I'm posting this here so that it can be found without delving into the now mostly unused PiratePads.

[hider=Lointaine]
Unlike the so-called 'Black Continent' of the west, home to the hostile empire of the Drathii, Lointaine is a mostly peaceful land, and one home to a great diversity of unique cultures. Whereas Ethica's history with the Black Continent is marked by war, the empire's relations with Lointaine are largely peaceful, consisting mostly of trade.

Unlike in Ethica, or the Black Continent, Lointaine's empires, kingdoms and city-states are independent of one another, occasionally infighting and contributing to the formation of strong national identities. For this reason, goods (and people) from Lointaine are rarely called 'Lointainian'—an awkward to pronounce word for most of the peoples of Ethica—and are instead identified by their specific nation of origin. Although Lointaine is home to dozens of different independent polities, there are four major powers with which Violette conducts the majority of its transcontinental trade. These four nations are thus the most well known of Lointaine's countries to the people of Ethica.

Perhaps the most exotic of Lointaine's empires is S'laaeth, a kingdom along Lointaine's southern coast, nestled in the savagely hot sands of the S'laa desert. The S'laa are a suspicious and xenophobic people, and it was only through expending a small fortune that House Gracieux of Violette was able to win the support of S'laaeth's royal family and open her capital, Komenoi, to trade with Ethica. The S'laa are expert glass-makers, capable of crafting the finest, most intricate and colorful, and also the strongest glass in the known world, called 'Komeni glass'. S'laaeth's oases are also the native home of redgrass, a poisonous plant that, when refined, can be used to make either extremely deadly poisons in high concentrations, or fine perfumes when properly diluted and mixed.

Just north-west of S'laaeth, spanning the length of a jagged mountain range and bordering an expansive gulf, is the Kysra Caliphate. Kysra is one of the smaller of the kingdoms of Lointaine, yet they hold a strong grip on iron trade in the continent, with world renown weaponsmiths and craftsmen. The capital of Kysra, Mahadim, lies upon the gulf's coast, and is a stragtegic position barring the S'laa desert from the rest of the north-east. Kysra has amiable relations with their neighbors, for the most part, and pride themselves on a ridgid code of honour. As a right of passage to adulthood, Kysrari adolescence often travel the world to gain experience and challenge themselves to uphold the virtues of the caliphate. 

One of the smallest (but richest!) of Lointaine's polities is the city-state of Hatyan, built at the far western point of Lointaine, at the edge of the humid Yannii jungle. The Yannii jungle is a legendary place to the people of Ethica, home to many exotic animals, and to the Hatyan many of these animals hold important cultural and even religious significance. Some of these creatures are friendly, like the white monkey, which is known to prowl the streets of Hatyan, playing with children and stealing food and shiny objects. Other beasts from the Yannii jungle are much more intimidating, however. First among that category is the black panther, called the 'hata' by the peoples of the Yannii, which is Hatyan's namesake and the city's symbol. This large, predatory, jet black feline is known to stalk and occasionally attack and kill human intruders in its densely forested home. A caged panther from Hatyan is one of the most expensive luxury items that can be found in Ethica, and is only capable of surviving in the continent's south, where the climate is more to the hata's liking. Although caged beasts are its most well-known export, Hatyan's two most important trade fares with Ethica are actually innocuous plants, which taste foul on their own but are beloved by Ethica's nobles once properly prepared into hot drinks: coffee beans and cocoa.

The largest and mightiest of Lointaine's empires is Xusa, which controls the whole of the continent's eastern third and is its foremost military power, both at land and on the sea. Xusa is an incredibly populous empire, rivaling the Drathii of the Black Continent in their sheer numbers, and they are strongly expansionist and militaristic, their relations with the other states of Lointaine always somewhere between hostile and tenuous. Though a militaristic super-state, they are also the sole source world-wide of one of the most valuable materials in Ethica: silk. The Emperor of Xusa guards the countries silkworms jealously, forbidding foreigners to so much as even enter the city in which the creatures are kept, defended by an army. Only the final product of their secretions is sold to the merchants of Ethica, to be sold back to the Phoenix Empire at a massive profit. Besides being the origin of silk, Xusa is also the native home of tea, oranges, and many other foodstuffs, some of which (but not silkworms) have been taken back to Ethica and transplanted.[/hider]