of Strife, there have existed a plethora of creation myths shared among cultures. With the establishment of the Second Kingdom of Ordonis came the establishment of a unified religion that bound the various factions together. This new faith was, naturally, an assortment of the stories, traditions, and practices of the dozens of smaller cults and sects that had been created throughout the Era of Strife. Much of the Second Kingdom's early history was characterized by the constant conflict between the officially established church and smaller cults dotting the Kingdom's holding as well as its dealings with not-yet acquired provinces.

What records do still exist from the time of the Second Kingdom are scarce, or have been heavily edited in the centuries since their initial writing, but it is commonly accepted that the Book of Creation was written approximately 1,200 years before the beginning of the Common Era. Early manuscripts from that time exist, but are zealously guarded by the members of the modern Church of Dazielle. These manuscripts describe a religion very different from the one practiced in the Third Kingdom, suggesting that as the Second Kingdom encountered new factions the Book of Creation was modified to accept new cultural and religion norms to more easily assimilate the lesser factions.

The Book of Creation as it exists today is the product of the first king of the Third Kingdom's desire to exert his dominance over his populace. He tasked the religious monks and scribes of the realm to gather and rewrite the Book of Creation before having it distributed to every parish, village gathering, and cathedral in the realm, making it, to date, the most ambitious undertaking in such a short time by any king in recorded history.

The current Book of Creation serves as the basis for the Church of Dazielle. Though the Church officially has no bearing on the administration or the Crown, there has never been a monarch in the history of the Second or Third Kingdoms that has not at least claimed to be a follower of the Church. Its power over the people is immense, and many a monarch has used this to their advantage, often cutting deals with the leader of the Church in exchange for support. Officials of the Church are well respected and treated throughout the Third Kingdom, save those on the fringes of the Kingdom's holdings who worship their own gods or have their own interpretations.

One of the core tenets of the Book of Creation is that to live in a world without the influence of the First Gods is to contribute to a new golden age of humanity. In this way it gives a sense of nobility and purpose to the suffering of many of the faith's followers, who live short and brutish existences toiling away in the fields or the cities. Many of the passages within the book itself liken the existence of the humble worker to that of Dazielle herself - someone destined for greatness, someone set on the path to free humanity from its current downtrodden state, someone who could make the ultimate sacrifice when called upon.

In recent years, House Vielmond has expanded the political power of the Church of Dazielle, granting it virtually the same power as one of the great noble houses.

DAZIELLE AND HAESIS​

The crux of the Book of Creation is the story of Dazielle and Haesis. As the legend goes, Dazielle was a daughter of Haesis and a human woman whose name has been lost to history. House Hathrain claims to have a bloodline stretching back to this unknown woman, but has not substantiated this claim with any modicum of evidence. The world Dazielle was born into was one caught in a bitter conflict between the mortal inhabitants of the earth and the First Gods.

Haesis had already committed the ultimate act of heresy in supporting mankind and elevating them above the likes of other creatures. Furthermore, Haesis had not only made an exile of himself by supporting the humans but also had grown so fond of his newly-free beings as to share in numerous affairs with human women while masquerading as a traveling king. The only thing preventing the First Gods from obliterating humanity was Haesis tying the fate of humans to the fate of the Essence in allowing demigod children to be born, for as soon as the fabric of the Essence was wound up in the mortal beings of the earth, to destroy them would be to destroy a piece of the Essence itself.

So, when Dazielle was born to a small village, it was heralded as a great victory. It was said that the child was blessed, and would lead her village to prominence. Well into her youth, Dazielle kept the attention of Haesis, who would often visit her disguised as a young noble. He was her teacher, her lover, and her idol. Dazielle grew to be one of the most powerful Magi in the realm under the direct tutelage of Haesis, and it was then that the First Gods saw a chance to strike back at Haesis.

Donning the disguise Haesis had used to seduce Dazielle, one of the First Gods visited Dazielle while Haesis was off on his rounds with other mortal women, whispering in her ear that he would visit her next atop the peak of the mountain Avonworth and that she should call for him once there. Dazielle did so, and Haesis rushed to meet her only to be kidnapped by the First Gods. They destroyed Dazielle and cast her remains to the Essence before taking Haesis and dragging him back into their realm. There, he was tortured and stripped of his power before being cast back down to the mortal realm a broken husk. There he shackled to the highest peak in the world, Avonworth, where he had been captured. Afterwards, they left humanity to go on to other corners of creation.

What followed was the Era of Strife, where humanity was on the verge of extinction, set upon on all sides and fighting itself for resources. It was this collective strife that drew Dazielle from the Essence and gave her form once again. Whole once more, Dazielle rekindled the connection between humanity and the Essence before freeing Haesis and returning with her lover to the Essence, vanishing and leaving behind a new world for humanity to conquer.

THE LEGACY OF THE FIRST GODS​

The First Gods have been reviled as demons and false idols by the Church of Dazielle. They have been characterized as the root of all of humanity's evils, with each of the ten First Gods, save the eleventh Haesis, coming to represent a different human flaw. The First Gods themselves remain unnamed, but the Church of Dazielle attributes such shortcomings as pride, lust, envy, and even mortality itself on the First Gods.

