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Legend of the Silver Legion (A Fantasy RP)

Significant updates made to the Calor Murex sheet on the previous page - general edits and clean-up, added all Hero profiles and a flag.

The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

Both the Final Hazard as well as the First Labour series two will begin on February the 1st.

Legend of the Silver Legion (A Fantasy RP)

Calor Murex

Calor Murex

Government

Calor Murex was previously a Constitutional Monarchy, with a royal family that governed the people and cultural practices of Calor Murex through implementation of law. The monarchy was hereditary, being technically prohibited by the constitution but being seen as convenient for the purposes of transitions in power. The royal family were distinct from other nobles in that they were not considered to be true nobility; their authority was derived by writ of man and dint of force rather than any kind of divine mandate or explicit hereditary right. Hence, it was not uncommon for the royal family to marry other prominent local families and clans when convenient. The military was controlled by a council underneath the Monarch, who were technical vassals but whose authority in military affairs was separate and untouchable by the Monarch themselves. The number of individuals upon the council and the according segregation of their forces served as a check on the possibility of a military coup while the council itself served as a check on the authority of the Monarch.

This system changed approximately twenty years ago due to the untimely and suspicious deaths of all five members of the royal family. The council fell back upon the constitution and, using the mechanisms therein, established a regency to be ruled by an individual chosen by vote of the council itself, until such time as a new Monarch could be elected.

That individual was Werrill Ormoneric, one of the most powerful Warlocks in all of Calor Murex, known for their outspoken religious views. They assumed the seat of Regent, and have remained the de-facto ruler of Calor Murex for the last twenty years. Due to the suspected assassinations of the entire royal family, the council took the opportunity to declare an emergency suspension of the constitution itself - and making Ormoneric acting command of the council forces. In effect, Ormoneric is now the de-facto dictator of Calor Murex, acting with more or less absolute independent authority.

The only remaining check on Ormoneric's power is the council charter, which lists the mechanisms necessary for selecting a new, legitimate Monarch as well as for unsuspending the Monarchy's constitution. For the time being however, the council seems content to let Ormoneric hold the reigns.

Geography

Map

Landscape

Most of Calor Murex is temperates, hilly steppes and plains with frequent gullys and escarpments, giving way to a a cooler taiga in the Northern half with clusters of forested areas separated by barren flats. There is a significant abundance of wildlife, including various ambush and pack predators as hunting is not a dominant profession in the region. Around the various Townships, many of the plains and flats are covered by immense fields of various crops, since although the Eastern rivers do not reach terribly far or cover an immense amount of area, the region receives regular precipitation due to Oceanic storms that surge in from the Northwest. These storms tend to collect against the Western mountains in the neighboring region and weaken to become gentler rains. Nearly all of the major rivers and streams in Calor Murex stem from meltwater and precipitation in the Western mountain ranges, and the Southernmost area of the region becomes remarkably dry, receiving low amounts of precipitation it receives as the Western mountain range tends to curve storms away to the East, creating a relatively barren band between the fertile plains of central Calor Murex and the wild jungles of the Xi'an Dynasty.

To the South and along the Western Coast is an irregular chain of mountains, broken up by prominent valleys, canyons, and ravines. The Southern mountains are relatively low but are generally much steeper than the Eastern mountains which by comparison are both taller and have greater depressions between them. The mountains are not particularly wooded, containing only sparse vegetation, but small contain low-elevation mires between them. Wildlife in the mountains are highly migratory, and so it is not uncommon to see animals in the otherwise sparse rocky areas as they move between vales.

To the North of the region are two man-made mega-structures which have both had significant effects on the ecology of the entire region; The Great Wall of Vult, and the Easthorne Aquaducts. The Great Wall of Vult is more than thirty meters tall across its entire length, which spans more than a hundred kilometers and is punctuated by nine massive Watchtower citadels. This serves to create a fairly large arid region directly South of the wall itself, and serves to delay the transition of various strains of plague across the Northern border, as only various bird-viable strains can easily circumnavigate the barrier. To the Northeast, two major rivers have been completely redirected from their natural course through the use of aqueducts that directs them into a large, artificially dug drainage basin that used to be a quarry. The remnants of the original riverbeds remain as long scars in the Earth, where wildlife does not grow due to the eroded bedrock present, creating a partitioned section of the region where there is a dearth of wild animals.

Flora & Fauna

Due to the nature of the largely open steppes, the partitioned Northern forests, and the largely barren mountains, Calor Murex is ill-suited to sustaining dire predators or mythical creatures. Most of the wildlife is remarkably gentle relative to the dire creatures seen in other regions, being largely mundane and nonmagical. While this makes hunting for animals easier overall, it also reduces the value of most animal byproducts originating from Calor Murex as a result. The same principles apply to the region's plantlife, and while there are a number of prominent, highly poisonous plants in the region, none of them are life-threatening to humans and very few possess intriguing alchemical properties.

One of the only examples of dangerous wildlife in Calor Murex is the Agate Spider. Approximately nine feet in width and length when fully grown, the Agate Spider is a giant ambush predator known for its intelligence and resourcefulness. The Agate Spider's body is covered in a layer of thick, furry bristles - each bristle is capable of rapidly changing color, allowing the Agate Spider to effortlessly camouflage in most environments. Combined with its ability to pressed itself flat against most surfaces, the Agate Spider, even if seen, is easily mistaken for a mound of mud or else for a small rock protrusion. The same bristles which allow the Agate Spider to camouflage itself our venomous and can be ejected from the spider’s body, much in a similar manner to a defensive mechanism employed by certain species of tarantula. The Agate Spider is remarkably adaptable to different living conditions, as in the steppes and plains of central Calor Murex it is known to dig subterranean burrows from which it hunts, while in the mountains it is known to weave large bridges of webbing, and in the mires and forests it is known to construct ramshackle nests in treetops.
Agate Spiders are exceptionally intelligent, possessing advanced pattern recognition skills and a suspected primitive language between individuals. However, they are decidedly impossible to domesticate or tame, as they will single-mindedly look for patterns in a potential trainer’s behavior in order to find an opening to eat them. However, their bristles and silk both have high overall value both as alchemical materials and in the textile industries, making it inevitable that some manner of farming both would be established. The city of Etach is home to an artificially made cavern with its own ecosystem, made in order to efficiently and easily harvest both materials from captive Agate Spiders.

Important Locations

Caelum

The official Government Center of Calor Murex, Caelum is not even particularly large for a city, intending to serve as a self-sustaining citadel surrounding the palace of the royal family. The citadel is built into an outcropping of a mountain with otherwise sheer slopes, with a single large bridge leading to it from an adjacent mountain peak. The bridge itself has multiple lanes for wheeled carriage-based traffic, with sidewalls used by foot-traffic and containing internal passageways for guards and officials as well as a single passageway beneath the bridge's street for maintenance purposes. The cliff underneath the citadel has been partially carved out and is filled with giant statutes depicted supporting the structures above, and two large wholly artificial statutes stand astride the bridge itself, both of which double as watchtowers. The gate to the citadel possesses both internal and external portcullis, and a large drawbridge which crosses over a moat composed of the thin air and the several hundred meter drop down the cliff face. Although the citadel walls are pentagonal, two large extensions loom to either side of drawbridge to create overlapping fields of fire for archers and siege engines stationed on both ends. The walls of the citadel bristle with numerous large metallic spines jutting upwards into the air, each charged with high amounts of electrical current using mages, intended to deter flying enemies.

The citadel itself has pentagonal walls and is partitioned into five specialized districts, each separated by an additional set of walls and all surrounding an internal sixth section containing the royal palace proper. The first district directly attached to the citadel's main gates is effectively a redundant security layer containing several moats, watchtowers, and trenches surrounding a central causeway identical in design to the external bridge, with a cross-section delivering most traffic into the adjacent districts and a straight-away leading to another massive gate and the royal palace. The two adjacent districts are both general-purpose living areas, housing both the citadel's garrison and their families. Both districts also feature small marketplaces and business sections. The fourth district contains large fields of crop and cattle intended to sustain the entire city, with staggered seasonal crop rotation so that food is grown year-round, and with an additional subterranean subdistrict for the purposes of growing subterranean crops. Finally, the fifth district is a massive armory, arsenal, workshop, and barracks in one, serving as a decentralized stronghold for local military forces.

