Tanuel

Description

The name of this Plane is Tanuel. Not much is known about the world, some of it still rising from the mists of Creation.

The Lands of Chaos

Travel through these lands is by intent. A traveler names a destination that they want to travel to and steps out. Knowing the name of the place you want to go to is generally enough, but the place must be proximate to the Lands of Chaos or contained within it. If it isn't, then each day of traveling will find landmarks but never get the traveler to their destination.
Each day of travel through these lands reduces a Ranger's chance of finding a landmark by 10 until they have no chance, at which point they are forever lost. They will likely die when their food and water runs out, their remains unlikely ever to be found. In the improbable event that they are found by other travelers, they may be rescued.
At random intervals, but usually at least once a day, a landmark may be encountered. This sequence reflects an individual's understanding of the geography of Chaos. Groups share the same experience if they travel together.
Those who fly above the Lands of Chaos enter a Trackless Waste and are never seen again.

The Seven Kingdoms

This is a collection of city states which have banded together and formed kingdoms. It is quite a large hegemony, taking about four months to travel from the south to the north and about six month to travel from east to west.

Geography

Beyond the eastern mountains lies Chaos. Unnatural creatures roam the mountains and the arid, desolate plains beyond. Traveling further and further into Chaos leads, eventually, into the Abyss, where the will of powerful demons hold sway. They are often the incarnations of universal forces.
East beyond Chaos lies another realm, known as the Empire of the East.
The northernmost kingdoms are separated from the rest by a narrow sea. A great forest lies to the north and west. Traveling into the forest eventually leads to the Deep Green, a place where living forces stride the land.
In the sandy wastes to the southwest lies the Paths of Sheol which lead to the Gates of Hell.
The five seas that bound the Seven Kingdoms harbour mystery in their depths.

Economy

The kingdoms engage in a great deal of trade with each other, such trade being occasionally enlivened by sudden influxes of exotic goods from beyond their shared borders. Bronze is the leading edge technology of the day, which is not to say that iron is not known or used. It is, however, not a trusted material given the way it so rapidly corrodes. And, it's a dangerous colour, too.
Silk is known but not grown, and greatly prized. Wool is the most common fabric, followed by linen. Wool is hard-wearing but is coarse and doesn't hold a dye. Linen is more expensive, and given the climate, more comfortable. It holds a dye well.
Pottery is the largest industry, mostly because this is one of the most reliable packing containers and is important to trade and storage.

Magic

For Adepts from Alusia, cities are almost always areas of low mana, and the cost to cast spells usually costs twice the normal FT. This is true in the Seven Kingdoms. However, if a character makes a ritual observance at a shrine or temple of the local deity every seven days (usually a Sunday), then this will give access to the network of mana. It means:

• the Adept casts spell at the normal FT cost.
• someone who knows how can determine the kinds of spell being cast, although it depends a lot on their general sensitivity to magic
• some spells, usually ones with high experience multiples, high ranks and obvious effects can be sensed from long distances away.
• even if the ritual observance hasn't been made, it is possible to detect this sort of thing because of a kind of harmonic effect. It is harder to pick up, however.
• this doesn't apply to Talent or Ritual magic.
  

Known Practitioners

• Shireth of Darktree Tower - a mage. His signature is circles. (At the moment, in the service of a Medeanite sorceress).
• Seranaspes the Rain Weaver - a wizard. He specialises in weather magic and his signature is weaving.
• Anathel of Karthri - a witch. Her pact is to Nyx, and her signature is cycles.
• The Nameless Wizard - a wizard. His signature is not known, but he has taken a Word of Binding to enhance his magic.

Lameth

Lameth is a marsh kingdom that is the southern-most and eastern-most. The temples administer a system of canals and causeways which support of the largest part of the kingdom's wealth. This is the trade that arises from its inks with the Empire of the East. Caravans regularly make their way through the lands of Chaos, and occasionally coastal freighters arrive from mysterious parts to the south carrying exciting and exotic wares.

Jiroth

Jiroth is a large city in the south of Lameth. It is almost always the first point of contact with caravans from Chaos and coastal traders. It has thick walls made from mud brick that rise between three and five metres high, and are always in need of repair because of the frequent flooding from the marshlands. The urban population is about 20,000, with many more people living in towns and villages nearby. Agricultural production is the main industry, although pottery and a little bronze-working feature.

Jiroth is impressive. As of Spring 810, tts walls are breached in three places. Magical lighting (?firelight?) illuminate it so it is visible from 3 miles up. A Ziggurat looms in the centre of the city. To its north is a garden complex, and beyond that, a palace and a Citadel.

Anthari

Anthari is a market town 160 miles north of Jiroth. Population is around 5,000. Cedar coppices south of it, orange orchards to the north east. North west, a large stone formation about half a mile high. Appears to be about 1/10th wide at the base, but this is some kind of optical illusion. The formation looks like a crossed finger.
The town is gated, but not walled. A ring road circumnavigates the town proper.
It is well lit, by mundane but advanced oil lamps. Spring 810 party flew near, did not enter.

