Urdinia

**Summary:** An isolationist and secretive empire, the homeland of the elves, and the origin of the world’s predominant religion, the Urdinian Pantheon.

The Empire of Urdinia is the most powerful and secretive civilization in Avemoria. It has existed for as long as elves have been around, and the Imperial family is the oldest reigning family in the world. It is said that the technology and magic of Urdinia is more advanced than anything else in the rest of Avemoria, but the elves hate outsiders and refuse share their knowledge. The only time outsiders have stepped foot on the island in the past century was when the Maeranian Empire launched a war against Urdinia and managed to occupy its eastern beaches. There are stories that during the brief time they were there, the Maeranians managed to acquire advanced knowledge from the island before being driven out.

The elves of Urdinia are said to be the first people that the gods revealed themselves to, many millennia ago. They since spread this knowledge across all of Avemoria, hence the world’s predominant religion being called the Urdinian faith. Some priests and religious authorities have been granted permission to enter the Empire of Urdinia to further their knowledge of the gods, but they have all done so under the condition that they must never leave.

## Lineages

For as long as Urdinia had recorded history, nearly all the inhabitants were either wood elves, high elves, or drow. However, things changed when Paranthor waged war across Avemoria. Many fled for safety elsewhere, and for the first time, Urdinia opened its borders to outsiders. Those closest to the coast were the first to arrive, such as those from Dock or Maerania. Dwarves from Korilla soon followed, as did the shifters when the forests of Bjergskov were burned. Eventually, Paranthor conquered the whole continent, and the borders of Urdinia shut down again. Many, though not all, the elves welcomed these newcomers.

The new lineages in Urdinia were welcomed with open arms, and in the time of the collapse, after magic went away, the lineages mingled and mixed throughout all of society. These disparate lines of heritage all came from one human origin and mingled once again in Urdinia, reunited yet distinct. They mix freely, though many have their own subcommunities within Urdinian society. The lineages which currently live in Urdinia are the elves (wood, high, and drow), humans, dragonborn, dwarves, tieflings, orcs, shifters, and kenku.

## Etymology

The name Urdinia is a composite word, Urd referring to the ancient Urd tribe and “-inia” meaning “the land of”. Long ago in the earliest days of life on Avemoria, it is said that humans were placed on the island which would come to be called Urdinia. The tribe was founded by a man named Urd, for which the tribe took its name. It was to Urd and his people that the gods of the outer planes revealed themselves, each offering their own gift to the tribe to win them to their own sides. According to some versions of the story, these gifts were the Divine Relics. Others say that the gifts split the tribe into different lineages such as the dragonborn, halflings, dwarves, and others.

The Urd people thrived on the island, but eventually, they longed for more. They built ships and left for Avemoria, whose name comes from “ave” meaning “dawn”, and “moria” meaning “mountains”, for the Slate Peaks to the east were the first obstacle to the early settlers and came to define the continent. Not all of the Urd people left. Some stayed behind, and the legends say that as they continued to live on the island its innate magic changed and shifted the people, creating the Elves known today. The name of the Urd tribe eventually faded into disuse, but its legacy remains in the name of the island and the nation.

## Transportation

### Land Transportation

Transportation by land takes four main forms in Udrinia: horse, the mechanical stag, trains, and trams. In rural areas, horses remain the most common form of transportation. Reliable, efficient, and able to handle all terrains they remain an essential part of many people’s lives. However, in the cities and more developed regions, the mechanical stag has become a popular recent invention. Powered by Flux, mechanical stags are automatons in the form of giant deer, which can either be ridden or used to pull carriages. The Flux is programmed by mechanisms inside the deer to animate it and give it life when in use. Some owners keep their stags on all the time, either to show them off or out of compassion for the animated creature.

Beyond horses and stags, which can only transport as many people as can fit in a carriage, trains and trams are the most efficient way to move about. Trains and trams both work on the same principles, Flux powers two devices within the vehicle. One device causes the vehicle to levitate, though they are attached to tracks so that it can’t float away. By floating, the vehicles can easily move without resistance from the ground and can even be pushed by a single man. The second device causes forward propulsion. There is no need for propulsion to change the direction, as the tracks take care of directing the vehicle.

### Sea Transportation

Travel by sea has changed little over the millennia. Ships powered by sea remain practically the only way to go. Though ships have become larger than they once were, with giant sails and many levels of decks. Some experimental ships are powered by Flux, with the benefit of being able to not use sails and instead by clad in steel and iron or even going so far as to submerge fully under the water. For now, however, these remain pure experiments with no real application.

### Air Transportation

Just as in the sea, sailing ships dominate in the air. Like trains and trams, they are powered by flux devices that allow them to levitate, with wing-like sails allowing for steering and propellers providing momentum. These ships take similar forms to the ones in the sea, though often longer and shallower. These flying longships can be expensive to power, as flux is consumed at a rapid rate to keep such heavy ships afloat and power the propellers. Smaller ships can be powered with less, and move faster, though have less capacity for cargo and passengers.

