N O T A B L E P E R S O N S O F T H E R E A L M:
HIGH LORD JOCUN GARLANDHigh Lord Jocun is the fifth of his bloodline to preside over Vassidia, and most citizens will say his rule thusfar has been fair, and his abilities as a leader and adjudicator unquestioned. However, the Stone Blight sweeps the kingdom with an unknown brutality, and Jocun has been accused of arrogance and apathy in the face of an unprecedented disaster. The palace passes each day silently, with nothing to say about work on a potential cure, and the citizens grow more unruly.
QUEEN VESINDRAA relative unknown before her engagement to the High Lord at a young age, it was clear that their marriage was born of two simple, but vital qualities: an unparalleled and unquestionable beauty, and a cunning political mind that outpaced even the most shrewd and ambitious nobleman. It can be argued that she has played a strong part in propelling Jocun to such admirable heights during his rule, as he himself lacks the charisma of his predecessors; although some believe that Vesindra's maneuverings have been in her favor only, and Jocun's good public image is an unintended side-effect.
PRINCE DAHTUN The infant heir to Vassidia’s throne, Dahtun was born little more than a year after Jocun and Vesindra’s vows were taken, and symbolised the secured future of the kingdom under the Garland rule. Now, in the face of the Stone Blight, he has been secreted away from the public eye as the palace has closed its doors, but to many people still represents the innocent children and victims of the ongoing crisis - unknowing, unwilling, and yet his future defined and irrevocably altered by the disaster happening around him.
ROYAL WARLOCK ABORRANAborran is perhaps the foremost scholar of the kingdom, and controversial or not, he is the first man turned to when Jocun needs a consultant of magical knowledge, and often of other knowledge besides. Aborran is a strong proponent of the cautious approach to magick, often quoted "better to know magick well enough as to know not to use it", but his abilities with magick are well-respected and feared in equal measure regardless.
SILVENE, THE FIRST THORN The current Chief Pontiff of the Barbed Church, Silvene was raised within the boundaries of the cathedral at the centre of Kafaara and has been a devout member of the church since birth. Her skin is covered in the sacred scarring from the church’s rituals and she spends much of her time sequestered within the cathedral’s inner-most cloisters, and her own personal chamber of worship. She is a highly respected and revered figurehead within the kingdom, and often liaises with the palace as a spiritual advisor.
JAERN, THE IRON BARONOne of the two original founders of the settlement that would eventually grow to become Ferros. A keen mercantile mind helped him turn a cave system with unusually rich iron ore veins into a large-scale independent mining operation, and then turn that into the kingdom's primary source of iron and ironwork. His partner, a blacksmith who kept his name from the history records, was happy to work his craft and leave Jaern to the administrative dealings. Unfortunately, Jaern's greed got the better of him as he sought to overthrow the palace, and when his plot was discovered he was executed, his blacksmith partner self-exiling in shame.
ORR, THE FOOL'S MARTYRAt one time a fairly well-respected wizard, who studied magic for many years under the previous Royal Warlock before Aborran's appointment. He eventually departed Vasilius and travelled north, making his home in the midst of a rich forest. He accrued a good reputation and reverence, but eventually his hubris swallowed him whole - an unknown magical spell, or ritual, or experiment, broke out from his tower and laid waste to the entire forest, razing the region to the ground. Nothing has grown there since. The region has come to be known as Orr's Meadow, and Orr himself as a terrible reminder of what happens when man's ambition outstrips his wisdom and actual ability.
N O T A B L E F A C T I O N S O F T H E R E A L M:
THE CROWNGUARDThe protecting army of the Palace, high-ranking and elite soldiers of Vassidia's military nominated by their commanders and hand selected by the High Lord and his Queen. They are indefatigable warriors and noble knights, put forward for exceptional loyalty to the crown and superlative martial ability, and swear undying fealty to the palace, whom they will serve until death.
THE BARBED CHURCHThe dominant religion of the kingdom, and the one officially recognized by the palace. The core belief of the Church is that magic, a mystical force as fundamental as gravity or time, began as the great Font that all life sprang from, and now from the Font flows the River, through all living beings, imparting its essence and allowing the great miracle of life to continue. Thus, the church worships the Font and the River, as they gift the world with life. The church got its name from its worshipping practice of ritualised bloodletting, under the belief that the magic within their blood flows back down the River into the Font, and in this way reparations are made for the gift of life, and the Font refills so as not to run dry.
THE CIRCLE OF BARBS The eight high priests and priestesses hand picked by Silvene for their devoutness to the Barbed Church and seniority within the congregation. They spend much of their time in active worship within the church, but are also the face of authority to the people of Kafaara, dealing with much of the day-to-day political and administrative proceedings of the Church and the wider city. They each deliver wisdom and instruction directly from Silvene to the people, but much is still left up to their initiative.
THE IRON COUNCILA group of the wealthiest and most powerful men and women in Ferros, the Council was originally created as an advisory group for the founders of the city, but since Jaern's disgrace, they have become the de-facto political leaders of the city. They guide the city and its day-to-day trading with the kingdom from their chambers at the heart of Ferros, and their personal fortunes, the wealth of the city, and their proximity to the capital city and the palace have all anchored them as the foremost economic leaders of the land.
THE MOUNTAIN-BRAVEThe Mountain-Brave are the revered elite of Mornfell-on-Mountainside: select men and women who have come of age and chosen to undertake an ancient mountain trial, a tradition long held by the city. When they succeed and return to the city, they are inducted in a ceremony and receive certain garbs and privileges that are not afforded to the standard citizen. The eldest living Mountain-Brave acts as a representative for the people of Mornfell, although they are not an official leader.
The Mountain-Brave's trial is a voluntary challenge open to any native citizen of Mornfell-on-Mountainside. The tribute leaves the city with minimal supplies: merely the clothing on their back, one weapon of their choosing - that they must forge themselves, using the heat of the bonfire at the heart of the city - and a pouch containing a single day and night's worth of rations. They are tasked with ascending to the peak of the Mourning Mountain, the most difficult and deadly climb of the eastern mountain-range, and pick a rare flower that grows only upon that peak. They must then descend the mountain and find a hidden cave at its base, which contains a sacred spring. The flower must be dipped into the water of the spring, changing the colour of the petals, and then the tribute must return with this flower to Mornfell. Failure to return with the flower, abandonment of the trial, death, or, in rare cases, returning with a flower that has changed to the wrong colour once dipped in the spring waters, all result in the tribute becoming Mountain-Spurned.
THE MOUNTAIN-SPURNEDMen and women of Mornfell who attempted the mountain trial and failed. They are marked physically by the city and mentally by their failure. Many leave Mornfell in disgrace, but those who stay are second-class citizens at best, and barely-human dregs at worst.
THE WARDENSSoldiers manning the watchtowers that span the borders of the Sychan Desert and the Eastern Tundra. Formed of men and women from Vasilius, Ferros, Eerum and Mornfell, the Wardens are a politically neutral force, pledging no one regional alliance and forsaking themselves of a true home in favour of keeping a true defense between the established kingdom and the two regions that were assimilated rather than settled.
