The Arcanium: A Realm of Magical Supremacy

The Arcanium

A Realm of Magical Supremacy

The Arcanium is a magocracy found in the southwestern region of Velas known as the Southern Anchor which comprises of the dwarven lands of Katetia, Drath of the dark elves, Yagotzia of the hobgoblins, the Sothian Palatinate which holds the high priest of Soth known as the Thanarch, the Court of the Night which is an alliance of undead creatures that made a deal with the living, Tarkaria which contains nomadic bestial tribes, the goblin lands of Golgotzia, the Arcanium, the dragonkin-filled Samdiria, the blue Urkain inhabited Ruk, the elven land of Syldania, and the human colony of Thrale. The Arcanium is a land of magic users. It is dedicated to the mastery of magic, the mastery of the world around oneself, and the mastery over one's rivals. The Arcanium is world-renowned for its powerful mages and the colleges that produce them. It is ruled by a sorcerer supreme, one who has climbed on the top of the Arcanium's hierarchy by means of their magical strength allowing them to crush all over rivals. The realm is very small as a nation, dwarfed in size by its neighbors. Despite its smallness, it is one of the most fearsome lands to exist in the world. This is due to the massive concentration of wizards and mages who dwell within it. This massive concentration exists due to the major colleges of magic that exist within it that produce mages with great ability. At a high mortality rate.

A History

The Arcanium came about during the height of the reign Empire of Mekkhor, a powerful empire that stretched across a swathe of western Velas. During this time, the cult of Lathras put the ban on magic-users and killed any they could get their hands on. Magic was blasphemous to Lathras who provided her own miracles to her chosen clerics. The temple also had a vested interest in removing a competing power. The Lathrians were entrenched into the Mekkhorsi's governmental systems and culture and another option for power like theirs could weaken their position within the empire. So it was done that magicians, Heka users, Kah users, and anyone that did not use the energy of Will was cast out of the empire. The Aeth users fled to the Anchor, chased out by the temple. They settled the as of yet untamed land and made their own nation. The magicians held a burning hatred for the Lathrians and the Empire itself for their mistreatment. Before the Lathrians came about, they worked in concert with Hekanites, Kah masters, and others as the healers and utility mages of the empire. They were removed from their rightful positions.

Supremacy through Mastery

This hatred involved into a superiority complex that infected the entirety of Arcanite culture. In the Arcanium, a man existed to discharge their strength, all else was will to power. It was determined by the Arcanites that the strongest should rule, and the strongest were determined to be the most powerful mages that earned their power through mastery of Aeth and no one else. No charlatan priest, no dullard king, no money-grubbing merchants, and especially not the dirt of society, the common man. This thinking contributed to the birth to a new plan of world domination that was planned by the Arcanium elite and the sorcerer supreme a hundred years have they were established. This domination would not be explicit subjugation of the world but a secretive infiltration of its power structures. The Arcanium would turn mages to their way of thinking and be rid of the dregs through a dangerous curriculum used in their colleges. These mages would infiltrate the world once they had their chance and gradually change the world to their image.

Defending its Existence

The Arcanium had to defend its right to exist against multiple threats over the years. In the time of the Cold Death, the undead marched on their lands and they did battle with the liches that controlled them. The dragons of Samdiria thought to conquer the little magocracy again and again and they were fought back time and time again. The vampires that existed in the land that is now known as the Court of the Night also attempted to infiltrate the magocracy and make powerful servants of its inhabitant's copies. They were fought back again and again and the Arcanium remained.

An Opportunity

The Epiphany of Saint Bromae, by which the first high priest of the war god Alar emancipated all mages across the land from harm and suppression, became the first massive push the Arcanites needed to push their plans. They were able to keep the Arcanium as the sole place to learn mastery of Aeth for millennia by shutting down any other colleges of magic that sprung up through sabotage or secretive influence. They made a parasitic alliance with the Temple of the Five that ensured the Arcanium had religious protection against being shut down. Indeeed, the Great Unburdening, a time when rationality and science was promoted and the secular power of religion waned, was one of the greatest setbacks they had experienced. No longer could their alliance keep their works from ever biting them in the future. New colleges of magic rose and these had ample defense against the Arcanium. However, it still remained a nation and institution with a massive amount of influence in the world. Nary a royal court could be found without an Arcanium-trained court mage at a king's side. Their reputation for having high-quality education also kept them in the public eye. Their power seems unassailable

Equitianism

Although many do try to assail it. Equitianists are some of the greatest vocal critics of the Arcanium. Their implied magical supremacy goes against the movement's egalitarian nature and they are ever vigilant about any organization that makes power plays like the Arcanium. Dasili Geriov, The founder of the ministry of magicks which controls and teaches magic use in the cold lands of Equilibratist Skalovia, was a massive critic of them in the first epoch. He grew within the Arcanium under a different name, Daeglas Pearl, and became disgusted at them when he found their ultimate plans of world domination. When the opportunity arose, he joined the great radical dragon general Uhlion the Broken in his Skalovian Revolution, a conflict fought between the enthralled kobolds and their sympathizers and leaders including Uhlion the gold dragon vs the draconic Scale Prince rulers of the city-states that littered the land. He joined the revolution because he believed in Zelienism, the founding ideology of equitianism, and because he wanted to help create a state that would eliminate the Arcanium's control by way of its own resources including a magic school that was against everything the Arcanium taught. He taught that mages are not above the people, but are part of the people. They are to use their strengths in ways to help their fellow men rise past their weaknesses following equitianist ideology. True strength is found in the collective back and forth between individuals to create an equitable society. He battled the magocracy over his lifetime by skullduggery as an official of Skalovia. His successor ministers still fight that battle today. The Arcanium's alliance with nations that are foundational materielists, an oppressive economic system to equitianists, has also made the fight against them double in importance.

Today

The Arcanium still stands as one of the greatest places for someone to send their young to learn magic. Their tuitions are quite high at 300,000 silver (or $300,000 in GURPS terms) but they can instill a great mastery of magic in their students. As long as they do not die from the live fire exercises the university has which results in a third of their students being killed or expelled. That is only the classes, one's fellow students and professors may also kill their rivals or shame another out of the program in their scramble t the top.

Klastte: Men of War

Klastte
Men of War

Klastte is a land of dark forests and beautiful castle cities found in northeastern Velas. It is a land with a rich folk culture which is popularly taught by minnesang bards that learned their magical bardic musical tradition from the Talahvir. Pastries made in Klastte are delicious as are their meat products like schnitzel and bratwurst. Klastte was also home to Liestrian monasteries known worldwide for their quality beer. It was unconquered by the legendary figure Mekkhos, but it received Mekkhorsi cultural artifacts through trade. It is a temperate land with a cool climate. 