Airships usually load and unload cargo and passengers at airdocks. These airdocks are tall platforms with rows of piers where airships can pull up to. Most airdocks have both elevators and stairs going up a central column to reach the piers. However, due to the cost of flux, airships rarely stay docked for more than a few hours. Most cities with over 100,000 people have both public and private landports, where an airship can be safely lowered to the ground and moored, often with sails folded to the side. These landports must be specially constructed to safely house airships in protected shelters, while still allowing the airship to be moved out into the open where it can levitate to the sky. In smaller towns and cities, airships that must moor often land in open fields, though this risks damage to the hull when landing and requires the airship to be left exposed to the elements. In coastal areas, some airships are specifically made to be able to land in the water and moor at normal docks. These airships are often on the smaller side, and cannot be used as true water vessels.

## Foods and Beverages

When magic ruled Urdinia, food scarcity was an issue reserved for the academic study of the savages in Avemoria. The lost arcane agricultural sciences yielded fantastic crops which could provide all nutrients needed, and irrigation which condensed water from the air itself and aquifers deep below the ground to ensure no drought ever occurred. Potions were created that were placed into the irrigation canals, cleansing the crops of all parasites and diseases. Food was plentiful, and the main crop was a solanum. Solanums were brown, roughly six-inch-long, starchy tubers that, while not too flavorful on their own, provided plenty of great nutrients and could keep families across the island sated.

When magic failed, however, so did these agricultural practices. In fact, many historians propose the root cause of the collapse to be from mass starvation. Fortunately, the Avemorian refugees knew how to practice agriculture without magic. They introduced grains and their products, and since then bread has become the main staple food in Urdinia. While in Avemoria it was typically raised with yeast, in Urdinia the form is typically flatbreads.

Another Avemorian import was dairy. Cattle, goats, sheep, and horses were known to Urdinians before the immigration, but mostly for meat, wool, or riding. However, with intense resource scarcity, all the food that could be found was taken. These four animals could be sustained on the new grains and the grasslands of the north, and dairy provided a great addition to the diets of the Urdinians, which was collected from all of them.

The types of dairy products are as follows: pasteurized milk from cattle; cheese from cattle, goats, and sheep; yogurt from goats and sheep; fermented milk from horses; milk tea comes from all four. All of these products are central to Urdinian culture and reflect the cooperation and intermixing of Urdinians and Avemorians.

Traditional Urdinian food is typified by its spiciness, incorporation of flatbreads and milk, and the communal nature of meals. Almost every traditional Urdinian dish also has olive oil included in some form. A few examples of traditional Urdinian food are listed below.

Sea scorpions are hunted with nets and tridents, then grilled over an open fire. A single sea scorpion is ideally six feet long and can feed a dozen people, where it often sits as the centerpiece of a large communal meal. People are free to grab pieces of the scorpion from the center of the table. Once the meal is finished, a common game is to take turns throwing the stinger of the scorpion at a dartboard. Whoever scores highest has the privilege of sitting at the head of the table at the next scorpion roast.

Wyvern fangs are a common dessert. They are sweet and very spicy, made from hot peppers with a sugary coating. Sometimes they have different kinds of fillings, such as jellies, spicy relishes, meat, or bread stuffing.

Marto is a common hearty stew. Goat, beef, or clams are used as the main ingredient, served in a strong, spicy, thick broth filled with vegetables such as onion, peppers, and carrots. The broth is often thickened with milk. Marto is cooked in a large pot and served in bowls, often with flatbread on the side for dipping.

The shifters, orcs, dragonborn, and wood elves all partake in traditional Urdinian food but they also have their own subculture of food that unites them. Each of these groups traditionally prefers to eat more raw foods. Fruit and vegetables are eaten without preparation and cooking. Meat is barely cooked, or not at all. Dairy is usually drunk as unpasteurized milk. Seafood is often eaten completely raw. For these people this isn’t a barbaric act, it is instead a matter of being more connected to the natural world around them and engaging with it in an unaltered state. Their physiologies also make this not as dangerous as it might be for some other people.

Three dairy beverages are very common in Urdinia: milk, milk tea, and milk liquor. Plain milk is often pasteurized and either drank plain or mixed with other items, such as when boiled with oats. Milk tea is typically made from a quart of milk, a quart of water, a tablespoon of tea leaves, and a teaspoon of salt. The combination is boiled, then poured from a kettle with a long, twisting spout. Milk liquor comes from fermented horse milk and is a very strong, thick alcohol.

Over alcohols include wines that are typically imported from Maerania and light beers. Fruit drinks are commonly made from bananas, mangoes, apples, papayas, and strawberries.

## Fauna

### Invertebrates

Glowhorn Worms, or simply just Glowhorns, are a species of flatworm native to the damp undergrowth of forests in Eastern Udrinia. They’re more often, however, found in the sewers, gutters, pipes, and other damp and poorly-lit spaces in the slums of many cities. They can be anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet in length. They get their name from the glowing, branching ornamentations that grow from their heads.

While wild ones have short, yellow horns and are brown all over, they have been taken into captivity and bred into much more exotic colors and shapes. These ‘designer’ glowhorns can easily be worth hundreds of thousands of sterlings, or even more for the rarest varieties. They have become popular pets among the rich, as well as a status symbol. Sometimes they can even be seen carried around on arms and shoulders to show off one’s wealth and taste. Though a glowhorn can be cut in half to become an exact copy of itself, this practice is highly frowned upon as the rarity and uniqueness of different varieties is part of the appeal. Because of their origin in sewers but praise among the upper class, “glowhorn” has become an insult to people who get out of poverty and become wealthy, only to not help the communities they come from.