[center][h1][color=lime]The Emerald Empire[/color][/h1][/center] [hider=The Emerald Empire] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wynAuSH.png[/img][/center] [h2][color=lime]Government[/color][/h2] [hider=Government] Yaval, most ancient of Trees is effectively emperor in all but name. They are advised by 8 courts of lesser Trees based on the 8 other islands of their homeland that still support life. These courts have a very loose internal structure, but are generally ruled by the oldest and/or wisest (and the two are closely related) who in turn listen to all the other Trees on the islands. This system of government is relatively high level, working mainly about the ongoing survival of their race through diplomacy, war and the gathering of knowledge. Local governances is left to their children, mainly because they are the ones who need to be governed. A Tree has few wants or needs other than good soil, rain and sunshine, while the Dryads have all those that regular people do. Individual groups and communities elect 3 officials, usually Dryads, to act as their leaders and 10 others who act as advisors and subordinates to the Leader. Based on the size of a group those 10 might have their own subordinates, but these are hand picked by the individuals rather than elected to prevent voting fatigue. These elected bodies server their community as best they are able, and are the ones who are entrusted to act upon any orders that come from Yaval and the courts. The leaders are split between a civilian leader, a military leader and a tie breaker. Civilian and military leaders have unilateral authority over their aspect of society, barring orders form Yaval. However, due to the rotating system of military service employed by the empire, the military and civilian leaders swap positions once every 6 months. The tiebreaker is generally an elder figure in the community who is revered for their wisdom and is the position where it is most common to see a non Dryad fill the roll. Tiebreakers exist to intervene in situations when a problem or situation involves both aspects of Dryad life, where they will act as mediator between the two leaders and as the final decision maker if they cannot be brought to agree. In times of emergency all three leaders corporate as lead the defence of the community, with the tiebreaker once again holding final say over the course of action. The advisors are split equally between the war and civilian leaders, the tiebreaker needs no council, nor do they need others to carry out their will. Elections are held whenever the community as a whole believes that their membership or circumstances has been shaken up enough that the current leadership is potentially no longer representative of the community’s needs or desires. This sounds vague, but thanks to the Psychic Dreamscape that links all of the Dreaming Forest in the community this feeling of change is measurable within their collective consciousness. As a result there is generally little argument about whether new elections should be held. These elections are most often helded when groups merge, often for the purpose of war, or split up in events of crisis or emigration. In the provinces the Empire has simply inserted itself into the position the kings and feudal lords used to hold, Dryad and Tree communities of governing a small area mostly independently, extracting wealth from the populace as they see fit. The only real difference is that instead of a complex web of deities and privileges, the land is now bound together by species loyalty and the presence of a living expedition of Yaval’s will growing at the heart of each of the Dreaming Forest Groves. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Geography[/color][/h2] [hider=Geography] [hider=map][img]https://i.imgur.com/OVAG2Hw.png[/img][/hider] [hider=map post metathran invasion attempt (spoilers, duh)][img]https://i.imgur.com/FwifMUA.png[/img][/hider] [color=lime]The Ever Green Isles:[/color] A chain of islands that is the birthplace and homeland of the Dreaming Forest. These temperate misty isles are covered in thick woods and a near ubiquitous mist. A great part of that forest is made up of The sentient Trees that rule the empire. The land is mostly free of inhabitants or settlements apart from on the coasts, where large numbers of docks made from the roots of the Trees can be found. Around these settlements made of stone and living wood can be found, bustling with Dryads and the odd Ent enjoying the spoils of empire. [color=lime]The Salted Groves:[/color] The four islands closest to the mainland were rendered barren and lifeless in the first war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Shenra. Only the largest of the islands is occupied by a small settlement of humans and their Dryad masters, who perform mining operations and scientific/magical experiments to see if the damage can be undone. Despite their name, the groves are not poisoned by salt, but instead by a curse created by the Kingdom of Shenra’s mages, who were greatly assisted by Apothaeos the Son of God. The curse mimics the state of the desolate lands of Netheryne located to the east [color=lime]Yaval:[/color] Named after it’s [url=https://imgur.com/M671X0t]most notable inhabitant[/url], the Island of Yaval is dominated by a single titanic Tree that is the ruler of the Emerald Empire. Yaval is truly ancient and is perhaps a direct child of the race’s primordial progenitor, though, because the race did not collectively gain sentience till long after the Primordial had left the islands, this fact cannot be known for sure, nor can Yaval’s claim to this semi divine status be said to be considered unique. What is unique is their size, which dwarfs even their closest rival by orders of magnitude. Yaval is so large that entire natural forests grow on the lower reaches of their trunk and roots and their upper branches brush the clouds in the sky as they pass by. [b][color=lime]The Fractured Riverlands:[/color][/b] The northern province of the empires mainland holdings runs from the border in the north to the river that travels from Lock Eshry to Fidgit Bay. The province is made up of most of the early acquisitions by the empire and as a result features both the mainland capital of Esterguile and the largest number of mainland Tree groves. It also contains the largest of those tree groves, a vast forest starting from the closest point to the Ever Green isles and stretching in land until it reaches large swaths of farmland at the end of the peninsula it occupies. The riverlands are a home to much of the Provincial agriculture and is as a result is sometimes referred to as the breadbasket of the entire empire. The region also has the highest population of humans and the Treekin are outnumbered four hundred to one as a result. The region features three very long estuaries fed by two local lakes, and all of these estuaries feature at least one major port. As a result of this the region is the primary point of commerce of the whole empire, the docks filled with Living ships preparing to set off to distant lands loaded with exports, making them opposed to the homeland’s ports that are primarily import focused. The defensive nature of the estuaries and the large Tree population mean that this is the second largest source of new Living ships after the Evergreen isles themselves, and there are always a few new ships growing on the river banks and beaches of the region. [color=lime]EsterGuile:[/color] Estierguile is the capital both of the Fractured Riverlands and of the Provinces as a whole. Built on the ruins of the human regional capital after the first invasion of the continent. The capital is a fortress of living wood, with many Trees growing together to form a formidable bastion out of which the rest of the conquest was launched over several subsequent wars. Growing on a bend in the estuary, the capital is surrounded on 3 sides by water, with the fourth facing the biggest Dreaming Forest on the continent. The only safe route to access the capital is via a large bridge over to the opposite side of the estuaries, made of the roots of a particularly large carnivorous tree. This makes the bridge itself both able to both fight and also able to withdraw by slowly curling those roots up against the shores of the capital. The capital is surrounded by root based docks like those found on the homeland and the whole area acts like the Evergreen isles in miniature, bringing in wealth and sending out armies via ship to gather more. Forts like Shenrale and Merken follow the desighn of the capital, with densely packed tree trunks acting as walls and gates of living root restricting entrance. The most dangerous thing about the forts is that some of their component Trees charge defensive artifacts, can use magic or are actually sleeping Ents. This means that the fortifications of the nation are often much more sturdy and dangerous to assault than their wooden walls would infer. [b][color=lime]The Grave of the Pioneers:[/color][/b] The central Province consists of the land below the riverlands and above the river flowing from lake Sem to Crinwaley. Once home to an ancient Dreaming Forest, the province gets its name from their extinction at the hands of the Humans of the region. The province consists primarily of thick natural woodlands into which small young Trees have taken root. The region's primary produces are wild meats, fruits like apples and luber of the regular variety. Woe be to the lumberjack who can’t tell the difference between a fir tree and his new masters. Most of this wood is used by the Humans internally for construction and fuel, as the Dreaming Forest finding the usage of even non sentient trees in such a manner rather distasteful, though they make an exception for cooking. [b][color=lime]The Glacial Marshes:[/color][/b] the southern province is home to the, some say unnaturally, cold Frozen Cliffs and the quagmire of freezing swamps and marshes formed from the runoff of the glaciers that sleep on the mountains’ sides. The north of the region is home to some rather fertile farmland, centered around the town of Emway and Dreichport. The Province also features border with the Empire of Matathran to the east, which has been fortified by the construction of forts and the planting of Carnivorous Trees and Plants. This is in response to the foreign Empire’s notable troop buildup near their borders after the conclusion of their internal conflict and rumors that they are seeking to take control of land with sea access by force if necessary. The Dreaming Forest see both danger and opportunity in the situation, for if they manage to repel the Empire, then a counter invasion could bring their first real territorial acquisition since the conquest of the Kingdom of Shenra. After the battle of the border fortress the are has been renamed the Wall of Ash. Cher is no more, the only remainder of its place are the burning lake of blood and petrified statue of Nyranda located 1 km east of its location. To The north lies Merken fortress, a living fortress frozen beneath a 100m dome of ice created by a backfired defence attempt. [color=lime]The Frozen Cliffs:[/color] The very south of the empire's territories are the Frozen Cliffs, a mountainous region of jagged peaks and chasms hiding under a tarp of snow. Home to some hardy human farmers, a smattering of monasteries and a dangerous assortment of monsters and betial races. The region holds little interest for the Dreaming Forest as a source of wealth or food and as a result only the eastern and western areas, near Dreich-Port and the Matathran border area respectivly, are truly under their control. The rest is considered not worth the effort to conquer and as a result, any attempt to take the region is greatly undermanned and poorly supplied. In the center of these mountainous lands resides the last bastion of the Kingdom of Shenra. Home to Queen Rosabella the Third and her exile court, the small series of monasteries and villages high in the mountains is the source of much of the Empire’s internal conflict. The young Queen use it as a base to attempt to reclaim the throne, as have her ancestors before her. The freezing climate of the high mountains and the climb to reach any of the settlements mean that the Empire have simply given up on expelling their enemies and are content to let the royal line slowly dwindle into irrelevance. The enemy capital is a fortified monastery called The Holy Summit, appropriately situated near the top of one of the many peaks of the region. [color=lime]Dreich-Port:[/color]the most southern of the Provincial ports, Dreich is also one of the smallest and least fortified. The city sits unwalled atop stilt platforms to protect itself from the spring floods that result from the thawing of snow and ice on the lower foothills of the Frozen Cliffs. Because of its proximity to the Kingdom it is the main port of call of their spies and informants and the last barrier of those attempting to flee up into the mountains. The general populace are the most unruly in the land thanks to whispers of freedom from servants of the kingdom, and they are more than happy to make some noise to distract