lørdag 22. september 2012

A wizards letter

A letter from a wizard to another, or 
alternatively: The uses of cursed dryad 
wood:


Dear Augustin,
Though we have not talked since I sold you that sphinx that actually turned out to be a castrated manticore, and it tried to eat you a couple of times, I felt the need to take contact with you once more in the hopes that you could find it in your heart to forgive me.
Hopefully the information this letter provides will be useful to you and you`ll avoid the mistakes I have done.


It all begun last year around the summer solstice when a band of adventurers came from the north carrying what they claimed was cursed dryad wood. Now, we have discussed this before, but for the sake of refreshing your memory as your specialty are cogs and not flora:
The dryad, aka the living tree human, or the tree spirit, belongs to the group of Homo Sylvus, or more specifically to the under group of Sylvus Dryadis. When it reproduces it sends out pollen which then is combined with any plants it encounter. If it is some sort of tree, you will have another Sylvus Dryadis grow up within the forest, but if happens to land in a flower, you will end up with a pixie, Sylvus Fatae, (Though there is the occasional, but rare one that lands within a carnivoreous flower and you end up with Sylvus Muscipula).
In any case, my research have found that though there are ways to make a dryad cursed, there are one way in particular that seems to affect them: The appearance of Sylvus Nidiformis. It can be best described as a mushroom pixie, and it happens whenever dryad pollen merges with a parasitic mushroom.
The end result is a flying parasite that will attach itself to trees, preferably dryads and then proceed to suck out the life-force from the dryad. As the dryad is in no way capable of detecting the danger, it does not notice it at first and instead tries to replace its waning life force. As the parasite continues to grow on the dryads’ body, the mental processes will deteriorate until the dryad is nothing but a carnivorous tree that attempts to eat anything that comes close enough. In addition the roots will tangle themselves to the roots of any nearby tree and drain them of their life force as well. The result is rather horrifying, and thus the idea of “curse” appears.




These dryads are however easy to spot by wandering adventurers as they are no longer able to bloom, they attack without warning (normal dryads are usually a bit more pacifistic in their approach and they get a appearance that looks absolutely horrifying. This is not actually proven, but the reports coming from adventurers seem to suggest that this is true, those who survived this are.) Not to mention the areas of gray forest that surrounds the dryad.


The local Sylvans usually do not wish for foreigners to chop down their trees, but they make an exception whenever this happens. Whether it is superstition or experience, they do not want to come near an area where the parasite has settled. Thus they usually call for adventurers and promise gold and treasure.


Anyway, as I started saying, at last year’s summer solstice adventurers appeared with a big load of this “cursed” wood and as dryad wood has a good deal of magic in it, I tried to make a bargain and bought some of it. I was not the only one however, and soon the adventurers had sold all they needed, counted their money and disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.


Soon after, the reports of this wood began popping up, and truth to be told, I was not completely unscathed myself either. I got myself a couple of books made from this material that I could write in. Now, I have encountered books that SHOULD not be read, but this is the first time I have encountered a book that does not WANT to be read. Opening the covers of one takes two strong men and holding it down to be written in requires a pair of metal blocks to hold the sides of it down.


Unfortunately as I was writing my notes, one of the metal blocks slid off and the book slammed shut around my hand, causing it to fracture in two places in addition to breaking two of my fingers. It had even pierced my skin several places as the book had apparently had decided to grow teeth out of spite.
Nevertheless, I decided to put the book issue to rest for then and instead opted to take a nice breakfast at my new table, which unfortunately was made out of the same material as the book. I had just poured myself a cup of fine tea when the table suddenly kicked me in the shins, threw all the content on its back onto the floor before it ran out the main door not unlike the image of a horse galloping.


Though the worst event was yet to come as I had forgotten I had ordered a chest to be made of this stuff as well. It played nice until I put my robe in, whereas it tried to slam its lid onto my fingers, before it chased my around my room, slamming it’s lid open and shut like a maw attempting to eat me.
Fortunately one of my servants came in and saw what was going on, and with quite the quick move, he grabbed an axe and cleaved the chest in two. Unfortunately my robe couldn’t be saved as the chest had tried to digest it somehow, making it all slimed and wet, whereas my servants axe made some irreparable rifts.
With the chest all hacked up, we tried to find another use for it, this time as firewood. Unfortunately the fumes coming from the wood is highly poisonous, but not deadly. Though I was in no condition to take notes at the time, it seemed to cause muscle cramps, and vomiting which lasted for several hours. A rather interesting side effect however is the ability to glow in the dark. I did not appreciate it at the time due to me having severe muscle cramps in my body, being unable to move anywhere for at least two hours.


