Map of the setting (partial) [https://i.imgur.com/IZ6DJRr.png]
A Synopsis On Geography Of The Story World
Kingdom of Champagne
The kingdom of Champagne. Currently governed by Cullen royal family. It`s capital is Parse.
Stretches across the continent from subarctic tundras to subtropic sea. Separated from the Kraut Kingdom in the east by a volcanically active mountain range.
To the west of Champagne is Grand Ocean and in it, the isles formerly of Albic Dominion. Legends claim there are lands to be found far beyond the Grand Ocean, but no one was brave enough to confirm the legends and write down about their experiences doing so.
To the north, the Ice Blight. Ice Blight is a shallow ocean covered in floating ice. While ice cover may seem solid enough, it is in practice extremely treacherous. People daring to venture within Ice Blight easily find themselves cut off from the shore they just left by ever-shifting ice floes.
To the south, Mittelzea separates Champagne from Oija Sultanate. Mittelzea is dotted with islands, collectively called "Thousand Isles Archipelago". Most of the archipelago presently belongs to Oija Sultanate by conquest.
Albic Dominion
A collection of isles to the west and north of Champagne in the Grand Ocean. A part of Champagne.
The story of Albic Dominion is a curious one. They begun as a nation of seafaring barbarians independent of ancient Campagna, and often raided the country in question. Over a period of about hundred years, Campagna had the misfortune of having progressively more weak and debonaire kings, while Albic Dominion was on the rise both with their leadership and their military power.
Things came to head during Grand Conquest, when a concerted military push by Dominion had them seize major cities by storm and effectively conquer Campagna. Those Albic are the root of current Champagne nobility.
The truth of the matter is, Dominion just did not have enough of population to hold the entirety of Campagna, which was at least fifty times the grand total of land available to Dominion to populate prior to Grand Conquest. While the language of Albic did supercede the native speech of Campagna (new tongue and old tongue respectively, in vernacular), the populace of Dominion had effectively dissolved itself in Campagna. Merely fifty years later, Dominion was simply recognized as yet another province of newly reminted Champagne.
As of today, Albic isles are the outskirts of Champagne. They supply much of coastline with fish and make a steady profit exporting seasalt to the rest of the kingdom.
Ashenvale
Ashenvale is a new name.
In the last, the vale in question had been called Asul Tal, literally "Valley of Sanctuary" in old Kraut. An ancient homeland of dwarves, it used to connect Champagne and Kraut, the most spacious and convenient landbound route through the mountain range between them.
Things have changed when Red Mountain erupted. The peak towering over the valley had suddenly disgorged a cloud of fire upon the valley. Pyroclastic flow erased the dwarven settlements in a few hours, leaving but a handful of survivors fleeing towards Champagne. The reason for that was simple - due to geographic position of Red Mountain relative to Asul Tal and Kraut kingdom, the mountain pass leading towards Kraut had been flooded with superheated pumice first, cutting off that route of escape. From there, the wave of glowing dust and smoke roiled over the valley, driving dwarves out of their domiciles with but the clothes on their backs. Most of them did not outran the wall of ashes bearing down on them.
Currently, the vale is known as Ashenvale, and is being tentatively reexplored. So far, simply entering the valley is problematic, as the Red Mountain still periodically belches out more pumice. Being caught in the vale during such firestorm is imminent death unless you can outrun the ashes. As such, any exploration within the vale is only concluded from horseback and with dedicated observer in order to vacate the ashpit if the blowout occurs.
Evergreens
Extensive woods in the heart of Champagne. Also ancestral elven domain.
Evergreens is a dangerous area. Everyone in the vicinity knows that when the forest changes from green and brown to black and blue, it`s time to turn around, and march right out. Do not stop, do not pause and for the love of gods, do NOT look back.
Elves that dwell within Evergreens are dangerous sort. They recognize no allegiances but their own and they tolerate no trespassing. An interloper in their lands will have no warning - an arrow entering their eye will be the first sign of elves being around.