the local Dryads if someone needs to slip in or out of the town. It also features a thriving black market run from smuggling operations performed using small fishing vessels smuggling goods across the Sea of lights or pack mules carrying goods up into the mountains. [color=lime]Fostern Island:[/color] A formerly uninhabited small island of the south coast of the western part of the continent, Fostern has become a stopping off point for Living ships who are heading too/from foreign ports on the southern coast. The closeness of this island to one held by the Kingdom of Atharia has caused tension between the two, as has their disputed ownership of the small islands in between. The island is notable for being one of the few places where the Trees are the only vegetation around. [color=lime]Gweldgale:[/color] a former independent island nation, Gweldgale was a rather prosperous nation thanks to its closeness to Huāyuán and it’s warm climate allowing it to grow plenty of unique plants for sale in foreign markets. The island was also home to a significant amount of piracy thanks to its location on the east west trade route and the fact that its continental neighbour was isolationist. This changed however when the pirates attacked a Living Ship, restraining it and dragging it back to a hidden port of Kuwd to be salvaged. The rest of the empire was unsure as to what happened to the vessel until a Dryad visiting Ostern Cove discovered a merchant selling the captured ship’s wood. Incensed, but also seeing an opportunity, the Dreaming forest invade the island shortly thereafter on the grounds of finding the source of the wood. Dryad soldiers ransacked the town, searching warehouses and interrogating locals. An attempt to expel them by the local authorities was quickly put down. After 3 days the pirates had been found and where slated to be executed by the occupying forces, but so too where several seemingly unconnected influential individuals on the island. the Empire proclaimed that the pirate scourge was deeply rooted in all areas of the inland community, including the highest rungs of its government. As the prisoners were hanged the Dryad representative informed the locals that the empire would be staying on to oversee a transition to a new, less corrupt government. Since then the island as een a colony of the Empire rn in much the same way as the provinces back on the continent. Dreaming forest sponsored officials rule the people, while in the woodlands of the north, the Dreaming forest has taken root, where it now receives taxes and handles all exports from the island. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Culture[/color][/h2] [hider=Culture] [h3][color=lime]The Dreaming Forest/Treekin[/color][/h3] [url=https://notquitereal.bandcamp.com/track/all-of-the-different-trees-that-there-are]All Of The Different Trees That There Are[/url] The dreaming forest is the collective name for the Trees and their various designed offspring who sit at the top of the empire. Only the static Trees are capable of reproducing, either naturally creating more Tree seeds or by carefully magically modifying their offspring to have them grow to be one of the other various subspecies, the mobile children among the subspecies being collectively known as Treekin . The collective name for the Trees and their children comes from an interpretation by a human of a description of the psychic dreamscape that binds them all together, a fuzzy mental landscape filled with the slow, deep thoughts of the Trees that are its source. All of the Dreaming forest species are highly magical in nature, but most of it is used to maintain their unnatural minds, motion and senses. They have difficulty using that energy for other tasks, and as a result improving mana throughput is much harder for them than it is for many other races. Being plants, the only internal organ exhibited by the members of the Dreaming forest are the rudimentary digestive systems found in dryads and living ships. Lacking even a center of their minds and being made of sapwood wood covered in bark they are all unnaturally hard to kill. If one of the Dreaming Forest is cut in half the consciousness of the individual remains in the largest part while they also maintain a connection to the severed part, which is what allows Yaval to spread their influence through planting of it’s branches to form new growths. Therefore the only way to kill Treekin is to reduce it so that no part consists of more of a quarter of its mass, burning it or starving it, generally done by removing its ability to feed and then leaving it to die. Ever since the great fire, a blaze caused by a lightning strike during a particularly dry year in the otherwise rain soaked isles, the Trees have had an understandable fear of fire. This fear has been passed down unintentionally to their offspring, though living wood is rather damp and is, as a result, somewhat harder to set on fire than might be expected. This fear is particularly notable because the treekin lack a fight or flight reflex found in animals, meaning that young Treekin are well know for picking overestimating their own ability when picking fights. They generally outgrow this fearlessness, either by being ought or learning from mistakes, something their tenacity fully allows. [color=lime]The Trees[/color] Ancient [url=https://imgur.com/bfRmzIL]sentient trees[/url] that grow on the Evergreen isles that are rich with primordial essence. They can grow to ancient ages and immense sizes and can communicate telepathically with one another over long distances. The ones in their home islands can all stay in touch with the neighboring islands, but can’t reach far enough to stay in touch with the mainland. To facilitate staying in contact the great Tree Yaval has had some of it’s immense branches cut off and planted on the continent, where they have grow as smaller trees that are extensions of their own will. These can be found anywhere the Empire has settled in force, surrounded by groves of lesser Trees. Culturally the Trees see themselves as the wise philosopher kings of their kind, they thirst for knowledge and endlessly debate among themselves about high minded topics. Generally they only get involved with their children and subject’s affaires to give advice or when there is a threat to themselves or the empire as a whole. The trees are unquestionably loyal to the Empire, primarily because they have little to gain from leaving or undermining it. So long as a Tree’s own patch of ground and sky are unmolested they value the company of their kin’s collective consciousness over any minor improvement in status or living condition. Trees have basically the same life cycle as normal trees, however once they reach about 50 years of growth, be it natural or magically accelerated, they develop the potential for consciousness. This potential is stimulated through psychic connection with their neighbors, as the elder Trees mentally raise the young Tree to be a fully fledged sentient being. As a tree grows and ages it’s psychic and magical capabilities grow as it’s mind slows down. The oldest and largest of the trees are incredibly intelligent and wise, but can take hours to respond to inputs. The Trees sense the physical world through the psychic dreamscape, though the resolution is rather dull and puts a lot of priority on motion. They can also hitchhike on the eyes of their children, sensing what they sense, though they have some difficulty interpreting this alien input. [color=lime]Carnivorous Trees/plants[/color] these [url=https://imgur.com/eWQTNgs]Trees[/url] have been grown with violence in mind. Similar to their natural progenitors in that they are routed to the spot as plants should be, they have various animated limbs, vines and flowers all made to catch and kill unsuspecting lumberjacks. Most alive today are either survivors of the war that birthed them, peaceful living lives almost identical to the Trees, whereas those on the continent have been deliberately as planted guards or as part of a fortified position during or before a battle. For the ability to fight the carnivorous plants sacrifice a lot of their psychic potential and some of their intelligence: the young carnivores are rather feral and simple minded for the most part. Once they start to become very old and large, the plants slowly start to lose their ability to move their weapons until they end up as rather monstrous looking Trees. Time spent as a living weapon stunts their growth however, and so a former carnivore will generally be smaller than a standard Tree relative of the same age. [url=https://imgur.com/S9SgbUt]Carnivorous Plants[/url] are the younger version of Carnivorous Trees who, instead of having a solid trunk are instead 90% weaponry and are practically animals in their intelligence. This younger stage is often used to quickly reinforce defensive lines or create what are basically minefields, the seeds can be carried by Dryads and grown to a useful sizes in a matter of hours, though the Dryads are naturally left vulnerable while doing this. Both trees and plants are capable of disguising themselves in order to catch passing foes unawares. The trees use camouflage and a little inherent nature magic to make themselves look like a mundane tree, while the plants hide their armaments under the ground or inside neighbouring plants. [color=lime]Ents:[/color] the second of The Tree’s weapons, Ents were the first attempt to make a mobile fighter to defend the Dreaming forest. They are large and have the same uncapped growth as the Trees themselves but also have the same issues as the Trees in terms of the speeds of their thoughts. Large Ents are incredibly strong and smart, but have poor reaction times. They also need to root themselves down in order to grow, absorbing nutrients from the soil during which they enter a hibernation like state that makes them almost the same as a regular Tree. Ents, unlike the smaller Dryads, do not have a particularly set shape and so, while vaguely humanoid is the most common form it is not the only one they can take: some ents are made in the shape of breasts with mouths full of thorns, others are wholly alien in appearance. Smaller Ents associated primarily with the Dryads and some could indeed be mistaken for their kin, a bit mute and cruder in appearance. As they grow they begin to drift away from active life, becoming more permanent fixtures in the Tree Groves, only awakening to come to their home’s it’s defence. The rate of this growth is based mostly on the individuals, some deliberately slow or pause their growth while others hibernate for most of their existence in order to become as large as possible. As a result of their shifting from one group to the other, the Ents are the awkward middle children of the Dreaming Forests, not quite fitting in with either their stationary or mobile peers. [color=lime]The Dryads[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/SN1I8HS]Humanoid creatures[/url] made from living wood, who can grow from heights of 4 - 8 feet. Appearance wise they resemble humans, but the accuracy of this resemblance varies based on how long the individual has to grow. Dryad born in peacetime look almost perfectly human in structure, while those hastily grown for war are often crude facsimiles, their bodies made from roots and branches rather than seamless wooden flesh. Dryads are either designed by a normal tree and then taken away to be planted somewhere or are grown trees specifically designed to produce only Dryad offspring. In either case, the seed sets routs and grows into a small tree which slowly takes on the appearance of a sleeping figure buried in wood. Once the Dryad is ready to be born, the tree forces all of it’s life force, energy and magic into the dryad, awakening it. The dryad then tares it way out of the shriveled cocoon of roots, trunk and branches. A newborn has about the intelligence capability of a human adult, but lack wisdom, which they gain from interacting with their kin and progenitors through their psychic link with them. They are now the face of the empire and the driving force behind its expansion. They are the most warlike of their kin, and have a strong warrior culture where martial prowess is highly praised. The Dryads can only communicate telepathically if they are within range of one of their larger kin, but they have been given mouths with which to speak and thus are the only ones of their Genus capable of communicating with other races. 