Talt Elena

## Government

Primarily a monarchy, ruled by the queen and maintained by an extensive court of noble families, but the college of flesh has nearly as much power as the nobility due to it’s sheer necessity to maintain their military power and economic stability

## Description

A nation known for its advanced magical bioengineering, Gwaith -o Talt Elena, the “nation of falling stars”, or simply Talt Elena is surprisingly below average when it comes to most forms of magitech. They have few firearms per capita, and conventional engines are practically impossible to find. Were you to live out your whole life there, you would likely never once interact with a piece of clockwork. The roles of all these technologies are instead filled by living things, each purpose designed for a specific task.

Gwaith -o Talt Elena has a total population of 1.4 million people. Their primary demographic is elves, who make up about 85% of their population, on average. Light and dark elves live in relative peace, their magic being more than capable of altering as simple a thing as skin tone and therefore making racial tensions a bit of a moot point between them.

## History

Approximately two thousand years ago, the northern wastes were formed when a radioactive object fell from space, where it broke into multiple pieces before impacting the ground. This event, causing a large amount of the island to suddenly become uninhabitable, made the previous government collapse. And so, Talt Elena was formed from the ashes.

## Geography

Gwaith -o Talt Elena is a relatively small island nation, covering an area of 18 thousand square miles. Of this, 32% (5760 sq. miles) is arable land, 52% (9360 sq. miles) is wilderness, and 16% (2880 sq. miles) is barren wasteland. This low percentage of farmland is in fact the origin of their biomagic proficiency, their earliest dabblings in the craft used by druids to improve the efficiency of their crops.

### Cities

#### Bymoor

Bymoor is the nation’s capital and largest city. It's name is an elven cognate for "by the moor", due to it's close proximity to the dreary northern wastes. it's existence as a city is in fact older than the wastes themselves, although it once had another name.

The city has three major power factions, and broadly mirrors the conflicts throughout the nation: the queen and her court, the college of flesh, and the small but fanatical Waste Wailer cult

The city's gold piece limit is 40,000 gp. Anything, whether it be mundane or magical, having a price under that limit is most likely available for purchase. Treat this as 25% higher when purchasing anything that would be considered alive

The city of Bymoor covers an area of approximately 316 acres, with a total population of 19 thousand people. The population is mostly elf (split roughly evenly between standard and dark) (79%), with smaller numbers of humans (9%), halflings (5%), dwarves (3%), and misc. other  races (4%).

#### Rano

Rano is a bustling port city to the southeast of Talt Elena, who makes frequent trade partners with the Umdet Tetracycline. It is also where most new adventurers enter the country from, giving it an unusual concentration of powerful people.

The city's gold piece limit is 40,000 gp. Anything, whether it be mundane or magical, having a price under that limit is most likely available for purchase.

The city of Ramo covers an area of approximately 202 acres, with a total permanent population of 12 thousand people. The population is largely elf (47% leaning slightly but noticeably towards standard over drow), but with a wide array of beings of every shape and size.

### Other major locations

#### Northern wastes

One of the most inhospitable locations in the world, the wastes are home to radiation, wild magic events, and a number of other nasty hazards. This is certainly not helped by ambitious and reckless biomages frequently dumping their failed projects along its edges as a convenient disposal method, some of which manage to somehow keep up a breeding population despite the hostile environment. To make matters worse, this area has numerous entrances to the darklands scattering it, allowing monstrosities to take refuge there and eventually find their way to the mainland.

## Unique laws

Talt Elena has a form of legalized slavery, albeit with a catch. It is only legal for fully artificial organisms, or “sub-sentient” creatures (any race with an average int of 5 or lower). In general, any creature intelligent enough to ask for freedom is considered intelligent enough to be granted it. Of course, some less than reputable individuals exploit this system by making their servants unable to communicate, or maintaining a feeblemind effect…

## Important people/groups

### Queen Sheya Vimir

**Drow Noble**

(N) lvl 9 sorcerer/rogue gestalt

Has been ruling for nearly a hundred years, since the sudden death of her father. Is not fond of the college of flesh, but is reliant on their power to maintain her nation’s stability, as often as they seem to be the main threat to that very same thing.

### The noble houses

There are a total of thirteen noble houses, consisting almost entirely of drow and surface elves.

#### House Shair

House Shair is known for taking in strays and orphans, as well as being the only noble house not to be primarily elven. Although, only a member who was born into the house can become it’s leader, so there has never been a non-elf head of household.

#### House Vimir

Vimir is the largest and most influential house. It is the house the current queen is a part of.

### The Waste Wailer cult

(CE)

A group believing that the wastes themselves were a sentient, malevolent entity, wishing to expand and consume the entire island. There may potentially be truth to this, as *something* is granting a large portion of them divine spells. Their group is secretive and has never received official support from any major group, but claims members in a number of high places...

### The college of flesh

(CN)

The college has existed in one form or another for over 1600 years, nearly as old as the country itself, and has immense prestige and influence because of it.

#### The dean

(CG)

In a chaotic and dangerous environment like the college of flesh, one does not last long without keen instincts, and keener wits. In fact, typical deans last a decade at absolute most before retiring in one way or another. The current is one of the longest lasting in modern history, at nearly 30 years. often acts as a counselor and advisor for the queen. He has been trying to steer the college in a more positive direction, but has frequently butted heads with the queen on how exactly that should be done

### The military

The Talt Elena military is primitive and chaotic by most nation’s standards, but far from ineffective. They rely on a smaller number of high power troops, rather than sheer numbers. Loyal aboleths guard their shores from invasion, and Bulette riders form an elite cavalry unit known as the mud sharks. It’s likely they wouldn’t be able to hold up against a full invasion from one of the large nations, but their unorthodox defenses and lack of valuable resources guarantee that a victory would not be worth the cost.

## Trivia

-Talt Elena is the origin of many well known forms of monstrosity, including Bulettes, Driders, Aboleths, and Gricks

-their primary import is exotic livestock, the college of flesh often paying adventurers for any monsters they defeat, alive or dead.

## local feats

#### -Beneficial Mutation:

*Through an act of intentional biomagic, exposure to the flesh warping energies of the wastes, or simply getting lucky when a spell went wrong, your body has become stronger than it once was.*

**Benefit:** you gain one of the tiefling’s Variant Abilities (with the same conditions and restrictions as choosing one normally)

**Special:** you may take this feat multiple times, each time choosing a different option.

## Regional traits

#### -Beastkeeper

you grew up haggling in the Rano beastmarkets, and know how to find a good deal. when purchasing an animal or monster from an npc, you may reduce the gp cost by 5%