The world is dying. Anyone can feel it. From the Kings in their castles to the most ragged vagrant on the roads. A slow and creeping decay has been edging its way over the lands with plagues and famines. So many crops fail. So few plants will grow. The days are shorter. So many places are now overtaken by barren waste and foetid swamps. Magic is leaving, leeching out of the fabric of the world, and the life force of the land is leaving with it. Dragons and other creatures died out years ago, and magic has become more and more scarce. The lands that remain fight over what resources remain..and from that one nation has risen to a position of superiority, Yulia. The nation of Yulia. Once a small, mountainous kingdom in the north with little influence on the world, Yulia nevertheless held its own rigid laws and conventions even then. [hider=]The Yulian Codes Only a man may lift a sword, even in defence. Only a woman may learn to fight using magic. Neither shall disguise as the other. No man may take another man as a lover, nor any woman take another woman. No man nor woman may hold any worship for the gods. Clerics are committing cries against the people by encouraging them to have faith in nebulous forces and not in themselves. Obey the Inquisition at all costs. [/hider] This nation might have remained relatively obscure, were it not for one great factor that changed the balance of power in the lands. Whilst most Kingdoms lost any trace of magical abilities in their bloodlines, Yulia's mages remained. They were strong, and dangerous. The Wizard's Guild and the Royal Inquisition made devastating use of battle-magic and blessing of weapons and armour. Bolstered by this power that no-one else might possess, the Yulians began an aggressive campaign of expansion and conquest, pushing their borders out and abosrbing the surrounding lands. [hider=Pradus] A storm-beaten land rich in minerals and ores for mining, Pradus has long been known for both its hardy folk, and its greatly superiour crafts. The mines brought out ores to the forges who brought the strange metals of the earth to the master smiths. Some of the most legendary weapons were put together by Pradian smiths... and most have learned to use weapons, able to make deadly tools even from crude items of toil. No shock then that Yulian hold on the small kingdom was often upset by popular uprisings, with miners facing more and more dangerous conditions with the demands for more weaaponry and armour for the mages to enchant. The Inquistion came down fast and hard upon the workers each time however, making an example of leaders that was, to say the least... frightening.[/hider] land of stalwart soldiers and renowned smiths was overrun, people forced down the mines and into the forges to fuel the war machine. [hider=Miriand] Sat within a large basin of low hills is Miriand, once the centre for the Great Church, and the clerics and paladins from within it. The kingdom was once a theocracy, dedicated to everything in the glory of the gods. In many ways t could make the folks within it haughty and intolerant, but it also meant they focused on acts of charity ad benevolence. Miriand produced some of the most talented doctors and medic, many of its clerics training as such in order to ease the suffering of the sick and injured. The invasion put pay to that however. While Yulia desired the medical knowledge of Miriand, they despised the clerics, and such people were subject to brutal punishment for 'leading the people astray'.[/hider], kingdom of clerics and the Great Church, burned as Yulia's hatred for the gods was turned upon those who attempted to call on their power. [hider=Aressa]In the forested river valleys along the edges of the wall stands Aressa, a people that if they lacked the hardiness of Pradians or the talents of Mirians, made up for it in bravery and unwillingness to bow. Raised on codes of chivalry and honour, the armies of the nation had no qualms in defending their land to the bitter end. The Aressans and their wolf knights, elite lines that dressed in helms resembling wolf heads, held of the Yulian advance for two years. It was not until the Inquisition was able to steal into the Aressan capital, steal the only heir, and plunge a dagger into the back of the monarch, that the lines of defence began to breakdown. Rudderless, without a figurehead, the morale was broken, and it was only a matter of time until the nation fell, removing the last barrier between the Yulians and the wall. The heir to the throne was spirited away to the Yulian capital, never to be seen again, and the wolf knights made an example of to those that might get ideas about showing insolence to their betters.[/hider], land of nobility and chivalry, the fearsome Wolf Knights held out for months under the onslaught, but was eventually brought to heel. Yulia held superiority over the continent. But this would not save them, or anyone else from the creeping decay. Quietly the wizard school and the inquisition plotted and schemed within the walls of the fortresses, seeking out a way to turn the tides of destruction. [hr] Hi there! Vit here. I've made this topic as something of an interest check/idea bouncing thread, as I've been wanting to make use of this setting for some time that was originally just a framing device for a quest thing I wasn't so keen on, but I've not been certain how best to frame the actual progression of the plot, and what people would like most to play. So I figured I'd throw the setting up on here and see what sort of thing people would like to see, what kind of characters they'd like to use, and maybe work from there. A few possible ones have occurred to me: -Yulian Prison, prisoners are excavating something mysterious. Possibly a number of characters staging a prison break. -A rebellion, uprising sort of story. -Something round an occupied town. -An attempt to recover the Aressan heir. -Something very loose and character-driven, throw a bunch of characters in a setting and see how it progresses. Ideas are welcome.