50% of the time this is used to hurl insults at foes, but some have become diplomats and merchants with, sometimes literal thanks to deliberate pigmentation choices, silver tongues. Culturally they are primarily focused around war in all its forms and needs. What separates them from simply being a warrior cast is that they deal with not just fighting, but also preparing the materials of war such as armor, perform research into military technologies and are the face of diplomatic meetings to form military alliances. Beyond war they have a lot of interest in art, particularly the art of cooking. A Dryad’s normal diet consists of bland if nutritious fruits produced by The Trees of their home groves, The Trees maintain a meticulous control on the amount of children they produce, and as such food shortages are a rarity. This makes any and all other kinds of food a luxury and Chef’s are highly regarded among Dryad society for their ability to make eating interesting. This also makes those that go out to get food, be it viea taxation, trade or marauding, more highly valued by the Dryad’s than would be expected of warriors. Dryads are technically full time soldiers, but outside of crisis periods only have to be on active duty for half of the year. Dryads are divided into 2 seasons, spring and autumn and get their season, plus half of winter and summer, off duty. When not on duty they engage in hobbies or professions like cooking, smithing, fletching, painting etc. or travel to receive instruction from famous warriors, mages, chefs or artists. The only real exceptions to this rota are the merchants and explorers who travel with the Living ships to far off lands, they are often away for years at a time on what technically counts as their duty. This distinction is not entirely rigid or binding, some Dryads simply swap season and remain in the military/civilian population full time, but adherence to the system is common, gives rhythm to the Dryad’s lives and is required if a Dryad wants to hold a leadership position. Dryads live in and around Groves of their Tree parents. On the home islands this means they are rather disparate, living in small wandering communities that for the most part act as a garrison for the homeland. The only exceptions to this are the myriad of docks, into which the wealth of empire, conquest and trade flow. In the provinces they live in groves of young Trees planted around a planted branch of Yaval. These groves are generally located near major towns over which the Dryad’s act a feudal lords. [color=lime]The Living Ships[/color] Sentient Trees grown into the shape of ocean going vessels, propelled by leaf sails and animated oar like arms. So long as it can get sunlight the ship can indefinitely sustain itself and a small crew, and it can be repaired with magic and biomatter. The ship is it’s own captain, navigator and helmsman, the crew are generally along to repel boarding attacks, though the ship is not entirely helpless in this regard, to move cargo about and to act as envoys to land folk. There are three primary roles in life a ship may take. Some are part of a standing navy, bred for war and conflict they guard the isles and coasts. There are the transports who ferry goods and soldiers around and, as most of the internal trade and transport is done viea ship, they are always busy. The third are explorers, who go off far from the psychic contact with the rest of the Dreaming forest, carrying a small hardened crew they sail the oceans of the world to trade, talk and sometimes engage in piracy. Living ships are made to a specific design by the Trees and are planted by the shoreline where they slowly grow into a fully formed ship while rooted to the earth. Unlike Dryads, the Ships are conscious during their growing period and learn everything the need to know as they mature, often getting to know or choosing the crew that is going to join them once they leave the shoreline. Once fully formed they carefully detach the roots that held them to the earth, which they will subsequently use as anchors, and slip into the water. Like the Dryads, the ships are capable of eating, though unlike their small kin they gain most of their energy from photosynthesising, and thus only really need it for elements that cannot be created from the absorption and splitting of Co2 and of water. Like the Ents, some Ships are not content with the standard form of a boat. Some instead deliberately grow to resemble sea monsters instead, such as great whales, serpents or squids of bark, leaf and vine that are often terrifying to behold. [h3][color=lime]The Others[/color][/h3] [color=lime]Human citizens [/color] The subjugated citizens of the former feudal Kingdom of Shenra where once traders, raiders and explorers who sailed the seas on ships made from the wood of the Tree’s continental relatives. Now they live under the thumb of the Empire but for the average peasant and the poor, very little has changed, their lords simply now live in the dangerous forest rather than in splendorous manors. For the formerly well off, the Empire’s conquest has had a much bigger impact. The biggest change is that the private creation and ownership of ships is banned, which, thanks to the poor and dangerous state of the north south roads, restricts the freedom of movement of the native population and massively reduced internal and external trade, the old lifeblood of the kingdom. The only kinds of ship available are fishing vessels which don’t have the capacity to survive the open eas or long voyages. Despite this a thriving black market of trade exists using these small ships, most especially in and around the Sea of Lights and in the north where the small ships have a chance of reaching foreign shores with the wears of the populace. Though it has been several generations since the Empire’s total conquest of the region tensions still run high, with both the Dreaming Forest and the humans looking down on another as inferior to themselves. The Dreaming forest consider the humans a useful tool for doing things like farming, mining or textile work, something few Dryad’s have any interest in, and consider themselves incredibly merciful for not committing genocide on the human population. The humans are resentful of not being ruled by their own kind, angry at the damage to takeover of their lucrative export economy and frustrated with the fact that the Empire does basically nothing to help the people they rule. In Fact they barely rule at all. [color=lime]Friends of the Forest[/color]: Every change in rulership has its Talleyrands, people who see the end coming and jump ship to the new regime before the old one sinks or just those that think it best to suck up to the new boss, same as they did with the old boss. The self proclaimed Friends of the Forest are a loose group of old and new powers who work to support the empire in order to get to the top of the bottom of the pile. Bureaucrats and taxmen who “streamline” things for their masters by acting as middle men, ruling the local populace in terms of law enforcement, handing out justice, planning public works and other mundanities that the Dreaming Forest does not have time for. Sometimes specifically chosen, sometimes self imposed and rarely elected, for the most part they are a corrupt and self serving lot, but they have their uses. [color=lime]Gweldgale islanders:[/color] The population of the colony of Gweldgale consists of roughly equal numbers of humans and [url=https://imgur.com/5RvT3KK]Koirari[/url]. The Koirari are natives to the island who have lived there since before written history. Their legend tell that they were once true creatures of the sea, rather than the air breathing amphibians they are now, but they were driven out of the oceans by demons sent by their primordial god, who was punishing them for some great sin. Human and Koirari alike where once traders and sailors like the peoples of Shenra, but are now working under the same servitude as the provincial humans. They are now primarily farmers of the varios exotic crops that can grow on their islands and their ability to leave is strictly controlled, the ports are closed to all non empire ships and all local ships have been decommissioned. That is not to say they can’t leave, passage can be purchased and the pay offered to farmers in return for their work on the profitable crops can pay for it if saved. There Is even some immigration of people looking for work. The Koirari however have nowhere to go and so while the human population slowly changes as people come and go, they all remain in place, resenting their new overlords. [h3][color=lime]Exports[/color][/h3] The Empire produces furs, leather, lumber, wool/cloth, Hiver venom and honey, monster parts(venom, blood, furs, bones etc.), whisky, truffles, tin, iron, wine, tomatoes, olives, olive oil and various enchanted items. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Bestiary[/color][/h2] [hider=Bestiary] [color=lime]Hivers:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/8g0yTer]Large furry bees [/url] that can grow to about the size of a small dog. These are the primary pollinators of the Ever Green Isles, but they can also be found in most Dreaming Forests on the continent. Equipped with dagger sized stingers and a territorial attitude towards non plant life they are often used as the equivalent of guard dogs for groves of Trees. Some Dryads also keep them as pets. [color=lime]Forest Hydras:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/0uhYA4p]Serpentine cousins of dragons[/url] the forest hydras live in small number in the larger forests throughout the Empire. Massive, aggressive and incredibly venomous most do their best to stay well clear of these hot blooded monsters. However almost every part of the beasts sells for a high price, so the Dryads make something of a sport of hunting them, through the Trees make efforts to stop them wiping out the species through overhunting. [color=lime]Windigo:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/q18ES75]Elusive creatures[/url] that have a foul reputation for being omens of bad luck, but are otherwise harmless herbivores. This is as a result of their curious magical defensive ability, which curses aggressors with miss fortune. The superstition around them is often self fulfilling, as those who believe it will often attempt to drive the beast away, the Windigo naturally retaliates with its curse in self defence as it flees and the foolish aggressors are then stricken with calamity and catastrophe as a result. [color=lime]Owlbear:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/RLviG1F]large flightless carnivorous[/url] known for their excellent hearing, stealth and night vision. Like regular bears they tend to leave humans alone, preferring to fish in the many rivers crossing the provinces. Only a desperate Owlbear will attempt to attack humans or their livestock, but when they do the results can be devastating as the almost silent beasts rend unsuspecting victims to pieces in seconds with their razor sharp claws. [color=lime]Owcilot:[/color] Relatives of the Owlbear, these [url=https://imgur.com/FSmEa1G]cat sized creatures[/url] have been known to be domesticated as hunting companions. Their eyes and ears can help hunters find pray and also warn them of the presence of dangerous beasts like hydras or owlbears. [color=lime]Byon:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/PhHz4BE]Flying rabbits.[/url] The answer to why the local wildcats have wings. Swift flyers and voracious eaters, they are a common food source for many of the carnivores of the forest that are capable of catching them. [color=lime]Floff:[/color] Horse sized [url=https://imgur.com/agZWUmU]docile creatures[/url] that are raised by farmers for their wool like coats. Often used instead of sheep as their diet of leaves is suited to the heavily wooded provinces. [color=lime]Fryper:[/color] Omnivorous cousins of the domesticated Floffs, these [url=https://imgur.com/YT7sEW1]fathered beasts[/url] are the fastest creatures on the forest. They have evolved mainly to hunt Byons and other burrowing rodents, either by running them down or rooting about in their burrows using their long necks. The feathers on their heads are actually their ears that grant the Fryper’s excellent hearing capabilities. [color=lime]Blosterguils:[/color] huge [url=https://imgur.com/vdYjBOZ]leech like creatures[/url], that live in the glacial swamps. They ambush unsuspecting creatures and suck out all of their blood, leaving only withered husks. When caught out in the open they will fulld their tails up under their spine covered heads in a defensive posture. The massive spikes are capable of shooting out like jelly fish spines, embedding themselves in anything that tries to fip the beast over and pumping them full of venom. [color=lime]Swamp cocatrice:[/color] missnamed [url=https://imgur.com/ywFtnZf]horse sized drakes[/url], that are known for their paralysing breath. Featuring glands like those found on spitting Cobras, their venom turns to vapor on air contact, spraying the target with a cloud of neurotoxins. They use this to spray fleeing birds as they take off, causing them to fall from the sky, or as a defence against larger predators. [color=lime]Snapping Islands:[/color] Slow moving[url=https://imgur.com/cDXOpsh] snapping turtles[/url] that live in the freezing swamps who generally sport a large amount of vegetation growing of their backs which they use as camouflage. They are grazers and opportunistic ambush predators who use their massive thick shells to protect them from threats large and small alike. [color=lime]Giant otters:[/color] These [url=https://imgur.com/eUyF9Pc]crocodile sized otters[/url] live in the southern marshes. Harmless to humans unless provoked their waterproof furs are highly valued. [b][color=lime]North sea creatures:[/color] [/b] [color=lime]VileShrimp:[/color] Contrary