Ancuan

**Ancuan** is a kingdom in the Steadfast. It borders Iscobal to the north, the Pytharon Empire to the east, and Milave to the south.

## Background

A broad, fertile, and peaceful land, Ancuan is blessed on many fronts. Its rolling hills teem with bountiful herds of animals, its fields flow with produce and grains, and its long shorelines offer fish and other valuable commodities. Of course, Ancuan isn't without its troubles. Pirates ply the shorelines, preying on coastal trading vessels. Bandit raiders threaten villages. Sathosh and chirog roam the countryside.

King Asour-Mantir rules from a castle of stronglass 20 miles outside the city of Glavis. Tradition dictates that no one other than his immediate household and guard live within a radius of 10 miles, so the Transparent Palace, as it's called, stands alone in a sprawling rocky field. The king's extended family is large, the product of two noble houses joined in permanent alliance to ensure stability of the land. Members of the Blue Legion, his royal guard, are renowned for their skill as archers.

The people of Ancuan are independent and self-sufficient, relying on their king for little. They make their way as sailors, fishers, arron farmers, yol herders, and salt miners. Yol are short, long-haired creatures known for yellow wool, tender meat, and the cheese made form their milk. Arron being a grain used to make sweet-tasting bread.

Similar to how Angulan Knights throughout the Steadfast have tamed xi-drakes to use as flying mounts, the people of Ancuan sometime ride rasters - large, biomechanical, bat-like creatures native to the region. Often the raster-riders, or "rastriders," are loners who live along the coast. Some, however, join raider or pirate groups, training their fellows to be rastriders. A sky filled with brigands mounted on giant hover-bats can be a terrifying sight indeed. (On the other hand, an aerial battle between a rastrider raider and an Angulan Knight is a memory no witness would soon forget.)

## Cities

• Glavis

• Ishlav

• Kaparin

• Rarrow

## Other Points of Interest

• Pike's Head

• Scorpion's Reach

• Aras Island

## Hearsay

#### Oracle in a Pool:

Dwelling in shallow pools along the western coast is a creature that calls itself Jruve. It looks like a grey and violet slug 12 ft. long. If you mange to find Jruve, it can reveal three of your possible futures. In return, it asks for a particular kind of numenera device - which it swallows whole.

#### Rising Descent:

Members of a Jagged Dream cell in Glavis have been extremely successful of late fomenting dissent against the royal family With their support, a warlord named Serec the Grudge is gathering an army of rebels to rise up against the king (and likely set up a new, warlike regime). For now, however, this rowdy army simply makes trouble.

## Weird

#### House of Holes:

Near the middle of Scorpion's Reach stands a four-sided structure about 50 ft. tall and 15 ft. across. The walls are filled with round holes that range from a few inches to a few feet in diameter. Light shines from within these holes, night or day. However, the holes don't lead inside the building, but rather somewhere else.

#### Teardrop Trees:

Odd, teardrop-shaped trees grow in a grove near the eastern border. No one has a name for them, nor an understanding of them, but it's known that if any living thing comes near the trees, that thing dies in short order.

## Miscellaneous

Some villagers in Ancuan have recently awoke with a crystal orb embedded in their chests. The orbs are transmitting something and heat up if damaged.

## References

1. ↑ Cook, Monte, et al. “The Steadfast.” Numenera Discovery, Monte Cook Games, LLP, 2018, pp. 160. Numenera.
2. ↑ Cook, Monte, et al. “The Steadfast.” Numenera Discovery, Monte Cook Games, LLP, 2018, pp. 164. Numenera.