Vetremyre

Vetremyre (Veh-treh-mir) is a large continent on the north-eastern side of Amalgamaria, shaped like a scrambled diamond.

## Lore and Geography

In the north, one of the Other Gods, Eldath, spread out vasts forests. She saw that it was good, naming the land Adreina and claiming it for her use. Martslock took possession of the eastern lands, slamming his hands down upon the earth to create the great mountains, which would soon belong to the dwarves. This had the side effect of shattering the south, which lead to the Far-Eastern style of existence there.

The Father, nearing the end of his lifetime and not wanting to divvy up power between his children, sacrificed the his remaining years to create the humans. However, in his desperation, the wild magic gave birth to other things, too. Darker things. Primordials. They exist beyond space and time, and even Golarion itself, residing in a grand city of their own design named Relai.

There are twelve Primordials. King, the leader of them all. Magic, the one responsible for the spread of the elements in Vetremyre. Law, he who tries to keep the land under control. Good, who keeps (or attempts to, anyways) people from shanking each other for the gold in their coinpurses. Chaotic works against Law, and tries to spread strife in the land. Evil works against Good, and works to bring all of it back to what it was: complete and utter darkness. Light and Dark don’t concern themselves with the affairs of the other Primordials, for they’re locked in an endless battle of wits stuck in Relai. Magic, who grew tired of King’s careless regime, abandoned his title and adopted the moniker of Spirit, and became a Lone Wanderer, traveling the lands and accompanying those who pique his interest.

There are four elemental seals, and two antideluvian seals. The four are of the time-tested fire, water, air, and earth, while the antedeluvians are light and dark. The four corners of Vetremyre each correspond to their respective elements; north holds the earth seal, south holds the water seal, west holds the air seal, and the east holds the fire seal. These six seals work in conjunction to keep balance in the world. They are the work of the Twinmortals, Martslock and Eldath. While created by the siblings, they are not maintained by them. This job falls to the High Priestess of Celestia, who is personally assigned (and replaced) every fifteen years by Eldath.

 Breaking the seals is required of the new High Priestess. She journeys across Vetremyre (usually accompanied by a paladin of the prestigious Order of the Stag) and breaks each one of these seals. However, the journey is not without its dangers. Within each one of the seals, hosted there is an almost blasphemous eldritch monstrosity (constructed by the joint efforts of Martslock and Eldath) called a Seal Beast. These Beasts are completely in tune with their surrounding environment; for example, in the seal of fire (which resides inside an active volcano, of course) the Seal Beast often manifests as something made of lava. This makes fighting it… problematic. In addition to the dangers of the beasts themselves, there are plenty who wish nothing more than the Priestess’s Pilgrimage come to an end via leaving the potential High Priestess lying in a pool of her own blood. Among these are the Primordials (The High Priestess is a machination of the gods, which the Primordials do not take kindly to), the current High Priestess (there is no place for the former High Priestess; often she will be locked in a room with a knife, if you understand where I’m going with this), as well as the various bandit lords who realize that if the gods get what they want, there’ll be a hell of a time trying to find people to stab.

In addition to the Twinmortals reclaiming power they had lost, it comes at a price to the four main species. Breaking each of the seals has a cost that must be paid in two parts; one from an offering by the one who seeks to break the seal, and the other from those who attend to the land. The second price of the seal manifests in unique ways to each of the species; the elven crops simply refuse to grow, orcish horses rebel against their masters, human fish seek different waters, and the ores that make the dwarves so famous (and rich) flow much less freely.

There are four different countries in the continent of Vetremyre. The north holds a monarchy under the rule of Naeryndam Amakir, who has held that position for an odd three hundred years. Any who would attempt to oppose his claim to the throne were swiftly executed, thus ending much of the dissent against him. However, a storm is growing in the elven lands the likes of which have never been seen.

The dwarves in the east are ruled by a council, each one replaced every fours years by members of the family. The procession is set up in a staggered chain, every year a member of the council is replaced. However, this does not guarantee an unpartial rule; often, the dwarves bicker over the littlest of things, over simple principle. In effect, they are caught in an endless measuring of dicks, leading to the country essentially circling the drain.

The south is ran under a monarchy, same as the north, by a man named Shen. He’s ruled for quite a long time, and seems to be the only country with a solid hold on itself. Many of the people, at least ninety to ninety five percent, love Emperor Shen’s rule. They pray that it never ends, so that his ambitious and darker brother may assume the throne. The day rapidly approaches where this may happen, however, and attempts on Emperor Shen’s life seem to occur weekly.

Five hundred years before the current regime of the gods, Spirit was freshly exiled from Relai and angry. He could be considered an angsty teen, and actually acted that way more often that you’d think.

Many of the things he did are still evident today, in the Year Of Our Twins, 860. He weaved a storm of fire, the embers of which still burn, that transformed a lush area of forest into a scorching desert. He caused a tidal wave to rush upon the ancient city of Willowhorn, wiping away over half of the population in a single fell swoop. He caused a great plague to overtake the once prosperous cities of Windermere, Duncaster, Sirencester, and Miscante, sending these back to the Stone Ages and ushering in the orc barbarians who now live there. He also caused the volcano which looms over Bhan Moldir (and also holds the seal of fire) to erupt, sending magma down the country side.

Only through the deeds of a hero blessed by the Twinmortals was Spirit’s reign of terror finally able to come to an end. This hero was Gorn Arandiel, wielding a blade and armament forged by Martslock himself. The result of this conflict leaves scars throughout the landscape for those who see with more than their eyes. These scars bleed magic into the world, and allows even the most foolish to sling spells as though they’d known how to all along. Spirit’s body, imprisoned through powerful arcane and divine magic, holds on it the fabled Draconomicon, which legends state holds each spell currently in existence.

The four cities in the west each specialized in one thing. Miscante was chocked-full of casters, and are generally blamed along with Spirit for the Plague. Duncaster was a city of lawyers, which is why nobody liked a man from Duncaster. Sirencester was a town of pirates and cutthroats, who sealed their walls when the Plague first started to spread. Windermere was the crown city, the jewel of it all, hidden along the coastline. Apparently, a wizard bearing dark and monstrous marks with an army of undead at his back claimed the city in the name of his research. Nobody knows for certain, but the learned ones of society generally blame this on Spirit, as well as the rain falling on a sunny day.

Llyn is a small town. It is one of the few that has ports which offer transportation to Willowhorn. As a result, it is rolling in the dough. It holds also a lake which houses the seal of water.

Bhan Moldir is the capitol of the dwarves. It lies underneath the Great Mountains, which bear the seal of fire. The seal was already released by the motley pilgrimage group with only major casualties.