Land of War

Klastte has had a long history of war. Bordering to the north were the Scale Princes, dragons that ruled their own private hoards as city states that constantly feuded with one another and invaded the south where Klastte lay. The Nua Ragha, urkain pillagers hailing from the shores of Grush, commonly raided the eastern coasts and the boldest of them would sail along Klastte's central river, the Sondheim, and raid from the river into central Klastte. A land of warlike kingdoms in a region to their southwest known as Irenia would commonly pass through an open passage to the west of the southern Rauchig mountains, the range that surrounds the majority of the southern border, in attempts to conquer the Klasttic peoples. Along with these outside threats, the Klasttics themselves were split up into many tribes and petty kingdoms that held their own distinct dialects of Old Klasttic. For many centuries the different princes would fight amongst each other for ownership of the gold mines that lay within the Rauchig mountains in southeast and the fertile farmlands of the west bordering the southern reach of the Fang mountains that ran all along Skalovia's borders and ended in Klastte. Along with this were ancient grudges of blood between noble houses that spilled into assassinations and war. Then there were wars of religion fought between those that followed the old religion of Lathras and those that followed the new Pentaphany. The divisions of Klastte rand deep and it would take a miracle to unite them. A miracle was made by the Schalzich noble family of the old principality of Vrudekk found on the southeastern border of the nation. They were established in the city Wolfach and were a rich family from their rich trading ports and gold mines. They had hosted in their home city the Order of Saint Tobruk, a knightly order dedicated to the Pentaphany undivided. The order established to fight against Skalovia and the monsters of the lands like local nachzehrer vampires, the lizard and cat-like stollwurms, and the ravenous bakhauv that resembled a deformed calf with fangs. The Schalzich line were able to leverage their wealth into creating great mercenary armies to finally conquer the disparate kingdoms with the help of the Order. The different lands were consolidated into what is known as modern Klastte by the Schalzich Dynasty in the past few centuries and the head of house Schalzich at the time, Reichart Schalzich, was named kaiser, or emperor. Klastte in its unity has become a regional power of renown thanks to the wealth from its banking system, the consolidated power of the Schalzich dynasty, and the Klasttic Junker class. 

Klastte's Strengths

First among these strengths was the wealth built by the Royal Bank of Klastte, the first modern banking system in the world. The Klasttic bank was a standardized state-mandated financial establishment. It was first built to help the royal family of Schalzich keep the taxes gathered from the nobility of the newly conquered petty kingdoms, but its use expanded into money lending, depositing, investing, and currency transfer for any customer across the world. The Klasttic currency, the marque, became one of the most useful currencies in the world and it standardized the use of copper, silver, and gold currency. One could use a Klasttic marque even in the Huatec Empire, a nation across the sea on the continent of Xatla, and would not have to change it to the local cacao currency of the Huatecs. The amount of wealth raised was instrumental in funding the royal Schalzich family's multiple projects. Klastte was one of the first nations to establish state-funded schools to teach children of the Junkers, a landed aristocratic warrior class, in writing, philosophy, mathematics, and military theory. The first unification of the different Klasttic dialects was also undertaken in part by these schools and by the opening of new libraries full of printed books using the dialect of the Schalzich's native region of Vrudekk. Klastte became one of the first to emancipate the fallow, those of devil and demon blood, even with the full-blooded bigotry of Kaiser Heinrich von Schalzich who enacted this reform. New fortress cities, Festungs, were built all along the country to reinforce its defenses and to keep the locals in line by force and by the conscription system that would find their young fighting and becoming loyal to the kaiser. Many of these Festungs were governed and ran by Junkers. Junkers differed from Wakamotoese samurai and Velassian knights by being full-time professional warriors that were trained to be officers over large units of men rather than acting as either the main force of a kingdom or as shock cavalry. Junkers were required to take up command at all times and were expected to keep up with their skills. Under the Junkers were the men-at-arms and for a short period, line regiments that would be drilled in battle and similarly expected to be war-ready at all times. This made them natural candidates to train quickly in the newest ways of war.

Klastte and Equilibratism

The Klasttic crown became one of the first enemies of the movement with the raiding of weapons workshops that were once used to arm the southern front of the Skalovian civil war. King Juren Schalzich created a wave of hysteria targeted against the movement. This was known as the First Golden Scare, named after Uhlion the Broken One's scale color. The idea was spread that Equilibratism was a secret cult plot meant to take over the world. Regardless of Uhlionist vanguard theory and the concept of the worldwide revolution, much disinformation was spread and the true information that the Broken One had stolen  enlightenment from Astres herself set much of the world against the Republic. Tomes were burned, equilibratists jailed, and the entire world watched the Republic with a vigilant eye. Especially Klastte.

Klastte's Buildup

0 ND

Klastte had received the musket designs and magitek tools necessary to advance their own army to the modern gunpowder age. They received these from the original designer of the musket, Piotr Danilovsky, who had fled from Skalovia, at that time a newly formed nation to the north, after discovering the plans of the beloved Skalovian premier, Uhlion, that detailed a purge of any suspected dissidents to his reign. Along with this, he helped Klasttic engineers design new muskets and cannons that would be appropriate to stronger human arms. Klastte had around sixteen years to change their army but the original professional spirit facilitated the rearmament and changing of doctrines. Klastte built up to strike at Skalovia and tear away what they saw was a cancer ready to grow malignant. They may have won if they had not been facing legions of URA (Uhlionic Republican Army) soldiers hardened by the First Lich War, a horrid war fought in the north of Skalova against the invading Groza League of liches and necromancers.

The Patriotic War

16 ND - 22 ND

While near matching the URA beat for beat, the Klasttics had not known true total war in quite some time. Alaria's conflicts grew in on itself, the Nua Ragha found trade ships more profitable to raid than the Klattic coast, and their ancient enemies in the Scale Princes were slain. The URA had all the experience they could receive from proficient military drilling and officers with a complete education in all things war. They did not have built icy hardness of facing the undead and keeping the survival of their people. They did not have the indomitable spirit not born from espirit'd'corps but from the numbing of fear by witnessing the horrors the URA faced.

Klastte began the war due to a large bombing done in a border city named Schalzichburg. This was blamed on Skalovian terrorists and it was seen as time to defend the fatherland. However, it was technically carried out by Skalovian terrorists but these were monks of the Cult of Gor who wanted this outcome. They marched into Skalovia with an army of 300,000, cavalry, support mages, paladins, and a full bevy of newly designed artillery. That army fled with 50,000 that were still in fighting condition. The war lasting six years and it involved multiple long sieges and some of the worst looting and violence seen up to that point in history including the Massacre of Fort Brau.

The war is known as the Patriotic War only by those of the Klasttic Revival Movement that existed after the war. Klastte lost this war and was annexed as the new Klasttic Oblast to the Uhlionic Republic. King Juren Schalzich fled from the nation and was later found murdered.

The Massacre of Port Brau

Nearing the end of the war, the coastal city of Port Brau was captured by the URA. The siege was long and bloody and the city fighting even moreso. Once the city was captured, the commanding officer of the URA units that invaded the city, a blue kobold named Lukah Dubnov, asked the high command whether he could execute the prisoners of war in the city since he had nowhere to put them with a journey to the northern Skalovian gulags, workcamp prisons that mined the northern mountains of Skalovia, being too long to be too impractical. His question was given to premier Ural Kaitovsky, the successor to the great general and liberator of Skalovia, Uhlion. He not only gave the affirmative on the executions of those POWs, but decided the time had come to purge Klastte of any remaining influentials that would raise a hand against the Republic as they had done with the nobility of the Scale Princes. So it was made that near 200,000 Klasttics that were marked for execution were marched to Port Brau by the URA who were given orders to move the people of the occupied nation. These Klasttics were told they were to relocate to a new festung in order to make way for renovations to their old ones and that they would be returned shortly. They were marched from west to the eastern port. 50,000 officers, teachers, priests, and anyone else that were seen as a threat were executed. The largest reason why the other 200,000 were not was because of a lack of ammunition and a mutiny by a faction of soldiers against Dubnov and his military staff. The Massacre of Port Brau would make the nation a pariah state, moreso than it was before with the Great Blasphemy. This massacre ordered by the leader of the nation even gave pause to the Wakunansi, the older allies and trading partners of the Republic, and nearly made it consider breaking off their highly valued alliance. This set back equitianist work by centuries and demonized the movement to the point of even capsizing other movements that were merely related to equitianism such as abolitionist attempts in Thrale. It was a date that lived in infamy and gave birth to the premier's reign being known as the Terror.

