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[h3][color=aba000][i]What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs—I was a man before I was a king.[/i][/color][/h3][/center]

[hider=Glossary]
[color=aba000]AGE OF DAWN:[/color] The current age, currently in its 56th year. It is a time of adventure and strife, when every man is a warrior, and every warrior is a king.

[color=aba000]AGE OF KINGS:[/color] The previous age, when great and mighty empires dominated the world, and men fought ceaseless wars for gold and glory.

[color=aba000]
AGE OF MYTH:[/color] The earliest known age, when the Old Gods were said to have ruled the world, and magic last reigned supreme. Legend holds that it came to an end as Atlantis sunk into the sea, and the Old Gods vanished among the stars.

[color=aba000]ALCHEMY:[/color] The Divine Craft. Through the practice of alchemy, one can create many wondrous and miraculous substances and materials. A difficult and exclusive trade, the Alchemist Guilds of the Age of Kings guarded their secrets jealously and kept their ranks exclusive. In the Age of Dawn, with so much knowledge lost and so many masters dead, alchemy is a dying practice. The few remaining practitioners are desperate to keep their knowledge from being lost. Of the major powers in the Iron Kingdoms during the Age of Kings, the Kingdom of Thule's alchemists were masters of fire and lightning, crafting great artifices of explosive warfare. Atlantean alchemists were metallurgists without compare, the only known crafters of Orichalcum. The alchemists of Iiram were chemists foremost, crafts of balms and poisons alike.

[color=aba000]ATLANTEAN EMPIRE:[/color] Once the mightiest nation in Borea, the Sons of Atlantis were already well into decline before the Years of Dusk. A proud race of scientists, artists and philosophers, they claim their ancestry from the Dragon-Kingdom of Atlantis, which sank into the sea at the end of the Age of Myth. In the early years of the Age of Kings, the Atlanteans conquered vast swaths of Borea, seeding their culture into the indigenous peoples of the land. For thousands of years thereafter, the Atlantean Empire waxed and waned with the moon; its borders grew and receded against the barbarous lands of Hyperborea and Lemura, the hellish landscape of Darfar, and the mighty empire of Iiram. However, five centuries ago, a great insurrection took place as the Borean peoples of the North rebelled against their oppressive conquerors. The Atlanteans, grown soft from political corruption and complacency, were unable to quell the rebellion, and so the Kingdom of Thule wrenched free from the grasp of their empire.

In the Years of Dusk, the Atlantean Empire collapsed utterly from a series of assassinations against its royal family and nobility, as well as numerous simultaneous insurrections within its ancient poleis. It is believed that a radical political group or cult of some means was responsible for this, possibly wielding the power of dark sorcery to accomplish its goals. The truth lies with the bones of the Wise Kings of Atlantis. The few remaining cities of Atlantis are now nations unto themselves, hard-pressed to stem the tide of barbarians, mutants and worse from smothering the last few embers of their once-mighty people.

[color=aba000]ATLANTEAN OCEAN:[/color] The great body of water to the West of Borea. Across it lie the Obsidian Kingdoms, from which no Borean explorer has ever returned. It is said that the ruins of Atlantis rest somewhere along the ocean's floor.

[color=aba000]
BOREA:[/color] Also known as the Iron Kingdoms, these are the civilized lands of the West. Ancient forests, fertile riverlands and sloping mountain ranges cover the temperate land. Its peoples range from the tanned and dark-haired men of the coast, to the fair-haired and blue-eyed men of the mountains, to the red-haired and pale men of the islands and the far north.

Ravaged by war, plague and corruption during the Years of Dusk, Borea is a dangerous place in the Age of Dawn. However, those who stand with strength against adversity are masters of their own destiny as they never were before.

[color=aba000]CLAY KINGDOMS:[/color] A distant land of hot sand the color of blood, and dark-skinned men that paint themselves bone white. Known mostly through the lies and boasts of explorers and pirates, the Clay Kingdoms are home to strange peoples and even stranger creatures. It is said that the Clay Kingdoms never stay in one place, and that the island they lie on drifts through the sea like an impossibly massive beast.

[color=aba000]HYPERBOREA:[/color] The land north of Borea, a harsh place of ice and stone, where great mountains loom beyond the clouds. The peoples of Hyperborea are cruel barbarians, known to the people of Borea only as raiders, rapers, thieves and pirates. Their dark sails and mighty longships are the bane of many Boreans; even a peaceful Northman is distrusted as a rule. The fiery red hair of the Hyperboreans is a mark often left on the villages they raid, and Boreans born with it are said to be unlucky or cursed, "Touched by the North."