Still, despite this open villainization of the First Gods they still have many followers across the Third Kingdom of Ordonis. There still exist hidden shrines and places of worship of the First Gods in the most remote corners, concealed in cliffsides or even built in the center of isolated communities. The followers of the First Gods are branded as heretics and nonbelievers by the Church of Dazielle, and it is outlawed to be found practicing worship to the First Gods.

Raids are conducted by the Militant Faithful to remove vestiges of the First Gods, but for every temple that is demolished and every prophet burned at the stake, five more seemingly appear from thin air. Those who worship the First Gods usually hold disdain for the Third Kingdom of Ordonis, born out of an ancestral hatred for the Ordonis family line since the days of the Era of Creation, since it is believed that the Ordonis line could trace its lineage back to Dazielle and the first children of Haesis. Often communities of the followers of the First Gods exist in opposition to the Third Kingdom, refusing to pay taxes and often times resorting to banditry and crime to sustain themselves when crops alone cannot.

The followers of the First Gods themselves abhor magic users and magi, believing that they must bear the burden of their ancestors and live by the First Gods' judgment that humanity is not fit to control the Essence. They will assault and brutally kill any open magic users they come across, and will make gruesome totems of any magi they find. This, however, is the only binding feature of the followers of the First Gods, for they almost always form into loose cults and congregations with no real core tenets or beliefs outside of their own communities.

THE MILITANT FAITHFUL​

Part of the reforms passed by House Vielmond in recent years have given the Church of Dazielle broad authority over its various holdings around the Third Kingdom. In practice, the Church of Dazielle operates much like a noble house, with its own internal power structure and place within the administration of the Crown (unofficial though it may be). Among these reforms and privileges granted the Church was the authority and ability to maintain its own standing army. Coupled with a gracious, nearly non-existent tax policy as well as Crown funding, the Church of Dazielle has the second largest standing army in the Third Kingdom, bested only by House Karvoshka. Though much of its army is untrained peasantry and fanatics, the core of the Church of Dazielle's army - known as the Militant Faithful - is a hardened cadre of skilled killers.

The Militant Faithful swear oaths to Dazielle for protection and courage, also swearing fealty to no power higher than her. This means that while the Militant Faithful do not officially serve the Crown, they may do so on authority of the Prophet Supreme whose goals often fall in line with the goals of the Crown.

As the Inquisition of the Interior is allowed to exist to dispose of the Crown's enemies that are open, or rumored, magic users, so is the Militant Faithful allowed to exist to dispose of enemies believed to be heretics. The Militant Faithful patrol the Third Kingdom in search of heretics and outlaws, purging them and spreading the word of Dazielle. Often they will pledge their swords in defense of towns and villages and smaller cities, dealing with their problems to serve as a reminder of the glory and generosity of Dazielle.

All the members of the Militant Faithful undergo extreme psychological reformation, and none are permitted within the ranks of the Militant Faithful over the age of 10. Those accepted, or as is more often the case surrendered by parents unable to care for the child or even plucked from the streets, are forged into fearlessly warriors with unquestionable loyalty to the Church of Dazielle. There exists no place for rank or status among the Militant Faithful - all are equal, with the members of the Church itself acting as the officers and generals of the Militant Faithful when they are called to proper war.

Though the Militant Faithful itself only numbers around 2,000 men, each is adorned in full armor and carries a sword, spear, and broad shield. None are allowed to remove their helmets, for a true servant of Dazielle may never perish. Such it is that the illusion of immortality is granted to the Militant Faithful, for if they are never seen they may never be missed.

III. The World in More Detail

The Third Kingdom of Ordonis is a large place, spanning the eternity of the small continent of Apos. Its culture is diverse and varied from region to region, and yet there still exist core tenets many of the individual houses and fiefdoms follow.

Outlined below are many of the other facets of life in the Third Kingdom that are smaller and more detailed than the broad strokes of the largest actors upon the world.

III.a Warfare in the Third Kingdom

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Throughout the Third Kingdom there exist many different schools of thought when it comes to warfare and individual fighting styles, though many all follow very similar core structures and philosophies since much of the Third Kingdom has existed without foreign influence and the culture has had much time to unify and meld into a largely cohesive whole.

All armies in the Third Kingdom fight utilizing regiments of men fighting in rank and file formations as means of communication are largely limited to the voice of the loudest commanders present. Since most formations are, at best, barely proficient men-at-arms and professional soldiers are often confined to at most two or three regiments, there exists little room for particularly detailed sets of tactics military commanders can draw upon. Some armies, given enough time, develop signals utilizing flags or horns, but even these primitive attempts often give way to more simplified, easy to understand, tactics.

As such, most warfare in the Third Kingdom is decided by strategic placement and movement of troops and numerical superiority. The quality of troops present is almost always consistent, with the exception of the men of House Karvoshka who are notable both for their strength and individual skill. Though by no means a professional army, the army of Houve Karvoshka typically performs the best out of all the major houses.

There are, however, a few notable exceptions to the rule, and each house will tend to have at least one professional regiment of soldiers that is capable of advanced formations, trained to a high standard, and equipped with a standardized loadout of armor, weapons, and even a uniform in the house colors.