As my breakfast table had ran away, and my man-eating chest had been burnt to ash (at this point I was not sure what to do with the ash, so I just put it in a lead covered box which was then melted down to prevent any openings.), I was still stuck with a pair of living books which attempted to chew out the remains of my library. Though the teeth easily managed to carve their way through the other books in a way that would make the most vicious cannibal proud, they had more trouble with the bookshelf which is made of iron oak.
We managed at last to capture them (though they put up quite the fight, much to the dismay of my servants who now got sore fingers.) and bind them with iron chains. As we can’t burn them, I decided to throw them out in my yard, whereas one part of the chain is fixed to the book and the other fix to a rather heavy rock. It is only a temporarily solution until I find a better one, though at the moment they seem serve a purpose at least: to scare away any beggars who come at my door.


I was not the only one with trouble concerning the cursed dryad wood as reports soon came in from the city. A few were concerning a galloping kitchen table that ambushed wanderers at the roads, but I was not sure what to do about that considering that it could even outrun the fastest horse in the county.
Another report came from old Stevenson who had a wardrobe made of the wood. He was quite surprised when it not only ate his clothes, but also decided to eat him as well. He had luck though as his daughter was nearby, and you know how tough she can be (she was the one who castrated the manticore I sold you.) Let’s say there wasn’t enough of that wardrobe after she was finished with it to build a dice. Besides being wet and confused, Stevenson recovered quite quickly afterwards.
A pattern seemed to suggest that the bigger the collection of dryad wood, the more trouble it made. For instance a couple of dice made out of the material had a rather stubborn trait to always get results not favorable to the owner, whereas forks had a tendency to stab their owners. Well, attempt to at least, wooden forks aren’t the most dangerous of weapons.
A scarecrow made out of the wood would seem particularly effective against the crows as it killed most of them on sight. Unfortunately it also harbored hatred against local farmers as well and attempted to strangle poor Ms Wilson son. Luckily it was not particularly well made and collapsed upon the effort.
The worst is however Captain Jack Blue who was to sail a ship made out of this wood. He was not deterred at all by the insane creaking and howling of the ship when he and his crew walked onboard one night. All that was left of him and his crew was a pile of bones and his hat we found in the morning. The ship had somehow eaten them, stripped them bare of their flesh and somehow discarded whatever it didn’t like on the nearby docks. I have no idea how it managed to do that, and I hope I will never find out.


In any way Augustin, if you ever happen to run across a bunch of adventurers who want to sell you a load of cursed dryad wood, please don’t. It is way more trouble than it is worth.
Also, you might want to stay clear of any black ships without crew that howls when you come near.


Your friend (hopefully),
.- Markus.

søndag 9. september 2012

Country of Barathia

Barathia, the land of the giantkin and mountains.

The few humans that live in this country reside in the southeastern parts of the country behind thick and tall stone walls.

In other parts of the country you find a few settlements of giantkin. Whereas in the mountains there are big caves carved out of the mountains where the king of giants reside.

Giantkin:
Giantkin are humanoid creatures who have some resemblance with humans, though their size is rather different. They have many names, but they are often referred to as trolls, giants, ogres, cyclopes, dwarves and gnomes.
(The latter two may also be referred to as midgetkin.)




Little trade is done between this country and Marrachia due to the man-eating giants that pour over the boarders, making the lies of the Marrachians quite difficult.

Politically, the country is run by the Mountain King AKA, the biggest and toughest of the giants. Anyone who opposes him is deemed outlaws and exiled from the country.



mandag 6. august 2012

Marrachian fort

Just a small picture of a Maracchian fort guarding the river alongside the border.

It is a harsh job to be a border guard as giants have a tendency to not care about borders. They try to cross the river where it is shallow and in turn the guards fight them back with arrows and ballistas. It is a harsh fight, and many do not survive. Still it is a meager price as opposed to the damage a giant can do if it manages to cross the border.