The central palace is intended to serve both as the center of all political affairs as well as the home for the royal family. It contains a ceremonial throne room, a grand audience chamber for the constitutional council, a large foyer, a grand library, five ballrooms surrounding a large dining hall with two adjoining kitchens, a giant chandelier overhanging the foyer which doubles as a public bath and sauna, three separate cathedrals, twenty-four parlor rooms and adjoining bedrooms, thirty-six attending offices, and twelve towers containing additional bedrooms, an observatory, an aviary, multiple greenhouses, art rooms, prison chambers, workshops, bathrooms, and balconies. Beneath the entire structure is a vast basement level honeycombed with servant's corridors and passageways, and the entire palace is surrounded by an exotic garden with a number of private cemeteries.

Etach

Historically, Etach was merely a small mountain village consisting of less than a hundred individuals, most of whom hunted Agate Spiders and harvested their webbing as a profession. This remained the case until approximately 1200 C.E., when the Citadel of Caelum was being built. The then royal family discovered that most of the silk being requisitioned for their own use originated from the relatively nearby village. Their brief and passing attention brought with it the attention of their court, who moved to capitalize upon the settlement's unique niche.

Practically overnight, the village was transformed into a township of thousands and filled with the wealth of merchant families determined to turn the harvesting of Agate Spider webbing from a practice of subsistence to one of industry. Hundreds of incredibly brave and stupid hunters spent years hunting and capturing Agate Spiders alive while massive, artificially hollowed caverns were made to accommodate them, and a system was designed to allow for the relatively safe and continuous harvesting of Agate Spider webbing from the caverns. The township grew even larger to accommodate the secondary industries needed to produce silk from the webbing, with logging mills, carpentry workshops, textile mills, and smithies springing up in a short period of time. A large fortified treasury was built in order to accommodate the massive influx of coin and wealth flooding into the town as the first consignments of silk and garments began leaving. An immense marketplace sprung into being, followed by a large barracks, and before anybody knew it the township had gained two dam-like walls on both sides of the valley and had grown into something resembling a city.

To this day, Etach remains the predominant site of silk production in Calor Murex, and produces so much silk that it has become drastically undervalued within the region to the point where it is not uncommon even for poor peasants to own at least one outfit made entirely of silk processed from Agate Spider webbing. The city is famous for its Agate Festival, an annual celebration of the Silk harvesting industry, during which time the city becomes inundated with silken crafts projects resembling Agate Spiders and their webbing. The stronghold containing the wealth of the merchant families in the city is renowned for having a bridge-like causeway leading to it supported almost entirely by suspension made wholly of Agate Spider webbing.

The city does have something of a darker side to it of course, one of them being the ease with which wild Agate Spiders can sneak into the city and erect webs and burrows without being detected. Rarely more than a month goes by without a handful of people falling prey to an extremely aggressive Agate Spider that made a snare in the lower districts of the city.

Tellum

Tellum has always been a settlement of some size and prominence due to its advantageous locale - it is poised atop a mountain peak, below which are multiple vales containing mires well-populated with various forms of wildlife, and has for some time served as the sole passageway leading from central Calor Murex to the harbor city of Obrenz. Tellum has many long bridges and causeways that allow for foot-traffic across the mountains without having to descend into and therefore disrupt the ecosystem of the mires below, with a number of elaborate spiral passageways leading to the base of the mountains and various agricultural workshops therein. Tellum is rivals the city of Westhorne in its production of various goods derived from animal by-products, with the added advantage of having a vastly superior fishing industry.

Obrenz

Due to a combination of the Eastern mountain ranges lying directly adjacent to the Eastern channel, the largely unfavorable, rocky terrain that precludes farming along the coastline, and regular raids by Ogryn via longboats, there was no major port city in Calor Murex until approximately 1200 C.E. when the citadel of Caelum was being constructed. For the purposes of logistics and trade, a naval station of some form was required by the royal family, which saw the beginning of the initial efforts to construct a port along the Eastern channel.

These early efforts were largely failed disasters. At least four separate settlements were raided early on by Ogryn, two were built on unstable loam, another was flooded due to poor judgment of tidal variations, and two more were buried in mudslides during particularly fierce thunderstorms.

Determining that attempt to build the city proper at sea-level was suicidal, the architects eventually gave up and built the city of Obrenz atop a large cliff overlooking the ocean. Years were spent carving an immense spiral causeway down the interior of the cliff face, hollowing out a cavern to serve as an extension of the harbor as well as a shipyard, and finally building a proper port at the base of the cliffside. Most of the effort was funded directly from the coffers of the royal family, and so the eventual success of the city was less due to the determination and relentless efforts of those involved and more of an assured if very slow and uninspired project.

The city's population grew after the fact when an unofficial market grew along the sidelines of the spiral causeway in the cliff face, with wealthier families even going out of their way to excavate their homes inside the causeway itself rather than in the city proper. As the ages went by, more and more of the city's population shifted into the spiral causeway and the labyrinth of passageways spiderwebbing out from it. The surface settlement slowly decayed and was renovated into a walled watchtower and lighthouse, and to this day Obrenz as a city is contained almost entirely within the cliffside. The spiral passageway has four lanes wide enough for wheeled traffic, four footpaths, and market stalls and overhanging shanty constructs bedeck the passageway from top to bottom as a vast, vertical marketplace.

Cartandal

Cartandal is one of the oldest walled cities in Calor Murex, predating the Great Wall of Vult. This is due to the city having been built atop a mesa, as part of a defensive tactic to help ward of Ogryn warbands. The populace used the first recorded instance of concrete in the region to pour and shape walls along the sides of the mesa itself to create a uniform, sheer obstacle to invasion. Thus, Cartandal has always been the largest populace center in Calor Murex, and was previously the capital and home to the royal family before the construction of Caelum. The ancient palace of Antiquity remains to this day, and is the site where the Constitution of the Monarchy as well as the Council Charter are enshrined.

The city, aside from its historic central importance to the region, was also the basis by which most of the major settlements in Calor Murex were formed. The rivers to the North and East served as natural barriers to Agate Spiders, making the plains and steppes surrounding Cartandal safer for agricultural purposes. The first large fields of crop capable of sustaining the city and of accumulating a surplus were established here, which are largely responsible for the modern day sprawl of townships and minor villages in central Calor Murex.

Beyond its status as an agricultural and trade center, Cartandal is home is the largest library and university in Calor Murex, containing an archive with written histories dating back as far as 4,000 years. Cartandal is also home to the royal mint and the bureau of wealth, making Cartandal the heart of all fiscal circulation in the region.

Holat

Holat is the oldest walled city in all of Calor Murex, predating even Cartandal in that particular distinction. Settlers originally came to the bowl-shaped valley in search of respite from Ogryn warbands. The stretch of land in Southern Calor Murex was largely barren and arid, being unsuitable for most crops and having only sparse vegetation before giving way to the inhospitable jungles to the South. The people who settled Holat counted on these qualities to deter and mislead Ogryn raiders, who would figure the region was deserted.

The ploy largely worked, as ancient Holat was never once sacked by the marauding warbands of the time. It was hard for the people to make any kind of living due to the unsuitable terrain and climate for both crops and cattle, and so for many years their existence was a meager one. Shortly after the development of concrete in Cartandal however and the investment of walls around the Holat dome; new caverns were discovered wherein several species of subterranean plants were discovered that were suitable for clustered growth and harvesting under the right conditions. By hollowing out vast caverns beneath the Holat dome and fertilizing the subterranean earth with detritus harvested from the edges of the Southern jungles, the people of Holat were able to establish the first working series of subterranean crop farms in Calor Murex. These same subterranean crops would later be used in the farms of Caelum in order to help create the self-sustaining logistics necessary for the citadel.

In the common era after the construction of the Great Wall of Vult, Tecoixin migrants from the South began to venture into Calor Murex. Over time, Holat became a center for foreign trade between Calor Murex and the Tecoixin people, and to this day the city contains the highest native population of Tecoixin in the region while serving as the center of diplomatic and trade relations between the two people.

