Luracia

In an age long past, there was a nation known as Askia. This was a land of elemental might, where abundant red aether crystals coursed through the land like veins of fire. Many different peoples and races settled on Askia, drawn like moths to the flames of the raw aether’s power.

For a time, the land knew prosperity, as the fire aether allowed the land’s inhabitants an abundant supply of magical power.

Over time, the inhabitants of Askia began to war with one another in a conflict history only remembers as The War of Five Flames.

The legends say that the ongoing conflicts between these five clashing powers spilt so much blood over the years that the earth drank it up and the aether in the soil became corrupted. Slowly the powers of the aether began to become poisoned, slowly corrupting and corroding the land and all those who used it.

One individual, Kethmet, the Fevered Fang, created a sixth flame, dubbed The Ravenous Flame.

Kethmet found a way to use the corrupted Crimson aether to create a type of flame magic that was unquenchable and destructive. These corrupted flames, spread by Kethmet’s mad followers, began to spread over the land destroying it and leaving it barren.

It was during this time that three powerful mages came together:

Sequester, a powerful wizard and wielder of the Star Flame,

Gwalior, a devoted cleric, and wielder of the Sacred Flame,

And Danicha, an ancient Druid, and wielder of the Relic Flame.

These three paragons of power came together and realized Askia was doomed to be devoured by the Ravenous flame. But there was hope. Sequester had come up with a plan to salvage some semblance of their civilization that now stood on the brink of destruction.

In his home, the city of Lura, Sequester had built a massive arcane engine that could control the flow of aether through aether crystals on a massive scale. Danicha used her primal magic to convert the abundance of fire aether crystals beneath Sequester’s city into air aether crystals. And finally, Gwalior defended the city and pushed back the corruption of the aether, and fought back the followers of the ravenous flame to ensure his fellow paragons could complete their work unimpeded.

Through their hard work, the three founders managed to raise the city of Lura into the sky. That night, a new emerald moon shone brightly, while on the ground below, the ravenous flame consumed the last of Askia.

The city of Lura, now renamed Luracia, continued to fight Kethmet's followers from the safety of the sky.

Eventually they learned that the abundance of fire aether in the land and the corruption of the aether were intrinsically tied together. Deep underground in the underdark, beneath Askia, there was a powerful beast from another realm, known only as the deep beast, who had been slumbering inside the world, slowly seeking to spread its corruption. The planet itself had begun forming fire aether to burn out the corruption like a body burns out an infection, and the harvesting of the fire aether had allowed the deep beast's corrupting influence to spread.

The three paragons of Luracia tracked down the deep beast and eventually defeated it, and the ravenous flame died out.

That’s the way the legend goes anyway. How much of it is actually true is difficult to say. The city of Luracia has been flying in the sky for so long, no one in the city remembers its initial ascent or the war of five flames.

## The City of Stars

The truthfulness of the city’s origins aside, it cannot be denied that there is a flying city occupying the skies, that was founded by a wizard, a cleric, and a druid. It has grown since its inception, adding layers of protection to both its sides and its underbelly. The air aether that used to cause it to glow green from underneath has been covered with stone and earth that now glows from the bioluminescent moss that thrives in the eternal shadow of its underbelly, keeping its green glow.

The city is known to most as the emerald moon, though some refer to it as the great shadow, or the wandering eye.

## Enemies

### Unrest

Edath

All the power in Luracia lies within its guilds. Anyone who wants the resources to work inside of a particular profession, almost without exception, must join a guild and abide by their rules to gain access to their training and resources. The time when Solo innovation and self-taught tradesman could stay competitive in Luracia is long gone. Family names hold sway but more because of cultural tradition than anything else. The times when a family name meant more than a position of status within a guild are a fading relic of the past. Today, the guilds hold all the real power.

Luracia’s highest positions of power are the seven seats of the high council, who rule from the city’s capital building, the Hall of Conjunction. This council has the final say in all laws passed and matters of legislation and executive power. This council originally consisted of the three founders, but they have since added 4 more seats over the years. The council now consists of seven members, each an internally elected leader from the seven most powerful guilds in the city. Each seat has an equal vote to all other seats, but not all seats are truly equal.

The guilds that currently hold seats on the council are:

The Starlight Ring

The Starlight Ring has held its seat on the Luracian high council since its founding when the council consisted only of the three paragons. The Starlight Ring is arguably the most powerful seat on the council, as they oversee all arcane innovation, research and education within the city. It is also one of the four seats that holds sway over Luracia’s military forces.

Leader: Lyzanthir Naemora (Moon Elf)

Sacred Ring

The Sacred Ring is also one of the original three seats on the council, and is considered by most to be the second most powerful seat. The Sacred Ring holds sway over which religious orders are permitted to operate within the city, and all divine magic use and education falls under their jurisdiction. The Sacred Ring also has control over a large portion of Luracia’s military and oversees the city’s justice system. Judgment of criminals and dolling out punishments for infractions falls under the Sacred Ring’s authority.

