About the world of Gizeros

Below is what any child in school would learn about the world. (Just like you learned that Christopher Columbus was a nice guy who discovered America...)

The power structures in the world are 4 main cities/kingdoms, and the Arcanum.  Each of the four main cities is ruled by a king, though the power of the monarch varies from place to place.

**Djaria-shu** (The Isle) lies to the west, and is the main supplier of produce to the rest of the cities as the Isle is nearly completely farmable land, with rich natural deposits of iron and copper.  The main city, *Kirogate*, is multicultural, drawing many dwarves, humans, and elves for the mining, farming, finance, and service.

**Toma-shu** lies to the north, consisting of the Gaosin Desert and the freezing Maug Tundra.  It’s main city, *Frigate*, is well protected here, and the main dealings of the city are fishing, hunting, and ice farming.  It draws the hardier races in - half-orcs, dwarves, dragonborn.

**Pengar-shu**, which consists of all land between the southern border of the Gaosin desert and the Arcanum. The capital is *Highgate,* a mountain city nestled just south of the Gaosin Desert. Though each city mints its own currency, the gold Sintars of Highgate are accepted universally.  The largest building in this city is not the capitol, but instead a grand bank. A rudimentary stock market allows businesses to be licensed and stocks to be traded. This is the financial capital of the world. This city tends to attract the more intelligent, conniving, and refined races - elves, half-elves, humans.  Of course all are welcome..

**Skog-shu** is everything south of the Arcanum, containing the Velmar rain forest and Mount Vagmar, an active but currently quiet volcano.  The major city, *Rivergate*, lies in the rainforests by the Bintar Lake. Here, logging and mining are the main businesses, and rare crops that cannot be grown elsewhere are exported from here.  The climate is hot and humid. This place has a fairly evenly divided demographic as far as race is concerned, but those here tend to be keen to ‘rough it,’ and are more in tune with nature.

**The Arcanum** is central, on the Isthmus of Iliar, and is the intellectual center of the world.  Here all matters academic are studied, from magic to archeology to logic. This is the home to the Council of Towenaar (7 leaders, all magic-users, but particular authorities on Magic, Theology, Agriculture, Combat, Science, History, and Wonders).  The Arcanum is above politics and instead is guided by religion, logic, and natural laws. They will help any who request it, favoring no one in particular - but nothing is free.

**Theology:**

The chief diety of this world, Zidos, is the god of Justice.  He is the most powerful of the gods, and keeps the others in check, sanctioning desire, growth, death/life, and chance only when they are righteous, good, fair, and just.

There are four other gods:

* Sedara, Goddess of Desire.  Pleasure, avarice, lust, jealousy, etc.  These are the domain of Sedara. She thrives on them, she encourages them, she sees only good in them - for if you have desires you have a path and a purpose.

* Azotl, God of Growth.  All things must grow and change, it is the way of life.  Azotl believes that if life is stagnant, life is dead. He pushes change upon the world for the sake of change and what new things that change will bring.
* Rytar, God of Spirits.  The souls of the living and the dead, those that ascend to heaven and those that remain to be reincarnated or even to haunt the world unliving: they are all his domain.  He is the god of the transition between life and death, and the eternal soul that transcends between them.
* Umros, God of Chance. Call it faith, chance, luck, or what you will - Umros is the God to which you pray before a long journey or the roll of dice.  There is no guarantee of success, but the risk itself is what appeals to Umros and those who follow him.

Each of these gods has one powerful servant (collectively called the Aatma), and they are the channels by which the Gods are able to actually influence the physical world.  They can be encountered rarely, usually in places of power, and exhibit unique signs of their presence.  Most of what is known of them is shrouded in mystery and fable.

There are various degrees of religion and worship associated with these Gods, some have temples built to them while others are ubiquitous in the idiosyncrasies of the superstitious.  Zidos, Rytar, and Sedara are the three most worshiped, most prayed to, most revered. It is not uncommon to see temples to them in every major city and even smaller towns. There are priests of these Gods, and the apex of the religious hierarchy is the Towenaar of Theology in the Arcanum.