There is a small village off screen which supports the fort with food and supplies. Their thoughts about the soldiers might vary, but they are always grateful when a giant is killed.

lørdag 28. juli 2012

The country of Marrachia

 Marrachia was originally a much smaller country, but during the last centuries it expanded its borders to the east and to the west where it met little resistance and quickly annexed the areas. Though the leaders of Marrachia have little control over the northwestern place, they still own it in the name.



 The country harbors a rather harsh hatred against magic anyone who uses magic. Though it hasn't been attacked by a wizard in a long time, it was totally devastated by magic users in a war a long time ago.

The survivors of said war survived thanks to inherent magic resistance and ability to spot magic. Fast forwarded today it means that there are very few magic users within the country, but very many who are able to fight against it.

The country is not at war against the Jawhanian empire, but there has been hostilities between them and they don't like eachother very much at the border.

At the northeast they do their best to protect the border against the constant onslaught of wild giants who constantly try to invade and tear their villages apart.




The country is divided into 6 different counties whereas each is controlled by a general. Each one has some responsibility of protecting the border against insurgents and invaders.

 The rule of the country is actually divided by the three upper generals who each have their base in the capitol. (the light green, teal and light blue counties.) They are the heads of the Red Cloaks which is a organization that is bent on hunting down any magic users as they see magic users as rather evil. The reasons may vary among the generals, but the result is the same.


onsdag 18. juli 2012

Jawhanian Empire


The Jawhanian empire is the country that has the biggest populace of all the countries in this world. The flat landscape allows the people to grow big crops of wheat and other things that can feed them. The long shore lines also allow for a lot of fishing and trade as well.


It has trade with the surrounding countries, though the mountains and desert to the north makes a natural border towards Marrachia whereas the border to the south is blocked mostly by the mountains there. There is little contact with the elves to the east, though there are some garrisons posted alongside the border.

The capitol is placed in the middle of the country, bordering two rivers on each side.


The country is ruled by the divine emperor Jawhan and the High king. (Basically, no one sees the emperor and the High Kings acts in his stead. Kinda like how the German-Roman Emperor was chosen by god, except here it is the high king who is chosen by the victor of the Wizard wars.)

The mountains to the north is said to be populated by angels. Though generally treated as divine, they are in fact descendants of Midas creations.





The country is divided up into various counties whereas each is ruled by a governor.

onsdag 27. juni 2012

Forest kingdom of Linara


The kingdom is in fact ruled by a queen who rules over an rather forested piece of land. The coast is inhabited by humans whereas the rest of the country is filled with elves.

The elves and humans are on good relationsships whereas the elves frequently visit the human villages to trade wood for necessities. 



1. The rocks: The elves tend to trade with ore that they find in the mountains. They also trade with miners who come from Ceneria.
2. The ships: These are known to trade good quality lumber for shipbuilding.
3. The sun: Fairly optimistic elves who trade pretty much anything. They use the river to sail to the human town.
4. The Thorns: Skeptical to human intervention due to border trifles with Jawhanian empire. They train more soldiers than the other counties.
5. The eye: The seat of the elven government. The country is ruled by Linara and a council of 5 elder dryads.

Each county is ruled by a dryad whereas they hold control from the huge trees.

lørdag 23. juni 2012

Ceneria



Ceneria is a rather green country with many rivers used for farming. It has some mines and features often trade between it and the neighbouring countries.

It has no overarching government, instead relying on a wizard council that each rules over their own little piece of the land.






There is often some minor clashes between the various counties, though it never escalates into fullscale war as it is only the might of the country joined together that can push back any invaders from the outside.

The original ruler of the country was a powerful elementalist and thus it is believed that she is to thank for the general acceptance of magic within the country. It is common to use magic and it is believed that everyone can use at least sme little bit of magic.(light a spark, lit a candle etc)


torsdag 14. juni 2012

The Twisted Isles









The Twisted Isles is a collection of smaller isles situated around a rather big volcanic one. The seas around these isles are violent and filled with reefs and sunken ships. A few villages have settled on these isles and try their best to live off the land. It is not easy and sometimes one can find abandoned villages upon some of the isles whereas the inhabitants had to leave due to little food.


Within the main isle there are a few notable things. First of all the rather huge city surrounding the dormant volcano. The city is the capitol of the isles and is seen as having tall walls and towers that no human could ever hope to climb. (Not all of the city is whole though, there are some ruined parts as well, though they are trying to rebuild it.)