The Klasttic Oblast

Klastte was annexed by the Uhlionic Republic in 22 ND under the rule of Premier Kaitovsky . A series of revolts and uprisings were put down over the course of two centuries. This annexation set near the entire world against the Republic and they were sanctioned and placed on interdict due to it. Klasttic culture was suppressed in the early decades of the occupation and the area was subject to Skalovification, the forcing of Skalovian and Equilibratist culture onto the occupied nation. The Kibbutz system of Skalovia was enforced upon the land. The military was disbanded and the URA, which would not allow Klasttics to join for decades, established martial law. Klasttic Pentaphany temples were looted and changed to administrative buildings. Klasttic cultural artifacts including books of folklore, stories of legendary figures, and minnesanger tradition were torn down. The nobles were torn from ownership of their lands and new union councils were created that managed those areas. One of the scariest things of this system to the greater world was that certain Klasttics kept close equivalents of their old positions and these were the Equilibratist sympathizers and double agents planted into Klastte including some of the Junker class. 

Das Syndikat

The Syndikat began as disparate groups of smugglers and black market dealers of Klasttic materials that grew and thrived under the occupation. These groups came together in the city of Port Brau, a popular coastal smuggling center, and created a new organization meant to profit off the situation the Uhlionics had created. Making a profit from desperation is not a new game. They expanded into hosting bordellos, gambling rackets, protection rackets, robberies, and more illegal businesses. They greased the palms of Uhlionic officials and even spread into parts of Skalovia. They exist even into future epochs of the setting.

Klasttic Refugees

Many Klasttics fled from Klastte during the war. Chief among these places was Alaria, the combined kingdom and palatinate of the god of war to the southeast, who had found themselves in a new peace after the Civil War. Interestingly, a number had fled to Wakunan, another equitianist state that held similar beliefs to the Republic inhabited by the hyena-like gnolls in their rich port cities and its vast savannah. The two states had traded with each other for millennia and Klasttic-owned estates had been established in Wakunan in the past. While the first few generations was anti-equitianist, further generations fell into harmonizing Klasttic culture with Wakunansi culture including hybrid food dishes and a unique form of Minnesang bard singing that combined with Wakunansi singing traditions.

The Verdant Peace

41 ND

Skalovification of the oblast lasted until the end of Premier Kaitovsky's reign. Premier Ukiatev, his much beloved successor, sought to overturn many old policies her cruel predecessor put into place. Klasttic monks were allowed back into the nation and their monasteries were rebuilt, although many temples remained administrative centers for the new regime. The suppression of Klasttic culture was stopped and certain parts even adopted by the Republic such as the Minnesang tradition which became an entrenched institution in the Institute of the Chords, or Orkestr in old Skalovian. This allowed a new source of magic users for the republic. Klasttic food, folklore, and religious traditions were allowed again. This cut into Syndikat profits but they had expanded enough into other domains that they stayed around despite the decreased pay. Revivalists continued their campaigns and sought nothing but the full independence of Klastte from the Republic. Over time, though it would take centuries, the occupation ceased to be this horrid thing and the Klasttic oblast would become a nation of card-carrying Equilibratists. A Klasttic premier would one day take power.

The Divided Nations of Mekkhor: Heirs to Ancient Empires

The Divided Nations of Mekkhor

Mekkhor

Lekkas

Lekkas was the birthplace of Mekkhas, the ancient conqueror that created the Mekkhor Empire.; It had long been an enemy of the Scale Princes before the revolution. Lekkas is known for its sheep farms. The Palatine of Astres is located in Lekkas. Most of the landscape is covered in mountains. Lekkas has a cold temperate climate. It was one of the first nations to be contacted by an old kingdom of dwarves, Gromdalia, and one of the first to receive gifts from before the Twilight. Because of this, the Lekkenics have a deep relationship with Gromdalia andt the Lekkenics have steadily traded with the dwarves for eons. Even with the rise of Mekkhas, one guarantee of the legendary warlord was that no duerthi blood would be shed by Lekkenic hands.
Lekkas did not always think of itself as Lekkas. Indeed across millennia it was host to dozens to hundreds of city-states bound together by a commonly developing language. These city-states feuded with each other as much as any outside threat. For their wars, they raised levied armies of hoplites, heavily armored warriors taught to wield long spears and round heavy shields in formation. Their style of war would lay the foundation for future tactics even when the hoplite grew out of fashion. Lekkas also found itself with the knowledge of the old-world, although a fragmented form given in bits and pieces by the dwarves. This knowledge was not exclusive to the dwarves; the elvish realms, dragons, and other ancient kinds also keep it, but much like the areas around those ancient places it gave the Lekkenics insights and different ways of thinking about the world. Many philosophers, academics, and innovators can draw back their foundations from this specific relationship and this sort of Foundational Theory has spread with trade and war.

Being a vector for old knowledge, Lekkenics value wisdom heavily. The land is littered with academies, universities, and research centers. The patron god of Lekkas, Astres, exemplifies the almost worshipful foundation of seeking questions into the unknown. When the Great Blasphemy occurred, Astresian cleric were the first to demand the ability to study what the Broken One stole from their god. They were also one of the largest hosts to revolutionary workshops making firearms using Dr. Holowitz's magitek tools. Lekkas was also one of the few regions of the world that did not contribute to the Blue Host that attacked the Republic at the end of the Skalovian revolution. Indeed, possibly just out of self-preservation, Lekkas has had a sympathetic to a cooperative relationship of the new Skalovian regime. While made up of harmonists, equitianist thought was not quashed until the events of Port Brau when the Bloody Scare set off.

Orcini

Orcini is known to be a land of romance and ostentatiousness. It is covered with fertile valleys and foot hills along with flat plains and rolling hills and rivers. Orcini surrounds the mouth of the Sea of Wine, walls off the Valarine Sea, and opens to the Green Step Sea which leads to Aizarin. Orcini is a rich port region and its fleets and control essentially gate off the majority of Lekkas, Ravois, and parts of Catarein so heavy tariffs are often paid to get past or trade gets dropped off on Orcinian land to have a native trading company serve as a medium to pick up the load and sell it themselves. Each Orcinian kingdom has a powerful navy to keep this control of the waves. Orcini has gathered a great amount of wealth from its trade and its domestic industries including dye works, wine making, and textile works. Orcinians essentially worship wealth. Many monuments and edifices have been created to this worship. Grand opera houses, great arenas, opulent palaces, grand forums, some of the largest cathedrals to the Five in the world have their home in Orcini built by princes, magnates, and others of the high classes showing off their monetary power. It is also a realm of great subterfuge, intrigue, and power struggles. Assassins, thieves, duelists, mercenaries, and spies make their home here and it is known to have at least been home to two found thieves guild and one found assassin's guild. Orcini has the monster, cultist, undead, and other issues that other realms have but even contractors are more likely to be set against their neighbors indirectly than for simple defense. 

