[center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjEyOC5mNWY1ZjUuVkdobElGZHZjbXhrSUc5bUlGUnBkR2hsLjA,/berkshire-swash.regular.png[/img] [/center][hr] [center][/center] Tithe is a single continent in a much larger, undiscovered fantasy world, with environments and fauna reminiscent of North America. Within the land of Tithe, many sapient races coexist, from the industrious humans to the naturalistic fey to the subterranean darklings. Many cultures and religions exist within Tithe, and because of this it is difficult to truly summarize its culture in a short snippet. Generally, Tithe is divided into fifteen regions. Most of the world’s population, about 60% or so, can be found in Southern Tithe, typically everything south of the northern border of Talbor, while the north tends to be less populous (and significantly more dangerous). [hider=Nations of Tithe] [b]Concordius:[/b] The homeland of the fey, Concordius is a natural haven filled with some of the most unique environments in the world. Much of the western part of the country is filled by the Great Fairy Forest, a misty temperate rainforest where the fey trace their origins to. Concordius is a true theocracy, the government run by the leader of the Maelen church and the law directly informed by the law of the Maelen religion. The land is patrolled by warrior-priests called Faerie Knights, who keep the peace, enforce the law of Mael, and preserve the environment. Many fairy courts exist in Concordius and while they have no direct authority, many government officials sit on them and their influence certainly alters government policy. [b]Government:[/b] Theocracy, run by the High Priest of Maelen. All land is property of the church. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Fairies, Auguries [b]Dolorod:[/b] Dolorod is a vast, dry desert which spans much of southeastern Tithe. Few people actually live in Dolorod, and no central government actually holds the area together, save for the eastern region of the area where several merchant city-states facilitate the exchange of goods and services from the south to the north of Tithe. In the center of Dolorod is High Hill, a religious monument sacred to Maelen worshippers as the site of the origin of creation. High Hill is inhabited by the mysterious Droal, beings of carved rock who seldom interact with outsiders. [b]Government:[/b] Monarchal city-states in the east. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Fairies, Orcs [b]Frozen Wastes:[/b] Basically uninhabited, the Frozen Wastes is the coldest place in Tithe. A supernaturally-cold wind current runs across Northern Tithe called Fathach’s Wind, and this current is responsible for keeping the ice states from melting. The current, however, also runs across the mostly-flat wastes, becoming colder and colder until it hits an absolute low around -130˚ F. Most of it is unexplored and, quite frankly, unexplorable. [b]Government:[/b] None. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] None. [b]Haderlock:[/b] Spanning much of the northernmost region of Tithe, Haderlock is a cold and harsh nation with a great deal of instability. Most citizens live in the central valley and southern cities of Haderlock, while the mountains are barely inhabited if at all due to the frigid temperatures there. Haderlock is constantly at war with its neighbors the Icefolk, who believe Haderlock belongs to them, and as such the nation is constantly battered by small groups of guerilla fighters who freeze agricultural land and destroy government buildings. The Haderlockians would probably just leave if it weren’t for the fact that 70% of all the gold in Tithe and 80% of all the silver can be found in the mountains. [b]Government:[/b] Feudal monarchy, with various duchies controlling various lands under a single king. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Orcs [b]Ice States:[/b] The northwestern point of Tithe is inhabited by the Ice Folk, strange humanoid creatures composed entirely of ice. Due to the 1000+ years of isolation the ice folk have enjoyed as being Tithe’s sole indigenous inhabitant of the north, ice folk culture is completely alien from the rest of Tithe and the ice folk seldom interact with any other races. [b]Government:[/b] Feudal democracy, a collection of many feudal lords with independent states who vote on policy. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Ice Folk [b]Ignion:[/b] The massive land of Ignion stretches from Talbor in the south to the Frozen Wastes in the north, yet encompasses vast stretches of nigh-uninhabitable desert. Beneath the ground, however, the darklings have built themselves an enormous, technologically-advanced empire. Tunnel systems run beneath the surface at various depths, connecting subterranean colonies to one another. Life in the dark is difficult, but the darklings’ combination of superior senses and high intelligence have allowed them to flourish for many centuries in isolation. In addition, the Phoenix Mountains, which run the length of Ignion’s western border, is the homeland of the orcs and the adopted land of the hobs, both of whom constantly fight against the few aboveground darkling cities (and each other) for the resources of the fertile valley. [b]Government:[/b] Imperial monarchy, a sprawling empire controlled by a central bureaucracy around an emperor. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Darklings, Orcs, Hobs [b]Jikari:[/b] Jikari is separated from the rest of Tithe by Dolorod, and similarly has a dry climate. However, where Dolorod boasts nothing but rocks and sand, Jikari is home to a sprawling savannah filled with bizarre creatures: dragons, pegasi, griffins, cockatrices, and basilisks all originate from Jikari, as well as many magical plants and shrubs which are used by alchemists. Jikari sits atop the richest vein of Tears in the world, its mines able to pull a dozen or so of them from the ground each month. The entire government and society of Jikari revolves around this trade, with extreme measures in place to keep the process of mining and processing the tears secret. [b]Government:[/b] Aristocratic monarchy, consisting of a king and a series of officials from both governmental and business positions. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Fairies, Ostarans [b]Minotaur Territories:[/b] The great plains in the center of Northern Tithe are home to the minotaur. While not all minotaur recognize this area as exclusively their property, governments of Tithe do after a relatively recent major war between Haderlock and Ignion caused upheaval across the continent. The minotaur territories are vast and green, filled mostly with fields of rolling grass. The minotaur travel with the seasons, grazing upon the grass and living in relative peace. [b]Government: [/b]Individual tribal authorities. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Minotaur [b]Nepharie:[/b] The Grand Nepharie Empire once covered almost all of Southern Tithe, controlling every nation except for Talbor for many hundreds of years. Several revolutions and religious schisms broke the empire apart over the last few centuries, but you couldn’t tell based on how the imperial government behaves. Nepharie still manages to be the largest country in Tithe, possessing nearly 40% of the continent’s population. The nation represents the best of human-fairy cooperation, possessing beautiful human architecture (thanks to its rich veins of marble) and stunning landscapes preserved by the fey. In the west, the east ostarans produce much of the nation’s produce and live in relative peace under the aegis of Nepharie protection, though their rather disgruntled western neighbors are none to please about this arrangement. Despite no longer having the blessing of Concordius, Nepharie prides itself on its divine providence and justice, and its imperial courts are touted as the single shining light of justice in all the land. That said, their judicial system actually is quite advanced, reminiscent of modern court systems with a judge, jury, prosecutors, and universal legal coverage for defendants. [b]Government:[/b] Imperial monarchy, with an array of appointed satraps who report directly to the emperor. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Fairies, Ostarans, Auguries [b]Ostaria:[/b] Separated from Nepharie by the Harvest Mountains, Ostaria is the homeland of the ostarans. The north is mostly rugged grasslands divided by tall hills, while the south becomes wetter and wetter, eventually giving way to swamps and tropical rainforest in the far south. The ostarans are incredibly wary of outsiders given their fraught history of conflict with Nepharie, and few non-ostarans ever get to see this land. Much of the culture of Ostaria is different from that of the rest of Tithe, with their different language, religion, and crops due to their more tropical environment. [b]Government:[/b] Feudal monarchy, a loose collection of duchies united under a single monarchy. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Ostarans [b]Robore:[/b] Robore is one of the weirder lands of Tithe. While technically owned and governed by Concordius, the condition of Robore is so that most Tithans consider it separate from Concordius. The outskirts of Robore seem normal: coastal temperate forests, mountain grasslands to the east. The center of Robore, however, is cordoned off from the rest of the world by an endless wall of Robor trees, trees with bark harder than steel that are about the height and diameter of giant sequoias. This impassable barrier insulates Robore from the outside world. The inside of Robore is filled with bizarre plants and animals found nowhere else in the world, from humanoid frogs to gigantic fire-breathing moths to bioluminescent centipedes the size of wolves. Somehow, the forest of Robore’s depths is magically-animated and behaves in a way unlike any other place in Tithe. Due to its uniqueness, travel in and out of the forest through a single winding path is heavily-restricted by the mysterious Cernunnos, a powerful arcane entity reminiscent of an ent or treant. [b]Government:[/b] None, though the theocracy of Concordius claims the entire place as a nature preserve. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Fairies, Humans, Minotaur (occasionally) [b]Stellona:[/b] The fallout from the corruption of Sylvestre, Stellona is a sparsely-populated region of Tithe constantly menaced by their neighbors to the north. Ever since Grand Nepharie collapsed, Stellona has been a sort of wild west of Tithe, home to societal outcasts and dark magic-users outlawed from their old homes. Much of the land is unclaimed, save a few small and heavily-guarded city-states. Other areas, meanwhile, possess ancient castles or cobbled-together dwellings inhabited by mad, or simply evil, wizards. [b]Government:[/b] Anarchical, with occasional small monarchies. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Orcs, Minotaur (occasionally) [b]Sylvestre:[/b] Only legends tell of the wicked monstrosities that lie within the haunted marshes and forests of Sylvestre. For millennia, Sylvestre has been inhabited by the hags, beings of incalculable arcane potential who seek to spread chaos and havoc across the world. Hags are the most ancient creatures in Tithe and have lived in Sylvestre for an untold number of millennia (though of course the Maelens date their existence to a few years after the date of creation). While not all hags are pure evil, many of them deal in arcane arts far beyond the scope or understanding of the rest of the world, giving them untold power that they rarely put to good use. Few people ever enter Sylvestre, and those who do often end up at the bottom of one of the land’s many swamps of bubbling hot mud, pulled down there by the many wicked creatures of the land or first toyed with by the bizarre machinations of the hags. [b]Government:[/b] Hag-led despotism [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] None [b]Talbor:[/b] The homeland of the hobs and adopted homeland of the humans, Talbor is a land of equal parts industry and corruption. Run by five separate consuls representing five rival clans, Talbor is near-constantly at war with itself. Control of the fertile central Maceron Valley and the role of king is decided by a tournament between the five consets, a tournament which is almost always filled with political engineering and corrupt business dealings. Despite all of this constant strife, Talbor manages to be a fairly productive nation; much of the world’s iron deposits can be found in Talbor’s Trapjaw Mountains and the iron tools and weapons manufactured in the forges of Maceron are high-quality and universally sought-after. [b]Government:[/b] Feudal monarchy, where the five consuls and the king decide the law of the nation. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Hobs (occasionally, though they seldom stay long) [b]Venera:[/b] Formerly part of Nepharie, the land of Venera contains the highest population of non-fairy magic-users in Tithe. In the pursuit of greater knowledge of the machinations of the world, the Venerans founded the Magical Academy many centuries ago, an institution which studies both magic and the natural sciences. Many of the ways Tithans understand the universe were founded here, and many more secrets are yet to be revealed. Veneran society revolves around magic, with those rich and powerful enough to obtain a tear making up the ruling class. This makes Venera a sort of magistocracy, where only those capable of the arcane arts have any particular power in government or society. As the supply of magic in the world decreases, however, the Veneran aristocracy grows smaller and smaller, and attempts to increase the supply of magic in the world become more desperate than ever before. [b]Government:[/b] Magistocratic republic, run by a ruling class of wizards. [b]Primary Inhabitants:[/b] Humans, Fairies, Ostarans, Auguries [center][b][url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KHu8gKSVhy1LE9u148R2v4Yy4Q9opNyP3rH-A3L7zcA/edit?usp=sharing]Current Events in Tithe[/url][/b][/center] [/hider][hr] [center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLmY1ZjVmNS5VR1Z2Y0d4bElHOW1JRlJwZEdobC4wAAAA/berkshire-swash.regular.png[/img][/center] [hr] Eight races make their homes in the land of Tithe: humans, fairies, ostarans, darklings, orcs, hobs, auguries, and minotaur. Some races are widespread across the continent, while others are concentrated in specific locations. Nonetheless, each of these races have their own cultures and abilities that could make them helpful on the battlefield. Below, you fill find a brief summary of each race followed by a link to a google document containing more information on them for interested players. [hider=Races of Tithe] [b]Humans:[/b] The most common race in Tithe, humans are industrious, resilient, and highly-adaptable. They are the most well-rounded race of Tithe in terms of physical abilities. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uOFTR8b56c2p_pqpdBM132iLR6nNGAzPUwOfFPz_Trk/edit?usp=sharing]More on Humans[/url] [b]Fairies:[/b] The oldest race in Tithe, the fairies are smallish winged creatures known for their potent magical abilities. They are fairly physically-weak, but are the only Tithan race capable of casting magic from birth. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ojWhg29zN73S9MQvU3MW4CWBkdVMXjEDk5LkBVfN1ns/edit?usp=sharing]More on Fairies[/url] [b]Ostarans:[/b] The ostarans are another common race of Tithe, small and hairy folk reminiscent of halflings or hobbits. They are swift and nimble on the battlefield, using their superior dexterity to their advantage. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wUJ6uLEXHocXSb-65Gsy8CvPrs11BEqBaqWDlpburdw/edit?usp=sharing]More on Ostarans[/url] [b]Darklings:[/b] Relatives of the fairies, the darklings inhabit the deep tunnels and caverns beneath the deserts of Ignion. Their advanced technology and superior senses give them advantages over other races, though they are blinded by the sun. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BABpvo9K_Ic8XJn42iraOWFgZYxt07kjkIZqouUh8WI/edit?usp=sharing]More on Darklings[/url] [b]Auguries:[/b] The Auguries are one of two kinds of beast-folk within Tithe, crow-people who live in a loose collection of treetop rookeries across Southern Tithe. They are highly dexterous and have perfected the art of necromancy, often charging into battle with vicious bone homunculi. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QdHHxOM7fJEl0MhiZoTVvTtgTrrwIb19XsFErGwWI-Y/edit?usp=sharing]More on Auguries[/url] [b]Orcs:[/b] Native to the harsh mountain climate of Ignion, the orcs are enormous, muscular creatures known for their penchant for warfare. Orcs are the most durable sapient creatures in Tithe, capable of shrugging off hits that would kill other creatures. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RnBVfHfPd41PUubWbqomjDKsyYkrw_jHykOLOGU_w1E/edit?usp=sharing]More on Orcs[/url] [b]Hobs:[/b] Once the inhabitants of the now-human Talbor, the hobs are a martial race of goblinoid folk without a home. Hobish warriors are some of the best in Tithe: strong, well-trained, and bringing the most masterfully-crafted steel available into battle with them. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C8hHy_G_F6Eq_gxSeS57ZvT-irkK77-qI_HjQWXzNzk/edit?usp=sharing]More on Hobs[/url] Minotaur: Inhabiting the lush plains of Northern Tithe, the minotaur are great and powerful bison-men known for their pastoralism. Minotaur are the strongest race of Tithe, able to lift incredible weights and pull three times their body weight. [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LXYBUYjq9yTOtmKKbeKOmveX3IJd-AUlDTgM5XElnV0/edit?usp=sharing]More on Minotaur[/url] [/hider] [hr] [center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLmY1ZjVmNS5UV0ZuYVdNZ2IyWWdWR2wwYUdVLC4wAAAA/berkshire-swash.regular.png[/img][/center][hr] Tithan magic is based around a phenomenon called The Pulse, a web which connects the life force of all living things. Through manipulating the pulse, one can alter the behavior or physiology of living things. Only fairies can utilize the pulse from birth, while all other races must consume a very rare artifact known as a Tear to use magic. Several schools of magic exist based on types of living things: animists, who study animals, botanists, who study plants, myconists, who study fungi, and somists, who study specifically the biology of sapient creatures. [b][center][url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/113BABJLe_1DhosJnfTkjEHnZV87K01gN2bFi4y_U3wE/edit?usp=sharing]More on Tithan Magic[/url][/center] [/b]