Darjai

Darjai, much like Holat, was originally built on the premise of being both hard to reach and hard to intuit as a logical place for Ogryn raiders to search for victims. The mountainous expanse the originally settlers colonized was nearly wholly unapproachable from the North and West, requiring a long circuitous route around the rivers and lakes to the West before heading North again and then up a winding, hazardous mountain path. Like Holat, the settlement of Darjai had to invest heavily in subterranean caverns in order to subsist, namely extremely deep boreholes in order to draw water up from subterranean rivers at the base of the mountains to the city proper. Hunters and gatherers exploited the subterranean river system to hunt and fish along the Northern riverways of Calor Murex, and there is a longstanding tradition of half of a family from Darjai going on extended riverboat ventures in order to fish and hunt enough to sustain themselves for the season while the other half would head down the mountains to the East in order to harvest salt from the ocean and particular herbs from mountain mires to preserve whatever was brought back.

After the development of concrete and the development of additional mining and excavation techniques by Cartandal, the boreholes of Darjai were expanded for exploratory purposes, with surveys discovering immense veins of valuable ores and minerals within in the depths of the mountains. Rushing to secure the new source of valuable metals, the royal family of the time had Darjai walled and manufactures built, and encouraged workers to head to Darjai in order to assist in expanding the mountain boreholes to serve as mining shafts.

To this day, the Darjai mines are still the biggest source of common and precious minerals and ores in Calor Murex, and the large amounts of iron mined from the mountains here are what made the construction of the Great Wall of Vult possible.

Westhorne

As with Easthorne, Westhorne was originally built to serve as a staging ground for the construction of the Great Wall of Vult, as well as a center for additional farmland in order to grow the crops necessary to sustain its eventual garrison. Being built in the center of the steppes as opposed to the mountains Easthorne was constructed in, Westhorne how to weather much more frequent and savage Ogryn assaults from the North as they attempted to set back work on the wall. As a result, some of the largest and most savage battles in the history of Calor Murex took place in the fields surrounding Westhorne, and to this day it is still not uncommon for farmers to run across armor and skeletal remains while plowing their fields.

Westhorne serves as the traditional center for recruitment and training of the impeccable garrison troops that Calor Murex is famous for. The walls of the city are, in fact, merely the massive barracks originally constructed by the first settlers surrounding the living areas intended for the families of the garrison troops. The walls here are not immensely tall or sophisticated, but they are the thickest of any city in the region with their tops and battlements doubling as assembly and marching grounds where thousands of soldiers are drilled and trained. Those seeking to join the armies and forces of Calor Murex almost universally travel to Westhorne for their initial training before being assigned elsewhere.

Westhorne is also home to the largest network of blacksmiths and smithies in the region, constantly receiving shipments of iron from Darjai and Cartandal for the purposes of making arms and armaments and to build and maintain the Great Wall from the Western end.

Easthorne

Like Westhorne, Easthorne was settled for the purpose of constructing the Great Wall of Vult, to house and train the soldiers that would eventually garrison it, and to harvest the food needed to sustain them. While Westhorne had the complication of needing to directly fend off massive Ogryn warbands, Easthorne was well protected by the mountain ranges and long rivers surrounding it. However, it was tasked with the impossible: In order for the Great Wall to be built, the inhabitants of Easthorne would have to redirect the course of two large mountain rivers that were obstructing the planned path of the Wall's construction.

In order to affect this, Easthorne had to first excavate massive quarries in order to build a series of large aqueducts kilometers long, intended to steer the rivers and deposit the flow of water into a large land basin to the West. In anticipating the immense supply needs of the garrison troops that would be occupying the wall, the inhabitants also had to procure crops that could grow in the mires of the mountains in sufficient numbers to feed the gigantic garrison. In the simple effort of clearing the mires for the growth of various staples, the people of Easthorne rendered multiple species of wildlife extinct, and chased many others out of the Northeastern corner of the region - to this day, the entire area surrounding the city is almost entirely devoid of wildlife.

Also unlike Westhorne, Easthorne does not have the massive swaths and tracts of land necessary for large barracks. Instead, the city has a number of thick towers, with training halls on each floor housing a hundred trainees at a time. By tradition, new recruits train at the top floor of the tower, and with every successive year of training descend a floor until they reach the bottom - by which time they are ready for assignment to a garrison force elsewhere in the region. Even with this system in place, Easthorne is not the most prodigious producer of trained garrison troops in the region when compared to the likes of Westhorne and Cartandal, and so many of the towers have been wholly converted for the purposes of training officers, tacticians, and leaders for the garrison force - and thus, Easthorne is home to the most prestigious military academies in all of Calor Murex.

The Great Wall of Vult

The Great Wall was built approximately 2,500 years ago in order to stave off the hordes of Ogyrn warbands that, up until that point, had been savaging the entire subcontinent at will. The construction of the wall took close to five decades to complete, and an additional two centuries to finalize all the 'finishing touches' necessary to make it into the impenetrable wonder of the world it is known as in modern times. The actual process of building the wall itself was relatively simple, as the terrain had been extensively surveyed and selected for the purposes of logistical expediency. The terrain was immensely favorable for the construction of a wall, and the prior construction of two entire cities at either end of the wall to provide quick supplies and garrison soldiers meant that the builders never suffered from any shortage of materials or protection.

The problem came from dealing with the Ogryn. Many sections of the wall had to be built and rebuilt as the Ogryn tore them down with siege engines, or else overran one end of construction and started to rip down the wall one segment at a time from either end. The engineers for the wall spent decades formulating new methods of construction enabling them to construct an external section of the wall from the inside of the previously finished section without exposing themselves, allowing garrison troops to hold a particular end of the wall as more of it was constructed.

In the end, the wall spanned more than a hundred kilometers, and was more than thirty meters tall across its entire width. The length of the wall is punctuated by nine massive watchtower citadels, each a citadel in its own right with its own barracks, armories, and crop plantations. Each watchtower is more than sixty meters in height, with multiple layered tiers of battlements enabling them to house redundant, overlapping platforms for siege engines to rest upon. The entire wall was built with no gatehouses. The architects did not see this as a problem so much as a feature.

As the years went on, the Wall gained additional features - battlements, spines charged via electrical magics, a sloped ramp dug at the base of the Ogryn side of the wall, and horizontal juts of ragged metal to deter climbers.

Watchtower Network

Prior to the development of Concrete in Cartandal, the primary method used by the inhabitants of Calor Murex to evade and combat marauding Ogryn warbands was the series of watchtowers constructed across the steppes of the land. Using an array of signal fires, the presence and movements of the Ogryn hordes could be quickly and easily communicated across vast distances to various settlements, and a common feature of all settlements in Calor Murex is a central watchtower from which the surrounding ones are visible.

In the present day, the light pollution from most of the walled cities makes the lights of the watchtowers impossible to see. However, developments in optics in the common era has led to improvements and refurbishments in the watchtower networks. A series of shuttered lens in each watchtower enable the transmission of complex messages via shorthand signaling, which is largely used in the modern era for transmission of trade information, recent and important news, and official inquiries and messages of business - the watchtowers have not been used for military purposes for hundreds of years, and their entire existence in the common era is predicated upon their utility for relaying messages using optical lens.

Culture

The culture of Calor Murex has changed drastically over time as the eras have gone by due to the large number of radical shifts in lifestyle that the populace has undergone. Prior to the common era, the peoples of Calor Murex were largely nomadic and militant in nature with a fierce warrior tradition due to the constant threat posed by Ogryn warbands. After the construction of the Great Wall of Vult however, most of these warrior practices became largely unnecessary. People became much more focused on establishing permanent holdings and setting down roots as new settlements and villages began to spring up across the region.

In more contemporary times when migrants from neighboring regions began to visit, there was another societal shift - the foundling colonies and townships, lacking any firm sort of heritage or traditions, began to adopt distorted variants of the practices used by their neighbors, more suited to the tendencies and inclinations of the Human populace of Calor Murex - which in turn spread back to the migrants themselves and their descendants, creating a lasting, distorted set of cultural traditions that have carried on into the present day. These traditions are seen not only in the practices and behavior of the people of the region, but is also expressed in their architecture, craftswork, and art - which mirrors in a peculiar fashion the tendencies of such things from neighboring regions as they were centuries or decades ago, creating a confusing hodgepodge of 'false positive antiquities' that never fail to confuse and enrage historians.

