Varr

Homeland of the Stewards of Fate and Iganash, the Conqueror, Varr is arguably the most ordered nation in the world. Situated in the world's northwest, Varr is primarily a nation of mountains, plains, and forests. Varr's queens also claim dominion over Tolopea, though their legal grip is not nearly as tight on the island.

## **Sorag**

### **City**

*"I get the appeal. The Nexus brings all sorts in during their journeys, so the city's always full of people from all over. The palace is gorgeous. Still, Vanguards aren't exactly welcome 'round the temple. I keep my distance." - Eippa Inlen*

Sorag was born from the ashes of battle. built up from the remains of an ancient and forgotten lord's keep, the city is steeped in the proud history and great power of Varr. As the first true city in the country, Sorag used its resources to spread not only inland, becoming the country's largest settlement, but toward the sea, developing a massive port that facilitated Varrish expansion into Tolopea and beyond. Though magic brought great opportunity to Sorag, it also brought the Stewards, who built their First Temple in the city and began to spread their anti-blight message across all of Arholt

#### *Lords and Serpents*

Its first name lost to history, the settlement that would become Sorag began as a meager wooden-walled estate along the continent's untamed coastline. The estate and surrounding village were controlled by a figure now known only as the Lord of Traitors: one of dozens of tribal warlords vying for power in the divided Varrish continent. Very little is known of him, except that in 538 AG he was one of the many lords to become anxious upon receiving news of the Azletsu Queen's nearly finished campaign against Skarn. Fearing the threat of a westwards Azletsu invasion once the war with Skarn concluded, the Lord of Traitors corresponded with other Varrish warlords, consolidating land and power with some of them and, with the others, agreeing to a battle: a single, glorious conflict in the central Stone Cascade mountains in which the winning lord would become the ruler of a single, national Varr, strong enough to stand against the Azletsu navy should it turn its attention westwards.

Ultimately, the battle for Varr was won not by any one lord, but by two: Lady Irpa and Lady Thorgedr, who had visited the dragon Iganash together and gained his favor by demonstrating their shared ruthless ambition to conquer Varr. With Iganash's support, Irpa and Thorgedr rallied the Varrish warlords beneath their leadership, excepting the Lord of Traitors, who believed that involving a dragon constituted as cheating of terms, returning to his own keep and refusing to recognize Irpa and Thorgedr as legitimate. When the ladies arrived at the Lord of Traitor's keep many months later however, they came with a gathered army built from every Varrish tribe now under their rule. his keep was burned to the ground, he was killed, and all information on him or his legacy was destroyed; His name and the name of his town were erased from history. He became known as the Lord of Traitors, and as a symbol of their absolute victory, in 531, the Varrish ladies renamed his land as "Sorag" and resolved to build the new capital city atop the razed remains of the keep.

#### *As sisters, As queens*

Under Thorgedr and Irpa and with Iganash as its patron, the new, unified Varr began to prosper. Trade lanes slowly grew between previously warring territories and, powerd by free movement of labor and capital, the first Varrish cities started to bloom from its towns. As dual leaders, Thorgedr and Irpa adopted special focuses in Varr. Irpa turned her attentions specifically to diplomatic and civil projects: managing the lingering tensions between old lords, delivering executive commands on public infrastructure, and normalizing relations with the independent southern isles. Thorgedr's focus remained on the security threats to her new country, both from within and from abroad. Thorgedr and Irpa were not unified leaders, but they were harmonious, mixing their strengths to create a nation stronger than either could lead alone.

When Thorgedr died heirless, Irpa finally decreed the law of succession after decades of uncertainty. Thorgedr's former council of advisors went out into Varr to search for a replacement of similar character and ability to the late queen while Irpa's advisors did the same. When two new young women were selected, they were brought to Sorag and appointed as its new dual sovereigns, counseled by Irpa until her own death. So began the Varrish tradition of succession: the passing of one generation of queens into the next, with the prerogative to rule not only each as nobles, but as sisters to each other, covering, complementing, and caring for each other as Irpa and Thorgedr did.

