The Religion of Ashes surrounds Fire. All Fire is sacred, as it is believed to be the remnants of their long-dead deity; the Phoenix. The Phoenix was a goddess of Love, Passion, and Light- the three things most valued by the citizens of Ashes. The Great Flame, in the Temple of Fire, is always tended by the Firekeper; the head priestess, per se.

The Phoenix was killed ages ago, by one of Tion's daughters- the mother of vampires. Because of this the people of Ashes harbor a unique hatred for the vampiric kind.

-Knights of Flame
Knights of Flame are the, male only, fanatical mountains of steel that are dedicated to following the commands of priests of Flame, and more specifically the firekeeper. They are trained by their predecessors, in a male-only environment; not even the Firekeeper is permitted to see their training. Their armor is heated in The Great Flame itself before being molded onto their skin. They take a vow of silence upon finishing their training and are not permitted to speak.

The Knights of Flame follow the teachings of the Hero E, who is the first recorded Knight of Flame, and the last recorded Phoenix Knight.

The Phoenix Knights were the champion of Ashes, chosen by the Phoenix. They were chosen not for skill, but for what the Phoenix saw in them. There are Three Phoenix Knights in recorded history; X, the unknown, Q, The Gifter, and E, the Vampire Slayer.

Magic is very prominent in Ashes, a vast majority of the citizens are capable of using magic. Magic can only be used to accomplish things you can do physically; light a fire, lift a rock, fell a tree, etc. Magic cannot directly affect anything that is alive, and sentient; so healing magics are incapable of being utilized.

-Reborn Witches
The Reborn Witches are the Royal bodyguards. they dedicate their lives to protecting the royal family, as well as regulating the learning of magic. They run the mages school, so they control what magic the citizens learn. The Reborn Witches have many rules they must follow, the most important of which consist of those regarding childbirth and marriage- Neither of which is allowed.

-The Mechanics Guild
The good people of Ashes are superstitious folk who prefer the traditional ways- and yet there are those who ask 'why'...and they end up here! The mechanics guild is a society of those who forgo traditions and magic and want to figure out why things are like they are. They are Ashes' equivalent of scientists and inventors!

Ashes is a Queendom! Take your average kingdom and switch the Gender roles around! Women are soldiers and politicians, Women are the social leaders, Women are the commanders and heads of the noble houses. Now, don't get me wrong; Men can accomplish these things too, but they tend to be more domesticated in comparison. There are a few gender-only roles in Ashes, though.

Festival of Love

The people of Ashes have this holiday in honor of their goddess the Phoenix; whose main virtue was Love. This holiday celebrates couples, Marriages, and children. Couples get married during this festival, Married couples celebrate their current marriage, and Children are treated like royalty; each is a prince or princess of their own homestead!

Festival of Passion

As the Phoenix was a goddess of love, she was a being of fiery passion. This festival celebrates the fires of romance. This holiday is unique in the fact that it lasts a whole week.

Festival of Light

The Phoenix brought light to a dark world, and the people of Ashes celebrate this by dedicating an entire day to worship and fire making. Great fires are made around the capital, and all people of Ashes flock to the Great Temple in order to worship.

Sparks
Sparks is the capital of Ashes, and is the northernmost city. It is also the second smallest city in Ashes. The capital of Ashes is home to the Royal Palace, The Great Temple, The Mages school, and a few other key buildings.

Embers
Embers is the largest city in Ashes, and is the southernmost city. It can be described as the 'Las Vegas' of Ashes, as it is a city dedicated to entertainment and fun. the Curiosum, the largest theatre in Ashes, is always filled with people wanting to see the masterful works of Rodario the Fablemaker. There are near unlimited options in this city, and the people enjoy games and activity very much.

Coals
Coals is the second largest city in Ashes, spanning along the western mountain face from near Sparks to very near the The Brink. This is by far the most industrialized city in Ashes, and is home to the Mechanics Guild. This city is always covered in a perpetual smog, and the people are covered with soot 90% of the time. Aside from this, the town is very conveniently constructed and is the center of technological advances.

Rebirth
Rebirth is a very reclusive, very small, city in the very center of Ashes. The city is almost never visited unless one is just passing through or on a pilgrimage. This is the smallest city in Ashes, and the people are quite fanatical-- almost more so than the Firekeeper!