The predominant species in Calor Murex is Human, with significantly large numbers of both Half-elves and Tecoixin present. Both religions from neighboring countries are present in the region, with accompanying shrines and temples, as well as recognized religious holidays (until recently). Sects of these religions also exist amongst the greater populace which are essentially identical, albeit distorted and shifted into a form more suited to the locale of note. Each city in the region therefore has different cultural practices and traditions with vaguely similar practices and central tenants.

Humans within Calor Murex universally despise Ogryn, even after thousands of years of very rarely seeing them. They will tolerate their presence, but most Ogryn are shunned and many will refuse to do business with them.

Military

Calor Murex is a land of walls and towers. Most of its armies are invested as permanent garrison soldiers. The entirety of the Calor Murex military tradition is based around the training of soldiers to defend walls and battlements and to assume solidified, massed defensive formations on open fields. There is a heavy emphasis on the use of siege engines in the regular training regime, as it is expected that most actual battles or engagements will consist of an enemy attempting to breach defenses while being whittled away by various forms of artillery.

To that extent, Calor Murex' forces are very defensively minded - they excel at holding entrenched positions, chokepoints, and walls. They excel at not breaking ranks or panicking in desperate situations. They are extremely cautious and wary in their tactics, and prefer to let their enemies come to them. Where driven into truly dire straits, they prefer to go aground in the literal sense, retreating into spider-holes, barracks, strongholds, and hideaways from which they can launch surprise attacks - relying upon their superior knowledge of their own fortifications and surroundings to outflank the enemy.

Calor Murex makes a fair if not exceptional use of mages specializing in Earth and Wind magics for the purposes, but they are generally utilized in a support capacity rather than an offensive and defensive one. Air mages are generally employed to charged certain contact and deterrent defenses with electrical current by way of example, while Earth mages are generally employed to shore up defenses and repair damage done to fortifications.

Heroes

Greater Hero:

Werrill Ormoneric

Werrill Ormoneric, prior to his election as regent of Calor Murex, was a mage of some renown who lived amongst many of his peers within the royal archives housed at Cartandal, being in good standing with the magical community. Of some modest achievement, Ormoneric had received commendation from the then Prince of Calor Murex for exceptional service to the throne in pursuit of knowledge while studying at the military academy of the twelfth tower in Easthorne. The truth of the matter is similar, but less rosy – Ormoneric was originally a troublesome hedge mage with delusions of grandeur, prone to fits and outbursts after surviving a near-fatal attack by an Agate spider and receiving a severe injection of venom from its fangs and bristles. Out of pity, his family enlisted him in the army and sent him off to Easthorne in the hopes that service would help him to overcome the damage to his mind. For a time, Ormoneric excelled in his studies and earned advanced placement in an officers’ standing in Easthorne’s twelfth tower after impressing his commanding officer with a demonstration of his magical acumen – though had the officer been slightly more familiar with magical theory or perhaps simply slightly more religious, they would have recognized the hallmarks of dark sorcery in Ormoneric’s skills. The instructors of the twelfth tower were quick to catch on, but ultimately decided that if Ormoneric could be taught to control his temperament that a his experiments and studies with dark magics might prove useful – and so ignored his not-so-secret conduct and overlooked the existence of the storehouse near the tower he used for his more sensitive work.

Eventually the instructors determined that a demonstration of Ormoneric’s loyalty and of his findings was necessary. They arranged for him to be present at a nearby coastal village along with a small detachment of garrison soldiers just as a longboat filled with Ogryn raiders arrived. With the support of Ormoneric’s questionable magic, the outnumbered garrison soldiers managed to drive back the incursion, and the instructors of the twelfth tower bestowed him with a commendation, and recommended his services to the royal family.

This was where Ormoneric’s streak of good fortune ended. The prince of Calor Murex saw fit to review the circumstances of the raid and the nature of the spell Ormoneric had used to drive back the Ogryn. While impressed and recognizing of Ormoneric’s talent, he immediately realized the troublesome nature of the magic itself – and that Ormoneric could never serve the royal family in any professional capacity without bringing shame to the name of the Vultic people. He had the monstrosity Ormoneric had created destroyed, the research burnt, and the storehouse Ormoneric had worked in torn down. He gave Ormoneric a place in the archives of Cartandal along with a commendation – and a severe warning that if he should delve further into dark magics that he would become ostracized, and that he would do best to serve Calor Murex through study of acceptable magics only.

Years passed. Ormoneric fell back into habits of solitude. Those sent to monitor him would report nothing, either with eyes empty as glass or with an ashen pallor. He entertained few visitors, save the occasional military official from Easthorne – as certain individuals who did not share the Prince’s concerns remembered Ormoneric and his work. Many of these visitors left, not as they were. A curious trend emerged – the more reclusive and absent from the public eye Ormioneric became, the more his name was bandied and traded amongst high-ranking military officials – eventually even reaching the halls of the council of ten.

What might have happened if not for the abrupt assassination of the royal family is hard to say, as it is questionable as to why exactly it is all ten of the council members knew of Ormoneric by name and was so willing to elect him as regent, with curious sheens to their gazes despite never having met him. Also questionable was Ormoneric’s surprisingly – eerily so – transition from obscurity to the seat of most powerful individual in the realm. Overnight, every mage in Calor Murex claimed to have been a close compatriot of Ormoneric’s, and acting either out of fear or enthrallment most of his peers were quick to speak kindly of him when subjected to inquiries. As Ormoneric’s extended family was already part of a modestly well-to- merchant clan, the public found very few reasons to think ill of him – beyond the incredulous nature of his religious views, which he made apparent at length and volume almost immediately.

Precisely how Ormoneric transitioned from becoming an uppity hedge mage to the most powerful Warlock in the realm remains something of a mystery. It could be that the near-fatal attack he suffered early on bestowed him with a drive unseen except in the most exceptional of men. It could be that he was continuously heaped with resources and funding throughout his career by his patrons in the army, affording him the luxury of unrestricted study of esoteric magical theory. It could be that the whole of Ormoneric’s past is naught but an elaborate fabrication to obscure something lengthier and darker. It could be all of these things. Regardless of the truth, Ormoneric’s power is startling and immense beyond reasonable expectation. Dozens of assassins sent to end his life fell by his hands instead, and even the most powerful of mages in the realm hesitate to compare themselves to him.

Heroes:

Destinty

The youngest of the Erinyes, claimed to be living descendants of the Prophetess. Age 16, with starlit colored hair, fair skin, a lithe frame, and otherwise ordinary golden-colored eyes. She is of a giddy disposition, with a childish romantic streak. Occasionally stubborn and emotional, prone to fits and tantrums. Physically strong enough to cause stone walls to disintegrate with a touch. Like the other Erinyes, Desinty has powers of extraordinary perception, Clairvoyance, Foresight, Precognition, and Prophecy. As the Erinyes of Guidance Over Mortal Souls, Destiny has the power to influence how individuals perceive the world around them, as well as to amplify or diminish particular emotional states. Destiny has no particular martial skill of note and is averse to fighting in general, and generally will only fight others in order to defend herself. As with her sisters, Destiny is as easily injured as a normal Human being, but seems to act as though her organs and blood were accessories more than anything else - she will ignore most mortal wounds and can recover from severe injuries, up to and including dismemberment. Cutting off her head is likely the only way to dispose of her for good.

Fate

The middle sibling of the Erinyes, claimed to be living descendants of the Prophetess. Age 17, with ebony colored hair, bronze skin and the distinction of being the shortest and slimmest of her sisters. Her eyes are golden, with tall and narrow, inhuman irises. She is of a stoic persuasion, with a collected and dignified demeanor. Occasionally prone to bouts of intense enthusiasm and vigor. While she is not particularly strong, there is seemingly no material or obstacle that can hinder her movements - her hand will sheer right through plate armor with the lightest touch. Like the other Erinyes, Fate has powers of extraordinary perception, Clairvoyance, Foresight, Precognition, and Prophecy. As the Erinyes of Manipulation Over the Natural Order, Fate has the power to alter the probable chances of particular natural events occurring in a particular fashion. Fate is extremely passive and is unlikely to fight back even if attacked or waylaid, willing to wait patiently for something catastrophically awful to happen to her foe. As with her sisters, Fate is as easily injured as a normal Human being, but seems to act as though her organs and blood were accessories more than anything else - she will ignore most mortal wounds and can recover from severe injuries, up to and including dismemberment. Cutting off her head is likely the only way to dispose of her for good.