In the Age of Dawn, numerous Hyperborean enclaves are left behind throughout Thule and Atlantis following their invasion in the Years of Dusk. The Scourge of Nemedia seems to affect the Northmen even more strongly than most, as there are many mutants among their number. Even so, those tainted by the Scourge are brought into battle as terrible beasts of destruction. Hyperborean shamans wield dark and disturbing magics, and pray to strange powers. It is said that at certain hours of twilight, mysterious lights can be seen dancing in the skies over Hyperborea.

[color=aba000]
IIRAM:[/color] A vast and ancient empire, Iiram traces its history back well before the Age of Kings. The supposed founders of Iiram were god-kings that wielded power unimaginable, commanded vast armies of slaves and built towering monuments to their own magnificence. Many thousands of years have passed since this allegedly divine founding, after after many regime changes, the nation barely resembles its original form. Though it was one of the largest empires during the Age of Kings, the majority of its territory was empty desert. Its borders stretched from the Iron Kingdoms, across the Sand Kingdoms, edged into the Ivory Kingdoms, and ended in the East in the Jade Kingdoms. Iiram accrued vast wealth from the ownership of trade routes across the deserts of the Sand Kingdoms, which was then put to forming vast armies of slaves and mercenaries to protect its borders and cities from opportunists such as Lemurians and Atlanteans. Its alchemists mastered the arts of transmutation and medicine, culminating in their creation of the Philosopher's Stone, a relic now lost to the Years of Dusk.

In the Years of Dusk, the "silk and spice" armies of Iiram finally failed it, as their hordes of eunuchs and prisoners could not stand against the fury of the united Lemurian tribes. Its peoples were slaughtered and its cities were sacked, their ancient civilization destroyed in a just a few short years. Before the Lemurians could continue their campaign of destruction into Borea, the mighty warlord that united them fell ill and died, and the united tribes dissolved from infighting. All that remains of Iiram is a lawless wasteland, its remaining settlements ruled over by savage tribes and warlords.

[color=aba000]
IRON KINGDOMS:[/color] These are the lands North-East of the Sand Kingdoms, comprised of fields, mountains and forests in such regions as Borea, Hyperborea and Lemuria. Its people are fair in color and known for their love of warfare and quest to build ever greater and more dominant empires.

[color=aba000]
IVORY KINGDOMS:[/color] The lands south of the Iron Kingdoms and the Sand Kingdoms, called Darfar by the Atlanteans. A tropical land of desert, grassland and jungle, its people are dark of skin and hair and are fierce warriors. Many hundreds of tribes and peoples inhabit the Ivory Kingdoms, most bearing ancient grudges and rivalries with their neighbors. Though they clash often, conflicts between competing tribes shed little blood, as they prefer to trade goods or servitude over lives. Mighty and vicious beasts stalk the land, and the peoples of the Ivory Kingdoms have grown fearsome by surviving in their harsh homeland and hunting these terrible creatures.

[color=aba000]JADE KINGDOMS:[/color] The lands at the Easternmost end of the world, known for their secrecy and strange customs. The people of the Jade Kingdoms are golden-skinned and dark-haired, having ruled over their land of misty mountains and steamy jungles for time immemorial. Little is known about the Jade Kingdoms, as their secretive and distrustful of outsiders. However, they trade frequently with the Iron Kingdoms, offering such goods as silk, rare herbs and spices, and even austere mercenaries brandishing long, curved blades. It is said that the people of the Jade Kingdoms practice strange alchemies, and that the secrets of magic were never lost to them.

[color=aba000]KINGDOM OF THULE:[/color] The youngest nation in the Iron Kingdoms, Thule occupies the central and Northern lands of Borea, and is comprised mostly of the ethnic Borean people. After seceding from the Atlantean Empire, the Thule established their own system of governance, preferring an oligarchy of noble electorates and a constitutionally-appointed king over the authoritarian monarchy of Atlantis. The kingdom embraced the ancient cultures of its peoples, which had for so long been trodden upon by the imperialistic Atlanteans. No longer constrained by the empire, their artists and scientists made great strides forward, as they discovered explosive black powder through alchemy, and incorporated it into their mighty armies. However, as Thule grew in power and population, and came to clash against the barbarians of the north, many of the freedoms it had fought to attain were sacrificed to better defend their homeland. By the Years of Dusk, the king of Thule had assumed direct control over his electorates, and so the kingdom had become just as harsh a regime as the masters it once fought against.