The Forest of Fire
The Forest in the very center of Ashes. The trees are of a black wood, and the leaves are always a red color; although it does vary between sanguine, bright red, and all those in-between. The forest of Fire makes up almost all of the central nation, and surrounds the small town of Rebirth.

The Mountains of Remembrance
These mountains span the entire northern border of Ashes and are impassable. They are snowcapped and have barely been explored beyond Sparks.

The Brink
The Brink is the magical wall, that only has a few accessible points of entry, that surrounds Ashes in a semi-circle from East to south to West. Where the Brink ends the Mountains of Remembrance begin. There are six entrances to The Brink, two eastern, two southern, and two western. The Brink is broken up into thirds and each third is presided over by a General.

The Tainted lands
The tainted lands are the black-earthed lands beyond the Brink that no citizen of Ashes has ever ventured into and survived. Because of this, very little is known.

Geography
The Geography of Ashes is relatively flat from southernmost point up to the mountains, there being only a few hills to mar the flat land. There are no oceans, No Rivers, No lakes; and thus the people of Ashes have no knowledge of fish or marine life, or even boats.

The Royal Family is as most would expect; a queen, a king, a princess. That is how Ashes has been since it began to record its history. The Queen rules as the main figurehead, the King is in charge of domestic and cultural affairs, and the princess is generally loved by all.

The Queen also serves as a military commander, and is the only person permitted to wield the Phoenix Bow of Ashes.

The Princess, Though, is the icon of the royal family. She is treated extremely well- more so than the Queen- and is allowed a much more carefree life than one would expect. She is taught what she wishes to know, and is allowed to do as she pleases..

Masked figures in heavy gender-hiding cloaks. Nothing is known about them aside the fact that they exist. The common people consider them the secret police of Ashes.

Tion
Tion is the God of Evil, the primordial being which all Spawn stem from. He is the archenemy of Ashes, yet has never once himself attempted to assault the queendom.

Alfar
Alfar are the nobility among Tion Spawn; what they say goes. They are extremely beautiful, dark skinned and White haired, people. They are masterful artists, using their enemies' blood as paint. Outside of art they are exceptional with all forms of Martial prowess, and are respected by most citizens of Ashes- those who have common sense, at least. They are feared for their deadly longbows, which are beyond the use of most humans, and black arrows, which seem to always find their mark.

Vampires [Extinct]
Where the Alfar are nobility, Vampires were gods. They were the beings of nightmare among the citizens of Ashes, but were made extinct by the Phoenix Knight E.

Shambler Folk
Zombies. Most are beyond regular speech, but are capable of telepathy. They are barely zombies by the definition most would belive; they are barely decayed, and are really just regular human corpses with new personalities and sentience pushed into them by Tion's magic.

Taint Hounds
Taint hounds are the multiheaded, horse-sized, dogs that have been mutated by the taint into fearsome warhounds

Orcish and Goblin folk
The green skinned beings are plentiful, being the majority of tainted land's population. They are strong, but easily crazed; giving them the appearance of brutal stupidity. In truth, they are just as intelligent as the of Ashes, just with far less control over their emotions.

Tionium
The black, light eating, metal that the Spawn of Tion weild. Alfar are sometimes known to wear full suits of armor made of the metal, but for the most part only their weapons are made of the material.

Phoenixite
The most sacred metal of Ashes. Only three weapons of Phoenixite have ever been recorded in history; Lightbringer, the sword of the Vampire Slayer, The Phoenix Bow, whose boughs are of a white wood and the string of Phoenixite, and finally Talon, the dagger of X; a weapon of both Tionium and Phoenixite. Phoenixite is the exact opposite of Tionium; white metal that emits light, rather than eats it.

Ashes history has been recorded for barely more than a thousand years, and in the form of tapestries woven by the Firekeepers. Because of this, a lot of information has been lost in favor of highlighting the greatest deeds and most loved heroes of the time. The most important tales, however, are of the three Phoenix Knights; people chosen by the Phoenix herself as champion of Ashes. The oldest, and least known, tale is of X, a being the people of Ashes-- Those who know his tale-- have named 'The Unknown'.

