Bekonend

Map of Bekonend

## Common Knowledge

Bekonend has a desert-like climate and is relatively peaceful, tending to stay out of the way of most of the chaos that happens in Orelisle. Magic isn’t practiced very much throughout the country.

## Topography and Climate

Bekonend is mostly composed of dry, desert-like land.

## Population

Humans make up a majority of the population throughout Bekonend. There are also quite a lot of dove-folk, some living in the towns and others in separate bands across the country. Other races are dabbled throughout, most living mixed in with others in the towns.

## Culture

The country tends to stay out of the way of most of the chaos that seems to take place in both surrounding and far-off countries, and not many areas of the country are aware of the existence of the Binturian Party. There was a time countless years ago when the people of Bekonend would cower at all of the grand occurrences happening around them, but over time they realized it never really affected them and they also had no influence on these events, so they paid them little to no mind.

Bekonend is a relatively peaceful place save for the occasional internal turmoil or visitor with malintent. Not many people in the country are casters, but those who are tend to either practice in secret or don’t practice more than a few brief times a week in order to avoid being targeted. Magic is not considered evil, but the people are very aware of the potential it has for disaster and thus are wary and sometimes even fearful of stronger shows of magic, so they work to keep it in check. In some towns, there is a single designated caster that takes care of any magical business that is necessary there.

## Cities, Towns, and Villages

### Weston

Weston is one of the towns in Bekonend, located towards the heart of the country. It is a simple town with relatively simple people. There is no real person who runs the town, but a man by the name of Riddy Culus is respected as the go-to mayor. Riddy himself is a powerful magic user and well-versed in the ways of Essence, but he tends to only use his abilities to help the people around him, although he seems to have an addiction to doing rituals.

Weston is a quiet town and mostly made up of humans, but they are very accepting of other races so long as they do not cause trouble. They are also relatively accepting of displays of magic so long as they are not dangerous. Their current sheriff is a Wrath Demon named Galva, who works together with Riddy to keep things in order.

Weston itself is on the small side but has important buildings such as a tavern, a brothel, and a jail. It is full of a colorful cast of townspeople. Most issues that come up are solved relatively quickly by Riddy or the teamwork of the townspeople. If there is a long-standing argument that needs to be resolved, sometimes the participants will have a “showdown”, which is essentially an honor-duel which begins with the participants keeping their backs turned to each other and taking ten paces away before turning and fighting. Showdowns are very respected and thus are only used if it is extremely necessary, and the town will usually gather to watch and ensure nothing goes wrong.

There was a talking well that goes by the name Wellson in the town, who has since miraculously gained a body and left for parts unknown.

There is an abandoned castle on the outskirts of the town.

### Bradavice School for Adventuring

Bradavice School for Adventuring is an academy formed by some of the Binturians to teach fledgling adventurers the skills they may need out in the world. It is located near Weston. The school will provide room and board for students who pay for it, and it is only open during the winter and summer. The school provides a range of subjects, including combat, survival, history, and magic, as well as extracurriculars.

Outside of Bradavice, there is a small Sanctuary created by Aquano Silfedis. It consists of a fenced-in forest, including one tree that grows condoms.

### Bijslapen

Bijslapen is a small village where everyone knows one another. It contains an apothecary, a smithy, a tailor’s shop, a butcher, and a jail. It is run by its mayor, a plains elf named Ann, with the help of the captain of the guard, a human named Nemo. It is located within walking distance of Azyl, who they trade with.

### Azyl

Azyl is a small village that is a sanctuary for werebeasts who are fleeing from oppression. Everyone in the village is a werebeast save for a dove-folk caster named Steve, who originally lived in Bijslapen but then moved to Azyl after befriending the people there. He acts as the guard of the village, patrolling both on the ground and in the air, and on every full moon he locks up all of the werebeasts to ensure they don’t run off and cause trouble while feral. The other villagers trust him very deeply and always allow him to lock up their houses with Silver chains on the full moons. The village is run by its chief and second-in-command, two humans named Tuck and Buck respectively. They also have a doctor and an alchemist. It is located within walking distance of Bijslapen, who they trade with.

### Feroso Farms

Feroso Farms is a farm founded by retired selkie adventurer Lazarus Feroso. After adventuring with a party called the Bright Blades, he decided to settle down on the mainland after spending most of his life in the water and start a farm. The farm is located close to the border with Dilghao, where the land is less desert-like and better for growing crops. The farm was burned down by a member of the Binturian Party during an effort to rid it of an invasive species called fuzzballs, and is currently being rebuilt. The farm grows a rare plant called harlequin brush, native to the island Brightglade, which has the effect of making whoever consumes it feel very full.

