Unaligned Realms

Between the unknown extent of the Celestial and Chthonic realms, sit lands unburdened by purpose. Upon these realms exist the mortal races. Where we live out our first lives before whatever rest or divine purpose awaits us in the next. But these realms we inhabit are old... Very old. Every great city is built upon the ruins of one far removed built by unknown hands.

-Alakai, Scholar of the Broken Walls

## Ortia

   The first of these lands is Ortia, my homeland. Ortia is an enormous, diverse and beautiful territory filled to the brim with communities that each perceive themselves as the center of creation in their own mythology. Ortia has had many tenants over the eons, including all of the mythic progenitor peoples. In all written histories I've ever come across, there has never been any mention of lands beyond Ortia. To the best of my knowledge after speaking with many witnesses and from personal experience, the walls between these once hidden lands have come down. Something happened in the year 5108, of the reformation era that has allowed things to pass between Ortia and our new neighbors.

Within the lands of Ortia are five distinct culture have emerged, each containing dozens of of nations and city states. These are the Addaso on the central regions of the continent of Mitter, the Denneia on the south west coast of Mitter an eastern lands of Cidies, The Nivirri on the on central continent of Cidies, the Nodram on eastern Banthor, and the Shonarrin on western Banthor and the Kaljir Island chain north west of Cidies. Between these places of centralized power and Sedentary life are various cultures and peoples living in all corners of the continents in smaller numbers living non agrarian life styles as well as remote city states that cannot be categorized by any of the other dominant cultures. The largest city known to exist,, though I have never been falls under this final category and is profoundly multicultural.

*(The different human cultures have been aware of each other for thousands of years. Though there is a physical description of each culture on their respective pages, this is only meant to describe the majority of the population. You can look like anything and be from anywhere.)*

Ortia, possibly due to the the Corruption of long term settlement and prevalence of magic has propensity for the Revinent. In cursed places, mistreated dead will rise up. Sometimes as mindless creatures and sometimes with some memory of their former life. The presence of these things is the reason the westernmost continent, Hephir, the old Kingdom is uninhabited.

## Drokolith

My first experience with another land was in the fall of 5108, with an introduction in the form of a military raid. A land dominated by bare stone mountains, canyons, deserts and crag with smaller oceans and sparse plant life. To the south, there are temperate forests and barren tundra. To the north, there are glaciers, frozen oceans and towering mountains. The equator has sprawling desserts, scrublands and toxic waters, volcanic mountain chains and scorched earth that billow noxious steam from fissures. It is the only place with more corruption than ortia. scars on the land on which nothing grows, corruption so profound you can feel it in the air. Many such places have bitumen or other black ichor exuding from the ground and the land tries desperately to rid itself of the corruption. There is very little surface ground water but a great deal of subterranean aquafers and water-carved caverns.

The source of the corruption in not merely the fallout of magic but the industrial power of the Bozan. A people of dark hair, Crimson skin and predatory expression. They are so numerous and concentrated in their population that they need to clear-cut forests just to heat their homes and power their foundries. They are said to kill every predator in their environment to protect their herds and the herd animals they keep will uproot every thing that remains. After the land is spent, I understand that the Bozan will uproot and move their entire civilization to greener pastures.

Along side the Bozan are another people who call themselves the Nain. Of diminutive stature and extended life, they are wiry and strong for their size, though they are no taller than children. They are very much antithetical to the Bozan in that they prefer smaller communities with little impact to their surroundings. They are predominantly subterranean with heavily fortified entrances. Though I have heard that some of them live solitary nomadic lifestyles, the Nain of Harka-Drum referring to them as VillirNain. Most impressive about the Nain is their incredible artistry and metallurgy. They spoke of the 5 divine metals and how only the "Runekeepers" knew the secretes to form them.

Found all over Drokolith, hiding in the shadows, ruins and caves are Imps, hated by who live along side them.

## Feyune

The only other realm Directly connected to ours is called the Infinite forest, or formally the Feyune. It is a green expanse with only small inland seas and a single desert known as the Deadlands at the equator. The majority of the infinite forest is completely untamed and often has supernatural manifestations, I recommend never venturing these lands without a local guide. These lands are dotted with ancient ruins, strongholds of the five civilizations of Etha. The Etha, also called Hern or Satyrs, are a people of elongated proportions, a variety of brightly coloured complexions and horns. The five Etha peoples, from speaking to Solareth are, Azureth the first and now extinct group of Etha, Lunareth the moon tribes who live amongst trees so imposing they live in darkness, Nivéuth a people of the brutal frozen north, Silvaeleth a people of living wood, and Solareth the most sedentary of the Etha who live in the deadlands in great cities.