Catarein

The Palatine of Prythe is located in Ortaset. Catarein is known for their cattle and dairy farms. The Catereinian landscape has flat plains surrounded by rugged undeveloped hills. It is a temperate land of hot summers and cold winters in the interior and more moderate temperature near the coasts. The southern fork of Catarein contains deserts in the interior which give way to the more fertile coasts. The northern section contains temperate deciduous forests. 

Catarein is no stranger to invasions, from the empire of Mekkhor to the Cold Deat to the Xhenonic Risen Empire to dragons to necromancers. Along with this, political divisions have split the land for eons from old tribal chiefs to Mekkhorsi warlords to the kingdoms at the beginning of the Epoch of Flame. The beginning split into three kingdoms is impressive in that those regions were split into near two dozen different petty kingdoms only a century beforehand.

Catareinians value machismo and status heavily. In the way Orcinians lift up wealth, Catareinians lift up the idea of face and respect. Face is won by being tough and standing one's ground. By doing what a man should do by dealing with problems head-on. By hunting large game, by winning fights against one's rivals, by commanding the respect, love, and if not those then fear of one's fellow man.

Dueling, bullfighting, prizefighting, once jousting, tournaments, contests, and more are used in games of gaining face. 

Epoch 2

The Catareinian Civil War

343 PR

In 343 the aftermath of the Grush War set off a wave of tensions in Catarein. This region had one of the last gasps of aristocracy and a great change was occurring across the world that would see the old blood toppled. This gave rise to three groups. The Liberadors, an equilibratist faction; the Patrianos, a harmonist faction; and the Guardias de Sangre, a Tierian faction. The civil war would be one of the more wild ones and underneath the surface opportunists, grifters, and malefic types rose from their dark cracks into the light of day. War has broken out and near all able-bodied men have either volunteered or have been drafted into the army of one of the sides. 

Ravois

Ravois is a land of rolling green hills, beautiful forests, and quaint cottages. Ravois was the first region invaded by the Cold Death and is also the birthplace of Velassian feudalism. It is also the originating point of Chivalry. Ravois as a region has long seen itself surrounded by enemies and rivals. Even back before Mekkhos the Conqueror brought it to heel, the original tribes often had to fend for themselves against all manner of threats. This has led to a long history of warriors that stretch from woad covered tribesmen to fully plated knights to professional men at arms. As a central location in Mekkhor, however, it is also home to many trading ports and receives a great deluge of different influences from across Mekkhor. Much of the world outside of Mekkhor is locked off by the heavily taxing Orcinian navies and Wakunan being a massive profitable trading point for Aizarinian merchants to stop at a long way before Ravois. Where Lekkas is home to vast repositories of wisdom, Ravois is home to art and culture across the regions. It is also home to a special martial art and kah style that has an emphasis on kicks called Pied Rapide style. Ravois three kingdoms are much longer established than other Mekkhorsi regions and this is due to the heavy centralization of administration duties the three have established. This centralization has power centered around the kings themselves rather than having lords running their autonomous regions with their fealty paid by levies and tribute. This has been found necessary as Ravois' divisions go deep and even one kingdom could hold host to essentially hundreds of petty counties and baronies feuding with each other. To the old way's credit, these lords did levy their forces when the kings needed them. However, they also often threatened the kings. The absolute monarchical system created is a result of decades of gradual change and it has rewarded the kingdom in a much more swift and responsive military force. It has also made repression of dissenting ideologies much easier. Religious power has long been a source of tension between clergymen and aristocracy even past the Great Unburdening. Outside of the great palatinates, Ravois holds the greatest amount of church-owned lands by the beginning of the Age of Flame. Clergy also do not have to pay taxes to the king and they are not required to levy manpower. This can make them popular with the lower classes where often peasants on church land are squeezed less for tithings and they do not have to fear being called up for service. Ravois is also a hotbed of harmonist sympathizers and amongst them is a minor league of equilibratists.

Malkabir

Malkhabir is a land of lush green coasts that give way to high mountain and parched deserts. It was one of the most difficult lands for Mekkhos to conquer and for good reason. Its harsh inner land has given rise to tribes of well-trained horsemen that have history in warring with each other and hunting great beasts like giant scorpions, deadly marid, and in ancient past the valleymen or qareen in old Malkhabiri. Malkhabir is also considered the birthplace of djiin and as such the birthplace of the djiinari peoples. It is known for the beautiful ancient architecture of its cities along with the style of flowing dress that saves the Malkhabiri from the fury of the sun. It is a land of feuding beys and emirs that war at a tendency similar to the southern Xatlan empires but without the history of bloody sacrifice. Malkhabir is the birthplace of the Pentaphany where the Five gods were united first. The religion spread from the peasants up to the governor generals of the Mekkhorsi Empire and to the rest of Mekkhor. It is also a region that plays host to a massive amount of trade as it serves as a gate to the inner Dancing Sea and a common point of rest for ships travelling abroad from Aizarin, southern Velas, and Xatla. Part of this trade has made the region a repository of knowledge from across the world. It rivals Lekkas in the amount of seminaries, academies, and great libraries it has built. Rather than the dwarves of Gromdal helping them along their way, they were given a worse crash course by dragons of what is now known as Samdiria attempting to control the region. Along with this, they trade with the local elven enclave of Syldania which similarly parceled out ancient knowledge. It is the birthplace of Uslariyah, an ancient martial art practiced by mounted warriors. The Pentaphany was first formed in Malkhabir.

Ashriq

Ashriq is host to fertile highlands and grasslands and is another major trade center. Less warlike than the emirates of the Malkhabir, Ashriq rivals Orcini in the scale of political intrigue both have. Ashriq is another region with vast repositories of knowledge but in Ahsriq, knowledge is power and it is home to some of the most secretive but also the most resourceful information brokers in the world. Ashriq is home to one of the oldest assassin traditions in the world and its tsalal agents are some of the most proficient spies and killers in Mekkhor. Ashriq is home to a heavy infantry and mounted cavalry tradition due to its wealth, mineral deposits, and fertile lands. It is also home to an ancient mixture of kah and heka tradition known as Altheanya where a mastery of the body was mixed with beseechments to djiin and other supernatural creatures. The Ess'Wun Kinship and those that practice Altheanya have a friendly rivalry and between them they created the world's first kah martial arts tournament that is still manually run. The Palatine of Liestra lies in Zakariyya and it shows. Around lake Nafi is a vast garden of fruit and greenery kept in perfect order for the patron mother. Yuduliya is strange region that has hosted a unique religious tradition for many eons. 

Riddle of Flame: A Setting Rundown

Riddle of Flame

A Setting Rundown

A broken being absconded with the enlightenment of the gods and his prideful machinations would revolutionize the world.

The Riddle of Flame is a fantastical epic setting with steampunk and historical elements. RoF can play host to numerous genres of stories set within its highly varied developing world including mystery, action, adventure, horror, war, and more! On the planet of Kyr the known world is undergoing massive technological and social changes that will see societies leap from the Feudal ages to the Industrialized era. Knights and spearmen are being replaced by musket-wielding linemen and cannons in war and simple crafts are being left behind for great smoke-spewing factories. The realms in ROF have seen a long history involving magic inherited by millennia of mastery, wars between nations, religious strife, discoveries, and mysteries long unsolved like the disappearance of the ancient elven empire. Now the realms of Kyr are being thrust into a new age of refined gunpowder, great machines, and flying ships.

