Empire of Maslan (CCW)

A wealthy but increasingly ineffectual bureaucratic state ruled for a millennia by the Mage University. Masslea inherited this vastly multicultural and pluralistic empire from the Dalceranneans, along with a bulbous knot of local rights and privileges, an entanglement of assemblies with overlapping jurisdictions, and a civil code too extensive to comprehend. And while the Empire has remained largely peaceful, it suffers from corruption and decay on all fronts.

One of the five Celthestan States and a major cultural zone of Celtheste. Origin and center of the Aradnian and Ablutionist Faiths.

## Maslan

*The Grande Dame, Mage City, Mother Masa*

The city of the pursuit of knowledge and center of Mage Rule. It is old, elegant, and esoteric, with the vague notion that it was once new and revolutionary. The museums, domes, and observatories are dutifully polished bronze and prestigiously yellowed marble. The streets are wide and rarely crowded, occupied by pairs of robed mages discussing abstract theories and perfunctory politics. Centuries of bureaucratic knots and entrenched power mean the common folk here are children wandering through a hedge mage, living lives of intense concentration, pausing to observe, to assure themselves they have not been here before, that there is some end to their invisible lives at the foot of these grand shadows.

## Dar Nal Emal

*Dar-Ness, the Naked Blade*

Not only the most dense and populous city in Celtheste, it is also self-evidently the proudest, liveliest, most storied, and most varied in culture, class, and industry. Quick to protect their freedoms, the Darumels have “had a great many rulers but never any rules.” Which is to say all who have tried to reform the unruly streets or quiet the clanging night markets have been shrugged off or drowned out by the resolve of these people—to laugh at snobbery, to jump fences and factory rooftops, to dance and do laundry in the palace yard uninvited. Even the children here draw their knives at each other in greeting, and neighbors shout and argue to show their passion and affections. From the docks to the banks, to the grimy glass domes, love binds this city together in all its most transcendent, ugly, ferocious forms.

Note: The actual name of the city is Dar Nes Emal, but has been consistently misnamed in Avonish.

## Central Masslea

*The Small Country*

The mirror image of the city from which it is named, the heartland of the empire is unpretentious and democratic, with a strong desire for simple living, and preferring to look inward –in all senses of the word. Strong emphasis is placed on self-reflection and motivation, on responsibility in interpersonal relationships and an obstinate disinterest in world affairs, or even the next ward over. It is not that central massleans lack curiosity, just that they are content to fascinate themselves with their own dusty sunsets and just barely arable plots; the red-gold clay of their mild little hills, the names of their ancestors, the particular ways their mothers and cousins laugh, or arrange figs and apricots on their plates…

## Rutai Coast

*The Slow Country, the Fat Coast of Masslea*

The coastal folk know how to enjoy life in their paradise, taking the days slowly and naming constellations late into the night. A great many of them are highly educated, and indeed they take pride in their learning and openness. They love foreigners, love to feed and shelter them and have high minded conversations and vigorous debates. Some say they are fat on the wealth of the Rutai Gulf Trade, more content to talk than to reform the Empire they complain so much about. The coastal folk would disagree, and invite you to discuss it over a drink.

## Avelade

*The Wood, the Wood in the Tales*

Castles and villages gripped by the tendrils of a dark wood. It is the site of Celtheste’s most enduring and famous legends, and more recently a niche tourist destination for some very adventurous foreigners. Meanwhile the people of Avelade face slow, subtle, but terrifying threats from the land itself—the long lasting side effects of an elven curse. So the people here are quietly desperate, always throwing little parties and festivals to distract from the insidious exhaustion of their lives.

Note: this region is now mostly within Caltania’s borders

## Bariya-Alabin

*Madman’s Pass, Nobody’s Fortress*

Den of exiles and spiritual retreats. These territories are increasingly mountainous the deeper you go and therefore increasingly dangerous. In the hills are some fairly standard, if not slightly more on edge Massleans, but go further and you will find the fringier religious communes, the unseated gangs plotting their return—past them, are the cave dwellers, the greatest of the cravens, the raving mad and if the wildness hasn’t eclipsed your mind by then, you will find some very nice mountain top temples for prayer and meditation.

## Republic of the Mahdrad

*The Strand Sayrhoul, the Shackled Fox (political)*

These Sayrhoul live on rough but productive land, farming or ranching or any other respectable trade. Historically the most brutally and directly oppressed of their people, the Strandfolk do everything in their power to maintain their hard won freedom, keeping their heads high, opinions gentle, and anger tightly locked away, just in case they are being watched—which they always are. They are watched by the Empire, the world, and by each other, so they strive and strive to prove how motivated, respectable, and well-behaved they can be, for however long they can before they crack beneath the pressure.

Note: Capital and largest city is **Batalthara**

## Nalhallem

*The Desert Wilds, the Mahdradi Free State (official name)*

The Sayrhoul who fled Mage Rule to the desert. The remarkable desert dwellers who control the middle leg of the Eastern Trade Corridor, the people of Nalhallem carry on a proud tradition of autonomy and anarchy. From oasis towns to mountain fortresses, the dominion of Nalhallem extends to all the lands an army cannot invade. They prize their open sky and Rose-Colored cloaks. They raise children that are brave and self-reliant, sending them on treacherous journeys at a young age, to learn the land and wield it as their greatest weapon. Life is not easy but it is noble. For as they say, the only true Sayrhoul is a free one.

## Upper Demonia

*The Mansion Cliffs*

The dramatic cliffs and picturesque beaches of this ancient, not entirely Celthestan land has long been a favorite getaway for the wealthy and privileged from all across the continent. The Onosh clans who once ruled here have long been subsumed by this atmosphere of excess and ritual courtesies, forced out of their subsistence farms and fisheries into domestic service and tourism jobs, with little space for advancement. So the underbelly of Upper Demonia is filmed in a cancerous depression—unfinished homes, gloomy pubs, narrow alleyways where children break empty bottles and swallow pills to pass the time.

## The Southern Colonies

*Young Celtheste*

These lands were empty for centuries, haunted, it is said, by the specter of an annihilated Elvan civilization. But when the smoke cleared and the world saw a great empty country on the coast of the Rutai Gulf, a scramble for new territory ensued. Maslan’s holdings were populated with a curious mix of tense, straight-laced military types, flamboyant, mostly foreign traders and seafarers, and Celtheste’s most idealistic, utopic dreamers, who built their communes and collectives far from the scrutiny of any government. These three groups coexist and cooperate in a strange dance of give and take that defines the area and sustains its continued prosperity even in an unstable region and in uncertain times.

Note: the main colonies are **Arkelonikai** and **Masslea Nova**