While there exist many legends about supposed elven prowess in just about anything, the truth of the matter is that they are poignantly insular people. The very few elves ever wandering outside of the forest are either exiled criminals or wide-eyed idealists. Even those typically consider themselves well above "mortal" laws and usually run afoul before long. As such, the typical fate of an elf outside the woods is several days of curiosity, followed by them offending the local lord and being hanged or decapitated for it.
Those few elves who shown the basic survival instincts in learning and abiding the law of land typically don`t find themselves lacking. While they could sustain themselves barely on the novelty of being an elf in a lord`s court, their great ability with floral magic usually sees them snapped up as scholars or court magicians before long.
Elves in general are not keen to speak of Evergreens, but it is known that the official language of Evergreens is a dialect of old tongue and that the matters of Evergreens are decided by the Conclave, though who makes up the said Conclave remains a mystery to this day.
Kingdom of Kraut
Kingdom of Kraut is in many ways a counterpart to Champagne. Currently governed by the Hohenzollern dynasty. It`s capital is Berlinger.
Occupying the opposite side of the shared mountain range, Kraut also stretches from polar circle to subtropics. Unfortunately, while northern and southern borders of Kraut are the same as Champagne - Ice Blight and Oija Sultanate respectively, the situation in the east is more problematic.
In the east, Kraut shares an uneasy border with Grand Confederacy of TransBalcan - a very uneasy alliance of thirty different small countries, some of them boasting more then a third of population being entirely non-human or of part-human origin. The Confederacy is constantly torn from within by all the old feuds, revenges and retributions against each other.The only reason why the Confederacy doesn`t get people bowing out is due to "better the devil you know" thinking.
Further on and to the north, Transbalkans are hugged by Orkish steppes.
Grand Confederacy of TransBalkan
A collection of minor nations huddling together, Grand Confederacy occupies territory between Kraut kingdom and Endless Steppe.
The best way to describe Grand Confederacy would be "teeth-clenched teamwork". All of the nations making it are notoriously nationalistic and suspicious of their neighbors, having had been at war over the scraps of land with each and every of them. It is said that in TransBalkan - "A master, a slave, an enemy, a friend, a wife and a husband - each of those can be said of every neighbor we have. Which one is the current? Ask me tomorrow, I might have a different answer."
TransBalkan countries are notorious for having the most non-human populace density. Some of the countries are at least a solid third non-human by population. Which non-human it is vastly depends on the country in question - racial tensions between the different countries are as abundant as national ones.
Grand Confederacy maintains nebulous trade connections with kingdom of Kraut, Endless Steppe and Empire of Pharos by the dint of being their landbound neighbors, but generally can not reach enough of a consensus among the members to truly hammer out an encompassing trade agreement.
Endless Steppe
Endless Steppe is not a country, even though in many ways it has to be treated as such.
The reason why it is not a country is simple - it has no defined leader or government. The people inhabiting the steppe are predominantly orkish tribes and those few who had been accepted into them. Orks are naturally nomads. While they possess remarkable skills in metalworking, leatherworking and animal husbandry, their farming abilities are very subpar. As a result, Endless Steppe is the domain of migrating nomads and their herds.
A conflict between two tribes is usually resolved either by their respective elders hashing out some sort of agreement after secluding themselves in a yurt for a night with copious amounts of spirits or by all-out combat if negotiations fail.
In the event of global threat, the tribes convene and elect a Khan - a military dictator who commands absolute authority during the crisis. Once the crisis is over, Khan steps down voluntarily or is killed by his advisers if he makes no attempt to step down on his own.
Orks are capable cavalrymen and consider not fighting from horseback to be cowardly and meek. The magic in their society is underdeveloped and is mostly under the provenance of shamans, who fulfill the roles of mage, alchemist and adviser to tribe leader. As a rule of thumb, a well-off tribe will have up to five shamans rotating the duties between them and up to ten apprentices. Apprentices are handpicked out of babies exhibiting magic outbursts while below five years old.