to what their name suggests these [url=https://imgur.com/xcdagXv] seal sized crustaceans[/url] are actual delicious, if prepared properly. Found in the sea of lights they are scavengers and opportunist hunters that have a deadly necrotising bite. [color=lime]Leech fish:[/color] Small [url=https://imgur.com/1eMKjeu]vampyric fish[/url] that live in the bay of lights. They feed by latching onto large creatures like whales and sucking as much blood as they can before the creature shakes/scrapes them off or attacking smaller sea creatures in packs. A common catch for local fishermen, they are considered a delicacy, particularly the ones that have eaten recently. [b][color=lime]South sea creatures:[/color][/b] [color=lime]Omystear:[/color] These cow sized [url=https://imgur.com/27PG54S]be-tentacled quadrupeds[/url] are heavily armored creatures who feed mostly on fish, smaller crustaceans and carlson of larger creatures. When attacked it will retract into its shell and scuttle away blindly. Shells of this beas have been used in armor crafting by Gweldgalens since before recorded history, the segmented armor being used to craft crude yet tough shields and armor. [color=lime]SeaDrake:[/color] About the size of a large dog [url=https://imgur.com/cyUGvV0]Sea Dreakes[/url] are ancestors of the true dragons who have adapted to an oceanic way of life. Traveling in packs the Drakes hunt much the same way dolphins do, working together to herd fish into tight knots that they can then take turns at lunging though to get a mouthful of fish. The drakes can no longer fly, but can glide some distance if they leap out of the water, something they do to catch birds, ambush potential meals or escape predators. They have to return to land to lay eggs, and so they can be found during summer roosting in the southern Gweldgalen highlands. This leaves them vulnerable to poaching and some of the wealthyer natives keep them as pets or hunting dogs. [color=lime]Furyogoths:[/color] Long ago somebody made these [url=https://imgur.com/NgSNnWW]foul creatures[/url] and gave them a taste for sentient flesh. The natives of Gweldgale believed they were made as a punishment for misdeed, while the Trees think they might be someone else's long discarded living weapons long past. Now they lurk in the waters south seas, praying on the weak. Their claws can crush skulls, their barbed tentacle mouths strip flesh from bone with ease and their armored shells rival platemail in toughness. While they are believed to originate in the region, they and their juvenile form are an invasive species that can be found in seas, rivers and swamps all across the world. [color=lime]horror’s hand:[/color]The juvenile forms of Furyogoths, these [url=https://imgur.com/KmSNhVt]horrid creatures[/url] that latch onto the back of the heads unsuspecting creatures, sinking their jaws into their flesh and stabbing a spike into their spinal cord at the neck. Using this they can puppet the creature as a slave, using it to attempt to capture additional pray before its host dies of wounds, starvation or dehydration. Then it eats it. These vile creatures have been spread all over by ships, clinging to their undersides. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Military[/color][/h2] [hider=Military] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MDObAc4.jpg[/img] [h3][color=lime]Dreaming Groves and the Psychic Dreamscape[/color][/h3] The most basic and fundamental unit of the Empire's military is a grove of Trees. Be they entire islands or a few young Trees on the frontiers, it is from these places that the the armies of the empire march out and they are the most important of the lands they hold. Because of Yaval’s many proxy offshoots and the Tree’s psychic abilities, the empire has communications capabilities that are centuries ahead of their time. Because of this connection, Yaval and the island courts of the Evergreen Isles can and will make important military and bureaucratic decisions that can be instantaneously implemented day's worth of travel away. This communications advantage extends down to individual soldiers, and so while operating around Groves, the trees have a masterful advantage when it comes to coordination, information gathering and clarity of orders. When away from their progenitors however, much of this advantage fades away. While Ents and Living ships can act as pylons for the Psychic Dreamscape, allowing communication between the army as a whole, this is a lot less of an advantage than that provided by the Trees themselves. Lacking the ancient wells of wisdom that come with a connection with the homeland, Yaval’s ability to force orders through the mental haze through sheer force of will and the Trees ability to process all of the information going in and out of the psychic collective consciousness leaves the Dreamscape a hazy, unreliable and vague impression of the state of the army. As a result, Dryad commanders of armies on the field rely on traditional methods of control, using the state of the dreamscape as a touchstone to see how moral is doing instead of a control mechanism. A commander can tell which areas of a battle that the dryads believe they are winning, and in which areas they are scared, panicked or disheartened in. This might not give a clear picture but it gives them some indication of where to send reinforcements or to take command of personally. Order are often given via shouting, flags, word of mouth or instruments such as horns or drums. Ents make excellent platforms from which to give orders and so commanders can often be seen sitting atop the shoulder of an Ent for both order giving purposes and the sightline advantage it gives. If all the ents and ships in an army are routed or destroyed then the dreamscape collapses completely and the Dryads are left connected only to those nearby them. This is something most are wholly unused too and all too often the army will rout on mass in order to get back into contact with one another. Unlike most armies who break, a routing Treekin army is a panicked flight to somewhere rather than just an attempt to get away from the enemy, and the army will naturally regroup at the closest Dreaming grove. As a result of the advantages of fighting near The Trees, the prefered tactic of the Dreaming Forest when attacking is to set up groves as they advance to act as relays back to a Yaval cutting. While this can be done faster than might be expected, the dryads and ents can be lead in week long ceremonies to accelerate the growth of Tree seeds by fueling their own energy into them, it leaves them vulnerable and makes progress slow. The creeping advance also puts Trees in potentially dangerous territory, and the death of one of them, no matter how young, is considered a great tragedy. Weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of this approach and carefully balancing when to extend the forest VS sending an army out away from it to rapidly respond to a crisis or potential advantage is a careful balancing act, one the empire is still learning the art of. [h3][color=lime]Dryads[/color][/h3] He mainstay of the Empire's armies are the Dryads. These unnaturally tough Treekin (a dryad who’s head and/or arms are cut off can still run away and, if subsequently healed, could come back to fight that very same battle) are a force to be reckoned with, worth many times their own number. The empire itself is small however, and the land actually lived in by the Dreaming forest smaller still, so Dryads are almost always outnumbered by conventional armies. For weapons, Dryads use blunt weapons like maces and hammers as their mainstay, forgoing shields in order to use both hands for attacking, relying on their tough bodies for defence. Swords are generally reserved for officers and notable warriors due to the skill required to make one. Axes are taboo for obvious reasons and spears generally do not suit the Dryad’s aggressive brawler fighting style. Dryad archers are literally born with their bows, the wood used to make it is taken from the refuse of the plant they grow out off to create enchanted short bows. Dryads soldiers can be divided up into a number of subtypes: [url=https://imgur.com/MhlKxCW]Dryad Foot soldiers[/url]: The average Dryad wears an magically grown lightweight steel armor that's more carbon than iron, known as ironbark. It has about the same defensive value as chainmail while being lighter and having the advantage that it can be repaired by nature magic at the same time as the wearer. They make up the bulk of the standing army of the Empire, but are still far more dangerous than most warriors of flesh and blood. As a result of the lightweight nature of the armor and its worn by Dryads acting in capacities where such a level of armor would be considered unusual, from scouts, archers and mages to all important chefs and their assistants, if a Dryad is anywhere close to a warzone and does not fall into one of the following categories they will be wearing IronBark armor. [url=https://imgur.com/fwcPQo2]Dryad Paladins[/url]: The empire doesn’t produce full plate armor, and as a result it's quite the sought after prize by the Dryads. Anyone seen wearing this has either strong enough to claimed it as a spoil of war, old enough to have looted it from the kingdoms armories or traveled far and wide to acquire it via shrew trading. As a result, these warriors are rare and also almost always exceptionally dangerous before their heavy armor is taken into consideration. [url=https://imgur.com/yCyqkMC]Wind-Dancers[/url]: Warriors of what could be described as a cult, these Dryads forgo the armor of their kin and go into battle in wearing light dress and armed truly massive weapons. They undergo a rigorous training program to learn how to use mana to increase their agility and flexibility, as a result they move through the battlefield as a swift and beautiful death, scything down their foes and artfully dodging attempts to stop them. Members of the cult are rare however. [url=https://imgur.com/5VpPPov]Dryad Sprout Berzerkers[/url]: these are the bastard children of the Dreaming Forest. Rapidly grown via magic and then forced to uproot as soon as they can move, their mass appearance on the battlefield can only mean that the local Tree Grove has been spooked and has decided to rapidly grow reinforcements or an entire army to defend themselves. Feral, frenzied with the only the thought of war pushed haphazardly into their minds and armed and armored with weapons made from the detritus of their emerging they are expendable shock troops, fearless through ignorance of their own mortality. Any that survive will eventually be integrated into society, but the violence of their birth and their retched appearances often leave them as social pariahs. [h3][color=lime]Ents[/color][/h3] [url=https://imgur.com/WvAdSeG]Ent Warrior[/url]: standing at one to three times the average human the smallest of the ents could be mistaken for overgrown Dryads if they weren't quite so ugly. The youngest of the Ents fight somewhat similarly to their Dryad cousins, only with even more brute strength and a distinct lack of fitness or agility. Most are armed with crude weapons that they feel little attachment to, as they keep outgrowing them. they generally don’t wear armor for that same reason. [url=https://imgur.com/iReK8xD]Bestial Ents[/url]: bigger, meaner, these ents have gotten to the point that weapons are just too expensive to make for them and as a result have turned to more bestail forms to fight. Sporting claws, fangs and more, the elder ent towers above the battlefield and is sometimes so heavy they resort to walking on 4 libs rather than two. [url=https://imgur.com/Hi2St4I]Monsters[/url]: Sometimes ents decide that the humanoid form isn’t dangerous enough and they go for something more exotic instead. Large animals like wolfs skirt the line between beast and monster, but ents in the shape of wyrms, dragons, shoggoths and other mythic beasts have been known to exist as have ones in the shapes of giant insects, spiders or crustaceans. [url=https://imgur.com/EPigb1D]Armored Titans[/url]: Colossal siege towers that have reached the pinnacle of what an Ent can grow to while still remaining mobile. At this point weapons and armor become viable choices once again, though they are now works of architecture rather than craftsmanship, their equipment being predominantly stone in material. Such defences are necessary, because the Titan’s appearance almost always result in a “shoot the big ones” response from their enemies: if one shows up on the battlefield it will inevitably be the target for every mage and artillery pieces. This and fear are in part the point, the Ent is now so slow in its thoughts that even tightly packed formations have a chance to move out of the way while it winds up a strike. As a result they are best used to scare away enemies, walk straight through their lines to trample them or destroy fortifications rather than be used to stand and fight. [h3][color=lime]Magic[/color][/h3] While all Dryads are innately magical thanks to the Primordial blood giving them life, actual spellcraft comes slowly to the members of