Talah: A Realm of Song

Talah

Talah is an archipelago realm to northwest of Xatla and to the east of Grush. It is a cold and temperate land made up of many chiefdoms headed under one high chief. Talah is known for its ethereal swamps and forests that brim with otherworldly life, both of malevolent and strange varieties. Within the swamps and forests are great stones shaped by unknown processes to have grand pneumatic processes that create different notes when air is blown through them. When the notes are sounded they create magical effects via their effect upon aeth. These stones were once thought to be hellish creations because a great many caused the creation of horrid torrents or monsters that convinced the Talahvir to stay only to the coasts, creating their maritime culture. However, through personal experimentation, it was found that the stones were not malefic in nature and indeed could create magical effects through application of music. The material of the stones was found in other places and what was found was that the stones insides were filled with many grooves and patterns that used sound to create magic. The Talah were able to make new forms of the patterns on other materials that would carry sound. The force of music was no longer limited to just the stones. What was also found that a select few could utter the notes if they trained their voices to sing the magic tones. These could also form spells through finding the notes by instrument. Voice and instrument could be used to amplify and focus the other when used in concert. Talah became the birthplace of magical bards. This focus of sound into magic became known as sonalia. This practice spread throughout the world.

However, sonalia was not used via the lyre and flute and limited to only the few talented enough to master it individually. Sonalia became a large cultural tradition that almost all Talahvir took part in. Great choirs could be put together and use the great sonalian stones and other sonalian tools to partake in great magics. These magics were used to develop Talahviri hill forts into towns and cities and could be used in peace and war. The most powerful Sonalian use was left to the chiefs and the high chef who had personal retinues of singers. These singers would protect their masters with the help of great suits of sonalian material known as chordant armor that allowed them to amplify and create spells. The greatest sonalian material is made of pieces of the great chordant stones that are inlaid into gold and silver. Talahvir is famous for their high quality gold and silver smiths and they are the originator of giving rings as symbols of marriage. The reason for this quality comes from their use as royal smiths for the chordant armor. Those that made faulty armor from the very rare material of the chordant stone were publically shamed and exiled from their communities and often found nationwide shame. Some of those that failed effectively exiled themselves from Talah and found much more successful careers in other realms. 

While sonalia was the most historically prevalent magical force, there were others that have waxed and waned in acceptance. Druids could draw on those denizens of the ethereal forests seen at the edges of sight in the between places. These druids use heka energy summoned from these beings known as the leithe. These beings can be appeased by ritual, bond, or paid debt. Druids tend to stick to their own isolated communities inland and stay away from the coastal cities that most Talahviri live in. They are seen as outcasts.

An ancient enemy of Talah are the Nuaragha or Scourers as they are called by most lands. These are hated raiders that have scoured the Talahvir coasts for centuries. Their wicked steel weapons from Grush are known and feared throughout the islands to the point that iron and steel was banned from the islands in a cultural prohibition. These materials were not seen as being able to keep Sonalian notes. Talah uses bronze and copper in their weaponry and armor, an extremely outdated metal by the time of Epoch of Flame. Their widespread use of Sonalia made up for this weakness. 
Talahvir are made up of multiple kinds. Humans, corvidae, ramphastidae, and psittaciformes make up the majority among other bestials. Talahvir has intermixed households and has very minimal problems with kind conflict. Houses often intermix using hybrid and chimera spells which allow the creation of young between kinds that would not be able to.