Niflevaran

## ***Niflevaran, Official historian of the Grand Coalition of Marquis***

*Notes on **Oaknesh and the God Seat of Oarkiris:***

War games are central to our military discipline and strength, and are a central aspect of our culture, but for the soldiers of Oaknesh, war is life. While our war games are truly games, the armies of Oaknesh march back and forth over blood-soaked fields slaughtering each other in preparation for the **Second Breaking**. Strength of arms is their only creed and woe to Jhar Vun Gal and Nov Ru should their God King put an end to the endless battle and entertain more imperial goals.

I cannot help but feel a begrudging respect for these zealots, and should the **Second Breaking** come, the world may be thankful for their presence. I have met a few of their graduates, veterans who have passed every test and been sent out into the world to watch and wait-soldiers of iron focus and will. Their eyes are haunted.

I cannot support the philosophy of Oaknesh as ethical or moral, but I also believe history will give them a profound role in the survival of this world.

*Notes on **Tekinesh:***

Never in the history of the Gregoor Sheav has there been a more amoral, filthy, festering sore of a land than the island of Tekinesh. Each city is a twisted mockery of civilization, where suffering, vice, and greed are the only constants. These ports feed on Edwed suffering, yet they are bastions of sanity in the hellscape that dominates the interior of the island. This blight is known as the **Chaos Lands**.

Monsters live here. Edwed monsters for sure, peddling flesh with dispassion and crude but efficient organization. But outside its ragged cities, real monsters lurk in the stinking bogs and barren plains. Even the Nov Romarian’s found the price of occupation too high, and if their greed and ambition were stymied by this cursed place, then it truly is damned.

In shadowy temples, zealots of Tekinesh revere dark gods—gods that share the faces of fell creatures dwelling in sea caves and massive sinkholes. Some argue this fragmented pantheon is really a series of fronts for the mad **Disciples of Shadzog**, but I remain skeptical. Their views are more nihilistic and purposeless. The various factions do share the claim that salvation comes from drinking the darkness, becoming one with chaos, joining the feast when this world collapses and devours itself. Rumor maybe. Fanciful tales, but all evidence points to an undefined ideology with apathy at their core.

Regardless of its inner workings, one thing is certain. Those who call Tekinesh home have dismissed any moral code and their only valuation of life is measured in coins.

*Notes on **Djair:***

Few cross Djair’s borders and return with tales. The Nov Romarians see it as a defeated foe, but those short sighted fools see only foes and vassals. However, evidence suggests the Nov Romarians won a great victory over Djair, crippling its ability to make war beyond its borders. Accounts are unreliable, but it is believed that Djair possessed one of the most powerful navies in all of Gregoor Sheav. It was destroyed along with all their port cities during one of Nov Romara’s so-called ‘**Great Expansion**s’. Most Nov Romarian claims are exaggerations, but this one seems to hold some truth as Djair seems to have been plunged into dark age, maintaining only a shadow of its rumored glory.

Today, Djair’s neighbors are plagued by its raiders who ruthlessly sack villages and attack caravans. The few survivors of these attacks share stories of squat demons with filed teeth and a taste for blood. The truth of these accounts is questionable, but I have seen the aftermath of these attacks and…well…I’d rather not speak of it. Brutality is the common factor, but tactics vary, leading me to believe these are not organized campaigns but rather random acts of aggression instigated by tribal warlords. Despite the horror of these incidents, they are largely isolated and more a nuisance than anything else.

Our own clashes with Djairians have been decidedly one sided as they cannot stand up to our well-trained regiments. We could march on them and crush whatever centralized power remains if only we did not have to keep a vigilant eye on the Nov Romarians. **Lord Yevilfann** is too shrewd to risk the balance of power dealing with a pack of flesh-eating savages, but I personally find their existence abhorrent.