A Massive World to Explore

RoF holds a massive world called Kyr brimming with territories as of yet unmapped by civilizations that inhabit three main continents:

• Velas, a continent host to some of the greatest empires in the world with the remnants of those ancient realms fought over by many kingdoms. These lands are a hotbed of intrigue and agitated ideology ready to boil over into unrest and war.
• Skalovia, once home to the dreaded draconic aristocracy of the Scale Princes, is now home to the burgeoning radical Uhlionic Republic that works to spread the ideology of Equilibratism to the world through agitation or gunpowder.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-uhlion-republic.html
• Klastte, the home of a warrior class of aristocrats that quickly transitioned to the age of gunpowder that serves a bulwark against Equilibratism.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/klastte-men-of-war.html
• Alaria, a kingdom dedicated to the god of war that holds the last gasp of chilvaric knights within its feudal borders. It is the home of the high priest of the god of war and to different sects that are coming to conflict over their beliefs.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/alaria-holy-wars.html
• Wakunan, a new republic built off of the ruins of matriarchical rule and genocide with its own ideological goals and a rich trading tradition. The savannah is old and home to many dangers along with those that wish to return to the old ways.
• The Ess'Wunn Kinship The kinship is a network of monasteries that teaches the secrets of kah.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/wakunan-healing-savannah.html
• Thrale, a newer republic of colonists set on taming Thrake's Vale. Thrale is an up and coming nation that will blossom into a full blown superpower. Within Thrale's borders are strange Elakansi people who have a mastery of the energy kah and infuse this energy in totems on their mountain home. Thrale makes its home in:
• The Wynde, a great forest shaped by magical means now left to be overgrown by ancient masters. The young colonies that lie beneath the great mountain Thrake ply into this forest in search of ancient magical artifacts left behind and new fertile land to call home in Thrake's Vale, or Thrale.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/thrale.html
• Grush, the homeland of the Urkain where the deadly Nua Ragha raiders make their home. A land of masterful blacksmiths and rejection of the gaudy. Within this archipelago lies ancient ruins of precursors and large forests with many dangers.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-grushian-archipelago-of-urkain.html 
• Liresku, once under the reign of a genocidal empire, now held by the godly Dominion in a theocratic grip. The god of law's agents rule the lands and suppress rebellion and heresy.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-dai-empire-and-dominion-transition.html
• The Court of the Night, a dark gloomy realm that acts as a nationwide house arrest for creatures of the night. The eponymous Court is made up of a mixture of vampires, wraiths, necromancers, and creatures that made a deal with the temple of the god of death to maintain their existence but there are undead that do not comply. It is a "safe" place to visit but beware of becoming the attraction.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-undead-creatures-of-shi.html
• The Sothian Palatinate, the warden realm around the Court of the Night which is home to the high priest of the god of death, Sothe.
• Drath, a despotate of dark elves that returned from distant mysterious shores bearing blood magic and snow-white skin after millennia of absence.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/07/drath-civilization-without-past.html
• Gromdalia, an ancient dwarven confederation found in the Gromdal mountains that has existed since before the twilight of time. It is responsible for the progress of the modern kinds up until the epoch of flame. Their unique runic magic is key to many magitek advancements.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/07/gromdalia-ancients.html
• The Arcanium A land based on magical supremacy where the greatest wizard rules. It is also home to the oldest magical colleges in the world with high fatality rates.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-arcanium-realm-of-magical-supremacy.html
• Samdiria A land of dragonkin founded by a dragon out of spite with a very libertarian feel to rules.
• Tarkaria A rough wildland of desert, grassland, forest, hills, and plains that is home to nomadic tribes of bestial kinds, animal men, and the Tarkkyrat, or United City of Tarks that seeks to consolidate the different tribes in the changing world in a modern city.
• Kesst A land of dunes, desert, and highlands that is ruled by the Diarchy and is one of the oldest kingdoms in the world. Along with Kessian culture are the enkidu, hulking kinds of tribesmen found in the highlands that keep their autonomy by service to the crown.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/nation-kesst.html
• Lusmia A land of tolerated necromancers that defend the entire world against the threat of an ancient race of mind-bending and fleshbending worms that seek to conquer the topside.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/nation-lusmia.html
• Groza a chilled land of liches and necromancers off the coasts of Skalovia and Grush that fight amongst each other when they're not invading the lands of the living for ancient grudges.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/05/undead-confederation.html
• Mekkhor A large region once ruled by an ancient warlord and now a divided land of multiple cultures.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-divided-nations-of-mekkhor-heirs-to.html
• Yagatzia A land of nomadic horsemen red-skinned hobgoblins.
• Golgotzia A land of free-spirited tinkerers and the homeland of the goblins.

• Xatla, a sprawling land of tropical jungles on one end and rolling plains that contains a vast collection of peoples from the masked Uladrengish to the warlike bloody empires of the south and the enigmatic Zethite dragonkin that lay beyond their wall of mountains. 
• Uladreng, a realm of the masked. Every citizen of this land wears black robes and white masks to hide their identities. They also often war against vampires invading them from the northeast.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/uladreng-dark-kingdom-of-masks.html
• Talah, an island realm of song where magical chordant stones have shaped an entire society to a choral hierarchy.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/05/talahvir.html
• Aizarin, a land of ancient cultures built from common conflict with a vast realm of fiendish undead besieging them on one end and a strange civilization of insectoid creatures claiming to hold an engine of heaven on the other facing off with knightly zealots. These lands include: 
• Wakamoto, a land of grace and perfection ruled by a divine emperor and his samurai warriors in defense against an undead scourge. They keep order in the land against threats to the Emperor including the Oni King and his minions.
• Zothica, the home to kinds of bug people from bulky tall beetle humanoids to flying mothmen and armored venomous scorpion men.Their civilization was saved and built by a strange device that gives its users wonderful powers, the Heaven Engine.
• The Firmament, a puritanical crusader state of knights dedicated to the god of war carved out of a sultanate. They wage a continuous war to create a world united under their holy control.
• The Rasp, the land of the dead threatening to drag down the lands of Aizarin filled with all manner of undead thing from the wicked jiangshi to the vengeful goryo.
• The Cursed Reach, a vast desert of Aizarin filled with fiends that contains a great lake circling a mysterious island at its center.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/04/aizarin.html

• The Risen Realms Deep sea realms home to sea animal people, the Xhenonics, and to their ruling caste of sun priests that lead them to invade the land.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-lands-of-xhenons.html
• Then there are new frontiers yet to be discovered including a landmass dotted with massive black spires that reach toward the heavens and an ethereally cursed land of swamps, dark forests, and serene countryside that hides secret mysteries.

Read for more information on the laws of a few of these lands: https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-laws-of-nations.html

A Living Technologically Progressing World

The Riddle of Flame is not stuck to one time. It is spread across three distinct epochs that sees technology and society progress with the march of time. It begins with the introduction of Napoleonic Era technology, advances to a mid-victorian state, and then finally ends with a WW2-like world. These are known as epochs and are numbered 1, 2, and 3.

• Epoch 1 sees the world in its greatest state of transition from the feudal kingdoms to the nation states resembling the wave of Enlightenment Napoleon forced upon Europe. Armies begin as professional men at arms with pikes and swords and end with linemen armed with bayonets and muskets. Along with this comes the first aeroships and the discovery of the new land of Gothica.
• Epoch 2 finds the world in the first steps of an age of machines and clumsy smoothbore muskets replaced with cartridge rifles along with brand new discoveries like the land of black spires newly named Shudder. Along with this, trains and steam engines become popularized with rails crossing the land.
• Epoch 3 has the world well settled in technological progress and older one-shot rifles are replaced with bolt action rifles and submachine guns. Fast-flying airplanes are established and the age of the automobile has arrived. Advancements are extremely eclectic with personal music players seen amongst pressed suits and stetson-style hats.