the Dreaming forest as they are limited by having a much harder time raising their mana rate than other races. The process of becoming versed in spellcraft is a long and slow process that requires a lot of dedication. For a mage to even consider a potential acolyte worthy of teaching the seeker of magic knowledge must prove their commitment by raising their mana throughput to a realm that it is actually able to perform spellcraft. As a result, there are four stages of magical ability among the Dreaming Forest. The only exception to this are the Trees themselves as all of them learn, at the very least, enough magic to create the various subspecies using their own seeds. [url=https://imgur.com/hBD9kfG]Spell Swords[/url]: At the bottom of the totem poll are the spellswords. Any Treekin who wishes to increase their mana throughput starts of by acquiring some simple enchanted weapon or item that can be used to briefly augment their combat ability. By keeping these items that have relatively low mana requirements or capacities on hand and constantly refilling them, the Spellsword gradually ups their mana throughput over a course of several years. [url=https://imgur.com/hqlVmOY]Enchanters[/url]: once a hopeful has upped their mana rate sufficiently, they seek out either a more powerful artifact or, if they can get some training or literature on the subject, create their own. These more powerful artifacts generally allow the mage to perform one or more spells without having to learn all the specifics. They then use this as a primary weapon in order to train further. These generally make up the majority of spellcasters in an empire army, generally providing a specific, inflexible, function like healers, artillery support or firefighters. [url=https://imgur.com/g90D9Og]Apprentices and Mages[/url]: A fully fledged mage is incredibly powerful, not just because of their now heightened mana throughput, but also because the mage is experienced, dedicated to their craft has seen many battles and is as a result, wise. Only the strongest and most committed endure the decades of work it takes to become an apprentice, meaning that only the cream of the crop manage to become fully fledged mages. Because the Treekin don’t die of old age and only get wiser as they get older they can potentially accrue much higher levels of power and knowledge than than mortal mages. The favored magic schools of the Dreaming Forest are nature, water, and wind. Nature magic is used to rapidly grow vegetation, both their own and mundane, command the beast of the forests like Hivers and wolves to attack and also to heal wounds. Water magic is used to directly counteract fire magic and can also be used offensively near bodies of water or on the high seas. Wind magic is favored by the Living Ships, who use it to maneuver themselves and blow their enemies of course. Lone individuals or cliques are known to deviate from these 3 schools however, something that generally only happens when a mage acquires foreign literature that they want to study. [h3][color=lime]Navy[/color][/h3] The Empire’s navy is one of its great strengths, the Living Ships that serve within it are a terrifying force on the oceans of the world. They can feel the currents and waves around them, effortless maneuvering through treacherous waters that would wreck normal ships. With their arm like branches and tentacle like vines they can physically assault enemy vesale all on their own ramming the constructed ships with its hardened bark body before tearing the crew to shreds or dismantling the ship board by board. Their Dryad crews who fight alongside them can take full advantage of the cramped confines of ships to avoid getting ganged up on by their more numerous foes. The ships can also easily sustain themselves and their crews on sunlight and water, the ship producing fruits for the crew to eat as they travel. The ship can also repair itself, growing to seal holes and breaches during a battle using magic or beaching itself to repair more substantial damage over time. Perhaps more frightening than the standard ships are the monsters and mages. Monsters forgo the ability to carry crew or cargo to become dedicated weapons of terror, mighty leviathans out of myths and legend that can bite small ships in half. Almost as rare as these are the mage ships, having gone through the 3 stage training process like their land based kin and are either formidable magical artillery platforms or capable of rapidly growing armies of Sprout Berzerkers in distant lands. [h3][color=lime]Humans[/color][/h3] [url=https://imgur.com/nRNoD0h]Conscripts[/url]: poor peasants and workers rounded up and ordered to march with the Empire to defend the realm. Generally armed and armored with mail, spears and shields left over from the former kingdom they form local militias and auxiliary forces for the empire. Generally used to bulk out the armies to prevent the Dreaming Forest forces from being outnumbered and overwhelmed they are really only expected to hold the line with a spear wall while the treekin warriors do the actual fighting and killing. How good they are at this job really depends on who and where they are fighting. When defending their homes from northern barbarians or eastern slavers they can generally be relied upon. If they are far from home and against the forces of their rightful Queen they give up the field easily or worse, change sides in the middle of the fight. [url=https://imgur.com/bkFkmXg]Deer Riders[/url]: Filling the light cavalry roll for the Empire are semi professional troops mounted on deer back. Before the kingdom was conquered they used an equal number of the continents ubiquitous horses and the local tradition of deer riding, but transitioned to primarily deer for their better maneuverability in the groves of the Dreaming Forest. Come the conquest the deer has remained the primary mount of the warrior because of how well it works with the Empire's favored terrain. Deer work surprisingly well against other cavalry, having been taught to butt heads with their horses enemies. Unlike the Conscripts, the riders are semi professional in nature and are often employed as messengers in peacetime. [url=https://imgur.com/zED5UuG]Friends of the Forest enforces[/url]: the enforces are effectively the provincial police force, but they can be called to war if the Empire needs them to. More often than not they act as officers for the conscripts, but they can be called up on mass to form their own units if so necessary, which is generally done when fighting the forces of the remnant of Shenra. They are loyal to the Empire, or rather loyal to the people profiting from the empire, and thus have much better moral than their conscript brothers. They tend to style themselves after the Dryads with hammer and mace usage, though they generally keep the traditional round shield of their people for safety. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Heroes[/color][/h2] [hider=Heroes] [color=lime]Nyranda The Serpent[/color] Nyranda represents a prototype for a possible fifth subspecies creation of the Dreaming forest, one that could soar through the heavens like a[url=https://imgur.com/2YTSwk0]wyvern[/url]. While still technically a monstrous Ent, Nyranda has grown herself and trained in magecraft in such a way as to break free from the bonds of gravity. Upon six wings of bark and leaf she soars through the heavens, held impossibly aloft by a combination of a mastery of the winds and telekinesis. The same magics that hold her aloft make The Serpent devastating in combat, as razor winds and telekinetic blasts cause chaos and disarray in tightly packed enemy formations. At only 40 years of age, she is young for her size, having focused a great deal of time into her growth and magecraft. Her modifications now finally made she has only recently ebgun venturing out into the world once more to prove the effectiveness of her designees to her progenitors, hoping to convince them to make a new subspecies in her image. [color=lime]Xuna the Brave and Yarvost the Bold[/color] A [url=https://imgur.com/G20CRrS]dynamic duo[/url] of two unusually short Treekin that are famous, or infamous, for their part in the Empire’s various wars and subsequent romp across the continent as independent adventurers. The duo are a rare breed among the Treekin as they have entirely acclimatised to operating outside the psychic Dreamscape, which makes them excellent for any delicate operations that the Empire might need to be dealt with by a small team. The pair were planted during the defence of the Evergreen Isles 23 years after its inception, having been created by the same Tree’s seeds. They are notable as some of the few Treekin who have survived all the conflicts since then who have not followed the standard path of aging of their kind, taking up a leadership position in Xuna’s case or retired to static living in Yarvost’s. Yavost is in fact incredibly notable for having not grown much at all since he first unrooted himself as a result of being almost permanently active. Both are infused with a unending restlessness, with a lust for glory, adventure and violence beyond even that of their instinctively aggressive kin. After the humans were expelled from the islands, they were part of the first Dryad inclusion onto the continent, and once the Empire’s conquest reached the borders of the Empire of Matatharan the pair simply kept going, breaking off from the victorious conquering armies to make their own way as wanderers and adventurers. Since their departure they have wandered much of the continet’s most fascinating and dangerous places, including an expedition into the haunted vale where they found their signature 4 eyed masks. It is through these travels that Yarvost has acquired a collection of enchanted broadswords taken from fallen foes taken down by his ever increasing skill in swordsmanship. Xuna meanwhile has gained contacts with various officials and underworld dealers across the continent and has become an expert markswoman as the pair have partaken in mercenary work for locals of the lands they visit and espionage for the Empire against those same lands. [list] [*] Amber balde: old, simple, glowing, big, just makes it a better sword [*] Butchers blade: single straight edge, meat cleaver/razor, cooks shit when it impacts without fire [*] Lost Lover: long sword, returns to users hand, used as a throwing weapon (like a javelin [*] Jack Knife: blade that extends when swung [*] FrostFang: burns with cold flame, [*] the invisible hand: projects a beam of telekinetic force that can pull things towards its tip. [*] Thorn: has spikes running along its blade, injects neurotoxins. [*] seismic claymore: impact delivered increased [*] Sai Interceptor: small blade instinctively homes in on approaching weapons to parry them [*] Corral Wreath: orange Sword that causes wounds that self seal incredibly slowly and seem to draw blood to themselves [*]Reality render: fucking portals. Stick it in the air, push it how deep you want to go. 2 cm = 1 m. 1 m blade. also good for stabs. Good for escapes and bypassing terrain, not very good for traveling due to mana drain [*]Warping Blade: sword that can take the size and shape of any other blade [*]The Soaring Striker: lets user jump good [/list] [color=lime]Letiana The Swift[/color] Founder and head of the Wind-Dancers, [url=https://imgur.com/0KWshrD]Letiana[/url] is a master duelist who wields a mighty [url=https://imgur.com/5KPK8td]Warhammer[/url] in one hand and a shortsword in the other. Forgoing the standard armor of the Dryads for a short dress, Letiana made her own form of combat during the invasion of the continent that has since spread among the Dryad’s as others either apprentice under her or attempt to emulate her. Instead of relying on their inherent toughness in battle, Letiana and her Wind-Dancers work tirelessly to push their magic powered bodies beyond mortal limits, performing feats of athleticism impossible to those limited by physical muscles while also wielding large powerful weapons to deliver swift devastating blows. As the creator of this style, Letiana is its unequivocal master who sweeps through a battlefield in a whirlwind of grace and devastation. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]History[/color][/h2] [hider=History] In ages past a Primordial decide that they wanted to spend several hundred years as a tree. Why this is the case has been lost to time, but as a result of its time on the Ever Green Isles it’s pollen spread to many of the trees and it sired many children. As time passed it’s essences spread throughout the forests until, thanks to the magic they inherited, the primordial’s decedents made up most of the forests on the 13 islands and unbeknownst to the island trees, some even spread to the mainland. As they conquered the lands a strange thing occurred, individual Trees began to link together, stimulating the magic within each other till eventually a dull intelligence gradually emerged within them all, intelligence that was partially intertwined from the nature of its formation. For the most part these Trees did little but watch the seasons go by and philosophise among themselves for hundreds of years. Those of other races that did come to the islands found the thickly wooded forests filled with hostile wildlife poor land to settle and most left as soon as they were able. Then came the creatures riding their vessels made from corpses of their own kind. For the first time since the great fire the trees faced a threat to their collective continued existence, and it’s name was humanity. Due to the shear number of offspring produced by the primordial ancestor of The Trees, they have some of the least diluted ‘blood’ in the world and unfortunately the invaders had already discovered they could make enchantments from the wood of the trees and had come specifically to the islands for more of that magic wood. As their kin were cut down by the hundreds the Trees scrambled to find a solution to the problem. Initially lacking a leadership structure to organise their response, and the wild creatures proving insufficient to fight the humans, the trees eventually bowed to the ancient wisdom of Yaval. Under their guidance, the trees began to use magic to create and grow offspring to fight the invading lumberjacks. They resolved to create offspring more capable of fighting back than themselves, using their magic to mutate their seeds and increase the rate of their growth. First they tried creating trees and saplings armed with grabbing arms and lashing vines that were rapidly grown at the edge of the woodsmen's territory, but the invaders brought in mages to hurl fireballs at them from a safe distance. The trees tried giving their creations legs, but the invaders bought in warriors who danced around their lumbering steps and used torches to light them aflame. At last, the trees took influence from their tormentors and the Dryads were born. As small as the humans and just as quick the dryads turned the skirmishing between the trees and the invaders into a full on war, as the humans finally caught onto the fact that it was all the Trees that were a danger, not just a few strange mutant ones. Thus began a war of extermination, the humans burning the forests down and magically salted the earth whenever they scored victory. Four islands were lost to the invaders, never to be reclaimed as their soil was left barren, till the trees made the innovation that won them the day. The final creation of the war where ships of their own, trees that could survive drinking saltwater (a trick Yaval had learned long ago but was only now sharing), catch the breeze with their leaves and carry the Dryads away from the islands to disrupt the supply lines of the invaders. After a few naval engagements it became clear that the living were stronger than the dead, as the Tree ships tore the longships of the invaders to sunder, bringing peace to their fallen brethren. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements the humans were eventually defeated. From captives, the Dryads learned language and eventually, 50 years after the first Tree on the island was felled, an uneasy peace was forged between the Trees and the humans. It lasted for only 5 years. During this time the trees fretted about what to do with their children, bred for war, now that here was peace. While their parents endlessly, and slowly, debated about what to do the Drayds formed a society that was, worryingly in the Tree’s opinions, based rather somewhat on the invader’s own. They set out into the world on their living ships and returned with tales and bounties of the vast world and it was through this travel that the Dryads gained their first desire. Before the explorers returned the Dryads had lived off of rather tasteless fruits provided by the Trees, but after their first expeditions the Dryads discovered the joy (and occasional dangers) of cooking. It was the lack of available farmland and tradable resources on the Tree covered islands that eventually sparked the second war, as a crew of Dryads docked their ship next to a human village and began to extort them for food. The human military's responded and attempted to kick out the dryads. In response the Trees and Dryads sent reinforcements to defend their kin and so the second war was on. Over the next 97 years, sporadic wars were fought and the Human kingdom slowly lost more and more land to the newly named Emerald Empire. While the human Kingdom of Shenra did manage some victories against the invaders, they never again managed to set foot on the Empire’s homeland. After a series of consecutive defeats during the year 242 AP it became clear the kingdom could no longer hope to oppose the empire. The Royal family and their court were forced to flee the Empire’s forces as they occupied most of the kingdom's territory. Over the past 50 years the empire has consolidated their holdings on the continent and have now turned their attention further afield. While little progress has been made on land thanks to the Serene block, the empire has had more success at sea, capturing a few islands in the southern seas, setting up profitable trade routes and forging alliances or partnerships with some of the nations in the region. [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Relations[/color][/h2] [hider=Relations] The Kingdom of Shenra: at war Empire of Matatharan: tensions on the border are high, the land locked empire has had it’s sights on the ports of the southern Emerald lands for some time and it has not gone without notice that they have recently begun moving troops to the border between the two nation. The Dreaming Forest has responded in kind and tensions are brewing as the two empires prepare for the inevitable clash between expansionist powers. Tarkima: The empire has some friendly relations with the Brakor tribe, trading goods and services with them in return for mercenary work and some influence on the region. Olira and Freshann: the empire has recently entered into a formal alliance with these two wester powers, the aim of which is to provide safety for the group’s trading vessels in their home watters and dominance of the group’s collective navle power over the continents oceans as a whole. Princedom of Netheryne: [/hider] [h2][color=lime]Characters[/color][/h2] [hider=Characters] [color=lime]Lord Enzar and Lestarn The Magnificent[/color] The [url=https://imgur.com/okBjPvd]General and his Ent bodyguard[/url] have been a mainstay of the southern empire’s forces for years now. Sprouting near the end of the conquest of the Kingdom of Shenra, Enzar began his rise to prominence at the battle of Lake Sem, where he single handedly slew the hero Sir Glenway and his bodyguards, causing a rout in the right flank of the Kingdom’s army that lead to victory in the battle. He has had a steady rise in influence since that day and is at present time one of the most prominent leaders of the western border with the Emerald-Matatharan border. [color=lime]Selzona The Cold[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/j9vqNrD]A prominent General of the north[/url], Selzona is the Empire’s expert on the Tarkiman tribes. Warden of the northern border, Selzona parries raids from their northern neighbours with the aid of local Living Ships and her armies of Dryads and human auxiliaries. As well as fighting them, Selzona also attempts to navigate tribal politics when she is the civilian leader, attempting to both curb their aggression and claim more land by forging alliances and creating infighting where at all possible. Selzona is a rarity among the mages of the empire for her practicing of Ice magic, an art she learned in her younger days during an expedition into the Frozen cliffs far to the south of her current posting, where she learned using the teachings of a Dyvolf mage mercenary and arcane tomes seized from a Witch's hut. [color=lime]Tenzin the Discerning[/color] The premier [url=https://imgur.com/h3xcnZe]Diplomat[/url] of the Empire, Tenzin is the face and mouthpiece of the Tree’s overall goals and objectives. Accompanied by a glamorous entourage he has traveled to the various courts and palaces of the continent’s nations in order to secure recognition for the new Empire among their new peers. Accompanying them at all times is a small pot holding a cutting of Yaval, through which he and his court can stay in contact with the homelands to acquire advice and guidance, though with the distances they sometimes traveled, the connection often became tenuous and Zenzin had to rely entirely on his own judgments. His continued holding of the position proves the soundness of those personally made decision. [color=lime]Yaval[/color] Obstensily Emperor of the Emerald Empire, Yaval is as much a place as they are a person, and as such you should refer to locations for details about them. Ruzan the Keen: A subordinate of Enzars Parabella the Intuitive: an enchanter from Fidgit bay Sunrost the Eagle and Masilta the Red: leaders of the grove South Fenreforst [/hider] [/hider] [center][h1][color=MediumTurquoise]The Kingdom of Shenra[/color][/h1][/center] [hider=The Kingdom of Shenra] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Lz4RKP3.png[/img][/center] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Government[/color][/h2] [hider=Government] The kingdom is, or was, ruled via a feudal system, with the Queen/King as it’s head and a series of lords who served as local governors over various estates, bound to their king by various treaties, obligations and agreements. Most of this is gone now, as the Empire has conquered most of the Kingdoms lands, what remains of its governance is the court of Queen Rosabella the Third. She and the few surviving noble families rule over the various mountain towns and monasteries found in the frozen cliff region. For the most part, each town is independently governed by a mayor or head priest and they are obliged to supply soldiers and food to the court. In return the court organises and runs the small but skilled army protecting the region, keeping the emerald empire out as well as dealing with the various local monsters and hostile native races. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Geography[/color][/h2] [hider=Geography] The Kingdom controls a series of villages and monasteries on the south side of the Frozen Cliffs. Spread around in various hidden valleys and isolated peaks situated on the backs of the 3 massive mountains of the region. The capital is a [url=https://imgur.com/6sFLWWp]fortress monastery[/url], called the Holy Summit, that hosts the court and it’s forces. Sat atop a particular inhospitable peak, it looms high above the various villages and lesser religious installations that feed it. The land itself is unnaturally cold for the region, even when the altitude of the area is taken into account. Glaciers slumber against the sides of the mountains, howling snowstorms make traveling difficult and the sky is perpetually shrouded in cloud. Life is only possile thanks to a nuber of cravases and vallys that shelter those within from the worst of the weather, and in which farming is possible. Connecting the villages and monasteries are are various footpaths and staircases carved into the rock, all hopelessly impractical for military movement without extensive local knowledge. The kingdom also controls various villages in the foothills near the southern border. The Empire has found the passageways to them, through or around the mountains, far to treacherous, as a result of both Shenran harassment tactics and weather, for them to consider them worth exploiting or settling nearby. These communities are however less attached to the Kingdom than their mountain brethren are and would prefer to be left alone than fight in the Royal’s war over land they will never see. Still, they pay their tithes and only occasionally have to be reminded of who is in power in the region. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Culture[/color][/h2] [hider=Culture] [h3][color=MediumTurquoise]Humans[/color][/h3] The peoples of the remains of the kingdom are primarily farmers, goat herders and priests, they have little time for anything that does not involve survival or god and the two are intertwined heavily in the region. Those that do not harvest food or pray join the ranks of the kingdoms army as soldiers fighting for the restoration of the monarchy and human dominance in the region. The only ones not in these three professions are the Queen and her nobles, who are often away from the region, where they travel to foreign lands to beseech others for assistance in casting out the empire from the lands that are rightfully theirs. [h3][color=MediumTurquoise]Harpies[/color][/h3] Allied with the kingdom but not nominally part of it are the [url=https://imgur.com/YWbeo94]harpies[/url]. Natives to the region, they have a thorny history with their allies due and the reduction of prey available caused by the humans arrival and the subsequent poaching of the humans livestock by harpies. The emergence of the Empire has forced the two groups together, as neither wish to live as servants to uppity firewood. The harpies live in high altitude tribal villages they call roosts, where they are ruled by a council of elders. Contrary to the common belief among the Shenrans that Harpies do not have menfolk, or that they don’t let them leave the roosts, the truth is that it is very hard to tell the two sexes apart due to the species’s sexual monomorphism. [color=MediumTurquoise]Dyvofls:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/hWt6Vdr]Twinheaded Wolf-mosnters[/url] that are un-aligned with either side of the region's internal conflict, the Dyvofls are what the Harpies used to be, a constant nuisance and danger to anyone who isn’t them. Living in nomadic pack based societies the Dyvolfs are a primitive if strong people who are used as mercenaries by both the Empire and the Kingdom, often by both sides simultaneously. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Bestiary[/color][/h2] [hider=Bestiary] [color=MediumTurquoise]Snow Lions:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/KngnzYZ]Winged Lions[/url] twice the size of their savannah cousins, these beast live in and around the frozen cliffs. Seemingly immune to the cold, the regal beasts fly swiftly through the air on nearly silent wings while they hunt deer, goats and men alike. [color=MediumTurquoise]Snow hyenas:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/NZvnxkj]large skavengers [/url], the snow hyenas sport a thick quill of sharp spiky fur all across their head and back, which protects them from surprise attacks while they are muzzle deep in a carcase. In the lowlands crows are the beast that follow armies, in the mountains marching forces are often shadowed by these laughing creatures who act as if war is a hilarious joke to which only they know the punchline. [color=MediumTurquoise]Poskellos:[/color] the local [url=https://imgur.com/39AfmVq]breed of dog[/url] that has been with the montin humans since they arrived. Sporting thick fluffy coats and a loyal demeanor they are used as sheepdogs, guard dogs and hunting dogs by many of the mountain villages. Some have been used in war, where they get to play a very dangerous game of fetch the stick. [color=MediumTurquoise]Sabrerian:[/color][url=https://imgur.com/YEQBiil] ambush hunters[/url] that have tapped into the heart of the mountain somehow, they have claws and teeth of ice honed to a razor's edge. The long teeth of the Sabrerian are easily replaced, allowing the hunter to be more reckless with them in a chase, the icicles often breaking off while lodged in a victim only for it replace the lost tooth moments later to come in for another bite. [color=MediumTurquoise]Faylothoraptor:[/color] Some mountains have the danger of hungry packs of wolves, the frozen cliffs have [url=https://imgur.com/0HiTb1J]feathered raptors[/url]. Roaming the snow covered mountain sides in large packs, the raptors are dangerously intelligent, known to heard their prey into unseen cliff falls or dead end crevices while hunting. [color=MediumTurquoise]Hexagoats:[/color] [url=https://imgur.com/OEu5RSK]hexapod goats[/url] local to the region, they exist in both wild and domesticated states. The large herbivores are used for their meat, fur, pakmule and transport by the locals. [color=MediumTurquoise]Lotosep:[/color] closer related to Floffs than deer these [url=https://imgur.com/Z7ja5JZ]graceful hearvivours[/url] walk on thin chitinous stilts legs to keep their bodies clear of the snow. Unlike deer antlers, the horns are mainly defensive weapons rather than tools of competition for mates, but if two Lotoseps do get into a fight they will “fence” with their horns to do so. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Military[/color][/h2] [hider=Military] [url=https://i.imgur.com/CJa0Oz7.jpg]Royal Lion Guards[/url] the elite of the kingdom's forces are the personal bodyguard of the Queen. Armed with halberds that are more often used as axes than they are as spears, these warriors must prove their worthiness to join the ranks of the Guard by acquiring the traditional Snow Lion head headdress of the Guard. This can be done either by slaying one of the beast to make their own or claiming one belonging to an existing member, either through a dual or being judged worthy by the holder to have it handed down once a guard retires. [url=https://imgur.com/6eDpP17]Human Infantry[/url] clad in thick clothes, plate and mail, the mainstay of the Kingdom's armies fight much the same way as their conquered relatives to the north. The warriors heavily favor two handed axes, both for their simplicity to make and their effectiveness vs their wooden foes, whereas the humble spear is almost entirely absent from their arsenal. Swords are used, but primarily as status symbols of officers and lords rather than as main weapons. Any shields used are predominantly light wooden ovoid shields used to protect from arrows as the blunt impacts of Dryad weapons are hard to block properly. [url=https://imgur.com/gQXcwUY]Harpy auxiliaries[/url] The harpies of the frozen cliffs generally wear light leather armor and are traditionally armed with two handed swords or axes. Some have recently begun carrying light crossbows to harass foes with before or after a charge. The heavy metal bolts, assisted by gravity, are one of the few handheld ranged weapons effective VS the Dreaming Forest, capable of crippling limbs or heads with their heavy impacts. All these choices are made with their flight in mind, metal armor and bulky shields reduce their prized mobility, while two handed weapons are extra effective when gravity is used to add extra forces to the blow. They act as a kind of light cavalry for the most part, a roll that is difficult for traditional horsemen to fill in their mountainous homeland. [url=https://imgur.com/dK1v3J9]Snow Witch(Cryomancers)[/url] There are some who have tapped into the frozen heart of the mountains and have learned to do terrible damage with the already dangerous elements. Just as often as they are spearing invaders with shafts of Ice they are worsening the already terrible weather, shattering an army’s will to fight before they even reach the battlefield. Both humans and Harpies have members skilled in this art and while there are some other types of mages in the mountains, the wielders of ice and snow are the most common. [url=https://imgur.com/VM7IPcQ]FireBrands(Pyromancers):[/url] While the local tradition is mastery of the cold, the nature of the kingdoms hated enemies mean that fire magic is the second most common type of spellcraft in the land. Firebrands are almost always loyal to the kingdom above all, as opposed to the witches who are more likely to be loyal primarily to their local community if they aren't recluses. Fireballs and gouts of flame are the most common of their tactics, but some have been known to empower the weapons of themselves and allies with burning coatings of flame instead. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Heroes[/color][/h2] [hider=Heroes] [url=https://imgur.com/UFqOmPd]Queen Rosabella the Third:[/url] Rightful of the lands now held by the Emerald empire, the Queen seeks to reclaim the throne that is rightfully hers. Riding atop the back of a snow lion named Sanja she has raised since they both were young, she often personally leads her armies from atop her steed against the hated Empire. In battle she wields the [url=https://imgur.com/FdcwVba]Treecapitator[/url], a witch bane axe that draws strength from killing those of Primordial blood. In her case, this means the Trees and their children. The weapon was forged shortly after the Royal court arrived in the mountains as a collaborative work between the kingdoms FireBrands, may of whom were among the refugees from the Empire, and the local Ice Witches. The twin blades were built around a bo-staff artifact that was held by the monastery and given to the king as a gift on his arrival. Over the years it has been continually worked on and improved as it has slayed the hated enemies of the Kingdom, and its latest contributors are the Harpy mages Hajnal and Faizya. She took the throne after the death of her parents at the battle of mt Sethren at the age of 14 and in the 8 years since she has shown herself to be shrewd diplomat and skilful warrior, having defeated an attempted invasion by the empire and having made an proper alliance with the Harpies, to replace their previous vague enemy of my enemy agreement they had previously, that has held up for 6 years. Charismatic if a bit headstrong, she fully believes she can succeed in her task, of only she can get the proper foreign assistance. [url=https://imgur.com/QjCW8b5]Hajnal the Frozen Angel:[/url] Greatest of the Ice Witches, Hajnal is a 4 winged mutant of the Harpy race. Such individuals are believed to be touched by the divine by her people, which has given her considerable influence among the various harpy tribes. She acts as the closest thing the harpy tribes have to a leader or spokesperson for their collective interests. It was through a friendship formed between her and the young Queen that the humans and harpies were brought together for the first time in a formal alliance since humans arrived in the mountains. There have been whispering among the Tribes about a possible royal marriage to cement the alliance, a line of planning hampered somewhat by the fact that the humans don’t realize/understand that Hajnal is male. [url=https://imgur.com/rS8t0PC]Faizya the Phoenix:[/url] A former Ice witch who has devoted herself fully to the art of the firebrand since the alliance between the harpies and the humans was forged. This rejection of tradition has alienated her somewhat from her kin, and the harpy has effectively joined the joined the royal court as a result. The young Firebrand is known to dote on Hajnal, much to her annoyance and the confusion of the court. For her part, the queen has grown fond of the brazen harpy who has adopted her people's ways to fight the Empire as effectively as possible despite the grumblings of her elders. [url=https://imgur.com/JquESLw]Sir Glenway[/url] Grandson of the famed hero, the Glenway family has served as noble warriors for the Royal family for many generations. His grandfather died in the last war of emerald conquest, and his father in the battle that took the lives of the old King and Queen. Despite the fates of his forefathers, Glenway lives to serve his queen, but at the same time he also lives for the day he can take revenge upon those that killed his predecessors. Sir Glenway has a somewhat high opinion of both himself and the kingdom, and is known to overestimate the capabilities of both. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]History[/color][/h2] [hider=History] The Kingdom of Shenra once occupied most of the lands that now make up the Emerald Empire’s continental Provenances but after a series of wars the empire slowly forced the Kingdom to ceded more and more land until eventually a final invasion was launched to take the remaining territory of the Kingdom, that was now 40% of it’s original size. After a series of battles, the kingdom's forces were left in ruin and the current king was forced to flee. The king, his family and a few surviving noble families eventually found themselves chased into the Frozen cliffs, but loyal locals gave them refuge. The Dryads following them quickly grew sick of the weather and gorilla attacks made by the locals and abandoned the chase. The royals and nobles ended up setting up court in the holy summit monastery, from which they began to plan to reclaim the rest of the kingdom. Subsequent attempts by the Empire to oust the court failed due to repeated underestimation as to how difficult such a task would be. By the time the Empire learned their lessons the court had managed to organise a proper military that narrowly defeated the invasion force in a pitched battle thanks to a flanking maneuver performed thanks to local knowledge. Since then there has been a stalemate, with both sides failing to make serious headway in breaking into the other’s territory. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Relations[/color][/h2] [hider=Relations] Emerald Empire: at war Empire of Matatharan: with the war between the Emerald and Matatharan empires looking inevitable, the kingdom has been in talks with Matatharan over a joint campaign against the Dreaming Forest’s southern holding. Matathran wants the Southern coast, but they do not care about anything up North. Once the annexation is over, they have promised to not invade the mountains, to set up favorable trade accommodations and the right to a share of the spoils. Once the port is claimed, Matathran would then support future military endeavors on the kingdom’s part to reclaim the Northern regions. Tarkima: The northern tribes as a whole were forever a thorn in the side of the kingdom, but a certain amount of trade was know between them. Some of the nobles can trace their ancestry back to Clansmen who settled in the kingdom in ages past, and the royal bloodline also has connections to the northmen, through conquest and political marriage. [/hider] [h2][color=MediumTurquoise]Characters[/color][/h2] [hider=Characters] [url=https://imgur.com/YGJgz5o]Lord Solgarand[/url] A close friend of the old royal couple and Godfather to their daughter, Solgarand helped guide the young queen after her parent’s death. Old, wise and well experienced in the business of kingdom management simply by association with its former ruler, Lord Solgarand does much of the actual every day to day running of the kingdom while the young Queen works to secure its future. bAck in is his youth Solgarand was a mighty warrior in his own right, but now he takes more of a leadership role, helping plan strategy and coordinate tactical maneuvering rather than getting stuck into the thick of it with his lionhammer. [url=https://imgur.com/ELFUuLb]Captain Tempkin[/url] Head of the royal guards, Tempkin is the trusted guardian of the Queen, her fighting instructor and a well respected military leader to boot. Much like how Solgarand deals with much of the civilian affairs for the Queen, Tempkin is incharge of much of the arm’s logistics, training and recruitment jobs. He performers these duties with a calm and logical, if rather blunt, attitude. [/hider] [/hider] [center][h1][color=LightCoral]The Cetera-Matris pact[/color][/h1][/center] [hider=Cetera-Matris] [center][img][/img][/center] [h2][color=LightCoral]Government[/color][/h2] [hider=Government] The Cetera-Matris are not an actual nation, despite holding territory, but rather a mutual defense pact sealed between the guardians of two sleeping primordials, the seldom seen icy the Frost Forged and the aquatic Rayneids. The two races are the guardians for a pair of primordials who sleep securely at the heart of their respective domains, ready to awaken “when the sun freezes over and the moonlight burns with a blue fire”.These two primordials reside beneath two elaborate temple complexes, one built in the depths of the bay of lights houses the burning moon and the other at the heart of the Frozen Cliffs mountain range is the resting place of the frozen sun. Their two cultures are theocracies, the Rayneids ruled by an order of sorcerer priestess known as the moon kissed daughters and the the Frost Forged by 5 ancient elders who are permanent, statuesque, fixtures of the gateway leading to their master’s sealed chambers. [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Geography[/color][/h2] [hider=Geography] [hider=sea-map] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404119434446372875/404835698395447299/Cetera-Matris.png[/img] [/hider] The Rayneids live in 6 underwater cities/temple complexes, 5 smaller ones evenly spaced around the 6th larger one, called Primus, that houses their master. Primus is built at the bottom of a deep fissure that has geothermal vents at the bottom and acts as the capital and locus for the Rayneids power. The other 5 sit on the ocean floor and act as anchors for an enormous ritual circle that was made before the longwatch began and who’s propose the watchers dare not guess or tamper with. The Frost Forged meanwhile live in various small ice castles found in the most inaccessible regions of the frozen cliffs. Atop the highest mountain lies a temple known as the frozen peak, of which the holy summit is and unknown poor reflection, that houses the primordials sleeping chamber. Some of these castles link down to a tunnel system below the mountain, some of which lead to the coast and to a hidden cove south of Fidgit port where the the Frost Forged keep their small navy. [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Culture[/color][/h2] [hider=Culture] [color=lime]Rayneids:[/color] The seldom seen [url=https://imgur.com/JRQyGOb]Merfolk[/url] of the Sea of Lights are the ones who give the waters their name, as their nocturnal magical ceremonies of moon worship form spots of blood red light can be seen from the shore of the empire on the night of a full moon. The bane of fishing communities and smugglers, the Rayneids are known to attack lonely vessels to steal their cargo. The Empire really doesn’t care about this harassment, as the Fishfolk do not attack the mighty Living Ships due to the high risk of doing so. The Rayneids live in an incredibly religious society. All live to serve the church, from the lowlies fish farmer to the mightiest warrior and most devout priestess. The fishfolk have their duty drilled into them from a young age and are incredibly devout as a result, all most all are content with their place in life, a place generally chosen for them by the will of the clergy. Devotion is reinforced by every part of their culture, their cities are huge temple complexes, were the workers are effectively servants and the warriors divinely blessed paladins. The priests are magically gifted individuals who are trained from an early age to maintain the ancient mysterious works of their primordial progenitor. These works often involving repainting worn down runes with a special magically produced paint made partially with primordial essence infused blood, something the clergy willingly give on a regular basis. In return for this noble sacrifice the recently bleed priests live pampered lives, ostensibly to ensure their quick recovery. Some priests spend their entire lives in a perpetual cycle of bleeding and recovery, but those who hold real power and influence generally forgo the luxurious rewards to stay active and engaged with the varios subtle schemes and power plays that the highest of high priests engage in. More or less these games of subterfuge exist to occupy their time and keep them sharp incase crises does occur. The raiders are the Rayneids with the most freedom, more than even their religiously bound leaders. They score the local region for hunting, raiding and trading opportunities, looking to bring back extra food and precious metals to their kin. The most valuable things they can aquire are corrosion proof metals, namely gold, silver and bronze. These metals supplement the mainly stone age level of technology used by the Rayneids: leather, bone, shells, teeth and stone make up the majority of their tools and structures, metal that can survive underwater are used either to add decoration to temples, as the basis for enchanted tools or statues, or as highly prized weapons that are preserved over generations and handed out ot only the most skilled warriors. Magically the Rayneids practice 3 schools. Ice magic learned from the the Frost Forged that is often used to create tough and buoyant magical maintained weapons, structures, armor, etc. Blood magic involving using either their own or other’s blood as weapons. Finally they practice a divine magic based on a pale blue moonlight that supperheats anything it touches that is used to boil targets alive or in their limited metalsmithing. [color=LightCoral]The Frost Forged:[/color] beings so rare they are thought of as myths by most, these [url=https://imgur.com/CnwdoAQ]icy beings[/url] live at the heart of the Frozen cliffs around castles made from Millennia old ice. Little is known about them by outsiders but the myths and legends of the locals, for they rarely leave their domain and when they do the elements mask their travels. Their home is thought to be the origin of the unnatural cold permeating the land and they are also whispered to be the source of the Ice Witch traditions. the Frost Forged are replacement for the harpies who originally acted as guardians, but who were too free spirited to be relied upon to stay true though the generations. As the fickle birds slowly abandoned the old ways and temples those worshipers, human, harpy and others, who remained true began to seek either a fresh source of guardians or some way to increase their own power and tranced mortality so that they could maintain an eternal vigilance. They found both in the way, the ice which tradition is an incredibly powerful and reckless form of magic, capable of great feats but also runs the potential to run wild if poorly handled. The fate of Merken fortress is one example of this instability, and the the Frost Forged are another. Ice witches powers who lose control become consumed by the magic of the frozen sun and become frozen creatures known as Solnarigh. An intentional flaw in the tradition, the trap generally claims the old, the weak, the desperate or the foolhardy, all who are then lured to the frozen peak by the sirens call of the 5 elders who created the tradition. This hypnotic song never leaves the the Frost Forged mind and it makes them willing slaves of the temple, eternal guardians of their new sleeping master. As a result of this method the Frost Forged are few in number and hard to replace but make up for this in being entirely made up of incredibly durable and ancient mages. The nature of the cures however means that there are very few exceptional members among their ranks, those powerful enough or wise enough to have been great in life generally can avoid a frozen fate without even knowing it is a risk. [color=LightCoral]Pact:[/color] The pact that binds the two races together is ancient and is an agreement that the two will come to eachothers aid should outsiders attempt to interfere with their sleeping master's work or resting places. They also agree not to attempt to expand or do anything that might provoke any foreign powers while also ensuring that their realms stay free from foreign interest. There has been some wiggle room in this of course, the Rayneids’ raids have made them a nuisance for their terrestrial neighbours and the the Frost Forged have done little to expel others from their mountains due to relying on them for fresh recruits. [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Military[/color][/h2] [hider=Military] The majority of the force capable of being feild by the Cetera-Matris pact are Reighnade warriors: armored in naturalistic materials such as leather or shells and using weapons made with obsidian, sharks teeth etc. the lack of metal and smithing capacity and the limited number of alloys capable of surviving the saline environment means that such implements are generally only found in the hands of the elite. Metal weapons might be used by notable warriors, but only the Secred guards of the priestesses have metal armor. On the magical side of things they can make use of their innate cold reistiacne and knowledge of ice magic to make equipment (and entire structures) from Pykrete, a substance made from ice and Pulp. Pykrete features unusual properties, including a relatively slow melting rate due to its low thermal conductivity, as well as a vastly improved strength and toughness compared to ice. These physical properties can make the material comparable to concrete, as long as the material is kept frozen, but has the advantage of being buoyant. Rayneids can fight on land, slithering across it like snakes, but much prefer the seas of their birth. The military's heavy hitters are magical in nature, with the Rayneids playing a more supporting roll, with their mages producing Pykrete, enchanted weapons and specialised war golems, made from statues of their sleeping mother, that they use to both fight for them and as mobile focuses for their power. These [url=https://imgur.com/4ejXOAG]golems[/url] are large serpentine beings with multiple arms capable of firing thin beams of moonlight that bold flesh and water alike along their path. They are considered sacred monuments and normally decorate the sides of the subnautica temples, few ever leave their resting places. The five minor temples each feature 15~ of these monuments. The capital may have 100~ statues, but only desperate times would cause the priestesses to lower the amount of fortifications their most holy site has. The The Frost Forged meanwhile are incredibly few in number, their numbers barely brushing against the hundreds, but are all proficient ice witches, capable of dangerous spellcraft while also being protected by their frozen forms. They loath to leave their frozen homes to go fight with their allies due to their number being incredibly difficult to replenish and as such only a handful will ever leave their posts at any given time. A notable part of their military are their ice ships, almost see through vessels made from ice that they use to travel across the waves. They are capable of fighting beneath the waves if they equip heavy manacles that let their buoyant bodies sink below the waves. [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Heroes[/color][/h2] [hider=Heroes] [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Relations[/color][/h2] [hider=Relations] Non aggression pact: The emerald empire have a very limited dialogue with the pact, mosty spawning from the days when they were in the series of wars that resulted in their conquest of most of Shenra when they struck a nonaggression pact with the Rayneids. Since then minor correspondence has been ongoing entirely on the terms of the Rayneids, who generally only initiate a dialogue on the surface when they send envoys to complain about things, while the EE has to make do with sending dead drops down into the dark if they want to communicate. For the most part, the two stay out of eachothers way [/hider] [h2][color=LightCoral]Characters[/color][/h2] [hider=Characters] Alexix: venerated daughter of the burning moon and de facto spokesperson for her sisters Yastrel: high ranking sacred guard/general, clad in full bronze armor coated in true ice, she carries a sword that was a gift from the Emerald Empire [/hider] [/hider]