Providence

The eldest sibling of the Erinyes, claimed to be living descendants of the Prophetess. Age 18, with graying hair, skin the color of ashes, a stony complexion, and hard, angular, and sharp features. She is taller than most men with a somewhat stocky build, and her golden eyes glow noticeably. Providence is best described as intense, intractable, implacable, and intemperate. Occasionally prone to calmer moments of reflection and contemplation. While not particularly strong, her body seems to convey a curious kind of seismic force that can shatter stone and metal alike at will upon contact. Like the other Erinyes, Providence has powers of extraordinary perception, Clairvoyance, Foresight, Precognition, and Prophecy. As the Erinyes of Divine Dominion Over the World, Providence can inflict terrible curses of retribution and spite upon those she makes direct eye contact with. Providence is a superb fighter with most weapons and unarmed, and is known to always carry a sword on her person, being rumored to sleep and bathe with it. As with her sisters, Providence is as easily injured as a normal Human being, but seems to act as though her organs and blood were accessories more than anything else - she will ignore most mortal wounds and can recover from severe injuries, up to and including dismemberment. Cutting off her head is likely the only way to dispose of her for good.

History

In recent History, the region of Calor Murex has remained a relatively stable and peaceful country, being generally prosperous due to healthy trade relationships and bonds of deep mutual respect with their neighbors. The only true instances of misfortune in the region stemmed from the occasionally successfully raid made by Ogryn Longboats via the Channel.

Things took a noted turn for the worse approximately forty years ago however. Advance Agents of the Einherjar were easily able to infiltrate the amiable marketplaces and business districts of Calor Murex, quickly working their way into positions of power and prominence. Their influence resulted in severed trading ties with distant nations, the sinking of various trade ships, multiple shipments and consignments of valuable goods to vanish from roads, blackguards and highwaymen to spring up as if from nowhere, and for unpleasant individuals to begin causing unpleasantness in the highest court of the land, stirring up trouble with blackmail, coercion, murder, and intrigue.

These events culminated in the assassination of the all five members of the Royal Family twenty years ago, and the establishment of Werrill Ormoneric as the acting Regent of Calor Murex. At first, there was an air of wariness across the entirety of the kingdom. Ormoneric was known for his outspoken religious views, and many people were fearful of rampant proscriptions and prosecution of various religious practices. Thankfully, none of these fears came to pass. Most of Ormonerics first acts were to deregulate the marketplace laws and trade regulations. Although economists have argued that this has ultimately hurt the overall balance of wealth in Calor Murex, Ormoneric's decrees have endeared him to a small extent with the common populace who are mostly grateful that he has not turned out to be a raving lunatic. The Einherjar agents, looking to worsen Ormoneric's stance with the people, ultimately only hurt their own efforts and overplayed their hand by continuing to act nefariously - allowing Ormoneric to identify, target, and eliminate many of them one by one quietly - and ultimately claim credit for stabilizing the kingdom's internal strife. The most significant changes of note that Ormoneric made during this time was a series of decrees legalizing the buying and selling of slaves in Calor Murex, although not their use for labor purposes.

Ormoneric himself initially sent out delegates to a large number of foreign powers in order to convince them to support his plan to summon the New Gods. However, most of these offers were rebuffed or treated with ridicule if not outright hostility, and so Ormoneric was largely forced to pursue the agenda alone - albeit with the backing of an entire national treasury behind his efforts. He began by creating a hermitage where he gathered together many of the region's most prominent mages to begin research on the task while he privately worked on other avenues of research.

Two years into his rule, Ormoneric's pursuits bore fruit in the form of the first Erinyes, Providence. Ormoneric kept her birth quiet however, and had her raised as a noble child of nobility within the grand court of Caelum. He did the same when Fate and Destinty were born in the following years, and it was not until Providence turned fourteen that Ormoneric announced to the world that the three were direct descendants of the Prophetess, and that he would be using their abilities in order to further his pursuit of an Evocation Ritual necessary to summon the New Gods.

This announcement caught attention from multiple foreign powers - notably the Dominion of Greater Dakarragord, the Serene State of Violette, and the Fell Lands. Secret meetings resulted, diplomacy pursued, means and ends discussed - and ultimately, the Dakarran Tyrant Vaemaradosth began moving soldiers to the Xi'an Dynasty in order to begin amassing an invasion force, declaring his intention to seize the Erinyes Prophets to further the glory of the dominion.

Since then, situations have deteriorated considerably. When Ormoneric demanded that the Xi'an Dynasty declare their intentions, a state of hostilities emerged between all three powers. Vaemaradosth has spent the last four years building up his invasion force, suffering extensive delays along the way due to freak storms, plagues, drought, and other afflictions descending upon the lands of Xi'an all at once. However, he has recently amassed all the forces he needs for an invasion proper - hostilities are inevitable and might begin at any time...

Relations

WIP

Characters

WIP

Legend of the Silver Legion (A Fantasy RP)

Here is my land claim for my WIP nation - which I hope to get posted sometime tomorrow.

From Sleep Awake

Basics of NS are finished, waiting for approval before I start fishing for mutual histories. Several areas I want to flesh out more pending interactions with other posters. Planning on making individual descriptions for each settlement and surrounding environs if this goes anywhere.

Nation Sheet

Pravarum

_{Pravarum is a riven and sundered land filled with toxic hallucinogenic fumes, crumbling derelict ruins, and disturbed centuries-old battlegrounds. Ordinary living is only possible around oceanic rivers and streams carrying fresh air into interior pockets. The wildlife is singularly awful and unpleasant, and all of the plantlife exotic and poisonous. An order of religious pilgrims who live in the wastes and have a tolerance for the toxic atmosphere form a rough-shod de-facto aritocracy, but there is no formal government or ruling body. The cultivation of multiple species of allegedly mystical flowers are used in the manufacture of narcotic substances with remarkable tonic effects, most infamously including memory loss. Pravarum is thusly a land of exiles, pariahs, vagrants, criminals, and misfits due to the ease of vanishing and starting a second life there, although many are forced into slavery maintained through use of opiates and sedatives.}

Geography

Map

Legend:
Diamonds - Settlements
Pentagons - Forts/Citadels
Arrows - Lighthouse
Fourstar - Haunted Area
Fivestar - Capital

Pravarum is a shattered land. After the second eruption of Mt. Ceryx two-thousand years ago, the entire region was reduced to the sorry state it is known for today. The land is ringed by what was once a neat and almost precisely circular mountain chain, still present but sundered in places - the remainder of the land has settled into the earth, having fallen below sea-level during the event itself. Every major lake and the inland sea of Pravarum were created by the ocean rushing into the region through the various cracks in the barrier of mountains, and every major river and stream in Pravarum is oceanic, flowing inland downhill. Despite this, enough of the exterior mountain chain remained intact to render most of Pravarum a largely dry and barren wasteland perpetually covered in ash.

The external ring of mountains also serves to trap the endless venting of volcanic fumes from the active underground, and Pravarum is infamous for its toxic atmosphere. Exposure causes severe hallucinations and invites delirium, and in certain areas it is possible for people to asphyxiate or else succumb to the air's toxicity. The only safe areas are in proximity to the oceanic streams and rivers that flow into the region, as currents of air carried along by them create safe pockets of atmosphere - most of the settlements in Pravarum are built around rivers and streams for this precise reason.

The wildlife in Pravarum consists largely of foreign species that migrated into the region and adapted over time to the new, startling conditions - the second eruption of Mt. Ceryx rendered most of the true indigenous wildlife extinct. The new fauna of the region are typically smaller if hardier breeds of species present in neighboring regions. Unfortunately, the only other animals capable of surviving in the wilderness are dire beasts drawn to the ancient battlegrounds and which prey upon the roadways.

Most indigenous flora were also rendered extinct after the second erupt of Mt. Ceryx, but new species of detrivorous plants shortly flourished in the many battlefields of the wasteland. In particular were many species of wildflowers colloquially referred to as grave-flowers, known to grow best in plains of volcanic ash with exposure to both high concentrations of volcanic gasses and human remains. While unusually colorful, these wildflowers are typically very small and commonly mistaken for weeds, belying their potency. When ground and processed into concentrated tinctures, each species of flower supplies particular tonic effects, and they are common used in the concoction of various medicinal substances including opiates and narcotic sedatives.