House Vielmond and House Wynder both possess the highest number of professionally trained troops in their employ. They will rarely, if ever, lean upon the aid of men at arms and will trade a numeric advantage for a more elite fighting force, supplemented by men at arms or even mercenary companies if need be. However, where House Vielmond and Wynder differ is that House Wynder will often utilize its relatively high number of magi to good effect. Small units of Red Magi are used to cushion the flanks of Wynder armies, assaulting weak points and harnessing the pure destructive power of a Red Magi ensconced in the Essence.

House Hanthrain, generally, will rely upon a large amount of cavalry to dispose of threats to its holdings. With the iron necessary to fund such an expensive troop, House Hanthrain rarely feels the impact of the expense of maintaining a large cavalry presence. Though unquestionably potent and lethal upon an open field, House Hanthrain historically has performed abysmally when called upon to siege their foes or assault entrenched positions. For this, they have largely relied upon their allies or mercenary companies.

House Morecher, having the strongest and largest navy, prefers to utilize its ships as much as it does its soldiers when waging war. During the Century War, House Morecher grew accustomed to maintaining lightly armed and armored regiments of soldiers that could mobilize swiftly to assault a position and fall back to their ships if need be. For this reason, House Morecher will rarely venture deep into the land. In olden times, they would utilize the sea upon which Kingspyre to reach the mainland of Apos, but since piracy is no longer their staple means of income, they have opted for more naval-based options.

Lastly, House Karvoshka does not maintain professional armies, but instead each among them is trained from childhood onward to kill. Even the "untrained" Karvoshka foot soldiers brings more experience and skill with the blade to the battlefield than the soldiers from some professionally trained companies. Though still as disorganized as any mob of men at arms, and bringing into battlefield a mixture of swords, axes, spears, and bows, the grit and fighting spirit of Karvoshka men has carved itself into history time and time again.

Regardless of their training or structure, very few armies are supplied by their noble houses, instead opting to pillage and take what is necessary from their zone of operation. Though supply trains do exist, often running the meager roads that extend well into the mainland, maintaining large armies for any length of time is very difficult and most houses will simply instruct their men to take what they need from the surrounding area. Such actions have almost always led to rebellion and banditry in the aftermath of any military action, but have made operating the army plausible.

During the battle itself, the two armies will often line up to face one another and begin to maneuver and wheel about in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Archers and light infantry are utilized, largely by house Morecher, to harass and keep regiments in line while mainline regiments assume positions. The most frequently used battlefield weapons are the lance, spear, and longbow since these weapons are relatively easy to use and the cheapest to produce en masse.

Massed spearmen formations form the core of any army, with archers attached for support and cavalry used to push the flanks. If a melee is expected, some regiments armed entirely with swords may be supplemented to the mainline spearmen. Regardless, the spear rules the battlefield, and the best armies often find the best use of spear formations for both attack and defense.

III.b The Cities and Locale of the Third Kingdom

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The Third Kingdom or Ordonis spans across all of the continent of Apos. An entirely independent continent, Apos is surrounded on all sides by water. Rivers cut through the continent on all sides as well, forming the basis for nearly all of the settlements in Apos. The vast extent of Apos is comprised of arid grasslands, with huge swathes of forests hugging the rivers tightly. Mountains line its west and southern coasts, and to the east rests a large landmass that is largely uninhabited.

Each of the major houses owns roughly a fifth of the continent, though which portions are actually of any worth is hotly disputed as House Hanthrain's hold on the iron mines in the western mountains is far more valuable and strategically viable than its southern neighbor House Wynder's claim to largely unsettled plains.

Within each region of the kingdom rests a regional seat, and occasionally a few more noteworthy settlements with relatively large populations. The capitals and holdings of each house are as follows:

House Vielmond - Kingspyre, Eastbourne, and Lahnbyrde

House Hanthrain - Vestaria, Stratford, Jedesburgh, Bradfordshire

House Karvoshka - Iron Peak, Arcton, Fallkirk

House Morecher - Baywatch, Casterfield, Norfolk

House Wynder - Vinlas, Cirrane, Aermagh

Unaffiliated - Edadshire

The world of Apos can be seen in more detail in the map below. Far off to the west lies the continent of Uhahn, a foreign land that was discovered by Ordonish explorers in 182 CE on an expedition to see what lay beyond the western ocean. Since then, those from Uhahn and the Third Kingdom have begun first attempts at diplomacy, with several trade routes ferrying goods between the two lands.

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KINGSPYRE

The King's City​

The city of Kingspyre (pronounced as King's Pyre) is the capital of the Third Kingdom of Ordonis, resting squarely on the Emerald Gulf. Rumored to have stood since the first days of the Era of Creation, Kingspyre has been the seat of power of humanity in Apos since there has been a humanity in Apos. The city is surrounded by three curtain walls towering 30, 40, and 50 feet respectively. Being the oldest of the three walls, the outer wall is partly demolished in places. The innermost wall has been kept in far better condition, patched together with old stone dating back to the Era of Strife and freshly hewn stones as well while the central wall has been constructed within the last century.

