Stakhlian

Stakhlian lies between the Inner Sea and Nix - the top of the world. It is colder more often than it is hot and is lush with vegetation - trees, grass, shrubs, all the kinds that are less useful, unless you're making paper or gathering wood. It has many towns and few cities (depicted on the map). Some of the cities have been swallowed up by the Veil and have been abandoned since. The Veil is constantly being fought back by four cities, which have been arena's or otherwise hold fights to release Aura in the surrounding Area.

Needed Map Amendments: perhaps less forest/mountains, road more prominent, direction of Veil, bigger type for cities, no Aura across mountains, lake azure more prominent is lake

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Map of Stakhlian

Fauna

• Wolves
• Direwolves
• grass lynx - thought to be extinct, large predatory cats
• Rams

Flora

• Glow-Moss - gives out an eerie glow, destroys rock
• Snarling - a plant that is sticky and difficult to move in. Secretes mucus to stick seeds. Mucus is edible
• firebloom - a very red flower
• Elder-Tree - a very large tree found only in The Great Steppes. Taller than 200 ft (60m). The roots are woven tightly together.
• Spices
  • King's weed - bitter, spicy
  • Rotti - like basil
• Putrid - a medicinal and hallucinogenic mushroom

The Four Bastions of Humanity

• Red fight day - a day in the week where fighters gather Aura and repel the Grey Wall

Kieb

The strongest Bastion of mankind, mostly due to the four exShard pillars. More info Here

Lent

The second largest community of Redders with an Arena that is only surpassed by the one in Kieb, Lent is the second strongest Bastion that mankind has to fight off the Veil. Its chief business is SteelShard charging, Agriculture and military training.

Jewelling

Harsh and unforgiving, Jewelling has no other purpose but to fight away the Veil. There is little money here and the only Redders here are the ones that have been sent here by Kieb or the Ko and placed on duty. Nothing much grows this far up North and no major river runs through the city or nearby. The food is hunted, so only a small population can be constantly sustained. Lately, ore deposits have begun developing the area, but are far from complete.

Ugon

Ugon is a fishing village. Life is hard, but with more resources, more people have settled. A great place to brew Keh

Towns claimed by the Veil

• Rut
• Wasam Village
• Narvval
• Oner
• Dargon
• Immaginae
• Klax
• Innex
• Janae
• Roteteram

Other towns

Byram

A town, that lies in the NorthEast of Stakhlian, which lies untouched from the Veil. A while ago there was a plague that either killed you or drove you mad. With half the population gone and the other mad, the Byramians started to perform grizzly rituals. Their sons and daughters were born sane, but quickly grew mad from witnessing such fearsome rituals. A side effect of the plague caused the Byramians to grow immune to the Red, which only fueled their madness. Some still believed they could use Red and would sow SteelShards on their person.

Uniforms - pure white robes, tied at the waist with a black leather belt. Their helmets were skulls in various stages of decomposition. Some were barely an hour old, while with the rest, only a skull remained.

Rituals:

• Test of bravery - gather in arena and fling on a sword. The person who died first was the winner, the rest fought to the death. The only weapon was the sword they used to fall on.
• The victory feast - eating the raw flesh of their fallen enemies and comrades
• Raise the gallery - take off uniform and hoist it at their tent. Bloodier is better

'Armor'

The men wore a brilliantly white uniform, tied at the waist with a wide leather belt, which sheathed an array of small knifes. They didn’t wear traditional helmets, but instead wore skulls of different animals in different stages of decay.

Songs

The Byramians change their tune to fit what they're doing

Stances:

• Weeping Grass: A slow high-pitched tune.
• The Fortress: A low rumbling tune.
• The Viper: A monotonous buzzing tune.
• Solid stone: A continuous growl.

They also sing a disharmonious song (look up in book).

Inner Sea

The sea that separates the North from the South continent. Storms rage in the center so always have to skirt the coast when travelling.

The Desolace

A desert wasteland that allows no life to persist on it. Difficult to navigate, only place with extreme temperature fluctuations.

Oznia

an ancient place, the language hasn’t been deciphered yet

Moonguard

Moonguard

Lake Azure

A mysterious lake that has emanated power since anyone can remember. Now mostly swallowed by the Veil, apart from Moonguard keep, which dances on the tiptoes of doom.

Red Forest

The great oak forest that lies between Moonguard (Lake Azure), the Desolation, The Great Steppes and the city of Kieb.

History

The forest once spanned over the Steppes until man had intervened and chopped down most of the oaks for buildings and weapons. A similar thing is happening on Kieb's side, since their shipbuilding has risen to new levels. The Desolation is also claiming more and more mighty oaks, but the heart of the forest remains secure until now.

Bandits have been known to hide in the forest to escape the long arm of the law, but it is a difficult place to survive as many wolves hunt indiscriminately.

Sturm

the other most advanced city besides Kieb, exShard artisans