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/aeroships.html

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/weapons-equipment-tools-armor-ground.html

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/05/brief-broadview-history-and.html

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/technological-epochs-in-rof.html
https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/what-does-great-blasphemy-mean-and-what.html

A Feel of the Historical

RoF also contains degrees of historicity and verisimilitude. Many factions within the game are inspired by historical nations and cultures including but not limited to:

• Skalovia, which has a mixture of Slavic culture in its influence with Russia and the Soviet Union being direct prominent inspirations, but it also containing Polish influence as well.
• Klastte, which is an interpretation of Prussia and has an Eastern German influence with their early.
• The states of Mekkhor, which has inspiration from different regions that touched the Mediterranean including the Maghreb, the Levant, Iberia, Italy, and also France. 
• Wakamoto, which is a Japanese inspired land with another culture, the Kaze, occupying a similar space to the Ainu.

Along with aesthetic influences, technology generally proceeds through the advances made on historical earth but at different speeds for different domains due to interference by magic, religion, and other factors.

Certain events resemble events from real life, like:

• The Skalovian Revolution A war resembling the Russian Civil War in it's destruction of an old outdated regime and its uplifting of a new ideology and setting the stage for the growth of a superpower.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-skalovian-revolution.html
• The Great Unburdening A time period resembling the Enlightenment that concerns the loss of power of religion, the advancement of humanist (kindist) thought, and a progression of science

Attempting to be similar to history (although not strictly adhering to it), many nations are not clean or unscathed and the morality of states are usually varying shades of grey. For example, the Uhlionic Republic did rise from an enslaved society of kobolds and did topple over a callous regime in the Scale Princes but it would also go on to make oversteps and commit Katyn Forest-esque atrocities like the Massacre of Port Brau. Along with this, most nations have participated in the practice of slavery until the near the start date.
https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/slavery.html

Magic and Technology

Apart and in Accord

• Magic has long been part of the world and has served a key part in past advancements and society. 
• Technology has really burgeoned to become a new powerful force in the world and it rivals magic in its use and power. 
• Magitek combines both of them together to allow for unique and powerful tools but comes at the cost of volatility and expensive materials like the aetherium crystal.

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/magic-magic-blooded-and-magitek.html

A World Driven by Ideology

The Age of Flame was begun by ideologues and it is further driven by ideologues. The ideologies break down into four major groups:

• Harmonism This is an individualistic philosophy that values freedom and prosperity.
• Equitianism This is a collectivist philosophy that values order and justice.
• To Learn More: https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-brief-timeline-of-feudalism.html
• Tierianism This is an ethonationalist philosophy made in response to the above two that is commonly militaristic and jingoistic.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-tiers.html
• Traditionalism This grouping contains those cloying to the old kingdoms and feudal systems that are slowly but surely dying out.

The Divine

The world contains multiple religions, prominent ones being:

• The Pentaphany The Epiphany of the Five that supposes that there are five true gods and all others are facets of those gods. Those gods being:
• Sothe, the God of Death, he who defends natural death and directs the afterlife.
• Liestra, the God of Life, the patron mother of fertility, farmers, and healing.
• Prythe, the God of Law, the great judge of justice and punishment
• Alar, the God of War, the lord of battle and just war.
• Astres, the God of Stars, the watcher of craftsmen, travelers, explorers, and keeper of knowledge.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-pentaphany.html
• The Temple of the Twins The religion worshipping the twin gods Dhaegoth and Vhaegoth who are prominent in Urkain culture.
• Hekanism Which describes a group of religions and traditions that draw upon the energy of Heka which is given by those between spaces such as kami and faeries.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/hagswoods-and-covens.html
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-deities.html
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/04/anima.html

Anathema: The Ascended

Beings occupying a demi-god like state exist that can serve as active patrons to their followers and worshippers. These include:

• The Woehltriv Archdevils which seek to leech off of society and control it. Archdevils include:
• The Crone Queen, the self-proclaimed queen of witches that delights in sacrifice and witches brews.
• The Crossroads King, he who is the greatest dealer and gambler of all time that grants wishes at a price.
• The Prince of Lies, he who twists others around his finger using his silver tongue.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/devil-worship.html
• The Woehltan Archdemons which seek naught but to discharge their strength.
• Veq, the Plaguebearer who delights in the spread of pestilence.
• The Oni King, an archdemon of blood and slaughter that lets his demons run wild in the world.
• The Living Saints Prominent figures that ascended in life and gifted their followers with power.
• Saint Bromae, devoted to the god of war in life and now continues his god's holy work in smashing apart the enemies of civilization.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/07/audovauld-bromae-of-lorcilly-patron.html
• Kunan, the messiah of Wakunan that taught self-control. She protects her people and followers through her patronage.

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/anathema.html

Contractors

The equivalent of heroes and adventurers in other lands, contractors include errant knights, traveling paladins, wandering mercenaries, and other specialists willing to ply their trade for coin and rewards. Contractors can find quests posted on quest boards or given to them personally and are paid to scout areas, clear passages, defend settlements, and more.

Contractor groups include:

• Exceldius A contractor guild built by former mercenaries, Exceldius has seen franchises across the world and any aspiring adventurer would benefit from its many services and amenities found in its halls.
• Gravemarkers A religious militant organization of wandering paladins dedicated to the god of death. They use large blessed scythes and armor to strike down the unholy.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-chantry-of-sothe.html
• The Gold Company A contractor guild that directly answers to the Thralish Supreme Chancellor that acts in their nation's name abroad.

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/contractors-adventurers-monster-hunters.html

The Energies

There are multiple energies that allow their users powers, spells, and other special effects based upon their special properties. These energies include:

• Aeth Mastery of this radiating ethereal energy that blankets the world allows the use of spells.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/magic-magic-blooded-and-magitek.html
• Will Bestowed upon those of great faith to allow them miracles.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-deities.html
• Kah The energy of life that strengthens the body and allows fearsome powers.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/kah-and-gurps-monk-template.html
• Heka This energy is a special mixture of Aeth and Will that is given by supernatural beings.
• Shi The energy of unlife that comprises of corrupted Kah that powers the undead.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-undead-creatures-of-shi.html
• Woehl The energy of the tithing realms drawn from sacrificed souls and the patronage of the unholy masters that dwell in those places.
• https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/devil-worship.html

Other Settings within Kyr and ROF

Maxim of Steel A dungeon crawler and Fallout/STALKER/Wild-West inspired mashup.
https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-maxim-of-steel.html

Gothica A Lovecraftian and Deadlands-like Weird Americana-like setting.

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/06/gothica-new-world-of-horror.html

Further Reading

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/glossary-of-terms.html

Slavery

Slavery

At the beginning of the Epoch of Flame, slavery had only just been slowly dialing down in use over the course of a century. Before then, the practice of owning other sapient kinds to perform labor had been around for many millennia. The religions of the world did not see it as sinful and the practice had been regularly accepted in society. Contractor quests could include returning runaway slaves to their owners, Prythian paladins would process and identify slaves to make it easier to return them, and often the higher classes' palaces and keeps would be stocked with slaves. 

Slaves vs Serfdom

There is a distinction to be made with serfdom and slavery in that serfdom was technically not the same but the movement of serfs was restricted by their lords and they could be separated from their families if they were seen as needed more in another place than the one they resided in. 