The gap between the outermost and middle wall is largely abandoned. The only souls that reside between there are brigands and thieves, using the almost utterly ruined cityscape as the perfect hiding place. Those who reside within the city but are not of at least minor nobility reside between the middle and innermost walls, which host a variety of haphazardly constructed hovels, inns, shops, and a smattering of watch towers. The city watch are stationed here, with several barracks dotting the poorer parts of the city to keep the commoners in line.

Lastly, within the innermost wall and hugging the Emerald Gulf rests the central portion of Kingspyre. Built on a hill and overlooking the outer segments of the city wall, the central city is adorned with well-built, sturdy stone towers and dwellings decorated in fine red detailing. The Chamber of Ordonis, a towering red pillar on the cliff facing the Emerald Gulf, has stood as the ceremonial seat of power in Apos since as far back as the Second Kingdom of Ordonis. The tower is built from a rare mineral known as Ordonian Slate, a red-hued stone as hard as steel, and has been decorated at its corners with glowering drakes - the symbol of the Ordonis family that House Vielmond co-opted when it absorbed the once-royal lineage.

The Chamber of Ordonis serves as the main residence of the Crown and its administration. Its role in the affairs of the state is largely ceremonial - few if any real decisions come from the Chamber of Ordonis and its attached facilities. The real seat of power rests across the cliff overlooking the Emerald Gulf and across a narrow bridge - the Palace of the Concilium. It is here that the Council Concilium convenes and where official matters of state are discussed and laws are passed. Additionally, it is in the Palace of the Concilium that the new holder of the Crown is named and presented before the sight of Dazielle and men before the official coronation is conducted in the Grand Cathedral of Dazielle.

Around 250,000 people live in Kingspyre, the majority of which live within the space between the innermost and middle walls. The area of the innermost wall has the most access to the Emerald Gulf, but both fringes of the space between the innermost and middle walls has two ports with decent enough access to the sea. Trade represents most of the economic activity of Kingspyre, which itself oversees a large portion of the food grown in the Third Kingdom.

Each of the city's walls houses exactly three ornate gates, growing increasingly elaborate the closer to the central city one goes. There is a tax to enter the city without invitation, meaning most who are born in Kingspyre will live and die within its walls never knowing the outside world. Most of the commoners within the city practice one trade or another to get by, be that smithing, masonry, or even thieving. Due to the vast amounts of uninhabited, difficult to traverse terrain outside the second city wall thieves find Kingspyre a natural place to congregate. Seldom will nobles venture beyond the safety of their inner wall save under armed escort.

Eastbourne

The First Line of Defense​

Eastbourne is a military encampment under the control of House Vielmond resting on the Terrerwood River that is over a thousand years old. It is constructed atop a plateau overlooking the surrounding forest and riverlands, accessible only by a narrow path that winds through miles of foothills. The fortress itself is relatively small compared to garrisons found in cities, with a garrison of only about 100 men and 20 cavalry. The men at Eastbourne are all highly trained, as Eastbourne is the first line of defense to Kingspyre from an assault by sea. Each of the men stationed there are trained in operation of the fortress' 4 ballistae and can, if needed, launch small-scale boarding actions from the fortress' one sloop hidden at the base of the plateau.

In olden times throughout the Era of Strife, it is evident that Eastbourne served as a local fort to shelter commoners from pirate raids and attacks. Historically, the Maykett family - a distant relative of the Vielmond house - has held the fortress, and its descendents still holding the family name of old control the fort and its attached lands, utilizing Eastbourne as the seat of power. To lay claim to Eastbourne is a great honor, one the Maykett family has held for generations, even if their house is of little note otherwise.

The villages dotted around the river under Eastbourne's watch are all fishing villages of little note as well. Producing hardly any revenues for the Crown and hardly producing much in the way of surplus, these villages exist largely to serve as a warning system for Eastbourne since they have little other value to them.

Lahnbyrde

The Seat of the Militant Faithful​

Though the modern Church of Dazielle is centered in Kingspyre, with the Grand Cathedral of Dazielle having been finished after 120 years of construction in 210 CE, the true seat of power for the faith rests in the small city of Lahnbyrde. Lahnbyrde is a city of around 20,000, resting on the southward-bound fork of the Terrerwood River. It is Lahnbyrde that claims to be built on the site at which Dazielle herself was born. As such, it is revered as a holy site and hundreds, if not thousands, of commoners make the pilgrimage to Lahnbyrde's Monastery of the Martyred every year to pay homage to Dazielle and Haesis.

Lahnbyrde can be accessed from the south or by a large, wide stone bridge connecting it to the north. The city has no wall, but instead spirals upward into a large, militaristic structure known as the Monastery of the Martyred. It is here that the Church of Dazielle keeps its holy artefacts such as a spear claimed to be used to pierce Haesis, and various other items owned by leaders of the faith over the years. It is also here that the monks and various clergymen of the church are trained to read and write, both in Old Ordonish and the Common Tongue. Additionally, the Monastery of the Martyred acts as a military fortress and is the main point of garrison for the Militant Faithful.

Though the Militant Faithful, numbering around 2,000, has not gathered under a single banner in over four centuries, the city maintains a garrison of 300 Militant Faithful at all times. The remaining 1,700 members are stationed at smaller monastery fortresses all around the Third Kingdom, projecting the power of the faith outward both culturally and militarily.