A tribe that has an excess of shamans and their apprentices may elect to split into two or more allied tribes that would maintain cordial relationship but generally adopt diverging migration routes - this much is necessitated by the fact nomadic lifestyle impresses an upper limit on sustainable tribe populace.
Empire of Pharos
Bordering Oija Sultanate on southwest, Grand Confederacy on northwest and stretching far into mysterious Orient, Empire of Pharos is something of a mystery to people of Champagne.
While nominally, Empire of Pharos is not at war with Oija Sultanate, neither of the two countries ever considered the other anything less then a bitter enemy laying in wait. As such, a ship from Pharos is a rare sight in Champagne. Kraut has better circumstances for trading with Pharos, but even in Kraut, Pharos wares are a prized find.
Pharos rivals Sultanate on zukerrohr trade, though they can`t compete on cava market. On the other hand, Pharos is the only source of wares from far Orient. The silk, in particular, is something they corner the market on.
Empire of Pharos possesses much of eastern coast of Mittelzea and a number of islands of significant size in the vicinity of the coast. In the east of Mittelzea, their naval power rivals that of Sultanate. Unfortunately, that does not extend to the west of Mittelzea, where Sultanate ships reign supreme.
Oija Sultanate
Oija Sultanate is a grand empire spanning the breadth of southern continent. Separated from the kingdoms by Mittelzea, it enjoys an unparalleled amount of political and economical power.
Much of Sultanate`s wealth comes out of being in control of exotic wares such as zukerrohr and cava, both of which command significant prices in the northern countries. Sultanate is also most advanced in marine technologies, save for perhaps empire of Pharos. Much of Sultanate`s naval power comes out of being in control of overwhelming majority of Thousand Islands Archipelago.
As the dominant power in the world, a distinction held by Sultanate for a significant time, it`s officials and politicians tend to somewhat look down on the "northern barbarians". The less said about the amount of respect (or rather lack of thereof) the members of sultan family have for the laws in the rest of the world, the better.
The only known land border Oija Sultanate has is a span of land in the east between them and Empire of Pharos. According to tales of travelers, the further south you travel, the less of an influence Sultanate has, until you are in untouched wilderness.
Oija Sultanate enjoys a significant populace of imps. It is said that one out of five subjects of Sultan is an imp. Despite being a significant part of country, imps are commonly discriminated against, mostly on the grounds of their perceived indecency.
Thousand Isles
Thousand Isles is a major Archipelago in the western Mittelzea. Though geographically it`s closer to the shores of Champagne then to the shores of Sultanate, they are under Sultanate`s rule. Islands are big enough to support considerable amount of agriculture, including extensive cava plantations.
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Akgand Bharat
A country occupying the southeastern parts of continent, Akgand Bharat is arguably just a half-step above the Confederacy in fragmentation.
Functionally, it is not as much of a country as a conglomeration of smaller kingdoms ruled by their respective maharajas, who in turn comprise the ruling counsel for the whole of Akgand Bharat. The counsel in question leaves most questions of economic and demographic management to the province rulers, serving primarily as a war room and a forum for determining the foreign politics of the association.
The country in question is largely rural and agricultural. They have tense relationship with their northern neighbor, the Divine Empire, trade relationship with Empire of Pharos and distant relationship with everyone else.
Divine Empire
A polity in the far east. Divine Empire stretches from the northern tundras to the subtropical swamps, the northern reaches being typically seen as "ruling lands". This comes in no small part due to Divine Empire being founded by the northern nomads conquering the lands to the south of them until they run into organized resistance from Akgand Bharat.
Divine Empire is wholly and completely subservient to their Emperor, who is considered to be a living conduit of divine will and the object of worship. This, in turn, negatively impacts empire`s relationship with other polities, whom are all viewed as uncultured barbarians.