Sura

Sura lies to the north, near the border with Karthyria, the kingdom that borders Lameth. The walls of the city are made from stone and rise to about six metres in height. The court spend the summer months here to avoid the oppressive heat and humidity further south. The area is mostly highlands, Sura itself overlooking the northern gateway to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.
Urban population is 25,000, much of it being military and must be supported with levies from various provinces. There is a temple to Hurrthan but no ziggurat.
The main industry is agricultural, and includes forestry. Cedar grows well in the north, and is highly prized. There is a thriving community of weavers, and so woollen and linen textiles are traded, as well as pottery. There is more bronze work for sale here than any other place of Lameth.

State Religion

The religion is polytheistic, but usually each city focuses its attentions on one deity. In Jiroth, most people pay special attention to Kiristhina. She has influence over trade, beauty and also of youth. Her sacred garden is one of the wonders of the world and many have tried to enter them to hear the singing bees.
Further north, Hurrthan is worshipped more attentively. He drives a great bronze chariot drawn by gryphons and he carries three spears. He is a great protector of Lameth, and guards against strife.

The Main Road

The main road runs from Jiroth alongside the river all the way to Sura. It is very straight, on a raised bed, and around 900 miles long. The bed of the road is crushed granite, but there is no sign of granite anywhere along the road's length. It appears non-magical, and a great feat of engineering rather than mana.

Karhthyria

The kingdom lies to the north of Sura, and is the largest of the seven.

Karthri

The old capital, it is now much diminished. Its walls rise perhaps 5 metres high, and there are two main entrances, the Sunset Gate and the North Gate. Two smaller gates are on the south and east. At the centre of Karthri is a small ziggurat, fallen from its former glory, but still attended and aligned to The Lord of Hands. The population is about 5,000.
Anathel the witch lives here.

Jesurea

The bustling capital of a thriving kingdom, Jesurea has an urban population of about 12,500 and perhaps three times that many in the surrounding farmland. It is an industrial centre, and a lot of trade is carried up and down the great river Gihon. There is no ziggurat, although a large open air altar adorns the central square of the city, and there are many shrines around the city itself.

The Astral Plane

The astral plane permeates the Seven Kingdoms and is local to it. It is supported by temples, monuments and other ontological machines, administered and maintained by various priesthoods. It is the medium through which most magic propagates.

Priests

Priests are the professional class who administrate the business of religion. Having faith in the religion is not a requirement. Being a member of the appropriate social class usually is.

Rituals

Priests administer religion through rituals. The vast majority of them deal with purifying worshippers who have become spiritually unclean to one degree or another. Becoming spiritually impure is defined as a sin, and sins are not necessarily evil, immoral or unethical. Rather, it refers to a failure to meet one or more stricture of the faith.
Priests preside over festivals, important rituals that take place at different times of the year. These often act as support and reinforcement for the astral plane, itself.
The main purpose of the rituals is to establish and maintain a relationship between the people who live there and one or more of the astral animates of the place.

Spiritual Demesne

The area that a priests religious power extends is determined largely by hieratic rank and degree of consecration to one or more altars. The altar is the wellspring of that power, and the boundaries are formed by monumental markers like stelae. The higher the priests rank, the more prestigious the altar they are consecrated to, and the deeper the degree of consecration.
Political power, economic power and prestige may extend beyond those boundaries, but spiritual abilities do not.

Spiritual Abilities

Priests are almost always literate to some degree or other, and often act as scribes where that function is not filled by others. They may even be skilled in arcane professions like herbalist, alchemist or physician, particularly if they are reclusive in nature.
It is rare for them to be skilled in a profession of arms.
They maintain the social structure that they are attached to and the most common way they do that is by officiating at rituals of birth, death and marriage in addition to yearly festivals.
Within the area of their spiritual demesne, a priest who is able to can cast spells. It may not be called that. In fact, it's usually called 'obedience to the will of the Divine', but casting spells is what it amounts to.
Most priests cannot cast spells. A few can, with effort, learn a spell or two. Mostly, this is because they gain special bonuses to learning spells that are curative, protective or divinatory in nature. The vast majority of spell-casting priests never learn more than enough to ward against bad luck, cool a fever or detect corrupt spiritual influences.

Sacred Vows

Priests take sacred vows which bind them to their faith. However, common to all faiths is one that constrains the spells that a priest can learn. This applies a large penalty to everything except curative, protective or divinatory spells. This is called the Fourth Sacred Vow, regardless of how many vows a priest is expected to make.

Libraries

Priesthoods often maintain libraries which keep religious, social, economic and political records. A few libraries contain works on arcane subjects, including magic. These collections mean that priests can get a small bonus to learn spells of a curative, protective or divinatory nature.