Fracti Terra

Land of Broken Earth

Making up the lower area of the centre of the continent is the kingdom of ***Fracti Terra***, this Kingdom has 3 major cities scattered across its landscape Rortal and Esshal is its two smaller cities known for trade and their strong defences. Their capital city is the city Fortis. The quirk of Fracti Terra is its frequent earthquakes that have caused many of its cities and towns to have to be rebuilt numerous times throughout history. Fortis is the capital as it is the only city that has survived multiple incidents. Though this has produced harsh conditions for the denizens of Fracti Terra, the rewards of the land are very enticing, large deposits of rare minerals and coal have been brought closer to the surface due to the geological activity, ripe for mining.

## ***Geography***

Because of the incredibly frequent and violent earthquakes, the geography of the country is constantly changing. The land is surrounded by mountains and is scarred with deep crevices and canyons, where the earth seems intent on ripping itself apart. The woodland of the country often consists of weird formations, as trees cling to fresh earth emerging from the ground. The rivers that flow through the land often get naturally obstructed or diverted, creating new lakes and riverbeds, but making it difficult for a settlement to be consistent.

## ***Society***

### Demographics

Societies across the country, have diversified in their attitude to the harshness of their environment. In some places they treat it as if everyone suffers the same, all hands will improve the situation for everyone. In other places greed wins out and the hardships are avoided by the massively wealthy allowing themselves to leverage the poor to their will further. Just like the land, the social fabric is constantly changing, due to new veins of precious materials and resources being found by the quite unassuming, suddenly moving them to some of the wealthiest in the continent.

Still, one consistent thing across the country is the fondness for *Red Deus* it has become an obsession for all layers of society, the miners were the first to get addicted due to their need for it to cure problems that developed from the dust. But the upper echelons have also quickly succumbed, though they make a show of it, with the elixir being a mainstay of any proper foray.

## ***History***

### Introduction of Red Deus

After much negotiation with the Conamar eventually, the city and the rest of the country started receiving steady supplies of *Red Deus* in return for shipments of unique crystalline minerals, that are yet to be found anywhere but under the soil of **Fracti Terra**. Quickly it was given to people who work in the mines to aid their exploits while tunnelling, often with lung conditions. This was decided in the year 80 - Red Era. Nowadays there is an acute addiction amongst the dockworkers and miners to the elixir, creating large warrens grovelling for *Vial Echoes*.

### The Beast Scourge

The attacks on settlements within the country are usually quite brutal, but short-lived. The horrible truth is that the attacks often coincide with major quakes, resulting in the survivors often being quickly picked off by Lycanthropes and other common "Beasts" like "Owlbears". They are short-lived as the Hunters of Conamar are well versed in urban combat and have grown accustomed to fighting amongst the rubble. Often after a quake, there will be a surge of Hunters arriving to affected settlements to wipe out the threat.