Valeria (World)

## Valeria

Valeria is a solitary, inhabited world consisting of 6 major continents. While it is the sole celestial body of the material plane, other planes are accessible through the use of magical transportation.

## History

Valerian History can be sorted into four prominent ages:

### The Broken Age

Referred to as such due to a complete lack of knowledge concerning the time period. The Broken Age encompasses all time from its beginning to the start of the Bronze Age.

### The Bronze Age

While not totally unknown like the Broken Age, the Bronze age is seldom understood, with much of its history known as little more than myth. Also known as the Age of the Gods, the Bronze age is characterized by ever-present deities and their nurturing of culture, technology, and the arcane. The Bronze Age ended with a sudden deific absence that sparked war and turmoil.

### The Great Silence

With the end of the Bronze Age, Valeria experienced its shortest and most violent age. Lasting less than 150 years, the Great Silence was filled with conflict; uncountable holy wars raged unchecked, and any survivors were left grasping for scraps in the dust. In the wake of such destruction, the vast majority of written knowledge was destroyed, and surviving Bronze Age relics were hidden away.

### The Age of Mending

With the end of the Great Silence the voices of the gods returned to Valeria. The age has been characterized as a time of healing, both of the world itself and of the relationships between the gods and mortals, but the scars of the Great Silence remain unhealed even hundreds of years later.

### Seasonal/Cultural Calendar

This seasonal calendar of 9 months was sculpted by the cultural and seasonal habits of the world and its people, as opposed to the revolution of the moon. It is used to consistently track the time of year as it, unlike other Valerian calendars, is built to mirror the 365 day year.

### Lunar Calendars

A calendar exclusively used to track the movements of Valeria's sole moon: Seléne, and its subsatellite Vodoun. It is used to track time more readily and in shorter increments than the seasonal calendar, as each full rotation of Selune's phases is exactly 30 days, and clearly visible in the night sky. This calendar is also commonly used in divination and magical accordance.

## Satellites

### Seléne

Seléne is comparable to Earth's moon; its lunar cycle consists of 13 phases, each of which takes exactly 30 days during which it waxes and wanes. Its various phases are often referenced in the documentation of magic rituals, and its cycle has a direct connection to lycanthropy.

### Vodoun

Vodoun is a lunar submoon of Seléne with an inconsistent orbit, completing one revolution in as few as 40 days or as many as 130. It does not wax or wane, but sometimes disappears behind Seléne for days at a time. Vodoun’s cycles, while inconsistent, are most commonly referenced in regard to blood magic, vampires, ritualistic events, and similar dark magics.

## Geography

Valeria is home to 6 major continents and several island chains, but is not yet fully explored.

### Continents

#### Iskald

A large, northern continent known for expansive wilderness, sharp mountain ranges, and an unforgiving northern glacier field known as the Northern Reach. Its southern population is made up of Emerian colonies while the north harbors native villages as well as a handful of independent cities and settlements.

#### Aunora

The smallest of the major continents, Aunora carries many scars from the Great Silence, including the Salzgeist: a haunted fog that chokes the isle's southern ports. The zealous Emerian Theocracy controls the central and southern regions of the continent, while the north is occupied by the Kraven Ascendancy.

#### Eldamaar

Nestled between Aunora, Eochia, and Absaroka, Eldamaar is an important component in Eastern Valeria's oceanic trade routes. Two nations share its major harbor, and a third occupies the continent's western coast. It is also home to the Broken Peninsula, a well-known haven for pirates.

#### Eochia

An Eastern continent that reaches farther north than any other, covering a large portion of the continent in ice and tundra. Its coastal regions are made up of numerous islands, home to a multitude of independent, warring tribes, while the mainland is occupied by an expansive dynasty.

#### Absaroka

Absaroka is a large, central continent that reaches far to both the north and south, split in half near its center by the Central Channel, a manmade, continent spanning river intended to open up trade routes from its famous port of Kathe'Limane to Iskald and Ja'Losai without going through the Tromethean Ocean.

#### Ja'Losai

Surrounded by numerous trpical archipelagos, Ja'Losai is a large continent dominated by jungle and desert. Its southern coast features high, rocky mountains whose slopes descend into the Dust Wastes: Valeria's largest desert. The independent city state of Monolith resides near the desert's center, while Ja'Losai's jungles and coast are occupied by numerous villages and peoples eager to enjoy the tropical climate.

### Oceans

#### Tromethean Ocean

Valeria's central ocean, bordering every continent except Eochia and commonly used for sea travel and oceanic trade routes. Its center is avoided due to the Inkblot.

#### Boreal Sea

A cold sea to the north of Iskald, Aunora, Eldamaar, and Eochia

#### Map's Edge

A seldom traveled ocean to the east of Absaroka and Eochia and west of Ja'Losai and Iskald.

## Languages

While Valeria has no universal language, Common is used as a trade language, and therefore very widely known. Other regions and cultures normally possess their own languages, however.

*See Valerian Language for a more complete description of the world's languages.*