Sources of Slaves

Slaves were often prisoners of war, debtors, and captured criminals. Slavery based on the superiority of one Kind over another that had one group force another into captivity is actually a more recent invention based on a confluence of factors in multiple regions. One key region that saw the last gasp of chattel slavery was Thrale in the first century PR.

Compliance

Slaves were kept in line by multiple tools. The whip and the chain were used in regularity to instill submission upon slaves. Physical beatings, painful punishment, refusal of nutrition, and other means were also used to keep slaves in line. One of the greatest tools to insure compliance was the covenant ring. These were magical rings that were made to link one's mind and physical feeling to another in order to ensure cooperation or a deep intimacy such as a lord and their bodyguard or two wedded spouses. The pain one felt would be shared as would the thoughts of both parties. If one died, the other died. Covenant rings could be modified into slave bands where one party would be excused from sharing themselves but the other would have all the effects of the band still active on them. These tools were used by rich slave owners to doubly ensure compliance not only from those banded but also to intimidate those around them who would want to ensure the safety of the banded. The bands were expensive but effective and often were given to the most influential members of a community of enslaved people such as the elders.

Waning Practice

Slavery has not truly been completely ended in the Epoch of Flame but the sight of slaves serving at their masters call in normal society and the practice of regular chattel slavery and indentured servitude has died down by 0 PR for multiple reasons. One, having individuals and families responsible for their own feeding and housing is cheaper than having to do so for slaves. Two, non-slaves can be expected to learn and expand upon their abilities without fear that they could use those abilities against their masters. Three, with the settling of Velas and Xatla the options to procure slaves was reduced as many were captured in war and then sold. Four, debtors could potentially be more profitable to bosses looking for laborers than slaves as one can squeeze money out of them for longer. Five, it became easier to convince a man to work and suffer in silence if he thought himself free versus one that could chafe under their captivity even if they had a comfortable living. Six, an abolitionist movement had sprung up in the last century before the Epoch of Flame which had slowly but surely ended the explicit practice. These types would succeed in most places except Thrale where other means were taken.

Modern Slavery

Slavery is not dead on the planet Tys. Prisoners are forced to labor against their will as terms of their sentences in places like a Thralish penitentiary or a Skalovian gulag. Sexual slavery and the violent coercion of men and women into prostitution to pay off debts or for pure profit exists in the dark cracks of the cities in civilization. Even chattel slavery is still practiced but the explicitness of its arrangement is often hidden.

Thralish Slavery

Thralish settlers captured the bestials found within and beyond their borders to work the land and till the fields. They had no legal recourse to freedom and were objects and possessions just like the ox and plow. Their children would become property. They were banned from learning that went beyond what was necessary to do the hard work their masters gave them. They justified this as an economic necessity along with a moral one. It was claimed that the bestials had no ability to form proper civilization by themselves and thus they needed other, more intelligent and forward-thinking Kinds to help them. Ignoring empires ruled by bestials across the water and in contradiction to the growing queendom of Wakunansi Hyenidae bestials known as gnolls who would grow to create cities and landmarks from profiting off of the land trade and protective guidance they gave merchants. Nevertheless, this idea would develop into Kind Burdenism, a belief that it was the civilized kind's duty to try to uplift the lesser kinds and bring them into the light of civilization. Another way the Thralish justified their practice of slavery was the supposition of the inborn supremacy of Kinds over others. Humans created empires, humans mastered magics to deep degrees, humans built nations, humans warred "better" than others and as such they were superior to other Kinds. This superiority meant the weak should respect the strong and follow their lead. After the end of chattel slavery in 46 PR, these ideas would feed the new Tierian movements.

Slavery in Play

If a player takes a slave, ask them to not unless they are playing in an evil campaign. There is no such thing as a lawful and good society that contains slavery. Any who would forcefully attempt to trample the dignity and spirit of another living thinking being deserves a bullet. Being seen owning a slave is cause enough to be imprisoned or summarily executed in most nations.

Healers Beyond Realms: An International Organization of Saviors

Healers Beyond Realms

An International Organization of Saviors

Healers Beyond Realms, HBR for short, is a neutral international organization comprised of mundane doctors, kah users, magical healers, clerics whose mission is to provide medical care and relief in conflict zones, impoverished areas, and warzones to all injured and suffering within those place. Founded in the aftermath of the combined alliance of the Sea Wars in the First Epoch of Flame, HBR has since been seen around the known world giving aid and care to all combatants, non-combatants, and civilians in the areas they operate in. They are funded by a world council of multiple nations along with private charities that buy their equipment, provide transportation, and pay their healers salaries. They are given special privileges and access to the areas they operate in that very few organizations have. Along with this worldwide laws have been enacted that outlaw combatants hurting or killing them. An offending party will be punished by the healers not being required to heal the offending party's wounded along with incurring sanctions upon any nation that trespasses on their mission. Some groups and nations disregard this and beyond intentional harmful intent, being an HBR is a dangerous job that pays less than a contractor doing the same work for a specific side. HBRs are picked from strong-willed individuals that understand the dangers they face and are willing to make sacrifices and put themselves in peril to do their jobs. 

HBRs are hated by Tierians, claiming them to be a subversive equilibratist conspiracy while even some equilibratists are wary of what they represent due to the way they are funded. That does not prevent nations such as the Uhlionic Republic from allowing them within hot zones they operate in and they have a special relationship with the Republic in much the same way Gravemarker Templars do in that their special skills warrant privileges others do not receive. While a majority of their funding comes from Harmonist nations, HBRs do receive patronage by equitianist and traditionalist nations as well, with the Republic and Wakunan making up near 39% of their total funding. The latter nation has multiple monks and healers involved in HBR.

HBRs in the Grush War

HBRs partook in the Grush conflict and treated both sides. While having to dodge fire from the Uhlionic and the Thralish alliances before they were recognized, they were often given the access they needed to heal both the armed forces and the civilian urkain caught in the crossfire. Temporary hospitals set up by them were left alone and they often mediated disputes between different troops from opposite sides being housed in the same buildings. The Neo-Firmament forces did not treat them differently from their enemies in Uhlionics and their allies and hospitals containing HBRs have been shelled and individuals of the organizations murdered. While tolerated for a while by the Thralish side, the Commonwealth needing the extra help to wage a war a longways from their homeland, these murders had a huge effect on public and national support of the Thralish alliance. 

The Maxim of Steel: In a Land of Dark Towers

The Maxim of Steel

A Land of Dark Towers

"This land                                  is                                              shudder." -Broken Telegram sent by the Erchwald Expedition.

Past the Sea of Tumultuous Peril, littered with hundreds of destroyed naval vessels, is the continent commonly known as Shudder. Shudder is the land of black spires jutting upward from a land containing many biomes. Its size rivals Velas in width and the breadth of it contains hundreds of colossal black spires that reach toward the heavens. These frightening edifices are sanctuaries in this new harsh land. Strange anomalies, constant calamities, terrible monsters, paranormal activity, harsh landscapes, and unknown terrors lay beyond the radiating cordons around these spires. The towers themselves seem to reach past the heavens and range from 5 to 20 miles in width while the outside cordons terminate around 20-50 miles in a circle. Within the cordon is arable land containing sources of water. Inside every tower are angel engines in miniature facsimile to the miraculous Heaven Engine of Zothica. These angel engines do not to give the same powers. The purpose of these strange machines of glowing tubes and metal legs is unknown. They may be responsible in keeping the terrors of the land at bay. They do not keep back the dangers up the floors of the towers. 