In the Years of Dusk, Thule was ravaged by a plague known as the Scourge of Nemedia, named after the capital province of the kingdom from whence it originated. Corpses filled the streets and the stench of death floated over the entire nation. The Scourge brought a fate worse than death to some, twisting them into insane, animalistic monstrosities. With so many dead, the kingdom's powerful armies were too thinly spread to fend off the following invasion of Hyperboreans, whose marauders put the final nail in the coffin of the nation. Rather than totally dissolve, Thule fragmented between its provinces and noble electorates, thus breaking down into numerous small, weak kingdoms that in the Age of Dawn are constant, bitter rivals.

[color=aba000]LEMURIA:[/color] The vast and cold steppes and grasslands to the North-East of Borea, Lemuria is home to yet more savage and fearsome barbarians. As the soil is much too poor for agriculture, most Lemurians took up lives as nomads, herding sheep and goats across the plains and bluffs or hunting the great elk and wild ponies of the land from horseback. Many tribes made up the disparate Lemurian people, from the mounted Kozaki raiders to the wolfmen of Hyrkania.

Some years before the outset of the Years of Dusk, a mighty warrior rose among the Lemurians, of such power and reverence that his name is not spoken among them to this day. He met with many other tribes, and either impressed them with his skill in battle, or destroyed them with that same prowess. In time, he amassed the greatest army that the Iron Kingdoms had ever seen, uniting the Lemurian tribes like no man before or since. As the Years of Dusk began, he took his mighty army and brought ruin to Iiram, crushing its armies of slaves and sellswords, and stealing the fathomless wealth of the Sand Kingdoms for himself. However, the conquest of the Lemurians ended before their could bring the same fate to Borea as the warlord caught the Scourge of Nemedia and perished. His sons and generals fought over who would succeed him, and his army quickly fell apart and dispersed across the Iron Kingdoms.

[color=aba000]MAGIC:[/color] The Power of the Gods. A force not seen in the world since it supposedly vanished at the end of the Age of Myths, magic is poorly understood by the people of the Iron Kingdoms. Those who wield it in the Age of Dawn vary wildly, from naturally-talented sorcerers, to wizards that have studied ancient relics of arcane knowledge, to mad warlocks of some dark inspiration. Regardless, the reality-bending, otherworldly power of magic is not to be trifled with. It is an unpredictable and generally dangerous force, and few who come to wield its power do so with any restraint or responsibility. As such, mages in Borea are usually distrusted at best, and killed on sight at worst.

[color=aba000]MUTANT:[/color] Those afflicted by the Scourge of Nemedia in the worst manner possible come to be known as Mutants, the Tainted or Beastmen. The plague has twisted their flesh into obscene and unnatural shapes, and stripped them of their sanity. Mutants often take on the traits of animals, such as horns, claws, fur or hooves, and some grow to tremendous sizes and unnatural strength. Most roam Borea in barely-cohesive packs, venting their primal furies on any bastions of civilization they come across and consuming human flesh whenever possible. Hyperboreans pride any Mutants among their ranks, wielding them like war-beasts and sending them into battle.

[color=aba000]OBSIDIAN KINGDOMS:[/color] The distant lands across the Atlantean Sea, very little is known about the Obsidian Kingdoms, as no explorer has ever made land there and returned. From what can be observed from the coast, the land is highly volcanic, with ash clouds turning the sky a ruddy orange, and thick jungle dominates the landscape. Strange creatures can be seen prowling the treeline, and some maddened explorers have even claimed to have seen feathered serpents sailing through the sky. Whatever people may lurk in the Obsidian Kingdoms, they are either inhumanly fearsome, or uncannily cunning.

[color=aba000]OLD GODS:[/color] The Old Gods were said to have ruled the world in the Age of Myths, and wielded such power that no mortal man could ever stand against them. Even so, legend holds that they had great adversaries in their kingdom in the stars, whose great evil sank Atlantis and split apart the kingdoms of the world to float on the seas. The Old Gods disappeared among the stars as the Age of Myths ended, vanishing with them the power of magic from the world. Their individual identities have been forgotten by the millennia, and their worship has been supplanted in every corner of the known world. Even so, rumor holds that as the Age of Dawn grows, the Gods regain their strength and will return to their starry kingdom.