Species of Grave Flowers

If you have suggestions for additional flower species: I can accommodate.

Gamaranthis: A diminutive, four-petaled pale yellow flower that grows out of human bone in environs containing high concentrations of sulfur. Safe to ingest and readily used for tea; has a faintly tangy flavor that subsides into a chalky taste. When ground and mixed with a paste of powdered and boiled tooth enamel and saltwater, the resulting mixture induces profound memory loss upon ingestion, even in small doses. Less than half a milligram can cause persistent and chronic problems with recollection, while anything higher typically causes total and complete loss of all past memories. The loss occurs over a period of approximately four hours, as the substance is absorbed and digested. The Ceryx Pilgrims claims ingestion also bestows eternal life, which remains to be seen despite two-thousand years of very hesitant experimentation by other interested parties. Non-soluble with water, but noted by poisoners to bake well into most grains.

Waxshine: An extremely delicate flower with seven translucent petals that have glossy, wax-like lining. Grows only in volcanic ash with traces of both molten bronze and dried human blood. Ingestion can cause lightheadedness and cause the formation of stomach ulcers. Tastes like snot smeared around insect wings and makes for utterly vile tea. When boiled and mixed with wasp honey and fish oil, results in a mild stimulant of indifferent taste which is known to enhance mood and drastically reduces anxiety. Known side effects include a temporary and mild impairment of the vestibulary system, causing a pleasant, fuzzy feeling of lightheadedness, as well as slight relaxation of antagonist muscle fibers. Commonly used to relieve colds and congestion in small doses. In extremely large doses, it acts as a mild laxative. Dissolves instantly in water, broth, and liquors. Overdoses can result in an painfully increased sensitivity to light and auditory hallucinations, rumored by miscreants to be the voices of angelic muses.

Sparkheart: A vibrant orange flower with carmine flecks and prominent stamen. Grows only in volcanic ash with traces of molten steel and brass. Mildly poisonous and causes severe stomach cramps upon ingestion, tasting nearly indistinguishable from grass. When dried out for several days, the wilted petals can be boiled with a mix of quicklime. The resulting powder is a somewhat caustic but otherwise (debatably) harmless if powerful stimulant. Known to improve visual acuity and is said to grant mental clarity, also increasing metabolism, blood pressure, and arousal. Large doses can result in severe dietary problems and esophageal scarring, but it is frequently ingested in small doses safely. Rare individuals claim clairvoyance with extended use of particularly pure mixtures. Soluble with water but possesses a faint brown coloration.

An's Breath: A deceptively pleasant looking cyan flower with prominent white fuzz on the underside of each petal. Grows only from human bone in very thin atmospheres with extremely high exposure to sunlight and small amounts of saltwater. Melts upon the tongue when eaten and tastes like buttery water. Kills in minutes; victims inhale and breath normally but appear to be unable to use oxygen, inevitably asphyxiating. Makes for bland and invariably lethal tea. when crushed with pestles of jet and mixed with spirits before being left as a paste to dry for several hours, results in chalky blocks. Ingestion leads to powerful visual and auditory hallucinations and partially paralyzes the diaphragm. Results in a shortness of breath and lethargy; those who use it in large quantities insist they can read minds and are known to compulsively engage in dangerous activities that can result in them drowning or suffocating due to an accompanying impression of breathlessness and feelings of invincibility. Dangerous narcotic substance that is highly physiologically addictive; victims feel as though they cannot breath properly with it. Overdose leads to abrupt cardiac arrest.

Poe's Eye: A purple flower with white flecks and sharp-cornered, obliquely curved petals. Grows seemingly wherever it wants to, but notably only in the vicinity of Human remains in atmospheres with concentrations of hydrogen sulfide. Causes very painful burning sensation when ingested and can cause scarring in the tongue and esophagus, and very large ulcers in the stomach. Tea useful only as a means of torture or else as a means of staying awake for long periods of time, or both. When mixed with tar and bromide and left to harden, forms disgusting nodules. Consumption results in drastically increased visual acuity; users can see through thin walls and most other obstructions including other people. Severe visual hallucinations occur, users claim procognitive foresight. Results in swelling of agonist muscle fibers and erratic motor control plus increased aggression. Highly psychologically addicting, victims become highly paranoid. Overdoses can lead to severe muscular atrophy and deterioration.

Spotted Mannet: A very stiff and brittle ash-colored flower with black spots that grows in proximity to human remains and volcanic glass. Tastes like burnt hay; causes an intense albeit brief fever upon consumption. Makes for a very stirring tea. When crumbled and soaked with urine, will form small, brittle brown crystals that are soluble in water. Acts as a potent steroid and immune booster, but leads to a drastic increase in body temperature over time. Causes mild auditory hallucinations and is a moderately powerful depressant, inflicting melancholy and leading to anti-social behavior. Users describe the experience as akin to spending several hours in a sauna. Overdosing can lead to severe dehydration. Used more frequently for its medicinal properties than its recreational ones; prolonged use can induce catatonic states.

Leadthorn: More of a vine with flower sprouts than a true wildflower, Leadthorn only grows in and along human bone in an atmosphere with high concentrations of lead and volcanic ash. The body of the vine itself is black and is harmless, chewy, and has a faintly bitter flavor that some describe as sophisticated albeit acquired taste. The thorns, which grow directly underneath budding yellow flower petals on the vine, are covered in countless, microscopic splinters that catch and tear at skin when touched. Eating the thorns is very much like eating broken glass, but they have no apparent caustic or otherwise toxic qualities. However, when ground into a fine powder and mixed with a molten vitreous enamel solution tainted with the body of the vine itself and blood, will result in a sticky and viscous tar-like solution that is non-soluble with water. Via unknown chemical processes, exposure to any kind of organic tissue converts the tissue into more Leadthorn concentrate. Can spread in a process very much akin to rot in settlements with predominantly wooden architecture. Exposure to spirits with cause the substance to dissolve; most water-based fluids will simply spread it around.

Stepdown: The smallest species of grave-flower known to currently exist, the Stepdown is twelve-petaled flower with an unassuming and uniform copper coloration. Ingestion results in severe and traumatic hallucinations across all five senses and results in the rapid onset of madness and fugue, eventually dying of starvation or thirst if they do not meet violent ends. Victims are said to be able to pass through matter like ghosts, though these are but rumors. The Ceryx Pilgrims revere it as sacred and claim those who survive the visions are granted enlightenment and supreme mental clarity.

History

Two-thousand years ago, Pravarum was known as Ghul Decus, and was the seat of a powerful Plutocratic Republic. The land was famous for its arrangement of precise, concentric, circular mountain ranges - which not only made Ghul Decus nearly impervious to invasion by its neighbors, but created amazingly fertile agricultural conditions in the mountain valleys due to a year-round abundance of meltwater streams. The empire of Ghul Decus was a glorious and stable one that valued order, prosperity, and communal agency.

As it turned out, the range of precisely spaced, concentric, circular mountain ranges was due to the presence of a massive magma under the center of the subcontinent - as they were the remnant of a millennia-old eruption. When Mt. Ceryx finally erupted a second time, the results were even more cataclysm than the forces that had originally shaped the mountain ranges. In a span of weeks, the entire subcontinent was torn to pieces by a series of earthquakes in conjunction with the land sinking into the rapidly emptied magma chamber of the caldera - where Ghul Decus had been almost entirely above sea-level, the new landscape shifted below sea-level. Only the relative integrity of the exterior ring of mountains prevents the ocean from rushing in and flooding the entire subcontinent. This same ring of mountains served to trap the venting of the various volcanic gases and fumes from the second eruption, cutting off air currents and circulating winds that might have carried them away.

In the immediate aftermath of the second eruption, the various powers of Ghul Decus succumbed to previously dormant paranoia and lust for power, the wealthy rulers of the land amassed their forces against each other - they and their armies were brought low through exposure to the land's new toxic atmosphere, fragmenting even further and falling upon their own ranks. To this day, Pravarum is filled with ancient battlefields where the glorious armies of Ghul Decus fell prey to the blood of the earth and fought their own kinsmen to a pitiful death in the few remaining open, ash-covered fields.