#### *Blooming*

Isolated across the ocean from the rest of Arholt, Varr's development was steady and peaceful until Jaekka's Abdication. Magic complicated Varrish life. Well before humanity had even learned how to manipulate chromas, the Japraitian Fault Line split Garanain and pushed its western half across the world, creating the new Ishtor continent and, for Varr, either a new partner or a new rival. As leadership in Sorag sorted diplomatic relations with its new neighbors, one development seemed, at the time, unquestionably good for Varr. Concerned that they were not as powerful as the newly independent city state of Baingrove, the Southern Isles voluntarily agreed to fold into the Varrish commonwealth, accepting a small loss in sovereignty in exchange for the protection of all Varr. Sorag welcomed this opportunity not only for territorial expansion, but for the specific acquisition of a naval barrier between itself and the southern continent of Japrait, securing Varr from any potential surprise strike by Baingrove. As a unified territory, the Southern Isles were renamed "Tolopea," after the indigo-wooded Hyclean forest growing from the main Island's center. Celebrating the incorporation of Tolopea into itself and experimenting with the earlies attempts at magic use, Sorag began to develop an optimism for magic, both Bloom and Blight

Almost all hope that Sorag could safely benefit from Blight magic died in 71 AG when the Valather Incident seemingly annihilated half of Valath, sending a new wave of fear across Arholt that especially resonated with the historically cautious, conflict-wary Varr. In Sorag, this inspired a local author, Pavem Idom, to publish a treatise on the moral duties conferred onto humanity by the existence of magic in Jaekka's absence. Though Idom died shortly after publishing *Our Burden*, the book proliferated across Arholt, inspiring a new and unprecedented movement: the Stewards of Fate. rallying behind Idom's call to guard Arholt's integrity until Jaekka's return, the Stewards gathered in new temples, forming the first new major religious movement in a millennium. the first and grandest of these temples was built in Idom's hometown Sorag, rapidly spreading Steward ideology across the continent and becoming a symbol of the power, order, and unyielding resolve that typify not only the Stewards, but Varr itself. Both through social pressures and growing presence in the Varrish bureaucracy, the Stewards cracked down on Blight experimentation as the study of magic became increasingly popular. They had seen what Blight could do in its rawest, uncontrolled form. They would not let humanity make it even more deadly.

This is not to say Sorag developed without the use of magic. Interaction with Bloom chromas—still dangerous, but predictable—was encouraged by the Stewards as a means of understanding the natural world. Sorag's most notable implementation of magic into its city function is the Nexus: a small, pale, harmless seeming Chroma found floating over Sorag's harbour in 21 AG. Though the Sorag's first attempts to investigate the Chroma led to displacements and disappearances of those approaching it, the city's scholars soon grasped it that the Bloom chroma shifted space around itself, creating holes and pathways to various locations: some miles away, and some that existed beyond human ability to measure. Once local mages and scientists learned how to control the Chroma, it became a travel hub in Sorag, freely generating low risk, simple gateways for public use. By 3 AH, Sorag established connections to each of Arholt's major cities through the new Nexus infrastructure, ushering in a new era of global transit, trade and communication. Corresponding to this shift in global dynamic, leaders from Shimmervale, Baingrove, Krancastle, Winterstooth, Ouun, and Iganara met in Shimmervale and commemorated the beginning of a new age for the world. As the leasers of each country planned the adoption of a new global calendar, they marked the shift in the nature of power in the world. The Age of Gods ended; The age of Magic began.

### **Stories**

* Hark (story)
* Luma (story)
* Birdsong (story)

## **Tolopea**

### **City**

*"I don't think anybody really buys into the whole 'One Varr,' thing. There's them, with their palaces and temples. Then there's us: nasty brutes getting rich stealing then getting famous for fighting in jail so we can get even richer once we're out. You ask me? That's the way to live." -Lukaag, Tetragroth*

Ever since Tolopea joined Varr, the island nation has been nothing but trouble? Outside of the capital, civilization is run by kleptocracy. Many either exploit the lack of oversight to amass wealth through the work of muddy port towns and logging villages; or they are impotent against overwhelming bandits from the Hyclean forest, pirates from the sea, or smuggling syndicates using Tolopea as a stepping stone between Japrait and mainland Varr. Within the capital, infamy is the greatest source of power. Vihauk's governor is secondary in influence to the the traders that control the docks, and secondary in fame to the champions of the Jade Pit arena: a gladiatorial pit in which prisoners of the Vihauk dungeons may hasten their release by fighting for civil entertainment.