Shudder is subject to colonization and expansion aided by aeroship companies, nations, and organizations with interest in what can be found within the towers along with what can be gathered outside their safer cordons in the perilous reaches. For in the towers lies the great risk of dangers from the terrain of the different levels and the monsters within but also treasures and loot that can fill the bank of simple contractors and provide greater treasures for the powers that be to exploit in their goals. Great charters are bought from aeroship companies that hold each tower in a strange lease. These charters allow one to claim these towers with the foundational and continuous aid of the aeroship companies. The companies guarantee trade, communication, and shipments between the towers and the old world. However, each charter company has ulterior motives and each are most certainly motivated by profit. That is when they are not outright arms of old-world powers with their own agendas. 

The towers and the rights to settle within them are bought by hard cash through the charters or by funding from outside interests that can simply take them if they have an aeroship fleet. 

The Maxim of Steel Setting

The Maxim of Steel is a setting within the greater world of Riddle of Flame. It is a settlement building, dungeon diving, and exploratory setting. The players are Keepers, chartered owners of a black spire on the continent of Shudder, and they are responsible for delving up into the monster, trap, and puzzle-filled levels of one of many colossal black spires along with enticing new settlers to their claim and building a settlement from a simple colony to a thriving vertical metropolis within the safe ground borders of their home. They do this via loot from the tower, by the use of longterm resources found within them, through research funding, and any other means to exploit the towers and the lands. 

The towers themselves have ascending levels that present multiple small worlds to explore. One can find themselves ascending the great stairs snaking along the circular walls of the tower and find themselves in a humid jungle with man eating sickle-appendage trees and then after chopping through the brush and climbing a mother set of stairs will find themselves in a frozen tundra with man-swallowing creatures disguising themselves as puddles on the ground and then climb up the stairs again to find caverns filled with an ancient enemy to civilization long since thought undead to then climb the stairs again and find a giant stone cemetery guarded by vengeful spectres. The levels are random in what can be found and within are treasures including magical artifacts and the less obvious sources of unique resources such as plants that can treat heart conditions that jut from those sickle trees or special crystals found growing within special nooks and crannies of the tundra level which can serve as an alternate source of power to aetherium. What may be extremely interesting to researchers are the aetheric stones found embedded in the roof and walls of each level that seemingly allow the different levels to exist by their effects. A jungle level may have a stone that gives off the life-giving energy of the sun while another stone produces the necessary components of the rain to nurture the flora within the level. These may even be able to be scavenged and used like the magical hearthstones and air bubble stones of the old world, but at the cost of ruining the level. The levels are more difficult to tame the further one goes up and seemingly not one charter settlement has reached the top. 

The frontier of Shudder offers multiple opportunities as a setting. Instead of getting into the nitty gritty of settlement building one could be a simple contractor hired on to explore the towers, find loot, and give a percentage back to the town while interacting with a steady cast of characters. The dangerous wilds outside the cordons contain great rewards for great risk in the form of magical anomalies and the chance for hunting exceptionally dangerous monsters. Along with this, the towers themselves are often engaged in diplomacy, rivalry, and intrigue. Towers trade with each other, ally with each other, sabotage each other, and outright war with each other. One could play as a contractor or railroad boss exploring and mastering the lands by building great fortified rails across land connecting one tower to another in great fortified trains and defending the railroad against raiders, monsters, saboteurs, and others that would deter progress.  

Gothica: A New World of Horror

Gothica

A New World of Horror

The United Colonies of Gothica

The Colonies of Tavertland (Purple), Borieauxland (Blue), Genea (Red)

Gothica is a colony of a new continent in RoF found within the middle years of the first epoch of flame. Found and partially exploored within the first few decades of the 100s PR, Gothica's settlements swelled with the worldwide invasion of the Xhenonics in the second century. Fleeing settlers of all kinds and walks of life found new homes in the strange continent. Some found their riches. Some found the manifold mysteries and terrors that lay in this strange new land. Gothica is host to a myriad of magical creatures, ancient ruins, strange geometries, and natural bounties. The new colonies established found a land without living inhabitants for possibly good reasons as outside the cities of Gothica strange terrors body-rending and mind-bending await. Among the dusty hamlets, walled towns, cosmoplitan metropolises is a plethora of secrets, sin, and scintillating horrors lying under the surface. 

Gothica is a setting in development that will play host to thriller and horror settings found in books like Lovecraft Mythos, Steven King Stories, and others. The setting will set the stage for mystery, horror, crime, and supernatural genres. Even the natural is not safe in the reaches of Gothica as one can find themselves trapped in a bayou by vicious killers or stuck on a snowy peak with isolation driving one mad.

Gothica differs from Velas, Xatla, and Aizarin in that Gothica does not have the natural bulwark of multiple established realms that grew in their ability to combat monsters and the dark over the course of millennia. Gothica as a new colony now has multiple prosperous settlements but the settlers are in greater danger than even a peasant living in the borderlands between Jaewa and the Rasp or Uladreng and the vampiric lands of Xatla. Gone is the coralling of the undead into a compliant nation-wide arrest like the Court of the Night or the isolation of the squabbling lords of Groza. Now there is true wilderness once again.

Contractors make the journey to Gothica in search of riches and fame. Monster hunting is quite popular and there's always something going bump in the night that could use a claymore or a six-shooter to stop its disturbing racket. The faithful of the old world also have set up shop with temples, orders, and missions to light up the night. Taming the land requires effort wrought with blood, iron, spell, and prayer.

The cities are great places of commerce with seedy criminal underbellies, political machines with hands in multiple pies, and unrest. These bulwarks against the night are not quite the adamantine strongholds against the intrigue of the living day. 

Gothica vs Shudder (Maxim of Steel)

While both lands are mystical, strange, and dangerous in their nature, Shudder offers a more structured core playing style with its dungeon-crawl-like setup and the settlement system. Shudder can be used outside of this diving and buildup and the outside of the reach of the towers is a strange, dangerous, anomalous, enigmatic, and magical place. The main difference between them is drawing more upon frontier stories and Gothica is drawing more upon horror stories. Shudder resembles the Wild West mixed with STALKER and a splish-splash of Fallout. Gothica resembles settings containing spooky stories about swamp cannibal clans, deadly hauntings, secret parasitic aristocracies, deadly predators, and remnants of old dead gods. While there are plans for western horror once this core setting is developed, it still will be a different feel from Shudder.

The current regions of Gothica are based on different genres one can explore within the setting.

Gothica is meant to be played in Epoch 2 much like Shudder.

Tavertland - New England Gothic. 

Borieauxland - Swamp and Southern Gothic. 

Genea - Midwestern... Gothic. 

Tavertland is settled mainly by Thralish, Alarians, and Talahvir. Borieauxland is mainly settled by the Ravoir and Tarkarians. Genea is a melting pot of everybody with New Hope serving as a grand cosmopolitan trade port and central government of the new colony. 

Tavetland is settled by good godsfearing folk in hamlets and small towns with deep and dark secrets lying underneath the surface.

Borieauxland is made up of a series of swamps, marshes, and highlands settled by settlements and swamp clans.

Genea is split between being mountainous and flat and settled by a multitude of different cultures and kinds making their living from mining and other pursuits. There are foul things in the mountains and you may end up as one if you're not careful.

In the future, the rest of the continent may open up for western horror ala Deadlands.