smokelands

[b][u]The Smokelands[/u][/b]

[b]Overview[/b]
-- The smokelands are a region known for their eerie and haunting appearance, almost perpetually overcast and blanketed in the hazy smoke from which they get their name. The terrain is arid and often broken by jagged, ribbon-like formations of stony cliffs. Vegetation exists mostly in the form of forests of skeletal trees and creeping vines and lichens. Underneath the surface lie a vast network of geothermal vents and caverns, often with their own unique ecosystems.

Ruling over the region are the kindle, curious lizardfolk with a past of toppled empires and sucessive wars.

[b]History[/b]
-- Long ago, the smokelands were regarded as an untameable wilderness, inhabited only by the feral tribes of kindle that lurked below the surface. This remained true until it came time for the temple to open its doors and for an immortal to be chosen. A particularly ambitious kindle named Ava left her homeland and proceeded to lie, bargain, cheat, and backstab the other contenders, stealing knowledge and expertise from each one in turn.

Assisted by the paladin Exscalia Tir (who foolishly fell in love with Ava), the kindle made her way to the gates of the temple and, in a final betrayal, left Exscalia outside.

Ava completed the trials within and emerged an immortal, bestowing the other half of her gift upon Exscalia in gratitude and apology. When Ava returned home, she used her newfound longevity and the knowledge she had amassed to raise her feral kin up into a proper empire, assisted by Exscalia and her knights.

While Ava still eventually died under uncertain circumstances and her empire crumbled, the element of civilization that she bestowed upon the kindle never faltered, and throughout all the coming wars and the rise of nations afterwards the kindle remained a relatively modern people.

-- The most recent iteration of civilization within the smokelands were the five city-states of Ash-Kopul, Tesh, Spirecrown, Lux, and Torpor. These five nations competed against each other after emerging from the prior fallen empire, until a new holy order known as the Vox Ava took control of Torpor and soon expanded their influence to Lux and Ash-Kopul.

The New Empire (also known as the Luminous Court) that the Vox Ava have formed has been waging a slow but steady war against the remaining two city-states in an attempt to unify the smokelands, primarily through economic dominance fueled by trade with surrounding nations.

[b]Inhabitants[/b]
-- Those that live within the smokelands, both human and kindle alike, are typically known as "smokelanders". While they each hold their own racial traditions, generations upon generations of co-existance have blurred the lines.

-- The kindle are a rather [url=https://38.media.tumblr.com/065ad2c8d432c3cad7a968c9df22c83d/tumblr_n886dfuFHj1swolhmo1_1280.png]eerie-looking[/url] race; ashen-scaled and black-feathered lizardfolk marked with bands of yellow, their four arms float a short distance from their sockets.

The kindle are despite their history of civilization an ultimately primal people, revelling in drink and song and dance. With little sense of modesty, they typically live in communal lodgings with little privacy. Craftspeople, shamans, and warriors are all revered as noble professions and are highly sought-after by those of age to seek apprenticeships.

-- Those humans that live within the smokelands have made many concessions to their ancestors traditions; like the kindle, they raise their children communally, and wheras the lizardfolk have little trouble breathing the smoke that blankets the region the humans have constructed a tradition of masks which allow them to survive the hazy air.

-- Among the oldest surviving traditions among the smokelanders are those of House Tir, which was founded by Exscalia Tir and her knights when she retired to the smokelands in disgrace. Despite the fact that she considered herself a failure, her followers considered her a living saint after being blessed with immortality.

When the kindles' bloodlines inevitably mixed with those of Exscalia and the knights, so began the process of integration that would see humans accepted peacefully within the smokelands and which assured that over the span of generations House Tir's traditions would be protected.

House Tir has classically served as arbitrators and honour guards, offering their swords and wisdom in return for going unmolested.

-- The Vox Ava are a very recent order, the result of classical shrine-worship of Ava having undergone a major resurgance and being adopted by the ruling dynasty of Torpor. While not a strictly speaking "militant" order, the Vox Ava have been steadily pressuring the rest of the smokelands to join them under their banner and have waged on-and-off warfare against Tesh and Spirecrown in the hopes of forcing them to make such a decision.

[b]Foreign Relations[/b]
-- TBA. The Vox Ava have taken great pains to try to gain the favour of nearby nations in the hopes of economically dominating the smokelands, vastly expanding their trade routes and increasing the production of various artificer goods (such as gas masks, arc lamps, and colourbombs).