Senfara

Map of Senfara by tumblr user @thewatchau

Senfara is a continent in the northern hemisphere of the Mortal Realm and is the origin of the Waldren Trade Enterprise.

## Geography

I’ve been imagining Waldren’s homeland to look far more Scandinavian in terms of climate and resources. In other words: it’s cold and harsh. Which means that resources can be tricky to come by. The exception to this rule is trees, of course… which you need to build boats. Lots of boats. Enough boats to try to suck the resources out of a small-ish continent…

Senfara likely used up most of their trees during their civilization boom and imperialist nonsense (see history section). , making lumber a valuable commodity. So the continent is pretty deforested.

## History

Continents outside of Tirónar use different calendars to mark their histories, making the terms “Ancient Era,” “Waldren Occupation,” “Interim Years,” and “Modern Era” somewhat moot. However, since Senfara was so heavily involved in the reason Tirónar’s history is divided up in this way, I will be using these Tirónar calendar eras to give some context for what we know of its history.

### Ancient Era

Long before the Waldren Occupation began, the nations of Senfara were in a constant struggle for power. Much like the real-world Europe, Senfara’s politics were centered around the balance of power between its nations. Eventually, trade became the primary source of power for these nations, which prompted several to begin exploring the waters beyond the continent. This led to the introduction between Senfara, Iontassia, and the Unnamed Continent, with dramatic results. After several years of attempted battles proving that few of these foreign countries would be taken by force, the countries of Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent also earned the honor of joining Senfara in its power race. This is in part what would prompt the Iontassian Union to take over most of the eponymous continent and many of its surrounding islands.

While attempts were made to expand further west across the sea, these all ended in failure. Dangerous waters and rocky islands extended for several hundred leagues beyond the coast of Tirónar, preventing foreign ships from even seeing the continent. Moreover, when attempts were made during the Dragon War, many ships were scared away by the sight of huge, winged beings flying over the islands, either locked in combat or desperately looking for new territory. Thanks to these dangers, Tirónar went undiscovered by any of these continents for over a millennia.

Their interaction with other continents also gave Senfara its first glimpse of magic wielded intentionally. If Tirónar is the epicenter of the connection between the Fae Realm and Mortal Realm, Senfara was close to the opposite. As a result, up until this point, Senfara had little exposure to magic beyond inexplicable occurrences explained away as “forces of nature.”

While the other continents involved in this power struggle were not nearly as magically infused as Tirónar, they did have a bit more than Senfara and could recognize it for what it was. Unfortunately, rather than take this opportunity to learn more about the strange, powerful, dangerous, inexplicable things that would come up from time to time, the nations of Senfara publicly dismissed magic as superstition, citing the lack of similar magic on their continent as evidence that the nations of Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent were making up this “magic” thing. This would also lead to a growing emphasis on science and technology in Senfara as a way to both explain away the “magic” of the other continents and remove the advantage held by their magically-assisted rivals.

It stands to wonder what would have happened if Senfara had reacted differently to the magic of other lands. History shows that, by dismissing magic as superstition, Senfaran nations prioritized their pride and how other nations perceived their power. However, what if Senfara had decided that magic was a valuable commodity instead? Nations would fight each other for the power to trade and ally with continents with magical ecosystems, and there would have been more impetus for Senfaran nations to continue attempting to conquer the lands of Iontassia and the Unnamed Continent. This would have likely been worse for Tirónar once the Waldren Trade Enterprise began taking over the continent, as its intense magical characteristics would have encouraged the company to hold even tighter to the lands it stole, rather than give up on the continent as a waste of time and resources. Obviously none of this happened, but it’s an interesting thought experiment.

Instead, the idea that belief in magic was a sign of inferiority would become common in many parts of Senfara. While this perspective is very short-sighted and indeed played a significant role in how Waldren was eventually kicked out of Tirónar, it also fostered a lot of nationalism that made expensive trade ventures easy to fund, sorta like how the Cold War kicked the Space Race into gear.

### Waldren Occupation

This tug-of-war for power would eventually lead to the creation of the Waldren Trade Enterprise; an economic entity based in northern Senfara that sought to gain an advantage over its competitors by seeking riches, warm-water ports, and resources on the islands to the west of the continent. While these islands were well-documented at that time, no one had been able to navigate them due to the extremely dangerous waters, jagged rocks, and, as one traveled further west, magical predators of the sea and air. However, new shipbuilding technology developed during the peak of the tri-continental race for power finally provided an opportunity to navigate the island waters safely. Moreover, the cultural climate of Senfara meant that the people were more willing to dismiss the tales of monsters that might have dissuaded exploration in the past.

