Tavashel

## Settlements

### Architecture

Most buildings in villages and cities have stone walls and stone roofs. The buildings are usually simple but in places with a lot of gnomes, the houses tend to be more decorated than locations with mainly dwarves. In those locations gnomes don't decorate much of the outside of their houses, but they do compensate for that by decorating the insides of their houses more.

### Undercities

Large cities are partially built underground, usually starting off in old mines or caves but sometimes separate areas are specifically dug out to be lived in. These underground parts are called undercities. People living in these undercities tend to pride themselves on never having seen the sun, and only going to the surface during the night. Usually an undercity has a separate mayor that decides on things concerning the undercity, but the surface mayor has the power to overrule those if it seems necessary.

If you get exiled from a city you are allowed to take up residence in the undercity and vice versa. If you are exiled from the whole country you're not allowed to live in either part of any city.

Small villages usually don't have any undercities and are just built on the surface.

## Relations with Neighbours

Tavashel is bordered by four real countries and two areas that have no government.

To the south east Tavashel shares a border with the Republic of Ebelor, a country of mostly humans and tieflings. The two countries currently have an unstable peace. Throughout history the two countries have been at war with each other frequently.

To the north-east there is a mountain range that separates Tavashel from their neighbors Shenal. Shenal is mostly inhabited by high elves. The relations between the two countries are fairly neutral and has been for most of history. The mountains have made trade very difficult.

The country to the north west is Yorkar, which is mostly inhabited by humans and testificates. The relations between these two countries is very positive and there is a lot of trade.

At the southern tip of the peninsula there is the human country of Grace. Grace used to be part of Tavashel until fairly recently. Many humans lived there as it has a large port city that was used to trade with the country of Melenaos. However, after the Melena'an Madness ravaged this part of the world the humans permanently stayed here and the rich merchants bought the land and turned it into the city state of Grace.

One of the areas that borders Tavashel is the Frozen Fields, the further you go up north, the colder it gets and the more savage the people living there become until it becomes more and more deserted. Villages near the northern border do trade with villages and tribes of dwarves, humans and goliath on the other side but the country as a whole has no formal relations with this area.

The area to the south east is called the Ancal Wastes. It is an area filled with innate wild magic. Most people who go here get weird diseases, conditions, and mutations. However, humans that go here and stay for a long time turn purple and eventually transform into ancal tieflings. There are no official relations between Tavashel and the Ancal Wastes. This land is not recognized as a country by the rulers of Tavashel and most dwarves and gnomes do not dare go there.

## Non-Dwarven and Non-Gnomish Races

### Dragonborn

Officially dragonborn have the same rights as dwarves and gnomes. However most dragonborn live in separate villages with others of their kind and each village rules itself but they do defer to official Tavashel officials. Most dragonborn stay in the vicinity of their villages, however, every now and then dragonborn are seen in large cities. Throughout recorded history, there has been only one dragonborn king.

### Gnolls

Gnolls live in the southern part of the country in small settlements. They do not have the same rights and privileges as other citizens of this land as they frequently raid small villages. There are barely any gnolls in the north. Whenever gnoll encampments are located, dwarven troops are sent to destroy said encampments. Occasionally gnomes have tried to integrate gnolls into society to no avail.

## Geography

The southern parts of the country are mostly coastal areas that become more hilly the more you go north and if you go further north, the climate becomes colder and more mountainous.

## Religion and Monarchy

The most common religion in Tavashel is Breraism. The seat of the Council of Her is located in Tavashel as well. Breraism influences most aspects of the rulership of Tavashel. The Council of Her provides a new king or queen when the old one wants to step down.

There is a very fast turnover of monarchs in Tavashel. While they do have absolute power they usually decide on their own accords to step down long before they become unable to rule. They usually do so after having done something incredible for the country. They do so in the hopes of that being the last memory the Council of Her have of them, in the hope of being allowed to go to the Palace of Heroes. Then there are also monarchs that rule for an exceptionally long time. Since the rulers are in the spotlight, anything horrible or slightly bad they do might cause them to be remembered for that which might cause them to go to the Dales of Damnation. Because of this, rulers might decide to stay on the throne for a longer time to rectify their wrongdoings.