The second place of population on the isle is the harbor town where all the ships gather. The merchants gather up their wares and then travel into the city to sell their stuff.


About the population:
The inhabitants of the villages and harbor town are human. The majority of the city population is something completely else however. That something else can be described as demonic in nature. It should be noted that even though the capitol is filled with demons, it is quite a civil population. These demons are not giantious in size, but range from the size from imp to taller horned ones.


The most infamous part of the city is the Black Market.
Whereas one would trade normal things in other parts of the city, the black market is the place where one can buy and sell anything and everything. This ranges from ones voice to ones soul for the sake of talents or very powerful magic.
This includes, but it is not limited to:
The color of one’s eyes, the texture of one’s skin, the ability to whistle etc.

Each trade in the black market is done by signing a contract by both participants in the trade.
It should be noted that one is able to buy and sell slaves at the market, though there is a slight catch. Demons only acknowledge the ownership of a slave when the slave itself has written its name on a contract on ownership. If not, well, no trade.




The main trade items of the city:
The currencies are: Copper, Silver, gold coins and souls.
Exports: Sulphur, mercury, enchantment scrolls, curses, volcanic rocks and souvenirs.
Imports: Food (though demons doesn’t necessarily need to eat food, they do appreciate the taste), slaves (might be used for food).

Trade partners: Though the city can trade with anyone, their most favoured partners seems to be Thardevaal, Ceneria and Unduara.

Politics:
No one defies the king, though there are trade guilds fighting in-between themselves to gain a more suitable position within the town.

Background:
The king is in fact Garkah the Unholy though during the wizard wars he was fused to his throne and has been unable to move from it since. That doesn't mean he is not able to exert his influence over the inhabitants of the town.

Garkah wasn't always a demonologist. Rumours say he originally was a very talented lawyer who managed to exploit a loophole in a demon lords contract and thus get his powers.

onsdag 2. mai 2012

Unduara



As you can see on the map, Unduara and Thardevaal is seperated by a mountain range called the Jagged Peaks. (Suggestions for better name?)
The mountain range does not really belong to either country as there are no resources to claim there. Also it is quite filled with dangerous creatures such as harpies and other things that can fly.

To avoid raid parties from the south, old Thardevaalian kings erected garrisons to protect the mountain passages from Unduara to Thardevaal. These garrisons are where the bastard sons of nobles are sent to when they have no useful things to do elsewhere. (Inspiration from Game of Thrones here I guess.)


A large amount of the human population have settled by the coast or by the big lake that is placed in the middle of the country.

A big portion of the inhabitants of the country are tribes. These would be somewhat taurish in their looks.


The Grey Lands are rather unknown. What one do know about it, is that it is probably the most cursed place on the whole country. Nothing grows, the sun doesn't shine and the dead are restless.




The mountains to the north are populated by opportunistic harpies who tend to either help Unduarans, Thardevaalians or generally just plunder everyone who passed through depending on the situation.

The centaurs and/or the hoofed ones are a vegetarian race mized between humans and horses. They tend to help out with more physical work in exchange for pay. Most notably carrying stuff that would be too heavy for normal humans.

To the southeast lives the Carni-Taurs (Or the Pawed ones as they are called). Like the centaurs they have a human half, unlike the centaurs they have a feline half as well. Also, sphinxes and manticores tend to gather in this area. The various tribes in this area are carnivores in nature, but being somewhat civilized they rely on trading between the center town, the river villages and the towns by the coast.

To the west bordering the Gray lands lives the Scaled ones. Creatures who are somewhat humanoid in shape, but with snake and lizardlike behaviours and looks. They consist of rather warlike tribes.

The midst of the country lives the largest populations of humans ruled by a king who at some point in the past managed to gain the respect of the various tribes around the country. The capitol is situated around the big lake whereas it also has quite the trade with both the river villages and the coast towns.


At the south the islefolk lives. They originally joined the kingdom as to profit from the trading opportunities which the newly arranged country could provide.

At the very west the Gray lands are. Once upon a time it used to belong to the grand Necromancer Unduar, though once he vanished it became quite the point of attraction for various adventurers. Not all of them returns however.

tirsdag 10. april 2012

Thardevaal

Thardevaal is a country set to the western part of the current known world.
It is divided into 11 counties, each ruled by a duke, baron or count. (Some sort of nobility at least.)
Well, technically it could be 10 dukes, and one king.