VESTARIA

The Iron Capital​

All throughout the Era of Strife the ancestors of House Hanthrain kept to their mountainous home region of Vestaria, utilizing the abundance of iron ore within the western Iron Highlands to fund the various wars of the continent at large. In the feudal, strong-rule-the-weak system a band of warlords rose above the pack and began to consolidate power within the region over a span of around a century, taking the name Hanthrain in honor of the highest peak of the Iron Highlands. The Hanthrains established their capital on the Kinderming River in order to be closer to Kingspyre and project their power outwards.

In the relative absence of their rulers, the inhabitants of the Iron Highlands seceded only to be brought back into the control of the Hanthrains within a decade with the aid of the Ordonis family as the Second Kingdom of Ordonis began to sweep across the continent. In the centuries since, House Hanthrain has dedicated itself to creating a city to project its name to all in the area.

Like much of the western reaches of Apos, the ground that Vestaria is built upon is hilly and mountainous. Vestaria itself sits on three separate outcroppings of rock overlooking the Kinderming, each dominated by a large pillar. Where most cities in the Third Kingdom were built, Vestaria was dug out of the rock - carved into place. Each of the three pillars house most of the city's inhabitants who enjoy a relatively sheltered life by utilizing the outer shells of the pillars as city walls. The higher up the pillars one lives, the higher their status in society, with the Lords of Vestaria living in palaces constructed atop each peak.

Connecting these pillars are a series of bridges and passages hewn into the rock, allowing for easy transit between the three segments of the city. These bridges and passages are wide enough to accomodate marching armies, caravans, and processions and are, buy and large, the only weak points to be found in Vestaria's otherwise daunting defenses.

The city boasts a population of around 100,000 and much of Vestaria's value to the kingdom comes in its role as the main seat of the Moneyers, the central bank of the Third Kingdom. Given its control over much of the iron on the continent - gold being extremely rare and deemed useless since iron has been viewed as both a symbolic backing of support to a claim as well as a useful material - House Hanthrain manages much of the kingdom's finances, funneled through Vestaria. The royal vault is housed in the central pillar of Vestaria under heavy protection, and the Iron Vaults - the funds of many of the nobles around the Third Kingdom as well as a public fund for investment of the other houses - reside there as well.

Travel to and from Vestaria is common for this reason, and due to its relative inability to access the eastern side of the continent by sea save for the Kinderming much of the infrastructure of Vestaria is constructed to allow caravans easy access through the hills and to the mainland. Still, banditry is a common occurance no matter how many men patrol the foothills as any shipment to and from Vestaria often carries with it a fair share of iron coins as well.

Stratford

The Lifeblood of the Third Kingdom​

When the ancestors of House Hanthrain consolidated power and took much of the leadership east to establish the capital Vestaria, a number of loyal followers of the soon-to-be Hanthrains were left in charge of the iron mines. Delmor Stratford, the most influential of the followers, became something of a child's bedtime story. It was said he ate rock and iron came out the other end, until one day he ate himself to death, his corpse leaving behind a great fortune of iron that is still being mined today. Though it is true that Delmor himself was fond of food and drink, and did have a knack for picking the proper spots to mine, it was his ability to keep his miners in line that made him so influential.

The mines of Stratford, ruled by the Stratford family itself, still exist today and run the length of the Iron Highlands, ferrying ore to the main port on the western coast. From there it is sent south to Jedesburgh to be smelt or shipped directly around the Third Kingdom. The port itself is an unimpressive trading post, populated by no more than 1,000 souls at any given time. The bulk of Stratford exists as a swath of small mining communities, representing somewhere around 30,000 people working in the Iron Highlands.

Stratford, and the mountains surrounding it, are a cold, bitter place. The region is often compared to the holdings of House Karvoshka down to the south where the winters are harsh and the summers not much fairer. Its people are equally cold and bitter, toughened up from a lifetime of living in dangerous mountains doing the dangerous but necessary work of mining iron. Rumors of trolls and giants are common among the miners, but none can confirm them. It is in the Iron Highlands that a number of the world's remaining dragons call home, though they seem content to keep to their mountain-top dwellings, coming down to hunt large game and largely ignore the humans dotting the peaks.

Jedesburgh

The Hazed City​

Further south into the Iron Highlands rests Jedesburgh, the only officially recognized settlement in the Iron Highlands and Stratford region. Jedesburgh, historically, was an independent kingdom that successfully withstood Hanthrain rule for nearly 300 years until House Hanthrain joined forces with King Ordonis I and the Second Kingdom of Ordonis to crush all dissenters. Fearful that Jedesburgh would be dissolved and forced into mining work like their neighbors to the north, the rulers of Jedesburgh bent the knee on the agreement that Jedesburgh be allowed to stand as the capital of Stratford.

Under the terms of its incorporation into the rest of the Second Kingdom, but more specifically House Hanthrain, Jedesburgh was to become the center of industry for House Hanthrain's iron shipments. Though it was inefficient to transport materials from Stratford's northern ports to Jedesburgh and back again, it was unlikely that even the combined might of House Hanthrain and the Second Kingdom could unseat the native Jedesburgh population that was well-entrenched in the mountains with intimate knowledge of its surroundings.