While haughty might as well be the national trait, Divine Empire is not above trading with Pharos Empire and Akgand Bharat, whom are their land neighbors. In the north-west, Divine Empire is separated from the Endless Steppe with great mountain range, which is considered to be not traversable for the purposes of conquest or trade. While it is not unheard of for orks to cross the mountains to trade, Divine Empire does not view Endless Steppe as a polity that can hold any diplomatic relationship.
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On Measurements, Races and Conventions
Measurements of Champagne
Weight
8 drachme = 1 onse
12 onses = 1 livre
4 quarterons = 1 livre (archaic)
1 livre = 1 pound/ ~0.45 kg
1 stone = 12 livres (archaic)
1 quintal = 1000 livres
1 quintal = 1000 livres = 12000 onses = 96000 drachmes = ~450 kgs.
Coins are typically minted to weigh one drachme.
Spices and medicines are sold by drachme, salt and tea by onse, bread and cheese by livre, grain by stone. Quarteron is not used anymore, but used to be official unit by which salt was being sold before. Stone as a measure of weight is used exclusively for grains.
Liquid volume
3 fl. onse = 1 posson
8 posson = 1 pinte
1 pinte = ~ 0.95 liter
1 quarte = 2 pinte
1 velte = 4 quarte
1 barrel = 8 velte
1 barrel = 8 velte = 32 quarte = 64 pinte = 512 posson = 1536 fl. onses = ~60.8 liters
Hard liquor and wine is traditionally served in 1 posson glasses. Beer and milk - in 1 pinte mugs. Fluid onse is used exclusively for alchemical and medicinal wares. One fluid onse of ouso weighs 1 onse.
Length
12 pouse = 1 pied
1 pied = 1 foot = ~32.5 cm
1 demitouse = 3 pied
1 touse = 2 demitouse
1 perche = 4 touse
1 arpent = 10 perche
1 demileague = 20 arpent
1 league = 2 demileague
1 league = 2 demileague = 40 arpent = 400 perche = 1600 touse = 3200 demitouse = 9600 pied = 115200 pouse = ~3120 m/ ~2 mile
Historically, 1 perche by 1 perche is considered minimal space needed to erect a hut. 1 arpent by 1 arpent is considered the minimal space one needs to erect a hut and grow sufficient food for one person to sustain themselves off the field.
Coinage of Champagne
Champagne uses coins as their primary currency. Available coins are as follows...
Gold (D`or) - contains a drachme of pure gold. Often used as a weight when purchasing spices.
Ecu (Silver) - contains a drachme of pure silver.
Sol (Copper) - copper token.
Denier (Petty copper) - small change.
1 Gold = 4 Ecu = 48 Sols = 576 Deniers
1Ecu = 12 Sols = 144 Deniers
1 Sol = 12 Deniers
It should be noted that Gold is usually referred to as Gold. If it is referred to as D`or, then person doing so is either incredibly old-fashioned (or feigning so) or that person is from the very deep Champagne province. Ecu and silver are used interchangeably. Sol and Denier are never referred to as copper.
Calendar of Champagne
Each month consists of exactly 30 days. Five or six extra days are segregated into a "non-month" segment of "year`s unending". Seasons are as follows.
Winter:
Nivos - first month of winter, aka "snowy month", also usually the coldest month of the year. This month is typically downtime, dedicated to domestic chores and repairs of gear worn throughout the year. People commonly stay indoors for days at an end and venture outside only in case of necessity.
Pluvos - second month of winter, aka "rainy month". This month sees the weather gradually warm up, shifting the precipitation from snow to slush and then to rain. Also considered an indoor month.
Ventos - third month of winter, aka "windy month". During this month, the weather is typically moderate enough to carry out lengthy activities outdoors. This month is typically the month when early cereal crops are planted. Also, the month with highest danger of thaw floods.
Spring:
Germinal - first month of spring, aka "budding month", characterized by germination of the assorted seeds that were dropped previous year. Long-standing tradition considers germinal to be an auspicious month for new beginnings, particularly so - romantic ones. First Sunday of Germinal is a romantic holiday known as Valentinian`s Day.