As a result, Waldren began sending expeditions west into the islands of Tirónar in the mid 900s, eventually “discovering” the continent cerca the year 1000. As they approached the continent, magical occurrences became more and more frequent; however, rather than acknowledge magic, the Waldren sailors only further solidified their skepticism of those who claimed to use it, claiming that any unexpected happenings were simply the unpredictable nature of the sea, and boasting over their ability to overcome it. As a result, when Waldren finally showed up in Tirónar, they (and the majority of other powers in Senfara) were a firmly nationalist, internally unified group of people who did not like accepting things outside of their control or understanding.

The “discovery” of Tirónar immediately threw the balance of power in Senfara into disarray. Waldren was not tied to any specific Senfaran nation, but several, and the company’s near-overnight economic advantage suddenly had nations scrambling to offer funding in return for a share in that power. Waldren would use this leverage to further their own power while crushing any local competition, often offering their allegiance to one government before trading it for another. This made them several enemies in the long-term, but increased their profitability in the short-term as they played the international trade of Senfara to its own advantage.

As a result, the Waldren Occupation would have several long-term negative political and economic effects for other nations of Senfara. Despite the mercantile and geographic power that Walden earned for its backers during its occupation of Tirónar, the long-term relationship with a continent so inundated with magic caused some upheaval back home. This sudden advantage gained by Waldren’s supporters caused significant political and economic turmoil as its rivals fought to maintain the balance of power. Piracy flourished not just among the islands of Tirónar, but in Senfaran waters as well, specifically targeting Waldren ships.

A generation into the Waldren Occupation, magic also started becoming a bigger issue. Over time, people of Waldren ancestry in Tirónar started accidentally unlocking magic, and that’s when things got complicated. This complicated debate over magic would eventually return to Senfara, especially when the nations of Grancinco and Haneul began to offer significant resistance to the Waldren imperialists. After a certain point, it became less of an argument about whether or not magic is real and whether or not magic is dangerous or evil or something. Like a civilization versus nature type thing, arguing that magic shouldn’t be used because it’s unnatural or against order. In Senfara, the use of magic was stigmatized to the point of being all but illegal, and unlocked magic was treated as if it were contagious, like a disease brought back from across the sea.

In addition, magical flora and fauna that were accidentally and intentionally brought to Senfara would at best unnerve local populations and at worst upset ecological balances in local environments.

All of this upheaval meant that, while Senfara benefitted quite a bit economically from the Waldren Occupation of Tirónar, the long-term “relationship” with such a foreign land and Waldren’s blatant abuse of its power caused significant political, social, and ecological unrest in the continent. This would contribute to the rise of the Iontassian Union as the leading power among the three central continents.

### Interim Years

When Waldren’s luck turned and the trade company eventually abandoned Tirónar, many Senfaran nations had to face the long-term negative effects of the occupation, leading to further unrest as the people within those nations lost trust in their governments.

Even as Waldren lost power both abroad and at home, its strategy of playing several trade partners against each other in order to remove competitors and increase demand would survive in Duilintinn during the Interim Years, when powerful merchants of Waldren descent in Fionport manipulated the groups fighting over the Feadhainn Valley in a very similar way.

### Modern Era

Modern-day Senfara is not the world power it once was. Most of its nations have fractured into several smaller countries over the last few hundred years, and while they still bicker among themselves in an attempt to maintain the balance of power, none of them are strong enough to compete with the world powers on the other two continents. The Iontassian Union almost completely controls the channel between Iontassia and Senfara. Magic is still heavily controversial, though few would deny its existence now as the nations of Tirónar continue to thrive.

The Waldren Trade Enterprise does sorta still exist in the Modern Era. It’s a very limited existence, though; they aren’t anywhere close to the power they held during the Waldren Occupation. They mostly operate within a few countries in Senfara and have little influence outside of that region.

## Culture

### Language

The Common Tongue originated as the trade language of Senfara and was brought to Tirónar during the Waldren Occupation.  Several other languages are also spoken on the continent, but most are etymologically related to the common tongue in some way.

Technically, the “Common Tongue” of Senfara and the “Common Tongue” of Tirónar are two separate languages, as the latter evolved to absorb elements of Tirónar’s indigenous languages as well. Both are somewhat understandable to native speakers of the other, but only barely. The connection is less similar to British versus American English, and more to Irish English and American English.