Lumora, the Old World

## Nations

### Mistyvale

Sitting in the northwest section of the parts of Lumora that remain habitable, Mistyvale is by far the most magically and technologically advanced nation on the continent with broad cultural support for public education and self betterment through the many universities. Their cities are filled with ornate thopter constructs and magical street cars overlooked by massive towers, like the Brass Citadel in the capital of Eilinore. For every bright spot their is a dark however, and despite owing most of their technological progress to the singular genius of Drusilla Scarlet Steele, a lowborn woman, Valean society is intensely classist and sexist due to a long history of wealthy noble families with powerful magical and martial talents, and the reign of Lorelei Lavender, the Lich Queen. Mistyvale is responsible for the deployment of the First Fleet five years ago, and makes up most of the common population of New Eilinore alongside Portabrian merchants and mercenaries, using their wealth and advancements to give themselves an edge diplomatically.

### Ironholme

Situated on the southern coast, directly opposite Mistyvale, the nation of Ironholme is a highly militant culture. Previously controlled by an oligarchic senate, Ironholme is now ruled by the Emperor Theodric Audemar the former leader of the revolutionaries that started the grueling twelve year long civil war that his nation has spent the last seven years recovering from. Being mobilized for so long, and with their infrastructure still devastated, Ironholme distinguishes itself from its neighbors by being masters of rationing and logistics, alongside military and transportation technology that nearly outstrips their counterparts in Mistyvale despite being non-magical. Culturally they have a deep distrust of mages and politicians ever since the devastation of the city of Stavria which signalled the beginning of the end of the war. A two year long slog of a siege pounded the entire city to rubble, beginning with a loyalist ambush where mages drowned the city under the water of shattered levees. Ironholme partnered with Mistyvale, alongside their Etrainian allies, to prepare the Second Fleet as a joint venture as a way to cool tensions. They bare the majority of the human cost of the colonies defense, as a full battalion of the Ironholme Armed Forces was deployed to guard the new colony and the property of the South Seas Trading Guild.

### Portabria

In actuality Portabria is a nation by only the loosest of definitions, functioning mostly as a very loose confederacy with each city state being represented by its wealthiest and most successful merchant companies and crafts guilds. Controlling a large portion of the coastal trade, and with a near monopoly on trade through the Dray'bel, The seat of the confederacy previously moved around, wherever the largest number of individuals able to serve as representatives lived is where the capital would be, however for the last fourty years the capital has been centered in the city of Tierviena after the Tierviena Trading Guild managed to dominate all other artisan and merchant guilds as a total monopoly. Aside from luxury goods, the largest export of the nation of Portabria is mercenaries trained by the Sentinela Academy, and that is the majority of what they bring to New Eilinore. Mistyvale is paying a massive retainer to the school to keep sending a steady stream of students, and training new ones in this New World.

### Etraine

A land of nominally independent great noble houses bound together in two factions by five centuries of increasingly convoluted marriage pacts, blood oaths, and magical contracts along roughly geographical lines. The eastern lords are bound under the banner of the Court of the Fey, and due to their proximity to Strur Clen some clans even have direct bargains with the Fae Lords themselves. The western lords fly the flag of the Court of the Dragon, and while unlike the Court of the Fey only a single house has the patronage of a True Dragon, the rest more than make up for it with their own individual specialties. While the Courts are rivals, and often engage in competition, war between the two is rare. Less common even than civil war within the courts. Etraine is an almost idyllic land of chivalry and simple living, with the Tournament Circuit lasting all year long seeing parades of knights travel from duchy to duchy through the rolling green and gold fields. Etraine's primary interest in the New World is a monetary one, as several wealthy Etrainian Merchants banded together to found the South Seas Trading Guild, using their more advantageous sea-lanes to try to seize a market monopoly in New Eilinore's ports.

#### Benivene

A city state within Etraine that operates outside of the Courts due to their lack of a ruling lord. They're governed by papal authority of the Church of Wine and Wheat, and wield massive influence in both Courts as well as abroad due to their control over the supply of Serum, an incredibly potent healing agent used by adventurers, soldiers, and civilians alike. Their economy is primarily agricultural, with food and wine being their greatest exports, and while they do collect tithes from both parishioners and governments those funds are directed exclusively to a combination of mutual aid programs, and monster hunting operations that work to close Depths entrances. Their primary interest in the New World is conversion of the native populations, with an entire boat of the Second Fleet being solely dedicated to the holy men and women of the church.