Floreal - second month of spring, aka "flowering month", the month that sees most flowers in the whole year. Consequently, Floreal is considered the most magical of all months, and a lot of rituals and traditions revolving around magic are to be held sometime during Floreal.
Prareal - third month of the spring, aka "ripening month". During this month, the priority number one is assorted preparations for harvest. Not much else is going on. Socially, this is the slow-down month before the midsummer frenzy of postharvest mingling and trading. Also, this is the month when the late cereal crops are being planted to be collected mid-autumn.
Summer:
Messidor - first month of the summer, aka "harvest month". The all-encompassing harvest frenzy. This month is where the absolute majority of grown crops is collected. As such, all other considerations fall to the wayside. It is not uncommon even for countries at war to set aside hostilities entirely for the duration of this month.
Termidor - second month of the summer, aka "heat month". This is, strictly speaking, a misnomer, as the peak sun activity falls in the second half of previous month. Nonetheless, this is the month when temperatures are consistently at their highest. This is the lull between crop harvest and fruit harvest, both socially and economically, and is typically treated as "a break" month.
Fructidor - third month of summer, aka "fruiting month". The month that sees the majority of fruits ripen and be collected. As the proverb goes, "summer begins and ends with a harvest". Somewhat informally, this is also "baby month", as disproportionately large selection of people count their birthday sometime during Fructidor.
Autumn:
Vendemar - first month of autumn, aka "vintage month". This month is closely tied to previous ones, as the majority of time during this month is typically spent on preparing the fruits gathered the month before for conservation. Wines are laid to age, jams are cooked, fruits are dried, pickled, marinaded, baked and candied throughout this month.
Brumar - second month of autumn, aka "foggy month". This is the month when weather begins to cool down significantly, sporting extensive fogs in the mornings and sometimes evenings. This is the time for the last small harvest, collecting and storing the late cereals in preparations for winter.
Frimar - third month of autumn, aka "frosty month". This month sees the frosts set in and people retire indoors whenever possible. Informally, also known as "babymaking month", which reflects in unusually large share of birthdays being celebrated in Fructidor.
Year`s Unending:
Five day long festival held between Autumn and Winter and formally not assigned to either. This is the time of year where all activities whatsoever are shut down and postponed in favor of celebrations. Those days fall on solstice.
Reflection is the first day of festival, upon which one must reflect on the passed year.
Farewells is the second day, traditionally a day of remembrance for all dead.
Ignition is the third day, and the one during which the heyday of celebration takes time. It is traditionally marked by huge bonfires in the evening.
Grand Turning is optional day that occurs once every four years. When it is present, it extends the celebration of Ignition.
Ashes is the fourth day, traditionally held as the quietest day of the year, the time when people recover from the hangover after last night`s celebration and sleep in.
Morning Glory is the last day of festival, during which people traditionally decide on their goals for the year and reaffirm alliances and friendships.
Weekdays are completely disconnected from monthly calendars and serve as a convenient way to keep track of time and maintain healthy work/break ratios.
Moonday -> Tuneday -> Whineday -> Thornday -> Freeday -> Caturday -> Sunday.
Moonday`s name comes with "raise with the moon" assertion that workers have to get up extra early on Moonday to fullfill week`s work in timely order.
Tuneday is unclear, though some believe it is reflecting the fact that most people are still cheerful enough from weekends to hum the tune while working.
Whineday is the middle of workweek, and is named for the whining that is wont to crop up half-way.
Thornday is named because it is typically considered the hardest day of the week, of the "walking on thorns" sentiments.
Freeday is the last day of workweek, and traditionally is held as the day where the work is kept light and main focus is on finishing up what was started during the week.
Caturday is unclear, but the implication that this is the day where one imitates a cat and lounges in the sunspot is common.
Sunday follows up on that, as the second day of the weekend.