Jedesburgh was made the smelting capital of the Hanthrain holdings, and remained that way through the fall of the Second Kingdom and the rise of the Third. It was in this way it earned the moniker the Hazed City for the black smoke of the smelting fires being seen for miles. The iron smelted there is then shipped back to Vestaria, where it is forged into Iron Coins or weapons.

Jedesburgh itself is a small, unremarkable city with a 20 foot wall surrounding its perimeter and meager farmlands in the miles leading to the city. With a population of just over 5,000 in the city itself and another 6,000 surrounding it, Jedesburgh and its people still see themselves as a separate nation from the Third Kingdom but operate within the bounds of the Third Kingdom just fine. The region, despite its harsh climate and locale, is prosperous and the taxes are low.

Bradfordshire

The Breadbasket of the Hanthrains​

Due to their relatively isolated position in the western mountains, a harsh climate unsuited to growing crops and maintaining farms, one of the earliest priorities of House Hanthrain upon its establishment besides projecting its force closer to Kingspyre and placing a claim to the throne was to forcefully take the fertile land to the north in order to feed its people. Taking its relatively small army, House Hanthrain marched north and claimed the seat of the minor noble house Bradford as its own.

Bradfordshire, and its surrounding lands, are notable for their large crop yields and have done well to feed House Hanthrain's more inhospitable holdings. Though House Bradford still exists, it has been so extensively married into House Hanthrain that it is essentially a figurehead with a name that keeps the commoners content. Utilizing its position on the Tormeda River to ship food to the coastal Stratford region, Bradfordshire is one of House Hanthrain's most prized strategic assets and has with it a disproportionate number of forts stationed with Hanthrain men, a remnant of the days when House Morecher was known more for its piracy than its traders.

It was also Bradfordshire's access to the wide northern plains of Apos that introduced House Hanthrain to its love of cavalry, as cavalry were especially effective in ferrying messages over the plains and most effective at defending the large sprawling area of land north of the Kinderming.

The city of Bradfordshire itself is barely worth mentioning, numbering just over 1,000 inhabitants. The bulk of its populace live in the fields hugging the Tormeda River, tilling the fields, fishing, or operating small trade ports up and down the river. Its main seat is not even protected by a wall, and instead relies on its surrounding forts for protection. The city itself is a refuge for largely the well-to-do minor nobility and land owners, and is comprised largely of lavish dwellings and staff quarters.

IRON PEAK

A Home for Savages​

The city of Iron Peak, if it could even be called that, is the capital of House Karvoshka. Nestled in the Balcord Peaks, the mountain range to the south, Iron Peak refers not to a mountain but the gathering of tribesmen and warriors within the valleys. Lines and lines of huts and tents make up Iron Peak, and it is there that House Karvoshka rules its holdings in the southland. There convenes the Althing, the Karvoshkan government. Since the establishment of the Third Kingdom of Ordonis left the southlands largely untouched, a member of the Third Kingdom in name only, House Karvoshka has enjoyed unquestioned rule in the Balcord Peaks since the days of the Era of Strife.

A martial society, the southlanders value strength above all and the only reason House Karvoshka has been able to last so long is because they are, without a doubt, the strongest of the southlanders. It is they who hold the meeting of the Althing, where all the tribes and clansmen convene to discuss matters of state. In years prior to the establishment of the Third Kingdom these meetings might have been centered around which villages to sack and which men would lead the charge, today however they largely center around trade and crop yields. The Althing convenes in the central temple of Iron Peak, a large chamber that can fit around 200 comfortably - enough room for the various landowners and chieftains of the southlanders.

Iron Peak officially has no permanent residents save a few hundred warriors and a handful of chiefs, but at any given time between 3,000-5,000 reside within the bounds of Iron Peak. The rest of the southlanders are spread around the Balcord Peaks. Iron Peak itself is home to most of, if not all of, the skilled laborers in the south, making it the hub of economic activity in the region. The smiths of Iron Peak are remarkably efficient, if not exactly skilled at their craft. Weapons of the southlanders tend to be more crude than those produced further north.

The last notable feature of Iron Peak is its Temple of the First Gods, the only official one to exist within the Third Kingdom. The southlanders had long prayed to the First Gods since the days of old, and though a growing number of them have converted to the Church of Dazielle the dominant religion is comprised of the various sects and cults worshipping the First Gods. The southlanders, valuing strength above all, preferred the might and power of the First Gods over the romanticized underdog narrative of the Church of Dazielle. Since the southlands are harsh and impassable for most large armies unfamiliar with the region, and each southlander willing to fight off any unwanted foreigners, even though every practicing southlander is breaking Kingdom laws, they are allowed to exist so long as the faith does not spread past the mountains.

Arcton

The Port of the Southlanders​

Part of the agreement that brought House Karvoshka under the rule of the Third Kingdom was that the southlanders would be given complete autonomy of their native region. However, complete autonomy was not enough for the Karvoshka family - they demanded that they be given access to the western Middlefair Channel, which would give them easier access to the iron produced in Stratford. The seas to the south are harsh and difficult for the largely inept Karvoshkan sailors to navigate - the Middlefair Channel is renowned for its smooth seas and temperate weather, with easy access tracing the land up the western coast to Stratford.