### Kovarik

A land of perpetual gloom, Kovarik is a nation ruled by the undead. Centuries ago, the vampiric clans worked a great ritual to keep the sun from ever gracing their skies. On a good day, one can still tell if it is day or night through the cloud cover or even a cloudless night sky, but equally as often the two are completely indistinguishable. Most of the continent avoids the land when possible, as the disappearances of lone travelers and the peasantry are frequent and well known. It's capital city is called Night, a fact often mocked in other nations though never to the faces of those of the Clans, and in truth it is the only city of note in the entire land. Much more of it is near-virgin forests and sparse farmlands that supports its meager human population. Though most of the mortals that call the nation home are swallowed by hopelessness, others are seized by a burning defiance that has made the region the homeland of some of the greatest monster hunters Lumora has ever seen. Many vampire lords see the New World as little more than a curiosity, and while they have sent servants to keep tabs and send home exotic resources and thralls they have not dedicated much effort to exerting influence here.

### Lothe'lia

The last bastion of Elven civilization, the province of Lothe'lia was a bit of a backwater prior to the Cataclysm. Its only notable structure was one of the Immortal Empresses rarely used winter palaces, which has now been elevated to the sole seat of Elven governance. Syltsiel endures, with the tree roots and greenery fused into the white marble of the past 500 years of construction and expansion and the agents of the Immortal Empress trained by the surviving Lodges to keep the peace. These Lodge agents and other independent spies loyal to the throne can be found anywhere humans go, but they have a particular intrest in the New World. With so much of Elven history and academia lost, early reports of the Eth'lea seemed like a gift from the Slayer of Men herself, a chance to recover their lost culture. When it was discovered how different their cousins were, there was disappointment at first but the agents continued to arrive, if only now to have a chance to exploit exotic resources and the tenuous political situation to turn the great human nations against one another.

### Stur Clen

A land of old magic, Strur Clen is the land where the fey hold the most influence on the natural order. Separated from the First World by only the thinnest of veils, Strur Clen has an utterly unique ecology that allows many rare herbs and magical plants to exist and thrive but very little in the way of ores and minerals. Clenfolk gather in large villages known as Circles that send a single representative to the Woad Council that dictates the laws of the land, make foreign treaties, and maintains the many oaths and bargains that allow Clen society to exist in harmony with the Fey. While the Woad Council has no interest in the New World, individual Clenfolk have begun to make the journey hoping to find riches, adventure, and flora and fauna that might be cultivated back home.

### Uthar

The home of the dwarves, the Underpolis of Uthar was completely isolated and unaware of the surface world for millenia, only being revealed a few decades after the Cataclysm when the first explorers made their way out through the new pathways that cut deep below the mountain. Due to the strict limits on resources that were available prior to discovering the surface, Uthar maintains an extremely strict caste system that many dwarves chafe under, and just as many humans have flocked too for opportunity. Now that the surface of the Lumora, and even further beyond the shores of a New World exist as alternatives Uthar is experiencing a bit of a brain drain that has only been slowed by the number of humans immigrants coming to the city.

### Avarga Tӧm

The oldest continuous culture on Lumora, the Horse Lords of the Untamed Crossing are a nomadic people descended from some of the earliest humans who fled from Elvish slavery. Their culture and spiritual practice is highly cyclical and revolves primarily around the veneration of Bro'kar, the Scion of Victory for his creation of the centaur tribesmen and the ten year spawning cycle of the araatan that causes the manifestation of the Huntmarks. Members of the Amber Hunt solicited recruits for the First and Second Fleets to many Tribesmen, using the glimpsed existence of Woultèan megafauna to entice those who participated in previous Grand Hunts to attend.

### The Deadwall Territory

A near totally lawless frontier, the Deadwall Territory represents the token efforts made by Lumoran nations to recolonize the land devastated by the eruption of the Weeping Summit. Initially settled by some of the first human rebels, it is now a dumping ground for undesirables. Brigands, thieves, debtors, and their descendants are the most common individual to be found beyond the Wall, with herding livestock being the most common profession. The central government, such that it is, has very limited power, mainly serving to collect the meager taxes that fund the Rangers that hunt the monsters plaguing the territory while day-to-day law enforcement is left up to the elected sheriffs and mayors of the individual townships. Much like tribesman of Avarga Tӧm, Borderlanders were recruited aggressively. They were sought out for both for their hardiness and their proven track of building civilization with extremely limited resources, not to mention the monster hunting experience of the Rangers.