Ghul Decus became known as a cursed land, and through centuries of corrupted linguistic gymnastics the description became its true name - Pravarum is often invoked not only in reference to the land itself, but often as an invective praying for the cataclysmic misfortune of others.

Despite the barren nature of the land however, life went on. New towns and even cities eventually formed around oceanic rivers and streams that made it through the external mountain range, which carried with them water-borne air currents, forming pockets of livable space. Although nearly all plant and wildlife died out during the years following the second eruption, Human importation and the natural migration of other animal species gradually repopulated Pravarum with new plant and wildlife adapted to the hostile conditions of the land. A modest agricultural base formed, and minor lanes of trade with other settlements in neighboring lands resumed. None of the surrounding powers bothered to step forward and claim Pravarum as part of their own dominion to the stigmatism associated with it, in addition to the dearth of any actual value left to reclaim in the land beyond what could be scavenged from the dead amidst the toxic battlefields.

As time went on, more people began venturing into the wastes, voluntarily or otherwise, which resulted in the creation of a settlement of far-flung pilgrims amidst the wastes - pilgrims who had developed a high degree of tolerance for the toxic environment in which they lived. By reconnecting with society at large, these pilgrims became valued members of Pravarum society, forming into the semblance of an aristocratic class due to the advantage of being able to safely navigate Pravarum's terrain. Their importance was only reinforced as the years wore on, and as the battlefields and roads of Pravarum became home to dire beasts drawn to feast on the corpse of the fallen empire - and as rumors of ghosts and maddened wraiths began to circulate.

As years turned to decades, and decades turned to centuries, the society of pilgrims developed into a religious order known as the Pilgrims of Ceryx. They began spreading word that venturing into the wastelands would grant people a second life, one which would not succumb to the savagery of time and would remain eternal - at the cost of all living memory of one's past life. This doctrine was predicated upon the cultivation of a particular species of flower known as Gamaranthis, a detrivorous species of wildflower which grew exclusively in the ash-covered, toxic-aired environment of Pravarum's many battlefields. Refined Gamaranthis, processed into a concentrated tincture, caused severe and permanent memory loss in those who drank it - and as claimed by the Pilgrims, also granted eternal life, with some of their order claiming to have lived for hundreds of years. To this day the claim remains unsubstantiated, in part due to the large number of consumers who die violent as opposed to natural deaths.

Despite the issue of memory loss, thousands of people flocked to the Pilgrim's cause at the mere promise of being able to start a second life free of all the burdens of their first - not merely natives of Pravarum, but also miscreants and the outcasts of other lands fleeing persecution. Over a few short years, Pravarum's population exploded in size, and the Pilgrims of Ceryx were overwhelmed by outcasts who would risk venturing into the toxic wastes to join them - the pressure of managing the massive number of people served as the impetus for the creation of the slave trade in Pravarum. Many individuals who partook of Gamaranthis, upon losing their memory, would be forced into indentured servitude for various purposes - and in less than a decade, Pravarum bloomed from a dead, desolate land into a modestly wealth region populated with taskmasters and narcotic workshops, with one of the biggest agricultural and labor industries in the world. Slavemasters answering to none save the Pilgrims of Ceryx dominate the surrounding areas from the few remaining Ghul Decus forts and citadels, while small towns and cities upholding the plutocratic values of the empire that came before exist as well-to-do breadbaskets, with massive slave populations toiling in the calamitous conditions of the wastes to maintain them.

Encouraged by the proclivities of greed-driven Taskmasters, most of the battlefields and ancient ruins of Ghul Decus were explored, revealing over time an increasing number of flower species growing exclusively near human remains in conjunction with the toxic environment of Pravarum. Many, including Waxshine and Sparkheart, are wholly benign stimulants used almost universally throughout Lyria, while others such as Leadthorn and Stepdown remain some of the most dangerous and strictly proscribed substances. Gamaranthis itself in particular has been viewed with some measure of disfavor by political forces since the first time it was used to poison and erase the memory of local rulers, although it along with several other breeds of Pravarum flowers enjoy a regular degree of trade and cultivation in foreign lands despite the difficulty in growing them.

Culture

The lifestyle of Pravarum peasantry is something of a paroxysm. It is not unusual even for poor families to own at least one slave, but very few families are wealthy no matter how many slaves they might own. The predominant industry in Pravarum is agriculture, and even a well-off family with many slaves might struggle. The basic cereals grown in most of Pravarum's safer fields have delicate growing conditions and poor overall nutritional value, with nearly all of it being given as tribute to local Taskmasters and the remainder being both sold in foreign markets and used for basic subsistence. Pravarum is known as a land without boundaries for those with the inclination to wander, but the dangers of traveling even via road are such that most individuals are effectively trapped in the town or city they reside in. Most are too poor to afford to move via ship or carriage, and so only those who are desperate enough to wander into the toxic atmosphere of the wastes or else are willing to join the ranks of the Ceryx Pilgrim - at the risk of becoming a slave - can readily move about the region.

Individual villages, townships, and cities are usually ruled over by prominent Taskmasters, most of whom own thousands of slaves and possess a tight stranglehold on Ceryx cultivation farms. Acting almost akin to warlords, Taskmasters maintain a roughshod degree of order and stability locally through use of force and a widespread profusion of opiates and sedatives, enforcing taxation barely a step above base extortion from the local populace, usually claiming a significant stake in all locally grown cereals and grains in order to maintain their vast slave holdings. However, in truth the Taskmasters are little more than militia leaders, since the entirety of their supply of Ceryx flowers and their ability to move goods and slaves through the roads and wastes of Pravarum depends wholly upon the cooperation of the Ceryx Pilgrims.

The Ceryx Pilgrims are mystical and largely detached, members of their order are often perceived as being unmoved by earthly desire. Possessing an innate tolerance for the toxic fumes of the Pravarum countryside, they are the only ones who can safely guide travelers through the wastes, and they are pleased to do so. They are common sights at city and village outskirts, freely available to guide travelers between settlements safely. However, they act in concert with the reigning Taskmaster at hand - and in most cases, there are mandates forbidding Pravarum natives from leaving their steadings. This has most Pilgrims pulling double-duty as custom officials, as they often require proof of identity in order to escort anybody. Many foreign travelers who have misplaced their papers have been dismayed upon being led into a town only to learn that the Pilgrims will not lead them back out.

Alternatively, as a condition of their cooperation and services with the Taskmasters, the Pilgrims may freely offer to induct anybody they see fit into their religious order - an offer which implicitly brings with it a guaranteed loss of memory and the potential of being enslaved if one is not found worthy of joining the body of Pilgrims proper.

The Pilgrims maintain the cultivation of Pravarum's many species of infamous grave-flowers, maintaining shrines near the ancient battlefields of ancient Ghul Decus where the flowers grow best. They also maintain greenhouses in various cities, though under the more sterile conditions grave-flowers do not grow as well. The Ceryx Pilgrims, being mendicants, make a modest living for themselves by concocting various medicinal substances, teaching others how to cultivate various forms of plantlife, and of course by guiding travellers through the wastes. They are known to frequently undergo pilgrimages to other lands, and can occasionally be found begging in the streets of larger settlements outside of Pravarum.

Although far from being anything approaching an official religion, the Ceryx Pilgrims follow a philosophical school of thought concerning the pursuit of mental clarity and power born through the use of destructive, chaotic forces as a catalyst for salubrious development of the mind. They claim to operate in pursuit of a higher form of idealized society, where all men are eternal and wise beyond the reckoning of contemporary standards. They seek to reshape mankind through use of select catalysts and mental disciplines in order to elevate Humanity as whole, which is what drives their cultivation and study of the various species of Pravarum grave-flowers and their effects on the mind. The Taskmasters and peasantry of Pravarum are understandably wary of this ethos, as one nearly needs to look to the thronging masses of slaves - essentially the failed and cast-aside efforts of the Ceryx Pilgrims - to see that their pursuits are not as tidy as they would have one believe.

As the original culture of Ghul Decus was nearly wholly obliterated by the second eruption of Mt. Ceryx, the various practices and sentiments of the native people are distorted variants of cultural lifestyles in neighboring lands adapted to the harsh conditions of Pravarum living.