## History

### Weston – Dick Dastardly’s Takeover

Weston once experienced a takeover by a rambunctious woman who called herself Dick Dastardly, a powerful magic user who forced the town into a famine and drought, upped taxes, and made a number of the magic users in the town disappear without a trace. She also managed to recruit many of the teenagers in Weston to be her henchmen. Riddy, who was unable to stop Dick on his own, was one of the handful who knew of the Binturian Party and recruited a few of them to help him. Together, he and the Binturians, who went under the pseudonym of the “Viveridaen Party”, took down Dick, turning her into a frog and punting her far away from the town. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

The Binturians helped to solve the food and water shortages caused by Dick’s antics, and convinced Dick’s henchmen to return to the “good side”. The Binturians also did a ritual involving a lot of life magic and elemental magic to create a lake at the side of the town connected to a well who has the ability to speak. Riddy originally gave the well a name himself, but after the well called the two main participants of the ritual, Brother Morgan and Larkeicus del Forté, his fathers, the pair of them took to calling him Wellson instead and it stuck. Wellson has the personality of a young, polite teenager and appreciates when anyone, but especially Morgan and Larkeicus, visits him. He also considers Riddy an uncle of sorts, and Riddy regularly checks to make sure the water in the lake and well is still good.

### Bijslapen and Azyl – Feral Falling Out

The Binturians once had to intervene when the normally peaceful relations between Bijslapen and Azyl turned sour. The people of Bijslapen accused the werebeasts of Azyl of breaking out of their lockdowns on the full moon and coming over to Bijslapen and wreaking havoc. No one in Bijslapen was completely sure of who exactly was causing the crimes, but they included destruction of property, petty larceny, and grand larceny. The crimes would occur exclusively on the full moon, but the guard Steve from Azyl reported that none of the werebeasts had gotten out of the village while feral, as far as he was aware. Bijslapen warned the Binturians that if the crimes kept occurring, then they would send guards over to invade Azyl and take care of the problem at its source.

After investigating and waiting for the full moon to fall, the Binturians discovered that the crimes were not being caused by the werebeasts of Azyl, but by a druid from Bijslapen, a plains elf named Roger. He would sneak off to the edge of Azyl, cast Wolf Form, and then head back towards Bijslapen to commit the crimes but leave clues behind that pointed to a wolf-like creature being the perpetrator. He told the Binturians that he despises werebeasts because he upset one while it was feral while traveling through the Wolven Forest and it killed his wife. He had wanted to break the relations between Bijslapen and Azyl to get the revenge on the werebeasts he believed they deserved. The Binturians managed to put a stop to Roger’s plans and mend the relations between the two villages.

### Feroso Farms – Fuzzball Invasion

After growing restless overseeing his guild The Cutting Edge, wood elf adventurer Kay Kullan decided to assemble a crew and sail past the Worldline. They ended up landing on an island uninhabited by people and Kay named it Brightglade, in honor of his old adventuring party, the Bright Blades. He and his crew lived on the island for several years, studying it and recording everything they saw, although there were certain parts of the island they left unexplored. When it came time to sail back, Kay noticed that a group of creatures from the island, which he simply named fuzzballs, had stowed away upon his ship and, unable to turn back to return them to Brightglade at that point, he left them in the care of his friend Lazarus Feroso, another retired member of the Bright Blades, on his farm upon returning to Orelisle. Lazarus and Kay soon discovered that the fuzzballs would eat everything in sight when not on their native land, and they employed the help of both The Cutting Edge and the Binturian Party to solve the problem. The fuzzballs wreaked havoc on the farm, eating all of the crops and going so far as to even start gnawing at the farm’s buildings. The Binturians exterminated some of the fuzzballs, managed to return a number of them to Brightglade, and allowed some to escape into the wilds of Bekonend. They also brought back harlequin brush from Brightglade for Lazarus to grow on his farm in case it is needed in the future, since it would keep the fuzzballs from eating everything else. However, during their efforts to figure out how to rid the farm of the fuzzballs, the farm was burnt down and Lazarus was left heavily injured.

## Further Information

* The Binturian Party
* Brightglade
* The Cutting Edge