Author’s Corner:
I was bored so I thought I give you guys some information on the world the story is set in. I also made a little map that only contains the most basic kind of information and a brief introduction of the regions. The next chapter will be tomorrow like I said :)
What is black remains black. I don't have a clue why so it is how it is... :-TsavKAnz-:
Central Continent
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2fFFaMvOf.jpg [http://i.imgur.com/FFaMvOf.jpg]
The regions are:
Atyra
Capital: Heles, Population: ~30.000
Atyra is with ~477 km from east to west and ~515 km from north to south the smallest of the human kingdoms. Because of its location its main focus lies on trading with the dwarves in the east and the other human kingdoms in the north, south and west. Also in this continent there is one sort of fish that only lives in the Heles Sea. This leads to a luxury product that is sought after in the whole country. Also Atyra is the leading country in researching natural laws and magic and has the best known magic academy of the continent.
Atyra has a little standing army that mainly consists of city guards and royal knights. The only danger in this country comes from the bandits and the normal wildlife.
Barbarian Hills
The Barbarian Hills are a region in the south east of the central continent. It is a region that is dominated by hills and inhabited by tribes of humans which are all fighting among themselves. Those tribes are considered barbaric because of the fighting and traditional aspect of their culture. They are technologically not as far as the rest of the continent because they don’t see the reason to research in those fields.
On the other hand they are skilled fighters that are hardened through a life of fighting from a young age. This makes them superior to any army of the other kingdoms and more than once Stesia had to learn this the hard way.
Central Empire
Capital: Ilison, Population: 100.000
The Central Empire in one of the largest kingdoms on the continent. It is the granary of the continent and produces most of the crops. The mindset of the people is that humans are the superior race and all other have to submit. That leads to many conflicts with the neighboring Kilin forest. Non-human slavery is legal and the Empire's slave markets are the biggest in the continent, having “products” for every taste.
Governance: Monarchy, the emperor holds the absolute power.
The Central Empire has a large standing army of 250.000 and the option to call another 100.000 to arms in a case of emergency. This is possible because they teach the young generation about the honour of war and that they are the bulwark of humanity. This leads to an increased standing of the military in this nation.
Corrupted Wastelands
Located in this black and stony wasteland is the Rift. Some say that it was caused by the battle of two of the gods that destroyed the landscape and cause this crack in the dimension. The reality is that every being that goes near the Rift slowly loses its sanity and begins to mutate. As a result many abnormalities and undead roam those lands and sometimes try to invade the human and dwarven lands as if controlled by a hive mind.
Another unexplained thing that happens is, that some people hear a call from the Rift and let everything behind to go to the Corrupted Wastelands. At first they were stopped at the border but soon after they learned that they cannot be near the Rift they started causing trouble in the towns they were at. This lead to the extermination of one town through a necromancer that wanted to leave but couldn’t. After this incident the policy was changed and everyone that wanted to leave was allowed to but everything that came back from the Corrupted Wastelands was to be slaughtered mercilessly.
Odrosrokar
Odrosrokar is the massive mountain range in the middle of the continent. It is inhabited by the dwarves and the dark elves. They don’t get along pretty well but the mountain range is big enough for both of them so they don’t clash that often. The dark elves live in isolation so no numbers are known for their fighting strength but rumors say that they have at least a army of 10.000.
Governance(Dark Elves): Monarchy, the queen holds the absolute power
The dwarves are in constant battle against the creatures coming from the Corrupted Wastelands and have an army of at least 150.000 men, but only their capital is free to travel to for non-dwarves so not much is known about their real fighting strength. Their capital is Danwahr.
Governance(Dwarves): Monarchy, the king holds the absolute power
Dark Mountains
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The Dark Mountains are the natural border that separates the Orcen Desert from the human inhabited lands. Every effort to build fortresses in the mountains to mine for minerals and ores were brutally destroyed by the orcs. Nonetheless there are a few villages in the outskirts of the mountains that try to become lucky and maintain a little mine.
Kilin Forest
Capital: Uel Ancalen, Population: 20.000
The Kilin Forest is the home of the wood elves and the different beast-men in an alliance together.
Governance: Governed by a council that consists of the wisest/most powerful people of each race
They have a standing army that is suited for the combat in the forest and numbers around 30.000 members, but every other inhabitant is also adept in combat so the overall combat ready forces cannot be counted.
Lava Fields
The Lava Fields are an area that is filled with active volcanoes and lava seas and rivers. The overall populace believes that the dragon race resides in the largest of the volcanoes.
Masha
Capital: Ayam, Population: 250.000
Masha may not be the biggest country in terms of size but it certainly has the biggest cities of the whole continent. This country is trade oriented and has the biggest fleet of all the nations. It also has established trading routes with all countries that have a coast. If you want to buy something then you will get it there. Even if it is illegal. Masha has everything.
Governance: Governed by a council of merchants
Masha does not have an army like the other nations. That is because it is ruled by a council of merchants that have the biggest trading companies in Masha. And those merchants have their own personal armies along with all the other slightly rich people. That makes it hard to tell the actual number but it is believed that there are at least 150.000 armed people in Masha.
Orcen Desert
The Orcen Desert is inhabited by the nomadic tribes of the orcs and their brethren, the goblins and ogres. It is a vast Desert that is barely inhabitable and pushes the orcs above the mountains towards the human kingdoms.
Scorched Desert
The Scorched Desert is a magical Wasteland that has nothing in it that is alive. Everything in it looks burned and destroyed. The sandy scenery it sometimes broken by scorched ruins of large cities. It is the homeland of the undead and their king.
Stesia
Capital: Sia, Population: 50.000
Stesia is also one of the biggest countries on the continent. It is in constant fighting with the neighboring tribes from the Barbarian Hills and focuses solely on military research together with the dwarves. This lead to them having the most advanced technology when it comes to weapons. But the research is actually more reputable than the military which leads to an army that is by far smaller than the one from the Central Empire.
Governance: The ruling class of Stesia consists of a royal family and a council of prominent researchers and the upper echelon of the military.
Stesia has a standing army that numbers 125.000.
Wegril
Wegril is a little kingdom in the north of the continent and the bulwark against the everlasting assault from the orcs. It is considered unimportant for the power balance of the continent and is mostly looked down upon by the other nations. It has little to no crop production because of the location in the outskirt of the Dark Mountains and needs to import it all from the Central Empire. Because of the constant struggle between the noble factions, most parts of the imported crops don’t make their way to the normal citizens what leads to an increased occurrence of bandits.
Governance: Monarchy that is highly influenced by the opinions of the nobles.
Wegril has a standing army that consists of 50.000 men, stationed at the border of the Dark Mountains.
Author’s corner:
There will be one or two other information chapters the next days. One about the different races and a short description of them and another one that focusses on the vampires/blood shadows. I hope I can get them out before friday. If not you have to wait until next week.