Arcton itself is largely a fishing village, with several ports that exist almost solely to receive iron from northwestern shores. In return exotic furs from the southlands are traded to be sold to the nobility in the north. Arcton itself sits still well within the snowy plains of the southlands - only a narrow spring thaw running the span of around two months sees the fishing village not covered in a blanket of snow and ice. However, unlike the rough seas to the south, the Middlefair Channel is not prone to freezing in the winter and stays liquid year round.

The village has between 500 and 1,000 inhabitants year-round, with trading posts and companies setting up camp for the spring months to trade with the fur hunters while the seas are easiest to navigate and the weather is most bearable for the northerners. The iron is then shipped from Arcton to Iron Peak via caravan, or on rare occasion taken up from particularly bold captains and shipped to the fortress city of Fallkirk in the far south.

Fallkirk

The Fortress City​

For hundreds of years the southlanders spoke of a hero to unite the clans under a single banner, one that would claim Fallkirk - the ancient fortress city from the First Kingdom of Ordonis built to withstand the fury of a dozen dragons and more. Though this hero's name has been lost to history, it is accepted that whoever he was founded the line of families that would one day lead to the modern House Karvoshka. This unnamed hero discovered the fabled fortress of Fallkirk, an ancient fortress on the southernmost point of Apos, and made it his seat of power before the coming of the Third Kingdom forced his descendents to forfeit the fortress for use of the royal army.

Fallkirk is, by and far, the most expensive city to maintain in the Third Kingdom. Hosting a population of over 30,000, over half of which being professionally maintained soldiers and existing in a reach of the kingdom not known for its accessibility, Fallkirk demands constant shipments of food and supplies. The best captains from among the ranks of House Morecher's holdings run the shipments to Fallkirk, which consist largely of food farmed from the central provinces. The men at Fallkirk are all loyal to the Crown in principle, but in practice are all drafted by House Karvoshka.

Fallkirk itself has not seen any dragon raids in recent history - though the melted towers on its western and eastern ends show that at least at one point there might have been. The walls are over 50 feet high and 10 feet thick, made of Ordonish slate and adorned with spikes at the parapets to discourage climbers. None are sure why the old Ordonish people, or southlanders, constructed Fallkirk in the first place but it is all but impregnable. The only way to seize it would be to starve the defenders out and blockade its access to the sea, an impossibility for any one army.

BAYWATCH

The Pirates' Den​

For years Baywatch was the main port of the various iterations of the Kingdom of Ordonis, serving both as a naval strongpoint and trading hub for the various cities around the continent. When the Second Kingdom of Ordonis fell, Baywatch fell victim to organized crime, smugglers, and pirates. Though still officially a city under the control of the Crown, Baywatch was all but a haven for the pirate plaguing the Emerald Gulf and the riverlands beyond as well as the continent of Apos at large.

Robert Morecher, the dread pirate of Apos, ruled Baywatch in its latter days as a smuggling den. Knowing his days of operating safely out of Baywatch were numbered, with the various houses pledging their support to House Vielmond as it began to sweep across the country with the backing and claim of the now-marginalized House Ordonis, Robert Morecher bent the knee and peacefully joined the Third Kingdom of Ordonis. The defacto leader of Baywatch and all of its holdings from his various connections to the crime lords of Baywatch, Robert Morecher drew all of his connections into what would become, officially, house Morecher.

Over the next century the Morecher family consolidated power in Baywatch and, with the aid of House Vielmond, cleared the last vestiges of organized crime from the region. Still, in the years since the campaign to stamp out piracy and smuggling Baywatch has reclaimed its reputation as a pirates' den. The mass amounts of trade leaving the bay has made the city an attractive spot for pirates and smugglers, even if House Morecher has done its best navigating the royal fleet to police the waters in and around Apos.

Baywatch houses over 100,000 people at any given time, resting directly on the Bay of Kings. The city itself is walled, but its walls are largely decorative, barely over 10 feet high. The city's garrison numbers under 2,000 - the main strength of Baywatch is in its navy. With over 200 ships in the royal navy alone, 40 of which are stationed around Baywatch or docked at port, a siege of Baywatch would necessitate removing the threat of the city's ships, which could rain fire on any assaulting force from the relative safety of the Bay of Kings.

Baywatch's ports see hundreds of ships come and go a day, shipping virtually everything up and down the coasts and rivers of Apos and even beyond to Uhahn. The ports are a varied place, representing every corner of the Third Kingdom, trading in everything from onions to dragon scales to iron freshly mined from the Iron Highlands. The city itself is a hive of crime and thievery, harkening back to Baywatch's roots as a criminal's haven. The only two businesses more lucrative than the trade brought through Baywatch are piracy and the copious amounts of brothels within the city walls.

House Morecher rules from its seat of power - the Sandstone Palace, a plain, for nobility's standards, castle dotting the top of the city. There the city's council of merchants convenes to help advise the house on what trade policies and taxes to propose to the Council Concilium in Kingspyre. It is a cutthroat affair, often leading to the assassination - both physically and politically - of its members.