It has quite the amount of forests and villages, though the midst of the country suffer from heavy deforestation.

 





 


The king calls himself the main descendant of Midas, a powerful wizard that lived a couple of millenia ago. Though watered out, the descendants still have some of his powers. The nobles of each county also claims to be Midas descendants, though not in the same degree as the king.

Many of the nobles sons are sent southward to guard the bastions in the Jagged Peak mountains whereas others take up hire on the ships that sail for trade.

mandag 2. april 2012

Geographical map of Ylathal


More maps!

Thardevaal and Unduara is seperated by a mountain range. Thardevaal is more swamp-like and foresty whereas Unduara is flat with less vegetation.


The Twisted Isles consist of barren isles surrounding a somewhat dormant volcano.

The Forest kingdom of Linara is as the name suggests rather filled with, you guessed it, forest!

Ceneria, I haven't really though about it, but I guess there would be rivers and such there.

The Jawhanian empire and Marrachia is seperated by a rather big mountain range. The empire is rather well suited for making food.

Marrachia is somewhat more barren, but it stretches up to the northwest.

Barathia has a lot of mountains and is the home to giantkin.


The Mermaid isles is as the name suggests home to mermaids.


Now, don't fret. I will go into more detail about the different countries as time progresses.

torsdag 29. mars 2012

The worldmap



The information is surely to change as I figure out more.

Marrachia is lead by a really religious cult who are really fanatically against the use of magic.

Thardevaal is lead by a king whos land is divided into various counties. Each county is lead by a count or baron or the female equivalent.

The Mermaid isles used to be a very rich kingdom which focused on hunting mermaids and selling them as slaves and /or products. Then something happened and its once rich kingdom was divided by civil war and its culture degenerated into savage tribes.


The Twisted Isles are mostly barren volcanic rocks. A citadel is built on the biggest of the isles and is situated around a dormant volcano. The king is said to rule from his citadel, though is never actually seen. The isles earns their living through trade of magical sulphur and other alchemy related compoments.

The Jawhanian empire is ruled by the emperor Jawhan, though the high king Dormius usually acts in his stead as the emperor himself rarely finds interest in common politics. The empire itself is very powerful when it comes to both army size and magic and thus a word from the emperor himself can afflict politics in other countries.

The forest kingdom is as the title suggest, mostly covered in forest. Rumours of fantastic creatures and a fairie queen is often heard about this place. There are rumours that the inhabitants are somewhat plantlike in nature.

Unduara is a rather flat country. Though it is ruled by a king, there are various warlords that rule the area as well, leaving the king in a position that is not very powerful.

Barathia is a rather mountaineous country. It is quite possible that giants roam the land.

mandag 26. mars 2012

Life, death and time

Thus he took a hair from his right nostril and a toenail clipping from his left foot and from those he created a glowing white being which he named "Life" and a dull black being which he called "Death".

Death and Life mated with eachother and created Time. (Because the only thing between Life and Death is Time.)

lørdag 24. mars 2012

The Almighty Bob

As High Priest Ted tells us, in the beginning there were nothing. Then suddenly there were something. That something turned out to be Bob. (Some call him just Bob, others believe it stands for Big Old Being or perhaps Benevolent Obscure Builder. Nevertheless, the religion of Bob is convinced that Ted knows what he is speaking about and that he is not pulling this info out of his ass.)

The almighty Bob was one day rather bored (granted it wasn't a day considering there was no light, but anyway) and thus decided to create a world out from the dust in his eye. And before him a a chunk of rock appeared. A tickle in his nose annoyed him ever so slightly and when he sneezed upon the world wind and water covered the world. (It has been debated, even fought over, whether or not the almighty Bob deliberately breathed on the world, or whether he accidentaly sneezed.)

Still the world looked awfully cold to him and he grinded his teeth. He did it so hard sparks appeared and lit a fire in the world.

The almighty Bob twirled his almighty moustache (because as High Priest Ted said an almighty being must also have an almighty moustache) and thought himself content with the world, though it seemed rather devoid of any activity.


onsdag 21. mars 2012

What is this?

It is a small world building project that I work with art and text.

I will update this soon.