X. It's the only thing truly known about this hero of Ashes. That letter, scrawled across the entirety of the tapestry, splitting his tale into four sections. The top section depicts a fiery bird flying through a being bearing a mask's chest, the being bursting into flame. The left section depicts the man with the mask kneeling, the palace of Ashes around him, an otherwordly glow emanating from him. The right section depicts him standing beyond the Brink, the black earth of Tion's taint receding before him. The final section depicts the man handing his black mask to a small child, his face hidden by the heavy cloak he wore. He is said to have established the Harlequin, and a secondary tapestry attatched to the center of the original, at a much later date. This second tapestry bears only words; We Protect The Truth.

Q. The Gifter. Her story is more detailed than that of X. Her story begins depicting a girl with purple hair, in the city of Embers. She was dressed like a boy, and her hair covered one eye. She lived in Embers, and grew up there; well liked by all. Every day she gave someone a gift, something new each time. Tools, clothing. At one point it's depicted that she even gave swords to those who were joining the millitary and she happened to catch them before they left town. A deep black thread is woven into the tapestry at this point in her story, and a Firey bird is woven into the very middle of this black section; fire emenating from around the bird, the purple haired girl reaching towards the flame, surrounded by blackness. The next section depicts the girl, growing up with a Flaming bird flying above her head, moving from Embers through all of Ashes; Coals, Rebirth, and finally Sparks. She is then shown to gift the Queen a bow, the glowed brightly; a Bow very commonly recognised as the Phoenix Bow; the weapon of the queen. The Phoenix Bow is a weapon of great power, capable of creating and launching arrows of fire. The next image depicts her in the middle of a room, sheathing a sword into the ground; what parts of the blade that were visible where white; The rare metal Phoenixite. The final section depicts the purple haired woman leaving Ashes, and not returning.

E. The story of E begins before the tapestry of Q ends. His story depicts a young man with black hair in a home, working a farm with a family. The next scene is one of him in his home, the rooms covered in blood as he holds the body of his daughter in his arms. A shadowy figure in a green cloak fleeing through the window, blood dripping from its mouth. The next scene shows one of the man burying his family as a purple haired woman watches in the background. The two converse and travel to the capital city of Ashes together. The man is donned in armor and is seen walking into the Great Fire to draw the sword sheathed in the center. He is then shown being knighted by the queen. The purple haired woman disappears into the black wastes shortly after, leaving the man alone in Ashes. The next scene shows vampires invading Ashes- the brink falling prey to their unhindered power. Soldiers are turned into bloody mist, while others are kept alive to be used for paint. Then it shows the armored man wielding the Lightbringer and killing the vampires with ease as a Phoenix flies through his chest. The girl in the green cloak is once again seen fleeing from Ashes in the tapestry as the man watches. The man gathers up four companions who are willing to journey with him into the wasteland; a woman from the mechanics guild, a wizard- a white haired boy-, a soldier who felt honor bound to follow him, and finally a small girl who was barely a teenager who wore an odd mask. These five disappeared into the wasteland, and no vampires ever assaulted Ashes again.

The roleplay itself would take place several hundred years after the disappearance of E and his crusaders. The people of Ashes have settled into a state of peace, the attacks from Tion's Wastes have ceased..for the time.

Then the King's death shook the nation to its roots. The King died of a black arrow, whilst he was asleep in his chambers- next to the queen, nonetheless! With his death came the separation of the King's Guard; hand selected and trusted associates of the king who vowed to lay their life before him should it be necessary. Mostly a tradition at this day and age, but still a prestigious position. The King's death brought forth a new wave of assault and plague to the small matriarchy, as following his death there came a redoubled effort to intrude upon the nation's borders- of which a few of Tion's creatures manage to slip. Nights, which used to be times of merriment and joy, have turned into more somber evenings resembling those we call normal. The threat of the Alfar's black arrows have permeated into Ashes' interior, as has the taint of Tionium. The land just within Ashes' border has also begun to grow blackened- just for it to grow green and flush the next day. It's a vicious cycle, the story of Ashes- perhaps we can make a difference?

Your characters will be the worst, the best, and the average. Soldiers roam freely, wizards and witches are the norm, and entertainment is a key to life; Ashes is beset upon by the bringers of darkness. Times are changing, and the cycle is coming to yet another end...

Or perhaps you're one of Tion'a creations? An Alfar seeking their gods' blessing? An Orc whose bloodlust is hardly satiable? Or perhaps your some other creature- one not known to the people of Ashes?... The taint is always creating new things...