Casterfield

The City by the Sea​

Casterfield stands northwest of Baywatch, sitting on the Inlet Sea in the far north of Apos. The northernmost settlement by a few leagues over Bradfordshire, Casterfield enjoyed relative isolation during the days of the Era of Strife and the more recent Century War. Though Baywatch was the far more attractive spot for pirates and smugglers to conduct business, it was Casterfield they went to in order to hide. The Inlet Sea, accessible by a number of narrow causeways threading through the north, is craggy and lined with large outcroppings of rock perfect for hiding runaway vessels. The main access to the Inlet Sea is capable of housing larger vessels, but those that can navigate the causeways are all small vessels, making it difficult for the royal navy to enforce the region. Would-be criminals simply ferry their sloops to their hiding places and go to shore until the situation calms down.

Casterfield itself is home to around 12,000-13,000 people and a garrison of around 800 men plus an additional 500 sailors of the royal navy. Predominantly a trade city, like Baywatch, Casterfield serves as the midway point between the trade flowing from the east to the west from the north of the continent. Since going further south is far more difficult, this means that most traders at one point or another wind up dropping anchor in or around Casterfield. The city center of Casterfield houses a number of inns, markets, and other centers of business whereas the main ports are a few miles north of the city proper. Captains will dock their ships still out by the open ocean and charter ferries that run the length of the main causeway down to Casterfield. This tradition is a leftover of when Casterfield was even more of a pirate's haven than it was before - it kept the pirates from utilizing their ships to hold the city hostage, and kept traffic in and out of the Inlet Sea manageable.

What Casterfield does not make in its services provided to shipping captains it makes up for in farming. Casterfield rests on one of the more fertile reaches of the northeast, and the encompassing farms around its city center produce much of the food needed to sustain House Morecher's holdings. The remainder is imported from the south and House Vielmond's holdings.

Norfolk

The Northern Bastion​

Across the Tormeda River from Bradfordshire sits the fortress of Norfolk, a plain and unadorned castled sitting atop a plateau overlooking the riverlands and tidal pools of the river. Norfolk was constructed in order to intercept and counter pirate raids conducted in the absence of a central kingdom. It remained under the use of House Bradford throughout much of the rise and fall of the Second Kingdom, as well as the transition of House Bradford into the holdings of House Hanthrain.

When the time came to gather the major houses together to establish the Third Kingdom of Ordonis, the debate over what lands and titles would be allocated to the newly-named House Morecher in its role in policing the trade of the Third Kingdom. Though House Hanthrain was belligerent in its claim that Norfolk remain within its holdings, House Vielmond ruled that Norfolk be granted over to House Morecher since its position on the Tormeda River was crucial to the maintenance of stability of the Kingdom's trade.

Norfolk itself, much like Eastbourne further south, is designed to repel naval invaders. It houses a contingent of about 300 men and 50 cavalry, and plans to construct more bridges over the Tormeda River at underway to make travel between the two sides easier. Additionally, the royal navy has stationed 2 ships for use of Norfolk in repelling piracy in the area. Much of the food used to sustain Norfolk, much to the ire of House Hanthrain, is grown in Bradfordshire and seized by the Morecheri garrison but House Hanthrain can ill afford to contest this matter as the fort has still provided a large amount of security and value to its own breadbasket.

VINLAS

The Ancestral Home of the Magi​

Situated deep within the foothills of the Iron Highlands, the city of Vinlas is the second oldest city in the Third Kingdom. Built using techniques long-since lost to humanity through fine-tuned manipulation of stone with the Essence. Resting atop a large underground aquifer, with ease of access to Walsstone River, Vinlas has long been a strategic asset in any military campaign in the southwestern reaches. Unlike any of the occupied forts and cities in Apos, Vinlas has not once been seized by a foreign power. Boasting three rings of defense, stretching from the base of the hill the city sits upon up to the city wall itself, to siege Vinlas is a daunting task.

On top of the formidable defenses and narrow passes for armies to take to the city proper, Vinlas houses its own farmland within the city walls. This, coupled with the aquifer, has made it an unconquerable bastion. The outer walls at the base of the hill are regally carved from Ordonish slate, manned at all time with members of the city watch. Further up the hill stands a second ring of walls, similarly manned and equipped to launch boulders down on advancing armies. The third and final ring encompases the city at the top of the hill.

The city itself mimics the style of the walls - ornately and carefully crafted by supernatural means. With a population of around 25,000, relatively small for a regional capital, Vinlas has tended more to be a haven of the societal elites and magi than the common folk. The tax to enter the city without a writ of passage is higher than even that of Kingspyre, and four of the fourteen Colleges of the Magi rest within the walls of Vinlas. Those not within the societal elite are servants to the upper class, bureaucrats of the Council of the Interior, and various courtiers and inspectors from the Crown. The remainder are either enrolled in the college or members of the city watch.

The seat of power of Vinlas, and the home of House Wynder, is the House of the Magi - an ancient palace as old, or older, than the city itself. Built as the first College of the Magi, the House of the Magi has now become the official meeting place of the Council of the Interior and home of House Wynder. It is an elaborate structure that rivals the architecture found in Kingspyre. House Wynder has long been secretive, being comprised of largely magi, and has not shared their secrets of stoneworking with the rest of the Third Kingdom.

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