World Map

Red

Red is an area of continually rising and falling Kingdoms, in which you have to be constantly prepared to fight to hold/expand your territory. Most Classically European Fantasy Zone. At present there are four major Kingdoms, with border lands of petty nobility between them. In order of age, they are:

1) King Richard's Lands, currently ruled by King Richard III, about 200 years old and taking up a swath of the South of Red, abutting Orange - KRL has shrunk since it was founded by King Richard I, but Richard III has made some increases over what he was left by his father, King Albert.

2) Victoria, about 100 years old and ruled by Queen Ionia, granddaughter of the founder, Baroness Gabriella. In the Northwest, bordering Purple and the Broken Lands, Queen Ionia has spent most of her reign fighting outwards, rather than conquering more of Red.

3) Berana, along the eastern coast. Its ruler, King Olanson, has spent nearly 50 years expanding his territory. Although too old to seriously fight personally anymore, he still generals his kingdom's battles, and his large clan of children can handle the fighting. Has the strongest navy in the Mainland zones. Not clear how well it will hold together if Olanson dies.

4) Darstan, in the center. Founded about 20 years ago with the marriage of Baron Volstak and Duchess Zerbina, the two have formed a formidable team. Zerbina leads the army to conquer a new barony or duchy every year or so, and Volstak is a master of incorporating them into a united country once the conquest is complete. They still use Baron and Duchess as their titles, but their daughter is Princess Bella, and they are a kingdom in all but name.

Orange

The south-eastern mainland zone, Orange is a region dominated by trade and commerce. Orange is divided into 50 or more city states each of relatively limited territory. Each city has a representative in the Merchant's Guild, which makes most of the decisions for the zone in an ongoing squabble of infighting and politics. Each city is theoretically the equal of every other, but in practice, one the three cities of Kor, Rin'yan, and Vani is generally responsible for any new initiative. The zone with the most internal racial tension, as the three major cities are all led by humans, and the Sauriens tend to think they should have more say, being nearly half the population. Think Renaissance Italy, more or less.

Yellow

Far Jabar across the Merfolk's Ocean is the home of Yellow. More Indian than Arabian nowadays, with a Maharani instead of a Queen. Politics is mostly about who is important in the Maharani's court and who has her ear. Although on occasion in the past the Maharani has become effectively a puppet for other court officials, the present Maharani is well respected and the Lady of her own domain. The House system has been replaced by a caste system (Varna) dividing the populace into nobles/warriors, "priests", merchants/craftsmen, and farmers/laborers. Children of the first three varna can be moved fairly easily into another until they come of age, depending on what they show talent at, and adults in the last can be "promoted" into one of the three upper varna as a reward for significant service, but it is difficult to impossible to move between the three upper varna as an adult. While all priests of the goddess are expected to be of the Priest varna, not all members of the caste are actual priests, with many of them acting as teachers or artists or philosophers instead. The Three Ladies are the heads of the Priest Varna. There are no official leaders of the Merchant/craftsman Varna. Elves and half-elves are mostly incorporated into the Varna. Centaurs have an unclear relationship with the Varna - Herds generally divide along the same lines, but centaur warriors are not generally considered exactly the same class as the warrior Varna. They are more like a second, separate set of Varna, although they do all answer in theory to the Maharani or the Ladies. There are not really enough Sauriens around to have a clear interaction with the Varna as a race.

Green

The lands of the Elves, in the south-west of the mainland. It has been divided into three Kingdoms, the Forest, the Plains, and the Mountains, since the War of the Lord and the Lady (the last comet), and the grudges between its rulers are said to go back even farther. The three Kingdoms hardly ever actually go to war, but they are not friends. The King of the Forest is a High Elf, Their Majesty of the Plains is a sluagh, and The Queen Under the Mountains is a dwarf. The Queen is the nominal ruler of Kern, the only major human city in Green, although she does not pay so much attention to it as it sits above the mountains.

Blue

The Blue Zone has been ruled by Blue Mages from time immemorial, long before the Archipelago became a single island in the War of the Lord and the Lady. Although there was a significant upheaval with that change, as governance shifted from each Mage having their own island to a more communal rule-by-committee, it has long since settled down, and Challenge Duels between the Mages to settle points of ownership or control have been limited to one or two a year for centuries. Melmaine is the only one of the Surface Lands to have any regular interactions with the Merfolk Kingdoms, and assists them in their eternal war with the Slith. The Saurien military encampment on Melmaine that also assists in that war is basically its own city, with limited interaction with the rest of the island, and the Mages rarely intrude there, where the power of Magic is limited.

Purple

The last of the mainland zones, Purple has been run by the Bureaucracy since the death of the last Orcslayer, more than a thousand years ago. The servants of the Empty Throne still run the Empire in the name of the Orcslayer, and purport to be seeking the Sword that Was Lost to restore the line, but cynics both in Purple and outside of it think they may not be looking so hard as all that. Bureaucrats are frequently purple mages or balance priests or both, although it is not required. It is rare to be a purple mage or balance priest and *not* be a Bureaucrat, however. Advancement in the Bureaucracy is a matter of doing well on the periodic exams and impressing one's superiors. Without the Orcslayer to lead the Armies, the Empire's forces are not what they once were, and the majority of Purple's military might is in the hands of the Lead Stallion and his herds.

Rainbow

The "Rainbow Isles" in the middle of the inland sea are orders of magnitude smaller in both size and population than any of the major zones. They survive as a neutral ground and meeting place, and because none of the mainland powers is willing to see one of the others establish control over the Isles. No one is officially in charge of them, but few in the Isles would dare cross Cara Benefice, "the Pirate Queen". Her fleet is the largest in the Inland Sea, and any merchant who wants to cross it is wise to pay her first for safe passage. Actual piracy is relatively rare in the past 20 years since she came to power, but the fine line between "taxes" and "extortion" is non-existent in her "lands". About ten years ago she laid claim to Middlesea, the keep where inter-zone negotiations are traditionally held, as her "capital," and it is there that she has invited representatives to attend a Conclave to discuss the appearance of the Comet.