Posted on Leave a comment

The Castles of Baevonia: Balance is in the Order of Things

The mountainous homeland of the Baevonian people, Baevonia is not merely a fortress city; it is an ideal given form, living proof that order is what carved the world, and order will restore it. “For Baevonia!” is the warcry, even for those beknighted clans deep in the Savathar Mountains who have only dreamt of one day seeing the Castle City. So tied are the people to their cause, so often do they speak of their mission, that travelers have come to know the peaks and valleys near the Castle City as the “Baevonian Mountains.” Continue reading The Castles of Baevonia: Balance is in the Order of Things

Posted on Leave a comment

The Tribes of Chonia: Order is in the Balance of Things

Chonians make camp.

Beneath the vast grasslands stretching away from Lake Chonia is a hive of underground rivers and aquifers that once fed the Grekian Sea upon which Old Grekia was built, known now to the Chonians as the Great Sea Beneath the Grass. When these hidden springs are all discovered and opened, the Chonians believe their combined flow will flood the arid savannah and rebirth the Great Sea, restoring life across the continent.

The Chonian tribes roam from Lake Chonia beyond the Stygian Weald into the savanna east of the mountains and into the riverlands of Pradjna. Each tribe lives in balance with a zevra herd. The herd and the Chonians travel as one, remaining in one place only long enough to draw forth an oasis from the Great Grass Sea. Once life is restored in a small region, the tribe moves on to leave nature to pursue its cycle.

An oasis on the open plains is a welcome sight for all life: flamingos, antelope, mudfrogs, legions of insects and the myriad critters to prey upon them. It is for the larger predators that it becomes safter to urge the zevra herd onto the arid steppe, away from the new oasis, before life erupts in the region. As the herd travels the Great Grass Sea, the zevra’s sensitive hooves feel for the next oasis beneath the grass dunes. Along the way, the Chonians survey the stars to better mark their path and improve their maps. When at last the zevra dance, the tribe knows to begin anew the task of encouraging an oasis. Continue reading The Tribes of Chonia: Order is in the Balance of Things

Posted on Leave a comment

Disputed Territories: Old Grekia

OLD GREKIA

From the Savathar Mountains in the north through the K’naghi Savanah and south to the Scorched Lands is a vast swath of dry hills, arid mountains, and rolling grasslands peopled by an equally wide variety of cultures. Cartographers love borders, and these many and varied places are routinely grouped into one colossal region known as the Disputed Territories. Much of this region’s history is bound to eternal competition for resources, particularly water. Nowhere is this history more apparent than at Lake Chonia, just north of the Baevonia Mountains, in a region scholars know as Old Grekia. Continue reading Disputed Territories: Old Grekia

Posted on Leave a comment

The Old Polyhedron and the Sea

Ship in icy sea storm

Water is life …
—Vasi benediction

 Do not turn from the water for it holds death.
—The Ypos, from the song Otanna, Her Eyes Narrow

From slender flask to heaving ocean, water has always held opportunity and danger in shifting parts. No other necessary element to life holds such fearsome power or potential and all significant habitations are bound to some source, often at great risk. It offers ease of travel, a ready source of sustenance, and potential for unspeakable destruction. Seas and rivers play vital roles in most great civilizations. In the Serpent Lake Valley, the water defines it. Continue reading The Old Polyhedron and the Sea