Leader: Jorma Beggali (Warforged)

The Merchant’s Guild

The Merchant’s guild controls trade and commerce across the city. They are in charge of collecting and distributing the funds the city collects via its various taxations, conquests and tariffs. They hold immense power over the distribution of wealth and goods in the city and are the third most powerful guild within the city. They have no military power.

Leader: Anasia Merrigold (Fairy)

Assembly of Connection

The Assembly of Connection is a guild of Ambassadors whose job it is to keep Luracia’s foreign and landlocked partners on good terms with the city itself. The Assembly also controls Luracia’s internal news network and regulates what information is allowed to circulate within the city.

Leader: Callistor Thacryn (Aquatic Elf)

Oracles Guild

The Oracle’s guild holds very little sway in the city itself, but their predictions and intelligence hold immeasurable weight within the council, and their services, when loaned to foreign powers, bring the city incredible amounts of revenue.

Leader: Ollana Linege (Moon elf)

Artificer’s Guild

The Artificer’s Guild is the newest seat on the council. For most of the city’s history, Artificery was covered under the jurisdiction of the Starlight ring. But with recent leaps in innovation, the guild’s power has grown and it has gained enough influence and more importantly, military power, to earn its own seat on the council. The Artificer’s guild oversees all artifice creation and implementation within the city.

Leader: Davis Poren (Human)

Prime Ring

The Prime ring is the last of the original three seats on the council. They oversee all primal magic within the city and are responsible for recordkeeping and overseeing the upholding of tradition within the city. Celebrations, holidays, and city-wide ceremonies are all overseen by the Prime Ring.

Leader: Ozli Zanit (Tortle)

### Other Guilds of Note:

The city has dozens of guilds, large and small. Nearly every guild reports to or is somehow overseen by another guild, leading up in a pyramid of power where the High council guilds are the only guilds with no oversight. If there is a trade, there is likely a guild for it.

Athenaeum Aggregatum:

The Athenaeum Aggregatum is the largest Library known to man. All of the collected knowledge of the artisans, historians, Innovators and heroes of Luracia is stored within the Athenaeum. It is the greatest source of knowledge in the entire world of Relden, and its curators take their job of collecting and storing information very seriously.

Leader: Aiesha Dorno (Astral Elf)

Eyes of Academia:

The Eyes of Academia are a group of guilds that report directly to the Starlight Ring. These guilds teach and innovate in the areas of arcane magic, with each Eye specializing in one school of magic, with the additions of Psionics. Artificery was once one of the eyes, but it has grown to become its own separate guild.

Eye of Conjuration

Eye of Necromancy

Eye of Evocation

Eye of Abjuration

Eye of Transmutation

Eye of Divination (Separate from the Diviner’s guild)

Eye of Enchantment

Eye of Illusion

Eye of Psionics

Leaders: Many

The Court of Shadows:

There is no Court of Shadows.

Weaver’s Seed

This is the guild that governs agriculture in the floating city. Without much land, this guild’s function is small, but the city does have ways of becoming independent and growing its own food in the instances of a siege or disaster. In such situations, The Weaver’s seed stands to gain significant emergency power.

Leader: Jane Killik (Halfling)

Astral Occulons

The Astral Occulons are a guild that specializes in performing research on otherworldly artifacts and other planes of existence, as well as what lies beyond the confines of Relden’s atmosphere. Rumors say members of this guild have walked on both moons of Relden. Though rumors are just rumors.

Leader: Ostor Villero (Rock Gnome)

## Military:

Around the city float three imposing citadels, Tertia’nora, Dastri, and Steincor, all three of which are flying fortresses designed to fly independently from the city. Their sole purposes are to keep the main island safe from harm. These three citadels both defend the city from attackers and serve as its right arm in battle.

Each citadel was built at a different era in the city’s history, with the brass fortress, Tertia’nora, being by far the oldest. Tertia'nora, is a fortress where divine casters and air cavalry are trained. Tertia’nora reports directly to the Sacred Ring.

The Arcane citadel, Dastri, is the next oldest citadel and is used to train arcane casters and create arcane armaments. Dastri reports to The Starlight Ring.

Lastly, the somewhat aptly dubbed, Cogged Cathedral, Steincore, was only completed within the last few years. Here the gun breakers, machinists, and artificers are trained, and the automaton infantry are created. Steincore reports directly to the Artificer’s guild.

There used to be another fortress known as Innelia, where primal casters and warriors trained, but Innelia was destroyed a half century ago in a conflict with the Adamantine citadels of Edath.

Not all casters in Luracia live on or are trained in these citadels. Only Luracis's military have access to them. Any private or non-military organizations and casters in the city (of which there are many) live in, and practice magic in the city-proper.

Together these three remaining fortresses are known as The Stars of Luracia. This name was coined because each citadel shines with a unique gold, blue, and red color when viewed from the ground, making them look like shimmering stars orbiting the emerald moon.