The Etha share these lands with the brutal Troll. They are bestial and variable in appearance. Brown fur, protruding tusks horns and teeth being the commonality. They are as intelligent as any other people but their cultural refusal to damage the forest when at all possible may cause them to see sedentary people both as villains and as a food source.

## Ulkanar

You will have to forgive me now for I am about to speak of realms for which i've never been and only know about by speaking to other far travellers.

First of the outer realms is Ulkanar, accessible by way of Drokolith. While other realms thrive under the divine ordinance, Ulkanar remains in decline. Many great cities rivalling the palaces of the gods lay abandoned, and every year the ocean swallows more of the realm. The once prominent races of giants, believed to be the first people to ever walk these lands and predating most of the gods, are now scattered. Some cling to their former glory occupying their ancestral strongholds and cities. Others wander the land eternal, without purpose. The land itself is stoney and grand, with immense mountains, grand oceans bordered by fjords, volcanic ranges and valleys, great temperate and boreal forests, but most of all mossy crags.

Under the feet of the giants live the Nephilim. An uncommon race that escape the giants by hiding on mountain tops and in caves. They are the smallest native of Ulknar but still tower over the other races of the inner planes. The Nephilim are a melancholy people who's faceless heads are always covered in elaborately constructed masks. The one Nephilim I have met would rather be naked that expose their featureless head.

## Narrakka

Accessible by way of Ulkanar, Narrakka is the final realm of morals before entering the underworld. More than any other, it is a place of volcanic wastelands, rotten swamps and lagoons, and arid steppe. Small briny seas and a sinkhole of an ocean create the water source for the frequent acid rains that bleach clothes and weather bare stone. On top of all this, the average temperature is feverishly hot. Although I have heard that the most distant Continent of Narrakka is an oasis of life and climate. A tropical paradise but guarded by animals or proportions that rival the Giants of Ulkanar. The conditions on the volcanic continent of Birik-han have given rise to the Euryon, a people of elemental bodies that reflects the environment of their birth. A great city of Basalt brick and obsidian sits guarding the only gate to the putrid lands, a monarch appointed by Haspic himself to prevent people from entering before their time.

## Varronia

Varronia is a realm accessible only from the Feyune. Ancient Etha ledgend states that it is the birthplace of all monsters. that the mother of monsters was defeated by the first hero and from her body all evil creatures spilled. Varronia itself has a unique beauty in its brutalist landscape. the Presence of the Dragons has made this land the harshest of all the inner realms. Venomous flora, boiling lakes, fields or jagged stone spires and deserts with sandstorms that will strip the flesh from your Bones. These life-threatening regions chop up the realm creating harsh barriers to would-be travellers. Although the strange Phellonix people seem to be able to travel unhindered across Varronia.

## Theghden

Finnaly, the last of the mortal realms is Theghden, accessible only from Varronia and bordering the heavens themselves. They are warm windswept lands, endless rolling hills, grasslands, wildflower laden moors, eroded mountains and spires, and subtropical forests. a great crystal clear ocean covers half the land but bears no more continents. Great herds of beasts, hundreds of thousands strong roam the land unhindered.

Theghden appears to be a paradise, save for the commonality of ruins speak of a tumultuous past filled with war. Now it exists in a calm slow growth period. Two Civilizations now remain. The Lazurin sustain an ancient society predating even the Solareth. These Serpent men inhabit the same sone buildings their ancestors did millennia ago, carefully maintained and repaired. They thank the sun for life and her warmth and they thank the flux moon for her strength and wisdom in frequent ritual. The lowlands and coastlines are landmarked by the great works of the Quyrrith, an amphibious people. the younger civilization but one that is in full bloom. Partially aquatic and expanding rapidly, I fear they will wipe out the Lazurin if ever they should find reason to.

## The Liminal Rupture

"Gateway" is the obvious choice of metaphor for these natural phenomena. These rupture cling to natural archways such as caves, furroughs in trees or cenote. It is often not obvious that you have passed through a rupture until proven by the inconsistencies in geography reveal themselves. Though they’ve only recently appeared on Ortia, quietly connecting us to the greater world, they have always been a mainstay on other realms.

THough I almost lost my life trying they cannot be destroyed, But they can be imprisoner and moved. though such an act it incredibly violent. It generally requires an enormous amount of power connect very distant places and a greater force interrupt that. I've come to beleive that the borders between the realms are sacred, put in place by ancient gods and transgressions shouldn't be taken lightly.

Outside of a liminal rupture, a single being can sometimes be pulled from one realm to the other without damaging the weave of creation, like summoning, projection or transference. But forcing an "Intersection" is dangerous and and irresponsible, the toll of corruption speaks for itself.