[color=aba000]SAND KINGDOMS:[/color] The land between the Iron Kingdoms and the Jade Kingdoms, North of the Ivory Kingdoms. The Sand Kingdoms are a vast expanse of dust, stone and sand, buffeted by wind and scorched by the sun. The people of the Sand Kingdoms are swarthy of skin and dark of hair, wear great robes to protect themselves from the sun and sand, and live along the fertile banks of the region's rivers or along its cliffs and caves. For thousands of years the desert peoples have studied alchemy, astronomy and mathematics, and have erected mystifying structures in the sands of their homelands. Though they are a genial people, eager to trade and share with outsiders, a region with such a long history leads to many grudges held. Bitter, bloody war of centuries-old transgressions is common among the Sand Kingdoms; the insurmountable pride of its people only worsening the harsh conditions of living in such a barren land.

[color=aba000]SCOURGE OF NEMEDIA:[/color] A mysterious plague the emerged in the capital province of Nemedia in the Kingdom of Thule. It spread through the land like wildfire, killing a fifth of the population with rapidly-developing, cancerous growths. Another fifth of the population suffered a worse fate than painful death. Their bodies and minds were twisted until they were no longer human, but instead beastial, blood-crazed Mutants. During the Years of Dusk, families would quickly kill the infected to avoid the risk of mutation, and then promptly burn the bodies. In the Age of Dawn, only the vestiges of the Scourge remain, as Mutants carrying the disease can spread the foul miasma to the uninfected, enforcing the vitality of burning the bodies of slain Beastmen.

[color=aba000]
ULTIMA THULE:[/color] A relatively large island off the coast of Borea, in the first centuries of the Age of Kings the Atlanteans settled the land and built great fortresses and cities in its hilly forests and rugged highlands. The Atlanteans claim that the island was already inhabited when they arrived, by Giants no less, which they slew until none remained. After the Rebellion of Thule, the armies of the Kingdom of Thule took over the garrisons and cities of Ultima Thule, incorporating it into their newfound empire.

Following the Years of Dusk, there has been no contact from the inhabitants of Ultima Thule, and those who have made land there have not returned. Boats near the coast sometimes report great, stone structures that had not been present previously being visible, but these claims are rumor at best.

[color=aba000]YEARS OF DUSK:[/color] The end of the Age of Kings. Ten years of war, plague and corruption that began with the first reported contraction of the Scourge of Nemedia, and ended with the assassination of the King of Atlantis. In merely ten years, the three seemingly-immortal empires of Altantis, Iiram and Thule were crushed, never to rise again. However, as night is darkest just before the dawn, and so the Age of Dawn has risen.

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[hider=Map][img]http://i.imgur.com/QWkkSnT.png[/img]
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[hider= Rules]
Short and simple here.

Respect your fellow players, both IC and OOC.

Understand that the GM's word is final, though I'm willing to compromise where I can.

Communicate and cooperate with everyone in the RP to the best of your ability.

Be creative, and make an effort at crafting a quality story.

Maintain a standard of posting frequency, or let us know if you're having difficulty keeping up or if issues arise.

Feel free to ask questions, share ideas or voice your concerns.

Have fun!
[/hider]

[hider=CS]

Name: Fantastic is fine, but try not to make it too outlandish. Use some basic etymology here.

Age: 66 at the very oldest. This is important. Use your common sense for the lower limit.

Gender: ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

Appearance: What do they look like? A description is fine, but if you want to supply an image, I do not want photographs, or artwork that is overly stylized.

Personality: Give me a general idea. A paragraph or two, I don't need a super-deep psychoanalysis. Again, try to maintain a general level of realism and logic here.

History: Where are they from? What have they done in life? Why are they such a crazy badass? This is an important section, and probably requires some worldbuilding. Discuss things with me so we can make sure everything fits in with the setting!

Journey: Here's where things get interesting. Your character has an agenda: what is it? Where are they going in life?

Ideals: What concepts does your character value or embody? Feel free to get somewhat abstract here.

Holdings: What does your character have to their name? A sword? A horse? A homestead? A manservant? A kingdom? Tell me about it, but don't give me an inventory list. Give me a general idea.

Feel free to add on whatever else you want, and stylistically format as necessary.

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