Ixainia

## Description

Ixainia is made up of 3 large continents with a few smaller ones scattered around. The most westerly continent, Laleon, is the most inhabited. Vulish, the southern east and second largest continent is the least inhabited due to its colder conditions. Lastly the North east continent, Ezos, is home to human tribes that roam the plains.

### Laleon

Laleon is a continent located in the far west of Ixainia. It is separated from the continents of East by a strip of water known as the Colt Expanse. The continent of Laleon is roughly 408,000 miles by 446,000 miles and the entire continent is ruled by a single political entity, who sits on the Angel Throne in the City of Grey Lake.

The continent's terrain varies immensely. There are significant mountain ranges, such as the Mountains of the Sky in the Skylands, the Burning Mountains of the North, the Xale mountains of Falkirk and the Broken Mountains of the Warren. There are also several extensive river networks, most notably the River of Grey salt leading into the Grey Lake and its numerous tributaries, but also the Dragon tongue Rush and the Green Knife. However the continent is not a lonely one. Laleon is bordered to the North by the Sandy Ocean, to the south by the Moaning Sea, to the east by the Colt Expanse and to the West by the Unknown Sea. The northern edges of the continent have three small islands of Calla, Vuspen (the largest), Glaera (the second largest), and Spuora (the smallest), as well as having the Black islands south and Slave shore Islands to the east.

### The Kingdoms

Laleon is divided into six kingdoms used as administrative regions. Each region is ruled by a Great House set up by a family that now rule the House and its citizens, but they are all ruled by the King or Queen of Laleon whom sits on the Angel Throne.

**The Kingdom of Azmark** is a place of rugged hills and rolling plains, of misty dales and craggy shorelines, a place of blue sparkling rivers and fertile fields, broadleaf forests that teem with game of every sort, where half-hidden doors in the sides of wooded hills open onto labyrinthine to reveal unimaginable wonders and vast treasures deep beneath the earth. These are rich lands, tropical and fruitful, shielded by high hills to the west and north and dark blue depths of the Colt Expanse to the east ruled by the House Hastus rumoured to be founded by the now extinct humanoids, the Kloiriq.

**The Kingdom of Falkirk** stretches from the mid-west of Laleon curving round to the south, it makes up the left corner of the continent. The many collections of water that pass through Falkirk make the land rich and fertile meaning they are ripe for settlement, farming and conquest. The rivers stimulate trade and travel allowing the kingdom to prosper but also benefit the bordering kingdoms in times of peace but also act as defensive allies during wartime.

**The Kingdom of Highgrone** is the largest and most populous of the six kingdoms. It is the oldest settlement of Laleon probably due to its vast expanse of fields, lakes and rivers, hills and woods and fragrant meadows, Highgrone's vibrant nature was furthered by the many farms, mills and mines, it became dotted with small villages, thriving market towns and ancient castles. Highgrone was the first kingdom to be established and the ruling house is normally the home of the Ruler of the continent, Castle of Grey Lake ruled by the House Waterfell.

## History

### The Houses of the North and South

The Humans that were placed on Ixania during the Great Spreading grew quickly under the watch of the Suri and began to start civilisation with groups of people living in compact areas. As civilisation grew the people spread apart with some migrating to the south and the others remaining in the warmer north of Ixainia these two groups of people decided to form the first two houses (sort of towns with a leading family) of Ixainia, Corbais and Aljor. These Houses were ruled by the founding family but had many different people living and working within the forming towns. The humans that stayed in the north began developing cultures and customs different to their counter parts, who had settled by a giant lake, this saw the birth of two different races, which drastically changed the human lifestyle. In both cultures, farming plants that could support people not directly engaged in food production were created and trade between individuals began, this development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first towns by the lake. The first town created by the people of the south was named the town of Highgrone. This was a centre of trade, manufacturing and political power with nearly no agricultural production of their own. The town established a symbiosis with the surrounding countryside, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection.

### Were's Wolves

The small gathering of people in Highgrone slowly grew with farms and places of trade beginning to develop and the people grew also with the time until the town had a population of hundreds. This collection of organisation annoyed the Ruinous Power Tzeentch, the God of Change as it meant that change was no constant on this planet so he cursed a man named Were Holtman. Tzeentch’s curse caused Were, who remained a normal man, to transform into a half wolf half man hybrid on every full moon. This half man half wolf struck fear into the town of Highgrone destroying many houses and killing many people. The curse only spread each night as each person bitten by Were’s wolf inherited his curse. After several hunts for these beasts and nearly a year passed forcing the towns people to take precautions in order to protect themselves from these beasts they now called Werewolves. Four years of building followed as an attempt to keep the citizens safe with each effort failed at keeping the monsters at bay, until one night there was no death. The Grey Lake castle was 650 metres wide, 700 metres long and 7 floors high in the main house, none of Were’s wolves could now enter.

### The Blood Drinker

Even though the Werewolf problem was solved many new ones occurred with a shortage of food being the most prevalent as the farmers could not leave the castle to grow their foods as the Werewolves had turned to feral beasts even when the moon was not full, due to being outcastes from society. The poor life style of the people of the west was only improved when a witch sacrificed herself by cutting her throat and draining her blood over her son, who choked on her blood and died. The son was buried by a church for only four weeks. On the fifth week the grave was empty and a young man was found roaming the house where the two had died. The man was in fact was the boy reborn as a horrific creature. The boy had become extremely powerful but was cursed with the thirst for blood. The blood drinking creature kept the werewolves at bay but he was not allowed in the town because of his thirst for blood but this allowed Highgrone to expand. The new found safety meant Highgrone began to become very populated and the area became very lively and many people made small towns in the suburbs which then expanded also. A few years past and six small castles were built with surrounding towns and each was ruled by a family. The family who lived in the Grey lake castle ruling all of the kingdom of Highgrone was the family of Waterfell. The family of Caron ruled Islefield Fort, a castle situated between two rivers, the Clareton family rule Startlam fort, the powerful Faerson family ruled over the castle of Falcon Haven. House Venzor sit at Hillfar and finally the family of Furrow rule over Tarrin. The families pulled together and built a wall to form the border of Highgrone and thus saw the completion of Highgrone. The blood drinker disappeared after the werewolves went and none of the two species have been seen since on Ixainia. With the disappearance of the Werewolves and blood sucker, safety in the kingdom of Highgrone was high, the new king Robert Waterfell was loved by his subjects and decided that that in order to ensure Laleon was never without a ruler to create the Elector Counts, a group of people who would belong to no house and advise the ruler, and if no one should rule Laleon then the Elector Counts would choose another to be King or Queen.