Daedrax's Realm

Daedrux University sits upon the Lake Eye, while Daedrax's Panopticon leers in the fog beyond.

## Geography

Daedrax's Realm is a tyranny in central Karvhat, the largest of the seven by area and population. Its capital citadel, Daedrux, sits on Lake Augur at the mouth of the Augus River, the longest river in Karvhat. The Augus is in turn fed by the Umbar and Blackrend rivers, forming a fertile triangle which produces a major share of the crops on the continent. The towns of Ulbia, Pentas, & Orynx provide hubs for the myriad farms of the realm to load up their products for transport to the capital, as well as stopovers for shipments of ore mined in the treacherous peaks of the Smarag Spine hoping to be processed on the great lake.

## History

The northern third of Daedrax's Realm was once the Kingdom of Ulbiel, one of the members of the Confederation of the Eye. Ulbiel was conquered by the Tyrants early on in the war, becoming a base of operations for their conquest of Karvhat, and after the war it would go to perhaps their strongest member, the Beholder Daedrax. The black eye tyrant would continue to expand his realm long after the Aberrant Wars conclusion, devouring the remnants of the Umbran Conclave to the south, and implementing a forced settlement policy to expand the fertile croplands of its realm further south. Ulbiel, traditionally a city of sophistication and taste, has become a totalitarian hive of misinformation and paranoia renamed Daedrux after its tyrant.

Daedrax commands the largest legion of all the tyrants, and regularly launches border wars along the periphery with Xabaxes and Hetortion. In recent decades it has begun to shy away from the Augur Theater however, instead encroaching on the territories of Gulbabrel & Bakuel. It has also begun directing its Legion engineers to construct forts in the Smarag Spine in order to tap the mineral riches of the imposing mountain range. These efforts have brought it into direct conflict with the Black Flight, who has in turn ordered their cultists to infiltrate and sabotage the realm, beginning a long cold war between the two dark powers.

Although all seven tyrants are terrifically potent in magic, the three commonly agreed to be the most powerful are Daedrax, Hetortion, & Xabaxes. All three have claimed sole rite to the fertile lands surrounding Lake Augur, constructing their citadels equidistant from each other on the shores of the inland sea, each building their towers just high enough to glare at the others from a distance. While all seven tyrants have bitterly agreed to forgo all out war, the egos of these three exceptionally powerful tyrants have meant that they cannot resist the opportunity to skirmish each other's armies in the hinterlands of their realms. As a result of this continual violence, more sport than war, the universities of Xabrax, Daedrux, & Hetorch are the most advanced centers in the world for the study of destructive magics, pumping out war mages by the dozen.

## Strategy

The University of Daedrux specializes in Conjuration magics, allowing their mages to summon powerful familiars and elementals to do the fighting for them. These powerful spirits can prove hard to control in the heat of battle, even for a master mage, and they often lay as much devastation upon their own ranks as the enemy. As a result Daedrax's Legion has developed a strategy of "Balefire Breakthrough", using tranches of conscripts to punch holes in the enemy line before releasing elemental spirits upon the exposed flank and beating a hasty withdrawal.

In recent decades, Daedrax has pushed its southern border to its limits, reaching the impenetrable Smarag Spine and the border with the Black Flight. To continue to sate its expansionist desire, Daedrax has reoriented its legions towards the east, and its realm has begun steadily encroaching on the narrow strip of forested highlands which seperate its lands and Bakuel's Realm. Recent legionary exercises on the border have prompted whispers of an impending invasion of Cape Perathon, though these rumors are just as easily dismissed by those who believe that the Pax Tyrannica will continue to be upheld as it has been for the two centuries.