Military

Many slaves, but few warriors. The 'armies' of Pravarum, so far as they can even be called such, are little more than ranks of human fodder armed with whatever their Taskmasters deign to equip them with. Most are far from trained and have little in the way of experience beyond beating unarmed peasants, an issue greatly exacerbated by the fact that many if not nearly all of them have no memories of their past lives and any useful battlefield skills they might have possessed.

Their only true advantage over the common soldier is their lack of self-identity. Most of them known nothing beyond serving their masters, and are wholly enthralled by their dependency upon narcotic opiates - many will unthinkingly charge into spear-walls if for no other reason than because they have nowhere else to run and no future of great note. The more cunning Taskmasters of Pravarum often take advantage of this very quality, supplying their battle-slaves with numbing droughts and stimulants to transform them into brutish juggernauts of a sort.

Their same lack of identity also prevents them from acting as in any exceptional capacity. They do not have any creative or clever battlefield tacticians, nor quick-thinking captains to lead squads through complex battlefield maneuvers in an orderly fashion - and their utter dependency upon the whims of their masters makes them largely despondent in nature, unwilling to act with any kind of initiative, often leaving them flat-footed in fights. Lacking memory of their previous lives, few of them even know how to properly handle more sophisticated weapons and arms, including bows, siege equipment, or even the basic use of platemail armor. Most are armed with crude improvised implements, farming equipment, and if they are very fortunate they might possess wooden shields and chainmail alongside cheap or stolen weaponry. There is therefore no question that any professional army or other fighting force would be able to rout any slave army they came across, even if badly outnumbered - the hostile Pravarum terrain is more of a threat.

The biggest threat such slave forces pose is not upon the open field of battle, but instead in the cramped and sullen conditions of the towns and cities they occupy. In the narrow and twisting labyrinths of various streets and buildings, they can easily overwhelm most enemies from every direction, cutting off routes of escape and drowning their opponents under the weight of their own dead bodies if need be. They serve as excellent enforcers and garrison forces, as that is the very purpose to which they have put to for centuries.

The only true warriors in all of Pravarum are so-called Slave-Knights, individual slaves of particular proficiency and skill who have been afforded training and conditioning for the purposes of serving as bodyguards and lieutenants to the Taskmasters. Little expense is spared with them, and they are a sight apart from the rest of their kind - often fully and heavily armored in platemail, wielding tower shields and lances or maces further supplemented by crossbows, even the least of them is a daunting opponent. They are made all the more worrisome by their use of spectacularly potent pharmaceutical tinctures that render them numb to pain and increase their strength, reflexes, senses, and mental acuity greatly during the heat of battle. These same tinctures tend to drastically shorten the lifespan of such slave-knights, burning them out in a matter of years - but more of their kind are readily procured from the masses. Thankfully they are few in number, typically only seen in proximity to their Taskmasters or else acting in the capacity of their agents, and they are almost never seen outside of Pravarum.

Economy

(tl;dr at the bottom)

The Pravarum economy is best described as diverse. There is no official currency, and the common people and peasantry often have little if anything in the way of foreign coinage. Even at the level of towns and cities, the economy is essentially barter-and-trade. Only regional Taskmasters typically possess any significant amount of wealth beyond what property they control, and even then it typically comes in the form of foreign currencies. This has the effect of massively inflating the value of basic coinage from neighboring regions.

Most individuals rely on slaves for basic purposes of subsistence and dedicate their personal time to a particular professional trade, through which they trade goods and services for basic needs. A family might make and mend clothes, tailoring and selling them in exchange for lumber, various tools, meat, liquor, etcetera. Due in part to the massive reliance on slaves by most of the base populace, all trade is skewed in favor of provision of natural materials that cannot be crafted or fabricated, with scarcity being the predominant determinator of worth. Craftswork related labor in Pravarum is thus some of the cheapest in the entire world, with individual family members typically working for nearly sixteen hours a day in order to meet basic needs (especially during the winter season).

The volcanic terrain severely limits the natural resources available to the people of Pravarum. Inhospital, gas-filled and treacherous underground conditions make mining beyond basic quarry-excavations an impossibility. Little to nothing exists in the form of woody plantlife, and there is very little in the way of safe grazing space for cattle while the wildlife is typically not worth hunting. The volcanic soil, even laden with ash, is remarkably fertile and permits for vast fields of basic crop to be grown as long as one does not mind subjecting a workforce to the harsh conditions of the countryside. With Pravarum's massive slave force, agriculture is effectively Pravarum's largest industry. The crop grown is delicate despite its adaptations to the local environment, and has poor overall nutritional value.

Most of Pravarum's crop harvest is given as tribute to the Taskmasters in order to sustain their slave forces, with a large chunk of the remainder being shipped to foreign nations. Combined with the regions large craftsman base, with Pravarum importing various materials that are then worked into finished goods and resold, Pravarum is one of the biggest producers of basic staples in agriculture, craft-trades, and textiles. They trade both for what they need to survive, as well as for additional materials needed to continue plying their regular trade.

Perhaps the most noteworthy if not necessarily the most important items of note in Pravarum's economy are its diverse medicinals and pharmaceuticals. The Ceryx Pilgrims produce a large excess of various opiates, sedatives, stimulants, and various narcotics which they both distribute to the rest of the world via the Pravarum markets and also by carrying with them during pilgrimages to other regions. Many of these substances are produced either entirely or in part the many species of grave-flowers that the Pilgrims cultivate, and although they do not possess a monopoly the region is unarguably the best environment for their growth and overall quality. These substances tend to be produced and sold at outrageously low cost, but also in small quantities. The concentration of the tinctures the Pilgrims make is so high that even a small thimble of their most benign remedies might kill a man, which enables buyers to get a lot of use out of the small shipments - but also carries with it the cost of very strict trade regulations and provisions in foreign markets.

Overall, Pravarum's is a flagging subsistence economy. It is an immense breadbasket and is labor-rich, but the lack of any formal government, aristocratic hierarchy, or currency in combination with the severe dearth of valuable material resources limits the accumulation of wealth even amongst the Taskmasters. The wealthiest Taskmasters in Pravarum are just rich enough that they could be considered poor by the ruling nobility of other lands and of midling financial stability by wealthy trade guilds, since most of each Taskmasters' value is in property and slave labor rather than in goods and currency.

Imports:
Meat (All Kinds)
Lumber
Textiles
Common Metals
Precious Metals
Fuel
Currency
Exiles, Outcasts, Pariahs

Exports:
Cereals (Grains, Vegetables)
Clothing
Stone
Tools (Craftsman)
Medicinals
Labor (Slaves)
Exotic Flowers

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The Ceryx Pilgrims

WIP

RPGC #13: Resolutions! - Voting and Discussion

Ok, wow, you know what? I completely forgot to update the sidebar telling people to vote.

What a goof.

Good thing I remembered to correct that a bare five/four days before the deadline when doing so least matters.

From Sleep Awake

NS is very nearly complete - just need to wrap up the famous historical figures section, which is taking a touch longer than anticipated. Even if I can't finish that, I'll post what I have tomorrow.

Do you prefer playing older or younger characters?

I prefer my characters to be of an age appropriate to the setting and to the specificity of the context in which they exist. By means of practice and use, preference shall ebb and fade. Preference gives way to effortless, incidental utility and the evocation of worth beyond the expectations of the writer who made them.

If that makes any sense.

The Twelve Labours: General Discussion

A brief announcement.

As some of you may be aware, I have been planning a particularly arduous task referred to as The Final Hazard as something of an Additional Challenge for posters who have won previous iterations of the Twelve Labours. As it has been remarked numerous times by multiple parties, this is somewhat exclusionary - which I am basically ok with since that is part of the point, but,

In further consideration of the new iteration of The Twelve Labours, I have decided that any new winners of a TTL Series Two will be able to enter the Final Hazard if it is still going. Additionally, there will be a few rules allowing for complete newcomers to enter The Final Hazard even if they have never participated in TTL. I am not going to elaborate on that point just yet, since you will be learning those rules in greater detail soon™.

Expect both the First Labour of Series Two as well as the Final Hazard to premier shortly after RPGC#13 concludes.

From Sleep Awake

Making steady progress, but also working on multiple other projects. Aiming for a mostly completed sheet by Wednesday.