A List Of Sentient Races And Their Comparative Lifespans
Social races:
Humans - up to 90 being the common lifespan, up to 200 in certain cases.
Dwarves - 150 is common, up to 400 rarely. Though, it has to be said that pretty much everyone who lives to 200 will live to 300, unless they die to violence or sudden disease. Venerable elders are separate social class for a reason.
Elves - 200 is average, due to social customs. Outside of Evergreens, 400 is common. 1000 and more for select individuals. Generally speaking, history is uncertain if there ever existed an elf that expired from old age. They tend to find some sort of violent death before getting to that point.
Orks - 70 is average, due to social customs and primitive medicine. In civilized conditions, 90 and 200 like humans.
Imps - 75 is average due to being all-female race in Sultanate conditions. In civilized conditions, 120 is average and up to 250 is possible.
Thinking monsters that do not establish societies of their own kind:
Vampires - technically immortal, but most don`t survive longer then 20 years due to fledges having voracious appetite and little discretion. There exist legends of ancient vampires pushing their third millenium, but no one had been able to decisively pinpoint one. Legends excuse that by pointing out that ancient vampires are notoriously reclusive and tend to cultivate their own bloodstock in form of closed-admittance personality cults.
Selkies - immortal via normal means, but can be imprisoned in specifically crafted lanterns, which leads to their mental death via boredom and subsequent dissipation. Average age of Selkie Lantern - about 30 years.
Doppelgangers - up to 30 years in captivity, up to 70 years free range if permitted to freely imitate.
On Religion
Pantheon (Short List)
* Orlag - god of sun and crops.
* Manoc - god of winds and weather.
* Sineval - god of oceans.
* Gia - goddess of earth.
* Kinov - god of business.
* Argyl - god of crafts.
* Marra - goddess of medicine.
* Lothak - god of laws.
* Zali - goddess of war and politics.
* Memiri - goddess of dreams.
Worship
Most known polities are aware of the same pantheon. There might be local distortion of names, but generally everyone knows the same gods.
The METHOD of worship differs per country. Champagne, Kraut and Confederacy tend to view gods as the sources of greater good, and worship mostly by attending temple to donate money for blessings and to partake in temple-offered services that depend on the god in question.
Priests usually specialize in serving one or several gods in particular, though they all acknowledge and venerate the whole pantheon.
Prayers are mostly the short beseechments of favor from specific god, rather then long-winded venerations.
Sultanate treats gods much the same with the caveat that all temples in the Sultanate are subservient to sultan, who is considered to be unequivocally favored by gods. As such, temples in the Sultanate charge the foreigners about twice over what they would charge from the locals for the same services.
Akgand Bharat and Pharos Empire are a little more fractured in religious regard, instead of unified temple to all gods they favor constructing smaller shrines dedicated to specific gods in separate locations, the distribution depending on what gods are considered more relevant to the local needs. As such, rural areas tend to have a clear prevalence in shrines to Orlag and Manoc (gods of sun/crops and weather/winds, respectively), seaports have a high concentration of shrines to Sineval (god of oceans) and so on.
Divine Empire venerates their Emperor and constructs Imperial Temples. Nominally, all the priests in the Divine Empire are the priests of Emperor, whom they all consider to be the one and only true conduit of gods` will. As such, regardless of what kind of blessing the person wants, they pray/donate to Emperor for it, and assume Emperor will parley with gods on their behalf if their prayer was true.
Orks don`t have much of organized religion, but they do acknowledge the existence of gods and if they consider themselves to be on receiving end of one god`s largesse, they typically offer up a symbolic part of it as thanks. For example, if an ork manages to sell horses at good price, he would buy a bottle of wine and pour it out into the ground while saying thanks to Kinov.
While some polities do practice sacrifices, it is common knowledge that gods do NOT appreciate wasteful or criminal sacrifices. In particular, trying to sacrifice a sentient being is one of the easiest ways to get smote.